a. What is the difference between Expressionism and Cognitivism? To answer this question you must define each word first.

Expressionism is a form of art in which the artist relies mainly on emotion, experiences and a series of what are usually abstract marks to convey their message. Although realistic art can be impressive based upon how close to the real thing the piece of art is, I have always enjoyed works of expressionism more mainly because I love how free spirited and interesting the works seem to be.

Cognitivism, on the other hand, is art that passes on knowledge to its viewers, teaching them in other words. The artists feel that this is the only effective way of presenting this type of information. The information doesn’t have to be profound by any means, just something the artist feels their audience can benefit from learning.

The difference between expressionism and cognitivism is slight, but definite. Expressionism  focuses on making an emotional impact through  the piece while cognitivism informs the audience or helps alter our understanding of a subject.

Tolstoy believes that art should transmit feeling to its audience upon viewing. The way I understood Tolstoy was that he thinks that expression of emotion in a work of art is not sufficient to make the work good, therefore; the execution has to be successful also. I think it’s really interesting that Tolstoy wants the work of art to express the religious and moral attitudes of the day because usually, I wouldn’t know what kind of day that artist was having based upon the piece unless I was told…

I’m glad to read that Collingwood feels the viewer of his pieces play an important roll in the overall work. He wants the viewer to look at his work and to use their imagination to somehow come up with some sort of connection to what they’re looking at. I feel that Collingwood isn’t pleased with being the kind of artist that makes something, displays it and is finished. He wants more…and when I say more, I mean that he wants more of an understanding and feeling of respect from the viewer, because of what he has created.

d. Discuss the use of metaphor in Louis Bourgeois and Kiki Smith’s art. 

Louis and Bourgeosis and Kiki Smith both implement the use of metaphor into their creations in various ways.

Bourgeosis seems to prefer working with tangible objects and materials to convey her feelings towards the relationship she had with her father and the relationship her father had with her mother when she was a child. Her works are quite abstract and large, but more so give off sort of a dark and creepy, Edgar Allen Poe effect. The way she delt and felt about her childhood is reflected, metaphorically, through her very picky choice of materials.

Smith, on the other hand, chose a different approach towards conveying metaphors through her works. She focuses on what seems to be the female body and all that entails. I’d like to say that she tries to get her viewers to understand more of what’s inside, of which we cannot see, than what’s on the outside and has become a normalcy to the eye. Rarely does she ever draw what she is trying to get across as what it is, she finds other situations and characters to portray it instead. In her drawings, her people aren’t always people. They may have a face along with legs and arms, but something is manipulated about them. I would suppose this is a way of helping the viewer to understand the meaning behind the work. In her In a Field work, I can’t help but wonder why she chose to have the woman’s backside actually be her front side.

Let me tell you, I had quite the time looking for an artist that related to what I hope to create. Her name is Betty Bastai. I feel that her art will relate to mine mostly through concept and style, but also a little bit through subject. She describes that she creates most of her pieces outside during the summer. What I hope to be able to do is also work on mine outside, in the warm weather near the object from my childhood that I want to present in my piece. In my drawing of the large, hollowed, lilac bush next to the home I grew up in as a child, I want the flowers of the lilacs to be more defined, and everything else to be somewhat of a blur, in the background. I definitely want the color of my lilacs to overshadow the objects I’ll show in the background. In more than one of her works, Bastai draws, abstractly, home structures and trees…a few things I wish to incorporate in my work also.