Blog 6: Video Reviews

Through the Eyes of the Sculptor
Sculptor, Emmanuel Fillion, had a love for stone from a young age. His love for stone developed into gaining skills to carve stone and then eventually full blown sculpting. I found it impressive that at just 15 years old, Emmaunuel received a scholarship to study stone carving and majored in the restoration of historical monuments. I honestly didn't even know that they had people who studied something that specific. I liked the part in the video where they showed the restoration of the bridge in Paris. The whole process was really fascinating and I can't imagine the patience and skill these carvers must have. Throughout the video, there is a lot of relation to the readings from the text. Emmanuel talks about the importance of aesthetics in the piece, the materials and stones used to create sculptures, and the importance of planning so that the piece will be strong. An idea is first visualized as a drawing and then made into a clay figure. The clay figure allows for the creative process to take place and changes to be made. From the clay sculpture, a silicone mold will be made by dividing the piece into parts. The mold takes all of the details of the clay and allows for the sculptor to pour the plaster into the mold to achieve the same model as the original clay piece. Plaster is a temporary stage between the clay and the marble. This video has definitely given me a deeper understanding of sculpting because I was able to watch the steps of creating a sculpture. It was also interesting to learn about the different types of stone, where they come from, and how they test the stone before they start to carve into it. I was also really interested in the way they transported the stone in Michelangelo's time. It was insane how they were moving those extremely heavy, very large blocks down into the shipyards with the men holding ropes and using logs to roll them down. It just looked so incredibly dangerous. It was amazing that they even had men in the video that actually had that job and lived through that time. I couldn't believe they even lived through it, especially since they had started such a dangerous job at just 12 years old.

Glass and Ceramics
This video was interesting because it actually showed how glass is made in extreme detail. The video is right, glass is everywhere, and it is just one of those things I never thought too much about as far as where it comes from. The beginning of the video was amazing when they showed the man molding the glass into like a glass dish. He was spinning it and molding it like crazy, swinging it all around and cutting into while it cooled until it took shape. The art of glassmaking is unreal. Ceramics were tied into the video well by the explanation of the quality of the finished product. It was interesting that a very pure clay fired at 1,400 degrees celsius produces fine China, while most ordinary clay is fired at 1,100 degrees celsius produces bricks or floor tiles. I always wondered what made fine China, "fine" and more expensive. This video tied in well with the readings from chapter 12. While the text explained the creation of glass and ceramic pieces, it was very helpful to have the visual that came with the video. The firing is what determines the final state of the finished product. The most important phase of production. Simple shaped objects like plates or tiles are created with the process of dry pressing. The glaze is the coating that completes the objects with a similarity to glass, it gives the object a smooth and glossy finish. The colored glazes really bring the ceramics to life when they are painted and decorated. This was interesting to me because my mother was very into ceramics when I was in elementary school. She had molds that she would pour clay into and create the piece and then she would paint them. We had a kiln in our garage so she did all her own firing and glazing. When I was younger I never cared too much about the process at the time but watching this video really brought back the memories.

Installation Art
The installation art video was no longer available when I went to view it. Films on demand just kept telling me to update my playlist.