Art 236 Blog Introduction Post #1

Hello All! My name is Patrick Mahoney and I am a Studio Art major here at Central. I enjoy outdoors, sports, and the occasional Call of Duty session. Often you can find my roommates and I riding a mini ramp we built in our garage this past summer. I am also a member of the CWU Wake Team which is currently ranked 16th in the Nation! Recently a group of us just started up the CWU Ski and Snowboard Club and already have had a solid turnout of members for our first few meetings. I like doing new things and figure out different ways to create, especially within artistic mediums. I myself enjoy shooting photographs and using media such as video and music to create pieces of art. I guess you could say I am a fan of the general notion of progressiveness, and within art there has been so much development throughout different mediums in recent centuries. However, the Renaissance period of the 15th and 16th centuries paved the way for this progressiveness and variation throughout art. With the progression of art and art mediums, nowadays you can go into a museum and an empty shoebox could be the main exhibit. Works of paintings and sculptures of Renaissance artists have set a core basis for art guidelines and although those guidelines have evolved immensely, it was classic pieces from artists like Michelangelo and Raphael that more or less defined this notion of real art. I think a huge reason why our culture focuses on “big name” artists is because people are aware of this notion of modern art losing it’s artistic aesthetic. When anything could be considered art these days, classic works from the 15th and 16th century hold a static foundational status within the Art World. Also people tend to focus on those works because we always have, the Renaissance Period was a pivotal time in the World where new ideas of not only physical art works but philosophy, sciences, literature and music emerged. These ideas have developed into many of the modern processes we use today, and still continue to influence new ones. Relating back to progressiveness, the 15th and 16th centuries emerged with advancements within mathematics, type printing, and new ideals such as the emergence of a humanist philosophy. Also this time period sparked an interest in past artists, and works like that of sculptor Donatello and thus further influenced artistic works. This was a period where for the first time different works influenced each other, between architecture, and paintings, and sculptures; many works of this Renaissance period were influenced by artists developing broad mediums of art. Although I am an advocate of progression and overall development of new trends throughout art mediums, I still find it critically important as an artist to at least be aware of these works. In a world with so many different cultures and ideas emerging, it’s a scary thought to think that emerging artists these days may not be aware of this history of art.