Walter Wick Exhibit

I went to the Walter Wick Exhibit at the BYU Museum of Art today. I loved it. To be honest with you, I had never heard of this artist before this summer. I'm glad I have now.

His work is very unique in that he takes simple figures, materials, and objects, rearranges them in a particular way, and then photographs them. The way he organizes his art for the photo creates illusions and a representation of the complex with what is simple. He uses mirrors in most of his illusions. Also, his illusions are created from the angle at which the photo is taken.

The photos look realistic or like a very detailed painting. It was also interesting to see some of the models next to the photos and imagining what was done to create the photo (getting the right lighting and shadows to create the image).

Here is a picture of my son Trevor outside the exhibit.

Class Discussion on Music

In class on Wednesday, we finished discussing the history and elements of music. I've grown up loving music. My mom taught me how to play the piano and I was involved in choir from Middle School through High School. I find myself relieving my frustrations and expressing myself a lot through music. I enjoyed learning about the history of music and then listening to the music from the different eras. I loved the song "Claire de Lune" by Claude Debussy. The original piano piece is beautiful. I find it very interesting how well the composers wrote down and interprated their feelings, emotions, nature, and more. To me, they are geniuses. I will try to learn their music better and appreciate it more.

Modern and Contemporary Theatre

In Monday's class, we were asked to pick a movement in the history of theatre and give a short history of it. I chose Modern and contemporary drama.

The Modern Drama era began as an antirealistic reaction. A group called Avant-garde was form which constituted several factions against the realist movement. The modern movement occurred in the late 19th century with a German opera composer named Richard Wagner. He believed that the responsibility of a playwright or composer was to create myths. He was very good at this. He also wanted to portray the people in the play as real characters that were very much related to the audience. He incorporated all of the parts of drams into his work and put more emphasis on the individual parts. In order to create a feeling of unity among the people in the audience and get them focused on the play at hand, he dimmed the lights before each showing to get the focus on the stage. Wagner also rearranged the seating, sloping the floor so that every spectator could have an equal view of the stage.

Reference: http://litera1no4.tripod.com/dramahistory.html

Pioneer Day Celebrations - Optional Community Event

On Friday, my wife and in-laws went to the Pioneer Day celebrations at Veterans Park in Provo. It was a little hot when we went in the late morning. I did appreciate the tall trees at the park that gave us a lot of shade. At the event, there was a antique car show, a stage with performing acts, food booths, crafts booths, native american traditions, a petting zoo, and more. Most of the workers or volunteers were dressed up in pioneer attire. The park was not crowded, but there was still a good showing of attendees. There were few exhibits and we only stayed for about 1 hour. Here are some pictures I took of the event. Due to the small number of exhibits, our groups got a little bored after a short time. A lot of the same booths that were there were at the 4th of July festivals. It was my first time going to this event and I don't really have a very strong opinion as to whether or not I liked it. I guess it was only mediocre. Here are some pictures I took at the event.

Drama

In class on Wednesday, we began discussion on Drama and Theater. In the reading in preparation for the class, I learned again that drama started in Greece. Most of their plays were trageties while other were satires (humor). The government required that all of the citizens attended the plays. The ampitheatres were always outside.

This tradition continued until now although we are not required by anyone to attend a play. However, I wish that we would all go more often.

We also discussed some of the different stages that are used in plays and musicals. The ones I learned about were the Box Stage and the Arena Stage. I have been to both. I saw a box stage when I saw Phantom of the Opera and Titanic in Seattle. Last April, my wife and I saw Phantom at the Hale Center Theater in Salt Lake City. This venue had an Arena stage. It was much smaller than the box stage, but I enjoyed it. The actors were much closer to the audience which made the play itself more personal.

Modern Dance

In class this week, we began discussing dance. We discussed ballet and then modern dance. I enjoyed learning about the difference and also connections between the two different dance styles.

Ballet has been around for much longer than modern dance. It involved straight lines with the dancers being as tall as possible and then using their arms for expression. The dance also involves several moves ranging from easier to to very difficult. Only a handful of dancers can perform the more difficult moves. The dances are beautiful and full of emotion.

Ballet has also changed from being very formal with restrictive costumes to very free-flowing costumes which has added to the dynamics of ballet. This change came about with the interaction of the modern dance style in the mid 1900s.

Modern dance, in its beginning, was a step in the wrong direction as most people saw back then. It was different and against was has been done for centuries. Modern dance introduced freedom of expression and innovation. It introduced a focus on the torso of the body or the solar plexus instead of the arms and straight line as in ballet. Loose-fitting or free flowing clothes were also introduced. This created a negative view on modern dance in the beginning, but it soon took hold, not only with its own style, but with others including ballet.

I like to watch dancing, especially modern dance. My wife and I have been to see BYU's Ballroom Dance Company perform two times. We are looking forward to watching the the Dance Sport competition at BYU in August.

Manifestos

In class on Wednesday, we read and discussed a couple manifestos. I'm sorry, but I can't remember who had written them. One of them may have been futurists, but I'm not sure.

Some of the things or ideas expressed in the manifestos were pretty out there and extreme. Some made sense while others seemed to never get to the point.

I find it interesting that there are so many different kinds of people with different interests who express their feelings in so many different ways. One of the most symbolic ways if through art. These manifestos seem to me, to be paintings of the groups ideals, but only in words. Maybe that's why some of them don't seem too clear. The people see their opinion in a work of art, but it is hard to describe that in words. When done in words and not painting, sculptures, etc. the entire meaning is not conveyed.

Dada

I apologize in advance if this post ends up being short. Again, I put it off to the last minute.

The discussion in class on Wednesday about Dada was interesting. The artists seem very opinionated and express those opinions very creatively and with a lot of symbolism. The paintings actually remind me of today's political cartoons. The cartoons are almost always portraying an opinion opposite to an idea someone else had. They are speaking out in there own way, with a lot of meaning a feeling behind every work of art.

What is the world without opposing views and opinions. I think that without them, none of us would be anything. Sure, perhaps we may be equal, but in this life, we have the opportunity to learn from others, to learn from others' points of view.

Waterboys - Film Screening

Last night, I went to Muse Music to watch "Waterboys". The picture is one of the 5 main actors.



The movie was supposed to start at 10pm. However, it didn't start until 10:30pm. I think the host wanted to wait until more people had come. By 10pm, there were only 4 people there ready to watch the movie, including myself.

The movie was color (I thought it would be black-and-white) and in Japaneses with English subtitles. The movie was about a group of high school boys that had quit every other activity that had started at school. The school hired a new, female, swimming coach and all of those boys joined the swim team. Most of them didn't join the team because they wanted to swim. All of them also thought that they would be taught how to swim competitively, but the swimming coach thought there would be girls at the school (this was an all-boys school) and wanted to teach synchronized swimming. After hearing that, all but 5 of the boys quit.

A end of summer break festival was planned and this synchro team, as they called it, was to perform. The swimming coach ended up being 8 months pregnant (no belly at all) and took maternity leave. The 5 boys ended up quiting.

Later, the leader of this group got inspiration after going to Sea World in Japan, and got the group of 5 together again. They were put to work and trained by the dolphin trainer at Sea World. When the festival came around and the rest of the original group saw how popular men's synchro had become, they joined the team again.

With about 30 boys, the team performed at the festival. All of there routine was modeled after what the dolphins were doing at Sea World. The performance ended up being great.

The movie was humorous in a cheezy way. Everyone watching the movie laughed. It was entertaining. The acting or the script weren't great, but still okay. I like the movie. The moral of the story, as I understood it, was to never quit, but keep trying.

Color in Art - The Night Cafe' by Vincent van Gogh

In Wednesday's class, we analyzed a painting by Vincent van Gogh called "The Night Cafe'".



Learning what the colors in paintings represent really bring to light the meaning and feel for the painting. Just looking at the painting above from van Gogh might give the impression of a good night on the town. Maybe relaxing, even. However, the pale yellows and greens, the sharp contrasts in red and green on the ceiling and water, and the demeanor of the people in the cafe' tell a different story. The yellow and green colors represent sickness, decay, cowardice, and discord. The ceiling and walls are intense while the room in general in low key, giving the painting a relaxing feeling. The scene is dull and quiet.

It seems like the artist may be depicting a scene that is lonely and bleak. Looking at the change from red in the walls to a bright green in the ceiling, it almost seems like the author is suggesting that even though life my be hard and lonely, there is hope if we look up.

From Bauhaus to Our House Thoughts

The last time in class, we discussed the book "From Bauhaus to Our House". I enjoyed the discussion. It was interesting to hear the thoughts of the rest of the class of today's architecture.

As some of you may know or remember (maybe), I am studying to be a Civil Engineer. In that since, I find architecture interesting. The engineer must work with the architect to build what the architecture envisions for a building, bridge, or any other structure.

While reading the book I couldn't help but wonder why America at the time (early 1900's) allowed foreign architects to decide what the future of Architecture in America would be. Learning who Frank Lloyd Wright was and what he has done as an architect made me wonder even more. His projects were interesting and dynamic. Below is a picture one of his most famous projects, Falling Water.



The foreign architects that found refuge in America after the first and second world wars brought with them their ideas of how architecture in the world should be. They had what is called as the International Architecture view. They wanted nothing to do with fancy, dynamic buildings full of color and fancy furniture. They wanted square, white or gray, machine made buildings to support the "working" people. This so called vision caught the eye of the American people then and these architects were given positions in prominent universities like Yale and Harvard. This gave way for I see as a brain washing of what these "White Gods", as the author of the book refers to them as, thought of what architecture needed to be. Because of this, we have this "modern architecture" all around us. It filled America because its buildings were cheap and easier to build. To me, a sense of creativity was lost. Our buildings are mundane and plain. Below are two examples of this.







However this reality may be, I have noticed a push to return to the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. We have Green buildings today that incorporate the building surroundings that Falling Water does. The buildings are creative and dynamic and have their own personality

I hope that the creativity in our buildings and in the arts in general will not fall into a one-way track of thinking, but will come out of the box and share their creativity with the rest of the world. By doing so, our lives will be enriched. Whatever your talent is, share it! Don't be afraid to take a stand and go against what has been done for the last century. What's been done in the last century concerning architecture in America was a step in the wrong direction as far as creativity, expression, and functionality are concerned.

Sam Jone - Guitar Media Music Recital

My wife and I went to this recital last Tuesday in the Madsen Recital Hall in the fine arts building at BYU. Sam is in our ward so we went to go support him and hear what he had done with his music.

The seats in the Madsen were comfortable and it wasn't crowded. The recital seemed to be a final project that Sam was required to do for school. I wish I had taken a camera so that you could see how the recital was set up.

Sam wrote or at least started all of the songs that were played. He mentioned that he had help from his roommate and other friends. The first couple of songs sounded like a mixture of rock and heavy metal. They had a vocal part, but the vocalist couldn't be heard very well if at all over the much loader instruments. Once the first song started, my wife took our son out because it was too load. The balance among the different parts was not right for the heavier music. However, it improved with the ballads.

The ballads were my favorite. For some reason, I like that slower and softer music. I always have. The instrumental parts were great. Sam played the guitar like a pro. I could hear and understand the vocalist better as well. The music was more relaxing as well.

Half way though the program, Sam let us listen to three of his music synthesizing projects. The projects involved taking computerizing instruments and putting the music together on the computer by one person instead of recording a band. This is something that's done often today for movies and TV. The music was pretty interesting and very well done, I thought.

Sam was also the guitarist for the Young Ambassadors from 2007-2008. He said that hardest song he had to play was "Mountain Music". Imagine the violin solo as a guitar. The guitar part is blue grass. Incredibly fast music. He is used to improvising, but after he finally got the feel for the rhythm he memorized what he did and never changed.

The last song played was another rock or heavy metal song that I wasn't a big fan of because it didn't flow well for me. No cool blending. The volume was again off and not balanced.

Overall, the recital was good. It was a good experience for me to see someone I know show their talents and love of music. Although I've never been a fan of rock music or heavy metal, I learned that it does take skill and understanding of music and rhythm to be able to put a piece together. I did enjoy the recital.

4th of July Freedom Festival!! Community Event

On Friday, Rachel, Trevor, Brett (my brother), Liz (my sister-in-law), and Avery (my niece) went to the Freedom Festival event on Center Street in Provo. There was something for everyone there. Huge blow-up toys were out, as well as various kinds of art booths, and food stands. The place was crowded too. There were some places were it was too much for me. I wanted to be somewhere else. Most of the people I encountered were friendly. There were some, however, who were weaving in and out of the crowd to get through (that happens at any event like this one). That was probably the only bad experience I had. I didn't buy any food because I wasn't hungry. However, my wife and I bought something for our son, Trevor. Here it is!!



Pretty cool, huh!! Rachel and I had one of these done when we went to California in High School and we thought it would pretty cool to have one done for Trevor as well. I'm not sure where the artist is from or what his name was (I didn't ask). I do know that he is Asian. The letter's in Trevor's name are spelled with different types of animals and buildings. Each object has a meaning to it. I thought that knowing the meaning of the objects, the entire work of art meant a lot more. Here are what the objects symbolize and a short history of "Leather Brush Art".

History

"This history of leather brush art dates back to 1600 AD. Leather Brush Art is a form of hand art, which was created by a great scholar Yoo Duck-Gong. Leather Brush Art is a form of art in which the letters are written in the combination of animals, plants, and senses of nature. For over three decades many talented artists have modified Leather Brush Art. Young Kim is one of those talented artists who has modified Leather Brush Art. In the orient, it is believed that to have your name done in this art form brings you 'GOOD LUCK!'"

Meanings of the Drawings

"Bamboo/Cactus/Palm Tree ........................................Long Life
Bird/Rooster ...................................................Good Luck
Butterfly ......................................................Pleasure
Dolphin/Seal/Whale .............................................Strength
Dragon/Mermaid .................................................Dreams
Elephant/Monkey ................................................Wisdom
Fish ...........................................................Energy
Flower/Penguin .................................................Success
Lighthouse .....................................................Happiness
Mailbox ........................................................Good News
Mountain/Canyon ................................................Bravery
Sea/Sailboat ...................................................Bright Future
Sun ............................................................Ambition
Swan ...........................................................Love
Waterfall/Mushroom .............................................Hero
Windmill/Pelican ...............................................Wealth"


While we were waiting for ours to be finished, several people gathered to watch the artist work. All of the comments made were positive. It sounded like most of the people I heard may not have seen one of these paintings done before. They were intrigued, which is evidence to me that most people love art and appreciate it when they see it. Here is a picture of the artist with the crowd of people behind him watching.



I don't go to many of these kind of sidewalk art shows, but enjoy them. This one was especially good because I saw things that I never saw before which made the experience enjoyable. What also made the experience good was that I'd never been to this particular art show. People go to a lot of work to show what they can do. They love to do it and go to a great deal of effort to show it to everyone they can. I appreciate that. I will try to go to more of these type of events.

More Architecture!

I went to the Freedom Festival activities last night on Center Street in Provo. While I was there, I saw the Utah County Office building and noticed the architecture on the front of the building. The columns were an ionic style and in the pediments were sculptures that I couldn't really make out. I find it interesting that the two government office buildings that I've looked at lately both had the ionic style architecture.

Classic Architecture in America

After learning about the classic architecture in class yesterday, I was curious to know what the architecture is on the White House and Lincoln Memorial. I found it interesting how classic architecture was used on both of the buildings.

The White House



A close up look at the columns and capital show a ionic style of architecture. The architrave is clear. The ionic style comes from the Greeks and is viewed as graceful. I think this is fitting for the White House because of its symbol for America. However, as can seen, there are no flutes in the shafts of the columns. The presence of flutes is viewed as feminine. To keep the flutes out still creates a graceful, majestic, and strong feel.

The Lincoln Memorial



This building, however have different architecture than the White House. Again a close view of the building show the details of the columns. The capital on the columns indicate a doric architecture. The Greeks thought of the doric as bold or masculine which I find very fitting in defining the character of Abraham Lincoln. The entire building in and or itself resembles a smaller parthenon which was also view as a strong symbol for the Greeks and it still is viewed today. The Lincoln Memorial stands as a symbol of strength and courage and also unity as a tribute to what Abraham Lincoln did for America. The building also shows triglyphs and and metopes in the entablature.