The work Robert Caldwell has always left me astounded; the fine details of every aspect make his work look so real that it looks unreal. Every time I walk into his studio and see the pieces he was hanging on the wall I am inspired by both his craft and attention to composition. He creates pieces using both graphite and oil paint layering them to create great depth and to create distinct values. 

Steven Glass creates beautiful ceramics and teaches classes at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and is the Resident Potter there. Recently he created a bowl that was used to break the tie breaker of the 94th house delegate district, but going further back he was the artist in residence at Rufford Craft Center in England and has solo exhibitions in the Republic of Korea and England. He has also published numerous articles that have been published. 

The assigned readings "The 1913 Armory Show: America's First Art War" and "the Ism that Isn't​" focus on the introduction of new forms of art to the art world. In the article pertaining to the Armory Show it discusses the introduction of new European art and its reception by the American people, while "the Ism that Isn't" ​centers around the creation of Neurotic Realism in the Saatchi Gallery. They both discuss what makes art groundbreaking and how this changes the public's perception of it. Another idea that stood out in both of the articles is the hypocrisy of the Association of American Painters and Sculptures, in the Armory Show, and that of Charles Saatchi. 

Two questions that may seem at odds with each other are: what makes art groundbreaking? and what makes art welcomed by the public? In "the Ism that Isn't" it is argued that the shock value associated with the term "ism" is often used as a way to show how much the new form of art shatters reality. Discussing the difference between isms and other movements the author wrote, "To call an art movement an ism is to imply that instead of depicting the world in a commonsense way, the artists make an argument, propose a theory. Medieval and Renaissance art never wanted to defy the past, but to be faithful to it"(2). This is an important opinion because it shows the difference between ground breaking and a movement and that a movement can be ground breaking but that this is not always true.

This leaves the question: what makes art welcomed by the public? A study done by Carlos Silva Pereira, which focusses on what makes art popular, says that familiarity makes art widely accepted and popular, not that this makes it necessarily good or successful. The poor reception at the Armory Show was caused by the fact that people were not familiar with this new art and in turn did not approve of it. However, the Armory Show did help to begin this familiarization, which was fathered by the CIA during the Cold War, to make this new art more widely accepted. In the article it states that "Nude angered people because they understood it too well, but also not enough" (5). As the understanding of what the artists that utilize Cubism grew, the art form gains popularity. In general people do not like the unknown and will always be drawn to the familiar, and one way to do this is to, instead of recreating existing art, is to make groundbreaking work that will become familiarized by how outrageous it is. 

A criticism of the articles is the hypocrisy with in them. The main source in the article "The 1913 Armory Show: America's First Art War," was the Association of American Painters and Sculptures' (AAPS) claim to want to hold up American artists. The AAPS was anti-academic art which was the popular belief of those in Europe at the time, but in America academic art still reigned supreme. To further their beliefs they created the Armory Show which did contain thought provoking art, however it was primarily European. It appears that their purpose was not to support American art, but their own agendas. 

​In "the Ism that Isn't," Saatchi makes the point that "many are questioning whether all these isms, these movements and manifestos, actually illuminate works of art, or artists just like talking big"(1). He criticizes this and claims to have created Nuerotic Realism in order to shine a light on the art world and the overuse of isms to make them less meaningful. However, he appears to be doing the same thing. He is using the title of ism in order to gain publicity for his exhibit like, in his own words, "an ad campaign." While both the AAPS and Saatchi have honest criticism and feed back that they can bring to the art world, their messages are blurred with their personal interests.

Hamilton Glass is a wonderful artist who spoke to us about his journey. His talent for art was realized when he was young, and he stresses the importance of foundation skills even when they seem repetitive and boring. He became a mural painter, not because he wanted to be an artist, but because he wanted to create. By what seems like happenstance, his work was noticed. Glass pushed the idea of a good work ethic, that he learned while getting a degree in architecture. This is an important lesson that everyone needs to learn. What you expect to be difficult may not actually be where the road block is. In his presentation he said "the hardest part of my job is not painting, it is managing the projects." 
Painting murals in Richmond, Glass found an issue. Many of the muralists focus on ​their personal expression as opposed to the culture and community of Richmond. While it is wonderful that many talented artists from out of state/country, the culture of Richmond should also be showcased. Glass decided to solve this issue by working with with communities and schools in particular to make murals that are focussed around them. You can see work by Glass and more information about him by going to the website link below.