It took me a while to really look into these paintings and figure out the message behind them. I still don’t even think I truly understand the history behind them or the reasoning but it challenged me to dig deep into them. However, I have never seen these paintings before or heard of them so I am appreciated that I have a little knowledge on them. Although, I really did enjoy looking at these two murals because I thought they were both beautiful and showed a good story to different generations of life. One of the murals represents the history of art and the other one represents the history of science. It was interesting to see how the paintings reflect one another. What I noticed from the murals was the tree. The tree represented a solid ground to indicate human growth because you see it spread out through the murals and the humans in the painting are growing as well. I think the painting does a great job of showing human history and its growth over the years. I also felt a little bit of controversy when I was looking at the paintings because you can witness how the art mural has progressed in emotion as the science one has progressed with technology. When looking back to this weeks reading by Doss, it mentioned controversy and stated, “public art is, by definition, the product of public feedback.” (Doss p. 6) When really digging into the painting you see that sense of growth because their expresses seem to change as it gets higher and higher on the painting. I also did notice when looking at the painting most of the characters lost side of their emotions and they had plain faces. I would love to know why that was and if there is something significant to that. I noticed that my view to the painting is different from others and it goes with my understanding of development overtime.
The Runquist morals did address issues of diversity in both murals because I noticed the lack of gender and race in the painting. I would love to be able to look at the painting now and recognize the growth that has come within our society. I don’t think the painting would look the same because of the changes in diversity for the better. Doss mentioned, “It’s difficult to imagine any kind of contemporary public art that might adequately address the multifaceted interests of today’s diverse America.” (Doss p. 5) I think that this quote from the reading is very powerful because it shows that we can learn something from the murals. Not everyone gets the same message away from the painting because we all have our own perspectives on life, but knowing the background history of the Runquist murals helps steer that understanding to a different direction. I think the paintings do a great job of reminding society how we have overcome inequality and improved diversity in our community, but the job is still not done. We have grown as a country, but there is room for so much more growth! I do think that these paintings represent a great deal of differences and variety. “Today’s public art diversity speaks to American diversity – and to the increasing number of American’s who want to see their cultural interests represented in the public sphere” (Doss p.2).” I think that Oregon lacks a lot of diversity and being able to have a painting that reminds us of the growth and change is an opportunity that we must not pass up. I appreciate what the murals brought and the messages it was displaying because it raises conversations and a strong debate. I think it brought up great issues within our culture and thinking about the social progress that has occurred over the years.
