Joseph Beuys (Extra Credit #8)

Joseph Beuys is a man of many artistic titles, he is a sculptor, performance artist, installation artist and a graphic artist. Beuys was born in 1951 in Germany, he grew up middle class in a strong Catholic family. In 1940 he joined the military, and was trained as an airplane pilot. He fought in World War two, and was injured a numerous ammount of times. He was heald prisoner at the end of the war, after five years he was finally able to go home.

Afterward Beuys began to reshape his focus toward art, with the war as one of his main subjects. He began to sculpt large scale sculptures and put them on exhibit. He also produced many drawings and room installations. He even became involved in the artistic process of creating multiples. He was also a part of many political activist groups and called for reform, which he showcased in his work. Beuys continued to work and be a part of many exhibitions untill his death in 1986.

Andy Goldsworthy (Extra Credit #7)

Sculptor, photographer, and enviornmentalist, Andy Goldsworthy has created many beautiful works of art. With his most popular works in nature and outdoor enviornments. The materials most often used in his works include flowers, mud, icicles, leaves, pinecones, snow, stone, twigs and thorns. He feels that it takes someone incredible brave to work with flowers and petals, he likes to work with nature as a whole. Goldsworthy is considered to be the founder of modern rock balancing, and for the majority of his works; his hands, teeth, and other simple objects are his tools.

Photography also plays an important role in his works. Many times Goldsworthy will photograph his work, and the photographs show every stage the piece has gone through. Its beautiful peak at perfection, and how it slowly deteriorates and falls apart. Goldsworthy has recieved many awards for his art, and he has also been featured in many publications.

Survival Research Society (Extra Credit #6)

Created in 1978 by Mark Pauline, this group's main purpose is to create and use technologies outside of their normal purposes. The society has created and demonsrtated over 45 presentations in the U.S and Europe. Each one of their performances involves interacions between tools, robots, and machines with lottle or no human interaction.

Kevin Bracken (Extra Credit #5)

It was very hard for me to find information about Kevin Bracken! Every time I looked for his information in a database, tons of people with the same name and information came up. This lead me to realize that Bracken is not very well known, but hopefully with the info I found people can learn a little more about him. A Long Island native,Bracken co-founded Newmindspace while he was studying in Canada. Bracken is a flashmob artist, meaning that he gathers massive ammounts of people in an area and they act in certain ways that people may not understand. The mob just assembles so suddenly, but then they are gone in a flash.(guess that's why they call it a flash mob)In one of his flashmobs he manages to gather hundreds of people together, and gets them to join in on a huge pillow fight. Im sure he has many others, but since he is not known to many there is still much more to learn about him.

Maya Lin (Extra Credit #4)

Maya Lin is an artist who is known for her amazing sculpture and landscape art. She is the artist responsible for the creation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. At the young age of 21, Lin won a competition for the right to design and create the veterans memorial. She beat out thousands of competitors, and when she tried to complete and construct the wall she faced lots of criticism and scrutiny. She completed the wall, and it is a masterpiece. It is a black-cut stone masonry wall, with the names of the 58,261 soldiers who lost their lives.

Other than this famous creation; Lin operates her own studio, and has designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama. Lin also continues to create many works of art indoors and out, she has her own book, and she has received and been nominated for many awards.

Donatella Versace (Extra Credit #3)

Donatella Versace was born 1955 in and brought up in Italy.She is a major fashion designer and the current vice-president of the Versace group. Her brother, the famous Gianni Versace was the head of the fashion forward and super stylish Versace company and name brand. But his death in 1997 left Donatella in charge. She has managed to keep Versace in its role as a major player in the fashion world, and she continues to supervise the productions of dozens of collections every year. Whether it be handbags, fragrences, clothing and more. Under Donatella's watch, the company has continued to grow and prosper, and Donatella has come up with some creations of her own. Donatella's hard work has earned her a Do Something With Style Award nomination, for her charity work in donating supplies and creating tote bags for children. Today she continues to work, and expand the Versace brand.

Vivienne Westwood (Extra Credit #2)

Vivienne Westwood was born Vivienne Isabel Swire in Glossop, England in 1941. She began designing clothes in 1971, and opened her first shop called ‘Let it Rock’. Ten years later Westwood had her first collection entitled ‘Pirate’ shown. In 1990 Westwood launched her first menswear collection in Florence, and that same year and the year after she won the British Designer of the Year Award. After this the only place that Westwood could go was up, and that’s exactly what happened. The years after these early awards, Westwood continued to be recognized and received many more awards.

She continues to create outstanding shoes and outrageous fashions. Westwood is not afraid to be bold and she still has attitude, even in her older years. Westwood is “cutting edge but classic, she is unflinchingly rooted in what matters, whether it is human rights or classical fiction. No trendy noise for her, just cleavage, mischief, and…please don’t arrest me baby, T-shirts” (vogue.com)