Emma Roberts lecture at the Tate. Artists and practices. Artists and the art market. 13th October 2009

This is the first lecture that i have attended at the Tate led by Emma Roberts, i really enjoyed it and i will try to go to her 1 hour lectures every Tuesday from now on.

Collectors make art history and art histories document it.



Borghese Gallery, Rome.







Borghese filled his home with works
of art both antique and contemporary.

Bernini, 'Abduction of persephone' 1622-1625.

This piece is currently at the Borghese gallery. It is made from marble. Era around 1600 is the end of the Reinaisance, and the beginning of the Bavoc period. The artist did more than one picture of the cardinal to massage his ego.









Rubens, 'Ceiling of the banqueting room' Whitehall, 1630-4

Britain's parliament. Enhances Britain's power when visitors are taken into this room. Rubens was thought to be the best artist of his day. Big, diplomatic painting. The painting on the ceiling would take years to complete.

David Tenier. 'The Archduke Leopold's gallery 1651

Easel paintings are smaller and easier to move around. The artist was commissioned by high up people. He became a private dealer and artist. Had a royal connection. He was rich among noble men, that he became a noble man himself. He became filthy rich. There was a demand in them days to buy the right type of art.

Johann Zoffany. 'Charles Townley' 1782

The artist had a passion for antique sculpture. He filled his home with Roman statues. There was no galleries in that time period. If you knew about art you would have been expected to have a big home. Paintings were mainly big in that era. The artist built a wing on his home to put art into. His works were bought from the British museum. The British museum was founded in 1910. Art transferred from being in private homes to public museums. Middle class people wanted what rich people had, they wanted to see art. Visiting galleries became free for working class people. The National gallery in London was built in Trafalgar square as everyone could access it. The collections of art in the gallery is rather mixed now as it suit's everyone's tastes. The work was filtered to boost Britishness. The work was owned by the British government

The Conservation Centre. Felt making workshop. 8th Ocober 2009.

^ >From going to the felt workshop and making felt pieces of my own i went out and bought some actual felt (flat felt) to sew into. All of these felt pieces are for my practical work which is based on war.

In this free, 3 hour workshop i learnt how to create felt pieces with sheep's wool. The process is quite simple. You get a tray with some depth and some cream coloured wool. And then you feather the wool out every time you pull a piece and lay it down on the tray in a vertical direction. You carry on doing this until you think the wool is thick enough, once you have done this you start feathering more wool to lay it down in the opposite direction. You give the wool base a few layers, until you go onto using coloured wool for your design. You use the same feathering process to lay the coloured wool down to create your design. For me i created 2 felt pieces, one of the United States flag and one of a hand gun firing. Once your design was layed out, you pour warm water over it and rub soap over it and then agitate it by wrapping the piece in bubble wrap and massaging it, this brings the fibres of the wool closely together. Once agitated enough you take the felt piece and place it onto a bamboo mat. Once placed you roll the bamboo mat with the felt piece in it in a rigorous way. This helps shape and flatten the piece. Also if rolled you can squeeze the excess water out. Once shaped, rolled and drained the piece can then be quickly washed and drained again and then left to dry. The process of drying takes a few days. Once dried the felt piece can be left as it is or embroidered into.

I really enjoyed this workshop as i now know how to create a felt piece. I have been to the Conservation Centre in the past to go to various workshops. I enjoyed them all as i learnt for free and in a friendly, helpful environment. I will be going to more in the future.

Ray Lowry. The Bluecoat 07th October 2009

Under the volcano, undated. Mixed media piece.

Unlike his series of paintings on paper based on Malcolm Lowry's book, Ray Lowry's single painting entitled under the volcano is more energetic, suggesting an exotic landscape. But despite the painting's title, it's subject matter is not Mexico but Iraq, and the time is the present, as toy soldiers play out a war in a part of the world that, as a Mesopotamia, was considered the 'cradle of civilization'. The subject matter reflects one of the books underlying themes that of man's folly with the world heading towards war.

I was amazed when i saw this painting for it's relevance to my core study work. My theme for my current work is the war in Iraq and so is the theme in this painting. What also made me love this painting more was the fact it had green and tan coloured toy soldiers along the bottom of the painting. I am using toy soldiers at the moment in my work. She has probably used the toy soldiers for the same reason i am using them, which is to make the image of war less daunting and therefore making the work more childlike.

Walker Art Gallery Art Work. 7th October 2009

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                           John Moores

The John Moores competition, open to artists working in the UK, has always been an open submission competition with prize money - a total of £458,350 has been awarded since 1957. Until 1967 ‘distinguished’ artists were invited to submit work, some also being eligible for prizes. Those invited included Oskar Kokoschka, LS Lowry, Francis Bacon and Barbara Hepworth.

The exhibited works and prizewinners are selected by a different jury each year. The exhibition has consistently helped to raise the profile of the artists and in particular to further the careers of its winners, including Jack Smith, Peter Blake, David Hockney andPeter Doig.

For the Walker Art Gallery it has created the backbone of its collection of contemporary British painting, reflecting some of the major trends over the past 50 years, including Kitchen Sink realism, abstraction, pop art and figuration.

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Hirst's Shark Tank (one of an edition of twenty five)

Emin's Bed (one of an edition of ten) ( both created in 2006) 

The Little Artists (both born 1973) John Cake and Darren Neave.

I love these cartoon, Lego versions of each of Hirst's  and Emin's work, they are fun, childlike and they would probably be playful if there wasn't a plastic casing around the work. To some extent it probably mocks the original art work but at the same time it is humorous. The artists are included as Lego in the works, this would most likely helps the viewer to realize who's work it originally is. 

The artists immortalize famous artists and their artworks in un-manipulated Lego. The artists are mischievous cartoon characters, the Little artists, gallery gift shops, merchandise and popular children's culture inspire them to question what it means to be an artist in a climate where art is a commodity. Priding themselves on the integrity and accuracy of their artworks, their knowledge of Lego is comprehensive, respecting its association with learning and creativity.  Hirst's Shark Tank and Emin's Bed are tributes to the iconic 'Brit Art' works of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.  

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Slump/Fear (Orange/black) 2004

Alexis Harding (Born 1973)

This painting won first prize in the John Moores exhibition in 2004.

I really love this painting just because it is messy, big and bright.

It is rather simple and looks like it has no meaning but i don't mind

i love the look of the piece i don't really care what the meaning is.

I probably love it this much because i would do something like this

in my own work. 

To create the painting the artist poured oil paint

onto primed MDF board. While this was still wet, gloss, paint was poured

over it through a perforated guttering making the 'grid'. The quick-drying gloss formed a skin: the oil beneath stayed wet. Combining control with chance, he then tilted the board repetitively, and manipulated the paint with his fingers, forcing the two layers to move against each other. Harding describes this as ''a work within....limits that i can only discover by squeezing and pushing them to extremes.''  

                                       

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Two Geese. Peter Kinley (1926-1988)

This painting really bothers me because it is so basic.

It looks too basic to be in a gallery like the Walker, 

maybe work this simple is seen as contemporary and that's 

why the Walker has included it. Because the work is quite empty

it looks childlike as though painted by a child. The artist might 

have painted it intentionally in this way. ''I try to make paintings

that are strong enough to remain in the memory as coherent

images, even after a brief encounter.'' This quote by the artist

proves he wants his this piece to be remembered and his 

intention of painting like a child will achieve this. 

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March 1963. Roger Hilton (1911-1975)

First prize John Moores winner 1963.

This is another painting that i think did not deserve to win the John Moores prize, simply because i think to win this type of prize, the work should have had a lot of effort put into it, and i can't see this in this painting. It looks as though the artist has basically through some blue paint on the canvas and then added black lines which the artist found necessary for some reason. It slightly reminds me of Patrick Caulfields work only because Caulfield used lots of blue in his work and black lines. It probably would be much more similar if Hilton's style was more precise and planned out like Caulfield's is. 

Hilton often titled his paintings after the month in which they were finished. March 1963 typifies the spontaneous, rapid abstraction which he developed in the 1950's, mixing drawing and painting. There are suggestions of the human form, a rock and a boat. Artist and juror Peter Lanyon wrote to Hilton, 'you got an absolute clear majority, a vote of four out of five...i told John Moores that it was the best painting to come out of Britain since the war.'  This quote has got to be a joke i am sure there were paintings 100% better than this, in my opinion, since the war, this quote is a bit ridiculous. Even Hilton said himself 'They are Terrible pictures. No wonder mine won.'

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Mirage. Michael Raedecker (born 1963)

Won John Moores prize in 1999.

Acrylic, thread and sequins on linen. 

This painting definitely deserved to win the John Moores prize as a lot of effort has been put in.

I like the piece as it has mixed media on it and it reminds me of surrealism. The image looks quite dreamy and imaginative. The piece looks like it is some sort of landscape, a bit deserted but inviting at the same time. The colours are rather neutral and calm, this makes me feel calm and it also made me stand and admire this painting the most out of all of the works i saw at the exhibition. The painting is quite long and wide, it doesn't have a grand height like the length does. This length invites the viewer to walk from one end of the painting to the other to take it all in. When i saw this painting i wanted to touch it, there seemed to be lots of texture involved because of it's materials such as wool, thick and thin paint. 

Raedecker's distinctive paintings employ an inventive range of media, influenced by his study of fashion as an undergraduate. He wittily uses threads for areas where paint would be expected: horizontal lines of thread create shadows, and balls of looped, painted thread add texture. His combination of a flat painted surface with intricate tactile embroidery, all in murky earthly tones, results in an unsettling atmosphere. The warped land curves back in on itself enveloping a sky, futher adding to the bleakness of this desolate landscape. 

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Blotter. Peter Doig (Born 1959)

John Moores prize winner 1993.

Oil on canvas.

This painting deserved to win as it is amazing. This must have took some time to create. The painting is quite big. I love the reflection in the water it makes the painting more realistic. Blotter is based on a photograph of Doig's brother standing on a frozen pond in Canada, where the artist was brought up. Therefore the piece is quite personal to the artist. Doig pumped water over the ice to enhance the reflections. The title, Blotte, refers to how a person can become absorbed in a place or landscape. The figure is looking down into his reflection to suggest inward thought. Blotter also refers to the paint soaking in the canvas.  

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Broken Bride 13.6.82

John Hoyland (born 1934)

John Moores prize winner 1982

This is another painting that i strongly agree should not have won the prize. It is too quick, basic, rough, and childlike. The painting just consists of colours and basic shapes. In my opinion it looks like a complete mess and should not have been entered into the competition. It's as though the judges know that a lot of viewers will be uproared by certain works and thats why works like this probably get entered into the competition and win.  

The artists abstract paintings develop as a series, their forms and colours evolving from one to the next. He believes firmly that colour conveys human emotion and his paintings therefore express and aim to provoke emotions. In Broken Bride 13.6.82 his harmonious integration of shapes, textures and colours upon a flat canvas, without recognisable imagery, is spontaneous yet disciplined. 

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Cow Mutations

Tim Head (born 1946)

Won John Moores prize in 1987.

Acrylic and sandtex on canvas. 

This work is very different to most of the John Moores winners at this exhibition, as most of the works are paintings. This is totally different, it is a fun, illusional piece which is made a painting but as it is so precise and flat you would think it is a print out of some sort of illusion. The idea of the cows mutating gives the viewers eyes the impression it is a illusion. Because the piece consists of two colours, black and white it attracts the eye more as it is not flooded with colour. Black and white combined in any piece has the opportunity to trick the eye. The piece is also busy with fun imagery.  

His paintings are based on found motifs, enlarged by photocopying then projected onto the canvas. Here, the artist borrowed the imagery- much like earlier Pop artists- from an everyday source: Sainsbury's milk-cartons. By using a stylised image of cows, remote from how they actually look in real life, Tim Head emphasises the gap between our materialist, 'packaged' society and the natural world on which it depends.    

            

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Cross. Mary Martin (1907 - 1969)

Joint first prize, John Moores 1969.

Stainless steel and painted wood on Formica and wood. 

This is another piece that is illusional. Although it is titled cross i think it looks more like a star than a cross. And it shines like a star would. This piece is 3D and sculptural, it is encased in a frame. I think it would of looked three dimensional without a frame and you would be able to see different angles better. The black background is a great choice of colour for the silver 'cross' as it stands out. This piece makes me realize that the John Moores competition should include not only paintings but 3D work, more variety would attract more viewers. 

This sculptural work won joint first prize (with Richard Hamilton) in the 1969 exhibition. It was one of Martin's last works, she died before the exhibition opened. It is the culmination of a series, begun in the mid- 1960's, in which she arranged small half- cubes, cut diagonally, on a square base. She placed them according to her own complex but regular permutation system, feeling that this enabled effects to emerge that she could never have imagined for herself. The sequences of diagonal planes massed against each other reflect both inner surfaces and outside light sources. They create a rich, vibrant effect somewhere between relief sculpture and a Cubist painting. Mary Martin was the first woman to win the John Moores prize. 

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Oriental Garden, Kyoto. Bruce McLean (painted 1984)

Won the John Moores prize in 1985.

This is similar to the geese painting in the way it is basic and

it looks like it took no longer than 20 minutes to paint. The Geese 

painting was not a John Moores prize winner, but i can't see how 

this won. Probably many people would agree and disagree with me.

It could of won because it is so simple but it may have a strong 

meaning or maybe it won because the judges wanted to cause 

a debate and rage with the viewers. 

The painting is of a Japanese  ornamental garden painted almost the same size as an actual garden.  A celebration of big fish in small ponds. At the time, McLean was better known as a sculptor and performance artist, known particularly for his  parodies of the art world. Oriental Garden, Kyoto contains many elements of 'a performance' including its rapid, spontaneous technique and confident handling of scale. 

7th October 2009. Paul Rooney, Bellevue 2009, 22 minutes video. At the Bluecoat.

At the start of the film Bill looks disillusioned as if he is on drugs, maybe hospital drugs. Advertising meeting. Lowry's pain and alcoholism, psychiatric hospital. Bill plays Lowry. He has the shakes, probably from drinking. Bill Plays the main actor as well as the actor in the advertising meeting. In the meeting he looks confused as he See's himself on the television. Once the woman who leads the meeting turns the television off, Bill gets up from his chair and goes to the window to have a long hard think. He looks deluded, rough, dirty, depressed, left alone in the meeting room. While everyone else goes outside. Actors from the meeting reenact what it was like for Lowry to be in a mental hospital. They act as though they have a mental illness. They get guided around the grounds outside. Bill waves a flag about, probably something to do with ships. ''Ships full of fools.'' Bill walks along the roof, cold, deluded, and wet. ''The world must justify itself.'' While on the roof he goes in various moods such as being calm, quiet and smug, he also talks to the camera rather smug. Bill walks off into the fields at the end of the film. Might resemble getting away from the madness of the mental hospital. Bill never actually went onto the roof etc, he imagined it all with his crazy mind, he was still in the meeting room at the end. This makes me question was everything that happened in the film imagined or did things actually happen?

The film was interesting but quite disturbing at times, as the actor looked ill. The film was confusing at times as it kept going back and forward in time. I think the artist has portrayed Lowry very well in the film. Bill was the perfect actor to portray Malcolm Lowry.

7th October 2009. Walker art gallery tour.

Today i attended a tour where three paintings were explained. One of the largest pieces by Rosetti, has covered the theme of love before. Rosetti was 21 when he created this piece. It was finished in 1871 and sold to the Walker art gallery in 1881. In the painting he Falls asleep and dreams that the love of his life, Beatrice has died. Red poppy's on the floor, the red of the poppy's resembles love and the poppy's themselves resemble death. The artist paint's pictures and writes poems. Big, red, long hair was attractive in that time. Hair doesn't rot, only flesh does. Rosetti fell in love with another woman once Beatrice died, he constantly painted this woman. She was called Jane Morris. rosetti painted people with the face of Jane Morris. The man figure resembles love, he is the figure of love. Red is the colour of love, green is the colour of mourning. Pre-raphalite paintings usually have a frame which is usually gold around them. Rosetti designed his own frames, the frames often contain symbols. Rosetti's presentation for his work meant a lot to him. 1500 guineas was paid by the council for this painting. Rosetti wanted this painting to be exhibited in the autumn exhibition.

William Holman Hunt. Triumph of the innocents, purchased 1891. 1827-1910.
Shows the holy family traveling into Egypt. Children are in various stages of consciousness. Everything was painted by nature. The painting was painted in Palestine. Light beacon fires on the hills to communicate. Bubble just off centre in the painting. The bubble holds a picture of a staircase, maybe the staircase to heaven. Everything has been fulfilled in the new testament from the old testament. Looks like the virgin's face is uneven, as though it has been repaired.

John Everett Millais. Isabella 1829-1896. Isabella.
Millais was 19 when he painted this painting. Everything painted from life. Something odd about the perspective. Based on a poem. Lorenzo is in love with Isabella but they have to keep it secret. Flowers grow from their heads. Isabella's brothers wants her to marry a local man. They take Lorenzo into the forest and kill him. Isabella dreams he has been hurt, he comes to her in her dream and he takes her to the forest where he was buried. She goes to the grave and takes only his head. She puts his head in a pot of basil. Isabella die's of a broken heart. Crawling with symbolism. A hawk chews on a white feather after killing something. A brother looking through his blood red coloured wine while looking in the direction to looking at Lorenzo. The dog is a symbol of devotion. One of the brothers kick the dog. PRB means pre raphaelite brotherhood. Painted by a 19 year old genius. Shadow of a erect penis, supposed to be the shadow of the nutcracker the brother holds. The 19 year old is showing his sense of humour by creating this shadow. For 7 people to sit on one side of the table, the table would roughly have to be 14 foot long, but the painting shows it's not. The wall papered walls are apparently meant to be parallel with the frame. Distorted the spacial qualities of the room, the arch was narrowed to link Lorenzo and Isabella's heads.

06th October 2009 6:30pm. Paul Rooney talk at the Bluecoat.

Lunatic city 1934-1936 living in New york. Paul Rooney's work at this exhibition is inspired by Lowry's books. Malcolm Lowry is famous for not finishing anything. Theatrical but real people. How madness can fit into art approach to reality that isn't right. Presence of historical past, interrupting the present and disrupt it. ''Every shot wasn't planned, it was open, the process is more interesting''. Done pieces monologue with still pictures. ''Feel at ease in desperate places because you know you can leave''. Music is a crucial element of Paul Rooney's work. ''Music can disrupt the narrative''. Took a Lowry book and observed it for inspiration for his work. ''Be aware of what limitations art has''. What point art can't exist in madness. Wants the dignity of madness and not to be drunk. Fresh, trying to shoot like a documentary.

5th October 2009, 6:30pm. S1 Salon 2009 Art film screening touring programme at Fact.

I went to this screening with no intention of what to expect. I attended this film screening as i wanted to have a look at film art and if it would influence me in anyway in my present or future work. I took down notes while watching, the notes are what i thought was happening and sometimes my own interpretation of the films.

Duncan Marquiss.
Lots of flashing imagery. Human figures, smoke, mist, sex, violence, flashing lights, abuse and some sort if ritual. This video was quite disturbing as the figures were blurred and doing strange things. The video also included strange sounds.

kempinski.
Night time. Imagine the future in present. Oxen. Cows and flies in a field, with what looks to be an African man talking.....in Africa? Stars and animals. Don't need modern objects like cars etc. As the film comes to an end i realise that the men in the film are french as there was subtitles in the film and it was in a French language. I also realised that this film was about seeing the world in the future. Near the very end of the film men on what looks to be a bridge run, walk and ride on motorbikes as though comparing modern and traditional ways of travel, comparing the motorbike to travelling traditionally like running or walking.

Andy Parksmann, Neptune.
6 girls exercise and dance strangely to some sort of routine as well as throwing and catching beach balls. At one stage they hold a post each with a letter which spells out 'Neptune'. This video is really hard to interpret into anything as it is too weird.

Anna Lucas, Seventh Heaven.
Boys in school classroom in detention or some sort of meeting. One boy talks about violence and Turkish blood spilt. Playing card games. At one part of the film the boys pray as though they are part of a different culture. The school looks rough and derelict as though it's ready to be knocked down. Drawing, teaching, learning and music. Everything thing in the film is youthful.

MingWong.
Chinese men dressed as women....cleaners? Relaxed atmosphere with four women having a conversation....on their break? Sitting and standing around the stair area. They look like they are having some sort of debate. Three of the women look like they are agreeing on the debate whereas the fourth woman doesn't.

Claire Hope.
Planning permission to build a house. Scaffolding. For and against the planning permission. Sounds like a radio broadcast with three people having a debate, two men one woman. Comparing old buildings to new ones. Building the building for a company. ''The proposal will cost too much.''

The chair.
Explains a chair and it's benefits and purpose. Shows an image of wood and explains what the chair looks like. Flicks through images of various chairs. Could link to people and how everyone is different. About soldiers, taking the chair. Woman on the phone explains she got raped twice by the soldiers. Woman tried to move to get away from the soldiers, but they followed and raped her again. They took her belongings. ''But the English and American soldiers didn't protect you''? Men at war. Never ending variety of chairs. After the last page with a chair on, the wood image appears again as though there is no chairs or ''soldiers'' left.

Lois Rowe, Argument from design.
Talks about colour. Green equals growth and black equals death and decay. Colours and their motivations. Green and black want very different things. They are enemies. Green vs blue and black vs white. White and green equals width whereas black and green equals depth.

Newyork.
This film was the longest out of the films and because it was the longest more was said to interpret what it could be about. Starts calm. Cable car travels across the city and a river. Looks like morning. Bare tree. Refers to Newyork as ''the island''. Three children talk about Newyork's ''island'' architchture. The essence of the island is imaginary. Story of when people came to the island. Are thet comparing Newyork how it used to be and how it is now? Inhabited by artificial ghosts. Youth vs oldage. ''All our actions have been recorded''. Residents of Newyork. ''The young, old, healthy, handicapped, rich and poor could live here''. ''All our actions have been recorded. We shall live in this image forever''.

05th October 2009. Bridget Riley Exhibition at the Walker art gallery.

She displays her work in a organised manner. Her small pieces and technical development of her work are all framed. Framing the work allows the viewer to realise what is her process work and her final pieces. The process work is quite messy, there are lots of pencil lines and scribbles. The process work is allowed to be messy. Lots of cut up paper are arranged and overlapped before she goes onto her final work. I noticed that her development of her ideas are created over several years. The only reason i can think she has done this, is because she may have more than one idea or process on the go.

She arranges her work by it's colours. The black and white pieces are grouped together and the striped works are grouped together. Two paintings relatively the same size face eachother in the gallery. One is quite rough edged, multicoloured and busy whereas the opposite one is quite calm, curved and less coloured. Her work hangs at different levels. Her work has been hung so it's straight but not so it's perfectly in line with all the work.

Because the room is large and well lit the works are not overcrowded. Her work is labelled underneath or beside her work. She includes the date, title, and the medium used. she also labels her work as collection of the artist or private collection. I am unsure what these two terms mean, therefore i am going to research this to find out. Only her final pieces have barries. They are based on the floor. A lot of artist's don't put there development of work on show. maybe they don't as they only want to show their final outcomes. Bridget Riley proves she used a system to develop her ideas, She drafts, develops and then finally produces her work.

There is limited furniture in the room, there is only two benches which are rather small. Because of this if there were lots of people attending the exhibition there would be nowhere for them to sit. Therefore they don't have much choice but to stand and look at the work rather than be relaxed and seated. Maybe this gallery does not have a lot of furniture in the room as it is trying to look contemporary and modern like the Tate for example. I don't think i have ever saw a bench in any of the Tate's exhibitions, this most likely applies to other modern and contemporary galleries/museums.

Bridget Riley. Writen and directed by David Thomson 1979. Funded by the Arts council of Great Britain. 28 minutes. Video.

The video is a major help to understand her work, her intentions, her works development and ideas. I took down notes as i watched the film.

The pattern has movement. colour.....what is it's shape, form, movement, space?
Paint behaves as light does. You can't force colour into pattern. How do you organise space and colour? The distance you look at the painting creates a different view. Every person even with normal vision will see the illusion in the painting differently. Try colours out, she get's help to do this. Colours look darker or lighter. Maximum juxtaposition. Showing and giving the paintings to the world is like pushing a boat out to sea. Possibilities of vision. What looking feels like. The eye is precise. It looks asthough the ripples and waves, rhythm, patterns, curves, form of the sea (water) is a major influence in her work. Repetition, rhythm, slower, faster, tighten, release, breath, expand, narrow, energy. The eye is confused instead it feels the energy and movement. Colour as light and colour as paint. Her main influences are Monet and Seurat. Colour does not have direction. Looking at it at different distances, each eye see's the painting differentley. Binocular vision.

Bye blackboard....hello blogger.com

I have decided to use a blog on blogger.com as i have another blog from the previous semester off this site, which i still to use. I like the blog on this site as i can change the layout, colours of text etc and i can also upload videos. The blackboard blog is not as exciting to use and it does not allow me to upload videos, therefore i am using a blogger.com blog. I will leave a link on Blackboard every time i put a new post on.