Downtown Presbyterian Church

Site: The church is located on a corner of two streets downtown where the outside fits in to its surroundings. Walking into the church, the surroundings are totally different. I didn’t expect to see all the different colors on the walls. It is a totally different feel than the exterior.

Space:When you walk into the church, the building appears huge because of the pillars on the walls which draw your eyes up. They sky painted on the ceiling gives a feeling of openness. The building has a sense of heaviness from all the colors on the wall.

Light: the light in the church was dimmed creating a warm and soothing environment, which is good for a church. The stained glass windows brought in much of the light which was a soft natural light.

Decoration: the church was extremely decorated, mainly from the paintings on the walls. The paintings strongly represent ancient Egypt’s style. It makes you feel like you really are in a ancient Egyptian temple. 

Materials: the materials in the church were mainly wood from the benches and alter. The wood brought a sense of warmth into the church. The wall’s material was smooth and elegant.

Color: the walls were very colorful.  They stand out from the rest of the environment because of the distinct colors. I learned that the blue represents the Nile River and the yellow represents the sand. Color was also brought into the room with the colorful stained glass windows.

Rhythm:rhythm is created from the repeated pillars, windows and benches. It is also created from the repeated colors on the walls.

Distinctive Features: The things that I noticed and liked was the modernization creating a new version of Egypt in this church. I thought it was an interesting combination of elements with the walls and the wooden elements. I really liked the old chairs located on the balcony. They had this great texture and old time feel. The heart of the church was the alter. It had great detail mimicking the pillars on the walls. The focal point for me was the front pillars. They immediately grab your attention from the bright colors then pull your eyes up and around the room.

The Link to Degas

This article is about recently finding Degas sculptures that are nearly a century old.  No one knows where they came from. There were 74 Degas plasters found in the found in a warehouse. I completely agree with the author when he states, “it was the equivalent of opening King Tut’s tomb in Egypt or uncovering the terracotta warriors in China.”  The artist’s close friend Paul-Albert Bartholomé is assumed to have made these plasters but they are not completely sure. Examination will tell the authentication of these sculptures.  It kind of relates back to we  don’t know who the artist are of some of the works in back in ancient times just like we think that these are Degas Sculptures but there is not 100 percent proof that it is.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/The-link-to-Degas/20307 

Man and Woman

This image really stuck out to me because I really enjoy the geometric shapes that create these figures.  These were created around 4500 BCE.  They are in good condition for how old the figures are. Because the artist used cylinders to create the body, it really adds a lot of volume to the sculpture. It has a lot of depth and form.

There is a level of sophistication in the tools they use to carve these figures.  They positions that these figures are in are sitting which could maybe show what they were sitting on during that time. There is also a sort of thoughtfulness or weariness look on their faces which could represent the mood of the artist.

Collage!

When thinking about a collage that represents me, I thought of a tree representing my life.  The roots symbolize my foundation. It represents my family and friends and things that ground me. The branches represent my experiences and everything else that makes up who I am. They symbolize the places I have traveled and the hobbies that I enjoy.

Decisions:  I chose to use a tree in the center to represent my life. Every picture that I chose has some sort of meaning behind it. None of them are there to just take up space. I tried to pick elements that represent all of who I am.

Color: The main color I tried to use is green because it is one of my favorite colors.

Light:  The tree is very saturated and opaque because I wanted that to be the first thing you saw. Then the colors of the images in the front are dark and as you move up the colors are lighter. I tried to create a horizon line with the lighter images against the darker ones.

Texture: There is implied texture in the big tree’s leaves and branches. The images themselves also create a smooth texture.  There is a bumpy texture created with the images layered on top of each other.

Volume: The anchor has volume because of the shading.

Line: There is a horizontal axis created by the implied horizon lines. There are also vertical lines from the images lined next to each other. The horizontal line draws your eye to the middle then down to the images of people, which then directs you back up to the top of the collage.

Space:  The tree creates the foreground as well as some of the major images in the front. The light images and the images behind the tree create the background.  There is depth in the one picture of the street.

Scale: The tree is large to symbolize my life. The next largest picture is of my parents representing they are the most important people in my life.  My grandparents and brother are the next largest showing their importance and then my friends come next.

Symbolism: The tree symbolizing my life. The anchor symbolizes the sorority that I am in. The Memphis skyline and bridge represent the place I was born and grew up.

The life sign represents one of my favorite quotes, “Live the life you love, love the life you live.”

You: There are pictures of my art that I have created. The bike represents my passion for bike riding. The tree also represents the love I have for being outdoors. There are picture of the beach which my family and I go every year. There are pictures of New Orleans and Jamaica, where I attended mission trips because I have a passion for helping others.

Friends and Family: I included images of my parents, my brother, and my grandparents. They are grouped together to the left of the collage.  In the right corner I have my friends.  I carefully selected people that I felt were the closet and meant the most to me.

Your Town, community, school:  The Memphis bridge and skyline represent my hometown.  The images of my friends from college remind me of being in Nashville and the experiences I have had in school.

Your Country:  I tried selecting images of art that was created in America

The World Today: I looked at this as my world today, which basically means to me all the images put together equals my world

Art: Art means to me as sometimes an escape from reality and a way to express you in a creative way.  I think art fits into the world today as a way to tell how and what happened in the past.

History: Without history, I would not know my background of where I came from.  History broadens my view of the why things are the way they are.  With learning history, it allows us to correct history’s mistakes and prevent them from happening again.  Art relates to history in the sense that it explains what happened in the past using images instead of words.  In my collage the way I showed history was through the famous artwork that I selected. There is a photo by Dorothea Lange, which was during the great depression. Another photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt shows the celebration after the war. There are images by Kandinsky, Sonia Delaunay, Andy Warhol, and Van Gogh.  I also put images of local artist. There is Danielle Duer from Nashville and Frank D. Robinson Jr. from Memphis.  All these pictures represent different styles and time of art from the past.

Every Picture Tells a Story

Every Picture Tells a Story is a about the family who love to collect and display art. Beverly Keel and Ronnie Steine have collected many pieces of art that has filled house.  Because the family had collected and displayed so much art that their house started to appear as an art museum. They have art hanging in every room and hallways. The article shares the family’s passion for art. They both very much enjoy folk art even supporting local Nashville artist.  The article also shares many of the other artists whose work they have collected overtime. There gatherings of art can not be called just a collection. I agree with Steine when he states, “clearly, ‘collection’ may not be the right word because it implies a cohesion or theme that doesn’t exist. It’s all very eclectic and a tad odd.” He describes their compilation of art perfectly.  Relating this back to the class, from looking in the pictures that were with the article, bold colors were active in a lot of their painting. The family really enjoyed folk art.   This article can be related to the Van Gogh’s painting of Starry Night in the sense that he painted because he loved to do it.  Keel and Steine both collect art because they love to do so. They both also like collecting art because different pieces of art bring out different emotions. This can be related to the Parthenon in that looking at different pictures of the same building can bring out different emotions.

 http://nashvillearts.com/2010/06/28/every-picture-tells-a-story/

Starry Night

This painting can be viewed in two different ways. One way the viewers may see this is as a nice night with the town underneath the sky. The other way is the tree represents some sort of flame and the mountains in the background can represent a tidal wave that is going to come over the town.  The two different views offer a positive and a negative view of the painting. Starry Night has lots of texture because of the thick application of paint. It also has lots of movement as seen through the curved lines especially in the sky.  Van Gogh also took time in choosing the blue, green and yellow colors when he decided to paint this picture.  The colors he uses are very saturated but overall the colors have a dull affect.

The way that Van Gogh paints, using thick layers of paint, shows that he really did not have any form of academic training compared to others artist during his time period.  Although he had no academic training, he had a level of expertise.  This style of painting shows us a beginning to a new age.  Looking at the lines and marks in the painting, they appear to be vibrating and agitated.  From this, we can think that the painter may have had an agitated mental state. Van Gogh was agitated state because he was so poor that he could barely afford to buy food. Another thing to look at is why he painted Starry Night. He painted this for himself and no one commissioned him to do so.  During this time period art started to become a calling and that was what it was for Van Gogh.