Project 2 Experience

     In my project I talked about politics and Arts. I specifically talked about the National Endowment for the Arts, an organization created by the U.S. Congress in 1965 to stimulate the culture of the country. In this project I learned that the U.S. government has played an important role in how people value public art. I also learned that art can be used as propaganda, especially when it is funded by the private sector.
    I also learned about other interesting topics, such as value of arts, art appreciation, sculpture and beauty in arts. I think that this project helped me to increase my knowledge and look at artworks differently.
    What I most liked was the artwork that compared the life in Africa and here. I think that he was showing the history of his life. It is difficult having two different worlds and make this big transition from one to the other.
   It was interesting to share my experiences with my classmates and all participate as a group.
  

Essay body(revision)

    I went to an interview with Rebbecca Stephenson. She is the executive director of Space Taker. I asked her about the causes of the NEA's creation and she answered that although she has not so much information about the history of the NEA, she consider that is was created to stimulate the culture of the U.S. society and to compete with other countries such as Russia and European countries.
    She talked about the Texas Commission for the Arts, wich is funded by the NEA, Houston Arts Alliance and by the private sector. She consider that the use of private sector money has issues bacause they want to use art and artist as propaganda.
   One of the issues associated with the National Endowment for the Arts was that sometimes people complained because of the kind of art that was created. People critiziced the NEA because it helped controversial artist as Robert Clark Young, Barbara Degenevieve, Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe.
    She also sended me an article to get more information about the NEA.
   This interviee helped me to understand more about the topic and also to know some of the issues associated with the NEA.

Conclusion

    The references I read had almost the same information about my topic and question. The main difference that I found was that while our text book talks about the role of the National Endowment for the Arts, the others talked of the conflicts and problems of this organization. My suggested answer is that the creation of the NEA was part of the political policies. I think that this organization was created to stimulate some kind of political interests. The artwork I analyzed let me look the positive things of this organization. Even when I think that the NEA was creates for political interests, I appreciate that it has increased the cultural level of this society. In my piece I want to reflect a comparison of how people appreciate public art before and after the creation of the NEA. I will try to reflect it in a piece of paper. I have not started my artwork, but after my interview with Jenni Rebbecca I will decide what I want to do.

Essay Body

      

The three literatures that I read had different points of view about my question. In our art book they talk about the importance of government (with the creation of the National Endowment for the Art) in the appreciation of public art. In the other books they also talk about this role of government as a business. They mention that the private sector funds the National Endowment for the Arts to use public art as an advertisement tool. They agree in the fact that the creation of the National Endowment for the Art has been so important to increase the cultural level of our society. I think that every literature, even having a different approach of the topic, has a fully developed history about how the U.S government has played an important role in stimulation of public art, using public or private funds. I agreed that private patronage of public art presents a complex range of problems. I also agreed that public art can be biased and used with political purposes. If an artist receives money from an organization, he could be forced to create what that organization wants. In my opinion the most important thing is that our society has changed the way it value public art. In order to answer my question, I compared how people appreciate public art before and after the creation of the National Endowment for the Art. Noticing a big difference in this appreciation I can say that the National Endowment for the Art has increased the importance of public art for our society.

         The art work that I chose for my essay is “Monument to Joe Louis”. It is related to my question because it can be compared with the role played by the government in appreciation of public art. This monument is a symbol of action, power and stability. I think that this artwork is related to my question. As a strong arm, the U.S. government created the National Endowment for the Art to change how people value public art. While I was thinking I realized that using appropriate methods the U.S. government has changed the way people live and socialize. I think that even when this monument was created with other purposes, it represents public art and can be related to the topic discussed in this essay. If this artwork could speak, it would say: “This is the National Endowment for the Art and I was created to destroy any interference between people and public art. My strength and stability will allow me to change what needs to be changed in order to increase the cultural level of the U.S. society”. The visual elements that create this effect are the color and motion. This two elements show strength.

      In my artwork I want to make a comparison between the time before and after the creation of the National Endowment for the Art. Instead of show the strength of this organization I want to show how it has changed people lives.

    Note: I will interview Jenny Rebecca, the executive director of Space Taker. I will ask her several questions about the topic and I will post them so you can give me comments.

       

Literature review ( revision)

  In order to answer my question I will interview  Jenni Rebecca Stephenson, the executive director of SpaceTaker. I will ask her defferent questions about the role of government in public arts. I will ask my question by making a comparison. I will compare the role of government in public arts today and years ago. 

Literature review

   I read two references. One is the book " Critical Issues in Public Art" and "The Business of art". They have good information about the National Endowment for the Arts and the role of government in how public art is valued. One of the key terms that I found interesting in those books and that will help me to understand my topic is public art, which is the art created in public spacessuch as parks and public buildings. The other key term is grant(in terms of artists), which is money that is given to the artists to create their art. Different deffinitions of these key terms will confuse me about the topic. I was not clear about the meaning of public art and that was affecting me with the understanding. The references that I read helped me to answer my question because they offer information(limited) about the role of gobernment in how people percieve public art. They also explain how the National Endowment for the Art works and how this organization has helped artists around the country. The book From Art to Politics does not have so much information about this organization(NEA), but it is still a good source to understand my topic. I have found some images and artworks that are related to my topic. They represent different artworks that have been created thanks to the NEA. Some of them are La Grand Vitesse and Tilted. Ohters are related to politics, such as The Crucifiction proyect and Homeless Vehicle. I have not chosen any of them yet. I am still undecided in which artwork I want to discuss.