Perspective

After completing this week's reading I had the wonderful opportunity of teaching a lesson on perspective to my after- school art class kids. The majority had never encountered the term perspective before. The students range from 8th grade down to second, which can make for some very interesting classes! Still, they all really seemed to like this one. I started off by having them make a folded book with a page for each of the six elements of perspective we had discussed in our class the other day. I came up with some simple visual examples on the chalkboard to illustrate them and they really got it. It was pretty cool. I always let them find a way to complete their projects in a manner that both honors the idea of the lesson and maintains their confidence (just as needed for the middle schoolers as for the Littles.) I am looking forward to displaying their perspective pieces and they will be proud to see them up.

movie posters

I was intrigued by the movies that had multiple posters advertising them and how unalike these posters are. Case in point, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

nudes,yesterday and today

I found our visit to the exhibit of drawings of nudes at Reed College's Cooley gallery fascinating. I have never done any drawing of nudes except for a couple images I reproduced from books, so it was interesting to see how this art was evolving during the time span of the collection. I had not known about the taboo on using a female model for life drawing, but it fills in a few gaps in the art history lectures!

I spent quite a while looking at images on the internet having searched "modern nudes" and other similar key words. If I had to make a solitary contrast between the ones we saw at the gallery and the ones I looked at today (and I looked at many), I would say that the gallery collection was largely preoccupied with depicting the nude as an anatomical study. Muscles and bones seemed to be the main focus, overpowering, in many instances, pose. The "modern" nudes seemed far less fixated on bulging muscles and every nuance of the body's construction being showcased. Of course, I did find photos of very sculpted muscular men, but the majority of drawings, etc. did not seem to obsess on muscles. Many of the modern ones employed some level of abstraction or featured partial figures, where as the old masters' work read more like an anatomy text book, striving for "realism" as they understood it. Overall, the many modern nudes I viewed had a softer appearance, both males and females. The artists seemed more concerned with the general effect of the image rather than rendering a painstaking record of the body.

What angle could this manufacturer possibly been going for? The ad tells us we will "get closer to our food" if we use paper towels soaked in lemon water as finger towels. Do they think this will bring us closer to the Earth? to the source of our food? Will it make us more connected to the environment or more Green? More sophisticated? Is its message that eating with our hands is better than eating with utensils? Is it trying to make us believe they are doing their bit for the health of the nation by staving off swine flu by cleansing with finger towels before eating? In my experience, finger towels are a touch of refinement. I cannot imagine someone going to the trouble of preparing finger towels in lemon water without using real cloth. We're not getting more in tune with the environment if we are cutting down trees to make an item used for ten seconds then thrown away. Yes, if you hold your food in your fingers, your fingers are closer to the food than with chop sticks or a fork, but are YOU? I can appreciate the tactile experience of touching food, but I don't think I'm going to race out to buy throw away paper towels in order to do so. I think I'll wash my hands.
How bizarre.

of art and murder

The section in our reading for the weekend about the Stalinist mandate to produce pictorial realism in art as a means to promote nationalism came as a shocker. While we in the USA have had our idealistic and self promoting art work, such as Rosie the Riveter and her genre and Norman Rockwell with the All-American perfect families and lifestyles, I am unaware of any instances where artists were forced underground in order to continue making art in the style they chose, or of artists who bucked the trend to die mysteriously in their studios. Amazing.

changing meanings, text / Image Hunt

I'm still doing a bit of techno- jousting with this blog, so pardon the installment plan for this assignment.

The first image is the "cover page". I had to include it because it was so cute. The three that follow are the different interpretations.

One image is a series of brightly colored "stuff" laid out in blocks. This is actual brain imaging photography and each square apparently represents a particular activity taking place within the brain. This is the high-tech interpretation of the image. This is how we are wired, (or re-wired), how we tick. Though seemingly abstracted, it is the "real" picture of the brain, which itself is a contradiction. The image evokes a sense of awe and mystery at the fascinating organ that controls every aspect of our lives. There is a certain vulnerability to having something so intimate, so much the essence of ourselves, being displayed like a piece of pop art. The image, along with the selected sentence, makes us stop in our tracks and contemplate the amazing and yet unthought of possibilities of science and the human brain.

Another image shows an extremely contented ferret luxuriating in a bed of flowers, eyes closed and seemingly listening to the flowers in lieu of looking at them. To me, this is the literal interpretation of the quotation. It nudges us to consider the ramifications of the scientists' experiments and what they might mean for us.

The image of the Eastern god deluges us with the possibilities of the senses and what it might be like to have them mixed up, or cross-wired as in the experiment. It evokes the notion of being removed from our human experience through meditation or other mindfulness practices. In the image, many heads and many arms are available for sensing, and many objects are present that could stimulate the various senses. While this image may originally be intended as a calm focus, in the context of the quotation, it conjures a cacophony of stimulation.

Text/Image Hunt

"In a series of unusual experiments, scientists have rewired the brains of newborn ferrets so the animals, in a sense, hear things they would normally see"
Reversible Destiny: We Have Decided Not to Die
by Arakawa and Madeleine Gins
Guggenheim Museum






Text Image / Hunt

Text /Image Hunt

"In a series of unusual experiments, scientists have rewired the brains of newborn ferrets so the animals, in a sense hear things they would normally see."

The Persuaders

The segment entitled "Emotional Bonding" on the PBS program "The Persuaders" dished up quite a lot of food for thought. Generally speaking, I watch very little commercial television, therefore I do not see many ads. I do recall seeing the Saturn ads and the Cheerios commercial with the grandmother and baby. I found myself following them with more interest than I would give the average ad, more like watching a story unfold. Both these commercials made me smile the first time I saw them, no doubt, exactly the reaction the ad agencies and manufacturers hoped for. Additionally, while I tend to tune out the majority of commercials, even after the first time seeing these two, I actually gave them my attention, at least on some level. Babies are cute and tend to command attention under any circumstances, so I did not feel silly about watching the Cheerios ad. Furthermore, I thought the relationship between the grandmother and her TV grandchild was very sweet, and it made me a little sad to contrast it to my mother's relationship with my children. The Saturn commercials I watched with a combination of mild amusement (did people really go to the Saturn factory as a vacation destination?) and the sense that "I got it" regarding to their attempt to tap into bygone era values and simpler, more dependable times.

I have noticed the shift in recent years from products being pitched as "new and improved" (the "better, bigger" syndrome mentioned in the clip), to products being positioned as more of a concept, a club, a thing to strive towards. The earliest ads I can remember that did this came well before the 1990's. There are two that stand out in my memory, both are for soda pops. There was the Doctor Pepper ad which asked "I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper, she's a Pepper, Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?" And there is the Coca Cola spot with a bunch of hippies standing in a field swaying and singing "What the world wants today, it's the real thing" to the tune of "I'd like to teach the world to sing." When I was a kid, that Coke ad kept me riveted. How groovy was that, all those people on the top of a hill singing about this life changing, world changing soft drink? Sadly, I was seldom allowed soda pop as a kid. Just think how I might have changed the world if I had been part of the Coke Cult. (tee, hee.)

So, was I duped? Was I sucked in to the cult? I don't drink Coca Cola. I've never had a Saturn. I don't buy Cheerios. Did I pay attention to these commercials? Yes. Would I still smile if I were to see the Cheerios commercial with the grandma and baby? Yes, I would. Did the advertisers waste their dollar on me? Not necessarily. These effective ads have probably influenced my opinion of the products or their company's integrity. Conversely, I've seen commercials that so irritated me that I would never buy their products. Ads can be powerful.

week two

Chock full of symbolism, the beads and bling on Adrian's "wood Cookie" from his time at Outdoor School this week, each represent something special - an achievement, an activity, an aspect of their learning.



"Qigong" painted for my Global Healing capstone class 10 October, 009.

The Obama Bills my son found. I suppose the tiny text on the reverse will reveal their meaning.




You miss a lot when you are not looking.











McCain and Palin [a.k.a. Neal and Ida last Halloween]

attempthing a post for week one

This blogging thing is all new to me. I think I have finally found where to write and post one.

An interestingly time thing happened this week Following our discussion about designing a new dollar bill, my son found a couple of Obama notes someone had left behind. They feature his widely smiling face and are one trillion dollar notes. I would put their image in my blog, but I have no clue how to do that, so I will bring them into class Monday if someone wants to see them.

In regards to the homework of designing a new dollar, my project has swung to a completely new side from the one I thought I would do. When I mentioned the project, family members all gave me their ideas about what it should have, which made me think about things I hadn't before. When I reread the instructions, I decided to take yet a completely different approach, going now in the direction of what I feel our country should stand for. It was an intriguing process and one that opened some lively discussions. My mind map wandered all over the place. Some of the ideas I ultimately selected weren't on it in the beginning. It keeps growing.

Since beginning this class I have been more aware of visual representations in the media, magazines and such. Some of them are quite thought provoking. If I can figure out how to post images, I'll include some I've come across so far.
See you in class.
Ida