Theater

I loved talking about theater this week in class.  To me, theater is such an amazing way to tell stories about human emotions and life!  I personally have been raised on theater, specifically musicals.  I have probably seen over 30 different musicals in my lifetime, and I've probably been to live performances of plays and musicals around 40 times.  I love love love theater! 

I specifically enjoyed talking about how important the scenery is to the overall performance and atmosphere.  I especially enjoy it when the staging is representative of the purpose of the performance.   We talked about his in class with how just the scenery alone can add psycological meaning to the performance.  My favorite example of this is from the musical Wicked.  Wicked is the story of the Wizard of Oz f

rom the viewpoint of the Wicked Witch, Elphaba.  Elphaba grows up her whole life thinking she is a failure and she just wants to prove herself to her father, sister, and peers.  She dreams her whole life of meeting and teeming up with the magical wizard of Oz so she can help make Oz a better place to live.  She eventually gets her chance to meet the Wizard, and when she does she realizes that he isn't magical at all!  He is a fraud who uses mechanics to create his magic.  Her whole world is crushed and crumbles around her.  But the thing i love is that scene is all mechanic looking and it symbolizes how nothing in Oz is magical, it is all a mechanical lie!  

Here is a picture of the stage of Wicked! 

There are so many other examples of amazing plays or musicals that have symbolic meanings in the props and sets.  And I love how theater can take you away from your everyday life.  You can go back to Oklahoma in the eighteen-hundreds, or to France during a revolution.  It is amazing that directors and writers can come up with so many stories, songs, and characters.  I love theater and I feel like I have learned many important lessons through the morals and messages they focus on.  

Musical Event

This week I chose to attend another cultural event so because on another week this semester I have a couple tests and a bridal shower to attend so that week will be very packed! 

So for my second cultural event I chose to attend Natachia Yung-Chiang Li's senior cello recital.  I did not know what to expect from the concert because I have never been to a cello solo performance.  However, I was thoroughly impressed by Natachia and her amazing talent! 

The concert was in the MOA which set the tone for the performance as an artistic event.  It was in a small little auditorium and when I arrived there were only 4 or 5 people seated throughout the seats.  I seated my self and quietly awaited the performance.  Over the next 10 minutes or so around 30 more people came in and soon the auditorium was comfortably full.   I looked over the BLANK and had a hard time understanding the musical language of the songs that she would perform.  Then I flipped the BLANK over and saw that Natachia had put a funny little cartoon and a sudoku puzzle on the back for those watching to solve while they were waiting.  I loved this! I thought it made the wait quite enjoyable and really gave me a small insight into who Natachia was as a person. 

Soon the lights dimmed and Natachia came out with her cello.  She started her first piece and I quickly fell in love with the deeper tone of the cello.  I was amazed at how many different wonderful sounds could come out of the 4 stringed instrument.  As she pulled the bow over the strings they would ring out loud and beautiful.  But my favorite sound that she made was when she plucked at the strings like a guitar.  This made a beautiful staccato like sound which added a fun tone to the music and it broke up the otherwise long notes.  

The music she played was very classical in sound.  It was full of fast scales and wonderful repetitions of tempo and sounds.  My favorite was a beautiful song that reminded me of the music for a fairy-tale movie! I literally closed my eyes and could picture a night rescuing a damsel in distress from a castle.  I pictured them meeting and then the night leading her down a staircase and fight off guards the whole way! In the end they had to escape by sliding from the wall of the castle on a rope to the ground far below! It was a fun game to play as I listened to the other songs.  

All in all, it was a wonderful concert! I left feeling uplifted and happy.  I learned what the cello sounds like, and it is so beautiful!  I just love the deep tones that can be created from the thick bottom string, and yet how high it could go when Natachia played way up high on the neck!  She had a piano accompanist as well and together they sounded amazing! I would rate this performance a 10 because she had half of the music memorized! This is very impressive considering that the first half was about 30 minutes long!  I used to play the piano and I could never memorize music and play it perfectly as she did!  I was very impressed with her skill and talent, and I loved it!

Art Can Express More Than Words

This week in class we talked a lot about art.  We discussed how certain elements in art can make us feel, what they represent.  For example, horizontal lines symbolize rest, or repose, Vertical Lines symbolize aspirations and dreams, and diagonal lines symbolize action.  We talked about how color's make us feel.  My favorite example of this was when we talked about van Gogh's painting of the room with the bar table in it.  That painting was made with very bright yellows, reds, and greens, however the combination of them together gave the picture a very depressing feeling, it was not very pleasant to look at.  Everyone in class agreed that this painting made us feel depressed, we did not want to go to that bar.  Some of the reasons I think it had this effect was first because of the weird perspective, the lines were not all lined up together, there were weird diagonal lines, and the table looked weird.  But I think that the major contributer was the overwhelming bright colors, that might be thought of as cheerful, but the way that van Gogh used them made them depressive.  

My favorite point of class this past week was when we looked at the last pointing Vincent van Gogh painted.   The scene was on a crossroad in the middle of a wheat field.  The color of the wheat was the same bright depressing yellow that he used in his pool table painting.  The sky was a dark blue on the left side which faded to a black black in the right corner.  There was a flock of black crows or ravens flying from the wheat field into the darkness in the right corner and when I first looked at the painting I got an ominous feeling that something bad was coming to the person at this crossroad.  

Then Jacie asked us how the painting was expressive and I couldn't really think of too much but when she told us that it was van Gogh's last painting, and that he committed suicide, the painting suddenly took on a whole new meaning!  It was a sudden insight into his mind! He was the one at the crossroad... he had three paths to choose, but in this painting he chose to focus on the one that ended.  The path in the middle of the painting went on for a little ways and then suddenly ended turning into yellow field and horizon.  Van Gogh chose his path, he knew what was coming, and so did the crows in the field.  They were flying into the darkness that van Gogh felt.  They were flying away from the field and away from life! 

This painting is amazing to me because of all the emotion that can be extracted from it.  But at the same time it is depressing and scary.  It is sad that a person can feel such sorrow and hopelessness that they feel as the person at this cross road felt.  That they could have two other paths choose that maybe took them to a beautiful place beyond the horizon, that could bring so much happiness and light, and instead they choose the path that leads into the darkness and then just ends.  But maybe that was the point of the art, to give people like me, who have never been at a point like this in my life, where I felt death was the only option, the understanding and ability to see how people who are depressed and suicidal see the world.  I think that words could not and cannot descripe how van Gogh felt, so he painted his feelings, and those feelings touched me. I loved it! 

Library Film Screenin

For this week's cultural experience I went to the Orem Library and watched their movie screening.  The movie they were playing this week was A League of Their Own.  I LOVED this movie! This movie tells the true story of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).  The AAGPBL was formed during WWII as a way to fill the gap in baseball parks while the men of the Major Leauge Baseball association were away in Europe fighting.  

This movie was amazing because it helped me understand how women were treated during the times of WWII.  In the begining of the movie the Recruiter travels around recruiting girls for the league.  However, he only takes the beautiful ones, the ones that will be nice for men to look at as they play baseball.  The recruiter, and the owners of the league, believe that the only way the league will be successful is if the girls are entertaining and nice to look at.  They do not care if the girls in the league are truly talented.   They make the girls play in mini skirts, which makes it almost impossible to slide into the bases without getting huge dirt burns!  However in the end the people of the nation learn to see the girls of the league for their talent, and they love them! That is probably what I like the most, is that in the beginning the girls are only seen as pretty, or fun to watch and in the end people realize how truly talented and good at baseball they are! 

The best character, in my opinion, was Tom Hanks who played the MLB washout Coach of the girls team.  At first he doesn't take them seriously, he just drinks and sleeps through the games.  He specifially says "GIRLS CAN'T PLAY BASEBALL!" haha!  Over time the girls change his mind. By the end of the first season he changes as a person.  At first he was a drunk who had no purpose in life and no respect for himself or others.  But in the end he is happy, and has a purpose, and he is a better person! He respects the girls and admits to their talent on the field.  

This movie came out in 1992, and has many talented actors including Tom Hanks, Madonna, Greena Davis and Rosie O'donell.  It is funny and touching.  The movie made me laugh out loud and it also made me cry a couple times! haha! My fiance laughed at me a lot because I just loved this movie!  Others in the auditorium enjoyed it as well.  There were kids and older people in the auditorium who were also laughing as well!  I loved the characters and I loved watching their story as they worked their way to the top and triumphed over those who said they would fail.  

Gianlorenzo Bernini

Out of all artistic works we have looked at in class the ones that have struck me as the most beautiful are those of Gianlorenzo Bernini.  Bernini was a sculpture and artist in Rome during the Counter-Reformation.  This artistic time period can be classified as Mantic focussing on the energetic, realistic, emotional, and religious.  All of these can be used to describe Bernini's work!  His sculptures are all so emotional!  The sculptures that we looked at in class were Apollo and Daphne, The Ecstasy of St. Teresa, and The Damned Soul.  All of these pieces of art left an impression on my mind.  With all of them I wanted to know the stories behind them, and I wanted to learn more about the person who could create such beautiful works out of stone.  Bernini's father was a sculpture and Bernini grew up learning from him how to work with stone.  Because of his skill and his association with his father Bernini gained patrons early in his life.  He carved many sculptures throughout Rome and he was eventually chosen by Pope Urban VIII to design St. Peter's Square in front of the Vatican. 

I have never visited the Vatican but when I look at pictures like these, it makes me want to hop on a plane right now and fly over to Rome!  there are so many statues surrounding the Square, and beautiful fountains and statues inside as well.  

I am just amazed by all that was able to accomplish during his life time.  He work still affects the world today!  Hundreds of thousands of people have traveled to Rome and walked in St. Peters Square.  His other monuments can be seen all throughout Rome.  My favorite that I saw was the Castle St. Angelo in Rome.  Here is a picture of it! 

How amazing it that! Its this big round castle and Bridge leading to it is lined with beautiful angel statues.  Bernini designed this and he personally carved 2 of the angles and then his students carved the others based off of his directions.  I just can't believe that one man could create this.  I mean, I know that he had help but it is so impressive that all of this came out of his head! 

Bernini lived to be 82.  He was described as an extremely hard worker often working 7 or 8 hours a day on a sculpture without stopping.  He was a religious man and his pieces of art were used by the Catholic church to draw people into the chapels and into Rome.  When I look at his works of art I feel uplifted.  I feel that a man could not do this without having some sort of inspiration from God.  Bernini was not a perfect man by any sense but he was able to do so much with his talents.  He and his works are an inspiration to me, and one day I will travel to Rome so I can view them in person!

3rd week in class...

One of the things that I love about our class recently is that we are learning things that I feel I can use in my daily life. The things that I have enjoyed most are learning the different symbols that are in works of art. These symbols are everywhere! And its so much fun to know that and to look at pictures now... because I feel I can understand their meaning so much easier! My favorite symbols have been the greek myths... the gods... and its also fun to learn the religious symbols as well.

Something that I have used a lot since we talked about it in class is identifying different pillars on buildings! haha I have been so surprised at how many times I have seen pillars that are styled after the greek or roman ones! For example, this last weekend I went to my best friends wedding in Salt Lake City and on the way down we saw a christian church that had Doric pillars on the outside! haha I made sure to point them out for the people that were riding with in the car and they were pretty impressed... it was fun to show off for them! Another place where I saw them was at the Thanksgiving Point Gardens. Those gardens are AMAZING and in one part they have a little hill that has 4 ionic pillars on the top of it. haha I made my fiance walk to that hill with me so I could get a picture of them! haha

here is a picture of those pillars... its not the one that I took... but as soon as I can get my picture loaded onto my computer I'll switch the pictures out!

I have also enjoyed our little quizzes in class... which sounds weird because who really likes quizzes... but these quizzes are things that we can use later! One day when I travel to Europe I will be able to look at different chapels and know when they were built, or why they were built. Its fascinating to learn the facts behind why a building is built the way that it is and what the people who built it were trying to do. I especially like how different chapels create a different affect in the worshiper, like how gothic chapels make the worshiper look up. That is so cool that each different era of architecture had a specific goal that they were trying to accomplish in their building.

I just love when I can use the things that I learn in daily life... I am going to be a teacher one day and that is what I most want to teach my students to do... is to use the things that they learn! It makes life so much more fun when you learn things enough to actually understand them and point them out to others. I do this a lot with science... I learned the constellations so that I could look at the sky and understand its stories and patterns... I truly enjoy understanding the world around me and why it is the way that it is, and so far Humanities has really helped me to understand things better! I didn't think that i would learn as much as I have so far, but I am truly enjoying myself and I hope that I can continue to use what I learn in my daily life!

I spy makes me happy!

This week for my cultural event I went to the Museum of Art on BYU campus. And it was so much fun!! The exibit that I specifically went to see was the Walter Wick I Spy exhibit.

This was such a great exhibit. There were so many different little things that made it amazing.

The first thing I liked was that when I walked into the museum the guards at the front desk gave me a little sheet of things to look for in each picture and little activities to do throughout the exhibit. I loved this because it brought a whole new aspect the pictures, and made it not only an uplifting experience but a fun and challenging one as well. I actually want to take my fiance back and make a fun date out of it! One of the fun activities was to look for this little robot guy named Seymour, that is hidden in most of the pictures! it was amazing because even if the picture didn't look like it could hide a robot, there Seymour would be peeking out of a window or standing on a balcony in the distance.

Here is an example of how Wick incorporated his robot Seymour... if you look you can see a little robot guy in the front window in the right of the screen...

The next aspect of the exhibit that I liked was the music that was playing over the speakers. It was fun music that reminded me of my childhood! I was taken back to the days when I played with lincoln logs, and legos, and those tinker toys! It also reminded me of a toy or candy shop and Disney Land... the music just added so much to the exhibit. It helped me get into the right frame of mind to look at the pictures and just trully enjoy the time that I could forget about "grown-up" troubles. I loved it!

The thing that I liked most was that each picture had a little plaque on the side explaining a fact about the picture or how it was made. I was amazed to find out that for most of his pictures he actually builds the models and takes the pictures. The sets are so detail oriented... its amazing! for example, the picture above had a set that was built in miniature. Wick builds the sets, and then takes pictures and edits them and enhances them to make them look good enough for the book. But i always thought that the pictures were drawn or made on the computer, and they are not! its just amazing! I have always wanted to build little sets... its kind of a secret desire of mine... but his little sets were so neat, and so detailed... they looked like they were probably so much fun to make!

here is a picture of the set for the picture above...

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself! I felt as if I was a kid again... one of the neatest parts for me was to watch a group of 4 older people, 3 older males in nice buisness suits, and an older woman in a nice suit. Looking at them I would not have guessed that they would enjoy a childish exhibit such as Walter Wicks, but I was very wrong! As I watched them I could see their excitment as they found the items in the picture, and saw all the little details in the pictures... at one point I saw them all start laughing with joy and then one of them said "I knew you all would like this... that is why this exhibit is here, because even thought these pictures are for kids they bring out the child in old people like us as well!" I just thought that this was a special insight into the specialness of Walter Wick's photos. And I think that is the artistic aspect of it as well... every detail of the exhibit acts to create an overall affect of childhood and happiness that most adults loose. My fiance does research with children and he told me once that the Average child laughs or smiles around 500 times a day... where the average adult only laughs or smiles around 18 times a day... this is so sad to me! Thank goodness there are artists like Walter Wick that have work that adds more smiles to our lives!