Group Blog #1

Having seen the outside of the Downtown Presbyterian Church for years, I never expected the inside to look the way it did! The building blends in well with the others around it, and the location and outer appearance give no hint about the elaborate inside decor. The church isn't extremely large, but inside, it feels massive. The high ceilings and huge windows, large furniture, and tall pillars absolutely dwarf a person inside. This creates a sense of importance and respect. Everyone in my group didn't expect the inside of a church to be so elaborately made to look like ancient Egypt, and we were all in awe of the amazing detail of the walls, stained glass windows, and painted ceiling. It almost felt like a museum, or like we were stepping into a whole other time and place. The sturdy wooden furniture really gives the impression of strength, which is expected in a church, and the dim lighting (although I'm sure it's not always lit like that) added to the feeling of reverence and foreignness while we were there.

The stained glass windows had yellow sand, bright green palm trees, and blue sections representing the Nile River. There were even representations of papyrus plants. The windows are meant to make the viewer feel like he or she is looking out into Ancient Egypt, and to me, they definitely added to the foreign feel of the church.

My absolute favorite part of the church was the trompe l'oeil near the altar. The walls were painted to look as if they were a patio looking out onto a hypostyle hall. The detailing on the columns stayed true to Egyptian style, and the trompe l'oeil was very well done. The rhythm of the repeated columns added to the vast feel of the room.

Overall, I wish I could have explored the church more thoroughly. The back room with a bit of the church's history was very interesting. It's nice to have a little part of Egypt in our city!

Individual Blog #2

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/14/travel/main6865908.shtml?tag=mncol;lst;6

This article from CBS News discusses a new exhibition at the Seaport Museum of New York that consists of Alfred Stieglitz's photographs of Old New York. It features 39 photographs, shown together for the first time in nearly 80 years. In this new exhibition, Stieglitz's old photos are placed so that his images of Old New York are contrasted with his later images of the city. Another section in the exhibition called "The Face of New York" contrasts Stieglitz's material with works by his contemporaries and is used to show the wide variety of New York imagery at the time.

I thought this was an important article to write about, not only because Stieglitz is one of my favorite photographers, but also because he has had a huge impact on the American art world. His gallery "291" introduced America to the likes of Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse, and Rodin. Additionally, he was one of the most prominent proponents of photography as an art form, promoting photography as "a distinctive medium of individual expression." It's interesting to think that photography once wasn't considered a true art form, and this article brought my thoughts back to my previous assignment about the artistic nature of video games. It just reinforces the fact that the definition of art is fluid and constantly changing, and different mediums evoke different responses.



Individual Blog #2

These votive figures from Tell Asmar really stood out to me when we viewed them in class. These voluminous figures are typical of their time period and follow conventions that were common in Sumerian art. They are sculpted in-the-round (sculpted on all sides except for the base) and vary in size and slightly in appearance. The figures are extremely stylized in both face and body, there is little definition of gender, and the clothing and poses really emphasize their heavy, cylindrical shape. The figures all share a common pose and expression, their hands prayerfully folded and their faces peaceful and reverent.

However, the eyes on these figures are what really catches one's attention. The large, wide-eyed stare that we now associate with cartoon characters was once considered a look of deep devotional prayer. In the textbook, the author states that "[these figures] are directly related to an ancient Near Eastern devotional practice in which individual worshippers could set up images of themselves in a shrine before a larger, more elaborate image of a god (31)." Therefore, these statues represented real people and allowed them to be in constant "eye-contact" with their god. This tells us, the modern viewers, a lot about the Sumerian people: it shows how important their religion was to them and gives us an idea of their everyday worship practices.

Collage project

I'm sorry for the awful cell phone picture!

For this collage, I wanted every inch of the poster board to reflect some part of me. I always knew that the main theme would be astronomy, as it is a very important part of my life and one of my biggest passions. I decided to use the concept of a globe with orbiting moons, with each moon representing a facet of my personality. The two largest moons stand for my cats and my parents, both of which are probably the most important to me. The moons go on to show my other interests: nature (the man with the carrot as a representation of my longtime vegetarianism and love of the environment), the humanities (I‘m an English literature major), and my hometown. Art means the world to me, so I thought it fitting that each part of the globe should be represented by a famous work of art. The frame around my collage is important as well; it has a symbolic meaning of structure and practicality.

Decisions: As stated in the paragraph above, I tried to be very careful in my decisions for the collage. I planned everything out beforehand, yet the collage looks slightly different from what I planned. This is a good thing! Whenever I finish a piece of art, I recognize that parts of it reflect my feelings at the moment of creation and couldn’t have be planned.

Color: The colors in my collage are both bright and subdued. The bright blues and greens represent my love of nature and the sciences, while the browns represent simplicity and practicality, as well as my love of antique things.

Light: The lighter areas in my collage are meant to draw the eye throughout. I tried to balance the brightness of the Belmont bell tower and Shakespeare’s forehead on the left with the lightness of Africa on the globe and the bright nebulae in the background on the right. The brightest nebulae in the background also “point” to the main focus of the globe.

Texture: Texture is most evident in the “ocean” on my globe. I used pictures of water to create a texture similar to real water. Texture can also be found on several of the moons: the grassy look of the four farthest moons and the “vegetarian” themed moon.

Volume: My use of volume is also most evident on my globe. I tried to create roundness by using the darker scraps of paper along the edge of the globe and gradually fading to lighter. The implied roundness of the globe is meant to be a contrast with the rather flat moons.

Line: The axis of my collage is primarily horizontal, though there is a slightly elliptical orientation as well, used to make the moons look as if they are rotating the Earth. Several other lines are meant to draw the eye to the globe: the man with the carrot and the nebulae in the background all “point” to the focal point.

Space: I tried to create depth with the starry background. The darker parts and nebulae are supposed to be very far away compared to the globe. The moons are arranged so that the smaller ones are farther away than the larger ones.

Scale: The size of the objects in my collage determine their importance to me at this time in my life. The moons representing my family and my cats are the largest, followed by my two biggest interests-- science and literature. The next two largest represent my hometown and school, and the farthest moons represent the future. Though the future is very important, I try not to let it dictate my day-to-day life too much.

Symbolism:
1. The frame around the main part of my collage represents my need for structure in my life.
2. The swirls on the frame are made up of words, which symbolize my love for reading and writing. The spiral shape is significant because I tend to dive into whatever I’m reading and “get lost!”
3. The orbiting moons symbolize “moving forward” and discovery, for real moons are always moving.
4. The four farthest moons symbolize my four years in college, as well as the future. They are smaller and dimmer than the other moons, which is meant to imply uncertainty. However, they have a grassy texture, which is meant to represent level-headedness (“Keep your feet on the ground.”)

You: The main theme of the collage is (obviously) astronomy, which is one of my passions. Each one of the moons represents some aspect of my personality: the Shakespeare portrait shows my love of the English language, the man with the carrot is representative of my longtime vegetarianism and interest in nature, and the cats represent my own cats, whom I adore.

Friends and Family: My family is represented by the moon on the bottom left of the collage. There are three flowers, one each for my parents and me. The flowers are significant because our family is very into gardening, and we all work together to keep our yard and garden looking nice. It’s one of the many ways that we spend time together, and for that reason it is significant.

Your town, community, school: My hometown (Nashville) and my school (Belmont) are on the far right and left of the collage. Both have had a great influence on me, which is why they are place rather high on the collage.

Your country: On the globe, America is represented by Warhol’s portraits of Marilyn Monroe. This is important because it represents a very popular and well-known period of American art and film.

The world today: The globe in my collage represents the world today. The swirling movement of the water gives the impression of chaos, but the blue color represents brief moments of peace.

Art: As shown on my collage, art is very important to both myself and the world! Art, to me, makes the world a better place, and without it, life would be very dull.

History: Art is a crucial part of human history. It is ingrained within all of us, and it has given rise to innumerable forms of self-expression. Everyone shares a common world history, and art is just one aspect of it. By using a famous art piece from each part of the world, I tried to show just how widespread and important art is to history.

Individual Blog #1

Hmm... looks like art to me!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/gaming.gadgets/08/31/video.games.art.steinberg/index.html?iref=allsearch

This article from CNN.com discusses the debate on whether or not video games should be considered an art form. The author is trying to convince the reader that a video game is an artistic experience, and he compares gaming to looking at more "traditional" art. He states:

Sure, the swirls of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" or the magnificence of Michelangelo's statue of David can prompt awe and contemplation in onlookers. But should we think any less of sprawling virtual worlds that marry music, literature and graphics into a layered aesthetic experience filled with countless scenes, scenarios and choices open for individual interpretation? 

I had never really thought about video games in that sense, but after reading this article, I do agree that video games are a form of art and should be considered as such. I personally am not a "gamer," but I do know that an enormous amount of effort goes into making video games, and they have a strange and inexplicable effect on those who really get into them. Video games are accessible. They bring art and the resulting passions and emotions into one's own living room, and the interactive nature allows the player to dive right into a new world.

From an outsider's perspective, I do think that there is an often-overlooked artistic value to video games, and I think that it should be acknowledged. I don't play video games, but I recognize and appreciate that fact and the idea of accessible art. However, I don't think that the artistic nature of video games can ever replace the traditional notion of art that we have had for centuries, and it shouldn't. Computer-generated forms and landscapes are art in their own right, but they just aren't the same as the actual physical act of putting a paintbrush to canvas. Someone wouldn't compare a dance with a painting in order to validate whether or not each should be considered "art" because they are completely different. I think that video games should be given their own independent category, interactive visual art, instead of being put in a category with other types of visual art. It just makes sense!

Individual Blog #1

Thomas Eakins' The Biglin Brothers Turning the Stake is a great example of an artist's use of axes to organize and move one's eye through a painting. The obvious horizontal axes of the horizon and boats in the background create a calming effect, reinforced by the shimmering stillness of the water. In contrast, the slightly diagonal boat in the foreground adds a bit of movement and interest into the painting; one can almost see the two men rowing past and out of the frame. Additionally, Eakins uses the perpendicular lines of the flagpole and the boat to draw the viewer's eye to the focal points, the rowing Biglin brothers. Eakins also does this with color, for the deep, royal blue of the flag and the men's hats are the same, and the tip of the flag seems to be pointing at the brothers. The reflections of the men also draw one's eye up to their actual forms. Another notable technique is Eakins' impressive illusion of depth and atmospheric perspective. The textured, hazy clouds and trees in the background create movement and really emphasize the clearer lines of the two men.

While looking at this painting, I began to notice an enormous amount of triangles, most of which I have outlined in the picture below. They all seem to contain or point to the focal point, the Biglin brothers. According to Horowitz, a triangular composition is evidence that "the painter has gathered random movements into a moment of perfection."  I thought it was interesting!

Using Prown's ideas about Material Culture and looking at the painting objectively, one can determine several things from this work. First, the realistic and skillful use of perspective, line, and form indicate that Eakins was trained in his profession, showing the viewer that the artist must have lived in a society that supports and/or values artistic endeavors. There is a steaming ship in the background of the painting, indicating that the work was created in an industrially-advanced time period and a rather prosperous country. Additionally, the event that the painting portrays and the large crowd in the background are indicative that the artist lived in a culture where there was an emphasis on sports and recreational activities. This again insinuates a wealthy country because a person in poor living conditions would likely have not experienced an event such as this.