I originally thought that I would only watch a few of the Artist Series videos, but then I got sucked in to watching all of them. One of them I even watched twice. I am so glad that we were given this assignment, because most of these videos were incredibly inspiring.
It’s really easy, especially in grad school, to structure everything. To think that there is a right and a wrong, or the standard way of doing things in order to get the best grade or get the right job. That way is understandable, but it’s also really uninspiring. When we are writing papers and learning code it can be hard to focus on the impact of visual aesthetics, and these videos were a really great reminder of why that is so important.
My favorite artist is Stefan Sagmeister. His work is personal and thoughtful. It teaches others, but is not in your face about it. His work definitely fits in to the idea that you will gain something new, or feel a different way, if you looked at the same piece of art every day.
I also enjoyed learning about Milton Glaser. I agree strongly with his idea that social commentary is a part of the design process and it is the artist’s responsibility to include that in each piece. I cannot imagine a life of producing art to sell socks. While socks are an important article of clothing, the creation and use of them does not change society, as many other things do. Glaser’s mindset of incorporating the social in art is energizing and is something that I should seriously remind myself of when looking at jobs after school.
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