Week 16

Explain how the arts, as we have studied them this semester, have affected your 'values.' How have you grown? What new things do you notice? How has this new perception changed your view of life?

How does studying the Humanities help solve the problems society faces? Problems like global warming, religious differences--toleration/intoleration, terrorism, the lack of accountability of multi-national corporations, etc.

Week 15

Research a work of art, put a link to it on the Discussion Board in D2L marked "Chapter 15," put it into a category from the chart on page 404, and tell us why it's 'art' or 'art-like.'

Week 14 Interrelationship of the Arts

For this week, I want you to think of various ways the arts interrelate with each other. It can be a painting, such as Van Gogh's Starry Night compared to Don McLean's song "Vincent." Or, you can compare and contrast a book and movie you've seen and read.

I think of watching the movie, Even Cowgirls get the Blues, starring Uma Thurman. The book, which I have read several times is one of my favorites. I didn't see how anyone could make a good movie out of such a delightful and enjoyable book. I was right. They couldn't.

Tell how and why you think the interrelationships worked or didn't.

Week 13 Photography

Using what you've read and discovered so far, answer the question, "What makes a photograph art?" To answer this question, you'll need to work out a definition of art or find some kind of criteria from which to make a judgment. Feel free to refer to specific photos and, if they are online, add an address so we can look at them too.

If several of you have links or address and they won't work on the blog, I'll create a discussion for this topic in D2L.

Enjoy

Week 12 Television and Video Art

After reading the chapter, visit a few of the sites listed on page 354. The addresses are: www.billviola.com, www.davidhallart.com, http://ukvideoart.tripod.com/, wwwltonkonow.com/campus.html, wwwlkortermand.dk/overview.htm, http://home.snafu.de/ruinekuenste.berlin/wolf.htm, www.videoart.suite.dk/videobank/index.htm, www.c3.hu/sccs/butterfly/vasulkas/synopsis.html

Which work do you find the most interesting and successful? Why?
What qualities do you find revealed in the piece you most admire?
In which was the participative experience the most intense?

Week 11 Film

Using what you've learned from reading the chapter on film, examine a scene or shot from a film from a descriptive critical point of view. Please choose different scenes. You can use the same movie as another student, but not the same scene.

As a basis for a movie, use a film or scene that is classroom appropriate--no porn.

Enjoy

Week 10 Dance

After reading the chapter on dance, go to U-Tube, think of a dance you saw performed, watch a dance movie, do some sort of visual research on dance. In the blog comments, tell what you learned and how it relates to the chapter.

For example, a few weeks ago, my son showed me the Blue Men on U Tube. It seems to me that they danced, sang, and had a light/laser show. It was cool, but not having read the chapter or having much experience with dance, I didn't have much to say about it. Of course, your assignment is to outdo my efforts.
Enjoy

Week 9 Music

For this week (March 17-21) after reading the chapter on music, focus on what role music plays in your life. My maternal grandmother was trained as a classical pianist when she was young. For spending money, she played piano for the silent movies, think Perils of Pauline, and in the 1920s was a flapper. She played lots of jazz while I was growing up and we have several tapes, which have made the transition to CDs, of her playing. It was her influence that helps my brother and sisters and I find music an integral part of our lives. I began playing the piano when I was 7 and quit when I was 10 to play guitar. I still play guitar and also am learning the harmonica. My son plays the upright bass and the drums.

If you don't play an instrument, what songs have played a part in your life? What music do you like? What's your favorite song(s)? I like classical, jazz, "classic" rock, blues, and any lyrics that make fun of people. Yes, I'm a big Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show and Frank Zappa fan. John Prine and Todd Snider are in there too. My favorite songs, "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin, "Hotel California" by the Eagles (I know I should be sick of hearing it, but for some strange reason, I'm not), "Please Don't Bury Me" by John Prine, and any current semi-obnoxious song I can't get out of my head. Right now, it's the "Ballad of the Backbone Tavern" by Todd Snider.

I know the book looks at music from a different perspective, which reminds me of my college days and my friends who were music majors explaining the new release of "Freebird"on the Skynrd Live album. They could tell me which measures were repeated and how many times and why it was so cool. I remember thinking it was amazing they could do that with the music. I just liked listening to it.

Enjoy.

Week 8 Drama

When I re-learned the elements of tragedy, I got to write a paper about the movie "Fargo" from a perspective of Aristotle's tragedy. It was an interesting way to look at the movie. Think of a play you've seen, modern or classical, and supply a character you think is tragic. Tell how and why this character measures up to Aristotle's idea of a noble character.

For example, who, in the movie "Fargo," is the noble character? Is it Jerry's father in law? Is it Jerry? If anyone is, the rich father in law is probably the closest, but are we sad when he dies? What's the catharsis?

You can look in your books on page 219 in the section about Genres of Drama to get more of an idea of what I'm asking if this isn't clear.

Week 7 Literature

Tell the class your favorite novel, listing the title, author, and, most importantly, why and what you like about it.

To be honest, I have three favorite novels. The first is 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez. This is a noble prize winner's finest work before the critics named it magical realism. I reconnect to the reality of the spirit world when I read this book. The next is Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, and lastly, Even Cowgirls get the Blues by Tom Robbins.

I like these books for some of the same reasons. From each I learn something new about life and myself each time I read them. The first two are complicated and difficult enough that I can open them anywhere and read for a while and decipher new literary thoughts about the text, life, and my imagination. I like to think that I become more creative after reading these texts. Gravity's Rainbow is funny in a high-brow intellectual way that many times I have to read the text seven or eight times to get the joke. Pynchon is a master of ambiguity so many times I feel lost and unsure. Better to feel that way in a book than in real life.

Even Cowgirls is my favorite because it makes me laugh. How can anyone not like a book whose one hundredth chapter is called a bottle of champagne and the narrator proceeds to get drunk on his words. And the fact that Tom Robbins is completely irreverent about almost everything. Yes, he's a smart aleck, a funny one.

So, tell us your favorite(s)! They don't have to be a classic or high toned literature. All they have to be is your favorite.

Week 6--Architecture

This week, using what you've learned from painting, sculpture, and architecture, describe your dream house. How many rooms, floors, what it's made of, where it's located, etc.

I actually owned my dream home. It was a 16 x 20 cabin on a lake in Oklahoma. It had two rooms, a kitchen with a wood burning cookstove, table, hoosier cabinet, fridge, and sink with only cold running water. There was a bathroom with a sink and toilet, no shower. The front porch was a combination bedroom/living room. It had old shag carpet (not a good idea).

The interior was all knotty pine paneling on the walls and ceiling. There was electricity for the air conditioner and lights. We also used a small space heater until the cookstove warmed up the room.

It was cozy and simple. There wasn't really enough room to live there, unless I wanted to get rid of 99.9% of my possessions, which has been tempting more than once, but my quest for simplicity, as usual, fails. I still have my toys though.

Please feel free to make your descriptions more detailed. I forgot to mention the cabin was painted red and had cedar shingles on the roof, at least the part you could see. Most of it was covered with moss.

It's your dream, dream well.

Week 5 Sculpture

This week, I'd like y'all to write about a sculpture you have seen, not in a picture, but real life. Describe it using the terms we've learned so far.
When I lived close to Washington, D.C. several years ago, there was a Rodin exhibit at the National Gallery of Arts. I knew that he had created the "thinker," and I wanted to see it. I did. Several versions of it. Along with the smooth sensuousness of the sculpture, I saw "The Gates of Hell." This was a huge bronze casting and was around 20 feet tall. It was astounding. All I could do was stare. I also walked through the gates. The rope to keep people away was only 6 inches off the ground, so I stepped over it and walked through.
I turned around a looked up at the top of the gate and the open doors. It wasn't scary or eerie. I was conscious of being in a well-lighted museum. But I had still walked through the gates of hell. I cataloged it with being struck by ball lightening and wrestling a 300 lb. black bear (I lost). I thought of terrors of the unknown and the glories of an imagined paradise. I felt the weight of the suffering souls that were locked into the gates. The greenish cast of the bronze reminded me of something coming out of a primeval ocean covered with seaweed and moss.

Week 4

For your post this week, choose a painting (you may like the painting or dislike it) and describe it using the terms describing the media and elements of painting. Tell the title of the painting and the artist. It needs to be a painting and not photograph or sculpture. If you have seen the work in real life, great. If not, do your best to describe what the media should do for the painting.

Nude and Naked

According to an art teacher, nude is an idealized human form or "perfect" human form, naked is wrinkles, warts, and scars.

Art Quiz

Just for fun click on the following link and see how you do on the art quiz. I got 8 out of 10
http://www.phaidon.com/30000-years-of-art/quiz

Week 3

For this week, I'd like you to read the article from the following link about the importance of the arts. http://www.nationalpost.com/story-printer.html?id=eeb745c4-6ed2-4cda-952f-4fa432894cbd
It should be:

My church: the mind's 'theatre of simultaneous possibilities'

Robert Fulford, National Post Published: Saturday, December 22, 2007

Using this article and the reading for this week, compare and contrast your favorite works of art, literature, etc.

My favorite painting is Van Gogh's Starry Night. It was on display in the Guggenheim in NYC when I was in college and I got to see it and several other Van Gogh's that were on display. There were copies of his letters. I tried reading them, but couldn't. I thought his handwriting was bad, then I realized they were in French, so I had a moment to feel truly smart and humbled. My girlfriend and I got a big laugh out of that. I also like it because Don McLean wrote a song about Van Gogh and the painting. Yes, I have a small reproduction of it in my house.

I also like Frederick Remington and Charles Russell. Cowboy art is great. Do some more thinking. What are your standards? To whom or what are you comparing greatness to?

Week 2 Part 2

Using the questions from page 46 about the female nude, explain the difference between nude and naked. Why are these "art" and not "pornography?"

Week 2

Using the concepts of "artistic form," "participation," "content," and "subject matter," as they are defined in the book, describe an experience of you own as to how art affected, changed, or enriched you.
For example, several years ago I was in the St. Louis Museum of Art. There was a large sculpture called "Spilled Files." It was large file rack 15 feet tall and 30 feet wide, like x-ray or patient files in a physician's office, that were filled with glass sheets. The glass sheets had spilled into a 30 foot by 30 foot area of broken glass. The glass was roped off by poles and ropes around a foot and a half tall.
It was nothing but broken glass, and I felt cheated. I continued to look at the pre-Columbian exhibits, a Picasso, and a few modern sculptures and paintings, and I kept coming back to look at the broken glass. How did they dust it? How could they move it and keep it the same? Was this exhibit consciously arranged? I decided that it wasn't art and left the museum feeling disappointed.
When I walked outside, everything looked different. The way that I "viewed" the world, my perceptions of the world, had changed. I decided that it was art.

Week One

After reading the chapter and the selections from Evocative essays, take an abstract idea, then link it with a physical object or event. Place your 2-3 paragraph answer on the comments section of the blog.