Artist: Melanie Nuccio
Exhibition: Threshold
Media: Oil on canvas
Gallery: LBSU School of Art

Melanie is an undergraduate whose major is in fine arts. She is part of the School of Art’s Drawing and Painting program. Melanie’s canvas is based on color theory. The painting reflects bright colors which were also part of the group theme.

Threshold is vivid and full of colors. The lighter areas in the middle of the piece stand out to show contrast on the darker areas where it provides the background for the canvas. She uses a lot of different shades for each color to give it a texture even though its on a flat canvas. She also uses a lot of straight lines for the background while using more curved lines to also give the painting a 3D feel. The painting was also fairly big in size.

When talking to Melanie, she told me that the painting was to shine a light on both exterior and interior areas. She wanted to show that there is disorder when it comes to plants in an area that is confined. Melanie also shows us that this is what home means to her and that this may not be what home is for the looker but a window in what she sees.

Melanie asked what home looked like and I had told her that it is too disorderly yet not from plants but from the family that lives within it. But, when looking at Threshold, it shows to me that my house is very boring. The colors in the house are very dull and boring because of this, my view of home is different than Melanie’s. We all grow up in a different environment and that is why she became an art major while I am a biology major.

Cambodia is a location some think to choose when thinking of an exotic place to travel to like seen in some movies such as: The Killing Fields and Tomb Raider. Since traveling back to Cambodia, I’ve noticed that those who do come treat those who live in areas of poverty more lowly. I’m not sure if it is because they feel more entitled or if the area isn’t what they expected and find that a lot of the land is filled with these area of poverty.

I had hoped to show others how Cambodia is seen when first looked up on google compared to what it actually looks like in person.

I think that I was successful in this attempt to show a difference in a professional picture of the skyline of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In the photo that I took, you can clearly see that the big buildings are only a small part of the real skyline.

What I would want to do if I did do it differently is be able to show a picture that is taken in almost the same area where a professional photo is taken; that way the photo isn’t touched up and show the real truth in the photo.

Another idea that I would like to explore is littering and the effects on the ocean and wildlife.

I chose this story because I wanted to show how good competition only comes when both teams respect each other. Many times have I found basketball players becoming more entitled and think that they should receive every call; because of this, these players will complain to the referee. I was hoping to show in this storybook that both teams was able to respect one another and the game became a good competition.

I felt like I was able to portray the story though my photos however I felt like there was not enough photos to fully portray the full game.

I think that last photo best shows my story because regardless of which team you play on when the game is over, everyone respects each other and can shake each other’s hands.

I think both photos that were only the scoreboard are important to the story because they weren’t great but without the picture, it wouldn’t show how close the game really is.

I think I would take more pictures that showed different player’s emotion if I were to do it again.

If I time to go up into the mountains, I would like to tell a story about how trashed some mountains have become.

In our frame we had chose a print that was medium sized; it was about a foot and a half all round. We didn’t want the frame to be too small so not everyone could see and we also didn’t want it to be too big where you would miss all of the detail. The area that we chose is multi colored however it changes from bright colors to more dull when the sun is not directly on it. There is a contrast from the top concrete layer to the more rough brink texture and the grooves that are in between them. Looking at this art, it makes me feel uneasy since there is a white spot placed right in the middle of the frame. Since the background is bricks placed on one another, it creates a linear and even spacing between each brick. I had hoped that to a viewer it shows regardless of what happens in life; life doesn’t revolve around you and that time still goes on. The bricks are meant to show the building of oneself and the white mark is to show that ones surrounding will be part of the growing process.

The Art was not art before we placed a frame around it. I always walk pass this area and have never thought to look at that wall until we did the activity. I also feel that the Art won’t be art when the frame is removed because majority of the wall still has the white spot on it. It really just blends in with the surrounding.

I think depending on what type of art a person is viewing, art could reside in the object. Art is more in the intention of the artist and what they perceive and create as art. If someone drops paint onto the ground accidentally, then that spot wouldn’t be considered art; however is someone were to intentionally throw paint on the ground to create art then that would be considered art. We will only know what is art is presented in a way that makes a person see it is art.

Art can definitely be something other than an object; for example: poetry, movies and music. However I don’t think that art resides in the experience of the viewer/reader. I feel as if art is something created and the viewing experience is just something the creator intends on. A person can view an object but was the intention of the object really intended on being art in the first place?

For this activity I worked with a partner, Cynthia Nguyen, to create the picture above. I’ve never really liked finger painting because I never liked having a color on my hand which could potentially stain my fingers. Apart from that, the paint did feel smooth and soft when rubbing it around on the paper. Since it was randomly made, in a way it was easy to create but difficult to set my mind to do so. I really like things done in a specific order so it made it hard to start but once I told myself the first and only step was to move the paint around it made the process a lot better; I also had the help of Cynthia to help my hands move. I don’t find abstract art something I fond over but I also don’t really like over realism however my liking for realism is stronger than my liking for abstract so I find myself liking things that is more on the realism side but it doesn’t look too real such as cartoons or anime.

When I was performing the maintenance art around the USU, it felt more like a chore than actual art. I started to feel this way when I saw students not from class walk by and would give strange looks to what the class was doing. I did however feel good that we were picking up the trash around the USU and cleaning up the area.

Mierle Laderman Ukeles cleaning the steps of an art museum and Richard Serra flinging molten lead against the walls of an art museum is different because using molten lead to create art is very dangerous and crazy while cleaning the steps of an art museum is a lot more calm. However, even though both of these acts are completely different both Mierle and Richard were creating art. If we take the idea that art is not only things created on a canvas but instead think of art as physical actions that create “something” that can the creator sees value in, then we can consider the two different styles of action making art.

I feel as Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ Maintenance Art performance at the Wedsworth Atheneum art since it follows the idea that the creator did an action that had value to that person; which in this case she did. I don’t think that it was art because it was at an art museum but more that she wanted to give the idea to others that cleaning can be a type of art.

From my perspective, I find that art is more of the intention of the person performing whatever the person feels is art. Not every action is the same and will have the same purpose when performing a certain action. We have the example of painting a house could be art and could not be art. If a person paints it just to increase the ability for the house to last longer that would be different from a person painting a house to make it look less plain. To the later, the house would in a way be a work of art to that person since they had a thought to make it look nice.

After discussing “women’s work,” I do find it a type of art. I still stand by my point that art is more of the intention and if those that see that cleaning isn’t just a chore but more of a type of art than why wouldn’t it be art? By saying “women’s work,” is putting a set idea on the type of work one would think that women do when women can do jobs that men typically can. It should change to just work and that is something every person can do. Then combine that with the intention of wanting it to be art then yes it would be art.

If I really had to go down and clean the star on Hollywood blvd, then I would have to go with Harrison Ford.

Venture outside your comfort zone. The rewards are worth it.

— Rapunzel

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