Visit to Downtown Presbyterian Church

The Presbyterian Church we visited on Friday, was unlike any church I had ever seen. I wasn't aware that Egyptomania was affected even by the churches.
When walking into the church, I was overwhelmed by it's size and how much space there was. The room was enormous. The Egyptian decor added to making the room seem very large and open. The decorations on the walls that added to this "open" feeling were the paintings on the wall of the organ pipes that suggested an extension of pillars as well as squares on the ceiling that were painted to look like sky. Both of these paintings opened up the space and gave the illusion that it was even larger than it already was.
The lighting in the Church was very dim. This particular lighting gave a yellow tint that accentuated the red fabric as well as highlighting only certain parts of the church, and darkening the rest (including the dark wood of the pews and altar). This lighting made the space seem cold and made an awkward contrast to the paintings that suggested more space. This particular lighting somehow made the room smaller than it could be while also giving it an old feel.
The Decoration was what I found to be the most interesting aspect of this church. The inside of the sanctuary was lined with either square of cylindrical columns. These columns had designs on them that added to the Ancient Egyptian feel. Behind the columns that were placed next to the altar, a mural is painted that gives the illusion of the pillars continuing into a blue sky. On the side of the walls were stained glass windows with Egyptian themes. On the ceiling is a grid, like frame that sections the ceiling off into squares. These squares are painted to mimic a blue sky with clouds that adds to the illusion of space.
Aside form the Egyptian decor, there were more western decor as well. All of the wood in the church was a dark wood that was a large contrast to the Egyptian style. There was a bit of repetition of columns in the Altar, but very slight. All of the woodwork felt very western and traditional to most churches of that time period.
The color that I observed in this space was mostly a darker, mustard yellow, deep crimson, a brown/grey blue, and a few browned oranges. The overall color was obviously reflecting Egypt and the Egyptian deserts.
The overall rhythm of the room was kind of awkward. I think they were trying to theme the entire sanctuary after Egypt, but some of the western elements are too distinct. I found the deep red carpet, and the style and color of the pews/altar to be very distracting to the wall and ceiling decor. It is a very large contrast in color as well as style. I can appreciate their attempt to westernize the room or even style the wood work after Egyptian style, but it came across very awkward.
I think the most distinct feature of the room was the front columns. They were well lit in the room as well as pretty true to Egyptian style. The lighter colors and attention to detail made them very distinct in this dark room.

Collage

Megan Phillips

Art History

Collage Assignment

            For my collage, I chose the theme of “one step at a time”. When reflecting on myself, my world, and how I view art, I feel each relate with this theme. Everything is a process with multiple levels. Each level is important in the way that one must leave a level to enter a new one. As an individual, I am constantly growing and changing whether physically or mentally. In the same way, my world is constantly changing and I am forced to adjust to my world’s changes. I feel that art is constantly changing as well. The thing that ties all of these elements together is not change, but the past. Without the past, these things are not able to be what they are now, or evolve into what they will eventually become. I wanted to show the importance of how the past reflects on the present and helps to evolve the future.

Decisions: I chose to incorporate a staircase as the center of my collage as to symbolize my view on myself, my world, and art.

Color: I chose to make the background more subdues by using black and white and then added color to the staircase to make it stand out from the background.

Light: I used light in the background to show that the staircase is in a cubed room as well as in the staircase itself to give a 3D effect.

Texture: I added texture to my collage by making the background of layered magazine pieces and then painting a sheer acrylic layer over. I also added texture into the staircase by using a painting style that gives a textured feel to it.

Volume: I incorporated volume into my collage by adding different tones of magazine pieces to show foreground and background in the circular room.

Line: I used like mainly in the staircase with the central vertical post and each step creates a defined line.

Space: To create space in my collage, I put the staircase in a cubed room to open the piece up and create movement.

Scale: I made the staircase the largest object in my collage to make it the focus and be interpreted as the most important element of my collage.

Symbolism:

1.     Staircase: The staircase represents me, my world, how I view art.

2.     Steps: Each step represents a moment in time whether past, present, or future.

3.     Room: The room is meant to symbolize the world to better emphasize the staircase as being me, my world, and my view of art residing in a world with other lives and views.

4.     Light at top of staircase: The light at the top of the staircase is there to symbolize the future whether that means personally, heaven, the future of the world, and the future of art.

5.     Pictures on steps: Each picture on a step is a person, place, or thing that is important to me and has made me who I am and who I will become. In the same way, this is meant to show how certain things have made art what it is today and will evolve it into what it will be in the future.

Elements:

You: All of the pictures that I included are pictures I have taken. Photography is my favorite past time and I felt it was important to incorporate that to show who I am.

Friends and Family: I incorporated pictures of my best friends and my cat Boots because he is the baby of my family.

Your town, community, school: I added pictures from my favorite spot in my hometown as well as my favorite spot on Belmont’s campus.

Your country: I added a picture of Chicago to show that America is very industrial and commercialized.

The world today: All of my pictures help to show the world today. I feel like things in the world today are very much about image, so I used images that reflected that superficial feel.

Art: Art to me means the freedom of individual expression. I think art is a way for me to express how I feel about myself, my life, and the things that are happening around me in a creative way. I think art fits into today’s world because we are a very commercialized world where visuals are important. Art helps us find depth and relate to the world around us.

History: Because of the past, I have leaned from mistakes, grown from experiences, and been influenced by the people I’ve encountered. History has shaped the world today in the same way. Because of the events and lives that have occurred, we have learned and evolved. Art relates to history because by seeing how art was used in a particular period of time, we can better understand that culture and society.

Blog Assignment 1 (Part 2)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/sep/01/photography-zed-nelson-best-shot

I read the article "Photographer Zed Nelson's best shot" which was an interview by Andrew Pulver. The article revolved around Nelson's photo book Gun Nation and this image in particular. Nelson decided he wanted to do a project on guns after experiencing some negative results of weapons in foreign countries. After doing some research he found that about 30,000 people are killed every year by guns. He was thinking of doing a piece on criminals and gang members, but decided to do it on white, middle class Americans instead. He traveled to a few gun shows and took photographs of volunteers. This image in particular he found shocking when released to the public. It looks as if the man is pointing the gun to his child. In reality, the man was trying to say that with his gun, he can protect his family. Nelson noted that if you look closely, the man's finger is under the trigger guard. What I took from this article is that with this project, Nelson was trying to expose something that he felt strongly about.
The problem I had with this article and this photo is that it was never clarified what Nelson's stance on gun control is. I'm sure it would be clear if I looked at the book, but from this article, the reader is left to assume. The Interviewer made it seem like this image was taken as a negative image of gun control but then defends the man in the photo. I think this article would have had a lot more clarification and purpose if the interviewer would have explained the thesis more.
I think that this image can loosely relate to Van Gogh's Starry Night according to interpretation. Starry Night seems to be a painting that is seen in two ways. Some people find the painting very peaceful and dream-like, others find it depressing and chaotic. This photo sends a mixed interpretation of violence and protection. In one sense, the man could be pointing the gun to the baby  like he is going to harm it. This photo could also be interpreted that he is simply holding it in a way that shows protection and the baby represents his whole family.

Blog Assignment 1 (Part 1)

One of the paintings that we discussed on Wednesday, September 1st was Fredric Church's "The Parthenon".  The first and most distinct element of this painting is the placement and emphasis of the parthenon itself. Because it is centered in the page, we know that it is meant to be the focus of this painting and it shows importance/respect for this structure. There is also a noticeable light source hitting the parthenon which also emphasizes importance. There are distinct lines that add to pull ones eye to the parthenon. There are two beams of sunlight on the bottom right as well as a shadow in the center that has a triangle shape, point centered in front of parthenon. Church's use of color helps to illuminate the parthenon and it's near surroundings and darken everything else. This helps direct the eye first to the parthenon and then around the rest of the page.
This painting's technique is that of a well trained artist. It also holds a certain style that leads more into its time period. Each time period seems to hold different styles of painting. This style is very traditional and seems to be created in oil which is also another traditional media. From research, we know that Fredric Church painted this in 1871. Even from not knowing the exact year, we notice that in order to paint like this, one would have had to have had a lot of training. Art class in this time period must have been centered around painting from life as well as very traditional techniques. Knowing about the certain art training entailed in this time period, we can make the assumption that this was a time period that found education very important. Because Church chose to paint the parthenon, it also shows that he was from a time period that really admired the traditions of the ancient world. There is a figure painted at the foot of the painting. This helps to show the idea of respect and power that Church and his culture had for the ancient world.