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.