Jun
2015
Artifact 8: Public Art
Objectives:
- Learn about public funding for the Arts
- Examine public art’s role in capturing history and place-making
- Explore the relationship of cultural values to civic, dialogue, beautification and identity
Original Post:
Before this assignment I did not know these murals existed in the library. After going to see these pieces in person, it made me think of how intricate people’s idea on the evolution of art and science are. What I noticed was that in majority of the panels for both murals, the figures that had the darker skin were the ones placed not facing the front and bending over performing work. I am not sure if the artist intended on this coincidence but from my perspective I am not fond of this portrayal. This makes me feel that from the beginning, people saw the darker skinned individuals as the ones performing the labor. I think the period in time the murals were created has an influence on the way the mural was created. Ellen Dissanayake wrote a piece addressing the different eras that experienced different waves of art influences during their time period. She mentions the idea that “authors may not have meant the same thing by the word ‘art’ as we do” (pg. 16). With this in mind, perhaps the artist was trying to experiment with different shadings and show different cultures coming together, which developed the growing idea of art. The world’s view on art has definitely grown in various directions all very influential to today’s art.
In one of the videos we watched in class, Dennis Dutton provides an excellent argument on the idea of how and why we develop feelings towards art pieces. He brings up the idea of stemming our innate ability to asses art and develop an opinion on it from our ancestors before us, the homosapien. I have to disagree with his argument as I think I develop my thoughts and ideas from my environment and experiences.
What I also noticed in the murals were the lack of women represented in the evolution of both art and sciences. In the early days, women were not allowed to perform duties that were seen as a man’s job. Perhaps this is why both of these murals depict men performing most of the scholarly and innovative works. The two artists were also both male, which may be the reason for the heavy male influence seen in the murals.
These two murals are great examples of the early idea of public art. The early program to exhibit and increase the public’s knowledge about public art was the WPA, or the Works Progress Administration. Today’s public art has sky rocketed since 1935. We can see works here at the University of Oregon as a public display of eye pleasing art pieces. I am fond of the idea of increasing the public’s knowledge on art as most individuals stray away from appreciating and understanding the meaning of art. In the Development of the Arts mural, this exemplifies the growing tree of art work and knowledge. If there were a mural painted today, the tree would be enormous and almost infinite. In the article by Erika Doss, she talks about how the view and essence of public art have shifted. She talks about how public memorial grounds such as the African Burial Ground has become a national landmark for both knowledge and pleasure (pg. 3-4). It is monuments like this that allow for the growth in knowledge about other cultures and worldly historic events.
I think it is almost imperative to increase the amount of public art and the push the limits on what can be displayed. As time progresses artists are always finding new and innovative ways to portray art in ways that are unimaginable. These two murals represent an interpretation of the beginning of this expanding art culture as well as standing as a basis for the origin of all existing art today.
Below I have attached my idea of the evolution of art. I started with the cave paintings from the early stone age. The next image represents the art from the old Greek era. Following that is the famous Mona Lisa. The next two images represent modern art sculptures that I think show how intricate the art pieces have evolved into.
Reflection:
This past weekend I had gone home to Hawai’i to visit my family and to attend my sister’s graduation. As this Public Art’s assignment was due at the end of the week, I had remembered that at my high school, there is a statue erected in honor of the great Sun Yat-Sen, the former and renown president of China who also attended the same high school as me. As I was reviewing my original assignment for submission, I remembered the final portfolio in which we had to turn in at the end of this class. I am choosing to talk about this monument of Sun as he stands proudly in three different areas on our campus today. He is known as one of the greatest students to graduate from our small high school on the little island of Oahu and lead one of the largest industrial countries in the world.
Sun’s statue stands as a public art figure and also as many different qualities the students at ‘Iolani should retain. The statue stands tall in the middle of a courtyard, near the track and field, and as well as the administration building. I am not sure why the school chose these particular places for his memorial statues to be placed. When I attended high school, these statues did not exist until it was about my 9th or 10th grade of school. When I first saw them, I thought to myself how crazy is that this man roam the same halls and sit in the same chairs as I and end up leading one of the largest countries in the world. From this I definitely have taken to heart what it means to be a true ‘Iolani Raider (our high school mascot). From the reading we had done in class, the idea of values is very important to me as I know it shapes me into the person I am today. “Drawing upon [our] accumulated sense experience” (pg. 16) is what allows us to understand what kind of person we want to be as we experience events in which we like, we dislike, and what we are confused about. I also think it’s interesting and a valid point to make that “human beings are not primarily driven by genetically determined instincts but are rather free to make their own choices: (pg. 7). I fully agree with the author stating this as we do have the choice to make our own choices. I do see an issue with this however if you lived in a place with stricter rules than most, but here in America we do have the freedom to make our own choices. I think we build on our character and personalities as we always learn from our mistakes.
The idea of public funding for public art showcases is a great idea. I think there should be a greater influence on public funding to expand the installation of artist’s works. When there are statues, monuments, or abstract pieces on the street or in the park, I feel it gives the area a bit of life and personality. I feel it allows artist’s to attempt to influence it’s viewers and society as a whole on their ideas or thoughts through art.
Future Goals:
For the future, I intend to take the characteristics instilled in Sun Yat-Sen and the ambition to succeed in anything I do. If he could graduate from our small school and down right rule a country, I believe that anything you put your mind to will be close to an automatic success. Yes there will be trial and error, but how will you learn without making mistakes? I hope there is a greater movement for implementing public art as I definitely appreciate a little abstract or colorful monument or painting to take my mind off all this school work. People should learn to appreciate public art’s movement to influence and educate the society on a different way to express feelings and emotions via art media.
Bibliography:
ArtLex on the Stone Age. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2015, fromhttp://www.artlex.com/ArtLex/s/stoneage.html
Contemporary art. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2015, fromhttps://giannadispenza.wordpress.com/tag/contemporary-art/
Devens, A. (2015, May 4). Artifact 2: Life Values | AAD 250. Retrieved June 7, 2015, fromhttps://blogs.uoregon.edu/baconlover1/2015/05/04/artifact-2-life-values/
Doss, E. (2006, October). Public art controversy: Cultural expression and civic debate. Retrieved fromhttp://www.americansforthearts.org/pdf/networks/pan/doss_controversy.pdf
Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his views about Hawaiian sovereignty. (n.d.). Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://www.angelfire.com/big09/sunyatsen.html
Dutton, D. (n.d.). Denis Dutton: A Darwinian theory of beauty. Retrieved June 1, 2015, fromhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PktUzdnBqWI
Modern Art Sculpture. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://kuaibozz.com/modern-art-sculpture/
Packet #22. Renaissance Art. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2015, fromhttp://artdiscovery.info/rotations/rotation-1/packet-22/
A Response to the Runquist Murals. (n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2015, fromhttp://blogs.uoregon.edu/runquistmurals/
(n.d.). Retrieved June 7, 2015, from http://blog.livepsychicsnetwork.com/history/the-whos-who-in-greek-mythology/
Table of Contents:
Artifact 5: Personal Adornment
Artifact 6: Creative Spirituality