Art Critique

This is a piece of work by my sister, Elle Wyant, from her blog of her sketches. I think the idea behind this drawing is clear. For the viewer, it is obvious of the point drawing and the humor in it. This drawing plays with the well-known superhero of Batman and someone who clearly is not a superhero, but his appearance makes him look so. The image of Batman is known as the bat-eared mask and the cape. With this drawing she uses a bean hat, but it is folded in a way that looks like bat ears, the obvious Bat Symbol as his belt buckle, and his scarf looks like the cape. Also the way she darkens the shadows around his eyes and the scarf covering his mouth shows the darkness of the superhero that he’s portraying. I don’t think that there is a hidden meaning in this drawing, but just the humor behind from the connection that the viewer makes. It is a very well drawn sketch. You can tell from the pencil strokes that she has knowledge of art and has worked with different techniques of drawing.

Becca Wyant

4013 166^th Ave NE Redmond, WA 98052

206-948-4693

b_wyant@u.pacific.edu

Graphic Design, Photography

I am a photographer and a graphic designer interested in design and portrait and sports photography.

AREAS OF INTEREST 

Portrait photography, Sports photography, Design

EDUCATION

Redmond High School, Redmond, WA, 2009

University of Pacific, Stockton, CA, 2013, BFA

WORK EXPERIENCE

·      Created twelve individual posters for high school written theater productions at Redmond High School

·      Photographed for high school productions at Redmond High School

·      Created logo for Crushed Dreams Production, a student run theater group for writing, acting and directing, at New York University

·      Portrait photography of families

·      Photographed swimming events at the University of Pacific

·      Knowledge in CS5 Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Lightroom

HONORS & AWARDS

2^nd place winner for RedSpoke poster design contest 

Creativity vs. Knowledge, compared with artists

An artist that I feel really explores from knowledge to creativity would be Salvador Dali. His work I think definitely demonstrates that he understands the knowledge of art, and the basics of techniques, but from what he knows he creates pieces that are new and exciting. He goes past the extreme of painting scenery and mixes in his own style, which adds to his surrealistic work. I think that creativity is a great example in Dali because his work is very imaginative, you can tell from looking at his paintings that it pushes past ordinary portraits or classical paintings you would expect, and creates works that are not even possible in real life. With his creativity he adds a twist on the knowledge that he knows of art.

An artist that I feel falls into the category of his work being based off more on knowledge would be Claude Monet.  Monet definitely has a great knowledge of art, and especially painting. From looking at his work, you can see the precise detail of his brush strokes and the technique he uses. I feel that Monet lies more with knowledge than creativity, because his work is based on what he sees rather than what he comes up with in his mind. Monet’s work doesn’t reflect on unbelievable subjects or scenery, it is all realistic and he shows that beauty in his paintings. You can see in his pieces that he has studied this art so well and that what makes his work so magnificent. 

Creative vs. Knowledge Revisited

Revisiting the understanding of the connection between creativity and knowledge is interesting, especially in how it relates to me. Much of what I stated before about this topic still remains to be true, but also new things come to the surface. I still believe that from knowledge you can build in creativity, which is pushing past the basic walls that are established at the beginning, and going from there. In order for one to be creative, you need to know the essentials, and understand the history behind it all. When thinking about other forms of creativity and knowledge, not just with art, they all fairly fall into the same line. With music, before creating a masterpiece, you need to know much about music in general and how a piece is made, the background of music, genres, etc. Even with television shows and movies, this follows. Let’s say you want to create a show about high school. Well, okay, that’s not something new, there are many shows about high school and the drama that entails. You are knowledgeable in that category of high school, it’s functions, what goes on there, and from that you add something to it to make it a unique show, not just about high school but the other quirks to it making it creative. With me and the work that I do, I think I do much of the same thing. I can take a simple idea and from that turn it into something exciting or something that was never done before. I very much believe in being original and in order to be that, you need to be knowledgeable of what surrounds you, what’s the influence to most, and take what you can from there. 

Creative vs. Knowledge

Creativeness I think can be hard to describe. From what I gather I think that being creative is taking simple ideas and putting a new twist to it, making it something that people haven’t seen before. It’s expanding past ordinary steps and results and turning it into something that’s eye-catching. When people talk about so-and-so, and saying that they are so creative, I think that means that this person can look past something that may be dull and make it become exciting. Creativeness is the act of creating, which is essentially originality. I think that the main thing that being creative is about is being original and creating something that’s considered to be new. Being creative I feel falls in line with design a lot because it requires a lot of new twists and fresh ideas.

Knowledge is also important, for I feel that you can’t be creative without it. Knowledge is what someone has learned and gathered from other material they have been taught or observed. There are artists who I feel understand many different techniques and proper ways to go about creating, but they’re ideas may not be original as they are sticking to what they know and make that strong. So how creativeness and knowledge go hand in hand is that being creative is going outside the guidelines, taking the knowledge you know and creating something new. 

What could art be?

It has come to my belief that anything can be art. Actually, I guess not anything, but the title of “art” can go in many different directions. I think something has emotion behind it can be art. When I say emotion, I mean something can connect to anyone, whether it’s the creator or the viewer. Art I think can even be something that was not created by an artist, as in nature. There are things where I feel people see them as art, like the ocean or a sunrise or sunset. Though they aren’t paintings or drawings, they create a connection with the viewer.  Also, I think that art is something that has an inter beauty in it that can be seen through the viewers. I think that art is any form of expression, not just creative. It does not necessarily have to be pleasing to the eye but the expression is shown through the work. When people think of art I think that they feel that it needs to be “pretty,” but I don’t think it needs to be beautiful but moving. If behind the piece is emotion and expression then I consider it to be art. Art isn’t something that time is not spent on, in order for it to be something of importance it needs to have effort behind it to show it’s worth.

Design is the creation from your ideas. It’s something that has a purpose behind it. Whether it’s creating a logo or simply for fun, there is a certain thing that it is becoming. I don’t think that design is only design if it’s for something specific. I think that design is what the artist creates from their imagination and is knowingly being done by them. Design is based on creation. It’s different from drawing and painting, because you are creating what’s in your head and not what you are seeing. And I think that it can be inspired by what you see but it is a different variation of it. Design can also be taken from what you see as inspiration for an artists’ own design. It is done by their hand and ideas to create something new and original. I think the base of design focuses on the originality of the piece. I feel that that is what each designer aims for in all their work by creating something that has not been created before. Design I think is also known as patterns. Patterns can fall under different things, as in it can just be something repetitive that’s original-this can be for tattoos, works, and even some time of fabric. I think that design is considered to be art in a way; it can have emotion and expression behind it, and does not always resort to being done as a job.

Craft makes me think of kinder garden. When I hear someone talk about crafts I instantly think of macaroni picture frames and little wood projects, though I feel that many people are on the same page, thinking crafts as not real art. I think the reason for crafts is to make something that has a purpose, a purpose for something to be used. For example, I think that making a picture frame is crafty because it is creating something but it has a use as a picture frame. And I think crafts are commonly things that are not done on a professional level. As I said before, it reminds me of kinder garden- and from that it makes me think of random art projects in the early years of school, mothers making costumes for their children, but nothing that is considered to be “art.” I think it can be somewhat on the same line of design because it’s creating something from your imagination, but it’s focus is more on the use it will be. Craft I think is the bottom step of the artistic interest, that’s where you start and then from there you eventually get to design and art.