User:Katherineschultz

bio
Hello all. My name is legally Katherine, but I go by Kate. Turns out I am not quite as computer literate as I had thought. I am in the fashion design program and would probably still be making clothes for my old Barbies if I had them. I enjoy discovering tasty, cheap places to eat, alphabetizing my book, music and movie libraries and getting booted out of respectable businesses all over the Seattle area for bringing along my Boston terrier, Virginia Woof, everywhere I go.

midterm
Although I’ve been living in Seattle for two years now, this was the first time I had taken a thorough look at Olympic Sculpture Park. I was incredibly impressed with the layout of the park and the quality of the sculptures and didn’t experience anything resembling a vehement dislike of any piece. It probably helped that the weather was impossibly gorgeous both times I visited. However, I was least inspired by the work of Tony Smith, specifically his piece “Wandering Rocks”. I didn’t find it thought-provoking or emotionally evocative in the least, and my dislike grew after reading his quote on the marker about his intention with the piece, which struck me as incredibly pretentious.

After doing a bit of research on Smith and discovering that not only did he keep quite a fascinating circle of acquaintances but that he also initially worked as an architect with Frank Lloyd Wright, was a pioneer of the minimalist art movement in America and taught at NYU, Cooper Union, Pratt, Bennington, and Hunter, I gained an enormous amount of respect for him as a thinker, educator, and innovator.

I returned to “Wandering Rocks” ready to view it with a newly opened and educated mindset, and while I still felt a strong dislike for his comments on the piece I decided to look at the work itself in respect to its surrounding environment and the connotations I personally associated with it. I ended up really liking it being located in the Olympic Sculpture Park as it fits in seamlessly with the natural beauty of the coast and its large, varied rocks. I found that its minimalism and nature references also evoked a feeling of tranquility in me this time.

I find it comforting to know that I’m not so set in my ways that I can’t change my opinions and hasty judgments by educating myself and using different perspectives. However, it also makes me consider the fact that judgments and opinions can be entirely conditional, which brings up an entirely new subject….

final
By the end of this quarter, I want to create an original painting using acrylics on canvas.

The research component of this goal is to research basic methods and tutorials, as well as certain periods and schools in art history in which acrylic painting was a primary medium.

WEEK 2: Find three good step-by-step acrylics painting guides/tutorials and begin research on acrylics-related periods and schools.

WEEK 3: Continue art history-related research and buy needed supplies. Choose inspiration for paintings.

WEEK 4: Begin working on paintings on paper.

WEEK 5 (MID-TERM): Have at least one painting on paper completed that I’m happy with.

WEEK 6: Begin final painting on canvas.

WEEK 7: Finish research.

WEEK 8: Finish canvas painting.