Video-“Through the Eyes of a Sculptor”
Every stone has a certain smell. Limestone is created as sedimentary rock at the bottom of the seas of the world. Restoration Artists generally work on 1 small body part at a time (hands, feet, nose, ears, etc). Very rarely are they asked to produce an entire statue. The sculptor must use his/her feelings to carve the object back into shape. Restoration in France and in Europe has been going on for little over a century. Knocking on the stone and listening for specific noises is how to tell if the stone is damaged or cracked in any way. Sculptures are made from clay, bronze, limestone, and marble. Once a sculpture is complete, the artist leaves bridges in the artwork to help support the sculpture while its being transported to avoid it from being damaged. The artist then removes and finishes his artwork when it is delivered on site. When making a Sculpture, a clay model is made first. Then the artist applies a silicon layer, which allows the plaster mold to be used without damaging the piece. Then after the plaster model is made, then marble is used in the next step to complete the artists’ vision. Marble is the product of limestone when limestone is baked and squeezed and crushed together by the tectonic plates that collided 50 million years ago off the Mediterranean coast. Exploitation of marble has been dated back to the 1st century B. C. To see the actual color of the marble and the quality, you first wet the material with water. Stone is the canvas for the sculptor, and throughout history many beautiful sculptures have been produced with cruder techniques than those used today.
-I really enjoyed this video. I have always been interested in the different aspects of art that have been around for thousands of years. With sculpture, especially, there are so many ancient examples of it that are magnificent in beauty while also being some of the largest pieces of art that exist on the planet. The skill that must have been possessed by the artists to create such sculptures in ancient times with limited technology is daunting. The video didn’t add too much more information on sculpting. It just went into greater detail in the processes used to create sculptures and several facts about the stone used.
Video-“Glass and Ceramics”
Glass and ceramic are some of the oldest man-made materials. In glassmaking, fluxes such as potash or limestone are added to a silica mixture that is heated until it turns into a liquid. It is then ready for the glassblower’s step-by-step process of creating glass shapes. Glassmakers modulate light by using different glass colors and textures. To make leaded glass, the glazier makes a small-scale model of the project first. The final, cut glass pieces are then fastened together with channeled lead strips. The crystalline restructuring of clay molecules during cooling is what gives ceramics their hardness and resistance. Multiple items such as dinner plates are dry pressed by pistons that exert even pressure to prevent distortion. Ceramic materials can be stronger than steel and are capable of withstanding extremely high temperatures. Ceramic prostheses are stable and well tolerated in the body. In the future, ceramic vehicle engines will be lighter and more efficient. One of the most daring applications of glass is in architecture, where it fulfills many technical functions such as heat reflection and retention. Double-paned glass windows absorb sound vibrations and provide thermal insulation. Laminated glass is an effective solution to glass that can shatter and cause injuries. Thick, laminated glass is commonly used in schools and sports facilities. Glass is slowly taking the place of stone as a building material.
-With the recent technological breakthroughs with glass strengthing, I also believe that glass will slowly take place of the stone as a building material. Its much lighter than stone, as well as its easier to produce. As seen from the sculpting video, you have to go to specific quarries that could be located on the opposite side of the world if you want the best in quality that mother nature has to offer. While the book focuses more so on and overview and the history of glass, the video educates us on the more modern aspects and uses of it.
Installation Art is defined as when the “the artwork takes over the space” or “the artwork defines the space”. Installation art is something that is all around you. Now, it’s the most trendy thing to do. It forces the viewer to interact with the whole environment. “Site specific art”, is art that cannot work except in that specific location. For example “Spiral Jetty” (EXPLAIN CONNECTION TO TEXTBOOK). When an artist creates an installation art pieces, it draws the viewer into that particular world and forces them to interact in some way with the work. The term Installation Art was only coined 30 yrs ago(from date of video production). Installing difficult art items creates a new industry. It takes Mike Nelson a month to install “Coral Reef” after taking months to collect the items for it. With all the dismantling, galleries choose art carefully. As art of the moment, installation art is applied to a wide range of work from community art projects to world famous projects like Hirst's "Mother and Child Divided" and Tracey Emin's work.
-The video goes much more in depth on installation art than the textbook does. From what I have seen so far, im not a huge fan of installation art, although I did find a few of the pieces mentioned in the video to be interesting. The installation art I most liked was the piece that instead of the viewer just looking out of a window, the window gradually appears in front of you for your viewing pleasure.
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