FINAL PROJECT SEMESTER 1

Houses in Munich - Wassily Kandisky

Biography - Wassily Kandinsky lived from 1866 to 1944. He was a Russian artist and pioneer of abstract art. He changed his career from a background in law to become a leading figure in the Munich (Germany) art livelihood. As a co-founder of the Blue Rider group, he championed non-representational art, which is defined as work that does not represent or depict a being, place, or thing.  It is seen as a way to express emotion without needing an object or scene. It does not attempt to mimic the way that the world actually looks. Kandinsky's vibrant, emotionally charged paintings and innovative use of color and form continue to shape the legacy of modern abstract art. 

• painted from 1896 - death

Impact on Art World - Kandisky was a pioneer of abstract art and is considered to be one of the founders. He also laid the groundwork for abstract expressionism, which produced art aiming at the subjective and interpretative emotional expression and often particularly emphasized creative, spontaneous acts. He was a very important theorist of abstract art because he meticulously studied colors and how they interact with our emotions using psychology.  Because of this, he created "color theory".  He stated that colors are simply human perceptions of wavelengths of light.  

I chose this artist because my original idea was going to use a candle to create the warmth of the light in the buildings. However, I wanted to make something contemporary that I would still want to keep after the class. 

Construction Methods - 

Original construction:

• slab work

• joining by scoring and slipping

• carving

Second attempt:

• slab work

• score and slip 

Challenges - 

• my tiles warped in the drying process because I didn't lay anything on top of them while they were drying

• my first attempt did not turn out the way I wanted it to 

• first attempt was too time-consuming (to wait for slabs to dry to join, and then dry to leather hard state for carving)

Successes - 

• the building process of my first one looked really good (until I carved into it)

• I made multiple attempts as soon as it was assigned - I had more time to mess up and start over

• got through all of the firing stages

• my glazes look nice

Glazes used - 

• Mayco gloss glazes - red, yellow, and brown

First Attempt

Second Attempt - Final Project

I like the vibrancy of the colors because it reminds be of the painting and it contributes to the theme of abstract art.