Today I went to the Knight library to view the two murals painted by Albert and Arthur Runquist. I am very disappointed in myself to say that I’ve never actually noticed that the murals were there, although I’ve only been in each stairwell maybe twice in my whole time here at the University of Oregon because I usually enter through the front doors and pass through the lobby. With that said, I believe the place making could have been better like somewhere more in the open and more easily visible. However, putting the murals in the library was good for its function because it captures the history of the arts and sciences – therefore the library is a good setting. Doss states in the reading that, “Public art’s visibility relates to its functional utility” (2006). I rarely go the library because it is usually too crowd which in the sense could make the place making good because that may mean that there is a lot of traffic in and out of the library. You never know, maybe everyone is different from me and actually walks through the East and West stairwells of Knight Library.

I would indeed say that these two murals are forms of public art because it meets the following criteria provided by the city of Blue Springs, MO:

“Public art is artwork in the public realm, regardless 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 façade, kiosk…” (Doss 2006).

First off, the murals are located in a public area, Knight library East and West stairwells, for people to see them. Second of all, the murals were painted in the 1930s as a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) art project. The Works Progress Administration was established in 1935 to help create work for artist and increase art exposure to the public. This was the first art project to be funded by the federal government (Maruska 2013).

In this unit’s reading Public art controversy, Doss states that, “These early programs were guided by the idea that public art was a form of civic improvement and could help generate a shared sense of civic and national identity” (2006). I would agree that the WPA program agrees with Doss’s statement above. Also, both of the Runquist murals are an example of civic improvement because the meaning behind the murals is improvement in general for both the sciences and arts. Each panel of the mural represents a different point in time the society went through in order to get to where we are today. Also, this mural depicts a sense of identity both civic and national because the periods of time that are included within this mural were experienced nationally and therefore civically as well.

Moreover, I am very surprised that I have never noticed these murals because they are extremely big. I for one love murals because they are always so extravagant and breathe taking, in a good way of course. Murals also always have an underlying meaning behind them. This unit’s reading agrees with my take on murals, which is public art, because of the statement, “During the tumultuous 1960s, public art was viewed as a way to beautify America’s public spaces and simultaneously unify a public divided over issues of race, gender, and the Vietnam War” (Doss 2006). Both the Development of the Arts and Development of the Sciences murals painted by the Runquist brothers are beautiful and definitely provide civic beautification. Although these murals do not have underlying meanings about issues like gender, age, or cultural heritage they capture history.

The mural location in the East stairwell of the Knight Library holds the Development of the Arts mural. This mural contains eight panels, each depicting a different period in time for the arts. These periods range from the earliest primitive period of cave painting to Shaw, Padwerewski, Caruso, Bernhardt, and Orozoo, which are representatives of the modern arts (Maruska 2013). On the other hand, the Development of the Sciences mural is located in the West stairwell of Knight Library. This mural also has eight panels, each containing a painting from a different period in time for the sciences. The earliest science period featured in this mural is the Stone Age – the painting contains a family sitting around a fire, I assume this is supposed to represent the discovery of fire. The most recent period that is depicted on the mural is of the modern period that contained people with levers and machines, used to symbolize the modern control of power (Maruska 2013).

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/

In this unit’s reading, Comparing Cultures the author talks about how most undergraduate courses are taught. I must say that the author’s description is pretty spot on. Most of the courses I’ve taken consist of me showing up to a huge lecture where the professor recites the lecture slides. Not to mention, the professors who have consistently taught the same course for multiple terms will use the same material every term. This way of teaching is not effective and like Lessig states, “Students don’t listen to lectures” (pg. 86). I don’t know about you but I get bored when professors just stand there and read off of the slides and other things usually distract me.

Moreover, Lessig introduces the way that law school courses teach their students which is through an active forum method. This method allows students to participate in the lecture and gain active knowledge. In my opinion, this active forum method is much more effective for learning. Even if a student is not participating in the discussion this method requires the students to be attentive during the lecture. I agree with Lessig’s statement that, “This form of education teaches responsibility as well as the subject. It develops an ethic as well as knowledge about a particular field” (pg. 86). I wish that more courses were like this because I find it easier to learn.

References:

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

The primary thesis of the “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” by Beverly Jones is that technology overtime improves which helps to aid in cultural maintenance and change. Technology however is a very broad topic but Jones chose to focus on computer graphics. Jones (1990) explains that art and humanity theorist should help technicians, scientist, and engineers to direct the development of new technology products in order to reach cultural goal instead of technological goals (p. 22). In the article Evolution of Technology, there is a quote that states, “Technology involves manipulation of the environment to meet human needs such as food, shelter, communication, and health” (2014). This statement agrees with Jones (1990) when she states that, “This would entail emphasizing potential effects on the quality of human life, especially in aesthetics and ethics” (p. 22).

In the reading, Jones provides historical examples to help support her thesis. One of these examples starts off with, “At the Second West Coast Computer Faire held in 1978, several projections were made” (Jones 1990). Because of application software programs small computer systems, rather than the larger systems, could be used to create fabrics, prints, and furniture. This application software allowed people to have a choice in technology usage and help in mass production. This historical example helped to show that advances in technology have ways in helping cultural maintenance and change. Application software allowed for smaller systems to have multiple uses, which allowed people to have one computer system instead of multiple to do a multitude of tasks. Also, with mass production products can be made faster in proportion to the growing population demand. The world population is growing exponentially every day and new technology needs to keep advancing in order to keep up because there is a demand that needs to be met.

In the article Evolution of Technology, there is a quote that states, “The development of various technologies within the last 10,000 years of human history has been affected by and has affected the environment, human societies, and science” (2014). It is now 2014, and technology has come a long way since it first came about. In the reading, Jones (1990) states that, “Now daily life is affected by computing” (p. 26). This statement is so true because in today’s culture technology is everywhere and used everyday. Take a look around, I bet you could spot at least 10 people using some type of technology. Right now I am currently sitting in LLC’s Dux Bistro and everyone has either their cellphone or laptop out but that could be just because I am on campus at a college. Our society/culture lives in a time where almost anything could be done through a computer or some sort of technology. I mean, think about it we are currently taking a college course completely online. I remember when I was little and surfing the web was so difficult because there was only dial-up Internet. Now days I could load and look at over 20 different websites in the time it took to load and look at one website while using dial-up. Overtime, all products of technology has been tested, used, criticized, and re-vamped into what it is today. With that, could you imagine living in today’s society but still having to use dial-up Internet? Life and keeping up with anything would just be impossible. The development of technology obviously does help with culture maintenance and change, like Jones explains in the reading.

Reference

Evolution of Technology Module. (n.d.). Evolution of Technology: Overview. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://voyagesthroughtime.org/technology/index.html

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

In this unit’s assigned reading, Jones talks about the development of technology. She explains that technology aids in the maintenance and change of culture. There is one excerpt that I want to talk about that Jones states in the reading:  

“As time passes the original users develop familiarity and facility. New users bring additional assumptions and considerations of form, content, material, technique, meaning and purpose. However, some traces of the origins and practices remain in these forms, which consequently contribute to both cultural maintenance and change. Cultural patterns are affected in proportion to the spread in the use of these forms.” (1990)

This excerpt really caught my eye because even though Jones is talking about technology, this could be applied to other ideas such as fashion, food, and art. Culture itself includes all of these ideas and more. I believe that in general as time goes on, everything evolves into better counterparts of its original self. Also in time as these products develop and change they gain more users. The original and new users criticism intertwine to help create better versions of the product. The development of all products helps to maintain and change the culture that we live in. When looking back at the past, everything, not only technology, has come such a long way. Technology however has developed the most, we are now surrounded by technology in our everyday lives whereas in the past technology was hard to come by.

Spirituality is something I’m not too familiar with but it is something that I would say is quite similar to the idea of a soul. There is no doubt that everyone has their own spirit/soul. Both a spirit and soul cannot be seen nor controlled, however an individual can do things in order to connect with it.

For example, Grey introduces the ideas of chakras in this unit’s reading. There are seven chakra’s going down the center of the  body and Grey states that these chakra’s are supposed to “mediate the energies of the auric bodies that surround and interpenetrate the physical body” (2001). Each chakra describes a different psychological worldview that goes from a material level to a spiritual level. The seven chakra, also known as the “crown chakra”, is the goal of yoga – the union with God (Grey 2001). This is the union of the highest spiritual source which means that an individual’s entire being is unified; which includes physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

Another way that artist’s use spirituality is to see. In this unit’s reading, Grey also talks about Saint Bonaventure’s three eyes of knowing:

• the eye of flesh sees the “outer” realm of material objects
• the eye of reason sees symbolically to draw distinctions and make conceptual relationships
• the mystic eye of contemplation which is able to see luminous transcendental realms

Grey states that, “artists need to be able to see on each level in order to bring technical beauty, archetypal beauty, and spiritual beauty to their work” (2001). Artist may use these three eyes in order to build their artwork from a muse or evaluate and understand another artist’s artwork. This was very interesting and obviously the use of the three eyes of knowing is not exclusive to only artists. I believe that all viewers of art should utilize the three eyes of knowing in order to evaluate and understand works of art, just like artists do. Maybe if more people knew how to use the three eyes of knowing, then more people will be able to appreciate art in general. I feel as if art is a very complex subject. There are many artworks that people look at and just think “What is this? What was the artist thinking?” – they just don’t connect with the piece and don’t understand the underlying meaning that the artist was trying to convey to the viewer.

References:

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

1.     How do you define “spirituality”?

The idea of spirituality, to me, is something I automatically link with the topic of “soul”. Everyone has a soul, or we are led to believe that everyone does. It’s just one of those topics that will always be unclear because we can’t see or control it. However, you may access your spirit. In the reading, Grey states that “Inspiration means access to spirit. Spirit brings vision to the artist via the imagination, the multidimensional media center of our minds” (2001). I would argue that the ideas of soul and spirit are either one, the same, or intertwined because “Third, and only in the deepest art, a condition of the soul is revealed, one’s heart is opened, and spiritual insight is transmitted to the eye of contemplation” (Grey 2001).

2.     Does spirituality differ from religion?

I believe that there are some differences between spirituality and religion, but on some levels they do intertwine. Religion is the belief in a high power. There are many different religions in the world, majority but not all believe in God. In the unit reading Grey states that, “The opening of the crown chakra is the goal of yoga, union with God” (2001) – this is an example of how spirituality intertwines with the ideas of religion. Chakras are believed to “mediate the energies of the auric bodies that surround and interpenetrate the physical body” (Grey 2001) – these chakras are a widely believed in by people all over the world, in order to better connect with your spirit. Grey also talks about spirituality using the three eyes of knowing which include the eye of reason, the eye of flesh, and the mystic eye of contemplation.

3.     How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity, to me, is one of those ideas that have no real definition. The definition of creativity may be different to everyone due to how they look at the idea of creativity itself. Personally, I believe that creativity arises/prospers within an individual. It’s the ability to use your imagination & experiences in order to create something. This something may be anything from an object to an idea. Remember in middle school or high school when you had an assignment and your teacher tells you to use your creativity? The process of creativity takes place in your mind.

4.     What is the source of creativity?

Before this unit, I would say that creativity arises/prospers within an individual. Even though this is still true, the idea of creativity is much more than that. In this weeks reading, Grey explains that “First, artists see their subject, which inspires them to create” (2001). With this statement, I questioned whether the artist’s mind or the object that evokes the artist’s creativity to start going is the “source” of creativity. One could debate that both could be considered as a source of creativity. The process that creativity goes through takes place within the artist’s mind but the creativity is usually triggered by some type of object that they see.

I guess I would say that there are three types of people when it comes to horror films; there are those who hate watching horror films, those who don’t mind watching horror films, and those who enjoy watching horror films. Personally, I’m not a fan of horror films and out of my 20 years of life, I would say that I’ve watched maybe about 10 horror films. I definitely believe in spirits, ghosts, and just all things paranormal therefore I try not to watch any films that contain any of these topics. Even though horror films aren’t only exclusive to the paranormal “world”, I don’t enjoy being scared at all but that’s just me. I am not alone though, in fact, horror films tend to gross far less money than other mainstream genres (Evan 2012). With that said, horror films are still around which means that there are people who enjoy watching horror films and I never understood why, until now.

In the article, Why do we watch scary movies the author includes quotes from Stephen King whom is a very infamous for writing award winning horror books as well as suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. One of the quotes that caught my eye stated that, “We are drawn to things that stimulate our emotions and particularly stimulate them without any adverse consequences to us” (Evans 2012). This made me understand possibly why people like horror films. Some people, not like me, are very curious about the paranormal realm and things that society leads us to believe aren’t true. Horror films allows people to get their emotions and curiosity about horrific things stimulated without actually having to experience them in real life. This is similar to an idea that Carroll had talked about in this unit’s reading. Carroll stated that, “Thus, we are attracted to, and many of us seek out, horror fictions of this sort despite that fact that they provoke disgust, because that is required for the pleasure involved in engaging our curiosity in the unknown and it into the processes of revelation, ratiocination, etc.” (2002). This really made sense to me because as human beings we are naturally curious about things we do not know. For example, if someone knows something that you don’t know, like a secret, it is likely that you will be curious to what it is that you don’t know.

Another thing that I’d like to touch base on is that everyone is unique and handles their emotions differently. Not everyone is going to be a “scaredy-cat” like me; some people may enjoy the experience of emotions that horror films give them. In this unit’s reading Carroll explains that there are pleasures that may arise from watching horror films (2002). Which is similar to an idea that Evan’s had quoted from Norman Holland that said, “A movie is just like any experience. It may or may not have any positive effect at all or any effect at all” (2012). I guess, it really just depends on the viewer whether they receive pleasure from watching horror films or not. I receive pleasure from watching genres like comedy, action, or romantic dramas.

These pleasures that we get from watching movies arise from the aesthetic qualities within the films, and every genre has them. In the book, The Horror Sensorium Ndalianis states “recognize the diverse nature of that experience from the sensory reactions and impulses to perceptions that activate cognitive processes of understanding and interpretation” (2012). These reactions that we get from watching any type of films are results from the cognitive processes that we use to understand and interpret the movies aesthetic qualities. For example, some of the aesthetic qualities that we covered this week include diegetic sound, non-diegetic sound, and mise-en-scene. Diegetic sound are sounds within the film, where the source of the sound is visible in the frame. This may include anything from character’s dialogue to sounds given off by objects. Non-diegetic sounds are sounds where the source of the sound in either not visible within the frame or not implied within the present action of the film. Some examples of non-diegetic sound that Ndalianis talked about in her book include the ominous background music that every horror film contains to set the mood of the scene, those creepy sound effects that the director’s add to scenes for dramatic effect in hopes of scaring the audience, and it could just be the narrator’s commentary that explains important information that may hold the plot together (2012). Moreover, mise-en-scene is things behind the scene, aspects that most people overlook. This may include lighting, framing, production, or actor’s performance. These all contribute to create the aesthetic reaction we get from watching films. It’s very interesting to believe that we can go through or get all these reactions through just sight. Ndalinani explains that, “our perception of onscreen kinetics has the potential to give way to a ‘type of kinesthetics’ that activates the senses and creates for the ‘viewer’ an offscreen response to the onscreen space” (2012).

References

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.

Evans, Whitney, (Oct. 25 2012). Why do we watch scary movies?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765613770/Why-do-we-watch-scary-movies.html. [Last Accessed May 6, 2014].

Ndalianis, A. (2012). The Horror Sensorium: Media and the Senses. Retrieved May 9, 2014, from http://reader.eblib.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/(S(gq4l4k5lufrahxxe5oyqh5qq))/Reader.aspx?p=1034991&o=1338&u=ScbbvwZ%2fU0nhOxo25VSQ1A%3d%3d&t=1399663404&h=C98CD1E12EBE3E846CCB55FACD972A8D198573D3&s=23115803&ut=4509&pg=1&r=img&c=872&pat=n&cms=2#

After watching the assigned Buffy the vampire slayer video, I noticed that there were a lot of examples of mise en scene, diegetic sound, as well as non-diegetic sound. Although there were multiple examples of non-diegetic sounds the scene that I would like to talk about is when the strange creature places and opens the odd wooden box on the table, inside a house at night while everyone was sleeping. Soon after the box was opened and everyone’s “voice” was leaving his or her bodies, odd background music with whispering voices started to play. The purpose of this music is to set the mood that something bad is about to happen. This background music is an example of non-diegetic sound because it’s source is not visible on the screen nor is it present in the action. I believe that the non-diegetic background music and whispering voice definitely contributed to the aesthetic of horror for the episode because it was during a crucial part of the story because it leads to the plot of the story.

Moreover, an example of diegetic sound that I want to talk about is when Buffy and her friends are all together at Giles’s house watching the news on their town. This is an example of diegetic sound because the source of the sound is visible in the screen. I choose this scene because it clearly shows that only everyone in their town has lost his or her voice, whereas others outside of the town still hold the ability to speak. I would say that this contributes to the aesthetic of horror and overall story line because it shows that the epidemic is only happening within their own town and the news caster stated that, “no one can go in or out until the syndrome is identified or the symptoms disappear” – which means that no one outside of the town can help them.

There multiple examples of mise en scene that I want to talk about because the episode was crawling with examples, of course. The first example is the lighting of the episode. Although the lighting is nice and bright during the day, most of the episode took place at night where it was dark. This contributes to the aesthetic of horror because it gives off a scary unknown feeling. This is very common in all horror films. The next example are the costumes that the “gentlemen” wore for their parts, this helped to create an unknown creature for the story. Without the costumes there wouldn’t be any unknown creatures and then it wouldn’t be a horror.

Personally I chose to always be at least decent looking whenever I go out in public. When it comes to dressing myself, I am really just all over the place because I don’t only stick to one type of style. Sometimes I like to dress casual and wear jeans with a top and sometimes I feel like dressing up and put on a full face of make-up. A good example of showing that I have a very versatile style is through my footwear because I have a wide variety which includes things like pairs of Jordans, heels, vans, flats, etc. This is how I choose to dress myself and everyone has their own style and can choose to dress however they want.

A lot of what I believe in or value was taught to me by my family, especially my mom. My mom always told me to be somewhat presentable in public because it reflects on you, of course. I know that sometimes you just want to run to the store but are too lazy to get ready. The reason my mom tells me to always look presentable is because you never know who you are going to meet or what’s going to happen while you’re out. For example, my first job was working as a sales associate at Hollister and they way I got the job was by just shopping in the store on a random day. On that day, I was shopping with my mom and the manager walked up to me and offered the job because she liked the way I looked. Being presentable doesn’t mean always looking your best but as long as you look put together then you’re good. I mean, the day I got hired I wasn’t dressed up and I had little makeup on.

Like I said, I make the choices I make because that’s just how I was raised. These beliefs and values were distilled into me since I was a little girl. I’m very family oriented and people say I’m just like my mother but it’s definitely true. My mom is my hero and she basically taught me everything I know, there are sometimes that I catch myself saying the exact words that she would say. With that being said, I wouldn’t say that my values or beliefs have changed very much over the years. I still carry those that were taught to me when I was growing up. Over the years as I grew up, I guess you could say that some of my values and beliefs have evolved but not very much has changed. Isn’t that what’s supposed to happen when you grow up? When you’re little you learn everything from your family and surroundings but as you grow up, you become your own person and morph your values into your own.

There are some core beliefs and values that my family follows that show in the way we dress. I’m not too sure why but my family likes to live by sayings. For example, one saying that my family follows other than the ones I’ve already mentioned is “there’s a time to work and a time to play”. Although this saying is usually associated with behavior, it can also deal with the way we dress or present ourselves. This is because different ways of dressing or styles are appropriate for different occasions. Of course you wouldn’t dress like you’re going clubbing, to school right? Dressing like you’re going to the club would fall into the “play time” category whereas going to school would fall under the “work time” category and therefore this clashes. Same for if you were dressed casually like you’re going to school, to the club.

I grew up in Hawaii and I now go to school in Oregon at the University of Oregon and to be honest, they are completely different places. It is obvious that everyone will have their own beliefs and values based on their family and how they grew up. Because my peer community would be the students around me, it is safe to conclude that everyone believes or values different things just by looking at the variety of people that attend our school. I would honestly say that because here at the University of Oregon has his or her own style. It is really hard for me to infer a person’s values or beliefs based on how they are dressed because if they are anything like me, they could have a versatile style making it hard to determine their values or beliefs because they are always dressed differently. One thing that I could conclude about my peer communities values and beliefs would be that we all value education and success because we’re all here for a reason right? We all want to graduate, maybe go on to some type of higher education in hopes of landing a great paying careers that allows up to live the lives that we’ve always dreamed.

Although I try not to judge the way others dress around me, I am only human and it does happen sometimes but I make it a thing in my life to not judge anyone because I wouldn’t want anyone to judge me even though people probably do. There’s a very common saying that my mom never failed to tell me which was, “Treat others the way you want to be treated”. This is one of the many sayings that I live my life by. There have been a couple incidences where people around me have been judged and bullied and I saw how it hurt their self-esteem and later affected how they interact with people around them. I guess this could count as one of my life experiences that affected my values and beliefs as I grew up.