Art and Writing with Ryan

My name is Ryan Pinkard. I am a 21-year-old Colorado native studying Studio Arts and Journalism at CU. I love travel, photography, art and writing, so you could say that my hobbies and studies are often one and the same. On this, my professional aspirations are also of a similar focus. If I could have my dream career it would be to get paid doing those things listed above that I love. The most important of those categories to me is travel, but the focus of my professionally directed studies is art and writing.

I am a developing artist and writer, and the beauty of this course is the fact that we are bringing these two studies together. My experience in visual arts is fairly deep, with years of hands on art courses, as well as art history. I enjoy historical and contemporary art, and I also enjoy writing about my own work. I find the power of the artist statement to be the best way to explain intention and defend my work. Writing is very much a craft and a practice, and I look forward to exercising it with all of you this digital semester.

Rhetoric, to my understanding, is more than analytical writing. It is writing (or and use of words) with intent for persuasion or defense. When someone talks about the rhetoric of a politician, they are speaking of their ability to convince people of the “rightness” of their policies. In the arts it is the way an artist communicates a message, which is the ultimate goal of art. There can be both a visual rhetoric in the way the piece speaks or communicates on its own, and then a written or spoken rhetoric to defend or deepen the understanding of the piece. As an artist, developing this skill is invaluable and transferrable to countless other applications in professional and social life.

 

Remy Pearlstone Blog Entry 1

My name is Remy and I am a senior from Aspen, Colorado. I am an art history major and I chose it because I am a very good visual learner. I also like it because I get history and art all in one. One day I would like to trade commodities. I had a summer internship in commodity trading and I really enjoyed it. I have also worked for a property management company for some summer jobs. It was a great job and I learned how to be more resourceful and fix my own things. I plan on taking advantage of my long weekends while I still have them and visit friends at other colleges.

 

I am taking this class because I needed an upper division-writing course and writing in the visual arts fills two requirements for my degree. Visual arts are basically anything one can see with their eyes. My experience with visual arts is that my major is Art History. Art History requires that I write a log of papers on paintings that I am studying.  I enjoy them, but sometimes struggle with my writing. I am hoping to improve these skills while taking this class. Often I know what I want to say, but struggle figuring out how to say it in the proper way. Hopefully this class will help me get these ideas on paper, and will make me sound more like an art expert. Rhetoric is the study of writing as means of communication. If texting and writing small emails is a form of rhetoric then yes I do consider my self a rhetorician. I believe that this class will help me not only in my writing in my art history, but also with my writing in every day life. I think that being able to comfortably put into words what I am looking at with my eyes is a skill that will be helpful in anything that I choose to do in my career. I also hope that this class will help me further my love of the arts. I hope that I will not only become a better as a writer, but I will learn new ways to observe and think about art.

“The art of growing up (Blog Entry 1).”

If you ever feel the urge to torture young children just keep asking them what they want to be when they grow up.  I don’t know how many times I have been asked this question in my life, but at some point years ago I finally figured out the right answer, “I want to be me but older.”  This eliminates any sort of future disappoint because I know I will be able to accomplish this.  Now that I am older I am still pursuing that perfect career that will define me as a person.  So I suppose I should tell you about myself then…  My name is William White, but I have always gone by my middle name, Spencer.  I am originally from Maryland, but after taking a few years off college and working the restaurant business I was determined to go live in the mountains.  I now live in Eldorado Springs, and I spend my time hiking, fly-fishing, and enjoying the many breweries Boulder has to offer.  I will graduate this spring with a degree in Anthropology.

I feel that being creative is something necessary to survival.  It’s like eating or breathing.  As human beings we have this unique ability to create and it must be used.  I have always had a creative side, but I never had the patients to be a full-blown artist.  The hardest part is actually sitting down and putting the pencil to the paper (or brush to the canvas, whatever you do…).  I dabble in writing, music, drawing, sculpture, and just recently graphic design.  If I get into it I can spend hours creating something unique and usually completely useless (economically speaking).  I have been trying to find a use for my creativity in the money-making world.  It’s not easy and next to impossible if you want to do art for art sake.  I do believe in the importance of graphic design.  Although I know close to nothing about web design, it seems this could be the most useful thing to know in the future.  Writing and rhetoric would play a role in this too.  To me rhetoric is simply the ability to effectively control language for any purpose.  Language is a tool, and for the first time we can use it to communicate instantly with the masses via the internet.  For this reason I don’t think the importance of graphic design or website design will go away.  I would like to use my last semester here to develop my writing skills, learn anything I can about web design, and improve myself artistically.  Last semester I created a brief statement on art for WRTG 3020…  feel free to take a look!

A Glimpse Through My Lens (Blog Entry 1)

Hello everyone, my name is Riley Dengler and am from Fort Collins, Colorado – around 45 minutes North of Boulder. I’m halfway through my junior year as a Film studies student and have always enjoyed watching and creating films. I’ve been an avid snowboarder for 13 years and hope to end up producing high-end snowboard movies, if not, use my creative vision towards music videos or ad campaigns. The past two summers I have had the opportunity to intern in New York with various production companies and, in a sense, can’t wait to graduate and start pursuing my passion!

Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of writing, especially in topics that don’t interest me. Luckily, a friend of mine, also in the Film studies program, suggested this course because your writings will be on topics that are fascinating and the skills acquired will be of personal use in the future. After hearing that, I am less reluctant to take on this course, and since it’s online, am eager to start blogging! Visual arts, to me, are defined as visual works that are created through ceramics, painting, drawing, photography, video, etc. and are usually designed by the artist to be aesthetically pleasing. My Mom was an Elementary art teacher and my Dad is an architect, so I have always been influenced to create art growing up. I have experience in years of drawing, photography, and video production and little experience in sculpture and painting, but enjoy those as well. Rhetoric is the art of persuasive writing. I would not consider myself a rhetorician because I have difficulty with fluently presenting valid points that solely support my main argument, but I hope to learn that through this course. I also hope to learn how to expand with describing my opinions towards artworks and feel good about how my opinion is presented. I’m new to blogging, but hopefully I’ll get the hang of it and I look forward to seeing everyone else’s blogs!

Anything Art. Erin Lorentzen.

Hello fellow students! My name is Erin Lorentzen, Erin is good although some of my friends call me E. I grew up in Mason City, IA and have been in Boulder for just under four years now. I moved here because I had a dream, literally, and just picked up and left. I haven’t regretted a day of the random spontaneity with the wonderful people and beautiful surroundings.

Here Goes Nothin: From paintbrush to keyboard (Blog Entry 1)

Hello everyone, my name is Kacy Grady! I am a 23-year-old student going on my fifth year living in Boulder, Colorado. I am originally from Tampa, Florida where I spent the first 18 years of my life—plenty of time to realize I needed to head West! I started out at CU studying Humanities, because I have a passion for reading and I was not sure on what exactly I wanted to pursue collegiately yet. The second semester of my freshmen year I took an introductory psychology class as an elective and fell in love with the material. It was something I had never had the opportunity to learn about in high school and it completely fascinated me. After making an A in the course—the first of very few—I immediately switched my major to Psychology. After dipping my toes in the ‘Freudian Pool’ I determined that my true passion was in the field of Child Psychology specifically. Since then, I have taken a job at a local preschool working as a Teacher for kids ages 0-5. I really love going to work everyday and getting to be around such a enthusiastic atmosphere. Eventually, I hope to work with children who have special needs, because I feel that this is an area in our Education system that is undervalued and overlooked.

I signed up for this writing class because I have always been preoccupied with anything art-related since I was a little girl. I enjoy everything there is to offer about the artistic community: the actual artwork itself, visiting museums, learning more about different artists I love, and creating my own work. I will admit that I have never been a big fan of writing, so I figured that maybe choosing a writing class with a topic in which I am interested in would help motivate me to become a more avid writer. When I think of the visual arts my mind immediately is filled with colors, emotions, and well, paint. From previous knowledge however, I know that the visual arts are more specifically, any form of art that is primarily in the visual nature. For example, painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, crafts, ect.

If I remember correctly, rhetoric is the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing. It is language that is designed to have a convincing effect on its audience. In no way would I consider myself a rhetorician; I am the worst at trying to persuade and convince people of anything. I even struggle with putting together solid arguments in my day-to-day life. I hope that this course can help me build the proper writing skills that I need to become the rhetorician that I know I can be. I am a very opinionated person; so having trouble relaying my thoughts can be rather frustrating. I feel confident that I picked the right class to help bring out my inner writer and I look forward to getting involved with everyone else!

“Blogging from the East Coast (Blog Entry 1).”

Hi everyone! My name is Lauren and I’m from Larchmont NY–suburban town 30 minutes outside of the city. I’m an English major and I’ve just begun my last semester at CU. Upon entering college, I knew that I wanted to be an English major because any free moment I had, I was either reading a book or writing. Studying to become an English major allowed me to turn my passions into concrete studies. For the past five summers I’ve been interning at Brant Publications in Manhattan. I work for the production department for the four magazines that make up Brant Publications. I’m an extremely organized person so I fell right into place in the production department. I love the deadlines for each issue, the organization needed to keep things running smoothly, and the fast past routine that makes up every workday. I’m currently talking to my boss about a full time position at this publications!

I decided to take all online courses this semester so that I could live in NY and get a head start on looking for a full time job. I needed three classes to graduate, so when I was looking at the list of online courses available, Writing on the Visual Arts really stood out to me! I really enjoy spending time and writing on topics that excite and intrigue me. Throughout my college career, I took a great deal of art and art history courses. I took the intro art history courses, upper division art history courses, as well as a studio arts class. I decided to take these courses in order to get a better appreciation for the artwork that I go to see in museums. Growing up in Manhattan, a big part of my life was spent in countless museums. My perfect Saturday would be spent getting lost in the MET or the MOMA. To me, visual arts consist of paintings, sculpture, drawing, movies, comics, monuments, and concerts. Visual art is what drives our society and gives people joy in life. Especially now, when the economy is so bad, visual arts takes people away from there troubles, and allows them to get lost in something other than work or real world drama.

I would say rhetoric is the study of language and how to use language in a persuasive way. Rhetoric consists of either speaking or writing in a way that captures the audience or readers. I don’t think I can safely call myself a rhetorician but I would love to be able to someday! I do enjoy creative writing, and I would hope that my writing would interest people, but I still have a lot more practice and critiquing in my future. Recently, I started a blog on healthy/peaceful living. Eating right, exercising, and keeping my mind healthy and active, are some of the most important things in my life right now. My friends and family are very aware that I’m so conscious of these things, and they insisted that I make a blog to share what I know. Starting a blog has been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done! Although I’m a new time blogger, it’s a wonderful thing that I can mix my passion of writing with my passion of living a healthy life. I’m beyond excited to take this course because I believe that it truly fits what I’m doing right now in my life, and it will help teach and guide me for my future goals.

 

 

Blog Entry 1: Introductions

Please tell us a little about yourself!

Write 300-600+ words (about 2-3 paragraphs), weaving together the following information in complete sentences. The goal is to come up with an introduction that flows well while covering a good deal of information.

Paragraph 1: The Basics
Name, or what you prefer to be called; where you’re from; what you’re studying and why; any career aspirations you may have; jobs you hold, or other plans for the year

Paragraph 2: You, Visual Arts, and Rhetoric (can be two paragraphs if you need more space)
Why are you taking this class? How would you define visual arts, and what is your experience with the visual arts? How would you define rhetoric (think back to WRTG 1150!)? Do you consider yourself a rhetorician? What do you hope to learn in this course? (You do not necessarily have to answer all of these questions: use them as a jumping off point.)

IMPORTANT!!! BEFORE you publish your blog entry, look over to the bottom right of the screen. Under “Categories,” click the box next to “Introductions.” This will help me find your introduction (and will help you find each others’ introductions) quickly and easily.

Give your entry a snazzy TITLE, but be sure to put Blog Entry 1 in parenthesis next to your title. So, your title could look like this: “The birth of a visual rhetoric blogger (Blog Entry 1).”

POST THIS INTRODUCTION by THIS THURSDAY, Jan. 26th at 11:00PM!!

Please comment on each others’ introductions (3 minimum, 100-300+ words each; more comments encouraged!). Let me know via email if you have any questions. All of your comments are due by Sunday, Sept. 29th at 11:00pm.

A little bit of information about your instructor…

My name is Alaina Feltenberger, which is pronounced more or less exactly how it’s spelled. Although my last name got me teased by the other kids in grade school, I now have an appreciation for its direct translation from German: “felt” or “feld” means “field,” “en” is a contraction meaning “and,” “berg” means “mountain,” and “er” is a contraction meaning “one-who-is-from.” So, Alaina “of-the-fields-and-mountains” is a rough literal translation of my name, which seems especially appropriate now that I live in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies. As a transplant from the Midwest and East Coast, I arrived in Boulder four and a half years ago after growing up and going to undergrad in Ohio and teaching and going to school in New York City, where I earned an MS in Education. I really enjoyed my years in these places, but now feel that Colorado is my home. I finished my MA at CU in English Literature and now am working toward my PhD in Literacy Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education. I really love teaching writing and have been doing so for eight years.

Whenever I think about designing and teaching a writing class, I always try to consider what it is I think my students need to know. In a world of increasing scrutiny upon the writing skills of recent college graduates, I recognize that you need to have skills that can be transferrable to a variety of contexts in your personal and professional lives. With this in mind, I always come back to two basics: an emphasis on critical thinking, and an understanding of rhetoric. You are always thinking critically in ways that you probably aren’t aware of—weighing evidence, examining details, and considering multiple angles. I hope that this class will help you apply these skills to an awareness of rhetoric. To my mind, rhetoric in its most basic sense has to do with the choices that you make as an author to convey a message given a certain context or intended audience. It’s all about your decisions in how you communicate. Rhetoric has power—it’s the difference between “good” writing and “bad” writing, finding a text convincing or not. I hope that this course will help you feel more empowered as you use your rhetoric purposefully to convey what you want to say.

In planning this course in particular, I recognized that “Writing on the Visual Arts” was waaaaay too broad for a topic for a normal semester. Yet, that is the registered title, and so that’s what we’re going with. As you look over the syllabus, however, you’ll notice that my theme for this class has to do with “reality.” We live in an increasingly interconnected, multimodal, multimedia world. In our modern intellectual landscape, we can no longer assume that only certain kinds of texts are privileged; there are many forms of communication that are increasingly considered valuable in our world, just as there are a multitude of literacies and languages that have importance in our contemporary society. I decided to focus on forms of visual art that impact how we interact as human beings, how we think about what’s “real” or really important, and how we practice our rhetoric and visual analysis in a variety of media and genres. I hope you join me in exploring these big ideas throughout the rest of the term!