Dreamweaver

My english class had a lecture about how to use Adobe Dreamweaver to create websites for our last project- to create a website that is an "Art Guide".  I am a Computer Science (CS) major, and I love learning to work with more software and computer applications. I had to make a website for my first CS class, and the assignment was to code it ourselves, which was very frustrating. I like how easy it is to use Dreamweaver. The features are easy to understand and use, even for people who don't know as much about computers and software. I will definitely enjoy using Dreamweaver to create a website, because I think it will look much more professional using Dreamweaver than hard coding a website, because it gives me the ability to do more on the website. There are some things that I could spend hours figuring out and coding myself, or I could just spend a few minutes making them in Dreamweaver. However, I also like learning HTML myself, and not having to rely on a program to code the website for me.

Picture Source: http://4sharedserialkeys.blogspot.com/p/serial-keys.html

Titian Exhibit

 I had the opportunity to go see the Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting Exhibition at the High Museum. The highlight and focus of the exhibition is the the two Diana paintings. I loved how the exhibit is set up in relation to the Diana paintings. People are encouraged to enter the exhibit, and start on the second floor of the building, where the lower level of the exhibit is located. This floor contained preparatory drawings and sketches from several venetian painters. So when you started going through the exhibit, you started seeing the drawings that precede the paintings, and the exhibit mentioned the Diana paintings in several places. And then when you go to the third floor, where the upper level of the exhibit is, you finally see the Diana paintings after hearing about them, building up anticipation. The Diana paintings are hanging in the middle of the room, and the walls are curved towards the two paintings. I really like how the exhibition built anticipation waiting to see the two famous paintings, and then they were revealed as the focal point of the upper floor of the exhibition. Furthermore, I also like that the walls of the exhibit are a dark red. It makes the exhibit feel more intimate and close together, and it provides more contrast to the drawings and paintings than the plain white walls that are in the rest of the museum would have. The white walls would have made the exhibition feel too spaced out, and would not have made the paintings feel as vibrant as the dark red.


The two Diana Paintings, painted by Titian:

Diana and Actaeon:

Diana and Callisto:

Pictures Source: http://www.high.org/main.taf?p=3,1,1,22,7

Visual Essay Reflections

Working on the visual essay was an interesting experience. I had never thought about the concept of a visual essay before taking this this class. The first thing I had to do for this project was to take the pictures. I had a lot of fun wandering around campus taking pictures of all the different buildings, sidewalk chalk drawings, and landscaping. My theme was the different forms of public art. There are many different things that can be considered public art that most people do not think of and appreciate as art. This project also allowed me to work on my public speaking skills, and I would like to think that I have better presentation skills now than I did before this project.

My Visual Essay

These are my pictures from my visual essay. The theme of my essay is the different kinds of public art, definitions of public art, or what can be considered public art. I put images together that show the same "category" of public art, and I ordered the categories, starting with the categories that are obvious as public art, and I ended with the categories that a lot of people would not generally think of when they think about public art. The images here are ordered in the same order as in my essay.

Visual Essay Theme

My theme for the visual essay presentation is different kinds of public art. When people think of public art, the first thing that comes to most people's minds are sculptures and murals. However, more discrete things such as landscaping can also be public art. Especially if you live in a large city such as Atlanta that is not a very artsy city, you have to learn how to also appreciate these other forms of public art if you want to find more public art because you won't find much public art if the only things you appreciate as public art are the more obvious forms of art such as sculptures and murals.

Art Experiences

Walking around a city looking at public art and going to a museum to see artworks are two very different experiences. I personally prefer walking around an area looking for public art as opposed to visiting a museum. First of all, you don't have to pay money to look around at public art, but you have to pay to enter a museum. Also, when you are out in search of public art, it feels like an adventure instead of walking around a quiet building with a lot of other people, many of whom probably don't want to be there.

However, going to a museum also has it's advantages. For example, museums have a larger amount of art in a smaller area. If you choose to go to a museum, you will not have to wander around an entire city searching. Instead, you can just walk around the building and enjoy.

Public Art

This image is an example of public art. The image shows a work of graffiti art on the side of a building in Dusseldorf, Germany. Although graffiti is often very unappreciated and  looked down upon, I think that graffiti is a very good example of public art, because it is painted specifically for the general public and the artist paints it to make a specific point about some kind of issue. I think that graffiti is also a good way to explain public art because not only does it fit those qualifications, the artists who paint graffiti are under a great deal of pressure because in many countries, they are committing illegal acts to be able to present their point of view to the public through their art.

Picture Source: http://akheilshah.com/graffiti-art-in-dusseldorf-germany/