Archive of ‘Assignment’ category
My first impression of these paintaing is little scary. I don’t know why but somehow I just feel it is really strange especially their facial expression and the body postures. Before I came to United States, I could say I no very vew knowledge about western history and art; even now, 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. Thus, I spent a lot of time doing research, at least trying my best to understand civic improvement and civic Bbeautification. Now it becomes enjoyable.
In terms of civic improvement, I assume that the Runquist murals are somthing that improves public space which is already exsists. Civic improvement also goes along with the idea of civic beatutification. The murals in Runquist make an urbrainzed space more pleasant and leasing. The spaces are utilizing their public space in ways they never thought before. This is the typical example of how public space is combined with public art.
Other than these two criteria, I also did some research about the civic identity. This is another trait that the Runquist murals added to U of O. They are depicitive of what our school stand for by showing the value through painting. Thus, these murals are more well rounded and higher educated as human being (since we are no.1 college in OR). The Runquist morals also issues the diversity in both murals because there are the lack of gender and race in the pictures with both male and femle, and people in different colors.
In general, it is my firts time to closely “attach” this kind of form of art and I thought it is really interesting and worthy to dig more. Right now, the role of public art in today’s cities are to add pleasure and aesthetics to an ordinarily dull and boring space. For example,dancing in the street is definately a form of public art and is one of the more innovative ways that city planners and artists can come together and express their creativity.
spirituality vs religion
The term “spirituality” looks difficult for me both in chinese and english for me, personally because I am a person who do not really have very strong sense of art. Hnoestly, I do not know how to answer this question correctly.
In my mind, spirituality is always linked with religion; however, after reading through lots of articles, I realized that they might be very different. Spirituality comes deep from whithin someone and it is actually found in every living creatures even though it may look different for each individuals. It is a way to make sense of the world or sociery arround me as well as understanding my own position or role played in the world. Simply, spirituality is a way for me to have my own understanding of myself.
On the side of religion, I think that religions are often the same for certain groups of people and those people look for guidance and understanding in religion and at church services. In spirituality, I think that guidance and understanding comes from within oneself and it is not necessary to gather amongst others to practice it; it is practiced at all times in life.
creativity
Creativity is the way how you think of an idea such as art and brainstorming. I think the main source of for creativity is your spirituality.I think spirituality is someone’s ability to find understanding with themselves so that they are able to have a strong sense of how the world look like. Same thing happens for creativity. I create a new idea or thought, one must have an open perspective. This open perspective can then lead to inspiration, and therefore creativity.
The main thesis in the article “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” suggestd that “…the origins and practices of computer graphics from 1945 to the present are examined to reveal cultural patterns embedded in their material and symbolic form” (Jones, 1990). Besides, the author also examined how these origins and practices exist in current art and technology. She claimed that it is the premise of the paper that old cultural patterns within art and technology do not die.
Additionally, I read an article by Martin Courtney called “Thin on the ground”, which examined advancements in desktop computers. He discussed the new trend for professionals, “bring your own device” (BYOD), and the fact that having mobility in a computer is easier than ever (Courtney, 2013, p.4). Looking at both the article by Jones and Courtney, it is apparent how far computer technology has come in the last 75 years and it is clear that advancements are going to only continue from here.
Personally, I belive that people relies more and more on computer technology not only it is more accurate and efficient but also safer and faster. The technology allows human to examine our own work, further more, it can do much more than human such as stimulating. In terms of art, people also relies more on technology to create more vivid image and visual effect such as CG in the movie. Thus, being aware of the development in technology is critical for human civilization.
According to the speech “Laws that chock creativity” presented by Larry, he indicated that the development and commercialization of telecommunications pointed out the problem called “Read-only culture”. The RO culture is “one where creativity is consumed but the consumer is not a creator.” Before internet has been created, the creation of culture was owned by those with proverbial vocal cords of “the mass silence”. After internet has been created, “its opprtunity to revive the read-write culture”. I strongly agree with this opinion, because it is the fact that many resouces are undering a commercial monopoly by some corporations before internet is created. During that time, people are perived of their crativity and it is not good for developing human culture. Once internet has been created, people are ablt to find more resources, which makes the new idea “remix”. However, I doubt whether these resources are qualified enought because as we all know, lots of information showing on the internet are junk and not valuable at all. People should be aware of the credibitly of online information.
First of all, this is my 5th time watching this TED video talking about the game World of Warcraft teaches player the sense of saving world (etc.) and everytime I watch I laught out lond. Many of my friends are big fans of WOW; they spend not only money but also huge amount of time on this game. I have to say I am also a member of game kingdom but somtimes I just can’ believe why people will spend like ten thousand dollors on a game in order to get a pet or weapon.
During the video, Jan first stated in her speech that the best way to solve the world’s problem was for gamers to game more and raise their weekly time to 21 billion hours a week. I was like “what the hell are you talking about”. As a gamer, I do agree with some point what she was sayting, I think that most important thing she said in her presentatrion is the fact that the need for world problem solving game is as important as raising the weekly gaming hours. The idea of people immersing themselves for people in online gaming and working in a online environment is a useful starter for solving problem. Personally, I think when people feel they have nothing to lose in their real life, they often go beyond working towards their goal. Their feeling of efficacy is grater and they think they has the ability and right to do anything they want to. As Jane claimed in the video, their strong social fabric, and constant blissful producitivity and centered feeling or “epic meaning” as being the gamer’s strongest characteristic and impressive qualities. But I’m wondering if anyone in our discussion plays online games at all and what they think about this presentation? Is World of Warcraft really such a welcoming and hardworking environment?
My personal answer is No.
In the article “Art as Spiritual Practice” wirtten by Grey infer an idea that what people actually see is different from what actually look. In his articale, grey aruged that “there is a vast difference between looking and seeing – a difference which is fundamental to the artist experience”. This argument indicates that different people may have difference perspective when they are looking at one thing, and this is because of different culture background and personal experience. Even more, the author also states that “in order to experience art fully viewers must go through a mini ego death by placing themselves in the insired mind of the airtst, who themselves are out of their minds and only acting as channels of creative spirit”. This is sayting that if poeple want to finish some artwork, they should not only looking at something but they should have a deep unsertanding and analysis while observe. However, I think everyone have their own understanding and style to create idea to approach creativity. Because people have different experiences, and there should not be a fixed standard to measure whether a person’s creativity is good or not. But in general, deeper observation is still a good way to help people to improve their creativity.
My philosophy of fashion (maybe adornment) is that clothe or clothing is made the the purpose of keeping people warm. Personally I don’t have many strong sense of belief of fashion or adornment like other girls do; what I wear is just a simple T-shirt or jeans in spring and summer, and a sweater or coat in fall and winter. But I do concern about the color. I am a superstitious person, and I believe luck is one the most important component of success. Thus when I have to take any exams, I usually will wear yellow or white clothe because these two colors usually give me good luck. Some people may say that this is just a psychological effort which make you feel calm and bring you confidence. I will not deny that, but I think this is the why how “superstition” works.
Other than color, I do concern about the style of wearing and it is because my parents really care about what to wear and how to choose what to wear based on what kind of events you are attending to. And I think this “theory” works for everyone in the world. For example, when you participate in an interview, probably most of the people will wear suits or formal business suits instead of casual clothe. It shows the attitude that you do concern about this event seriously and show the respect of interviewer siting in from of you. More typical example could be wearing more delight color dress when you attend a wedding party, wearing a academic dress when you attend graduation ceremony…As I said before, choose what to wear is showing the attitude of how you treat a certain event. If you do not care at all, probably you will never spend more than 10 min standing in front of you closet and asking the same question again and again worrying “what should I wear tomorrow?”.
Lastly, I believe that the sense of fashion and adornment will be easily affect my community and the environment you are living. For example, Chinese love to buy and wear luxury (even students) but Americans usually prefer more casual clothe rather than price and brand. The interesting thing is those chinese students who prefer to communicate and make friends with native speakers usually wear like americans do; but those chinese students who love to stick with people who has the same nationality are buying more and more expensive or luxury goods for many reason. I don’t want judge anyone and I don’t like to say those chinese students who like wearing luxury is rating with each other, but there is a phenomenon commonly happening even on campus.
Respond to: Horror Movies: Why People Love Them
Leslie Fink, November 06, 2009, http://www.livescience.com/7949-horror-movies-people-love.html
In this short report written by Fink, professor Jeffrey Goldstein from University of Utrecht told him that “People go to horror films because they want to be frightened or they wouldn’t do it twice”. The reason why people are enjoying watching horror is because of adrenaline rush, being distracted from mundane life, vicariously thumbing our noses at social norms, and enjoying a voyeuristic glimpse of the horrific from a safe distance. Besides that, New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux also suggested during the interview saying “fear is not merely a biological reaction, but an emotion derived from both deep-seeded evolutionary factors as well as newly learned cautions”. Somehow, human imagination will relate the scene happened in the movie with real life, which can strongly affect human’s emotion.
Respond to: The Enjoyment Theory of Horror: A Response to Carroll
Gaut, B. (1995), The British Journal of Aesthetics, vol 35
In this article, Berys addresses an opinion about why people enjoy watching horror films.The main argument claimed in this article is the idea of ‘impossible beings’ which first mentioned in Carroll’s article. The idea of ‘impossible beings’ or ‘monsters’ as Carroll mention, is used to link the structure of horror movie and people’s attraction. However, Gaut has different opinion, he states that ‘monsters’ is not a standard for people to “understood in the sense of impossible beings…”. He believes that the attraction to horror comes from the fascination of evil and our inherent connection with it between the realms of fiction and everyday life. Gaut gives us interesting way to approaching the answer which different from Carroll. Ultimately, both authors admit that curiosity is the catalyst behind our fascination towards horror.
Firstly, I have to say I am not a big fan of horror movie. The only reason I will try to watch a horror movie is because my friends ask me to watch it together and there should be more than 5 people have the same requirement at the same time. Personally, I feel scared when I am watching the horror movie is because it is so close to the real life (like Fink mentioned in his report). After I turn off the TV, I can’t help myself imaging and suspecting that same thing in the movie could happen in my apartment like some non-human creature is watching me in the dark. This makes me terrified. In the meantime, I don’t know how to enjoy the adrenaline rush and I hate anything that jump onto the screen in extremely sudden. Most importantly, the sound effect performing in the horror movies are super scary but if you turn off the sound, it will make the auditor feel safer (at least it works for me). Those sharp sound and voice will make people feel really uncomfortable and exaggerate the feeling to create certain atmosphere. However, even though I personally don’t like this kind of movie, but we have to say more scared the auditors are, more successful the horror movie is. That is the way how they are entertaining people.
The article I read is called “Occupational Aesthetics: How Trade School Students Learn to Cook” written by Gary Alan Fine from his book “The Cultural Study of Work by Douglass A Harper”. In the article, Gary discussed a lots about the difference between expressive work and learning of a craft. He uses cooking as an example which can fit into each category. Gary inferred that when people are learning to cook, they are taught particular aesthetic such as how trench bread receives four slits across the top prior to baking. After than, he explains the importance of visual appearance, tastes and the texture of cooking. He also claims that cooking allows people to enhance their potential of creativity, such as how to improve the visual look and a dish, the taste of flavor and the texture. According to Gary, food is not a form of a traditional art, but it does share many qualities and similarities of an art.
In the article, Gary also describes many detail about how a chefs a trained to make a food. Chefs are usually required to CREATE their dishes appealing to different tasts and lloks. In Gary’s words, it is called “lowest common denominator”, which is saying that a chef must create something that everyone is desired to eat. However, he also argues that “this creativity does not go far enough to consider food a fine art” because “an artist must only create something that will be sold one, but in order to be successful, a chef must create dishes that will be ordered over and over again”.
Somehow I am kind disagree with the opinion that Gary mentioned in his article. I believe that the potential of human creativity does not have limits no matter what type of art you are working with. Traditionally, restaurants are required to update their menu monthly or yearly; in order to achieve that, chefs must create dishes that cutomers may never see it before. This requires a high sense of creativity. However, according to Gray’s opinion, “chefs hardly ever receive praise for inventing a new dish even though the creative processes are the same”.
Source:
Harper, Douglass A., and Fine Gary Allan. The Cultural Study of Work. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2003.
Since I have 3 midterm this week, I spent all my time in library during the weekend and this Monday and Tuesday. There are only few week left for the summer term, and everyone on campus seems extremely busy. Here is what I found by observing people around me.
The first person I observed in library was a female student sitting in front of computer and kept stretching her arms and body. Since it is almost the end of the summer term, I assume that she might feel really exhausted because there are so many tests and assignment needs to be due. Besides that, she was carrying a huge bag with lots of paper and textbooks thus I believe she might be really busy and had lots of review work to do.
The second person I observed was a Asian male student in a Korean food restaurant. He was wearing a hat, with little carrying staff (probably only a wallet and his cell phone) and dressed in a casual style shirts. Since I was really stressful during that time, I assume that he may not take any classes during the summer term or maybe just finished one or more exams, which allows himself to take a break from any tense schedules. Additionally, he looked pretty relaxed when he was talking to the owner of the restaurant in their native language.
The last person I observed was a old man in library. He was standing in from of the computer and check the Bb site for a long time. He was also carrying a huge school bag which looked huge and heavy for me. He was wearing a shirt which has lots of check patterns, but in dark and cold color. I assume that he might be a college student as well even though he looked old because he was checking the website and reading the books in front of the computer; sometimes he did take notes and his facial expression seemed really stressful and serious.
In general, during these 2 weeks, more and more students on campus are wearing relatively darker color clothe than usual. I think it is because of the stress of study. Once I have read an article about how the choice and sense of fashion (including color and style) reflect people’s emotion. It seems that people who are stressful are more likely to choose darker color UNCONSCIOUSLY.. Personally I have never thought about this point but this assignment reminded me this argument and I think it is interesting to point it out and share it with more people.