Today we went to the RISD museum in Providence. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but I actually really enjoyed it. I have only been to museums in DC before, museums of the Holocaust and Smithsonian, but never to an art one. It was a great experience. I really liked how there were different parts of the museum, it wasn’t just based on one century or type of art. They had Greek, Roman, designer, and so many more. The Romans room was definitely one of my favorites. One piece that stood out to me was the lion doorknocker. I am not sure why I was so interested in this one piece, but it just really stuck out to me. Another piece that I really enjoyed in the Romans area was the tombs. I just loved how they showed the designs that were used for burial so long ago. To be able to see what a tomb looked like in Ancient Greek and Roman time was a very cool thing. I didn’t really like all of the paintings as much. I know this is how museums are set up, but I didn’t like how the paintings were oddly spaced on the walls and that was all that was in the rooms. I, personally, think that this makes the room boring and uninteresting. A few of the paintings however, like one that looked like splatter paint and had all different paint densities (I forget the name of it), I really liked. It was more of the way the room the paintings were in was set up, than the actual paintings that I didn’t like. One of my favorite things in the museum was located in, I believe, the designer room. It was the red typewriter, called Valentine. This typewriter was created in the early 1900’s, and was so popular because it was portable; people no longer had to be in the office to do work. The creators of this typewriter were both Italian and it was created during the Pop Art Movement. I think I was first attracted to this typewriter because of the color. It was a bright red color, unlike many of the other things I had seen, and once I had read that it was called the Valentine typewriter and was released on Valentine’s Day, I became interested in it. It’s one of the more modern creations found in the museum, which is another reason why I think I liked it so much; I knew what it was and could easily understand what it was for. All in all, I really enjoyed my trip to RISD and would love to go back some time, even on my own time.
John Yusza RISID reflection I don’t think I have been to a museum in years. I was expecting kind of just the typical art museum kind of thing but I guess I never really stopped to think what that was because I was pleasantly surprised after my visit. Maybe it is because I have spent so much time looking at things that I think really suck but people tell me it is amazing art, but for something to be in a museum it has to be considered good by more than a few people so maybe that’s one reason I actually liked some of the art. If they didn’t hand out a map at the entrance I think I definitely would have been lost. The place was literally a maze and I would not be able to tell the groupings really if the map didn’t say what they were categorized in. I walked around most of the museum I didn’t go to the bottom two levels though. On the ground floor there were paintings and there was one in particular I liked it was by Richard Anuszkiewicz from 1964. It focused on optical illusions. I liked it because it was I don’t even know how to say it, I guess just cool to look at. It was colorful and the designs just drew me in. From a distance it looked one way but then up close it looked another way. Other than that one the painting section was kind of lame modern stuff that looks like a scribble on a piece of paper. The other section I found interesting was the European art section when I walked in it was a high ceiling and there was almost no blank space on the walls. All of it was covered in the classical portrait paintings or paintings of scenes. I just thought it was cool. The other thing I thought was cool was the huge Buddha statue made of wood that had its own room. It was huge, it kind of amazes me that someone took the time to carve that out of wood.
I feel like if people knew art museums were cool like that they would definitely go more often. Like I probably will actually go to another to check it out if I have the time or the opportunity presents itself.
So I finally got around to going to the RISD museum, and it wasn’t as painful as I remembered art museum to be. Actually it was kind of cool. This museum did a great job at touching on all different forms of art and different styles. In class we have been talking about all these forms or art such as sculpture, painting, and drawings so it was nice to see a collection of all these types of art styles in one place. The museum also took us through many different styles of art such as: Ancient Art, Asian Art, Contemporary Art, Costume and Textile Art, and Decorative Art.
I had two favorite parts to this museum. First I like the recreation of the Pendleton House. It’s a wing of the museum devoted to the display Charles L. Pendleton house. It was built in 1906 and still has all the original furniture and paintings. Walking through the rooms almost felt like you were stepping back in 1906 time frame. The time and effort that must have gone in to making this recreation must have took years.
My second favorite part of the RISD museum in providence was the decorative art. I think a lot of museum lack this factor. As you walk through the halls you saw little artistic collection of plates and little house nik naks. I found myself looking a silver plated cigarette box that had weird designs all long it. Something so simple had so much artistic value in it and I thought it was amazing. This museum was loaded with little house hold item that were meant to look like pieces of art for your coffee table.
I don’t normally like museums but for some reason I really enjoyed my time at RISD. The combination of a nice day and cool forms of art peaked my interest. One day I might go back with my mother because I know it would be a place she would like.
It took me a while to finally have enough time to visit the museum in Providence, and it was overall an interesting experience. In the past, the only times I've ever visited a museum was with either family or a part of school. In these situations, I felt rushed because you would always have to stick together and not lose each other while looking around. However because this was on our own, it felt more relaxed and allowed me to observe pieces that I wanted to more in depth. Thanks to the readings in the book about how to observe a work of art, it was easier and more clear to find some meanings behind pieces that I might have not picked up on before.
My favorite part of the museum was the Ancient Greek and Roman works of art. It was interesting to see all the sculptures and the famous pottery made with drawings of Greek mythology in them. That's because I have always been fascinated by the mythology that came out of the area. What was also interesting was the Roman sarcophagus in the middle of the room that had so much detail put into it. I never knew that they put so much time into something like this because we never really went into detail about it in school.
Another section I liked about the museum was the Asian art. There were a lot of different sculptures, and of these sculptures, the ones that stood out were definitely the giant wooden carving of the Buddha, the carvings of what appears to be dragons, and the bronze sculpture of an Indian deity in a unique dance pose surrounded by a ring. The paper drawings as well are very fascinating, my favorite being the one with the cherry blossom branch with a native bird.
This art museum was definitely better than most of the ones I've got to in the past, and like mentioned before, I felt that it was a much better experience on my own than with many other people.
For the museum trip, I went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. After learning about the different kinds of art in class (painting, sculpture, etc.) I became more excited to visit the museum. I went with my good friend Julian who is aspiring to be a photographer and happens to be into art and very familiar with the MoMA. Knowing this, I knew he was the right one to go to the museum with. I remember going to the MoMA maybe once or twice for school field trips but never really on my own. I think going at this age was very fascinating especially since the last time I went was before high school. There were so many different things to see and so many different floors to visit. Not knowing much about art, it was very interesting visiting each floor and even going with a friend who knew about all the different paintings and sculptures and the history behind them all.
There were so many interesting things to see at the museum - including a room where you can play xbox on the wall. The things I found most interesting were the paintings, because I have learned about them over the years and also we were pressed for time and the sculptures were on the higher floors. There were so many paintings to see including Dance (I) by Henri Matisse that we saw in class, Andy Warhol’s famous campbell soup paintings, and this really interesting mural on the wall. But out of all these paintings, my favorite one was Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. It’s so interesting how a painting from 1889 could be so well preserved- as well as behind thick layers of glass just on a wall in a museum. The reason Starry Night is my favorite painting is because it is the one that I have learned about repeatedly over my K-12 years and even did a project replicating the painting in middle school.
Visiting the museum was a great experience, especially going with a friend who knew a lot of information about the different kind of arts and was able to teach me things that I did not know before.
Nicole Marmo RISD Reflection My trip to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) was very interesting. I went Saturday October 3rd with a couple of friends and I have to say it was an interesting art museum visit; however, I’m from New York, so it isn’t as impressive as the Guggenheim, but I was still able to enjoy the art there. The RISD museum was kind of confusing to me because there were a lot of rooms and there were many different directions to go in and we could never decide which way to go. The first gallery I walked through only had 2 pieces, but they weren’t anything special one was of a vase and I don’t remember what the other was of. Then the next hallway I walked through had Andy Warhol wallpaper, but I have to say I wasn’t impressed at all by it. I didn’t understand how wallpaper with a bunch of purple cows is art, its kind of tacky. If I ever saw that in someone’s house I would be disappointed in him or her. Then as I went further down the hallway there were a bunch of contemporary pieces and the one I remember most was a chalkboard and it literally looked like someone gave a three year old some chalk. It was pretty disappointing. Then I came across the “Primary Hue” painting I was very impressed. It was just so perfect and the paint was so clear I didn’t think it would be able to be done so clearly with acrylic paint. It was definitely my favorite painting in the museum because it was just so unique and I’ve never really seen anything like it before. There was a lot going on at this museum it was bigger than I thought it would be. I liked looking at the classic paintings because they remind me of my trip to Italy and all of the famous paintings I saw there. I also like these paintings the most because I know how complicated they are and I know for a fact that I cannot do them and to me, that’s what make these paintings truly amazing. Another painting that caught my eye was the golden painting with Mary and Jesus. The reason it caught my eye is because I know I’ve seen it somewhere before, but I just can’t remember where. There’s definitely a good chance that I saw it in Italy. One sculpture that really caught my eye was this really huge Buddha sculpture. It was so big that I was tempted to sit in it and take a picture, but unfortunately we weren’t allowed to. It was so big it looked like it could just get up and walk away. Overall I did enjoy my visit. There were a lot of different pieces of art and different mediums from different museums. It was a very nice museum; there were just some pieces that I didn’t like. On the other hand, I like the Guggenheim a lot more because I like how there’s always a new theme and every time I go there there’s something new. But at every museum there are going to be pieces that you don’t enjoy and pieces that you do and I did enjoy many of the different pieces of art.
Abigail Lisee Aesthetics Museum Visit On Sunday, I took a trip to Providence where I visited the RISD Art Museum. I decided to invite my mother to go with me to this museum because we had gone to the Worcester Art Museum together a few months before and I found it to be a really great bonding experience. At first, I was sort of excited to go to this museum because I had enjoyed the Worcester Art Museum very much. When I got to the museum and first walked in there was a piece of art that immediately caught my attention. It was a neon sign that said “HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE”. I instantly took a picture of this sign and continued through the museum. As a general statement I will say that I found the set up of the museum to be a little confusing. There were a lot of different directions to go and different rooms and doors and floors that I thought I was missing something or often had to backtrack to make sure I saw everything. Now, I could talk about all the incredible exhibits I saw including the sculptures, and paintings and glass blown ornaments. However, through the entire museum the one piece of art I could not stop thinking about was the very first neon sign I saw when I entered the building. “HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE” is a phrase that has been stuck in the back of my mind. I think the reason this stood out to me so much is because people have always said “happiness is priceless” or “you can’t buy happiness” but I think that happiness is such a touchy subject. It’s so subject to change. For me, I really connected with this piece and understood it completely. I’ve fought for my own happiness, I’ve given up a lot that at first was very difficult but I knew it would be worth it in the end in terms of my own happiness. I’ve depended on others for my own happiness and then I learned to depend on myself. And I think that is really important. If I were to choose which art museum I enjoyed more I think I would choose the Worcester Art Museum but one thing about the RISD Museum I really enjoyed was the Pendleton House. I thought it was really interesting that they built an exhibit that felt just like you entered a house in the 18th century. It was beautiful and I felt as though I wasn’t even in a museum anymore. I thought that was really interesting and clever how they set that up.
This week we had to go to RISD, which is the Rhode Island School of Design. Being from New York I have been to many different museums and encounter many different types of art. Whether it is a painting, sculpture, or photograph I have seen a lot and I have been very impressed. So, going to the Rhode Island School of Design I did not think that I was going to very impressed by that art that was going to be there because it is a small museum. Especially compared to the museums that I have been to, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Museum. But after going through the Rhode Island School of Design I was shocked because the art was beautiful and very impressive.
My favorite piece from the museum that I saw the other day was a contemporary art piece. The piece was called Primary Hue. The piece was a red square that was surrounded by bigger squares that were little shade of red and pink. There was also white lines coming out from the main red square. These white lines give the impression that the painting is three-dimensional. I really liked this piece because it is something that I could see me hanging up in my room. The piece is very symmetrical and very trippy, which gives the piece a very sixties vibe. I loved how bright/ vibrant the colors were, which is why this piece was my favorite.
Another piece that I liked was called Praxiteles Giving Phryne his Statue of Cupid. The name of the painting is exactly what is happening in the painting; a man named Praxiteles is giving a woman, Phryne, a statue of cupid, which symbolizes his love for her. This painting is painted with very little light colors which gives a very romantic feeling to the painting. I also liked that fact that the main focus of the painting was the woman, which was very rare during this time. The reason the woman is the focus is because the artist of Praxiteles Giving Phryne his Statue of Cupid was a woman named, Angelica Kauffmann. This painting is filled with love and is so beautiful, which is why i liked this painting so much.
When I went to the RISD museum, my main goal was to find the student art section. That is my favorite section of the museum. I really like seeing what the past graduates have done. This year they had this amazing photography exhibit done by student that were all portraits. I loved them. There was nothing super special about them, they were just faces in plain clothes. But I loved the emotion. You could really see the emotion in their eyes and I think they captured it beautifully. Besides the student work, I was really in awe of one abstract painting that was hung in the second or third room you walk through when you enter the museum. I think it really struck me because I saw my theme in that painting. I love abstract work also. It was amazing. It was in huge scale. It was really big and to me it was amazing. I loved the mix of complementary colors and contrasting colors that really meshed together to create a piece that I really saw serenity in. It really inspired me and made me push my ideas for my theme. I am not a huge fan of the Renaissance art that seemed to be a big part of the museum. It is not particularly my style. To me it seems stiff and the color part, to me, is kind of boring. I am not dogging that art because it is amazing in that particular style, but that style is just not really for me. I read the New York Times after visiting the museum and after reading it I realized that I did glance over a lot of the artwork that wasn’t particularly my style. I didn’t try to understand the emotion, theme, or try to realize the artist’s vision like we have been learning to do in the textbook. Going in I kept that in mind, how to view a piece of art. But, I seemed to overlook a lot of amazing things, and I more made it my mission to find the pieces that stuck out to me and that I was looking forward to see. Museums, especially art museums, amaze me. I think preserving history and finding out how each art piece from one decade to the next connects is really important and really cool. I think museums get the impression that they are boring, but I think they need to be appreciated more. There is so much history to learn, and even if you just go into an art museum and ignore the history because it is not your favorite, you can definitely admire the beauty. I don’t consider Rhode Island a very well known state. If I got out of state and people ask where I live and I tell them Rhode Island, they always ask in return, “Long Island?” No, Rhode Island, like one of the fifty states. That being said, I would never expect to see the big time artists like Monet, Degas, Picasso, and Van Gogh. I love seeing the famous artists in the same museum as the student work. I think it is awesome that they have all kinds of art in the museum. They have performance art projected on the big screen, they have contemporary art (which I personally didn’t understand), they have pottery from ancient Chinese times, they have jewelry, paintings, photographs, woodwork, furniture, everything. I really like that the museum lets you appreciate all kinds of different art in the same space.
Shannon Smith Forum posting 10/12/15 Upon entering the RISD art museum October 13, 2015, I was greater by a kind woman who directed me to where I would find the artworks created by various artists, including the students who attend RISD. I made my way to the first floor where I found countless works of art by the students of RISD. From intricate sculptures, to headshot photography the projects varied in style and mediums. One of the student made projects that attracted my attention the most was photographs of two african american people in their 20’s titled “the skin i’m in”. Upon first viewing the photos you may notice their skin. However the more I stared at the photo the more intricate details came to my attention. I noticed that each of them had piercings. The boy on the right had one ear pierced, while the girl on the left had a multitude of nose and ear piercings. It seemed that they were wearing their hair naturally and were undressed at least from the shoulders up. I have always been particularly interested in photography and the capturing of others through this medium. I found this art piece beautiful with much more meaning than what one might initially find. The third level held a variety of sculptures, clothing designs, paintings, and photographs shown with a variety of normal, specialized colors, and monochrome effects. Another beautiful photograph that grabbed my attention was a black and white photo of two women from Kenya the title of the photo was their names (which I now have trouble recalling). The description to the right of the photo described the nature of the photo and the confidence the two women in the photo exhibit. Both women are staring directly into the camera without any sense of hesitation or fear. This (in my opinion) represents their strength. Another exhibit I spent a vast amount of time exploring was the fourth floor ancient sculptures and historic paintings. When I initially entered the wide open and empty entrance of the historic paintings room I was taken aback by the vast amount of paintings hanging on the walls. It is amazing how many paintings have accumulated in this museum. Countless portraits of past wealthy citizens and even their pets decked the walls of this room. When I reached the end I found myself staring at a painting of a young girl (clearly descending from a wealthy family). Next to her painted on a seat was her small dog. I found this interesting, the cost of having oneself painted during this time was obviously an extremely high price. The fact that many people of this time could not afford this, yet a dog could (in a way) afford to be painted was rather comical to me. It reminds me of people in our day and age that have professional photos taken with their dogs. It was amazing that I could find a connection with someone who lived during the 1800s (my estimate).
This was the first time I went to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum in providence. I have been to art museums before with my high school in New York City and abroad in Spain. Many times I was just following the teachers to the different spots and not thinking about what I was looking at. This museum was full of interesting artworks and the people who were there were all interested in the art they were seeing. The museum was busy but each person or group had their own interests that they stayed on, so the exhibits were never crowded.
I read these articles before my museum visit and after doing so, I was very happy I did it in that order. I was able to take tips from the video and the journal on how to approach a museum and how to look at artwork. I gave myself enough time to be at the museum without feeling rushed, to ensure that I got the most out of my visit. Each piece I walked past I looked at then read the description and if it was interesting to me I stayed to think more about the piece. I think that coming up with this plan before being in the museum allowed me to time myself better and enjoy my visit more. I regret not knowing this and taking my time in the past because I have visited museums I will probably never experience again and I do not think I got the most out of it at the time.
During my visit I found myself drawn in by the op. art more than any others. I found them so interesting to look at and often stood in front of the piece for a longer time period than any other pieces. I specifically liked the piece called Primary Hue. When I first was looking at it I noticed that the material was different than just paint or any drawing tools. I saw that it had more volume and after reading the description it said that it was acrylic on a canvas. This was interesting to me because I have not seen acrylic up close because I have never worked with it personally. I am not sure if many of the paintings in this museum or in other museums I have been to use this same medium and I am just noticing because I looked at this piece closely for an extended amount of time. I started to think about that as I left the museum, I did not really compare the art to each other, I looked at each piece individually.
The other room I spent a lot of time in was a room full of modern art. This room was full of sculptures of all different ranges. It was interesting to me that there was so much furniture in the museum. The room was full of chairs, desks, tables and other objects that I do not usually think of as art. It made me think a lot about design and whether or not these pieces of furniture are considered sculptures or is furniture just another category of art that is forgotten about. This museum had a display of an antique dining set that included the table, light fixtures, rugs, plates and the silverware. Dishes are often seen as art and enjoyed and collected by many. I found it interesting to see it displayed with the furniture as art. These pieces of art are so unique and often not seen in a museum, which is what I found most interesting about them.
The last piece of art that made me really think was a video; it was a short clip of people being chased. The video ran on repeat in a dark area in the museum. I sat and watched the silent video as if it was a movie telling a story. I found myself trying to make a story of why the three men were chasing the other man and why he was running away from them. There was no exact story that I could find that describes the clip but I enjoyed being able to use my only thoughts to create a story to this scene.
The museum was different than I expected, it was much larger than I thought it was going to be. The art varied so much from each room and each exhibit was a different experience. I am glad I knew how to walk through the museum and how to approach the art without being intimidated by what I was looking at.
This museum trip was so hard to fit into my schedule. The museum is only open until 5 and as a busy person I literally could not fit it in my schedule over the week. I literally squished it into my long weekend. Beside my 5 class I am a resident assistant have a work study job on campus two off campus jobs and am on MSU’s eboard. I literally have no time for life. Because I literally had to squish the museum trip before my job I feel that if I stayed at the museum for a longer time I could of taken even more out of it. I had only been to one museum before this in Boston which was the body museum so I did not ikn0ow what to really expect from the RISD Museum especially since it does not have an overall theme like the museum I had been to before. The RISD Museum had so much art that was just so amazing. The chapter readings helped me take in the art. The readings prepared me on how to read / look at art as well as to find different meanings behind the art. Since I wet alone I felt that as I walked through the museum I was not supper rushed while looking at whatever piece I observed. I enjoyed how the museum was divided in themes within rooms /sections. One section I really enjoyed of the museum was the Asian art. The reason I was really interested in this section is because I am very interested in learning about different cultures and felt that the museum had a variety of art in this section. The Buddha was the art piece that I found the most interesting in the section. The sculpture had so much detail that I was just amazing. The ancient Egypt art pieces where also amazing to observe especially because I really focused on the detail in the artwork. And like I said before the sculptures throughout the museum were pieces I of art I found to be the most interesting because off all the detail work in them.
I actually had a great time at the Museum. I had been about 6 months ago so this visit was short. A few pieces had been replaced by newer art. A common topic of discussion in our class is that if certain pieces are considered art. Well on this trip to the museum I found a few things that I never classified as art. Clearly they are if the pieces are located in an art museum.
One of the pieces was an embroidered wall panel. It was made by Jean- Demosthene Dugourc, a French designer. The panel was made for the royal palace of Madrid. The piece portrayed a bird cage will beautiful flowers and hand placed pearls giving it a real vintage high class look.
Other art that sparked my interest was actually a bowl and teapot. Both made in the 19th century made with porcelain. Both of the pieces had beautiful designers that weren’t the same, but they just went together. They had different patterns containing the same colors such as rust orange, sea foam green and navy blue. The description was really the coolest part. Each piece was sent to Thailand for embellishment and then to China to fire it. This showed the relationship between foreign markets.
Its pretty cool that art can be in different forms and they all have background stories. Just in taking this class and being fortunate to go to n amazing museum I’ve definitely appreciated art and the stories that led to such beautiful pieces of work.
Last year, I visited the RISD museum with two girls I lived with who had to go for their class. I personally like going to art museums, but I agree that some don't present the art as well as others and it affects the experience. My mom, who is also an artist, belonged to the Worcester Art Museum, which was only ten minutes from where I used to live. I visited that museum a few times and it only ever changed an exhibit in one room. It was a boring, one-time-only museum. The RISD museum, however, changed quite a few things from last year. This year I noticed that they were in the process of remodeling an exhibit room while we were visiting, so it was closed off for viewing. Upstairs had also changed. Last year, they had on display form interesting art that was created by students there at RISD. One piece that really struck me was a scene of about 20 actual mannikins set up in a creepy looking crowd dressed up in bright, odd clothing. This year, the room was completely different. It displayed furniture and textiles and had other paintings on the wall. My favorite part of the museum are the midden pieces of art they have scattered throughout the building. I notices as I was walking up a staircase a gigantic chandelier that looked like glass bubbles and tentacles with lights inside. There is no other way to describe it. There is an island near me in Maine that is famous for glass blowing. I have always been interested in how that works. Also at the top of a different staircase, the doorway is made up of small white little people. The people were sculpted very simply, using shapes to define the body. They looked as if they were climbing to the top of the door, so I would say this piece has a good sense of motion or movement. I also enjoyed the room full of impressionistic art. My favorite painting from the period is Poppies by Claude Monet, which I was lucky enough to see in person at the Musée D'Orsay in France. I saw a painting by Monet that depicted a very similar scene in the painting at the RISD museum. I was surprised that they actually had quite a few pieces by Monet and other highly recognized impressionism painters.
The RISD trip was something that I really wanted to be open about, as I have mentioned prior I have never been a huge fan of art appreciation, or art at all. I did not want to turn a blind eye during this experience though as I really wanted to see what I enjoy about art. To start when we walked in the "HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE" sign caught my eye. I thought it was an awesome piece, it seemed very modern, somewhat simple, but also had deep meaning and was also pretty to look at so it had a lot going for it and I really enjoyed that. The light in the corner that gave off different colors was also cool to look at, but did not have any true meaning for me so I thought it was kind of useless. The abstract art really, REALLY, threw me off, I did not understand the meaning of any of them, I tried my best to look beyond the actual illustration but struggled to do so, I have to say the one piece with the red cross was a good looking piece of work and I enjoyed it. The room with the remade modern art was probably my favorite section of the museum, the typewriter painted red, the posters of the black astronauts, and everything else that was modernized was really cool to me. On the contrary the old inside house I had no appreciation for, I can honestly say that I was just bored and unamused by that part of the museum. The final piece that caught me eye was the beach chairs that were colorful, and placed in place to be symmetrical. This was also something modern and I found it very interesting and enjoyed looking beyond the colors into the shape, design, etc.. Overall I believe this trip helped me understand what I like and do not like in the art world. I believe this is a huge step in taking my art appreciation to the next level.
After visiting the RISD museum I have a totally different understanding of what it was. I have never been to, or really heard much about the museum prior to visiting. I was under the impression that is was going to just be a collection of modern art from the RISD students. I was wrong in every way. First walking in, was in fact some modern pieces such as the “HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE” piece, or the red and green flourescent lights, but moving in I was exposed to some giant abstract pieces. I tried to understand; I read the description, stepped back, got really close, stepped back again, looked at it at different angles. I probably spent up to 15 minutes on those first 15 paintings. The point where I got really close was actually kind of breathtaking. I could see the individual strokes of the artist. The globs left where they had used a lot of paint, the craters and ditches left from a thick paint brush (or spatula like one of the other paintings) came into sight when I stood right up next to it. It was really quite interesting. Getting close to one of the paintings in the second room, I came across “Holocaust” by Helen Frankenthaler. She used a technique called soak staining where she would pour globs of paint onto the canvas, and use turpentine to thin it to allow it so soak in and across the canvas. then she would add thicker globs of paint to add emphasis. I thought this was really cool and gave the painting a much more natural, organic feel. There weren’t many hard lines, mostly soft edges fading into other colors. This painting, although abstract, was one that I kind of felt. I saw the white and grey clouds of smoke, the red fire and blood and the grey metals. I could hear the pains and suffering of the holocaust. I spent a good amount of time at this piece. But moving on, I was really interested in the ancient art such as the roman statues they had on display. The sarcophagus they had, had a display of achilles fighting an enemy. The amount of detail that was put into it was absolutely incredible. Every hair, wrinkle and texture was so meticulously carved into the stone. Being able to get so close and walk around it was such an honor. Also the old statues of buddha was really interesting. Stepping into the room with the giant wooden statue of buddha was kind of overwhelming. It stared down at you, towering over like some sort of deity or monster. And just around the corner of there was the Egyptian mummy. I found it kind of funny where it stated the materials of mummy as “Human Remains, Cotton, …”. But again with the details of the sarcophagus. It was beautiful and so intricate! After 3 hours in the museum, they were just about to close. Walking out I realized that there was still so much more to see so I guess I’m going back. Even the walk back to my car, I was noticing all of these things on benefit street that I had not even seen on the walk in. Details in fences, colors of houses, molding in the corners of roofs, even the brick sidewalk and graffiti. It was really quite a strange experience.
Today we went to the RISD museum in Providence. I wasn’t sure what to expect from it, but I actually really enjoyed it. I have only been to museums in DC before, museums of the Holocaust and Smithsonian, but never to an art one. It was a great experience. I really liked how there were different parts of the museum, it wasn’t just based on one century or type of art. They had Greek, Roman, designer, and so many more. The Romans room was definitely one of my favorites. One piece that stood out to me was the lion doorknocker. I am not sure why I was so interested in this one piece, but it just really stuck out to me. Another piece that I really enjoyed in the Romans area was the tombs. I just loved how they showed the designs that were used for burial so long ago. To be able to see what a tomb looked like in Ancient Greek and Roman time was a very cool thing.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t really like all of the paintings as much. I know this is how museums are set up, but I didn’t like how the paintings were oddly spaced on the walls and that was all that was in the rooms. I, personally, think that this makes the room boring and uninteresting. A few of the paintings however, like one that looked like splatter paint and had all different paint densities (I forget the name of it), I really liked. It was more of the way the room the paintings were in was set up, than the actual paintings that I didn’t like.
One of my favorite things in the museum was located in, I believe, the designer room. It was the red typewriter, called Valentine. This typewriter was created in the early 1900’s, and was so popular because it was portable; people no longer had to be in the office to do work. The creators of this typewriter were both Italian and it was created during the Pop Art Movement. I think I was first attracted to this typewriter because of the color. It was a bright red color, unlike many of the other things I had seen, and once I had read that it was called the Valentine typewriter and was released on Valentine’s Day, I became interested in it. It’s one of the more modern creations found in the museum, which is another reason why I think I liked it so much; I knew what it was and could easily understand what it was for. All in all, I really enjoyed my trip to RISD and would love to go back some time, even on my own time.
John Yusza
ReplyDeleteRISID reflection
I don’t think I have been to a museum in years. I was expecting kind of just the typical art museum kind of thing but I guess I never really stopped to think what that was because I was pleasantly surprised after my visit. Maybe it is because I have spent so much time looking at things that I think really suck but people tell me it is amazing art, but for something to be in a museum it has to be considered good by more than a few people so maybe that’s one reason I actually liked some of the art. If they didn’t hand out a map at the entrance I think I definitely would have been lost. The place was literally a maze and I would not be able to tell the groupings really if the map didn’t say what they were categorized in. I walked around most of the museum I didn’t go to the bottom two levels though. On the ground floor there were paintings and there was one in particular I liked it was by Richard Anuszkiewicz from 1964. It focused on optical illusions. I liked it because it was I don’t even know how to say it, I guess just cool to look at. It was colorful and the designs just drew me in. From a distance it looked one way but then up close it looked another way. Other than that one the painting section was kind of lame modern stuff that looks like a scribble on a piece of paper. The other section I found interesting was the European art section when I walked in it was a high ceiling and there was almost no blank space on the walls. All of it was covered in the classical portrait paintings or paintings of scenes. I just thought it was cool. The other thing I thought was cool was the huge Buddha statue made of wood that had its own room. It was huge, it kind of amazes me that someone took the time to carve that out of wood.
I feel like if people knew art museums were cool like that they would definitely go more often. Like I probably will actually go to another to check it out if I have the time or the opportunity presents itself.
Max Kraimer
ReplyDeleteArt History
RISD Reflection
So I finally got around to going to the RISD museum, and it wasn’t as painful as I remembered art museum to be. Actually it was kind of cool. This museum did a great job at touching on all different forms of art and different styles. In class we have been talking about all these forms or art such as sculpture, painting, and drawings so it was nice to see a collection of all these types of art styles in one place. The museum also took us through many different styles of art such as: Ancient Art, Asian Art, Contemporary Art, Costume and Textile Art, and Decorative Art.
I had two favorite parts to this museum. First I like the recreation of the Pendleton House. It’s a wing of the museum devoted to the display Charles L. Pendleton house. It was built in 1906 and still has all the original furniture and paintings. Walking through the rooms almost felt like you were stepping back in 1906 time frame. The time and effort that must have gone in to making this recreation must have took years.
My second favorite part of the RISD museum in providence was the decorative art. I think a lot of museum lack this factor. As you walk through the halls you saw little artistic collection of plates and little house nik naks. I found myself looking a silver plated cigarette box that had weird designs all long it. Something so simple had so much artistic value in it and I thought it was amazing. This museum was loaded with little house hold item that were meant to look like pieces of art for your coffee table.
I don’t normally like museums but for some reason I really enjoyed my time at RISD. The combination of a nice day and cool forms of art peaked my interest. One day I might go back with my mother because I know it would be a place she would like.
Dustin Wade
ReplyDeleteRISD Trip Reflection
It took me a while to finally have enough time to visit the museum in Providence, and it was overall an interesting experience. In the past, the only times I've ever visited a museum was with either family or a part of school. In these situations, I felt rushed because you would always have to stick together and not lose each other while looking around. However because this was on our own, it felt more relaxed and allowed me to observe pieces that I wanted to more in depth. Thanks to the readings in the book about how to observe a work of art, it was easier and more clear to find some meanings behind pieces that I might have not picked up on before.
My favorite part of the museum was the Ancient Greek and Roman works of art. It was interesting to see all the sculptures and the famous pottery made with drawings of Greek mythology in them. That's because I have always been fascinated by the mythology that came out of the area. What was also interesting was the Roman sarcophagus in the middle of the room that had so much detail put into it. I never knew that they put so much time into something like this because we never really went into detail about it in school.
Another section I liked about the museum was the Asian art. There were a lot of different sculptures, and of these sculptures, the ones that stood out were definitely the giant wooden carving of the Buddha, the carvings of what appears to be dragons, and the bronze sculpture of an Indian deity in a unique dance pose surrounded by a ring. The paper drawings as well are very fascinating, my favorite being the one with the cherry blossom branch with a native bird.
This art museum was definitely better than most of the ones I've got to in the past, and like mentioned before, I felt that it was a much better experience on my own than with many other people.
For the museum trip, I went to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. After learning about the different kinds of art in class (painting, sculpture, etc.) I became more excited to visit the museum. I went with my good friend Julian who is aspiring to be a photographer and happens to be into art and very familiar with the MoMA. Knowing this, I knew he was the right one to go to the museum with. I remember going to the MoMA maybe once or twice for school field trips but never really on my own. I think going at this age was very fascinating especially since the last time I went was before high school. There were so many different things to see and so many different floors to visit. Not knowing much about art, it was very interesting visiting each floor and even going with a friend who knew about all the different paintings and sculptures and the history behind them all.
ReplyDeleteThere were so many interesting things to see at the museum - including a room where you can play xbox on the wall. The things I found most interesting were the paintings, because I have learned about them over the years and also we were pressed for time and the sculptures were on the higher floors. There were so many paintings to see including Dance (I) by Henri Matisse that we saw in class, Andy Warhol’s famous campbell soup paintings, and this really interesting mural on the wall. But out of all these paintings, my favorite one was Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. It’s so interesting how a painting from 1889 could be so well preserved- as well as behind thick layers of glass just on a wall in a museum. The reason Starry Night is my favorite painting is because it is the one that I have learned about repeatedly over my K-12 years and even did a project replicating the painting in middle school.
Visiting the museum was a great experience, especially going with a friend who knew a lot of information about the different kind of arts and was able to teach me things that I did not know before.
Nicole Marmo
ReplyDeleteRISD Reflection
My trip to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) was very interesting. I went Saturday October 3rd with a couple of friends and I have to say it was an interesting art museum visit; however, I’m from New York, so it isn’t as impressive as the Guggenheim, but I was still able to enjoy the art there.
The RISD museum was kind of confusing to me because there were a lot of rooms and there were many different directions to go in and we could never decide which way to go.
The first gallery I walked through only had 2 pieces, but they weren’t anything special one was of a vase and I don’t remember what the other was of. Then the next hallway I walked through had Andy Warhol wallpaper, but I have to say I wasn’t impressed at all by it. I didn’t understand how wallpaper with a bunch of purple cows is art, its kind of tacky. If I ever saw that in someone’s house I would be disappointed in him or her. Then as I went further down the hallway there were a bunch of contemporary pieces and the one I remember most was a chalkboard and it literally looked like someone gave a three year old some chalk. It was pretty disappointing.
Then I came across the “Primary Hue” painting I was very impressed. It was just so perfect and the paint was so clear I didn’t think it would be able to be done so clearly with acrylic paint. It was definitely my favorite painting in the museum because it was just so unique and I’ve never really seen anything like it before. There was a lot going on at this museum it was bigger than I thought it would be.
I liked looking at the classic paintings because they remind me of my trip to Italy and all of the famous paintings I saw there. I also like these paintings the most because I know how complicated they are and I know for a fact that I cannot do them and to me, that’s what make these paintings truly amazing. Another painting that caught my eye was the golden painting with Mary and Jesus. The reason it caught my eye is because I know I’ve seen it somewhere before, but I just can’t remember where. There’s definitely a good chance that I saw it in Italy.
One sculpture that really caught my eye was this really huge Buddha sculpture. It was so big that I was tempted to sit in it and take a picture, but unfortunately we weren’t allowed to. It was so big it looked like it could just get up and walk away.
Overall I did enjoy my visit. There were a lot of different pieces of art and different mediums from different museums. It was a very nice museum; there were just some pieces that I didn’t like. On the other hand, I like the Guggenheim a lot more because I like how there’s always a new theme and every time I go there there’s something new. But at every museum there are going to be pieces that you don’t enjoy and pieces that you do and I did enjoy many of the different pieces of art.
Abigail Lisee
ReplyDeleteAesthetics
Museum Visit
On Sunday, I took a trip to Providence where I visited the RISD Art Museum. I decided to invite my mother to go with me to this museum because we had gone to the Worcester Art Museum together a few months before and I found it to be a really great bonding experience. At first, I was sort of excited to go to this museum because I had enjoyed the Worcester Art Museum very much. When I got to the museum and first walked in there was a piece of art that immediately caught my attention. It was a neon sign that said “HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE”. I instantly took a picture of this sign and continued through the museum.
As a general statement I will say that I found the set up of the museum to be a little confusing. There were a lot of different directions to go and different rooms and doors and floors that I thought I was missing something or often had to backtrack to make sure I saw everything. Now, I could talk about all the incredible exhibits I saw including the sculptures, and paintings and glass blown ornaments. However, through the entire museum the one piece of art I could not stop thinking about was the very first neon sign I saw when I entered the building. “HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE” is a phrase that has been stuck in the back of my mind. I think the reason this stood out to me so much is because people have always said “happiness is priceless” or “you can’t buy happiness” but I think that happiness is such a touchy subject. It’s so subject to change. For me, I really connected with this piece and understood it completely. I’ve fought for my own happiness, I’ve given up a lot that at first was very difficult but I knew it would be worth it in the end in terms of my own happiness. I’ve depended on others for my own happiness and then I learned to depend on myself. And I think that is really important.
If I were to choose which art museum I enjoyed more I think I would choose the Worcester Art Museum but one thing about the RISD Museum I really enjoyed was the Pendleton House. I thought it was really interesting that they built an exhibit that felt just like you entered a house in the 18th century. It was beautiful and I felt as though I wasn’t even in a museum anymore. I thought that was really interesting and clever how they set that up.
Anna Strang
ReplyDeleteThis week we had to go to RISD, which is the Rhode Island School of Design. Being from New York I have been to many different museums and encounter many different types of art. Whether it is a painting, sculpture, or photograph I have seen a lot and I have been very impressed. So, going to the Rhode Island School of Design I did not think that I was going to very impressed by that art that was going to be there because it is a small museum. Especially compared to the museums that I have been to, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Museum. But after going through the Rhode Island School of Design I was shocked because the art was beautiful and very impressive.
My favorite piece from the museum that I saw the other day was a contemporary art piece. The piece was called Primary Hue. The piece was a red square that was surrounded by bigger squares that were little shade of red and pink. There was also white lines coming out from the main red square. These white lines give the impression that the painting is three-dimensional. I really liked this piece because it is something that I could see me hanging up in my room. The piece is very symmetrical and very trippy, which gives the piece a very sixties vibe. I loved how bright/ vibrant the colors were, which is why this piece was my favorite.
Another piece that I liked was called Praxiteles Giving Phryne his Statue of Cupid. The name of the painting is exactly what is happening in the painting; a man named Praxiteles is giving a woman, Phryne, a statue of cupid, which symbolizes his love for her. This painting is painted with very little light colors which gives a very romantic feeling to the painting. I also liked that fact that the main focus of the painting was the woman, which was very rare during this time. The reason the woman is the focus is because the artist of Praxiteles Giving Phryne his Statue of Cupid was a woman named, Angelica Kauffmann. This painting is filled with love and is so beautiful, which is why i liked this painting so much.
When I went to the RISD museum, my main goal was to find the student art section. That is my favorite section of the museum. I really like seeing what the past graduates have done. This year they had this amazing photography exhibit done by student that were all portraits. I loved them. There was nothing super special about them, they were just faces in plain clothes. But I loved the emotion. You could really see the emotion in their eyes and I think they captured it beautifully.
ReplyDeleteBesides the student work, I was really in awe of one abstract painting that was hung in the second or third room you walk through when you enter the museum. I think it really struck me because I saw my theme in that painting. I love abstract work also. It was amazing. It was in huge scale. It was really big and to me it was amazing. I loved the mix of complementary colors and contrasting colors that really meshed together to create a piece that I really saw serenity in. It really inspired me and made me push my ideas for my theme.
I am not a huge fan of the Renaissance art that seemed to be a big part of the museum. It is not particularly my style. To me it seems stiff and the color part, to me, is kind of boring. I am not dogging that art because it is amazing in that particular style, but that style is just not really for me.
I read the New York Times after visiting the museum and after reading it I realized that I did glance over a lot of the artwork that wasn’t particularly my style. I didn’t try to understand the emotion, theme, or try to realize the artist’s vision like we have been learning to do in the textbook. Going in I kept that in mind, how to view a piece of art. But, I seemed to overlook a lot of amazing things, and I more made it my mission to find the pieces that stuck out to me and that I was looking forward to see.
Museums, especially art museums, amaze me. I think preserving history and finding out how each art piece from one decade to the next connects is really important and really cool. I think museums get the impression that they are boring, but I think they need to be appreciated more. There is so much history to learn, and even if you just go into an art museum and ignore the history because it is not your favorite, you can definitely admire the beauty.
I don’t consider Rhode Island a very well known state. If I got out of state and people ask where I live and I tell them Rhode Island, they always ask in return, “Long Island?” No, Rhode Island, like one of the fifty states. That being said, I would never expect to see the big time artists like Monet, Degas, Picasso, and Van Gogh. I love seeing the famous artists in the same museum as the student work.
I think it is awesome that they have all kinds of art in the museum. They have performance art projected on the big screen, they have contemporary art (which I personally didn’t understand), they have pottery from ancient Chinese times, they have jewelry, paintings, photographs, woodwork, furniture, everything. I really like that the museum lets you appreciate all kinds of different art in the same space.
Shannon Smith
ReplyDeleteForum posting
10/12/15
Upon entering the RISD art museum October 13, 2015, I was greater by a kind woman who directed me to where I would find the artworks created by various artists, including the students who attend RISD. I made my way to the first floor where I found countless works of art by the students of RISD. From intricate sculptures, to headshot photography the projects varied in style and mediums. One of the student made projects that attracted my attention the most was photographs of two african american people in their 20’s titled “the skin i’m in”. Upon first viewing the photos you may notice their skin. However the more I stared at the photo the more intricate details came to my attention. I noticed that each of them had piercings. The boy on the right had one ear pierced, while the girl on the left had a multitude of nose and ear piercings. It seemed that they were wearing their hair naturally and were undressed at least from the shoulders up. I have always been particularly interested in photography and the capturing of others through this medium. I found this art piece beautiful with much more meaning than what one might initially find. The third level held a variety of sculptures, clothing designs, paintings, and photographs shown with a variety of normal, specialized colors, and monochrome effects. Another beautiful photograph that grabbed my attention was a black and white photo of two women from Kenya the title of the photo was their names (which I now have trouble recalling). The description to the right of the photo described the nature of the photo and the confidence the two women in the photo exhibit. Both women are staring directly into the camera without any sense of hesitation or fear. This (in my opinion) represents their strength.
Another exhibit I spent a vast amount of time exploring was the fourth floor ancient sculptures and historic paintings. When I initially entered the wide open and empty entrance of the historic paintings room I was taken aback by the vast amount of paintings hanging on the walls. It is amazing how many paintings have accumulated in this museum. Countless portraits of past wealthy citizens and even their pets decked the walls of this room. When I reached the end I found myself staring at a painting of a young girl (clearly descending from a wealthy family). Next to her painted on a seat was her small dog. I found this interesting, the cost of having oneself painted during this time was obviously an extremely high price. The fact that many people of this time could not afford this, yet a dog could (in a way) afford to be painted was rather comical to me. It reminds me of people in our day and age that have professional photos taken with their dogs. It was amazing that I could find a connection with someone who lived during the 1800s (my estimate).
This was the first time I went to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum in providence. I have been to art museums before with my high school in New York City and abroad in Spain. Many times I was just following the teachers to the different spots and not thinking about what I was looking at. This museum was full of interesting artworks and the people who were there were all interested in the art they were seeing. The museum was busy but each person or group had their own interests that they stayed on, so the exhibits were never crowded.
ReplyDeleteI read these articles before my museum visit and after doing so, I was very happy I did it in that order. I was able to take tips from the video and the journal on how to approach a museum and how to look at artwork. I gave myself enough time to be at the museum without feeling rushed, to ensure that I got the most out of my visit. Each piece I walked past I looked at then read the description and if it was interesting to me I stayed to think more about the piece. I think that coming up with this plan before being in the museum allowed me to time myself better and enjoy my visit more. I regret not knowing this and taking my time in the past because I have visited museums I will probably never experience again and I do not think I got the most out of it at the time.
During my visit I found myself drawn in by the op. art more than any others. I found them so interesting to look at and often stood in front of the piece for a longer time period than any other pieces. I specifically liked the piece called Primary Hue. When I first was looking at it I noticed that the material was different than just paint or any drawing tools. I saw that it had more volume and after reading the description it said that it was acrylic on a canvas. This was interesting to me because I have not seen acrylic up close because I have never worked with it personally. I am not sure if many of the paintings in this museum or in other museums I have been to use this same medium and I am just noticing because I looked at this piece closely for an extended amount of time. I started to think about that as I left the museum, I did not really compare the art to each other, I looked at each piece individually.
The other room I spent a lot of time in was a room full of modern art. This room was full of sculptures of all different ranges. It was interesting to me that there was so much furniture in the museum. The room was full of chairs, desks, tables and other objects that I do not usually think of as art. It made me think a lot about design and whether or not these pieces of furniture are considered sculptures or is furniture just another category of art that is forgotten about. This museum had a display of an antique dining set that included the table, light fixtures, rugs, plates and the silverware. Dishes are often seen as art and enjoyed and collected by many. I found it interesting to see it displayed with the furniture as art. These pieces of art are so unique and often not seen in a museum, which is what I found most interesting about them.
The last piece of art that made me really think was a video; it was a short clip of people being chased. The video ran on repeat in a dark area in the museum. I sat and watched the silent video as if it was a movie telling a story. I found myself trying to make a story of why the three men were chasing the other man and why he was running away from them. There was no exact story that I could find that describes the clip but I enjoyed being able to use my only thoughts to create a story to this scene.
The museum was different than I expected, it was much larger than I thought it was going to be. The art varied so much from each room and each exhibit was a different experience. I am glad I knew how to walk through the museum and how to approach the art without being intimidated by what I was looking at.
This museum trip was so hard to fit into my schedule. The museum is only open until 5 and as a busy person I literally could not fit it in my schedule over the week. I literally squished it into my long weekend. Beside my 5 class I am a resident assistant have a work study job on campus two off campus jobs and am on MSU’s eboard. I literally have no time for life. Because I literally had to squish the museum trip before my job I feel that if I stayed at the museum for a longer time I could of taken even more out of it. I had only been to one museum before this in Boston which was the body museum so I did not ikn0ow what to really expect from the RISD Museum especially since it does not have an overall theme like the museum I had been to before.
ReplyDeleteThe RISD Museum had so much art that was just so amazing. The chapter readings helped me take in the art. The readings prepared me on how to read / look at art as well as to find different meanings behind the art. Since I wet alone I felt that as I walked through the museum I was not supper rushed while looking at whatever piece I observed. I enjoyed how the museum was divided in themes within rooms /sections. One section I really enjoyed of the museum was the Asian art. The reason I was really interested in this section is because I am very interested in learning about different cultures and felt that the museum had a variety of art in this section. The Buddha was the art piece that I found the most interesting in the section. The sculpture had so much detail that I was just amazing. The ancient Egypt art pieces where also amazing to observe especially because I really focused on the detail in the artwork. And like I said before the sculptures throughout the museum were pieces I of art I found to be the most interesting because off all the detail work in them.
Marisa Siino
ReplyDeleteMuseum reflection
I actually had a great time at the Museum. I had been about 6 months ago so this visit was short. A few pieces had been replaced by newer art. A common topic of discussion in our class is that if certain pieces are considered art. Well on this trip to the museum I found a few things that I never classified as art. Clearly they are if the pieces are located in an art museum.
One of the pieces was an embroidered wall panel. It was made by Jean- Demosthene Dugourc, a French designer. The panel was made for the royal palace of Madrid. The piece portrayed a bird cage will beautiful flowers and hand placed pearls giving it a real vintage high class look.
Other art that sparked my interest was actually a bowl and teapot. Both made in the 19th century made with porcelain. Both of the pieces had beautiful designers that weren’t the same, but they just went together. They had different patterns containing the same colors such as rust orange, sea foam green and navy blue. The description was really the coolest part. Each piece was sent to Thailand for embellishment and then to China to fire it. This showed the relationship between foreign markets.
Its pretty cool that art can be in different forms and they all have background stories. Just in taking this class and being fortunate to go to n amazing museum I’ve definitely appreciated art and the stories that led to such beautiful pieces of work.
Last year, I visited the RISD museum with two girls I lived with who had to go for their class. I personally like going to art museums, but I agree that some don't present the art as well as others and it affects the experience. My mom, who is also an artist, belonged to the Worcester Art Museum, which was only ten minutes from where I used to live. I visited that museum a few times and it only ever changed an exhibit in one room. It was a boring, one-time-only museum. The RISD museum, however, changed quite a few things from last year.
ReplyDeleteThis year I noticed that they were in the process of remodeling an exhibit room while we were visiting, so it was closed off for viewing. Upstairs had also changed. Last year, they had on display form interesting art that was created by students there at RISD. One piece that really struck me was a scene of about 20 actual mannikins set up in a creepy looking crowd dressed up in bright, odd clothing. This year, the room was completely different. It displayed furniture and textiles and had other paintings on the wall.
My favorite part of the museum are the midden pieces of art they have scattered throughout the building. I notices as I was walking up a staircase a gigantic chandelier that looked like glass bubbles and tentacles with lights inside. There is no other way to describe it. There is an island near me in Maine that is famous for glass blowing. I have always been interested in how that works. Also at the top of a different staircase, the doorway is made up of small white little people. The people were sculpted very simply, using shapes to define the body. They looked as if they were climbing to the top of the door, so I would say this piece has a good sense of motion or movement.
I also enjoyed the room full of impressionistic art. My favorite painting from the period is Poppies by Claude Monet, which I was lucky enough to see in person at the Musée D'Orsay in France. I saw a painting by Monet that depicted a very similar scene in the painting at the RISD museum. I was surprised that they actually had quite a few pieces by Monet and other highly recognized impressionism painters.
The RISD trip was something that I really wanted to be open about, as I have mentioned prior I have never been a huge fan of art appreciation, or art at all. I did not want to turn a blind eye during this experience though as I really wanted to see what I enjoy about art. To start when we walked in the "HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE" sign caught my eye. I thought it was an awesome piece, it seemed very modern, somewhat simple, but also had deep meaning and was also pretty to look at so it had a lot going for it and I really enjoyed that. The light in the corner that gave off different colors was also cool to look at, but did not have any true meaning for me so I thought it was kind of useless. The abstract art really, REALLY, threw me off, I did not understand the meaning of any of them, I tried my best to look beyond the actual illustration but struggled to do so, I have to say the one piece with the red cross was a good looking piece of work and I enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteThe room with the remade modern art was probably my favorite section of the museum, the typewriter painted red, the posters of the black astronauts, and everything else that was modernized was really cool to me. On the contrary the old inside house I had no appreciation for, I can honestly say that I was just bored and unamused by that part of the museum. The final piece that caught me eye was the beach chairs that were colorful, and placed in place to be symmetrical. This was also something modern and I found it very interesting and enjoyed looking beyond the colors into the shape, design, etc.. Overall I believe this trip helped me understand what I like and do not like in the art world. I believe this is a huge step in taking my art appreciation to the next level.
After visiting the RISD museum I have a totally different understanding of what it was. I have never been to, or really heard much about the museum prior to visiting. I was under the impression that is was going to just be a collection of modern art from the RISD students. I was wrong in every way. First walking in, was in fact some modern pieces such as the “HAPPINESS IS EXPENSIVE” piece, or the red and green flourescent lights, but moving in I was exposed to some giant abstract pieces. I tried to understand; I read the description, stepped back, got really close, stepped back again, looked at it at different angles. I probably spent up to 15 minutes on those first 15 paintings. The point where I got really close was actually kind of breathtaking. I could see the individual strokes of the artist. The globs left where they had used a lot of paint, the craters and ditches left from a thick paint brush (or spatula like one of the other paintings) came into sight when I stood right up next to it. It was really quite interesting. Getting close to one of the paintings in the second room, I came across “Holocaust” by Helen Frankenthaler. She used a technique called soak staining where she would pour globs of paint onto the canvas, and use turpentine to thin it to allow it so soak in and across the canvas. then she would add thicker globs of paint to add emphasis. I thought this was really cool and gave the painting a much more natural, organic feel. There weren’t many hard lines, mostly soft edges fading into other colors. This painting, although abstract, was one that I kind of felt. I saw the white and grey clouds of smoke, the red fire and blood and the grey metals. I could hear the pains and suffering of the holocaust. I spent a good amount of time at this piece. But moving on, I was really interested in the ancient art such as the roman statues they had on display. The sarcophagus they had, had a display of achilles fighting an enemy. The amount of detail that was put into it was absolutely incredible. Every hair, wrinkle and texture was so meticulously carved into the stone. Being able to get so close and walk around it was such an honor. Also the old statues of buddha was really interesting. Stepping into the room with the giant wooden statue of buddha was kind of overwhelming. It stared down at you, towering over like some sort of deity or monster. And just around the corner of there was the Egyptian mummy. I found it kind of funny where it stated the materials of mummy as “Human Remains, Cotton, …”. But again with the details of the sarcophagus. It was beautiful and so intricate! After 3 hours in the museum, they were just about to close. Walking out I realized that there was still so much more to see so I guess I’m going back. Even the walk back to my car, I was noticing all of these things on benefit street that I had not even seen on the walk in. Details in fences, colors of houses, molding in the corners of roofs, even the brick sidewalk and graffiti. It was really quite a strange experience.
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