Roman&Christian

1. The Roman work that I will discuss will be the Column of Trajan. The column narrates the Dacian campaigns of both 102-103 and 105-106. There are over 2,500 figures linked because of the architecture and then of course the recurring figure of Trajan. I feel like this piece of architecture shows the personality of the roman culture, showing how they view Rome and how they view their opponents. The tower portrays how strong, efficient, and able the Roman’s army is while their enemies are, while worthy opponents, are not as good as them, obviously because if they had not defeated them they wouldn’t have this column. One thing I’ve noticed personally from Roman art is that it depicts successful leaders and never shows anything that might even give the idea of a failure.

2. The Christian work that I will discuss is the Virgin of Vladimir. I chose this piece because it depicts the feeling of the time, at least for me. The feeling I get is that the Christians are looking for something solid to base their faith in, something that will show love for them because the rulers and culture around them can’t. The colors are much brighter than other pictures I’ve seen of portraits, possibly because its been remade a few times. I chose this painting because I feel like it shows the shift that the world is taking, that people are starting to thing more about the spiritually than about the political.

3. A similarity that I see in both of the traditions is the architecture. Both cultures focus heavily on the buildings they create to show their generation and their future generations what is important to them and what they believe in. Both cultures built their buildings for things that were important, like battles won, or religious stories told. A difference is in the amount of portraits that I’ve seen. There are many busts and sculptures in the Roman tradition while in the Christian culture there are paintings and elaborately creating paintings on the walls and ceilings of the buildings. Just like in the pieces I chose, the painting from the Christian time is more personal while the column in the Roman times is about a countries battle led by Trajan.

The Nashville Parthenon

"Pericles had a vision for Athens, and “he became a patron of philosophy and the arts,” so he put a lot of emphasis on the visual arts in hopes to create a “physical setting which would symbolize and be a part of Athens greatness” (Pollitt pg. 65)." - Julie H.

"Which means “to think of sculptures not only as hard, ‘real” objects known by touch and by measurement but also as impressions as something which is in the process of change, a part of the flux of experience, bounded not by solidity and ‘hard edges’ but by flickering shadows and almost undiscernable transitions” (Pollit pg. 69)."- Kate H.

"According to Pericles in his funeral oration, he wants to give merit to the “greatness of Athens,” and how he wants to show the rest of the Greece that Athens is, “ contending for a higher prize than those who enjoy none of these privileges.”"- Emily G.

Psykter pottery blog

This week I chose a piece of pottery entitled Psykter and is attributed to Oltos from Athens. Oltos is assumed to have done over 150 piece of pottery and two of his works have actually been signed by him. He was also a master at the relief line and his simple style is very popular. This piece was built for the purpose of cooling wine and depicts athletes training in the gym with their teachers. There are many different types of athletes from disk throwers, to their teachers, to a flute player accompanying the exercises. The most noticeable thing stylistically is that each figure is separate from the others and is adjusted to fit the curving of the vase.

Egypt Today

Link: http://prezi.com/30hvlce-yfdi/copy-of-art-history-egypt-today/

Why Art?

http://www.makotofujimura.com/writings/why-art/

In this article Makoto Fujimura is talking about why everything we seem to do revolves around art. His examples are types like when we brag about our children being in a play, or on a quiet Sunday afternoon we listen to quiet music or the type of restaurants we visit for brunch. Because Makoto believes art is all around us, it becomes more of a question of which art do we chose to immerse ourselves in? I think this idea relates to the ancient times that we have studied where art was such an integral part of life that it wasn't even seen the way we view art now. I agree with him when he says that because art is such an involved part of our lives that we just only need to decide what art and completely dedicate ourselves to it.

Pottery in Archaic Greece

This week for my blog entry I have chosen to discuss the third slide of our archaic section, The pottery is depicting a funerary procession. The decisions the artist made on who to include are related to who was important the time this pot was built. The style of the story drawn on the pot is very similar to ancient Egyptian art and the styles of the way the people are drawn are still very minimalist and look unnatural. The texture of the pot looks to be smooth, but that could be deceiving, parts of the artwork, like the legs of the horse, could be deeply carved in and cause rivets over the pot and ruin the idea of a smooth outside texture. The colors are very few and look to be natural colors that would’ve been easily in demand archaic Greece.

The artwork from this time period is very reminiscent and similar to that of ancient Egyptian artwork in the sense that it copies their ‘storyboard’ style. The procession wraps around the entire pot and has two levels to the tale, although it seems that to show the importance of the death, the people following the procession are on the top level while the animals are on the bottom with smaller people that are not as important. This is a depiction of a funerary procession, which was very common in archaic and classic Greece when a political figure or leader died. The Greek were very fond of their leaders and these processions were elaborate and respectful to the leaders and what they achieved in their lifetime.

Downtown Presbyterian Church

Today I'm going to discuss my visit to the Downtown Presbyterian Church in Nashville. This is a rare church in my experience because I have never seen a church presented in this way. The site, I don't think had much affect on the feel of the building because currently it is set in a modern city, and, when one isn't paying attention, it looks just like any other building downtown. I felt like the space was very open mainly in the sanctuary, which is similar to my experience in many christian places of worship. I felt like the light was very warm and inviting, there were a few dark places in corners where no one would really ever be. The decoration is where the building begins to separate itself from common church decorations. This church is based off of many ancient Egypt places of worship, there are pillars ornately drawn on the walls as if to make you feel like you're inside a temple in ancient Egypt looking out into the desert. The people who created this building also found a way to incorporate modern culture, the stained glass window, with Egypt, depictions of papyrus and the sun. The building, on the outside looks as if it just another stone building in the same drab gray color of the buildings downtown, but once you step inside, there are wooden chairs, and stone walls. The colors are bright reds and yellows, unlike a normal place of worship in christian culture which would have dull colors even for something extravagant. The colors are representative of Egyptian culture and the bright colors they used to draw attention. I feel that if a person never walked inside the Downtown Presbyterian Church they would feel that it followed the rhythm of all the buildings downtown and it doesn't really stand out, I know that for my group, before we had been inside, we couldn't even find the building because it followed the same color scheme as the rest of that part of downtown. The distinctive features are the pillars and the decorations inside the building, the ornate design is what everyone will remember because it is so different and unlike anything we are used to seeing these days.

Ancient Sumarian Sculptures

1. For the first entry, pick a work that you have seen this week in class. Using class notes and your textbook, write two paragraphs about this work. Your entry should discuss any formal elements of your example and relate your example to the historical and social context to which it belongs.


The work that I chose were the sculptures from the Sumerian region. These sculptures were found around 2700 B.C. in modern day Iraq. An element to discuss would be the size of the people, some of the people look as though they would be averaged sized, while others look dwarfed, and one of them looks almost giant-like compared to the rest. This could be due to the amount of importance the culture places on certain positions held in their religion. This is common in places in the ancient world; people who are royal or very important are larger, and the common people are smaller. Another element is the subject matter of the sculpture.

The first thing one would notice about these sculptures is their larger-than-normal eyes, most likely sculpted in this way to show the awe and attention the people are giving to what they're worshiping. From the way the people are dressed they are priests and their clasped hands show their intense prayer and devotion to the gods or goddesses of the time. As a social element; I found while researching that people would leave these sculptures in their temples as a show of their worship or love for the thing they were worshiping in the culture.

An Underground Arts Space fits to a T!

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/articles/2010/04/01/an_underground_arts_space_fits_to_the_t/

This article talks about SHIFTboston’s new project; which is nicknamed TUTS for the Tremont Underground Theater Space. The idea is that even though people use the underground intersection for traveling they could also use it as a new idea of art and how one can observe art and also show another way that people use urban landscaping for personal creativity. I agree with these architects that this is a good idea; to encompass the things people use in their daily lives and make it creative, open, and interesting. One theme I see in this is using what the culture has to create art, many cultures, like in the cave paintings, used everyday life to create art just as these artists are using the T, their common mode of transportation, to create something fascinating that people will see for maybe 100 or more years.

Collage Project

In my collage I chose the idea of a road leaving from a certain point and opening up near the front, in the present. I put it all outside because I love to feel free and connected with the world. I chose mostly bright colors because I feel that I am a bright person and always trying to find the positive side of whatever is happening in the world or in my personal life. The road is leading away from Texas because that is where I came from, and I didn’t end the road anywhere because I never know where the road is going to end or why it would. I created the road out of old sheet music, music is the reason I’m here, and music has pulled me through my life and all the times I have struggled, and I have never strayed from it, just like I have never strayed from the road that I’m on.

- Decisions: I choose the elements because they reflect on how I feel and think about my current state and position in life.
- Color: I chose green for one of the biggest colors because I feel that green helps me breath and feel safe, and blue because it’s a color that has always been connected to me.
- Light: I represented the light as it would be if I was outside during the midday which is the time that I reflect and meditate the most in.
- Texture: the grass has some small layering, and some pictures are put on top of other things, or underneath.
- Volume: certain photos in certain places are bigger than others to show how much importance they have in my life at this moment.
- Line: My axis is horizontal mostly, it leads back to Texas, back to home, and then the diagonal lines of the road lead the viewer back to the rest of the piece.
- Space: The background is back towards the road, where I came from, and the foreground is up near the front, the things that are still very relevant in my life no matter how far away the people are.
- Symbolism: Cross- my attention and focus on God, Olympic Circles- I believe they represent world unity and entertainment, Peace sign- symbolizes what I think the world should be focused on, not oil or money or power, Texas flag- where I came from, the flag symbolizes strength and independence.
- You: I put the music notes as my road because that’s what drives me, I’m deep into the idea of peace so that is very noticeable, I care about God and trust in him.
- Friends and Family: I included my pets in these, my best friend Lindsay is in many of these even though she’s back in Texas, and some of my other closest friends.
- Your town, community, school: I included many pictures from marching band in high school because I considered them my community while they were also schoolmates. I also included the Bell-tower as a large picture because of where I am now and what community I belong to.
- Your Country: I included pictures of things that are important to our country, pictures of the war, protestors of the war, even famous Olympians that we have produced. These are all things I care strongly about.
- The world today: The billboard in my collage depicts how I view the world today, and peace in the middle is obviously what I want as a finally result of all the things that are happening.
- Art: I think the quote from Andy Warhol that is in the sky of my collage, describes art today, that almost anything one does is art, it’s a common thing that everyone shares and is in everyone just like business is an art-form according to him.
- History: If I didn’t know I had family lineage in another country, I would be very close-minded to traveling. History and our past are the reason we do the things we do now. Art has cause people to argue, cry, sing, write, and change the course of history.

Underground Art

Article Link- http://www.observer.com/2010/culture/underground-art


Paintings on the sides of buildings and in the subway stations are like our modern day version of cave paintings, some of them are important stories about a city or a culture, but we'll never know if we don't look for them. The author of this article believes that putting artwork in daily areas will not only educate the community but also give unknown artists a platform, he proves his point by presenting many art projects that have come form the community and benefited the community as well. These pieces of artwork hidden in the underground of the New York Subways represent what the people there value in their culture, maybe their painting is about their family, or neighborhood, or how they feel towards the city. One day in the future, these paintings displayed in the subways will be seen by a new culture and hopefully influence their knowledge and creative spirit.

Painting from class

For this blog entry I choose ‘Starry Night’ by Van Gogh. The texture in this painting is obviously not smooth, certain colors look like they would physically jump out at the viewer and be more noticeable than other sections of the painting. Lighting holds a big balancing facture with this painting; the sky is separated from the city by the mountains (Or, depending on your view, the waves coming into the city). The large flame in the left side of the painting also balances out all the light colors with something invasive and violent looking compared to the first glance serenity. This painting is made mostly out of horizontal lines, while the most noticeable vertical line, is the flame intersecting taking over the attention of the viewer.


Van Gogh was a strange man; he belonged to a new group of painters who weren’t classical painters anymore. Artists like Van Gogh painted for their own gain and no longer to speak about history or to even paint for commission. The new outlook on society made for a new outlook on art, just as any sort of social revolution leads to new outlooks on every type of art or means of expression. Van Gogh was a part of a new group of artists, who did art because it called for them; they were artists for their own need. Art was no longer made in situ, but for wherever it would end up when the artist was done. Along with this influence Van Gogh himself was unstable as well. He spent most of his time under the stress of needing money and when or where he would find his next meal. The painting itself, no matter what period of art is it under, is very methodical, the process of making this painting most likely took days to assemble in the form that he wanted.

My favorite painting- Andy Warhol's Self Portrait

My favorite painting is one of the silkscreen self-portraits done by Andy Warhol in 1986, interesting titled, of course, Self-Portrait. It’s my favorite because it came from the time period right before he died and he was moving away from some of his pop art labels. Also, on a more ridiculous note, it reminds me of the character Goku from the cartoon show Dragon Ball Z. When I was younger I would attend art camp every summer at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas and this painting is hung at the top of the staircase leading to all their exhibits, so as a child just getting into the world of art, seeing this painting first thing was an enormous impression on my idea of art and what I enjoy. This painting was the first painting that got me obsessed with Andy Warhol and led to a mass spending spree on books, posters, and prints by and inspired by him and has also led to my entire family being interested in his artwork and life as well. Related to our Horowitz reading; many of the people I take to see this painting say they are caught up in the darkness of the painting, and that it seems that the only light is coming from an external source that no one can see. The only example of light in this painting is the shadows over his face. The composition of the painting draws my focus to the eyes and how they seem to lack feeling and even physically, they are missing all the shadows and detail that the other parts of his face show. Andy is shown very close up and as the only subject of the piece; there is no background and no detail around him similar to most of his portraits to keep the focus on the person. For the surface pattern, Andy’s hair is the offsetting part of the painting; it’s wild, unbalanced, and asymmetrical. Because he takes up most of the canvas the painting feels intense and crowded. The rhythm is sporadic and made of sharp lines. The space seems to be randomly taken up by bits and pieces of himself that he has spread out, and the only depth in the picture is he made by the shadows of a light source no one can see.