3a Defining Your Art
What is art to you? After reading the section in Chapter 3, pages- (91 and 92 in the text book) on Perspective, (that I copied and pasted it below and made blue).
I want you to make a work of art work that meets the 3 notions of the perspectives listed below, so that would be:
1, This project should include one or more aspects relating to the three different qualities of perspective cited in the text.
Some ideas:
A. Cultural perspective. (So this can be about or connected to your country of origin, or the city /place you live in, or any background,circumstances).
B. Historical perspective. (graduating high school, birthdays, first crush, first car, best hair cut?)
C. Personal perspective. ( This can be personal, like -being born and growing up or other significant thing in you life)
The project can be a drawing, photos, a collage of photos, drawing and photos, a movie, music, poetry- written or audio, paint, all the above or any media you want to work with. It should also have a sentence describing what it is so I can follow along. Basically this should describe what you like or don’t like.
KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Perspective
Perspective is a point-of-view. In a way it is regarding something through a specific filter. Each perspective or filter
has unique characteristics that direct how something is considered. For example, if you were analyzing an artwork
in regards to gender, an aspect of identity, you might consider how being male, female, or transgendered might
contribute to the experience of an artwork. Context or contextual knowledge relates to perspective, in that all
perspectives are shaped by the circumstances around them that constitute a kind of background they form within.
3 Basic Types of Perspective
Cultural Perspective
Culture is a complex concept that encompasses the ways that social life effects and informs our experiences. To
quote Stuart Hall:
“Culture, it is not so much a set of things- novels and paintings, or TV programs or comics- as a
process, a set of practices. Primarily culture is concerned with the production and exchange of
meanings- the ‘giving and taking of meaning’ between members in a society or group… Thus culture
depends on its participants interpreting meaning- fully what is around them, and ‘making sense’ of the
world, in broadly similar ways (Rose 2).”
It could be said that growing up in America contributes to an ‘American worldview’. We each may have variations
to this, but unless you were raised outside of the United States, you are strongly (consciously or unconsciously)
influenced by an American perspective. This is an example of cultural perspective. Where in the United States
you were raised might also contribute contextually to this, as many regions of the country are unique and form a
specific kind of background.
Representations, in whatever form they take, contribute to ‘made meanings’ of culture, specifically as visual
culture. As Gillian Rose points out- these representations, whether they are high art or advertisements, are not
transparent windows on the world, rather- they interpret the world (Rose 2). When we select and take in specific
kinds of representations there is an exchange of meaning that goes two ways. We participate in constructing
culture by selecting and elevating certain forms of representations, and that specific visual culture we experience
has the power to influence our personal view on life.
Historical Perspective
As time passes, scholarship and research occur and many people become aware of a particular artwork, art form,
art style, etc. Recognition may increase (and sometimes decreases). Vincent Van Gogh is an example
here—totally unappreciated while he was alive, he’s recognized worldwide as a notable painter. Other examples
might be the negative attitudes towards jazz music or hip-hop in the mid-twentieth century. These currents of
recognition often spring from institutions like museums, academic writing and journals, college art classes, and art
history as a field of study.
Personal Perspective
Personal perspectives are formed by the layered aspects that form our individual identities. This could be any
number of defining aspects such as, gender, class, race, where you were born and raised, education, aspects of
family, group affiliations, etc., and the list goes on. These aspects form our unique biographical experiences that
constitute our identities and color our personal point of view or the way we interpret our life experiences.
You may find that your personal response to art and artworks will change as you learn more about design, art
making, and the history of art in general. Knowledge and/or education about art usually helps us appreciate and
understand it.
Sweeping judgments based purely on a personal emotional response can be colored with bias and often come
from having little knowledge of a subject or artwork or the larger cultural context. These are habits of thinking that
inhibit a critical understanding of things that are new to us like artwork. In general, it’s a good idea to take a
generous stance to art forms or artworks we don’t like or don’t understand or just don’t connect to
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