Baltimore Museum of Art

     One of my many reasons for choosing Loyola was all of the opportunities that Baltimore has to offer. I had heard many great things from friends who have visited the Baltimore Museum of Art, so I was very excited to hear that I would be going. When walking around the museum I noticed that I preferred paintings to sculptures. All of the pictures that I took were of framed paintings. The modern art exhibits were not as appealing to me, they were very simple and had little to examine further than at first glance. I felt like they were to simplistic and could have been created quickly with little thought. I often feel the need to be distracted and the paintings provide more to look at. Within the paintings there were lots of little details to notice, instead of staring a piece wood with a hole in it.  That being said,  I preferred the complexity of art from the 19th century.

Views of St. Lazare Railway Station, Paris by Norbert Goeneutte

     Pictured above is Norbert Goeneutte's painting "Views of St. Lazare Railway Station," my favorite part of this painting is the simple color palette. At first glance, the gray and brown colors reveal a dreary mood. The bridge in the middle provides a horizontal break in the painting, while the vertical clouds of smoke add a contrary smoke. When examining this painting I cannot help but wonder what is going on. I think that the smoke is from industrial Paris. I really like the way that this image shows another side to Paris. Traditionally when an image of Paris comes to mind I assume that it is infront of the Eiffel tower, however, this piece of work exposes an industrial side of Paris. 

Basket of Fruit by Pierre Bonnard

     The simplicity of "Basket of Fruit" by Pierre Bonnard is what makes the image beautiful. The horizontal line about two thirds down the page shows a plain gray space that could be a table. In the background is a centered vertical line that divides the background into two colors. Then there is the basket of fruit. The title is straightforward to the image revealing the importance and focus of the art. When standing there looking at it I thought about the significance of the basket being centered. I like the way that there are no distractions. In my house, baskets of fruit (occasionally baskets of candy)  are often a centerpiece to the bustling kitchen table. By seeing the basket in a plain background I was able to appreciate the beauty of the basket. The fruit are all different and unique, so it does not matter if they are perfect. Is there really a perfect fruit?? Each fruit is from nature and nature is unique. 

The Earth and the Air by Yves Tanguy

     "The Earth and the Air" by Yves Tanguy shows a lot of impressive technique. The seemingly random assortment of objects at the bottom encourages a lot of thought and it is also really representative of its time. The clouds at the top provide a sharp contrast to the bottom in both color and lines. The blending of the clouds evokes a very different feeling from the land at the bottom. It reminds me of the peace among chaos. 

     Overall, my visit to the Baltimore Museum of Art served as another opportunity to emerge myself in local culture. My favorite artist was Pierre Bonnard. When reading the description of his style I learned that he likes to leave empty spaces in the middle. I am curious how this would work in other paintings. It seems so natural in the fruit basket.

Calvino Article Review

     Visibility by Italo Calvino discusses the two kinds of imagination. The first kind of imagination is the one that starts at words and ends at visual. The second kind of imagination has the opposite journey it starts at visual and ends at words. I find this to be an interesting idea. Upon reflection I can see the two different ideas have both been used in my various sections of my life. Playing lacrosse in high school before all of my games I would visualize winning. One particular game stands out to me, our county semi-final against New Providence. All week I visualized the feeling of winning and moving on in the tournament. This greatly helped my performance on the day of the event. I played just as I visualized I would. Visualizing a victory in lacrosse and other aspects of my life has helped me practice mind over matter in order to have more confidence and courage. I have also used the words to visual imagination in my life. When writing a paper, I write down the steps in an outline to then create the final paper. Personally, I find visualization and then action to be more common in my life.

Senior Exhibition Reception

      On Friday January 20th, I attended the Senior Exhibition Reception sponsored by the Julio Fine Arts Gallery. This was my first time going to the gallery. After living on campus for a few months, why I had I never gone to it before? Probably because I normally picture art galleries to be collects of paintings and sculptures. However, this particular art gallery amazed me. It was not your tradition gallery, it brought beauty to various arts such as digital media, photographs and your traditional paintings and sculptures. It was not just paintings on a wall, there were videos, modern photographs with a new meaning and non traditional art work.

      Pictured above is my favorite exhibit at the gallery. I do not recall who created this, however, I was intrigued by the beauty it portrayed. To me this piece shows that art is not limited to a certain space. Art does not have to stay in-between edges on a canvas, it can flow freely and go anywhere whether the floor or wall. 

      This acrylic painting "Order/Chaos" by Hewit Harchick was interesting to me. The image of the lady and the way her eyes are covered leaves order in her life. She likely does not know what is covering her eyes or what is going on directly infant of her. To the viewer, it looks like there is some sort of monster's arm covering her eyes. From the title, I assume that she is being hidden from chaos. It is interesting because cannot see what is going on, but neither can I. It left me wondering what type of chaos is going on and I am sure she is wondering the same thing. What can she be hiding from? The beauty of this image is that it left me pondering about it beyond by first glance. 

      Another exhibit that I enjoyed, but unfortunately did not get a photo of was Rob Moore's Ink Bias. His project brought beauty to tattoos. Tattoos are very common in modern culture but can often be generalized as trashy and distasteful. However, Moore's photograph comparison highlighted the beauty of the individual and then revealed their tattoos. The affect it had on me was that the tattoos seemed significant to the beauty of the person. 

Saltz Article Review

     When reading Jeffery Saltz's article "The Whole Ball of Wax" I was most intrigued by the question Saltz posed about art changing the world. How could a simple painting change the world? If art is just an object, what can it accomplish? Initially I thought this question was strange and thought that art couldn't change the world. I went on to read about the art changing individual topics such as global warming or a presidential election, I then decided yes art does have the potential to change the world. I connected it back to my history classes in High School and remembered the importance of propaganda in changing the country. It must not be that hard for art to expand and change the world. However, I was surprised when Saltz went on to explain that correct answer is no. Initially I was confused, but his approach made a lot of sense to me. By comparing art to a bridge, Saltz reminded me that art is always there but the individual analysis can be different. Everyone sees the same object but has the ability to interpret it in different ways. The physical bridge is the same yet different people use it for different things. This is the same with a piece of art. If many people look at an identical piece of art they can reach different conclusions as to what the art portrays. Overall, Saltz's article merged my two thoughts to create an answer. Art cannot change the world, but the ways people view and discuss it can change the world. Saltz's statement that "Art is not optional; it is necessary. It is part of the whole ball of wax." sums up the importance of art in the world. Art reflects opinions, current events, and all the things going on within humanities' brains. It is essential to the world, but does not make up a large part.