Erica Art History

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Week 13 Chapter 11 The Early Middle Ages

This week’s reading is the last chapter blog post of my Art History course. The term middle ages, according to the textbook, generally designates the period following the decline of the Roman empire through the thirteenth century. The early middle ages cover the time from the seventh century to the thirteenth century.  When the Roman empire declined, Germanic tribes overran western Europe and this affected artistic developments and produced radical changes in social and political organization.  In addition to the invasion, Islam, a powerful new influence from the middle east entered Europe. This chapter reading describes how many cultures influences changed art throughout the middle ages.  Islamic art seemed to be mainly influenced by religious beliefs. Muhammad’s teaching forbade idolatry and the Koran condemns the figure representation of Allah or his prophets. The paintings in this religion mainly consist of abstract geometric and floral patterns. I was not aware of this, but sculptures, are considered the work of Satan and are nonexistent is Islamic art. I think from chapter to chapter and different religions and cultures so many things that couldn’t be taken offensively to others is to certain people.  There was more than one religion discussed in this chapter. However, Mosques, like churches for Christians, are rather where Islamic people worshiped and prayed to their god, Allah. This architecture spread throughout Europe even into Spain. The dome in the mosque is intricately shaped with designs and the arches are stunning. I often wonder how such architecture was built and how long it took people. When the mosques spread to Spain due to the Muslim ruler “The Great Mosque, Cordoba was built. This is stated to be as the most striking of all Islamic architecture and in the thirteenth century, it was even turned into a church by Christians. The interior and columns were salvaged from Roman or early Christian buildings. Which gave the influence of the artistic style. Horseshoe-shaped red white striped arches and inspired roman columns are beautiful. I have learned so much from this course and that all these chapters have played such an amazing role in art and history. In this chapter like the others the previous era plays a role in the art and architectural designs that takes place.

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Week 12 Early Christian life and Byzantine

In this week’s chapter 10 reading, Early Christian and Byzantine Art, I found this to be an interesting read solely and a slight refresher to my memory. As I, was raised learning about Jesus Christ and attend church services and did too, however, as a child, when I attended Sunday school.  Our textbook “A History of Western Art,” states Jesus Christ died in A.D. 33 outside of Jerusalem by being crucified. This was during the reign of Emperor Tiberius. The Roman Empire was not found of Jesus. Jesus and his disciples led to the establishment of Christian religion.  Christians’ were different from the followers of eastern religions because they refused to worship the emperor as the embodiment of the state. Christian’s rejected the roman and Greek pantheons and the near eastern and Egyptian gods. This made Jesus followers subject to persecution by Rome. “the imperial roman establishment.” It remained an underground movement for a long time because of those reasons and the roman empire was also not fond that this religion attracted and accepted lower classes of society.  Many others would use animal blood etc. for religious sacrifices. Whereas, Jesus died on the cross for our sins and in remembrance of him we should break bread and drink wine. The bread being for his body and the wine for blood. This is called communion and people prior would have to say prayers, worship together in houses, sing hymns in private otherwise they would be subject to punishment for the reasons previously listed. This was until the late fourth century. Constantine issued the edict of Milan and people were free to constrict places of worship.  With the support churches were built to be able to worship god and spread his word.  Churches were have said to be modeled on the architectural design of Roman basilica. Which is designed to hold massive amounts of people for worship. This is the start to churches and designs being spread throughout Europe. For an example, Old St. Peter’s, didn’t survive but archaeologists have been able to come up with the floor plan. The architectural design was adapted to the requirements of the Christian ritual. Which is where the alter, and where mass would go on, would be the focal point. I also found this interesting and was unaware of this but the alters location is typically eastern end of the bascilla for symbolic reasons. It is supported generally by an image of Jesus on the cross where he was crucified facing the congregation. However, according to tradition in some church designs he was crucified facing west therefore the alter cross faces the western entrance of the church. This era of course has and still will be taught and has such great influence of the way churches are designed.

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Week 12 Early Christian life and Byzantine

This week we covered chapter ten which is about Early Christianity and Byzantine Art. To begin we’ll talk about one of the biggest religions to the current time, but mostly on how it began. The beginning of Christianity began with the death of Jesus, somewhere outside the city of Jerusalem Jesus was crucified. But prior to his death, Jesus asked his disciples to continue the religion and host last suppers. Which were rituals were his disciples would perform ceremonies to pass around his “blood” and “body” which was just red wine and bread. But after Jesus passed the religion of Christianity had to operate in secrecy due to the Roman government not approving it. This was because of the ideology of Christianity, due to it not worshiping traditional gods at the time. Plus the Roman government didn’t want a religion that inspired the lower class.

But in A.D 313 Constantine passed the Edict Of Milan which allowed all religions. After the passing of this law, Constantine founded a new capital called Byzantium. Which Christianity really established itself there, the reason this was able to happen was due to Constantine’s personal interest within Christianity. Before a battle, Constantine had a vision which he realized the true power of the cross, and after this Constantine was soon baptized.

Christian art had rough beginnings, due to the Roman government still persecuting other religions. So Christians found a way around this was by crafting their art within catacombs, they did this because the Romans considered catacombs to sacred to be interfered with. So this allowed the beginning of Christian art.

But once the Edict of Milan was passed Christians were allowed to build finally. Soon enough followers of Christianity began building basilicas, which were a bit different from opposing religions. While Christianity’s churches were built to hold people so they can worship together. But other Roman churches were usually built to hold a statue or something to honor a god. One of the most famous basilicas in Christianity would be St. Peter’s Basilica This church was named after Jesus’ first disciple. A lot of the small things that were built within basilicas had a reason behind them like apse, this part of the building was a semicircular part of the building with a dome roof also. Within these, they would have paintings of Christ and they would also hold legal preceding’s and also the altar would be there. During this time most Christians saw Christ as the judge during these preceding’s. Finally, they would also build these Basilicas in the shape of a cross or also known as a transept. But within the center of the basilica would rest St. Peters grave.

In the end, Christianity is a religion that runs deep with history and culture, and this is only a small part of thousands of years of work.

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I had never put much thought into opening our textbook to read about what I have been taught my whole life at church on Sunday’s. I remember being told about the Roman culture and it not approving of Christianity. Everyone beliefs are so different, but I truly feel this chapter and era still have such a great impact on society today. 

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chapter 9 week 11

This week’s blog as we all know in our art class is reviewing what we read in chapter nine which was promptly over architecture and famous buildings and so on. As we mostly probably already know that the Romans are very gifted in building from concrete and making anything they set their minds to. It is very astonishing to me the work they do and the work that they create. The mind sets behind what ever the Romans are possible thinking have to be super strong and not to mention strong willed at that. They invent all different kinds of stuff that we now have read about and seen. To be honest I had no idea that the arches ,domes, and vaults, were part of the Ancient Romans pieces of art work, that part of this reading has really blown my mind and made me not only realize but highly appreciate what the Romans have gone through as far as the time it took to not only think about making these arches, domes , and vaults but putting in the effort into building these domes, arches, and vaults, essentially in a way we should all be thankful for the Romans for their brilliant ideas and fascinations over building things from concrete and being super good at it.

Domestic architecture which are the single and or multiple dwellings built back in the past in Ancient Rome. As the Romans had discovered their potential with the concrete and also with their potential in building architectures they then invented arches and domes and also not to forget the vaults these are illustrated in some of the pages throughout the book on page 127 to be exact so you should stop right here on what you are reading and go check that out right now then come back and continue to read you will not be disappointed in what you see, then when you come back comment on what you think about relating to the arches, domes, and vaults,  I want to know. A lot of us readers have heard at one point in time a little something about the incredible Julius Caesar, to be exact Julius Caesar was one of the greatest politician figures in his generation and if you would like to know a little more history behind Julius Caesar then you should go check out page 129 in the art book.

 As the public grew amongst the Roman population as did the need for space and not only private space but as well as public space. So with that increase need for public space the Romans came up with two new building promptly known as the forum and the basilica.(page 129). These buildings that were made really reminds me of a Walmart or a target here in the United States it reminds me that people where in need of the same thing so we built a bigger building to help everyone who needs the same thing they get to go to the same building. The chapels here in the United States where you would go for religious reasons is the same thing as the Temples in Rome. These are amzing and fascinating to me to be able to read about similarities amongst two different societies and as well as countries at that. A lot of things have been accomplished by the Romans and have made an everlasting impact on the world as a whole.

This was a very fun read and I hope you all enjoyed it. Please feel free to comment any new thoughts or questions regarding my post, thank you and have a very blessed day!   

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The Romans used Greek style, as well as, their own when creating columns. Their artwork was said to be have highly influenced from Greece.   Romans used concentrate vs. the Greeks because marble wasn’t as readily available. I think it is mind blowing myself that they did an amazing job when creating arches, domes, and vaults. Many of their buildings that they had created are still standing today. They would place the marble and other decorative designs inside the concrete before it molded. As far as, Remus and Romulus they both were twin brothers. Romulus killed his brother Remus and became the first king of Rome.  I find it important to learn of the history behind the artwork and that era. It has so much influence even today. We do have similarities today as in their era. When you brought up the public space the Romans came up with known as the forum and the basilica. They were built so everyone who needed the same thing could go to one building. As you stated it is much like a Walmart or Target.

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Chapter 9 Week 11

For week 11, I was assigned to read Chapter 9 “Ancient Rome” in the “A History of Western Art” fifth edition textbook. I had never put much though in the language they would have spoken, but I found it interesting the Romans spoke mainly Latin.  I learned that Ancient Rome was founded April 21, 753 B.C. It was a roman legend that it was founded on that date by Romulus and Remus. Who were twin brothers, abandoned, and sent on the banks of the Tiber River and nursed by a she-wolf. Later, Romulus killed his brother Remus to be Rome’s First King.  However, another story by the Greeks is that it was founded by Trojan hero Aeneas, fleeing from the destruction from troy. The Greek’s and Romans came to an agreement that Aeneas was an ancestor of the twin brothers. In regards to art, Rome had local art styles and were influenced by the Greeks. For example, the way the Greek’s designed their sculptures, paintings, and architecture. It had a lot of influence on the art the roman culture created. The roman’s identified their own gods with Greek gods and adopted Greek iconography. They very much so copied the Greeks. However, Greek art was intended toward idealization. Whereas, as the textbook states Roman art was commemorative, narrative, and based on history rather than myth. The sculptures and paintings were said to have a two-fold function. Preserved by the person’s image and contributed to the history of a family. Roman’s illustrated historical event. This is where commemorating the actions of an individual comes from. The Romans used concrete for building and the Pantheon is a roman temple still standing today. The Pantheon, was built during the reign of Hadrian and dedicated to the five planetary gods which was known in the second century. – Jupiter, Mars, Saturn, Venus, Mercury and possibly the sun and moon. They did use marble like the Greeks, however it was less readily available and considered a luxury to the Romans. It was used for decoration, an outer layer, or over a core of another material. For their mixture of concrete they used mortar, gravel, rubble, and water. To shape the concrete they used wooden frames, sometimes wedge-shaped stones, tiles, and bricks forced in for either reinforcement or decoration.  Their architecture and style overall; has put great influence, as other ancient eras, to our world today.  The Colosseum, much like the theater in ancient Greece, is a massive amphitheater.  It is stated that was designed for gladiatorial contests and combats between man and animals, or between animals alone. The Colosseum is still standing today too and another huge tourists’ attraction. I find is absolutely fascinating they expressed their artwork and culture by building temples, buildings, paintings sculptures. I feel Ancient Rome was just the start of many great artists that were to come and have taught generations and has had a great impact on history.

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Ancient Greece

This is one of my most favorite time periods. I love learning about Greek and Roman culture and life around that time. One big part about ancient Greece is the artwork. The artwork was huge around the time period especially sculpture and pottery. This is around the time of one of my personal favorite parts of sculpting, making the stone look soft. The way these sculptures are able to make the clothes look transparent and make the skin look as soft as a pillow. I find it really satisfying.

Now the greeks really based a lot of their artworks off of mythology and gods. There are stories, artworks, and monuments all built around this. Which is why I feel, in history class, we focus on them a lot. Because we know a lot about them. Also, so many other cultures were built of greek, like in the book the comparisons of the Greek gods and Roman gods. They were never completely destroyed or wiped from existence, so we still have writings and stories from these times that we are able to study. Unlike the Egyptians we learned about others who had almost their own language erased beside the Rosetta stone, we know the Greek language and it is still used to this day.

Another big part of Greek art is also architecture. You go to almost any downtown courthouse or just look around in Washington D.C. You will see the marble flooring and the big pillars, these are a huge part of Greek architecture. We still use these today in modern architecture usually to signify a very important or famous building. However, there are types of styles they may be confused with roman styles like domes. the Romans were tremendous builders, engineers, and architects, in their own right as well, but they most defiantly got a lot of their ideas and strengths from the greeks.

I feel as though Geeks have a very original and “curtain” art style. Like when you look at the pottery you see the Greeks painted them with very bland colors like brown yellow and black. I feel this is a very strong style in greek because that is where we get a lot of these stories from, these stories that we read to learn about their culture.

One of my favorite parts of Greek history also, theater. I am a huge theater and film buff so this is where it all started. You had Sophocles and Euripides writing these great comedies and dramas. They would have been a lot different than now, you wouldn’t have a backstage or anything like that, however, you would still have some similar stuff. Like you still have actors writers and directors.

I learned quite a bit from this section, a lot about the art of ancient Greece. Ancient Greece may be my most favorite eras of the art of all time. The realism of the sculptures, the symmetry of the pottery and the architecture of Greek history. It amazes me with how little technology they had. They were able to create these giant structures and realistic sculpture with their bare hands.

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Ancient Greece so far has been one of my favorite chapters to read and learn about. Greece has influenced us today by its architecture, sculptures, pottery and they way we create art/buildings today.  I found it fascinating too, they did not have technology, as we do now, and were able to do everything by bare hand. As you stated they made all their artwork based off mythology and their gods/goddess. I remember reading a sequel on the gods and goddess of Greece mythology in high school and the history behind it. 

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Week 8

The Ancient origins of Modern beauty is about how the Athens influences the way we see beauty today.   This articles states “Greek texts that were reintroduced to the West during the Renaissance. For the Greeks, beauty was created through symmetry and proportion. Through detailed analysis of the human body, Greek thinkers defined what makes someone beautiful.” It shows how over centuries the measurements of sculptures are the same. This means to me that there was and still is to others a  “perfect” size. In today’s world we all have the concept of the ideal size and I do think art over the centuries influence that. Beauty to me is skin deep, just as it states that some Greeks believed this way too. I think beauty is how a person treats others and their character. Someone could be good looking, but if they are mean it makes them ugly

 The Ancient people of Greece thought of their God’s in human form. The gods participated in events, such as, the Trojan War. I have always thought Greek mythology is interesting to learn more about. The gods were called Olympians because they lived on Mount Olympus. As stated in our textbook, the Greek were the first westerners who regularly signed their artwork. Today, we do so, so that no one can take another person’s work and claim it theirs. I found interesting too that in American society today we use headstones for memorials for our loved ones. This was much like the Greeks who did the same. The Egyptians and the Greeks were different in that since because the Egyptians made offerings to their gods were the Greeks did not. The structural architecture of Ancient Greece is fascinating.  It states the Archaic artists may have had much influence by the Egyptians techniques and conventions.  The Greeks suited their own taste, but they learned from them how to carve blocks of stone for sculptures. Widespread change went from using stone, to marble, to bronze for large scale sculptures. The statue named “Poseidon or Zeus,” was found in the sea off cape Artemision. The reason it is viewed this way is because it appears the status arm is holding a lightening bolt representing Zeus. The other reason it may be viewed of Poseidon and his trident. The status shows concentration and later has been studied that the Greeks had interest in athleticism. Overall in this chapter the Greeks went through various stages and styles to show their cultures,story, and influences the way art is made today. 

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Week 6: Ancient Egypt

Just as the past civilization of Mesopotamia the Egyptians also highly valued their religion. In fact the Egyptians believed that their rulers or pharaohs were gods themselves. These beliefs can be seen throughout their art and the structures they would make for or of the pharaohs.

An example of this can be seen in “The Palette of Narmer.” This piece portrays the “links between divine and earthly power.”  Narmer was a significant pharoah for Ancient Egypt because he united Upper and Lower Egypt. The palette was designed in order to convey the pharaoh’s superiority. King Narmer is found in the center of the palette and is depicted to be threatening an assumed enemy. Their are dead enemies on the bottom with a servant holding his sandals, supposedly meaning that he is “standing on holy ground.” The king is also guarded by Horus and Hathor in this palette. This shows that the people trusted Narmer’s power and that they believed he was guarded by the gods.

During the time of the Old Kingdom the Egyptians started to build the infamous pyramids. These structures were made up of mastabas and were made for pharaohs as their place of burial. The Egyptians believed that the royal people were born from the sun god Re. The pyramids had a capstone, most likely gilded. This would have reflected the sun and could possibly be a connection to that belief.

Like Jericho the Egyptians also had rituals for the deceased. While Jericho would make a replica of the skull. Egyptians would take part in mummification. This included removal of internal organs with the exception of the heart. The organs were placed in separate jars and each one was thought to to guarded by one of Horus’s sons. The pharaohs would be bandaged and placed into their coffin. One rather extravagant coffin would be that of Tutankhamun. His rule proceeded the contraverstion reign of Akhenaten. When he died his coffin had a portrait mask made of solid gold. In it blue glass and lapis lazuli could also be found in this mask.

When making sculptures of the rulers the artists would follow certain “conventions”. The more important the person being depicted the more attentive would these depictions be to the conventions. This is another solid example of the importance of the pharaohs to the people of Ancient Egypt.

Besides their art some of the practices of the pharaohs and their family go to show how important their status is to them. One thing I found interesting while reading, was the extremes that they would go to in order to keep their royal blood “pure”. The pharaoh’s would only have children with people they were related to in order to achieve this. This usually led to them having children with their daughter’s or the most distant they would go is their cousins. We now know this can cause genetic mutations, so it would be interesting to see how that worked out for them.

Overall the civilization of Ancient Egypt highly valued their rulers and even thought of them as gods. This can be seen throughout their extensive amounts of monumental art depicting the pharaohs in harmony with the gods. The art of the Ancient Egyptians ultimately set up a platform for the art of the civilizations to come and greatly influenced the art of the Western world.

[ericafrey-blog1]

In this post, I found it great you were able to compare the Egyptians to the Jericho for a better understanding on how history tends to express values and beliefs. As it talked about in our textbook that the pharaoh’s impregnating relatives to keep their blood line “pure” I thought the same as when you stated, “it would be interesting to see how that worked for them when we know in today’s world that causes gene mutation.” As most of the weekly readings about other eras, the Ancient Egyptian era, valued their rulers, their land, and created art (sculptures, paintings, monuments.) to express their feelings and thoughts as to others do too. 

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Week 6

Chapter 5 Ancient Egypt.

 This week I read about Ancient Egypt in my “A History of Western Art” textbook. On page 51, it states “Egypt, in Northeast Africa, was the home of one of the most powerful and longest-lasting civilizations of the ancient world.” I found this intriguing and wanted to continue reading. I thought I knew much of the history of Egypt, but this chapter helped me to understand and learn more.  In this era, it talks about how people settled along the banks of the Nile and Pharaohs, or kings ruled the land and its people. The Nile was gift because it brought floods which created fertile land for food and this is where they settled. The pharaohs were sought to be gods to they’re people and the land was divided into sections. The Upper Egypt in the South and the lower Egypt in the North. What I found most interesting in this chapter is when it brought the pyramids. I honestly was not aware that these were made to express pharaoh’s power and their burial zone for passage into the afterlife. The Step Pyramid would be King Zoser Saqqara, was reputed to be the first Egyptian to build monumental stone structures. This king was the first to rule upper and lower Egypt and was highly praised for being a healer, with much wisdom, and a magician. The pyramids were exactly aligned and made to reflect the sun to signify the pharaohs divinity and identification with the sun. Each of the pyramids were connected by an elevated road to its own valley temple at the edge of a flood plain by the Nile.  I found it interesting that when the pharaoh died he was transported across the Nile by the boat to the valley temple.  These were designed to have a king and queen’s chamber and a false tomb chamber. Inside represented the pharaoh. I found it fascinating. I also wanted to talk about mummification. I never put much thought into it, and how they preserved the bodies. They would remove every organ besides the heart because they felt that should be left in place for belief purposes. When they removed organs Horus’s four sons kept embalmed organs in jars and the bodies were wrapped in up to twenty layers of linen. I find this amazing these pharaohs and people knew exactly where to place the pyramids to symbolize they’re believes, and values and the way mummification was used/created. Therefore, I can see why this is such a huge asset to being studied and how it relates to art history.  Humans, have always used art to express our values, believes, and religion.  

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Week 4

As I was reading about the Neolithic Era, I found myself returning back to my thoughts about the first paragraph, in regards to the general location where the invention of writing occurred. I realized that I did not have the slightest idea about how sophisticated writing was originally created, but I did not think that communication in the form of writing went from pictures to words, then to honorable literature and epic poetry. In my mind, there should be a large gap between the first humans and historic poets. A gap that was not in any interest of mine to be filled with knowledge and answers. I had just assumed that when writing came along, humans were still producing incomplete and illiterate sentences out loud, but thinking back I realize that I had never really given much thought as to what that gap could be filled with. I now know that I stand incorrect, in reality, communities of this time had blueprints of what their cities were to be. These communities had structured plans on how to build their cities to be the strongest, safest, and most efficient that they thought was possible at that time in history. In the past I did not give them enough credit as they made their mark on the world in more ways than one, they were the start of many innovations that we still use and branch off of today. After reading the section on Mesopotamia, I also realized that these groups of people were far more intelligent than I assumed after reading about the Neolithic Era. The Mesopotamians experimented to find ways to make their land fertile and they built incredible temples which still stand today. Not only did they build them, they also added in religion and other beliefs to these incredible structures, which had been passed on from generation to generation. Religion played a huge role in the lives of everyone at this point in time. Every activity or task that was completed had to have some involvement with religion and their belief system. They believed mountains held the powers of nature, at this time they knew that mountains gave them water and thought this was a gift from the gods. Because of this, Mesopotamians would build imitation mountains, also known as ziggurats, for the god. For me, the most interesting sections were “Cylinder Seals,” and “From Pictures to Words.” These were the most interesting because they illustrated how written communication was kept, and they touched base on what the illustrations meant. These sections also briefly informed us how these scripts have helped archeologists understand and decipher the language of that period in history. It stuns me that we have found so many artifacts that were preserved to near perfection from this time, and they have been able to tell us so much about our own history. I found this chapter to be helpful in understanding how art and writing came to be, where it came from and to also fill knowledge gaps that I did not know existed in my mind.

[ericafrey-blog1]

I too, found myself reflecting towards the first paragraph and where the location of writing first occurred. I did not find much of interest in the gap either and assumed myself that people may have used body language for communication, or possibly understood each other by just drawings.  I honestly never put much thought as to where or how writing was created, but this chapter explains the importance. I found it intriguing the Mesopotamians created temples/buildings that still stand today. That is amazing that that kind of architecture was used during that Era and how it can help us today.

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Week 3 Discussion

During this week reading for Chapter 3, I was able to learn more about the Pathoclitic society. I learned that they were nomadic hunters and gatherers and lived communally. I wanted to talk about the Venus figurines. Primarily first the Venus of Willendorf.  This sculpture was created and carved of limestone and dates to 25,000 B.C. to 21,000 B.C.  This was sought to be the most “famous”. It is of a woman, who is sculpted to have big breast’s and the pelvis is leading to have more scholars. Meaning the thighs present to look bigger. The arms are placed on top of the breasts, hardly visible, and it also brings out the head and torso. There are no records, or anything found to exactly what this sculpture means but only theories.  It is believed this sculpture emphasis nursing and reproducing of the female body and it is named “Venus of Willendorf” because it represents a fertility goddess. Venus is from the roman goddess of love and beauty. The textbook also brings up that the red pigment is associated to childbirth. Again, the thighs and breasts are exaggerated. As we know, after giving birth to a child a woman’s hips widen and their breasts are full of breastmilk, and a woman’s torso also doesn’t go completely flat (because of the uterus having to shrink down to normal size). I think therefore people would associate that to the meaning behind this sculpture. I stand behind that theory for those reasons. Maybe that meant something to artist? Maybe it was a woman who carved this, and it was how her body looked after having a child? It’s unsaid. The next sculpture, of the Venus figurines, is the “Venus of Laussel” created of limestone as well. This is called a relief sculpture, which means that the artist uses some of the original material and uses it to form a background plane. This sculpture again exaggerates the hips and breasts of a woman and in her right hand she is holding an animal horn with markings.  It also appears to me she has her left hand over her womb. I’m not sure what this represents but like art today what we create has meanings and messages behind it. That’s what is most interesting about art because we can use our imagination as to what it is or it gives us a story and more to think about.

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Week 2

As seen in chapter 2, we look at the language of art and how to all connects together.  It talks about how things such as composition, balance, lines, color use, to express different shades, perspectives, textures, light and color, and more. These are all things that in my opinion are the value in art.  They send off different messages which expresses why the masterpiece was put together. Art has been a major part of my life. I do not mean paintings or cave drawings or any of that nature.  Rather, I believe music has made a major impact on my life because it has so much meaning behind it.  It can give you mixed emotions and put you in a certain mood whether it be happy or sad.  It usually puts me in a relaxed or satisfied mood so that I feel better about myself and I am sure most can agree.  I listen to a lot of different varieties of music that like I said put me in a certain mood, and it has been a major part of my life. Music can set the mood for anything as well.  For example, if you are with a group of people whether it is for fun or serious, it can set the mood for that event or gathering.  I know with my friends we listen to a lot of rap music to get us hyped up or feel a certain way about something that happened, or something that is going on in our lives. Different companies use it for advertisement as well whether it’s enthusiastic or depressing.  For example, the animal abuse commercial induces depression and sadness due to the music they produce to sell you on donating.  Without the music, people might ignore it or just not think much of it.  

Dissanyake talks about a lot of different things that I believe are very important to let us, as humans question ourselves about the way life goes and how we should focus more on human nature and where we come from and rather technology and science and it is something that I think is very important for us.  She talks about how joie de faire stresses certain things socio culture and function, and that all of their works are admired for the natural beauty it persuades. This comes from touch, mold, and form that it gives off that is what it is known for.  I believe this is awesome because everything comes from it’s natural domain, which is something Dissanyake talks about when she first wrote this.  I know where she is coming from when she talks about all of this I challenge her to try to change people on their philosophy about depending on technology and science, because as I have said before, I firmly believe that we come from our own culture and that is what defines us instead of things such as social media and others, and reading this was very reassuring for myself because it is nice to see someone shares the same beliefs as myself.

[ericafrey-blog1]

I do too believe that the composition, balance, lines, different shades, lighting and texture, etc. make up the value of art. As that was talked about in Chapter 2 reading. I myself, enjoy music and think there is so much meaning behind it. I love listening to music when I’m in different moods to help myself feel better or to get hyped up for a night out with friends/family. I do think the use of music is great for advertisement. The animal abuse commercials you talked about is a great point because it does draw people into donating or it grabs attention to viewers. In Dissanayake article, I think its true that our society today is so focused on social media that they don’t even pay attention to the people around them. It is rather sad. A lot of people are losing the sense of human nature because society is so dependent and rely on machines and technology to do and make things for them.

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Week 2

In my reading of chapter two The Language of Art it talks about art having its own language. I found it interesting on page 14 it talks about how we use lines in art to express character because we often identify them with our own experience of nature or with our bodies.  That straight lines are often associated with honest and truth, whereas, crooked lines are sought to be the opposite. We use lines a lot to express happy, sad, or mad faces. I have never put much thought into lines but reading about these points made sense.  We all use art in a way to express ourselves and speak a message without using our voice. For example, even if I couldn’t speak there is someone out there that could understand a simple sad face if I were to draw it. Art is so valuable for reasons such as that. We all have different views of course. To me that is powerful.  Art has been a huge aspect apart of my life. Whether it was growing up listening to Frank Sinatra with my grandfather or making arts and crafts with my siblings and our mom during holidays. I appreciate all art and the story behind who made it or what I think it is to be. Art is everywhere, to me it can be as far as a stop sign to Murals + Street art in downtown Dubuque, IA.

I believe Ellen Dissanayake has very good points in her article “The Pleasure of Meaning and Making.” In an area of this article, Ellen, talks about from the time we are born to now. As babies, we learn from our parents.  Our parents sitting down with us and teaching us to write, make crafts, and to cook. Sadly, some parents just have their children in front of TV’s, provide them iPad’s, and cell phones to keep them preoccupied.  From in the womb, we have used our hands to grasps and grab. As we grow, we have used our hands to communicate, as tools to create art, and use for our basic life necessities. In postmodern times, people would use their hands to create pots, clothing’s, food, and carve etc. Now a days, most of the time food is premade, our clothes are made from machines, and people buy their pots/pans. I must agree, as a society, people are losing much of human nature/touch because of how much they rely on machines/technology to do these things for them. It raises the question what would we do if technology fails us? If we are to let this continue, will generation after generation severely be affected? How can we stop this? It is crazy to think my grandma and mother used to sow their own clothes, whereas, most people I know my age wouldn’t have the slightest idea on where to begin. I personally don’t think a lot of society feels they should have to worry either. If bad times do come, I believe people will be running around like “chickens with their heads cut off.” Ellen did too, talk about art behavior, that different cultures and previous generations used art to change the way they were brought into this world to  express themselves . Such as, painting their faces, piercing their ears, etc. We today still use art to express ourselves. For example, wearing make up to social events or wearing the latest fashion trend. Art is all around us, we should find pleasure in what we can create and make to have a feeling of self-worth, so, we can thrive, and to live a happy life.

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Pantheon Rome,Italy  Art History Week 1

I’ve always wanted to see and experience Italy. I’m very fond of the architecture and the history behind all of it.  The Pantheon, in Rome, used to be a temple of the gods but is now a church. The architecture and the history from what I’ve researched is fascinating and i’m intrigued to learn more.

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Trevi Fountain Art |history week 1

My favorite piece of art would have to be the Trevi fountain. I enjoy the simplicity of it and how clean and amazing it looks.

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The Trevi Fountain. I have always wanted to visit since I was younger. I am possibly going to Italy over the summer and this is on my bucket list.  There is theories behind throwing coins into this fountain. One of them being, if you throw a coin from your right hand over your left shoulder it ensure’s you will return to Rome. throwing two ensures romance, and I believe three ensures marriage to that person. The photos I have seen of this fountain at night are absolutely beautiful.