Reagan's Art F200 Blog

  Introduction:          Girl with a Pearl Earring is a 1665 tronie painting by Johannes Vermeer, created in the Netherlands. It was lost for over 200 years, sold for a very low price, and eventually rediscovered. Today, it resides in the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague. I first encountered this piece during my junior year of high school through my writing teacher. I find it beautiful for its simplicity—it's not overwhelming, yet it holds meaning. The pearl earring symbolizes status, wealth, and exotic beauty, while her turban and non-Western attire highlight her cultural sophistication. Scholars suggest that the painting represents the blending of Eastern and Western traditions through trade routes. I would love to have this piece in my own home.         Johannes Vermeer ' s Girl with a Pearl Earring is  a   legendary ,  enigmatic  portrait  dubbed   the " Mona Lisa of the North ." The youn...

About the Artist:         Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, artist, and so much more from the Renaissance times. He was born near Florence as the son of a notary and a peasant maiden. He apprenticed with Verrocchio, also an Italian artist. He traveled from Milan to Rome, to Bologna, to Venice, and finally to France in the court of King François I. Vinci was known as the "Renaissance man.” He created several beautiful famous masterpieces, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Even though less than three dozen of his paintings survived, some pieces, like the Vitruvian Man, and his copious notebooks lasted centuries. Leonardo's engineering plans, such as the helicopter and tank, were centuries ahead of his time but were not investigated mainly. Others, such as a bobbin winder, were taken to industry. His scientific investigations enriched anatomy, engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ...

"Drowning Girl" by  Roy Lichtenstein                            Roy Lichtenstein was a very inspirational artist in the twentieth century. Specifically the second half. Lichtenstein specialized in pop art. Pop art is a type of art that was inspired by pop culture to make art fun and colorful. It was very popular in the 1950s and 60s. Lichtenstein started his painting in the late 40s and early 50s. He started working in series. His iconography was inspired by printed images. Which is just using symbols and figures to portray a meaning in an art piece. In 1960, he would find what he called the "dumbest" and "worst" pieces and change them to make them better. He tried out some different art forms, one being taking comic strips and recreating them to have abstract backgrounds. In 1961, Lichtenstein decided on his signature art form. Pop art. In 1963, he published my favorite piece of his. The "Drowning...

Hello!       My name is Reagan Deemer. I live in Kodiak Alaska,  where I grew up and developed a passion for being in classrooms, studying biology, and dancing. I am a recent high school graduate of Kodiak High School. (I graduated in May of 2024) In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, fishing, and dancing, which allows me to connect with others and stay energized. If I’m not in the school, you can see me volunteering as an assistant coach for this year’s Kodiak High School dance team or dancing for fun at our local dance studio: Next Step Dance Kodiak. I am studying online at the University of Alaska Fairbanks to double major in biology and secondary education so I can complete my goal of becoming a 7 th -grade science teacher.          I have a close relationship to art. I may not do it passionately all the time, but it is still a huge part of my life. As I said before, I am a dancer. Dance to me is a form of art in ways others don't u...