American Art

There are many art museums around the globe, although a very popular one is the Smithsonian American Art Museum. One of the collections in the museum is 20th century art, where some of the pieces show realism and abstraction. Realism is

 

This piece of art is located in Smithsonian created by Edward Hopper in 1950. This resembles realism because it is a scene of post war tension and anxiety.   

Some modern American artist have found a way to express feelings and frustration through abstract art. This piece of art was created by Georgia O’Keeffe in 1932. Many artists just like Georgia, have explored the use of technique, subject, composition and color.

While drawing is typically done on paper with a pencil, professional artists and art students are using drawing tablets more and more often. Drawing tablets are basically a piece of technology that connects to your computer, and when you touch a special kind of pen to the tablet, you can draw on the computer. The hard thing about drawing on these tablets is the viewing of the drawing -- typically, you have to draw on the tablet, but you have to look at the computer screen, which is not an easy thing to do. This is the reason why professionals buy special tablets (which are about $3000 American dollars), where you can draw on the tablet and view the drawing at the same time -- in other words, a computer isn’t needed. They really are like a special type of drawing computer combined with a tablet. (Some examples below):

Another perk to drawing digitally are the online databases. There some websites that artists can post their art to, critique each other’s art, experience new art forms and more. www.deviantart.com is a well-known website that artists use often. Some even try to sell art online, or other handmade crafts (such as www.etsy.com). There is a HUGE community of fan artists as well, in which artists will draw their own fan art about their favorite TV shows, books, movies or music artists that also share their work on online databases.

Photography has been around for a while but things are changing with the digital age and social media. Now anyone can be an artist with photography and photo editing. One way of photo editing is called Photoshop. Photoshop is a program that you can download on the computer to edit your digital photos and make them unrealistic sometimes. With this and other video editing softwares, people can be digital artists making the photograph sharper and nicer than the original. Most of us use a social media platform and post videos and pictures on these websites. We edit them with filters and to enhance them more. People can be more creative with realistic photos by painting over them digitally, putting a filter on the picture. People can also be creative with video editing. There are animations and cartoons that require good drawing skills because they have to draw the piece frame by frame. There is also a program called CAD, computer aided design where people can create three dimensional art. There is three dimensional printing that has aided the medical field and is emerging as a new way to create art sculptures. In modern day times, digital art is becoming more popular in the US while museums may become less relevant to the younger generations in general.

Art in school- Art is very popular across the United States, for this, and many other reasons, we can take art classes in school. From kindergarten to college, art is a common class that is loved by most. In kindergarten, art class is very basic, we paint, color, or make arts and crafts. As we grow older, our art becomes more challenging and complicated. When we are in high school, there are endless classes and forms of art that we can choose from. Some of the classes that we can take are drawing, sculpture, art history, photography, painting, and much more. Art in America is very expressive and most of the time, we can create anything that we want, or are feeling that day. We use a variety of materials to create our art including brushes, paints, metal, canvas, paper, etc, and spend a lot of time focussing on the details. Sometimes, with a lack of budget, American schools have to cut the art programs. For many, this is devastating because we are so passionate about it. Fortunately, countless schools have art and fight for it because of the many benefits that it brings. Art education in the united states has been known to reflect the social values of American culture and this is very important to us. What is art like in your school and Vietnamese schools?

Pop art- Pop art in America is often used to express social messages or ideas. Pop art is now most associated with the work of New York artists of the early  1990´s such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, and Claes Oldenburg. Pop art has become one of the most recognizable forms of modern art. Pop art has so many different directions and ideas that are possible to create. Also, pop art often demonstrates past or current major events in the world.

Here are some examples of pop art:

Questions for you! We would like to ask you about your art culture.

• What’s the most popular kind of art in your country?
• What types of traditional art you you have?
• Do you have art class in school?
• Do you visit museums often?
• Do you like art?