The Runquist murals represent the development of arts and science throughout time. For my project I wanted to recreate the murals to combine art and science and to include a modern version of them. I used photoshop to add in TVs, iPads, headphones, and turntables to the original Development of the Arts Runquist mural. Doing this represents the combination of arts and science in our time. Nowadays we use the technology we have to listen to, look at, and create art. When the Runquist murals were created there was a separation between the arts and sciences, so that is why the artists made two different murals for them. I believe that now art and science go hand in hand, so that is why I chose to combine the two for my recreation. I also chose to add paints to the murals in order to represent a modern art form that is often seen in our time.

Creative
Natural
Open-minded
Thought-provoking
Inspiring
Stimulating
Blank Canvas
Careful
Precise
Crazy

The thesis of the reading assignment for this week “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” by Beverley Jones is the discussion of the effects of the combination of the computer and art, which when put together creates computer graphics as an art form. She also focuses her essay on how much technology has changed over the years and what sorts of advances in the technological department that we have made. She states that although we have been moving forward with technology, all the new technology that we do have is influenced by and based off of the old stuff. We are making progress with technology by using the knowledge that we have from previous models and equipment.

Jones gives some examples of combing technology and art in her essay when she discusses “the Second West Coast computer Faire held in 1978” (Jones 23). One example she gave was about using “small computer systems…be used by individuals to create unique furniture, fabrics and prints suited to their special requirements” (Jones 23). This creation was the beginning of customized merchandise. By creating this, consumers are able to now decide exactly what it is that they want to put on their merchandise. They no longer have to buy something that they know all other people in the world have access to purchasing. People are able to pick out any pattern, picture, or phrase and have it printed on whatever they want.

An example of combing art and technology in our world today is the use of Facebook. Many users today put a lot of time and effort into creating a social media account that has the perfect amount of edited pictures and whitey phrases on it. This is also connected with the heavy use of photoshop in our society. Lots of people cannot just take a photo and be content with it anymore, they have to go through the many steps on photoshop in order to create a photo that often does not even resemble what the original image looked like. By doing this many people give off the idea that they are something that they are really not. Social media with the combination of photoshop often ends up leading to people creating the most perfect looking image of themselves.

Sources

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

What jumped out to me most in this weeks reading, “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins”, was the portion about special effects and computer generated characters in movies. We are able to alter the looks of someone so significantly with special effects that they are not even identifiable as themselves. An example of this is the character Gollum from the movie Lord of the Rings. The actor for Gollum wore a suit the entire time during acting that allowed for him to be able to be heavily altered with the use of computers and special effects. Lord of the Rings was first released in 2001 and the special effects then were amazing and very realistic. This example and the reading assignment made me really think about what is going to come next for computer graphics? It seems that we are so incredibly advanced already with computer graphics that it seems almost impossible for them to get better. I wonder about what the next big move will be with computer-generated art?

In the reading “The Mission of Art” by Alex Grey he discussed the artistic process that he uses to create his pieces. He talked about how he had a hard time making a piece that expressed his spirituality. He wanted to be able to demonstration the energy that he feels when having a spiritual moment. What I found most interesting about his experience is that his idea for this piece came to him in a dream. It was astonishing that his dream was so powerful that he was able to remember it vividly enough to create a work of art out of it. Dreaming is such a crazy and somewhat unknown experience, so I like that he was able to create art from it. I always have a hard time remembering my dreams, so I am impressed that he was able to remember well enough to create something from it. Dreaming definitely has a spiritual aspect to it because our minds take us to a place that we normally do not go in our daily life. We are able to think about and experience things that we don’t even truly understand. Spirituality has to do with coming to terms with the unknown and embracing that we do not always have answers to things. While dreaming the experiences that one has are almost completely out of their control.

1. When I hear the word spirituality my mind automatically thinks about being relaxed. When I think of a spiritual person, I imagine someone who is very mellow and down to earth. Spirituality has to do with being in tune with the world that we live in and accepting the unknown as a part of it. Many spiritual people believe that this life is not the only one we will live in. Spirituality is about believing in something that one has never actually experienced.

2. Spirituality and religion have both similarities and differences. They are the same in that they both require believing in something that is unknown. However, I believe that religion has more structure to the unknown, and that a religious person may not agree with me calling it unknown. Many religions follow a bible, which has set aspects of the specific religion in it and set rules about what to do and what not to do. This would mean that a religious person believes they know about what I believe to be the unknown of religion. They have an expectation for what I believe to be unknown because of those who have come before them in their religion. Religions come with all kinds of stories and tales that people live by.

3. Creativity is about thinking for oneself and coming up with new and interesting ideas. In order to be creative, a person needs to be able to generate new and different ideas from things that they have experienced in their life. Creativity does not require a completely original idea, it could be something that one comes up with based off of something they have seen before. However, something that is a completely original idea is far more creative to me.

4. The main source of creativity is ones brain. Our brain is where we generate all of our ideas, meaning that it is the place where we are able to come up with creative ideas. Another source of creativity is things that we experience throughout our life. Most people come up with things based off of other things that they have experienced. Another source of creativity is two people working together. The power of two brains can work to bounce ideas off of one another in order to come up with creative ideas that may not have been produced with only one person.

In the article that I found, Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear? by Allegra Ringo, she does a question and answer with Dr. Margee Kerr about what attracts some brains to horror. First they talk about how it is not a choice whether or not someone enjoys fear, it comes from our brain. Dopamine is released in our brains during scary situations and those that enjoy this dopamine experience like being in fear. Another reason she examined was that people are able to enjoy fear when they know they are in safe place. For example, when watching a movie one knows that what they are watching is not actually going to happen to them. They are able to experience the same fear as the people in the movie but do not have to endure the mental or physical pain that those in the movie are undergoing.

In the second article I read, Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies by Sharon Begley, Begley discusses different reasons for why people are attracted to horror. Like Ringo suggested, one reason for watching a horror film is because it is a safe way to be scared, “But the scare we crave—and this applies to haunted houses and spooky corn mazes no less than to horror movies—is a safe one” (Begley). One is able to experience fear without have to actually endure anything. In Why Horror by Noel Carroll she discusses the curiosity that goes along with enjoying fear, how people are intrigued by horror films because they want to know about and be in fear of the seemingly impossible situations that are depicted in scary films. I believe that this has to do with the safe zone that is discussed in both Ringo and Begley’s articles. The safe zone and the curiosity go hand in hand. People are attracted and curious about horror films because they know that what is going to happen in the movie, will most likely never happen to them in real life.

Through horror films people are able to experience the unknown. We are curious human beings who often question life and death. Through horror films we are able to get a hypothesis of what may happen after death. The films are able to satisfy a craving for what may happen after one dies. Horror movies also allow us to experience an adrenaline high that we would only want to experience second hand. We get insight into a situation that will never actually happen to us.

I am someone who enjoys horror films and TV shows. I have recently started watching the TV series American Horror Story. I believe that I am intrigued by this show because I am able to see and experience a situation that would never happen to me. I enjoy the creativity that goes into shows like this because without them my brain would never know to think about things like that. Without horror films and shows we would never get to experience the feelings, excitement, and adrenaline rushes that come from them. They would forever be unknown to us.

Work Cited

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.

Ringo, A. (2013). Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?. The Atlantic. Web. May 11. 2014. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/why-do-some-brains-enjoy-fear/280938/

Begley, S. (2011). Why Our Brains Love Horror Movies. The Daily Beast. Web. May 11. 2014. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/25/why-our-brains-love-horror-movies-fear-catharsis-a-sense-of-doom.html

In the episode of Buffy the vampire slayer we experience diegetic sound during the scene where the fairy tale monsters steal the voices of everyone in town. The voices, which look like different colored mists, fly through the air of the town all the way into a box that the fairy tale ghosts have conjured them to come to. As the voices are flying through the air, they make a sound that resembles breathing, but also sounds like rustling wind. The sound that went along with the flying voices gave off a spooky vibe that had a mysterious essence to it since what was going on was unclear. I chose this scene because it not only had diegetic sound but an aspect of horror as well and they both complimented each other. For the scene to be as frightening as it was, both aspects were required. The sound of the voices went very well with the visual of the voices, the depicted what it would look like if this were to actually happen very well.

In the opening scenes of the episode of Buffy the vampire slayer we can see examples of Mise-en-scene when Buffy is having a dream about kissing the boy she likes, Riley. It starts in a lecture hall, every wooden desk is filled with a student who looks ready to learn with a pencil and notebook. The teacher is standing at the front of the room, she calls on Buffy and Riley to come to the front of the class. Riley and Buffy start kissing, the lighting becomes dark, there is no longer anyone else in the room, and the camera focuses on Buffy and Riley. The dark lighting in the room shows the passion between these two people and makes us believe that they really care about each other by the way that they are holding one another. The disappearance of all the other students in the room shows that Buffy and Riley only want to be with each other, they do not need anyone else around to make them happy besides one another. I chose this scene because I liked that they put such a heavy scene right in the beginning of the episode. It was also intriguing because you do not know that it is Buffy’s dream until 5 minutes in.

In the end of Buffy’s dream there is non-diegetic sound when Buffy is walking through the hallways of her school. She hears the voice of a little girl singing and there is spooky music playing in the background but cannot seem to find the source of it. The lighting in the hallway gives a dramatic affect that goes along with the young girl singing and the ghostly background music. Both the music and the young girls voice give off a mysterious vibe in this scene because they are not shown on the screen. I chose this scene because I found the little girl’s singing was very intriguing. In horror films I find having children as scary characters to be one of the most frightening things that can happen.

I believe that the way I dress best reflects the mood that I am in. On days that I show up in running shorts and a t-shirt, this reflects my mood because from this outfit an observer would most likely assume that I was tired and feeling lazy when I got dressed that morning. There are also days where I will put a little more effort into my outfit for school or work and this most often comes from the mood I was in when I woke up, which on a day like this would mean that I was not tired when I woke up. I find myself wearing comfortable clothes most of the time. I prefer to wear clothes that make me feel like I am lounging all day. I believe that clothes can say a lot about a person and their mood based on what they chose to wear and how they present themselves. Although I prefer to be as comfortable as possible all the time I do think that there is a time and place for everything. I believe that one should dress based on the occasion and make sure that their outfit is not too dressed up or too dressed down. For instance if you are going out to dinner I do not think that it is appropriate to show up in sweatpants. However, this is just my personal opinion and others may feel that it is okay to do.

My personal beliefs about body adornment is that when someone is getting a tattoo or a piercing they should take into consideration how it will affect them in life and if it will put them at any sort of disadvantages. Although it may not be right, it is a part of our society that one is less likely to get hired for a high-level job if they are covered in tattoos and piercings. I personally do not believe that this is okay and I think that people should try to put judgments based off of body adornment to the side when they are hiring someone, but sadly many people get turned down for jobs based on the amount of tattoos and piercings that they have. It has just become a part of our society, but I do think that over time this judgment may start to change. To this day my mom still tells me that I am not allowed to get a tattoo that cannot be hidden because she does not want me to risk loosing any job opportunities based off of a tattoo. So she was realized when I showed her my tattoo and that it is in a place on my body that can easily be hidden.

I believe that our society feels a bit different about piercings then they do about tattoos. It is more socially accepted to have ones ears pierced then it is to have a visible tattoo. This may be because a standard earring piercing is a lot more subtle and less personal then a tattoo. However, I believe that the majority of society feels the same way about tattoos as they do about piercings on ones face. The likely hood that someone with their lip pierced would get turned down for a job is a lot higher then someone with only their ears pierced.  I have a total of 7 ear piercings and I sometimes wonder if that will negatively affect me later in life. Personally I feel that they will not be a problem, but I could be wrong. I do not really have an idea about what the majority of societies views on having multiple ear piercings are. I made the choice to get multiple ear piercings simply because I like the way they look. I think it is cool that I am able to poke a hole in my ear and wear jewelry in it. Piercings are such an interesting and odd concept to me, but I really enjoy having them.