Arboretum

Going to the arboretum for English class was a really enjoyable change of pace from the normal grind of a school day.  This visit to the arboretum wasn’t my first visit there it was probably more like my fourth or fifth time there, but even though I had been there so many times I had never really went past the fountain.  Though after looking around for a bit I realized that I was missing out and that there are a lot of places to relax inside the arboretum.  For example you could sit by the manmade pond or under the ivy arch.  I personally am not a huge fan of nature but I do enjoy occasionally going to places like this where I can enjoy the company of friends near nature.  So yea I would probably go back with some friends but most likely only once more since it’s getting cold. 

                While walking through the arboretum I began to think about the trip that my family took to Korea.  The reason for this was because Koreans love their nature, and in every part of Korea there is an area that contains a beautiful garden and temple.  So while taking my stroll in the arboretum I began to remember a certain park in Korea.  I recall walking up a flight of stairs that opened up into a walkway with overbearing trees on both sides that made it fell like a hallway made of trees.  This then led into one of the most beautiful gardens that I have ever seen.  There were flowers of all colors everywhere, and the flowers were planted in such a way that each group of flowers made up a subtle but elegant design.  Then as I walked further into the park the air turned heavy and the terrain turned into a moist swamp like area.  There were huge ponds everywhere I looked and they were all connected to each other by little streams.  But the best part of this area was that not only were there bridges for people to cross over, but there were also stones for the kids to jump around on which made the place a lot more fun.  After I got through that area I encountered a huge area covered in a tarp, and once I entered it the air suddenly turned dry and crisp.  Gazing at the contents of the huge tent I noticed that the tent was desert themed and everywhere I looked I could see a different kind of cacti.  I found the fact that they were able to grow all of these different kinds of plants extremely interesting, because the climate of each zone was so different from each other.  And even now I don’t know how they were able to create this insane garden.  

Arts/Cultural Response: Catch 22 reading

This event that I attended was the marathon reading of the book Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.  Joseph Heller was once an English professor at Penn State, and because of this the English department decided to sponsor the marathon reading of Catch 22.  The even took place outside behind the library, in-between the two walkways.  There was a tarp put up over where the reading was and chairs in rows for the audience to sit in.  It took place on Thursday to Friday and went on until the book was over.  The room felt kind of gloomy because there weren’t a lot of people there and the people that were never stayed to long.  The audience was mostly kids that were getting extra credit from their English teacher for reading the book, or people that seemed to know a lot about Catch 22 and be very passionate about the book.  I personally didn’t participate in the event because I have always had a fear of public speaking, and I was afraid to totally mispronounce a word so I decided against it.  Personally my favorite part of the reading was when my friend went up to reed and kept cracking up because she laughs when she’s nervous.  I have never been to an event like this before and I was expecting it to be really crowded.  But to my surprise there was only five to eight people there at a time and no one really stated for that long they just kind of came to read.  The friends that I went with thought it was a lot of fun mostly because they got to get a free tee shirt, but also because they got a lot of extra credit for going to this event.  

Maria Martinez- author

Pottery bowl- title

Made with clay and slip and made in the 1950s

It was a medium sized jet black bowl that was sand blasted, but there is a serpent design on the bowl that is not sanded blasted over so it is smooth in these areas.  It is made out of a special type of clay that is mixed with volcanic ashes.  The thing that makes the clay special is that it is clay that can only be found on her reservation, and the process of mixing the clay and ashes is very tedious and labors.  

The pot was made in the 1950s by Maria Martinez in San Ildefonso Pueblo, which is a small town north west of New Mexico.  The art of making the bowl was derived from her original culture of making bowls, which she learned as a child, and she also incorporated ancient pottery styles into her bowl making.  Also as a bowl it was made to be both a piece of art and to be useful to the people that owned it.   Even though the pots were made at an earlier time, they belonged to a more historic era because they used designs and styles of pottery from a more historic time. 

Ever since I was little I have always been interested in ancient cultures mostly the Greek and the Romans.  At first when I saw this pot I had little to no interest in it, but after I took a closer look I saw that there was a serpent design on it.  This greatly interested me, and after a little research I figured out that the serpent was called avanyu.  Additionally I don’t really like modern art because I feel like there is no use to it except being eye candy, because of this I only like art that has a use to it or tells the story of some historic civilization.

This piece of art is making the claim that pottery making isn’t a dying art.  I think this because when Maria was starting to pick up pottery it is said that young girls weren’t required to learn how to do it.  But after she started to make her signature pots more and more people wanted to learn the art from her. 

After visiting the art museum I can honestly say that I am not an art fanatic.  Even though it was cool to look at all the different pieces of art, I don’t really get interested by art and I don’t really know how to appreciate the different kinds of arts.  I might visit the museum one more time but I don’t think that I would go out of my way to visit the museum.  Even though I probably wouldn’t go back to the museum I defiantly enjoyed going there, and am happy I went at least once.   

Template- As I was thinking about which template I wanted to use I realized that I wanted it to be something that said a lot about me.  Because of this I chose the template with the grass and the dandelions.  The reason that I chose this one is because ever since I was little I loved to watch cartoons, and I still do.  This template also reminded me of my current favorite cartoon which is Adventure Time.  Furthermore it is very colorful, and color is something that always draws my eyes. 

Title- When thinking about a title for my blog I thought about the in class writing that we did, and how the class was about the arts.  While thinking about this I realized that everyone has their own opinion about what art is.  I chose this title because I want the people that visit this site to know that this site is about my opinion of art. 

Color- The reason that I chose the light blue color is because that was always the color that I wanted my eyes to be since I was a kid.  And then green and white are my two other favorite colors, which is the reason the.  Additionally because the shades of the colors are kind of childish I think that it makes the blog look more welcoming.

Font- I have never really cared for font but when I saw this one I thought that it was just right.  The reason I thought this is because my page was already looking unprofessional with all of the kid like stuff, and I think that this font is really professional which in my mind kind of evens it out. 

Pages- I chose to not use pages because I’m really only going to be posting on the main page because I don’t have that much info to put on the blog.

Link- I didn’t include any