Reflection Journal to Project 4

Reflection on Art Curation Project Blog The theme of my project was based on two factors. The first is my love for my two dogs and the second the work Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash by Giacomo Balla, that I viewed on my last visit to the Albright Knox Art Gallery. The dog in the painting reminded me of one of my dog and I was also impressed with the sense of movement the painting portrayed. I really did not know what I was going to title the exhibit so for the blog I called it “A Dog’s View.” After reading Professor Tabone’s response to my theme I changed it to “Man’s Best Friend.” Initially I really wasn’t sure how successful I was going to be in finding works that matched my theme because I did not want to use pet portraits. I do not know what the problem was but I was unable to connect to ArtStor. Also when I tried to open other resources that came up as not available. I think if I had my research would have been easier. I started searching the internet. I did not want to use works that were just a result of a Google search that had no background or the information I needed to accompany the works in my exhibit. As a result I visited many galleries, some I was able to gather works and information from, and others not. I also visited the British Royal Collection. It was an experience but it was very time consuming. I was very pleased and surprised at the number of works I found. Once I gathered the works I set out to set up the exhibit. I reviewed the samples provided of past projects several times. Then I thought about my visit to the Albright Knox Art Gallery that preceded this project. The exhibits were shown on white walls, and even though the works were framed, there were no distractions of other colors or designs to take away from the works. I decided to keep my power point design simple to use a white background and to try to vary the exhibit by changing the layouts. I opened with the work by Balla that inspired the exhibit. Then I divided the works I found into categories: the oldest works I found, dogs within family/owner portraits, paintings of dogs that were not necessarily portraits, dogs within still life paintings, and dogs as a part of landscapes. I ended the exhibit with a work by Ethel Mars, “Untitled (Woman and Dog from Back,” that reminded me of the work that inspired the exhibit. The way I organized myself was I put each work on an index card with the necessary information on the front. I reviewed each work several times and added comments on the back. From this information I formed by descriptions. Once I decided on a format using the index cards made it easier to create the power point. I was pleased with the end result. I was happy that I found more than just pet portraits, in fact in some areas I had to edit and exclude works that I did not feel fit my exhibit or I felt were overly repetitive. I was also pleased that I was able to explore the works of artists some that I had heard of and others I had not. I was also able to explore different types of paintings, methods, and styles. I hope others will enjoy viewing my exhibit.