Cinderella Play

I was able to attend the Cinderella play at the Pleasant Grove Community theater on Monday night. My wife and daughter were able to come with me and I think that my daughter was the only one who enjoyed the play. I guess you can’t expect much from a community theater but this was the first time I have ever attended a community put on play so I was unsure as to what to expect. There were a few descent actors involved in the play but most of the individuals definitely were hard to watch or even listen to when they were singing such as the actor who played the step-mother. She was just horrible all over the place but I really have no room to talk because I have never attempted to be in a play. What was cool though is how they attempted to involve the audience in the play. During the part of Cinderella where they are using the slipper to find Cinderella, they would let the little girls in the audience also try on the slipper. I thought that was neat and so did the little girls that tried on the slipper. The only good actor of the play was the individual who played Cinderella. She had a great voice and knew how to involve her body movements and facial expressions to involve the audience members and pull their attention to the action of the stage. Besides the bad acting, it was a descent experience especially since my daughter really enjoyed the play. It was a rather long play however and we didn’t get out of the playhouse till about 9:30 which made it a late night for my daughter. The actual set up of the playhouse was also something different that I have ever seen personally in a theater like setting. I know we talked about it in class and I don’t recall the name associated with this type of staging but it was the type were the audience surrounds the stage on all sides. This allowed for the actors to interact with the different sides of the stage that held audience members. This also made it hard of hearing when the actors where on one side of the stage speaking directly to the audience, especially since there was no sound equipment to amplify the actors voices.

Cinema Lecture

What a way to end the last week of the semester. I thoroughly enjoyed the discussions we had concerning cinema and it was fun to be able to discuss the elements of cinema and then see examples of how those elements are used in film. Of the elements that we discussed, I feel that the camera shots and angles of used in the film make up the meat and potatoes of the film. First off, camera angles seem to be used the most in film and seemed to be used to add dynamics to the film. Films use specific shots in order to give the viewer a certain feeling or point of view. One type of film that comes to my mind when I think of camera angles are horror films because they seem to accentuate the use of camera angles to give that scary or eerie feeling to viewers. In horror films, you often see a close up of an individuals face after they hear a strange noise to show their reaction to the sound. Usually, their facial expression give the viewer the idea that the character is horrified and yet they still venture out to determine what the noise was only to end up eaten or cut in half. Horror films also like to use the high angle and low angle shots to indicate to viewers which characters hold the power or authority over the other characters. One scene that comes to my mind that uses this idea comes from the scenes we viewed in class from the movie the omen. We could see that the nanny standing at the top of the stairs obviously held the authority over the mother standing at the bottom although the mother was barking orders to the nanny. Although the nanny eventually gave in to the nanny, it is obvious that the nanny new more than the mother about the boy and held a higher stewardship over the boy than did the mother. Obviously the nanny knew more about the boy than the mother giving the nanny even more power over the mother. It was also interesting to see how the high and low angle shots were used to portray the boys vulnerability to the church. The film showed shots of the church as if the boy was looking up at the church and then shots of the boy as if the church was looking down at him. Films uses these concepts to give you the feeling that they want you to have. What I appreciate most about the lecture on cinema is I now have a better understanding of films use of these concepts. This will aid me in my own interpretation of cinema as well as to have a better understanding of what is occurring in the film. Sometimes films use these elements to give away little secrets about the characters throughout the film without giving away the ending. I mean, look at the scene from the omen where the mother is at the bottom of the stairs and the nanny at the top. This scene is totally giving away what is occurring in the film or what is about to occur in the film. Therefore, as we have a better understanding about how these concepts are used in film, we can have a better understanding of the characters and how interact with one another.

Amadeus Movie

For those of you who were unable to attend the movie night on Thursday you really missed out. We were able to watch Amadeus, which obviously is a movie about Amadeus Mozart. I have seen the movie before and I had forgotten how long the movie really was. I was expecting to be done by 9pm but I was surprised to find that we didn’t get out of there till 9:40. Boy were did the time go because it sure didn’t seem that long. I thoroughly enjoyed to movie the first time I watched and I enjoyed it just as much at this viewing as I did when I first saw it. Although Amadeus is portrayed as a drunk and a bit of a pervert, I admire the drive he had to keep pushing through the hardships that he had to endure. Obviously his work would have succeeded immensely if it wasn’t for the core composer always working to push Mozart’s work down or not giving Mozart the credit that he deserved. But what impressed me the most about Mozart is he didn’t seemed to get so discouraged as to quick composing altogether. Mozart was aware of his talent and knew that one day his work would be considered among the great. Even on his death bed, Mozart was creating miraculous works of music that even the core composer wished he could compose himself. At some parts of the movie, I actually felt sorry for the core composer. I mean, Mozart seemed to obtain everything that the core composer wished to have. Mozart received a talent from God that the core composer seek to receive his whole life. Mozart also had a sexual relationship with the girl that the core composer hoped to one day be with himself. Even with all this, you see how the core composer prevents Mozart’s work from becoming what it could have become as well as how the core composer messes with Mozart’s emotions that feeling of remorse for the core composer quickly leaves. Another interesting aspect of the movie was how the priest in the movie slowly transforms from a man who truly believes in God and is confident about his faith to a man who looks as if he had seen the devil. When the priest first comes to the nut house to visit with the core composer, he approaches the old man as if he is there to help. He has a feeling of peace and happiness about him but as the old man tells the story of Mozart you can slowly see his expressions change. Even at the end of the movie, the Priest looks scared. His facial expressions look as if one of his own family members had just died and his skin appears pale. I think the priests transformation also goes along with the idea that the core composer had also transformed from a God fearing man to one that had contributed to the death of a famous composer. As I watched the movie, I also tried to pay attention to the use of the cinema elements that we had discussed in class. It was hard to do this as the movie progressed because I became so involved in the movie. But I did see the use of a match cut when the scene showed Mozart using his hands to direct his music and then it cut to the core composer in his old age who was also conduction the music in his head with his hands. All and all, this was a great event. Amadeus is a great movie and it is unfortunate that not everyone in the class was able to attend.

Reading blog- video art article

I read the article on video art but I am unsure of who the author is of the article. In the article, the author discusses some concepts of cinema and one argument that is presented is the fact that cinema must stop using a storyline or narrative and fully develop the concepts of film images and techniques. I have actually had the chance to view video art before. In fact, the artist took clips of scenes of already produced movies and removed the sound from the film. One that I remember included a scene from Top Gun in which they show the interaction between Tom Cruise’s character and the female instructor in the movie. Although I am sure that this piece of artwork was not used to show how film can fully develop the different elements of cinema but more to show how human interactions can occur without speech. Nevertheless, what was interesting was how the scene would cut back and fourth between the two characters in close up shots to show the facial expression of the characters as they interacted with one another. Everything about this piece of work has some form of artistic value from the interaction of the actors themselves, to how the scene was film, to how the video was viewed on the video screen. We often don’t think of the movies and videos that we view as art. As the article states, we often think of our TV’s as pieces of furniture and not as a medium that can be used to view artwork. I really appreciate the cinema lecture as well as this article because now I am able to see how much more valuable a TV set is in the artistic world. Along with this, having an understanding of the basic elements of cinema allows me to place more artistic value on the films that I view.

BYU dance competition

I was able to attend the BYU dance competition this evening for abut an hour and a half. It was definitely interesting and was my first dance competition that I have ever attended. My first impression was the dress and the makeup that both dancers were wearing. Since this was a ballroom dance competition (at least what I saw), partners seemed to coordinate their dress at little. Most guys though wore mostly dark to black outfits with a little color that corresponded to their female partners dress. The females dress were however more extravagant. Most of the dresses were very bright or exotic colors that also contained lots of sparkles and glitter on them. The women partners also wore lots of makeup, at least most of them did. In fact, some looked as if they were wearing face paint, especially around the eyes. It was interesting to see how the dance competition was conducted. It must have been difficult for all the dancers to be dancing all together in such a small dance floor. I kept looking for any collisions but was disappointed with only near collisions. This must make it hard for the dancers to completely focus on the competition because the must also try to avoid other dancers as well as impress the judges. It was interesting to see how the dancers interacted with one another. Now, I am no dancer, but the dancing partners seemed to more as one object. Most dances that I saw the couples moved very quickly and their feet moved quickly as well. I kept checking to see if I could determine which dancer was leading but the couples moved so well with each other that this was very difficult to determine. The couples also remained very prim and proper as they danced. They kept their hands and arms very straight, the men had their necks and back straight up as well. The women bend their upper backs slightly out away from their partners as well as their heads. Although I am unsure why they did this but it looked like it would be very difficult to hold during the dances. Another interesting thing was that most of the dancers always had smiles on their faces however, I did see some interesting facial expressions. It was also neat to see how fast the female partner heads turned as their bodies moved throughout the dance floor. It was neat to see the traditions of ballroom dance. Like I previously mentioned, this was my first time ever going to a dance competition. Although I didn’t know what to expect, it was a good experience to see how the dance world competes. To me, it just looked like organized chaos but all the dancers and spectators there seemed to be having a great time.

Music Lecture

I don’t have much of a music background so I found it harder to connect and be more involved in the music lectures. However, I was impressed with many classmates and their knowledge of music. I always wished I had learned to play the piano or another musical instrument and rock band does not count. What I did find interesting that we discussed in the lecture is the use of Gregorian Chants. While on my mission in South Carolina I was able to attend a Mepkin Abbey hear the use of Gregorian Chants used during one of their worship meetings. When I first hear it I actually found it to be enjoyable. It was interesting to see how much they would fluctuate between different notes and sometimes you could hear how one syllable would be sung my many different notes. It was definitely Neumatic or Melismatic. There unison chanting or singing echoed through the hall in which we were sitting in and continued for at least 10 minutes, or at least if felt like 10 minutes. Although their singing was interesting at first, I do remember getting restless having to sit there and listen to their way of music. Their chant seem to all sound the same as if there was no diversification and all the notes began to sound the same. You also could not understand what the heck they were saying. I remember not knowing if they were even speaking English. I also remember the priest sitting on opposite sides of the room facing each other. They therefore looked as if they were singing to each other across the room. Having experienced a chant being used in worship, I found it interesting to learn of how those types of chants came about to be used in church services. I could only imagine how hard it would be for those in the congregation to understand, yet sing along with the chants. What I would like to see is a piece of sheet music for a melismatic chant or even a polyphonic chant. I can only image how difficult a piece of music like that would be to read because of the many notes that belong to a single syllabi let along the numerous pages of music because of how long the chants lasted. Even through my little experience with some chanting, I can see how difficult it would be for members in the congregation to understand what is being sung in the chants, especially since the chants consumed the majority of their church. For this reason, it made since for clergy members to gather and decide to change they way music was sung in services. I mean, I have a hard enough time understanding what is going when the congregation sings in the church I attend, so for Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina to come and reform the way music was sung in Mass must have answered the prayers of many clergy and congregation members. To sum things up, I do have to say that I enjoyed the music lectures given in class. I appreciated the examples that we were able to listen too. I mean, it would be kinda pointless to learn of something about music and then not hear it in action. This also helped me to comprehend the differences between the music styles. I am just glad that I have had the opportunity to be able to listen to a Gregorian Chant being performed during a church services. How many people can say that? Probably more than I think!

Impressionism Music Style

The styles of music and art have been developed in parallel with each other through the different stylistic periods and impressionism has been found to follow this same trend. As with impressionistic art, impressionistic music sought to create descriptive impressions using the elements of music in a manner that could have been described as unusual compared to other styles. Impressionistic music develops the idea of impressionism by using almost every aspect of music including melody, harmony, color, rhythm, and form. The melodies tend to be short in nature and often repeated in different context to give different moods. The melodies also tend to serve no purpose at all in impressionistic music or used to gives us an impression. Notes are often drawn from scale systems other than traditional major and minor scales. Impressionists did not use chords in the traditional way and this misuse of harmony was a major part of impressionism. These chords are often used to set the mood or joyfulness of the piece of music. One part of impressionism that really goes against the mechanism of music is the absence of using chords to build and relieve tension, thus the music has no sense of direction. In Mozart’s work such as in his Sonata in A, he uses cords to build up to a climax and then relieves the tension by using the appropriate chord system. In impressionism, music does not need a build up and relief. A climax or an intense moment in the music can be used randomly throughout the music without any introduction. A perfect impressionistic example of this is Claude Debussy’s Lisle Joyeuse. In the very beginning of the piece, an intense moment is felt and there is no use of chords to build up to this intensity. One of the biggest aspects of impressionism was the weakening of the use of tonality or the use of non-functional chords. This was one of the biggest feats of impressionism because it paved the way for many other musicians who have done away with tonality all together.

Musical Event

I was able to attend the organ recital held daily in the tabernacle on temple square and let me tell you it was impressive. I was expecting to hear hymns only but was surprised as to the diversity and contemporary of music that I was able to hear. My favorite part of the recital was the very last song that was played. This song was a very diverse and dynamic song. The organist moved his hands and feet very quickly to move with the quick tempo of the song in which he was playing. The last song in which the organist played was also very dynamic. He quickly moved from one side of the organ to the other as well as up to the higher keys on the organ (I am no musician so I am unsure what the difference is with the multiple keyboards). As the musician moved through the keys, all the notes harmonized together perfectly which was very impressive considering how fast he was moving through the music piece. Although I am sure the tabernacle organ has undergone a lot of modification from when it was first installed in the tabernacle it was still impressive to hear the beautiful sounds or temper that was produced out the pipes of the organ. It was interesting, as I listened to the music I felt like it was the type of music that you would maybe hear in a Phantom of the Opera because of the fast tempo of the music as well as the diverse notes played. Although I have no formal training in music, I was impressed by the organist ability to keep such a fast tempo while moving through so many keys on the organ. I would not be surprised if the organist would be out of breath after performing such a difficult piece, at least I know I would have been. It was a good experience to be able to be in the tabernacle, to feel the spirit and listen to both spiritual and secular music. What was also impressive was the architecture of the tabernacle building. It was neat to be able to see all the wood in the building because wood is hardly used in most large buildings for architectural support or is just covered up like in most homes. I think the tabernacle has a more natural feel as to most modern buildings. The building itself is a unique style with the large dome as the roof. Its amazing that the building and organ are both in great conditions that we are able to enjoy both of these masterpieces today. This is a testament to the quality of the craftsmanship of both the building and organ. I have never attended any sort of performance on temple square but after attending this performances I hope to go to a few more performances there before I leave Utah. I would recommend attending the organ recital to anyone who is looking appreciates Mormon culture or just enjoys listening to this type of music. The best part about the recital is it is free and only last for thirty minutes. I would rate this performance as a 9 out of 10.

Cultural Event

I had planned to attend a theater event this week but due to illness and my work schedule I was unable to do so. Since now we are allowed to attend two events for one week, I plan to attend the Singing in the rain performance as well as an event with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Chapter 9- Intro to Dance

What is interesting about all the arts, including dance, is that they all seem to undergo some transition or change as the values and beliefs of society changes. As the book shows, there is quite the change between Ballet to modern dance. But even Ballet went through a transition or modernization. You see, before the end of the 17th century Ballet was only performed by men. As society changed and became more acceptable towards Women’s rights, women were also granted the right perform in ballets. This change may also have been due to the fact that the Queen of France (Catherine De Medici) was responsible for accelerating the establishment of Ballet in France as well as her Grandson. We often associate ballet as a much-disciplined sport that has gone through little to no change, but we can see that some change was good for the sport in order to allow women to add their beauty to ballet. It is also interesting to see the changes that different cultures have added to ballet. Ballet was once only performed at medieval fairs, marketplaces and royal gatherings. Once France got a hold of the dance, they transformed it into what we know it to be today. Russia also took the idea of ballet that France had developed and inserted their own ideas into ballet when composing some of their own ballets such as Firebird and Rite of Spring.
It is also interesting to see that ballet also influenced the development of modern dance. Congruently, the modernistic style of dance also paved the way for postmodern dance. Postmodern dance seeks to incorporate some of the traditional styles, such as ballet with more liberal or free movements of the body. Although, ballet and modern dance have no connection between the two, the development of postmodern dance pulls on both the more conserved dance as well as the liberal. We can therefore see how different stylistic movements build on previous movements. The development of new styles seems usually comes from the incorporation of new values or beliefs into the old ways. Only rarely do we see a complete break off from the old ways into a new idea of the arts.
Okay, so after reading over what I had just written I realized that what I was talking about really made no sense. Well, to me anyway. But what I really appreciated about the reading on dance was the section on the approach that we should take in criticizing dance. First off, I hate dancing so going to view someone performing some short of dance just seems like a bit of a drag. But after reading this section, I realized that I really have not given dance any chance as far as developing an appreciation of any form of dance. These preconceived judgments are preventing my from developing any valuable or fair judgments about dance. Therefore, I need to do exactly what the book says, push my ideas of dance aside, and immerse myself into several dance concerts. Only then after I appreciate the idea of performing dance can I then develop my own ideas concerning the performing arts of dance. Obviously, this is something that I already knew. Its just I feel our culture has raised men up to think that dance is a bit silly for men to appreciate or that if you do appreciate the dancing arts, you are judged as a special breed. To me, this is actually sad. There is a value to the dancing arts and we all need to develop our own ideas concerning dance, just as with anything. I hope that I will not teach my boys that dance is ridiculous for them to enjoy or participate in.

Dance Lecture

Well, I had to skip out of lecture a bit early on Wednesday because I wasn’t feeling to good and didn’t want to share my illness with fellow classmates (in more ways than just one!!!). Since I had to leave during the second have of class, I am unsure whether we got into the theater portion of the lecture. I sure hope not because theater is one area of humanities that I have actually have an interest to learn more about. I am not saying that other areas of the humanities are boring or unnecessary; it is just that I can sit through a theater performance and feel comfortable being there and actually enjoy. What I did enjoy learning about dance is the elements that are involved in dance and being able to recognize those elements in dance such as the Thriller music video that we were able to critique. We can see these elements in the most primitive forms of dance such as in native tribes who still use dance to tell stories of their tribe. Most often, they are able to use the organized movement of their bodies to teach the youth of their tribe of their traditions and the history of their tribe. If you are able to see a tribal dance, you can see that there is usually a narrative message involved in the dance. The dancers are interacting with each other or the audience in order to convey their message. The dancers usually have painted up bodies as well as dressed up in any ritual clothing involved in such dance. One dance that comes to my mind it the war dance of the Polynesian people since we see this type of dance at football games. Right off from the dance, you can tell that the dance is used to intimidate the opposing tribe or team or what ever it may be. It seems to be a very precise dance in which all the dancers are able to yell in sync as well as dance in sync. It is a very emotional dance and this is usually portrayed in the faces as well as the fast and physical movements of the dancers. The in sync yelling and movements convey a sort of brotherhood that exist between the dancers as if they are all together to fight for the same cause. I am not sure as to whether this would be done to any music or drum beat but I think that they yelling among the dancers adds enough to the dramatic elements of the dance. This is just one of many examples of how the elements of dance are included in even the most primitive forms of dance. In fact, I believe that dance may have been one of the first areas of the humanities to be developed. I am not sure if the book mentions this anywhere or mentioned in the lecture but it seems that it would make sense. There is no instrument needed in order to develop dance unlike the other forms of art. A beat may be needed in order to get the body moving but this usually can be provided by relatively anything you can beat together. In fact, dance may have even provided the influence needed to develop instruments. We often see other forms of art and styles build off one another so this surely could be one good conclusion (just a thought).
What is also interesting about the elements of dance is that when an individual or individuals participate in dance, they don’t have to think about including all the elements of dance in their routine. Dance seems to naturally include these ideas or people just naturally involved the elements of dance in their routine. I mean, do you think that a tribal dance was developed around the elements of dance. I highly doubt it. Therefore, I believe dance can be one of the easiest and universal forms of arts. It is easy for us to connect with dance and understand the movements of dance because we experience those forms of movement on a regular basis.

Reading Blog-Cubist movement

I decided to do my reading blog on the modernist movement cubism. The reason I chose to cubism is I really appreciate the expression and messages that are portrayed by cubism artist. Picasso’s Guernica is an expression of the controversial and tragic bombing of Guernica in Spain. In fact, it is such a tragedy that this event even had to happen and I think that Picasso sums up the calamity of that horrific event. Picasso’s Guernica has such emotion and passion it the artwork. His ability to us different symbols and bring in the concepts of previous artwork such as the Madonna and child demonstrates his artistic abilities as well as his emotional connection to the artwork. Most of the symbols used in the artwork demonstrates the innocence and unsullied of the bombing victims as well as the evil role that Spain played in the tragic event. Picasso was so heavily driven by this horrific event that he was able to recreate this tragic event in such an emotional way in less than four months. Anyway, on a lighter note, the greatest concept about cubism art is its ability to portray three-dimensional artwork using only two dimensions. Cubism is able to portray their artwork in a 3D manner by their proportional expression of the different characters and shapes used in the paintings. They portray their objects and characters in geometrical sharp edged shapes that would not generally portray the normal shapes of the characters/objects. This concept of cubism is to express the objects or characters in different perspectives that may more so represent how the mind views the objects. It also seems as if the figures are broken up much as if glass were shattered and then re-assembled in an unusual or abstract manner much like Picasso’s Women playing mandolin or his Three Musicians piece. As you can see from their work, cubist artist were able to paint different angles that allows the viewer to see many sides of the figures in the artwork. This also gives the artwork its many perspectives that cubism style strived to give to its artwork as well as a fuller, more detailed meaning explanation of the subject. Cubist artist generally wanted to break past the barriers of time and space to develop their idea of artwork with many perspectives. As far as the cubism movement is concerned, the movement began in the first two centuries of the 20th century. In fact, Picasso is thought to be the founder of the cubism movement as well as the foundation for the development of abstract art. The cubist movement was in fact a counter against the realistic movement and is thought most radical, innovative, and influential style of twentieth-century art. There are generally two forms or styles of the cubistic artwork, the analytic cubism and the synthetic cubism. The analytic cubism is generally, what individuals think about when considering cubism artwork. Analytic cubism is artwork that is developed around the idea of breaking down object and re-assembling them in a more abstract form. One example of analytic cubism is the Nude Descending the Staircase. The other form, synthetic cubism is more concerned with assembling pieces or objects available into abstract piece of work instead of the breaking down of the objects. Usually the synthetic cubism is the assembly of normal, everyday objects into the 3D perspectives that is common to cubism artwork. Personally, what I like about the cubism movement is in fact their ability to incorporate many different perspectives of the artwork. In some work, it is like you can see completely around the subjects in the work. To me, it is the most expressive style of artwork, especially since many cubist artwork were outcries against the many tragedies that were occurring during the cubist time period.

Class Discussion

It is hard for me to come up with something to discuss from lecture this past week. It seemed as if we quickly went through the differences/similarities in visual arts that existed between the different style periods. However, it was a ton of material to cover in a short amount of time, so I understand the rush. What is interesting though is the how the changes in the artwork styles were directly due to a change in society or the changes in artwork style caused a change in society itself. In many cases, the changes in style and the development of new art techniques were done so in order for a society to better portray their belief system. For example, the development of statues that represent more humanistic poses and weight shifts (Contrapposto). This development allowed sculpture artist during the Greeks periods to better portray their ideas about the perfection of the human body and add emotions to statues representing Greek mythological ideas. The development of Chiaroscuro during the counter-reformation was used to pull on the emotions of those viewing the artwork in order to pull the viewer into the church fold. Counter-reformation artist also depicted characters in their artwork as if they could have been normal members of the patronage society. All of this change in style was done in order to cause a change in normal members of society. Tamparas was also developed to add more life and humanistic style to artwork. Often, this was used in religious artwork to portray a hierarchal form between the characters of a biblical theory. The hierarchal form would therefore aid church patronage to better understand biblical accounts and stories. Therefore, the change in style usually occurred to better represent the views of society or to change the views of the working class. During times of revolution, artist portrayed more liberating ideas in their artwork such as in the Oath of the Horatii. The men in the piece appear as if they are about to fight for their own liberty and freedom of their fellow compatriots. The clothes of the three men appear as if they are patriotic men willing to give their lives for their country and the orders of their older, wiser companion. As one may have thought, this painting occurred during a time when individuals were rising up against the bondage or their own country or the bondage by other countries. Therefore, the artist portrays the views of the times and furthers the cause of liberation by reminding fellow compatriots of their desire for liberation at no cost. I appreciate the style changes that occur through time. This leads to new developments in artwork and allows societies to demonstrate their view through a variety of different styles of artwork. As you can see studying the transitions between the different stages, new styles of artwork and the development of new medium usually occurs from playing off the ideas of older styles.

BYU Art Museum

I was able to visit the Dan Steinhilber exhibition at the BYU museum of art. I thought the artwork of Steinhilber was interesting and seemed to get my daughters attention (Balloons, what do you expect). What was interesting is that Steinhilber used things that we commonly used and made pieces of artwork out of it. I mean, artwork made completely of balloons or duck sauce packets…Genius! Well, maybe that was a little too sarcastic. There were two pieces of artwork that I found more interesting than the others included the Latex balloons piece and the Styrofoam and fans piece. What really neat that these pieces of artwork continually change. Obviously, the Styrofoam changes a lot more than the balloons piece but nether pieces of art will be viewed the same on at least day-to-day bases. As the balloons get older, they will begin to lose air and shrink. This causes the artwork to transform and become a new piece of artwork with a new interpretation. The fact that the latex balloon artwork piece was also made into a circle also adds meaning to the interpretation of the artwork. To me, the circle is used to represent our current world, including all societies. Therefore, the changing balloons represents our own changing world and society. A progressing or declining society causes changes to occur in the way we live our lives and the way we make decisions. These changes occur on a gradual base and are therefore demonstrated by the slowly changing balloons and resulting artwork. The Styrofoam peanuts and fans was just cool. It was neat to be able to watch the blowers push the pile of peanuts up the wall and suspend then in the air. The peanuts would circle around in the air for a few moments before returning to the pile of peanuts after the blowers had turned off. Is this artwork? Although some may not think this to be artwork because it is essentially the same thing you see when you use a leaf blower working in the yard, I do consider it art. Again, the interesting thing about it is the arts ability to change every time the blowers turn on. The peanuts transform into a different shape and interpretation than the previous pile of peanuts. This concept of the work gives the spiraling peanuts a sense of value. To me the pile of peanuts again represents life. When the blowers turn on, that is when the trials and stressors that we as humans experience come into play. These blowers (or life’s trials and complications) cause the peanuts to change from their state of rest to an explosion of spiraling and suspending peanuts (the chaos that these stressors cause in our own lives) to eventually setting as something new. What I am trying to get to is that the piles of peanuts represent our own lives. We live in a state of comfort and relief until we have to address certain stressor or trials that chaos to enter into our lives. When we are able to overcome these trials, we usually are a different person or are in a different state, as represented by the ever-changing pile of Styrofoam. Another piece of artwork was the blown up trash bags with the trash can on top. Okay, so looking at the artwork it was as if a normal trashcan with a black trash bag came alive. The Trash bag expanded from the can causing the formation of a trash bag monster with a trashcan on top as a helmet. No longer does the trashcan wear the bag but the trash bag now wears the trashcan. Essentially, I saw a change in roles between the trash bag and the trashcan. What was also interesting was the different shapes of the bags that were used to make the trash bag monster as I like to call it. I would assume that the artist did not have complete control over the shape of the trash bags that were used to make the piece of artwork. Steinhilber’s use of everyday objects as well as trash connected with me more than other artwork is able too. The material that he used made me feel as if I also have the ability to build my own artwork and that artwork exist in things that we used for normal day activity.

Class discussion 3

Well, it seemed like we spend a long time studying different types of architecture through this week as well as last. I do have to say that I enjoyed learning about the different styles of artwork and seeing how the styles of architecture changed through the different periods. The style of architecture that I found to be the most impressive that we talked about in class is the Gothic style. The Roman is also very impressive with the development of the arch and domes, but what makes Gothic stand out is they take the idea of the arch and use it to build extremely tall cathedrals. They essentially took the idea of weight transfer used in domes/arches to transfer the weight of the tall building off the walls onto something they developed called flying buttresses. These buttresses are essentially exposed and can be viewed on the outside of the buildings. One gothic cathedral that uses the concept of flying buttresses is the Saint-Etienne cathedral in Bourges. You can see the buttresses supporting the upper portion of the building then extending horizontally to other supporting column built into the cathedral. You can essentially see how this new idea would allow them to accomplish the task of building such tall beautiful building. The development of flying buttresses must have been a difficult task that took an enormous amount of trial and error. But I think that the concept of building such tall building also goes along with their idea of having their constructions pointing up to the heavens. The gothic style seems to exemplify this concept, especially with their use of such tall buildings. It seems with the gothic architecture that they put in a steeple or a construction that point up to the heavens. I mean even most of the windows that they would incorporate into their cathedrals would come to a point directed up to the heavens. This is also seen with the use of their constructed arches. Their use of pointed arches, steeples, and windows goes right along with the concept of their larges buildings. Patronages therefore have to look up or are directed up towards the heavens when ever in the presence of the building. To me, the gothic architecture is therefore trying to cause humility on the part of those who attend or visit the tall building. It is to remind them of the graciousness they should have towards God and their role as patronages of God on earth. Another reason I like Gothic cathedrals is there use of stain glass window. Although I have never been in a real Gothic cathedral, I get the feeling that with all amount of stained glass window part of the building, that the light contrast inside the building during the daytime must be amazing. We should therefore appreciate the developments and accomplishments of architecture that has occurred through the ages. We (meaning the general human race) would not have the beautiful and amazing buildings that we are allowed to appreciate currently if it was not for the accomplishments of the previous centuries.
Now, more about interpretation of the visual arts. From humanities lectures, it has come to my attention that I need to think more as an artist. I need to appreciate the beauty of the visuals and less of its function, such as a chair. Therefore, I would like to try my artistic mind and describe the meaning and beauty of a coat rack found in my office at work. First off, the color of the coat rack is completely chrome with black plastic tabs on the ends of the bars that the hangers are hung on. The color of the rack gives it a sense of sleekness and attractiveness (if you can say that a coat rack is attractive). Compared to all the other objects in the room, the color of the rack makes it look like it is the cool kid of the room that all the girls (or lamp…ha) would be fighting over. The roundness of the base of the rack is easy on the eyes compared to having a base with an edge. It shows that it is continuously flowing from the top of the base to the bottom of the base. The prongs extend out of the top of the coat hanger rod in a symmetrical manner with altering prongs at differing heights. This also adds to the sleekness of the coat rack, especially since there are no decorative designs on the rack. The black plastic tabs on capped onto the ends of the metal prongs also work to contrast the colors of the chrome. If is as if the caps indicate where the rack stops so that your eyes stop at the top of the rack. Therefore, the caps end the sleekness of the chrome rack. There, I did it, well to the best of my abilities. Hey, maybe if I keep it up I will be an art critique at the end of the semester, most likely not though.

Reading Chapter 15

Okay, so I can discuss Tom Wolfe’s From Bauhaus To Our House but I won’t. I thought that book to be one of the biggest wastes of my time as far as textbook reading goes, time that I shall never get back. One reason I feel this is that I was so disinterested in the book is that I really have no passion about the history of architectural work, especially modern architecture. I felt that I was so disinterested that I can hardly recall what I read. I felt like I was a robot, accomplishing a task just because I was programmed to do so. In fact, I often found myself dosing off during my readings of the book. Do you think I have made my point yet? Well, I think you are starting to understand my feelings about it. I could go on but I will save you the misery. Therefore, I would like to discuss chapter 15 from the humanities textbook Coming To Your Senses. Now, since I am not artistically inclined (Humanities inclined….whatever!), I found this chapter to be very important to my own personal understanding of the arts, especially paintings since that is the focus of the chapter. For me, I find myself to be someone who views art in a formalistic view, well, a very simple formalistic view. Since I see really no value or need in standing in front of a piece of artwork and digesting everything about it ( I would rather be reading a scientific article learning about cancer, since this knowledge has more value!), I find that using a simple formalistic view of artwork as something that works best for me. In fact, I can usually spend only a little amount of time in an art museum before I really start to become bored and irritated. This may be due to the lack of time I spend appreciating each piece of artwork, but personally, I see that my time can be spent on tasks that I find more valuable to me. Don’t get me wrong, there is a huge value to the arts and humanities and I have recently grown to appreciate this field a little more after having taken a previous humanities course. There is a need for education institutions to develop students who posses a well rounded education including the humanities and I wish to be included in that category. It is just that I am not passionate about the humanities field (as should not be expected of me!). Put it this way, if there were only to fields of education, biological sciences and the humanities, I would spend 98% of my time learning biology and 2% of my time focused on humanities and the arts. This is not intended to offend anyone. This is just my personal views of the subject (we are all allowed our own views, right?), but this may also reflect my IGNORANCE! Getting back to the chapter, I felt the arguments presented in the chapter will allow me to understand the arts on a new level. As I stated previously, I view the arts in a simple formalistic view. I tend to only look superficially into the artwork. I quickly appreciate the colors, lines, shadings, and the characters, but I don’t develop an understanding of how all of these factors come together to support the subject of the artwork, unless of course it is obvious. What I really need to do to understand the arts, as the book suggest is take the unified approach in appreciating visual arts. That is, combining the formalistic approach and the contextual approach. But doesn’t that mean I will have to have a knowledge of the history of a painting and personality of the artist to understand it contextually? Fortunately, the art museums usually provide a little background to the artwork (at least the ones that I have stepped into). Now, to understand a visual piece of work on both the contextualism and formalism level means to understand the lines, color, and form and how this contributes to the “psychological connection to the outside world”. Take for example the artwork of Gericault The Raft of Medusa. Now, I am no expert but I can see no lines in the artwork as far as the use of brushstrokes to create the artwork. But what I can see is the use of lines in creating the characters of the painting. The artist used different shadings and lines to create men that realistically depict what men struggling on a raft would look like with your own eyes. His use of lines and shading in both the body of men and their clothes gives the figures a sense of flow, as if the men and their clothes are moving with each movement of the men. He also perfectly uses shading to represent the shadow that would exist in a real life situation. The sun is setting behind the sail of the artwork and therefore we would expect there to be a shade cast over those behind the sail itself, as the artist uses. The use of colors also represents passion and survival. The man in the left of the artwork is draped in a red cloak while holding onto one of his dead comrades. His eyes also seem to look out at the audience with a look of despair and disappointment. The red draped over the man to me represent the love and friendship that man had for his fallen shipmates. The use of a red and white piece of clothing in flagging down help, to me represents the desire and strength to survive. It may also represent their innocence and yet the men were stranded and left to die. Now I am sure we could go on, but we must also look at the artwork contextually. As stated, the use of white may represent their innocence since these men were intentionally left to die on the ocean while others took off in life raft. This shipwreck was well known to the French since the situation arouse due to scandals that was associated to the tragedy. The painter was therefore using this situation to magnify himself as an artist. He was pulling on the emotions of the French culture to recreate a sensitive situation that would be remembered by those who would see it. He therefore uses the different shapes, contrast and colors to hit the emotions of those who viewed the artwork and knew of the scandal associated with the portrayed tragedy. I think the artist does an excellent job at putting emotions into the artwork. He seemed to develop a sensitive or soft spot in his own heart for those who died as he portrayed them as being loved by fellow shipmates. His ability to create the men as if they were real also gave the artwork life, as if you are looking at the situation occurring. The Raft of Medusa is one of my favorite pieces of artwork just because of the emotions it possesses and the ability of the artist to create such a real life situation of a tragedy that actually occurred.

Provo Farmers Market

I was not too thrilled about the farmers market held in downtown Provo. It felt more like a swap meet because all craft projects people were trying to pawn off on others. In Oregon, where I am from, a farmers market is just what the name suggests, local farmers and produce growers coming together to sell their goods. It is a place where members of the community can support each other by buying healthy products that they would otherwise have purchased in grocery stores. Now don’t get me wrong, I thought the idea of Provo’s farmer market was great, it is just that I only saw maybe a handful of vendors actually selling goods that that were locally grown. All other vendors wanted to sell other products such as a Texas pulled pork sandwich or a knitted sweater. The atmosphere of the market was great though. Even though I did hear some vendor complaining of the market being slow on that particular day, it seemed that individuals who did show up were generally interested in what vendors had to sell. I have always though it is important for the community to support locally owned markets and stores and that is exactly what is occurring at this market in downtown Provo. What I also thought was neat about this particular market is the diverse group of individuals who attend the market as well as the vendors. You saw vendors selling Texas pulled sandwiches next to vendors selling Mexican food while other vendors were selling oriental foods. You also saw a mixed group of individuals supporting such vendors and really enjoying these foods from different cultures. The generosity of the vendors was also something that was special to the Provo farmers market. Many vendors wanted to offer free sample of their products to individuals just strolling by their tables. This generosity may also work to the benefit of the vendor so that you come back for more the following weeks. Now, my favorite part of going to the market was the car show that was going on right along side the swap meet. I grew up building dune buggies from old broken down Volkswagens and was enthralled by the upgrades that many of the Volkswagen had gone through to make them an even better vehicle. It was fun to converse with the owners of the vehicles, learn exactly what they had done to their VW’s , and share with them my own experience playing with Volkswagens as a kid. Every individual that I spoke to seemed to really care as well as didn’t mind answering questions that I had for them. The local band playing at the market was also a special touch. The music seemed to liven up the mood and turn the market into more than just a transaction between sellers and consumers. All and all, the market was an enjoyable experience. The mood of all individuals were light and everyone seemed to be as nice to each other as possible. This market is definitely an important function for the city of Provo. It is a place were community members can come together and support the causes of others who are trying to improve themselves or support another cause.

Class discussion 2

What I though was interesting about the class discussion was the universal use of symbols and techniques that artist have used through the times. What I think is fascinating is the establishment of such a use of symbols. With our current technology, I can see how easy it would for such technique to quickly spread (via internet) and yet the difficulty of the use of such symbols and technique prior to the 18th century. What this tells me is that individuals and cultures searched for meaning of such symbols found in artwork. They worked to analyze symbols, such as the use of a snake or whale found in a piece of artwork and tried to completely understand its meaning relative to the rest of the painting. This is something we have lost in our own culture. Generally, we no longer rely on our own understanding and interpretation of paintings and therefore we don’t understand the many use of symbols and techniques in our own modern art. This desire to no longer analyze or understand art may be due to our own laziness and other forms of entertainment that can occupy our minds. As we continue to seek out the easy ways to entertain our own minds, this universal way of communicating through art once used will continue to be lost in our own culture.

Reading blog 2

I have always regarded an aesthetic experience as an experience that is pleasing to the senses, but I have never regarded it as a spiritual experience. Know that I have an understanding of the correlation between the two; I can definitely see how the aesthetic experience is related to the spiritual experience. I remember times of being in the temple, admiring the beauty of the building as well as feeling the spirit that is involved in suck an experience. This experience is also classified as an aesthetic experience because it involves all the senses that cause the individual to experience a trance. One that completely takes all other thoughts out of your mind and you completely focus on the beauty of the object you are admiring. I think that as we admire the beauties of the earth we can also experience this spiritual or aesthetic experience. As we admire these beauties and try to wrap our minds around the earthly beauties that God has provided for us, not only can we gain a better understanding of the purpose of this earth, but we can also come closer to our Heavenly Father. Therefore, we can always assume that an aesthetic experience can lead to a spiritual experience if we allow it.

Film Screening 2

I also had the opportunity to take my daughter to seen Monsters vs. Aliens playing at the local dollar theater. This was another interesting movie. The movie begins off with a meteor hitting a girl causing the girl to become a giant and therefore is able to join other monsters and fight off the invading aliens. The idea behind the movie is very cute and again, my daughter loved the movie. There were again some sexual connotations added to the movie to supposedly keep parents attention, something that I found actually took away from the value of the movie. I know my daughter is only three years old, but children are getting smarter about those types of things and begin to understand it earlier than we expect. Therefore, adding sexual humor to movie only further corrupts the minds of our children. Of course, programs are far worse than the adult humor found in these children movies. There is a bit of soul searching as part of the movie. As the girl becomes a giant, she discovers her own individuality and her own set of capabilities. She discovers that her fiancé is a self-absorbed jerk, who is only marrying her to further his career. What I thought was interesting was the fact that she only noticed her fiancé was a jerk after she had turned into a giant and was able to defeat the aliens. I mean, everyone in the audience saw it. Why then could she not see in her own life? Is the movie trying to state that women need to have some short of soul finding moment in order to realize that their man is treating them bad? I know women are smarter and capable of discovering this without such an experience. I am sure I am looking to far into the movie and they had not intention of portraying this message, but this is one theme I got out of the movie.

Film screening 1

I am not exactly sure of what consist or qualifies as a film screening, but I was able to attend a couple of movies with my daughter over the weekend. The first one that we saw was the movie Ice Land 3. As we all know, this movie was directed towards little children but also tires to add some adult humor to the movie in an attempt to keep the adult entertained through the animated movie. What is interesting though is that often the adult humor can be crude in nature and often deals with matters of sex. To me, adding sexual undertones to a movie to attract an adult to see a Childs movie just seems contradictory to the fact that this is suppose to be a family orientated movie. Has it now gotten to the point were a family movie refers to the idea that it entertains all individuals in the family by use of adult humor with animated characters that children see as funny. What does this reflect about our own culture? Can we not sit through one movie, even a child’s movie without any reference to sex? Anyways, getting off that topic the movie was definitely enjoyable for my daughter. She did not want to take her eyes off the film and seemed to laugh through the entire movie. To me, it was not as enjoyable as it was to my daughter. I like to take things more literally and scientifically analyze situations in movies as to the possibility of it being able to occur. Therefore, I had a hard time buying the idea of a dinosaur world existing underneath the ice world. The movie also portrays different views of a family. It portrays the animals as a dysfunctional family made up of all kinds of different animals, mostly of which are of the male sex. Lately, it seems like children movies are even more so trying to force new ideas and views onto children, such as the environmental views from the movie Wallie. They are using these movies to rise a so-called tolerable and responsible generation, a generation that is environmentally green and is tolerable towards the homosexual family.

Blog reading chapter 1

What I found interesting about the reading in the textbook is the argument of chapter 1 for the need of generalist and well-rounded individual to enter the workforce. Currently, I am studying to receive a bachelor’s degree in microbiology. As a science major, I have often regarded the humanities as something that has nothing to do with my undergraduate education as well as plays no role in making be a better scientist. In the early start of my education, I could not see how studying the humanities could make me a better scientist as an undergraduate, ready to enter the workforce. I think my view and ideas began to change after having taken Humanities 202 at BYU during last semester. Before having taken HUM 202, I had miscued ideas about the importance of humanities. But, as the textbook states, colleges must educate their students so that they receive a blend of both the sciences as well as humanities. Doing so does creates enriched individuals, able to interact and understand their own cultures as well as others. I think my understanding of the humanities and the importance of this study occurred as I began to enjoy studying many different paintings as well as literature. It was interesting to see the value that artist placed on their work as well as the cultural value of the artwork. Artist used their work to send a message to their patronage, religious, and government leaders. Therefore, developing an understanding of the importance of the humanities has enriched me culturally. We, as a culture today, need to place more emphasis on our own cultural work. We need to intellectually study current artwork as well as past artwork to understand our own culture as well as past cultures. As a science major, studying humanities will aid in my ability to investigate scientifically. It will broaden my intellectual ability as it enlightens my mind in other ways than scientifically.