Ornament and the Sources of Design in the Decorative Arts

Jose Rengel

09/10/2016

Ivins, William M. ""Ornament" and the Sources of Design in the Decorative Arts." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 13, no. 2 (1918): 35-41

The article is about the importance of ornaments and the different styles of ornaments and the craftsmanship. Ornaments are designs that are used to make something look more attractive but usually having no practical purpose. Ornaments can be considered decorative art because engravers have been making their own style of ornaments for centuries, and it shows a list of engravers with their own style and how they used it. Even until today, the collection of decorative art has educated more collectors than the craftsmen based on the design and the craftsmanship.

This article can help people understand the concept of design and craftsmanship, how to understand how those are two different things and understanding the difference between the two. Artists can consider adding ornaments to certain of their works; many artists decide to give ornaments to their pieces in order to make it look more attractive. Ornaments and decorative art are important pieces to art because it can make them look better, and for centuries many types of ornaments have been crafted.

Jerry Saltz on the Outsider Art Fair and Why There’s No Such Thing As ‘Outsider’ Art

Jerry Saltz on the Outsider Art Fair

and

Why There’s No Such Thing As ‘Outsider’ Art

This article talks about outsider art, which is art produced by self-taught artists who have had little or no contact within the art world or institutions. It mentions that MoMa (Museum of Modern Art) and other museums have refused to show outsider art. The reason why it was discriminated is because the artist had to be prepared and have experience in the art world, and those artists were labeled as untrained or disturbed. MoMa and other museums even separated insider and outsider art. However, many believe that it was time to put that type of art on display, and that type of discrimination should be gone in order to give outsiders and opportunity for the audience to take a look at their works. That is why the Outsider Art Fair has been around, for people to take a look at the outsider art.

This article can help people who are interested in art understand that they don’t necessarily need to have experience in art institutions in order to be creative and be successful, the audience can still learn to appreciate their works. There should not be discrimination based on whether an artist is trained or not, or has experience in the art world or not. Having training or experience in an art institution should not be the only way for the work to be appreciated to be put on display. The Outsider Art Fair has done a good job in putting on display the works of many outsider artists. People who are interested in art should also take give outsider artist a chance to have their works looked at and appreciated.

The White Bird

The White Bird by John Berger

The White Bird talks about the relationship of art and nature. Art can be made in many ways, it can be formed in random objects and assembling pieces together that it can make a figure. It is amazing how John Berger talked about the process of making a handmade figure that looks like a flying bird. And the bird started as a tradition by peasants, and they hang those birds in chapels or in their kitchen. This use of art gives the bird a symbolic figure to them. The material in which was used to make the bird is also respected because the audience find amazing how one simple object can be transformed to represent nature, which is how people can find the aesthetic emotion in it.

This essay can help people and inspire them to use random objects to create a representative figure, which is the beauty of art. Art can come in many ways, whether is a cultural tradition and it can be used to make a symbolic figure or to send a message to the audience. Finding objects and assembling pieces can be complex, but if the figure looks good it can be respected and appreciated, and if those objects come from nature it can give a symbolic figure to the people of each of their own tradition. This essay gives an idea of what can be expected for people that are interested in art, and how they can research and practice art in order to make a figure and to understand the concept and beauty of art.

WARP First Post

Labels Help You Organize

All blog posts must be labeled with two keywords, which blogger calls Labels. When faculty visits your blog for evaluation purposes, we will use the labels to quickly find your work. If you do not use the keywords properly, we will not be able to find your work. Proper set-up and maintenance of your blog falls under the Research and Participation part of your grade which counts for 30% of the overall semester grade. 

Topical Keywords

The first set of keywords correspond to the module we are working in. We will refer to these as topical keywords since they correspond to the topic we are exploring over the two-week periods. Your first group of posts will be labeled under Topic: Creative Impulse since this is the first topic (Topic #1). Here are the topical keywords you will use through out the semester:

Topic: Creative Impulse

Topic: Pattern and Ornament

Topic: Rhinoceros

Topic: Narrative

Topic: Landscape

Topic: Zine

Categorical Keywords

The second set of keywords will organize your posts according to kind. Here are the Keywords you will use for Labels:

Exercises - tag for posts documenting all assigned exercises. The first one will be the paper folding exercise from the first class. 

Readings - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to the assigned readings. The first ones will be for "The White Bird" and the Jerry Saltz article from Vulture.com. 

Small Works - tag for posts documenting all assigned small works. The first blog post labeled Small Works will contain images and accompanying descriptions of the three small works you complete for the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1). 

In-Depth Projects - tag for posts documenting all assigned In-Depth projects. The first blog post labeled In-Depth Projects will contain images (or video if appropriate) and accompanying descriptions of the more robust work you produce in response to the Creative Impulse Module (Topic #1).

Outside Visits - tag for posts containing your two paragraph responses to all required visits outside of the classroom. These include visits we do together as a class [during class time] or individually outside of class time. 

Please be sure to use both a topical and categorical keyword when labeling your posts.