egyptian scenery in the church.

In the Downtown Presbyterian Church. The interior is decorated as if you were standing on the veranda of an Egyptian building. When we walked in I could hear everyone near me talking about how they weren't expecting the church to look like this. I agree. I was quite astonished when I walked in. I don't think i have ever seen a church so extravagantly decorated, except during VBS for the kids. Most church try to make the interior of the building aesthetically pleasing and beautiful, but not to distracting, so that it does not take away from worship and the purpose of church. 


Although this is not typical for a church. The decoration and building of the church does resemble Egypt. There are columns built into the walls, which resemble the hypostyle hall. The capitol is decorated with papyrus, which represented wealth. The colors are very representational of Egypt. The blues in the building represented the flowing waters of the Nile. The gold, yellows represented the sand/desert and royalty. The very geometric shapes decorating the columns were similar to ancient Egypt. The church attempts to transport you into Egypt with the painted receding columns, which make the space vast and feel like its really in Egypt. The ceiling is painted like the sky, to give the open air, patio feeling.  Every decoration was intricate and precise, they were truly trying to capture the essence of Egypt. The ryhthm of the columns opens the space and gives the feel of the hypostyle hall. By the placement of the pews and the vaulted ceilings along with the lighting it gives the space a grandeous feel. The lighting in the space is created by ceiling lights along with the colorful stained glass windows. Many materials used were paint and columns but papyrus and sand were represented in the art. Every piece has been truly thought about to create an Egyptian site.


This building was controversial, when they decided to do this to the interior. The building could still be controversial today, because it does not follow the typical mainstream church decor. Everyone was so shocked when we walked in. The vibe of the group was very perceptive, but yet confused. I fall into that place to, even after three days. I am not sure how I feel about the decor in the church. It was done very well and truly gives the vibe of Egypt, but setting of it being in the church still confuses me. 

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analyzing articles 2.

Burning the Koran-ART?

So what do you consider art?


In this article, this guy is stating that if Pastor Jones, who threatened to burn the Quran, was to take a different approach and call it "art" that it would be ok. This is not what I consider art and I don't think that you can just call anything art. By the end he says that he thinks that this could not even pass as art and that religion is sacred. His thought process makes me wonder if many other people think like this. His thesis is that we can consider many things art and by just stating that what we are doing is art, it can change it from being offensive to just a "movement." I think that one needs to consider what art truly is defined as. He makes the statement that "what we have in the Quran burning is but the latest chapter in the long, chaotic, glorious march of artistic freedom in defiance of out-moded conventions, intellectually stifling religious dogma, and societal mores." He is being sarcastic in what he says, because it seems that we can almost get away with anything if we call it art because it pushes the boundaries- and isn't that what we want? This makes me think about his two examples of the Piss Christ and Virgin Mary ( that was done in cow dong) and whether or not they push art to an extreme. The explanation also gives an insight into why the artist decided to do such a thing and can justify it. I think that even in the art we look at in class, we need to ask ourselves whether or not it is art, and what defines art, because the definition has changed throughout the ages. 


In my opinion, art should be something treasured and inspiring, for this day. Some art will offend, but we should not try to make enemies through our art. Burning the Quran, and using the excuse that it is 'art' does not justify the profanity of the action. We must first establish what art is, before we go around labeling things as art. If we don't than anything could be considered art and it has just become an excuse to do vulgar and profane things, rather than try to inspire and be talented at something.

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analyzing artwork 2.

Code of Hammurabi.


The Code of Hammurabi has both art and writing included in its form. First thing that is noticed is its height. The top depicts Hammurabi, the ruler of the land, with the bottom including the code- the law by which the land lived. During the Ancient Near East Art, it was customary to have art and writing incorporated in the same piece. First, lets look to the art. The art is has been done  in hieratic scale. This is when the kind/ most important person is larger than the rest of the piece. Hammurabi is  depicted as a relief. There is good use of volume, that is created by form and the light that hits all of the indentions and such.This sculpture/ relief work is very charicteristic of the time period. The subject is also customary. During this time they depicted the rulers in kings in most of the artwork. Western art also focuced in the human body, realism and idealism. This sculpture focuses on the king, and idealizes him as perfect, just how they would want to be remembered. Lastly, the art piece is shown in composite pose, where the legs and face are profile but the torso is head on. 


The second part of this artwork is the writing. Not only was this a sculpture, it was a code of living for this time period. It is written in cuneiform, which was the writing that the Sumerians created. It  is an angular writing that took less time to carve into stone. It was important for them to keep these writings set in stone, as they were important to all the land  and needed to be kept for a long time. I like that they tried to incorporate art into their code but also recorded the ruler who set these rules into the art. It takes the simple code and and makes it artwork.

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collage.

Collage 

My collage really embraces who I am, where I came from and what art has done to impact my life. First you see all of the green lines, they represent how I have grown up over the years. Then there are pictures from my friends to Mexico and of artwork. The single picture of me really captures who I am today: the missionary, Belmont kid who loves art. My hobbies are baking, painting, fashion, and service work, but I also cheered all throughout middle and high school. The picture to the bottom far left is of my family and the picture to the top left is my boyfriend. This piece also shows my hometown, Atlanta and my future home, Mexico (top right). Which also describes how I impact and the world impacts me today, I go on foreign missions every year and have fallen in love with Mexico, where I hope to continue working there. Art is also a key component in my piece: I love to paint (my painting is in the middle) and I also love to go to art museums, which is the atmosphere of my piece. Art is what I do, and is a huge part of my life. Lastly history, it has made me who I am it has taken me from the five year old who said “When I grow up, I want to be a missionary artist,” to the girl who is actually getting to live out that dream. It also plays a role in the world we live in today, our world has become more corrupt and there is a calling for help. History also relate to art, such as Starry Night, throughout time this piece has become priceless and timeless. With time everything changes and we get the opportunity to live out our dreams. 

Terms

• Decisions: I chose to make an atmosphere with my piece. I wanted to make the viewer feel like they were looking into a gallery. I also chose to keep the piece organized and orderly.
• Color: Green is the main color I chose to use in this piece, it is my favorite color and catches attention against the black and white. The frames and background are monochromatic to keep your focus on the whole thing and not to draw away.
• Light: I used light to create a volume to this piece. I also used the white frames to compliment darker picture or pictures that weren’t supposed to stand out, where as the black is around mostly important pictures and against lighter pictures to give balance. 
• Texture: I created texture in the background with old book pages. I also created texture with the cut up construction paper to create a wood floor.
• Volume: This is created to make the depth of the room. The light to dark gradation makes you feel as if the back wall is farther away. 
• Line:  My collage has a lot of symmetrical, parallel, and perpendicular times that move your eye from one side to the other. It is a very horizontal piece with brings calmness to the piece.
• Space: Space is created by the 3 dimensional perspective you get as it get smaller towards the back. 
• Scale: The objects in the bigger frames are of more importance and relevance to my life now. 
• Symbolism: There are many aspects of symbolism in my piece 1) the pom poms represent my cheerleading career throughout life 2) starry night represents the importance of history and art to my life 3) the cross represents how I am a Christian and grew up in a Christian family 4) the green shows my journey through life 5) the paint brushes represent that I am an artist 5) the cake represents my love for baking 5) the quote “...and they lived happily ever after” represents my future and that I want to get married 6) the picture frames represent my organization and the fact that everything has its place in my life.

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analyzing articles.

"Can art be 'priceless' in rocky times?"

Four credible people debate this question in The New York Times. My focus is on the first article written to answer this question. Dennis Dutton, a professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, believes that beauty should be expensive. There are many art forms but fine art is something that cannot be reproduced. This is his thesis and the basis to his argument. There are so many subtleties and techniques that are used to create one piece, which makes it as complex as a fingerprint. He states, "the painting is a perfect, intricate and utterly irreplaceable record of a historic artistic achievement." Dennis believes that paying high prices for this rare, exquisite pieces can be justified because of all the time, thought-process, feeling, and achievement. They are truly something made beautiful, but yet people think its ridiculous to pay so much for a painting but its ok to buy and old building for the same price. 

I think Dennis is correct in most of his statements. Art is truly something that can never be repeated such as a fingerprint. Although they make prints of the originals they are not the same. They do not have the technique and the brushstrokes taken to make the piece. Take for example the The Parthenon  by Fredrick Church, Starry Night by Van Gogh or Madonna and Child and St. John the Baptist by Sanzio, each one is one of the "greats" they all have their own techniques and cannot be reproduced to perfection. The Parthenon is created with an illuminance to it and showing the importance of this architecture to the people. Starry Night has complex brushstrokes that make up its composition and give a depth to the piece, and Madonna...  is created for the church and has a bunch of symbolism that makes it great. Another thing that makes them great is the artist. We have made an importance of not only artwork but the artists that create them. They are records of the time periods and of the artist. I believe the great artwork should be expensive because they are truly one of a kind, but his comparison to the old building I do not particularly agree with. Building can be used for greater purposes and are a renewable resource, while artwork is beautiful but is just to be admired. 

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analyzing artwork.

La belle Jardinière  is a piece we talked a lot about the first day of discussion. This piece is has a lot of symbolism especially for the historical context that it belongs to. First, look to the colors. The blue represents purity/ virginity. This was because the color was very rare and expensive. It is also a good representation of shape. In this piece there is the shape of a triangle. For the biblical community and time period the triangle was seen as the most perfect shape. This is because it represents the trinity. It is also very aesthetically pleasing. With the main shape being a triangle in here it makes this a more symbolic piece to the Christian community. Lastly, the illusion of volume is represented in this piece by the roundedness of the forms.. This is created by the lighting and shading placed on the figures.

This piece is from the Italian Renaissance period. One importance in this time period was getting perfect harmony in their piece. This could be achieved in many aspects. Like stated above, the color blue showed its rarity and social context with the church. Also the triangle relating to the trinity has much importance to the time and society. Raphael Sanzio social context for this time was with the church. Most of his painting hung in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican, therefore the virgin and angelic settings of his painting were fitting to the context in which he was apart of. He was a very talented and well trained painter for his time. He is among the greats, such as, Michaelangelo. Because of this he was highly sought after and sometimes commissioned. This piece specifically was apart of the Madonna series and was the climax to the series. This piece shows us a background is the high renaissance period and the people of the church.

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