sculpture, glass and installations

I absolutely enjoyed the video about sculpture.  I have always wondered how an artist could take a block and remove pieces to create the final sculpture.  I didn't know that many people actually work on each sculpture...such as artisans who just carve hair or faces or ornaments of the sculpture.  I always assumed it was the artist alone.  Knowing that gives me more appreciation for the sculpture that so many could put their minds together for each artists ideas.  I also didn't know that marble is a product of limestone...although I knew both were used for carving.  As amazed I am about the final carving I learned that there are many steps prior to this.  The sketches, the half-size clay model, the silicone mold, the life-size clay model and the life-size plaster model...wow!!!

I have worked with clay before and found it quite challenging.  I never, however, considered there are so many different types of clay used for so many different things.  I certainly didn't know that ceramics were used in car mufflers or medical purposes.  After watching the different objects made with clay I realized that porcelain is another type of clay, comprised of different elements.  I now know how tempered glass is made!  I have heard the name so many times.  I thought a film was placed on the outside of the glass but it is just fired differently and shocked by different temperatures.  I also learned that glass tarnishes due to iron oxides.  I have been in many old buildings and thought it was just the process of glass-making at that time that colored it.

Before the video on installation art I only had a vague idea what installation art actually is.  I now know that arrtists create it to make the viewer an active part of the piece itself.  I also learned that the art can't work anywhere else...the surroundings chosen are so integral to the piece.  i wasn't aware that it is a s popular as it is.  I saw alot of it at the Albright-Knox but I now know that it is the most popular form of artwork now.

The videos certainly related to our readings and also provided a little more.  They showed us the crafts of the artist and described the history about various medias.  I liked the interviews with the artists and curators.  that is something we didn't get from our readings.  I find it easier to learn from videos with people that I can see and hear and music than from reading so I definitely learned more from the videos.

I enjoyed the video of sculpture the most.  Watching the process of creating a marble sculpture is remarkable.  All three definitely taught me a great deal about each of these different forms of artwork.  I am not a big fan of video installations but hearing the artists describe how and why they made them helped me to appreciate them more.