Video Discussion on Sculpture and Craft

1.For each video list/discuss the key concepts you learned.:
          In the video "Through the Eyes of a Sculptor", the key concept is to show how a stone sculptor creates a work from the quarry to the final piece. Stone sculptors usually gain training and experience by doing restoration work. The artist begins with a drawing, then makes a clay version of the piece. Silicone is used to create a good plaster cast of the clay sculpture. The video also showed the laborious and often treacherous job of extracting marble from the Italian mountains. It also shows about the many craftsmen that involved in the process.
The main ideas of the "Glass and Ceramics" video include the chemical compositions of glass, and the process of making glass. Glass windows are made by coloring paint with a silver sulfide pigment that cements to the glass. Stained glass windows are usually made by the "lead" techniques, meaning different colored pieces are put together with lead lines like a puzzle. The video also addresses how ceramics are made, white clay for china and red clay which is used for tile or brick. The formation of the object is followed by the firing, then glazing and a final firing. Modern ceramics are used for all sorts of things, including medical prosthesis, plumbing and kitchen wear. The use of glass in modern architecture is widespread thanks to new glass technologies.
The last video, "Installation Art" focuses on the new contemporary genre of installation art, which is a sculpture in the round that defines the space its in. Often installation art not only occupies, but completely transforms the art space. Some also bring art outside of the gallery.  Any kind of material can used to make this kind of art. They are site specific and often fleeting. The large names of contemporary installation artists are a focus of this video.

2. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?
 These videos go hand in hand with the readings from  Chapters 11 and 12 in the text because they are about about sculptural and craft art. They both explore three-dimensional art techniques and how they are made. The first video on stone sculpture relates to Chapter 11,  the artist in the video uses the casting and , carving and modeling techniques discussed in the reading. As in the video we see site specific installation art discussed in Ch. 11 as well, with Thomas Hirchehorn and Louis Bourgeois used as examples of artists who make this kind of work. Glass and ceramics are discussed in chapter 12 which describe them as art of daily life or craft art.
       
3. What is your opinion of the films? How do they add depth to understanding of the topics: Sculpture, Installation, and Craft?

I think that  these videos were very informative and I learned a lot of new things that I did not know about sculpture, Installation or Craft. I did not know the specific processes of making glass or commercial ceramics. I didn't realized there were so many steps and people involved in the process of making stone sculpture. While it is clear that these videos are all probably about a decade old, the Glass and Ceramics video was especially out-dated. I am sure that there have been new advancements in the technological use of glass and ceramics since the early 1990s.