William Morris and the Arts and Crafts Movement

The Arts and Crafts movement (1860-1930) interests me as it was largely a reaction against the impoverished state of decorative arts at the time, and the conditions in which they were produced, on an international scale. It was an advocate for economic and social reform, also said to be anti-industrial as it  search for authenticity in its designs, and was not in favour of the designs that resulted from machines.

Those in the arts and crafts movement were strict as to bring out the moral purpose of art. They adhered to the idea of preserving and emphasizing quality of the materials used to create their pieces. They call this "truth to material". Patterns were inspired by the local flora and fauna, drawing on the local traditions.

William Morris (above) was one of those leading this movement. He started it to improve the tastes of the Victorian public and revive the authenticity of designs and quality of materials used. He was well-known for various types of pieces such as textiles, wallpapers, and tile designs. What really inspires me about this movement is the creativity William Morris had to offer while holding true to the materials.

One of his famous wallpaper pieces, the Trellis Wallpaper (1862), I believe was deliberately left slightly incomplete, leaving a very natural and rustic effect. This would be reflective of the nature of the arts and crafts movement - to express the beauty inherent in craft. His colour choices were also in harmony, reflective of flora in its natural state. I personally really like how he plays with the natural colours and shades. On a personal note, I like how he used squares and colours to emphasize a portion of his masterpiece. While the actual reason of his choice of emphasis remains unknown to me, this has made me aware of how an artist can use something as simple as colour to draw the audience's attention to a certain item in a piece.

llustration: William Morris. Trellis wallpaper design, 1862.

‘Jasmine Trellis’ textile design by William Morris, produced by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co in 1868. 

Morris' work has a flattened graphic appearance and disregard for naturalised three-dimensional quality. Having said that, he pays much attention to detail and has a somewhat symmetrical quality in his designs. The organic nature of his works tones down what could have been a striking sense of symmetry in a design. In psychology, we learn that symmetry actually registers in an individual's mind as pleasant and beautiful, and thus could explain the success of his designs in the market. It is said in Morris' below piece (Daisy), that he kept over-stylization to a gentle minimum, and his patterns were far from strict forms of realism. Again, his colour choice and tones are harmonious and natural.

Illustration: William Morris. Daisy, 1864.

William Morris' work is also very much influenced by medieval times. Another thing I marvel about him is how his work ranges from writing poetry, essays and fiction to producing wallpapers, textiles, tapestry and various other designs. His excellence in attending to detail and his strive to keep trying new forms of art is also an inspiration to me. His determination to preserve the arts in its original nature also is an inspiring factor. For example, he chose to work with the technique of hand woodblock printing, an ancient technique, as opposed to roller printing, which had almost completely replaced hand woodblock printing for commercial uses.

Illustration: William Morris. Acanthus, 1875.

Illustration: William Morris. Chrysanthemum, 1877.

Illustration: William Morris. Willow Bough, 1887.

Illustration: William Morris. Honeysuckle, 1883.

In conclusion, I draw inspiration from the styles of his work and very much like his nature motifs, as well as his choices of colour and tones. The way he uses organic designs but yet is able to produce that quiet symmetry in his pieces also strikes a chord when I look at his work.

Elements of design analysis-
Line: Mostly organic, sometimes using straight lines to create emphasis
Shape: Organic lines, to create a flow
Value: Varies according to piece (ie: dark on light on wallpapers, less contrast on some textiles)
Colours: Natural colours, harmonious
Texture: Flat, with close attention to detail
Alignment and proportion: Objects more or less evenly spaced, somewhat symmetrical design
Eye movement: Movement in repetition and visual rhythm


Principles of design-
Hierarchy : Mostly no hierarchy as images are repetitive
Balance: A sense of symmetry with the entire piece covered in images
Emphasis and variety: Varies according to the piece (ie: Trellis Wallpaper design (1862), emphasis probably on coloured surfaces, Acanthus (1875) no particular emphasis). Morris uses a variety of line and shapes but his tones are mostly natural and more quiet
Harmony and unity: Harmony and unity is present as images come together to create a meaningful whole.


For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arts_and_crafts_movement
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morris
http://www.greencraftsmandesigns.com/about%20the%20arts%20and%20crafts%20philosphy.html
http://thetextileblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/william-morris-and-daisy-wallpaper.html
http://thetextileblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/william-morris-and-trellis-wallpaper.html

Perceptual Art vs. Conceptual Art.... and psychology

Perceptual : Conceptual 

as

Sensory : Thought

Simple math =) 

Perceptual comes from the word perceive. Thus should be rather apt to say that perceptual art taps into the 5 senses, and perception comes from any combination of sight, touch, sound, taste and smell. This type of art is influenced deeply by a combination of art and psychology, thus appreciation of it is highly subjective. It taps into the artist and the philosopher in an individual in order for meaning to be derived from it, thus interpretations may vary tremendously, and each individual's experience of the piece would differ a great deal.

Art and psychology:
Just a sudden thought, in biopsychology we learn the phenomena of synesthesia, a condition whereby the senses are experienced in response to stimulation of another sense (ie: "I can smell yellow." or "Number 2 is purple!"). As researchers have not yet performed enough research on those with this condition, they estimate that they have probably overlooks people with a milder form of the condition. Therefore it is probable that some of us do have this condition however on different levels. Perceptual art would probably be much more appealing and have more meaning to an individual higher on this scale as compared to someone lower on the scale (just an attempt at a probable reason to why some do not appreciate perceptual art as much as others).

Questions to ask: 

What do you FEEL when you look at these pieces? 

How was the experience? 

      

Left piece: Find reference here: http://ericreber.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/optic-nerve-perceptual-art-of-the-1960s/

Right piece: Perceptual Flux Digital Art - Perceptual Flux Fine Art Print - Casey Kotas

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/perceptual-flux-casey-kotas.html

Conceptual art on the other hand taps into a very intellectual side of the artistic world. It is said that the concept and the ideas behind the piece takes precedence over the aesthetic value of the artwork. Many artists incorporated words into their art in order to fully convey the desired message.  Perhaps the important element of such a piece would be this, that the message, the plannings and decisions of the artist are thoroughly reflected and justified in the piece, be it a concept, an idea or even an ambiguous revelation that sparked enlightenment. 

Art and psychology: 

In psychology of advertising, we learn that different types of messages cater to different kinds of people. Some use peripheral processing, relying on what they feel to make a decision while some use central-route processing, relying on the information provided to them. Conceptual art would therefore work better for those who prefer using the central-route processing rather than the peripheral processing.

Questions to ask: 
What is this pieces saying to you? 
Why did the artist use [insert object here] to relay this message?

      

Left piece: Lawrence Weiner. Bits & Pieces Put Together to Present a Semblance of a Whole, The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, 2005. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_art

Right piece: http://autonomousreality.wordpress.com/tag/conceptual-art/

Conclusion?

1. There is an explanation for all kinds of actions and behaviour. Don't you just love psychology? 

2. For our masterpieces this semester, it is important to incorporate both perceptual as well as conceptual elements into our pieces. As much as history may be dry [and boring], it is essential to provide deeper significance to the things we do. 

And so I'm off to read more about art movements, artists and art pieces  XD 

Lesson 2

I apologize for the late post.

Well, even though this blog was not updated, my thoughts were jotted down! 

Thank God for the good ol' pen and paper =)

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

- Napoleon Bonaparte

On Thursday (12 Jan) we learned that people of old used art as a means to communicate ideas, opinions and such. Not everyone was literate, and not everyone could use words or write poems to communicate their thoughts. Many overcame this limitation using art.

"The soul never thinks without a picture."

- Aristotle

Using colours and concepts, the thoughts of society was transferred and communicated using art. With regards to psychology, a Freudian psychologist would look at a painting and analyse it; is the picture trying to convey a manifest or latent content? In other words, is the artist expressing an issue of face-value or is there a deep-seated issue that the artist is facing, and is trying to convey its message via his masterpiece?  

"Your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. Relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience."

- Dale Carnegie

In view of all the above quotes, my next course of action is to continue combing through the art movements and various art works, and look into both the latent and manifest content of the art pieces. What is so special and significant about this art movement? How will the artist's pieces affect my art works? 

Looks like this CNY will be art-iful !  =p 

Lesson 1

Oooh yeah. I missed the bus. And therefore I was late on my FIRST DAY!! Nooooo! 

Listening to the course outline of this class made me glad as I realized this was not just some random art class that I had signed up for.

What made me particularly glad was the fact that there was an element of theory added into this course, and that I would potentially gain much from it.

Though it seems tedious, I am positive that it will be a fun semester of art and design! 

I especially like how Mr. Menon mentioned that the final marks weightage should not lean entirely on the perceived aesthetic value of our artwork as perceptions of each individual differs.

I will be completely honest in saying that I joined this class because I need a first year elective, I'm not particularly interested in anything to do with the business field and due to the fact that I love artsy things. But as I mentioned before, I am joining with high hopes that this course will be fun, interactive and beneficial!

 As for dreams and aspirations, well, It would definitely be in the area of music and psychology, hopefully I would be able to combine the two and come up with a really interesting "career project". That however, remains an issue of the future.   

I'm still in the process of doing research. So far, the art movement that piques my interest the most would be the arts and crafts movement, but that may be changed along the way =) 

Now, I'm off to lesson 2 of the semester! Adious amigos!