Immersion into Art and the Crap Behind It

Oh goodness, I haven't written in forever. I know why. The reason is always the same. Too much to say. No time to say it. Might as well just mindlessly click on facebook and look at pictures:) haha. Which is one of the reasons why i am home on a friday night- i've got a load of art history research to do! In a sense, i am loving this class, because everyday is one step closer to my last day of learning and pretending to care about art history. I would never tell anyone in the art community this, but i find the study of art history (most of art history) to be a huge waste of time. Not because i think studying history itself is a huge waste of time. not at all. but when you are studying art in a particular historical setting, you are studying the effects of history on art. What bothers me about this is that there are so many other subjects i'd rather be focusing on in, for instance, the Renaissance era, than its art and the "meaning" behind the art. The only way we contemporary artists (and all ppl i guess:) haha) can study this is through the eyes of the rich. because the rich were the only literate ones and thus the only "voice" we can hear from. What about the peasants? did art mean lickety-split to them as they farmed and labored all the livelong day? C'mon people. Studying art history the way it is commonly taught is akin to a future generation studying only the works of art displayed in the White House and Paris Hilton's mansion (so, MANY large imposing images of Paris everywhere). The high society's idea of art is NOT what will truly define this era we live in today. It's us. the peasants. haha just kidding we are totally not peasants. well, maybe we are. that's a whole nother subject:) Anyways, so i'm doing my art history homework on devotional artwork of the Renaissance in Northern Europe (ya jealous yet?), and it just started to get good.
Chapter 11's focus is on the Protestant Reformation and Calvinism, etc. and their impact on the Catholic Church's worship of imagery. Listen to what Albrecht Durer, arguably the most influential artist of his time, says in "The Art of Measurement" (1525):

And they [all eager students of Art] will not be misled by those now amongst us who, in our own day, revile the Art of Painting and say that it is the servant to idolatry. For a Christian would no more be led to superstition by a picture or effigy than an honest man to commit murder because he carries a weapon by his side. He must indeed be an unthinking man who would worship picture, wood or stone. A picture therefore brings more good than harm, when it is honourably, artistically and well made.

Wow, that's good stuff. to me at least. By the way, when did we start taking out the "u"s in words like "honour"? That's so elegant. C'mon america.

Well, tune in next time. I've got tons of thoughts you just gotta know;) Like, for instance, the new addition to our home (my cousin taylor) and the stories that go along with that, my slippery sloped path to romance, and have i put any of my artwork up here yet? I need to. I finally deem it worthy enough to be seen.

My "Statement"

My artist's statement for the Fall 08 semester:
This semester, my goal as an artist has been to be able to express events and the impact they have had on my life. My strengths lie in writing and poetry as far as trying to convey what I am feeling, so it has been my challenge to be able to do the same thing with art. I see the world as black and white, right and wrong, good and evil. In a culture where everything is relative and there are no absolute truths, I hope to create work that not only discredits popular opinion, but also creates positive thought in the minds of all who view my work. I have been using acrylics and have been experimenting with various mixed media, resulting in a few failed works whose materials I was unable to use effectively. But each endeavor has taught me something new.This is still a period of finding my voice in the art culture, and being able to effectively portray what comes so easily from writing it down. I have been using my journals, pictures, lyrics, and poetry to create a theme. Faith, children, poverty, confusion, ignorance, tolerance, the feminist/Marxist movement, text, and color as a tool to revive emotion are central to my work. I cross international lines in a lot of my work. I use gesso, acrylic, ink, charcoal, and experimental mediums and apply them to canvas, scrap wood, watercolor paper, and recycled materials. My greatest challenge has been trying to present my art without crossing the lines of using symbols meaning an entirely different thing than what I meant for them to be see as. What can be such an absolute statement in my own words turns out a much more vague statement in my art. In order to achieve a level of effectiveness and understanding from the viewers, I have been trying to express ideas not only through what is put on the canvas, but also what is left off. I feel I have a long way to go. I feel I compulsively continue working on projects that should be left alone. I also think the thoughts in my head and the things on my heart are not quite making their way to the canvas. But I continue to experiment and I feel that when I am making art about something I truly love, the brushstrokes continue to come easier.