FINAL EXAM

Selection #1 Jacob Lawrence: American, 1917 - 2000

Daybreak - A Time to Rest, 1967 Tempera on Hardboard
National Gallery of Art, Washington

Selection #2 Jasper Johns: American, 1930 -
Perilous Night, 1982, Encaustic On Canvas With Objects

National Gallery of Art, Washington

This paper will evaluate the similarities and differences of a selected art work of twentieth century American artists, Jacob Lawrence and Jasper Johns. The selected piece from Lawrence is Daybreak – A Time to Rest; it was created in 1967 on a tempura medium, which is an aqueous medium like watercolor. Perilous Night is the piece selected from Jasper Johns collection. Perilous Night was created in 1982 and is an encaustic on canvas with objects. Both artists, Lawrence and Johns are from the postmodernism period. “Postmodernism is used to describe art that emerged after modernism, and contradicts the purity and form of modernism. Postmodernism is characterized by clean lines, geometric shapes, futuristic design, and the placement of items and objects in unusual areas”, (Getlein, p. 552). For example, Johns places objects in the shape of human arms in the right side of the painting Perilous Night that creates intrigue and hunger in the viewer for elucidation. On the contrary, Lawrence’s Daybreak takes on a form of expressionism. “Expressionism is when the artist’s subjective feelings take over the objective observation” (Getlein, p. 522). “The art piece Daybreak is representative of work produced during the Harlem Renaissance movement where the experiences and tragedies of African Americans in the United States was mixed with the heritage of Africa to produce vibrant pieces filled with geometric symbolism” (Getlein, pp. 534-535).

I found that all of Lawrence works focus on African American life and he often times creates pieces in series. Daybreak - A Time to Rest is one in a series of works that tell the story of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was a slave who formed the Underground Railroad, an escape path for African American slaves to escape from the captivity of slavery in the South to free states in the North and Canada. Although, this art work is about a time of struggle and sadness in the history of African Americans in the United States, Lawrence use of intense primary and secondary colors removes the sadness from the art work. Jasper Johns brings fantasy to his art work. John’s works begin with a simple object, such as a number, a flag, or a rectangular and utilizes the one object over and over to give flight to the viewer imagination. In Perilous Night, Johns uses rectangles in different angles of the painting and divides the piece into a right and left panel. Unlike Lawrence, John palette selections vary from portrait to portrait and John does not use a high saturation of color. In Perilous Nights, John employs only tertiary colors.

Both of the selected pieces, Daybreak and Perilous Nights are asymmetrical. The foliage and the angle for which the shore is recessing into the night creates more weight to the right of the piece in Daybreak. Likewise, with Perilous Nights the arms, organic shape, and additional squares, puts the visual weight to the right side of the piece. John also uses a combination of tertiary colors to the right of the piece as oppose to monochromatic tertiary color on the left. The colors and shapes that Lawrence makes use of gives a visual unity to his work (Getlein, p. 123). There is a rhythm created by the repeated geometric shape of the triangles (Getlein, p.141). There are three triangular shapes, two implied and one in the foreground. The first implied triangle is the slant of the foliage, and the second implied triangle is the vanishing point of the parallel lines of the shore. The complementary color relationship of the purple and orange colors brings oneness to the piece.

Lawrence’s form, that is, the visual aspects such as shapes, lines and colors used in this composition are consistent with several art movements of the 20th Century. The movements are fauvism, expressionism, and cubism. Perilous Night exhibits influences from cubism, dadaism, and surrealism. Cubism, which was made popular by Pablo Picasso and George Braque is detected in both pieces, however there is much more cubism inspiration in Perilous Night than in Daybreak. In Perilous Night, the color palette is restricted to basically three colors and the patterns in which the portrait is created is characteristic of cubism, in that the paint strokes appear short and blended in some areas. Thus, Perilous Night is representational of the cubism movement with its palette, technique, and its utilization of geometric shapes. Whereas, only slight influences of cubism can be detected in Lawrence work with the representation of the visible world that Lawrence creates with the geometric shapes that are drawn together to make a whole image with its’ own logic”, (Getlein, pp. 522-524). “Typical of dadaism, Perilous Night reveals the creativity, spontaneity and relentless of the artist not to be categorized. Surrealism which combines touches of collages, cubism, and dadaism, all precursors, allows the artist to release all inhibitions, and create from the subconscious, which is definitely what Jasper Johns does in his works” (Getlein, pp. 527-529).

To maintain the clarity and radiance of the bright, vibrant colors that are characteristic of Lawrence pieces, Lawrence medium of choice is a tempura, which is similar to watercolor. Tempura however dries to a tough and insoluble firm surface, similar to oil paintings. The advantage of tempura is the preservation of its original brilliance and lucidity” (Getlein, p 171-172). Jasper Johns, medium of choice is an “encaustic canvas in which powered color (pigment) is mixed with wax and resin. The wax when heated eases the tasks of spreading the pigments for the Artist. This technique originated in Ancient Greece and is not a popular method for contemporary artists. The advantage of using an encaustic canvas is that the wax overtime is more durable than oil paintings,” (Getlein, p 169). The encaustic canvas gives the painting more visual texture, that is, the paint appears to be thick, but the thickness of the paint provides a totally different affect than the thickness of the paint in a Tempura piece, in which the thickness provides vibrancy. In an encaustic the thickness almost gives off a roughness to the piece, it provides a visual texture.

The content of Daybreak – A Time to Rest is representational in that it is capturing life in “the visible world, in a likeness in which we recognize” (Getlein, p. 29), Jacobs however, represents these moments in life in an abstract manner. Jacob approaches abstract in a recognizable manner. That is a viewer of his pieces for the most part can look at Jacobs work and decipher the artist intent. With Daybreak, it obvious that this is a human figure taking a nap, a “break” possibly concealing himself/herself within the surrounding foliage. Perilous Nights by Jasper Johns is also abstract in style. However, Johns piece is at the other end of the spectrum for abstractness, in that the artist starting point in unrecognizable. The piece is so nonrepresentational that it gives the viewer no definite point for which to begin interpretation. This art form “nonrepresentational or nonobjective takes abstraction to another level, that almost removes it from the visible world”, (Getlein, p. 33).

Although the pieces are from the same period, are balanced similarly, and share abstract characteristics their style, technique and mood are totally independent. If art truly imitates life, then the independence may quite possibly be explained by the difference experiences encountered in the life of the artists. Jacob Lawrence was born in the New Jersey and Jasper Johns born and reared in the south, South Carolina. In addition Jacob Lawrence is thirteen years the senior of Jasper Johns. Other factors of possible influence on the artists works is race and the political atmosphere during their years of creativity. The single factor that drew my attention to both artists was the mystery in their pieces, with Jacob Lawrence, the faceless characters and the uncertainty of the intent in Jasper Johns works. I like the fact that with John the interpretation is open to the viewer, which stimulates creativity and inner reflection. I am also intrigued by the cultural aspects and vibrancy of Lawrence pieces.

REFERENCES:
Getlein, Mark. Living With Art. 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Activity #13 Moods and Styles

LATE ASSIGNMENT:

The content of Daybreak – A Time to Rest is representational in that it is capturing life in “the visible world, in a likeness in which we recognize” (Getlein, p. 29), Jacobs however, represents these moments in life in an abstract manner. Jacob approaches abstract in a recognizable manner. That is a viewer of his pieces for the most part can look at Jacobs work and decipher the artist intent. With Daybreak, it obvious that this is a human figure taking a nap, a “break” possibly concealing himself/herself within the surrounding foliage. Jacob’s form, the visual aspects such as shapes, lines and colors used in this composition are consistent with several art movements of the 20th Century. The movements are fauvism, expressionism, and cubism. “Fauvism lasted for only three years, however it impacted modern art tremendously by removing the constraint from artists to use colors that replicates the real colors of the natural world”, (Getlein, p. 520). The Fauvism influence can be seen in Lawrence Daybreak, by the deep orange-yellowish hue of the sand. “Expressionism, which the emotion and inner vision of the artist is expressed rather than the exact representation of nature”, (Getlein, pp. 518-519) is also prevalent in Lawrence’s pieces. Although Daybreak is the artist homage to a not so favorable time in African American history, slavery and struggle for freedom, the distorted lines, shapes, and colors that are used illicit emotions of happiness. Lastly, slight influences of cubism can be detected in Lawrence work. “Cubism introduced by Pablo Picasso and George Braque takes forms of the visible world and fragmented them into geometric shapes that are drawn together to make a whole and presents an image with its’ own logic”, (Getlein, pp. 522-524). In Daybreak triangles and circles dominates the piece. There are implied triangle created by the foliage and the large feet in the foreground, that directs the viewer eye to the focal point, the human body. A combination of circles are used to create the massive feet, possibly swollen to imply the tiredness of the human body, hence the subtitle of the piece, A Time to Rest.

Like, Lawrence’s Daybreak – A Time to Rest, Perilous Nights by Jasper Johns is also abstract in style. However, Johns piece is at the other end of the spectrum for abstractness, in that the artist starting point in unrecognizable. The piece is so nonrepresentational that it gives the viewer no definite point for which to begin interpretation. This art form “nonrepresentational or nonobjective takes abstraction to another level, that almost removes it from the visible world”, (Getlein, p. 33). Perilous Night exhibits influences from cubism, dadaism, and surrealism. There is much more cubism inspiration in Perilous Night than in Daybreak, in that Perilous Night color palette is restricted to basically three colors and the patterns in which the portrait is created. The paint strokes appear short and blended in some areas. Thus, Perilous Night is representational of the cubism movement with its palette, technique, and its utilization of geometric shapes. “Characteristic of dadaism, Perilous Night reveals the creativity, spontaneity and relentless of the artist not to be categorized”, (Getlein, p. 528). Johns use of objects on this encaustic piece and the organic shape, that resembles a handkerchief in the lower right side of the piece gives the work additional dimension to what would have been just an dull portrait of squares and rectangular. And finally, Jasper John piece is definitely surrealism in that he combines touches of collages, cubism, and dadaism, all precursors of surrealism, which allows the artist to release all inhibitions, and create from the subconscious (Getlein, p. 529).

Activity #11 Periods and Culture

Perilous Night by Jasper Johns was created in 1982 during the Postmodernism period. Postmodernism is used to describe art that have emerged after modernism, and contradicts the purity and form of the modernism. “Initially a tern used to reference architect, postmodernism is characterized by clean lines, geometric shapes, futuristic design, and the placement of items and objects in unusual areas. The Pompidou National Center of Art in which the scaffolds, pipes and tubes are outside of the building, making it appear to be a building under design or turn inside out is representative of this era “ (Getlein, p. 552). Similarly, Johns places objects in the shape of human arms in the right side of the painting Perilous Night that creates intrigue and opens the piece to further interpretation. Downward motion of the arms that are surrounded by multiple square and rectangular shapes makes the viewer wonder what the artist was trying to express.

Jacob Lawrence, Daybreak – A Time to Rest was also produced in the Post-Modern period, however takes on a different form of expressionism. “Expressionism is when the artist’s subjective feelings take over the objective observation” (Getlein, p. 522). “The art piece Daybreak is representative of work produced during the Harlem Renaissance movement where the experiences and tragedies of African Americans in the United States was mixed with the heritage of Africa to produce vibrant pieces filled with geometric symbolism” (Getlein, pp. 534- 535). Whereas, Perilous Night have attributes of surrealism, symbolism, and neo-expressionists.

Activity #10 Medium and Technique

Bright, vibrant colors that maintain their clarity and radiance for years, is typical o of the pieces by American artist Jacob Lawrence. To achieve this affect Lawrence chooses a “tempura medium, which is an aqueous medium like watercolor. Tempura, however dries to a tough and insoluble firm surface, similar to oil paintings. The advantage of tempura is the preservation of its original brilliance and lucidity” (Getlein, p 171-172 ). In Lawrence’s’ Daybreak - A Time to Rest primary and secondary colors are employed so intensely that it gives an impasto affect, where it appears the colors were applied in multiple layers to magnify their value. For example in the background of the piece a blue hue is used in varying value to give an illusion of a sky that is slowly fading from the darkness of a night sky to the brightness of a blue daytime sky. There are small lines of a very thin strokes of blue that almost allows the whiteness of the canvass thru that further suggest the dawning of a new day. This blue is contrast against a much intense value of blue that may be perceived as either the darkness of a night ocean or the darkness of a very far away night time sky.

Jasper Johns, also an American artist medium of choice is an “encaustic canvas in which powered color (pigment) is mixed with wax and resin. The wax when heated eases the tasks of spreading the pigments for the Artist. This technique originated in Ancient Greece and is not a popular method for contemporary artists. The advantage of using an encaustic canvas is that the wax overtime is more durable than oil paintings” (Getlein, p 169). The encaustic canvas gives the painting more visual texture, that is the paint appears to be thick, but the thickness of the paint provides a totally different affect than the thickness of the paint in a Tempura piece, in which the thickness gives a vibrancy. In an encaustic the thickness almost gives off a roughness to the piece, it provides a visual texture. In Perilous Nights, John employs all tertiary colors and the piece is divided in two halves. The right half of the portrait, there are differing values of black, the paint is spread so thickly in some spots that it is true black whereas in other spots the strokes are so light that they are vary from gray to small spots that appears void of color. There are very faint lines of violet that runs thru the right side as well, that has no apparent pattern. On the left side of the piece, John uses vertical and horizontal lines to create rectangular and square geometric shapes each with their own varying color pattern and texture. In addition to the multiple patterns and texture, John also make use of objects that definitely opens the piece to more interpretations. The arms extending downward in the upper right hand corner of the piece are objects. The objects are not obvious to the eye when viewing the piece as an image, however in the Gallery the objects are detectable and gives the piece an additional dimension.

Getlein, Mark. Living With Art 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Activity #09 The Camera

REWRITE:

The challenges presented by the camera and photography contributed to the development of nonrepresentational or nonobjective art. These art movements originated “from the search of the true essence of art”, (Getlein, p 40). Prior to the camera, visual art was more representational of the current time. The focal point of many artists was humans, human events, and landscapes. With the introduction and later advancements of the camera what was at one time capture on canvas, could be capture on paper in a fraction of time. In the early days of the camera and still photos, the subject had to stand still for as long as twenty minutes for the photographer to obtain a shot, this was still an improvement over a subject sitting for hours for a portrait to be painted. Hence, photography, allowed artist to explore with content and focal points that were not objective. The introduction of compact cameras in 1888, by American George Eastman made the camera portable and the artist was able to capture life in the natural, in all forms and places. Photography was practiced as an art, and techniques such as gauzing was used to remove the objectivity of the camera. The camera change visual art from representational to more expressive and abstract.

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Is it live or is it Memorex, was a popular slogan for a manufacturer of audio tape, with the technological advances in photography, there should now be a similar slogan for digital photography; is it real or retouched. Digital photography that is prominent in print, magazines and advertising has capitalized on techniques such as airbrushing to manipulate a photo into the perfect portrait. The axiom, “the camera does not lie”, is no longer true for photography. In today’s world it is questionable if any “photography is “pure” or “straight” photography as championed by Aldred Stieglitz. Pure photography is free from any type of manipulation, airbrushing, cropping, or re-coloring” (Getelien, p220).

Photography has advance tremendously since the days of still photos, where the subject had to stand still for as long as twenty minutes for the photographer to obtain a shot. High-speed cameras are now capable of capturing a photo in as little as thirty seconds. In addition to the improvements in speed, the medium for which photography can be printed or published has advance from metal, to glass, to paper, film or computers.

The two most significant advancements in photography was the introduction of compact cameras and color. “In 1888, American George Eastman, developed the Kodak camera, it was compact and portable and the slogan you press the button, we do the rest was used to market the Kodak. In the 1960’s and 1970’s the introduction of color to photography was introduced” (Getelien, p215 - 217).

No doubt photography has a significant impact on history and art. Photography has help to record time, giving us history. Photography has provided us with optical illusions and creativity to bring us art. The only question that we are left with today, is it real or retouched?

Getlein, Mark. Living With Art 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Activity #08 Photo Collage

Activity #07 Mid-Term

Throughout history, art has been valuable means to gain insight into cultural aspects of past and current societies. From the cave-paintings of early civilizations to the murals of today art has been used to record time, document rituals or communicate stories. There was art prior to any type of formal writing system was formed. This exhibit, History and Culture in Art includes works of arts from various societies from 1570 BCE until 1859 and each piece speaks to an cultural or historic event of that time.

Selection number one is the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which is depicting a funeral ritual to ensure the dead will have a smooth transition to heaven. The colors are triadic, brown, black and white. Multiple hues of brown are employed. Horizontal lines are dominant within the piece and direct the eye to the focal point of the piece, the Egyptian God at the right of the portrait. This is an asymmetrical piece, that utilizes lines for movement. The horizontal lines represents the calmness in which the Egyptians are bringing the dead to pray to the God. Interesting the most prevalent vertical lines in the portrait are the paintings on the wall, which are prayers. The prayers are going up to heaven.

Selection number two, Sennacherib II is history as recorded on a slab of stone, of tablet around 700 BCE. This piece tells the story of a siege of ancient city in Palestine. The movement of the army coming in the siege the city is illustrated in by the diagonal lines that are prevalent on both the right and left side of the piece and forms an implied geometric shape, a triangle. There are multiple implied triangles in this piece. Right at the tip of the highest triangle, the contour line of the city dips downwards as to indicate seizure by the forces marching upward. To the right of the downward dip, there is more movement upward and a gradual rebuild of the city lines, indicating victory. Like selection one, this is an asymmetric piece, most of the battle occurs to the right. There color scheme is monochromatic and hatching is used through out the portrait, specifically in the fall left and for the weapons.

Activity #06 Art Exhibit

History and Culture in Art

Selection 1: Egyptian Book of the Dead

Date: 1570-1085 BCE

Book of the Dead" (WCA167), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).

Selection 2: Source: Sennacherib II

Date: c. 700 BCE

"Sennacharib Lays Siege to Lachish" (WCA038), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation."Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).

Selection 3: School of Athens

Date: 1509-1511

"The School of Athens" (WCF036), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).

Selection 4: Charles I

Date: 1649

"The Execution of Charles I" (WCH035), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).

Selection 5: Noble Savages

Date: c. 1700

"Noble Savages" (WCI039), Courtesy of Instructional Resources Corporation. "Images Copyright (c) 2002 Instructional Resources Corporation (IRC).

Selection 6: Sugar Plantation

Date: 1823

Clark, William. Ten Views in the Island of Antigua, 1823. The Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection, Daniel Burke Library, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY.

Activity #05 Themes or Functions

Jacob Lawrence, Daybreak - A Time to Rest is one in a series of works that tell the story of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was a slave who formed the Underground Railroad, an escape path for African American slaves to escape from the captivity of slavery in the South to free states in the North and Canada. Although, this art work is about a time of struggle and sadness in the history of African Americans in the United States, Lawrence use of intense primary and secondary colors removes the sadness from the art work and provides a optimism. Without the background information on this piece of art work, it is difficult for the viewer of this piece to decipher the content. The intense color and the peacefulness of the human body lying asleep on the beach have no connection to the darkness of slavery.

I found that all of Lawrence works focus on African American life. Common to Lawrence works are faceless characters and the use of intense primary and secondary colors. This can be seen in Lawrence’s Barber Shop, 1946; Library, 1969 as well as Daybreak, 1967. Also common to Lawrence work is the use of geometric shapes. In the painting Barber Shop, the triangle is a dominant, as illustrated by the capes of the customer. In the Library the use of square and rectangular shapes overwhelms. In Daybreak, Lawrence uses the two parallel lines receding into the distance, the vanishing point creates an implied triangle.

Jacob Lawrence, Barber Shop


Jacob Lawrence, Library


In Perilous Nights, Jasper Johns brings human experience and fantasy to his art work. Johns art pieces for the most part are abstract pieces. John utilizes geometric and organic shapes in his art work. Unlike Lawrence, John palette selections vary from portrait to portrait. John does not use a high saturation of color. In Perilous Nights, John has tertiary colors as he does in the works, 0 through 9. The Ventriloquist-Mona, John’s inserts a splash green to bring focus to a painting within the painting. In John’s work 0 through 9, the primary colors of blue, red, and yellow are employed, however there is a dullness to the hues. Because of the fantasy to Johns’ work the content is somewhat difficult to decipher. In Perilous Nights and the Ventriloquist, a viewer can interpret two subjects. For example in Perilous Night the vertical line that splits the painting into a right and left panel, two interpretations can be achieved. In Ventriloquist, the insertion of the painting of the green flags gives an illusion of a portrait within a portrait.

Jasper Johns, Ventriloquist-MOMA


Jasper Johns, 0 through 9

Color Game

CLICK HERE

To Begin, Click Page Down and then following instructions on pages.

Activity #04 Design Principles

The design principles of the selected art works of Jacob Lawrence and John Jasper are in direct opposition. In Jacob Lawrence, Daybreak there is symmetrical balance. The visual weight of the piece is equally dispersed within the photo. If a vertical line is drawn in the middle of the piece the focal point as well as the geometric shape that is in the foreground will split evenly on both sides of the print. In addition the value of the hues of primary and secondary colors are dispersed equally on both sides of the piece.

There is asymmetrical balance in the Jasper John’s piece, Perilous Night. The visual weight is on the right of the piece. There is more color and movement on the right, which attract the eyes and give the right side its visual weight (125). Also, John uses a combination of tertiary colors to the right of the piece as oppose to monochromatic tertiary color on the left.

The colors and shapes that Lawrence makes use of gives a visual unity to his work (123). There is a rhythm created by the repeated geometric shape of triangle (141). There are three triangular shapes, two implied and one in the geometric shape in the foreground. The first implied triangle is the slant of the foliage, and the second implied triangle is the vanishing point of the parallel lines of the shore. The manner in which the primary and secondary colors are employed also brings oneness to the piece. For example the orange-yellow hue of the shore is repeated in lesser value in the outline of the focal point of the piece, the feet that appear in the foreground, and the insects that are on the foliage. Red and purple is repeated in the emphasis and subordinate object in the piece. Lawrence place emphasis on the body with the use of diagonal slant of the body which creates a liveliness to the body (134). The subordinate object, which is the geometric shape with the feet which are proportionally larger than the focal point or emphasis is ”visually less interesting”(135) because the incompleteness of the object. There are these huge feet but no body. It takes further scrutiny to see where the feet are going, and then there is the arm that appears to the right of the feet that further complicates the intent of the object, whereas, the human body immediately draws attention.

In the Perilous Night, Jasper John applies variety to his piece by employing multiple vertical and horizontal lines. Both artists utilizes geometric shapes to place emphasis. John uses a square shape with a lighter color to draw focus to the objects used in this piece, by framing the middle object.

Getlein, Mark. Living With Art 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Activity #03 Balance

See Creative Blog for photos

The two types of balance discussed in Chapter 5, the Principles of Design is symmetrical and asymmetrical balance. Symmetrical balance is achieved when the implied center of gravity is the vertical axis. And, asymmetrical balance where there are two sides that do not match, the visual weight is either to the right or left of the art work.

Activity #02: On-line Museum Visit Essay

The two art pieces I selected from the online museum visit are both from American artist. The style and purpose of the two pieces are totally independent of each other. The first artist, Jacob Lawrence created the tempera painting on hardboard entitled Daybreak in 1967. Lawrence used geometric shapes and diagonal lines to draw attention to the focal point of his piece, which is a human body that appears to be sleeping. “Diagonal lines, which implies action and are the most dramatic”, as noted by Getlein (85) was used by Lawrence to show the un-stillness of the night which is reflected in the slant of the foliage. In addition the slant of the body implies a restless sleep. For “the ground, which provides additional visual information for the figure of the piece (89), Lawrence places a two-dimensional geometric shape, a triangle that is actually larger than the positive figure. Although the human body is smaller than the geometric shape, the diagonal lines of the body draws interest to the body and makes it the positive shape or the focal point (89). In addition the slant of the foliage also forms an implied geometric shape of a triangle that surrounds the body, also directing interest to the focal point. Lawrence utilized primary and secondary colors in an analogous harmony. Red to create the lines of the geometric shape next to an intense yellow-orange color to represent the sand of the shore. The foliage also contains lines of yellow that is adjacent to the yellow-orange on the color wheel, thereby creating the analogous harmony (97).

The second art piece I selected was Jasper Johns’ Perilous Night which was created in 1982 and is an encaustic on canvas with objects. Horizontal and vertical lines was used in Perilous Night to almost separate the art piece into sections. Diagonal lines are absent from this piece, implying the calmness of the piece. To the left of the piece Johns for the most part have a monochromatic color scheme comprised of tertiary colors, a blue-violet mixture (94). Johns’ incorporate specs of white in vertical lines through out this side of the portrait for affect. Interesting, the vertical specs of white are in a downward thrust. The downward motion is achieved by the specs of white increasing in size as they go from top to bottom. The right half of the piece uses vertical and horizontal lines to separate the piece into sections. It difficult to identify the focal point of the piece, because the use of horizontal and vertical lines, that directs the attention to multiple places within the piece. While Lawrence uses lines to illustrate the focal point of his art, Johns utilizes lines to create endless possibilities with his art.

Getlein, Mark. Living With Art 8th. Ed. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 2008.

Activity #01 On-Line Museum Visit

Activity 01

Selection One:
Jacob Lawrence - Daybreak, A Time to Rest, 1967



Selection Two:
Jasper Johns - Perilous Night, 1982

CREATIVE BLOG

Jacob Lawrence Gallery











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ACTIVITY #03 - BALANCE

Elegance, by Elizabeth Craig shows symmetrical balance. The same shapes, patterns, and hatching are shown on both the right and left sides of the print.



The mobile art, by Alexander Calder on display at the Walker Art Center is asymmetrically balanced. The weight of the shape on the right side is balanced by the smaller object to the left.


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Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

The contrasting colors of the yellow house with the different hues of green from the surronding trees make this a beautiful shot. The beauty of the house was exemplified with the stillness of the photo. In real-time, the intense yellow hue of the house captivates the senses and the beauty of the house is lost.



This photo sort provides an optical illusion because of the slanting of the trees to the right and the clouds that are going to the left. It looks as though there might have been a storm approaching. I took this photo on a perfectly beautiful clear day, however I was in a moving speed boat, hence the illusion.



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Las Vegas, Nevada

I spent my Memorial Day weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Vegas is known to be a party town, commonly referred to as Sin City, Vegas has some of the most beautiful architect. The detail and design of some of hotels and casinos are just breathtaking, both interior and exterior design.

The photo below is a picture taken at night of the Eiffel Tower which is a replica of the original Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. However, I don’t think it is as tall as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Appropriately so, the Eiffel Tower in Vegas is in the Casino and Hotel Paris.



From the top of the Eiffel Tower, I was able to get this amazing aerial shot of Vegas. Take note of the desert and mountains in the back. Simply beautiful!