World of Art

For so many times that I passed the entrance of the library or stood at the stairwells, I never paid much attention on the Runquist Murals, just quickly looked through and left. This week’s reading and assignment actually provide a fantastic opportunity for me to truly see those murals and receive a better understanding for the two murals as well as the development process of arts and sciences.

When I first carefully look at both murals, the first thing came into my mind was the basic frame of the painting, the tree. For both paintings, the huge tree acted as the main structures which divided people into different stages. The different stages show the development process of arts and sciences in different period of time. For both paintings, the bottom of the tree shows early beginning of human societies and the top of the tree shows the flourish development after several stages in the middle. For “Development of the Arts”, the bottom stages use cave and stone to show that in the earliest period, people create paintings on cave and stone to express the aesthetics value of arts. On the middle stages, those music instruments and Egyptian architecture shows the expansion of the forms of arts. On the top stages, those books and presentations shows arts expand to education and modern areas. Although the painting did not have space to show every single development of arts, I still can clearly feel the expansion and improvement of arts in different period.  For “Development of the Sciences”, the wood and stone on the bottom show that how human use wood and stone as their primary resources to create fire and weapons. The wheels and clock on the middle stages show the development of science technology which push human society to move forward. The microscope and modern buildings on the top stages show the development of science in current world. When I look at both of the paintings, I can clearly see the changes from different time period from early stone age to modern period. I think Runquist brothers want to show the audience of view of development history of how the world of arts and science had been developed until today.

The reading from this week “Public Art Controversy: Cultural Expression and Civic Debate” enhance my understand about public art and I can relate this reading to Runquist Murals. In the reading, Doss pointed out that public art can shape and enhance the development and identity of human society. Doss stated “As an instrument of public conversation, public art can become a catalyst for civic and national revitalization. Often because it is controversial, public art can play a central role in shaping and directing community identity. ” (Doss, 10) Public arts can express the development of human society just as Runquist Murals show the development of arts and sciences. As an audience, I can feel and experience the whole development process of our society from viewing those public arts.

Also, when I look at Runquist Murals, I was thinking about why those paintings as public art can be put in a library or other public areas such as shopping malls. From the reading, Doss actually discuss the placemaking of public arts. Doss stated that “Miwon Kwon explains, public art has been charged with generating place-bound identity and lending a sense of distinction and authenticity to the nation’s ever more homogenous public spaces.” (Doss, 5) Doss also stated the critics and historians argue that “a spectre of placelessness characterizes many of today’s built environments; shopping malls, airports, office parks, and housing developments are so similar that is hard to distinguish one from the other.”(Doss, 5) I agree with Doss’ solution on this problem that public art can be a useful way to distinguish those places. Just like Runquist Murals, every university has library, but only the Knight library has the original Runquist Murals.

In addition, the reading also answer a question for me that why is public art so controversial. Doss stated that “In general public art controversy relates to the essentially conversational nature of the art itself…It centers on dialogue on the expressed interests and issues of particular groups and that dialogue can be contentious.” (Doss, 6) Doss pointed out the a natural reason that why public art is controversial that the dialogue in the public art can be contentious. As an example of public art, Runquist Murals might also experienced controversy such as displaying places. Public art will show to the public which means the number of audiences can be huge and the feedbacks from audiences is hard to predict.

After reading Doss’s article and viewing Runquist Murals, I believe that public art is a very good form to express the unique identities of different places and in the mean of time when the audience are viewing those public arts, they are actually experiencing the inner characteristics of the public arts as well as the places.

Creativity, Freedom, Culture, Passion, Uniqueness, Spirituality, Nature, Religious, History, Individuality

After reading the article “Comparing Cultures. Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy” by Lessig, I was very interested about RW culture. According to the reading, Lessig stated “It touches social life differently. It gives the audience something more. Or better, it asks something more of the audience. It is offered as a draft. It invites a response.”(Lessig, 85) In my opinion, the biggest difference between RO culture and RW culture is that RW culture focus more on the audience side and RO culture focus on the author side. Lessig used teaching experience as an example to explain how RW culture work in educational area and Lessig also mentioned that especially for law school, RW culture was necessary for students to argue with each other and practice what they learned. (Lessig, 86) When I read Lessig’s teaching experience related to RW culture, I was thinking about the benefits that RW culture can produce to a student like me. I think that RW culture can improve class participation and stimulate students to actually defense on what they believed. On this way, I think students can establish a better understanding about course material because they participate in it. In addition, I think professors would like RW culture in classrooms because RW culture can create a active and interesting class atmosphere which can help students to enhance their learning experience.

In today’s culture, we can see many illustration of Jones’ thesis that the new forms are reflecting with old forms. For example, the technology of automobiles has been developed over centuries. Many years ago, the structures and types of automobiles were simple. And there were only a few group of people can owns cars and know how to drive cars. Today, cars become one of the most important transportation tools in people’s daily life and there are many different structures or types of cars for people to choose. In addition, the art form related to cars has also been developed that people will put beautiful pictures on the body of vehicles or make the outlook of vehicles looks like artifacts. The development of automobiles represents the development of technology and changes of people’s interests and demands. However, all those different cars are improved from the old forms of cars. Engines, tires, or wheels are still important components of cars, just like before.

In the article, “The Arts, Science and Technology Fuse Together for Mutual Benefit”, by David Porter, the author explained how arts, science and technology work together and produce mutual benefits. David stated in the article that science, technology and arts cannot exist without others and all of them can work in perfect harmony and push artistic boundaries. (David, 1) In the article, the author used many examples to show how old forms of movie and fiction had been developed and how those new forms related to the old forms. The idea of this article can support Jones’ thesis that new forms are still frequently engaged with old forms.

Bibliography:

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

Porter, David (2013). The Arts, Science and Technology Fuse Together for Mutual Benefits. Retrieved from http://suite101.com/a/the-arts-science-and-technology-fuse-together-for-mutual-benefit-a266618

In the reading “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins” by Jones, he explained the development process of computer graphics through out of the history and he explained how art combined with computer graphics to create a new forms of art This reading enhanced my understanding about art related to computer technology. There are two points in the reading producing special interests for me. First, in the reading, Jones stated “Lanier believes that humanly created artifacts pale beside the reality they imitate. Berman argues that the same effect occurs at the theoretical, professional and practical levels of computer usage.” (Jones, 58) When I read this paragraph, I started to compare art in reality with art in an abstract way. I believe art in reality will produce a direct and physically view for the audiences, but art in an abstract way can stimulate the imagination for the audiences to expand their different understanding and viewpoints. Second, Jones stated that “Contemporary research continues to be viewed as separate from daily life, although its economic and conceptual ties to industry.” (Jones, 58) Jones explained a fact that contemporary technical and scientific research is still viewed as separate from people’s daily life. I understand this fact, but I think that the distance between contemporary research with daily life will be reduced in the future. Indeed, contemporary technical and scientific research is abstract and many people may be not familiar with those words. But trough the development of computer technology, those abstract objects can be imagined and viewed by using computer graphics. Just like the development of art, I think more people with interests in this field will have the chance and tools to access contemporary research. In addition, the combination of art and computer graphics will also be enhanced to lead a better form of combination, a better understanding and more interests from people.

1. How do you define “spirituality”?

Spirituality to me is something that can differ myself with other people. I think different people will have different definition of spirituality. But related to my own understanding about spirituality, it is a term that can describe the internal activity of my mind. Spirituality actually can link my behaviors with my internal mind which can produce a resource to guide my behaviors as well as to track the reasons of my behaviors. I think it is very hard to produce a general definition for spirituality. However, each person can define spirituality not that hard by explore his or her psychological activities and inner values.

      2. Does spirituality differ from religion?

I think spirituality will act at a similar way compared with religion, especially for individuals. I believe spirituality and religion actually engaged with each other in many fields. Especially for those people who are religious, they values and the way to think and solve problems will be highly associated with their beliefs, spirituality and religion. Also, spirituality sometimes can strengthen the value of religion of each individual. I think the biggest difference between spirituality and religion is that spirituality will have bigger influence on guiding individuals and religion can sometimes guide a large group of people even the whole society.

       3. How do you define “creativity”?

Creativity to me is a type of activities or abilities that produce new and valuable things. Creativity refers to both tangible and intangible creations. I believe creativity is essential in many especially in electronic products industry. Related to art, creativity is also very important during the production stage. Artists want to create their own ways to deliver their different messages to the audiences and they have to engaged with their creativity. In addition, creativity sometimes can define as the ability to break the traditional barriers and expand into new areas.

       4.What is the source of creativity?

I think the source of creativity can be found whenever and wherever. The source can be anything both tangible and intangible such as a physical objects, an idea, a message, an experience, or even a word of mouth. I believe there are enough source of creativity out there but lack of ability and attention to identify and find those sources act as the major problems in the creation process. In the reading, Grey explained “the creative process” in the process of creating art works. I think in the inspiration stage is the place that creativity engage the most. During this stage, artists have to identify the source of creativity and produce something that they believe will inspire themselves as well as the audiences. I think the useful way to help people to identify those source of creativity is to be aware of many little things in the daily life that related to the purpose of creation, because those things could transfer to the sources of creativity or help people to produce some creative ideas.

After reading “The Mission of Art” written by Grey, I came with several similar thoughts with Grey and also a question about the creative process. Grey first raised a question regarding what people see related to how people see things. According to Grey, even people see the same object, different people may have different feelings. (Grey, 72) Then, Grey provided his own example about a car accident and describe how this experience affect his view of other things. He stated “Such an encounter with the gripping potential of death and loss of loved ones cuts through many layers of egoic chatter all at once, and appreciation of life and its sweet preciousness overwhelms you.” (Grey, 72) I agree with Grey opinion that sometime there is a difference between what people look with what people actually see. For example, one day, I was walking on the street and looked at a body sculpture on the side of street. When I walked by that sculpture, I thought it was an art work for people to view. However, when I actually see it closely, the sculpture was a real person that he painted himself to act as a sculpture.

Additionally Grey pointed out a theory called “The Creative Process”. Related to his own experience, Grey explained how art was created during each of those stages. Grey stated “Not all artists will recognize each phase in their work, and each phase takes its own time, widely varying from work to work.” (Grey, 76) I have a question regarding the inspiration during The Creative Process. Inspiration means a flash of one’s own unique solution to the problem. (Grey, 75) Grey also stated that “Every artist has his or her own unique process of inspiration.” (Grey, 80) I understand that during inspiration process, the artists will use their creative minds and ideas to deliver a special vision of their solutions the problems. However, since different people may hold different views toward the same objects, how the artists can think about something that are both creative and meaningful to most of the audiences. I believe inspiration stage is the stage that produce many distinctive ideas from different artists. However, just like Grey said, “Inspiration is beyond reason,” (Grey, 82) when the artists create the original ideas of their artworks such as paintings, I guess the hardest thing is to translate their creative ideas into those actual images.

First Article:

Edge Staff (2006). “How to Make Fear”. Retrieved November 8th, 2013, from http://www.edge-online.com/features/how-make-fear/

This article mainly focused on how to make fear. It pointed out ten ideas related to making fear especially in videos or Hallowing seasons. This article used examples from Silent Hill and other horror movies or games to illustrate why people would feel fear and how to build such situations to enhance the horror feelings from the audiences.

Both the reading and this article describe the relationship between fear and curiosity. In the reading, Carroll stated that “Thus, to a large extent, the horror story is driven explicitly by curiosity. It engages its audience by being involved in processes of disclosure, discovery, proof, explanation hypothesis, and confirmation.” (Carroll, 279) Carroll pointed out that curiosity was one of the main factors to drive fear and curiosity actually sometimes replace fear or enhance fear. In the article, it also explained that how curiosity and people’s anticipation would produce impacts on making fear. The article mentioned that in order to make fear, people need to create sense of curiosity and anticipation of fear, which means that when people noticed something strange happen, they would be more willing to find out what happen and they also will produce anticipation of fear. (Edge staff, 1) At this moment, people would be easier to feel fear even they have the awareness of coming fear.

The article also mentioned a point of making fear related to put people into a isolated and unfamiliar situation. In the reading, Carroll described that “However, the horror fiction is a special variation on this general narrative motivation, because it has at the center of it something which is given as in principle unknowable.” (Carroll, 281) Carroll explained how unknown things will create feelings of horror to the audiences. In the article, it also talked about creating sense of isolation and unknown situation will enhance the feelings of fear. The article and reading explained at different approaches on how to create fear, but both of them indicated the effects from curiosity and unknown toward fear.

Second Article:

Dharmbir Rai Sharma, “Fear of the Unknown – or of the Known?”. Retrieved November 8th, 2013, from http://www.trans4mind.com/counterpoint/index-meditation-eastern/sharma5.shtml

This article mainly talks about the relationship between fear and unknown or known things. The article explained why in psychological area, many people believe fear can be created by unknown things. Also, the article pointed out that fear could be also produced by known things. The article concluded that fear could be a combination effects of both unknown and known things and the most effective way to overcome fear is to make the mind quiet and analyze the sequence of events leading to the fear. (Sharma)

Compared with the reading, Carroll also mentioned that fear could be produced by unknown things. Carroll stated that “Of course, what it means to say that the horrific beings is unknown here is that it is not accommodated by standing conceptual schemes.” (Carroll, 283) Carroll also stated that horrific beings are predictably objects of loathing and revulsion is a function of the ways they violate our classificatory scheme. (Carroll, 283) Carroll pointed out that horrific beings are sometimes produced by unknown things, because unknown things usually cannot accommodate by people’s standing conceptual schemes. In the article, it also explained that unknown things would produce fear. It stated that “From a psychological perspective there is a mutual affinity between fear and darkness. Darkness implies ignorance in the sense that we cannot see anything.” (Sharma) People are unknown of what happen in the darkness, so they are fear in the darkness. Both the article and the reading mentioned that unknown things or feelings can enhance fear. However, the article also pointed out that known things sometimes can also produce fear. The author used fear and death as an example. All people know death, but most of people will fear about death. The author pointed out that people do not fear about unknown of death, but fear about loss of known of death. (Sharma) The reading established a good approach on how people fear during horror films and the article actually emphasize the effects toward fear from unknown and known things.

Diegetic sound:

One example of deigetic sound is at 02:25 of the Buffy episode. After the girl kissed the guy, the girl is taken to another strange place. And this time there is a deigetic sound coming from a little girl that she is singing. This is an example of diegetic sound because it is the voice of a character. The source of the sound is visible on the screen which is the little girl. I choose this song because it was the first moment in the video that I feel scared. This example does contribute to the aesthetic of horror in the movie because the voice coming from the a little girl is strange especially when the place suddenly changed from a classroom with many students to a classroom with no one else. After changing the place, there are only the girl and the guy on the screen. Suddenly there is voice coming out which will make the audience feel strange and scared.

Non-diegetic sound:

One example of non-diegetic sound is 1:51 of the Buffy episode. When the girl is kissing the guys, the light suddenly disappear into dark. The sound suddenly changed from romantic music to scared wind voice. The wind voice is an example of non-diegetic sound, because it is a sound effect which is added for the dramatic effect. I choose this example because when the sound comes out, my feeling changes quickly from a romantic feeling to a scared feeling. And I know some terrible things will happen very soon. This example does contribute to the aesthetic horror of the movie because it created a scared feeling and mood for the audiences.

Mise-en-scene:

One example of mise-en-scene is 24:09 in the Buffy episode. At a night, when a girl standing in front of the window and check what happen outside. Suddenly a monster’s face show out outside of the window and the angle of the screen is focusing on the monster’s entire face. This is an example of mise-en-scene because it focuses on what can be seen in the picture. I choose this example because when I see those monsters coming out to the town and I have the feeling of the happening terrible things. I am preparing to be scared, but I still shout out when I see that white and terrible face. This example does contribute to the aesthetic of horror because it enhances the feeling of horror and makes that monster even more scared.

According to my own values toward dressing, I believe different dressing will produce different feeling to me and other people. In my daily life, I will choose the style of dressing based on the places where I go or the events that I attend. When I go to school, my purpose of dressing is to make a comfortable feeling for myself. I will usually wear a shirt on the top and jeans on the bottom. Also, I will wear a hat and a pair of sunglasses during hot summer and a scarf and a pair of gloves during cold winter. In addition, most of the time of school days, I will not use make up. My belief behind my school dressing is that I believe a comfortable and leisure style of dressing will help me to be more concentrated on my study. Also, I think my dressing will let other students and professor feel comfortable. Sometimes, I will wear a watch on the right hand. In my value, I believe be on time is very important, no matter I attend a class or a meeting. I think go to class or meeting on time will produce positive attitude for myself and other people which will lead a more effective work. There will be a special time that I wear differently than usual which is presentation time. Every term, if I will make a presentation to the entire class, I will dress more professional like a office lady. I will wear black suit and a pair of high-heeled shoes. Also, I will use a little bit makeup. I think dress more professionally would show my attitude toward my presentation to other students and the professor. Also dressing professionally will provide a close-to-real situation for my presentation that I can have a real practice.

My dressing actually changed over time. The main reason for those changes is that I keep adjust my value all the time. I am international student and the culture and educational system are different in the U.S. The first thing I learnt after I arrived this country was how to adjust everything that I used to feel comfortable to match the new living environment. Almost everything in my daily needed to be change to allow myself study and live better in this new country such as culture, language, food, weather and the way of communication. Of course, one of the most biggest change is my dressing. In my high school in China, I was required to wear school uniforms all the time and I never thought about dress up and use makeup. However, after arrive the U.S, I can wear what I want to make myself feel comfortable. To other people, this change may just related to change daily clothes. But to my value, my attitude toward study and life actually changed that I started to study and live by myself not with my parents.

The values and beliefs of my family do affect my dressing and body adornment a lot, especially when I was small. During my high school year, my parents did not allow to have a long hair. According to the value of my family, they believed that long hair showed free and informal feeling which was not respectful in schools. Both my parents are professors in the university, my mother never allow her hair to become too long. Also, my parents never wear fashion style dress and in their value, professors must produce a positive images to the students that education is serious and both professors and students cannot wear what they want in campus.

In my peer community, I think the core beliefs and values are friendly, academicals, and career focused. There are many students living in my community and all of them want to be friendly to other people and want to be successful in their education and career life. Some of them, especially those business students, will dress in a fashion style which looks more formal. They want other people to feel their confidence and believe they can study and work very well. There are also some professors living in my community. They will also dress very professionally such as wearing a suit and other more formal clothes. I think the dress and body adornment reflect the value of my community and also reflect the value of different people in my community.

My value today actually become a combination which including value from my family, my education, my experience, my friends, and my living environment. I believe the core value of dressing will not change. However, I will keep making adjustments for my dressing to fit different situation that allow my dress and body adornment show my positive attitude toward work and life.