I decided to go to the library to check out these two murals, but it had a really heavy snow day; instead, I viewed the murals online. According to the online description, these two murals depict figures and ideas about race and ethnicity that reflect the social environment and cultural background of the time they were created.  The most interesting finding of these two murals is both of “arts” and “sciences” are based on a tree, from the bottom to top, each panel represents a different time period, in which the arts or sciences have developed over time. As we have discussed in a previous assignment, “what is art”, art can be influenced by different time periods and different cultural background, and the formation of art would be varied by perceptions of artists over time as well as the social environment where artists lived in.  Now the original pieces were installed in the East and West stairwells that connect the lobby of the library to the Social Collections and University Archives. Nowadays, people raised questions and concerns whether two murals should be displayed in the public setting.

The public art is always so controversial, and local conflicts over public art exist throughout the United States. As Jack Becker defined in his 2004 Americans for the Arts, he stated “Public art is artwork in the public realm, regard- less of whether it is situated on public or private property, or whether it is acquired through public or private funding. Public art can be a sculpture, mural, manhole cover, paving pattern, lighting, seating, building facade, kiosk, gate, fountain, play equipment, engraving, carving, fresco, mobile, collage, mosaic, bas-relief, tapestry, photograph, drawing, or earthwork” (Mograph, 2). When I first looked at this definition, I felt how diverse the definition of public art is. Public art can be considered in so many different formations because people view it in different ways.

As I mentioned in my unit-3 post, art is everywhere and it is embedded into the culture. Public art can also be formed into different ways. The first is the traditional forms of public art. It includes sculptures displayed in public spaces, such as outdoors or in public buildings. George Washington, a sculpture of America’s first president created by Horatio Greenough, was hugely controversial. People have compliments or critiques over this public art. As Greenough defended his statue, he defined the meaning and look of public art differently from other Americans, “his public memorial shifted from a political setting too a cultural one” (Mograph 3). Later on, “the shifting circumstances of American public culture and that original intention regarding public art’s placement, permanence, and public interpretation are subject to change and reconsideration” (Mograph 4).

Public art is controversial because the nature of the art itself is complicated. Different people have different opinions and perceptions of what art really is to them. This conflicts among people raised people’s questions and concerns about public art, whether the public art would or would not please its audience. As Ellen came to approach a thought in her article, “art as a kind of behavior that developed as they evolved, to help them survive”. I have never realized that the topic of public art can be so contentious, especially in a country that free of speech and values the individualism very much. I have always been thinking art is something that can always help people to relax. Not until I have read this article that public art acts as a conversation tool for public and its people, it allows having arguments and disagreements on art. I found the last expression of the public art really meaningful, “Public art has the unique potential to encourage multiple American public to tell their stories and to listen to others” (Mongraph 11). I believe art is full of magic power, because art makes people to think and value their values in life differently.

References:

Doss, E. (2006, October). Public art controversy: Cultural expression and civic debate. Retrieved from http://www.americansforthearts.org/pdf/networks/pan/doss_controversy.pdf

Maruska, B. (2013). A response to the runquist murals. Retrieved from http://blogs.uoregon.edu/runquistmurals/

Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote adresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

passion, life, creativity, emotion, attitude, unique, culture, love,value,time

In the video of Lawrence Lessig, “Laws that choke creativity”, he talked about how people open user-garneted content up for business by telling three stories. Nowadays, people take advantage of the Internet to receive the read-write culture. In the 21^st century, young people are taking the songs of the day and the old songs and remixing them to make something different. He talked about how people taking and recreating using other people’s content, using digital technologies to express and show people the differences. Today’s young generation are using these technologies to “think”, to “speak” and to “communicate” with each other. However, law considers these actions illegal, taking other people’s content without permission is the behavior of a trespasser.  Lessig said in the talk that “We made mixed tapes; they remix music. We watched TV; they make TV.” What can we do to help this generation to maintain creativity within them without violating the law? It is technology that makes young generation different from the older generation. Lessig encourage doing much better for the next generation, for kids not for business, to keep their creativity.

Lessig, L. (2008). Comparing Cultures. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy (pp. 84-116). New York: Penguin Press HC, The.

Primary thesis of  “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins”

The primary thesis of “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins”, written by Beverly Jones, is to “establish the relation of specific image, object, events or environment to conceptual frames” (51). People have not fully understood the computer graphic. How would computer graphics are related to human lives? The author tried to explain to audiences that technology and its relative important role in the world combine with art in the context of computer graphics. People changes technology as technology can help to change human life.

Identify one of the three historical examples Jones provides as an illustration of her thesis.

At the beginning of this article, Jones gives an analogy between early views of potential uses for electricity and those of potential uses for the computer. This kind of examples express the tendency to set limits of the possible based on previous experience, knowledge and conceptual frames” (51). Jone used example to “present evolving possibilities in harmony with larger cultural and historical patterns” (51).

Provide a compelling and accurate illustration of Jones’ thesis at work in today’s culture.

The combination of art and high technology can be known as digital art. The technologies of digital art are commonly used by filmmakers to create special scenes. Since we are currently in the 21^st Century, there are many examples that can well support Jone’s thesis. As mentioned in Jane’s TED talk video, she stated that gaming can make a better world and explained why she though that would be the case. It is a common way to think gaming can have negative influence on young generations, especially on teenagers. Most of the parents would consider games are bad for their kids because games would waste their time of studying. Most of games require high technologies that can combine images, objects, events and environment together. In todays’ world, games, or we should be more specific, high technology really play a crucial role in our life and it changes our life everyday.

Jones, B. J. (1990). Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins. LEONARDO: Digital Image – Digital Cinema Supplemental Issue, pp. 21-30.

McGonigal, Jane. (Feb, 2010.) Gaming Can Make a Better World. TED: Ideas worth Spreading. N.p. Web. 18 Nov. 2012.  Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Before watching this video, I would never have a positive thought on games and game players. To be honest, I once have thought that games players were wasting time and live on games. One important thing that I have learned from this video is that game players tend to do teamwork when they are in game. As Jane McGonigal said in the video, “When we play a game, we tackle tough challenges with more creativity, more determination, more optimism, and we’re more likely to reach out to others for help”. As individual, a person would never ask others for help or probably would never feel good about him or herself. However, when a person is playing a role in the game, it helps them to gain confidence and to learn to collaborate with others to achieve success.

1. How do you define “spirituality”?

It is hard to define “spirituality” since the word itself does not have a single and widely used definition that people agreed with. Spirituality connects a person to his or her own characteristics within the mind of his or herself, so it keep them from getting lost in going, doing and having. That said that different people would have different sense of spirituality. It is hard to change a person’s perceptions of something, because the

2. Does spirituality differ from religion?

Since spirituality does not have a physical value and is hard to be defined by a common sense definition, the relationship between “spirituality” and different places around world might change. Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the nature and purpose of the universe that are considered as the creation of human beings, and people generally agreed with this particular set of beliefs and practices. People from different places around the world carry different religion with them, because different cultural background would have a huge influence on what they believe in their lives.

3. How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity is the use of people’s imagination and ideas to produce art works that would surprise people. People are able to use their imagination and ideas to create something that are brand new to the world, and these “brand new” things are valuable to everyone.

4. What is the source of creativity?

Ideas often come from experience. If a person has experienced more than another person, it would be much easier for “a person” to come up with some creative ideas. I believe the creativity comes from people’s experience as well as their perceptions and inspirations of things.

We see lots of things everyday, but can we remember everything we saw? Probably we can’t. We glance over things but may barely be able to recall. At the beginning of this article, the authors actually brought my attention to the questions that “what is the difference between merely looking at a thing and actually seeing it” (71)? I found this question is somehow interesting, because I would never think of the difference myself between looking and actually seeing. We see both the shape of a thing and its meaning to ourselves. As a human being, we usually draw conclusions based on what we actually see in our eyes. The shape of the thing and its meaning would have huge impact on us. They might enter into our eyes, our heart and mind directly when deeply seeing.  When I am looking at a tree or a person that I do not know, I would not have any feelings about them. When I see a wedding or a graduation ceremony, this kind of events would influence my personal emotion. I can see many factors, such as love, friendships, families, happiness and so on.

As author has mentioned in the article, “to see deeply and to understand are different from mere looking or observation” (74). We can experience art by fully seeing through the subjects. The images will come into our visual space in our head and the mind will start processing everything in the visual space. The mind will try to understand what in the visual space by recognizing size differences and the level of perception. Then, the different emotions and thoughts will come out of our head after the mind has processed the image we have seen.

Grey, A. (2001). Art as Spiritual Practice. The Mission of Art (1st ed., pp. 205-233). Boston & London: Shambhala.

Do you like scary movies? Do you lose sleep after you watch a scary movie? I personally do not like watching horror films or any horror subject related videos. I do not know why some people are enjoying watching fictional horror films in their free time. How can they find any pleasure from watching horror videos? Is it because they can release the pressure by screaming? But, there are many others ways that can be used to release pressure. So, why horror? Very simply put, some people do it because it is fun to make the unreal real. Great movies evoke emotions, and horror movies do it easier than most genres.

At the beginning of article, Carroll stated that many people do seek out horror fictions for the purpose of deriving pleasure from sights and descriptions that customarily repulse them (275). The author attempts to explain the reason why some people find the pleasure from the scene in the horror videos. The power of horror presented in the films across the different time periods affect people differently from different places around the world. In our nature, we consider horror thrives above all as a narrative form. According to the author, most of people seek out pleasure from the horror because of their curiosity; “the power of the objects of art-horror to command curiosity” (286).

Just like the idea being brought out from the article on ScienceDaily, people like watching horror movies because they enjoy being scared. Some people like watching horror movie just because they like them and not being afraid but excited. In addition to that, people are willing to resist the terror in order to enjoy the aesthetic art of horror, which literally means that people are happy to be terrified. I found this is really awkward. I do not like watching horror movies, so it would be hard for me to understand their interest. Probably people like their heart beating and feel they are in the movie themselves. Fear is the quickest and most dependable emotion that movie makers can bring out in us. The point is, we are all moved by fear. We are not all moved by drama, or comedy, or sadness. Of course there are certainly exceptions to the rule, but in general, most people react to scary movies in the same way, with a scream!

Carroll, N. (2002). Why Horror?. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (Eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., pp. 275-294). New York, NY: Routledge.

University of Chicago Press Journals (2007, July 31). Why Do People Love Horror Movies? They Enjoy Being Scared. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 10, 2013, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2007/07/070725152040.htm

At the beginning of this episode, the main character Buffy dreamed that when she kissed a guy, they heard a little girl was singing smoothly. I thought this scene should be romantic when I was watching the characters kissed each other. However, with the scene turned dark, I heard the storm’s sounds, and the crowd in the class suddenly turned quiet. At the same time, I only saw two characters on the screen. Buffy and the guy heard creepy song from a little girl, and they finally found the girl was singing in the corridor. I consider this is diegetic sound, because the voices from the character who is the little girl, which means that sound whose source is visible on the screen. This diegetic sound contributes to the aesthetic of horror for the video, because when I heard the little girl’s voice, I could foresee that some horrific things would be happened soon, which paved the way for the next plot.

There is a scene that when the pointer on the clock pointed to one o’clock at midnight, all the people fell asleep. The horrible sound accompanied with this sound, which sounded like someone whispered. This sound can be defined as non-diegetic sound. The reason is that sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action. This sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect, because the next plot is that a terror man who might be vampire collected gas which was breathed out by those people. This non-diegetic sound has the aesthetic of horror, because although I could not see where the voice was from. I still felt some horrible things or horrible people would come out.

After this scene, the next scene is that when people woke up in the morning, they found that they could not speak any more and they lost their voice, because the vampire collected their gas last night. This scene can be defined as mise en scene, because I could see the creepy plots from the actors’ performances and appearances. This mise en scene contributes to the aesthetic of horror. Due to the fact that the form of art is visible for the audiences, therefore; when the actors show their emotion and mood, the audiences can intuitively have fear from actors’ performances.

I believe that the ways in which people dress themselves would express their own beliefs and values very well. We can often see ‘through’ a person’s personality from his or her outfits. I do like fashionable clothes, but I do not think I am a type of person who check the latest trends everyday to see what people are wearing, or try to put on some outstanding fashionable designer clothes to attract people’s attention.  I am a college student so that I believe it is more important for me just to dress in comfortable clothes. I like to pick clothes with simple colors, such as black, white, gray, and etc. I choose clothes style and colors that suit me the best, because to my own thoughts, I think personal clothing style would determine one’s personality. I always believe I choose the clothes and make clothes to fit me, and I do not believe I need to make any change to fit the ‘clothes’. I rarely wear heavy jewelries or any other adornments along with my daily outfit. Even if I do, I would keep it just as simple as a pair of earrings. When I was in grade school, I usually like wearing colorful clothes with different patters on them. I like wearing clothes with bright color, such as orange, yellow or red.  Some of the clothes would have colorful dots or stripes. As I grow older, my clothing style towards more to white, black or gray, as simple as possible. I do want to wear like a ‘drama queen’ with really cute outfits, but to be simple and fresh both in colors and in styles.

I think different cultural background would explain the reason why people are wearing different clothing styles. However, it seems to be a common sense that clothes would never be enough for girls’ wardrobes. I come from a cultural background, which my parents believe that as long as you have clothes to wear everyday, you do not need to buy new ones. Also, as long as your clothes are clean, you do not need to change them everyday. My parents never buy me clothes with strong brand names, because they believe the level of comfort is the most important factor to be considered when they are buying clothes. As I grow older, they leave me alone to make my own choices of buying clothes. I like to do quick shopping online so I do not need to go into the store. I buy pieces of clothing with high quality, which can last for a long time. In USA, I see most people are changing their clothes everyday, because they want to give people fresh look and this behavior helps to show respect to others as well.

Since I consider the level of comfort to be my first criteria when buying clothes. The weather is getting colder as we stepped into the winter season, this is how my daily outfit looks like: a simple color oversize sweatshirt on the top with black sportswear legging and a pair of converse sneaker on the bottom. Sometime if I need to go to a professional event, I would dress up in business casual. I do not think it is necessary to think whether one type of outfit would definitely mean or express something personal about us. When I am walking around the campus, I see some people wear different clothes accordingly with their jobs, positions or personal beliefs and values. I believe different types of people that have very different beliefs and values, and these would make them dress differently.