The Debate

The debate over whether or not the United States used their actions in Japan to intimidate the Soviet Union is a tough one to argue, but I think my team did a very good job understanding and researching the prompt. I did however get some very interesting things out of our debate from the opposition, for example some points that they had brought up was, that the United States dropped two atomic bobs, to save lives...I can believe that Japan would not give up, but to drop two bombs, within a few days? That seems a little far, to kill so many people with not much of a notice, but the opposition also noted that the US had distributed flyers saying that evacuations were needed...but why evacuate a city? Yes, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were industrial cities and yes they had military personnel, but the citizen to soldier ratio was 5-6 citizens for every 1 soldier. Could they not have dropped the bomb on a more militarized area if they want to cripple/scare the military leaders? Well, this is all in the past and we can't change that...But we can change the way we perceive it.

SALVATION MOUNTAIN!

In the middle of nowhere, a few hours drive from San Diego in the desert, is a mountain of God, Salvation Mountain. Leonard Knight , the creator of this magnificent work of sculpture and art is a very religious figure. He has devoted years of his life to God, and pays tribute to God through his work.






These are some pictures I took while visiting Salvation Mountain:

This is some of the stuff behind the actual mountain, you could actually walk through parts of the mountain, somewhat like a castle.

It amazes me how, one man's commitment and work, could take him so far. He even showed us an article where his mountain was named a national treasure by the Senate. He was astonished that so many would acknowledge his work. I am truly convinced that anyone has the power to control one's own life and to make the best of it.

If you would like to learn more about this amazing place, visit http://www.salvationmountain.us/

The motives for dropping the atomic bomb.......

The debate over what the United States motives were when they dropped two atomic bombs on two Japanese cities, killing over 100,000 people will never end. Whether or not we wanted to intimidate the Soviet Union will still be a controversial subject. So will the question whether or not the bombs killed more people than a land invasion would.

If you want to learn more, these are some good websites regarding what the United States wanted to get out of dropping the atomic bombs.
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/educators/study-guides/history_decision-to-drop-bomb.htm

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/trinity/supplement/procon.html

Artist Interview

I interviewed John McGaughty, a local artist, to learn more about art. He had some very interesting answers to some of my questions. We met at his home close to his former gallery on Ray St. I didn’t know that he had closed his gallery on Ray St. prior to asking for an interview because apparently the Ray At Night website had not been updated after his closing. I asked some fairly simple questions. For example, “What does art mean to you?” and “What drove you to become an artist?” His definition of art was that art was multifaceted and subjective, meaning art is to each person different, he also mentioned that many careers that we do not think as art, is in fact art, like architecture, writing and poetry. Art was to John a way of expressing how he sees the world. John knew he wanted to become an artist since he was a kid and loved to draw and make things. When asked whether or not other opinions mattered, he replied, “You must learn to deal with others opinions, with age comes maturity and tolerance.” So that was one thing that stuck to me, many people will say that your art is bad or its not “real” art, but you just have to go past that and keep producing what you want. Another question was “Where do you get your inspiration from?” and he said nature. Now that was an answer that I had heard before when I was researching John Constable, a Romanticism artist, he said, “nature is the fountain’s head, the source from whence all originality must spring.” So that was kind of helpful to me in trying to understand what he painted. When I saw some of his art, it was very much so representative of nature and varies aspects of it. John also moves freely between different forms of art, for example drawing, painting, sculpting, and printmaking are all forms of art he enjoys. Another thing that he said that left a mark on me was that artists are like rock stars, there are so many, but yet only a very small amount are known. When talking to him I realized that there are artists all around me, but it is how they act upon the artist within, that is how they will become an artist. He thought of art not as a job or working, but as a lifestyle and way of life. John believes that giving back to the community and to your favorite causes is something that is important to becoming an artist. When you donate something, you get your work seen and get exposed into the world of art purchasing. That was another thing he mentioned, many artists make very little for a living and many see suffering and art going hand in hand, some artists will say others are not artists because they are not suffering enough. The whole experience was really eye opening, because I have this picture of a stereotypical artist and what artists really are is nothing like what many people think.

Response to an excerpt from “The Diary of a Young Girl”

The notion escapes me how a thirteen year old girl can compose such intricate works of literature. Her thought process is so very thorough that it seems to surpass the normal on that a person would go through. Anne seems to have a view of the larger picture, for example when she states, “… but because it seems to me that neither I – nor for that matter anyone else – will be interested in the unbosomings of a thirteen-year-old schoolgirl.” Anne is correct when she says that no one is interested in a teenagers thinking, but I doubt she thought that her diary would be published and turned into a book that is known around the world. I wonder if people are thinking that when they produce something. Do they think, “Oh, this painting is going to be famous”? Why then would we care about what little Anne Frank has to say? What makes her work so much more worthwhile to read than other writers of the time or subject? Even so, she shows some signs of childhood, when she says, “ If I talk, everyone thinks I’m showing off, when I’m silent they think I’m ridiculous; rude if I answer, sly if I get a good idea, lazy if I’m tired, selfish if I eat a mouthful more than I should, stupid, cowardly, crafty, etc., etc.” In this sense, she shows what she truly is, a child, she feels like the world is against her and that the war has taken all the meaning from her life. I think during the time many others have felt like that. The war was a disastrous event that forced many people to suffer, in that sense this one girls’ diary held the thoughts and feelings of thousands. Some questions I have are why did this girl keep a diary of what was happening? I wonder if she meant for her thoughts/recollections to be read by so many? I guess that is also with art, do artists think about how long after they are dead that their art is still being looked at? And so this notion in my head forms about how Anne Frank thought of the future. Would she live through the war? What would happen to her and her family?

"Nature is the fountain's head, the source from whence all originality must spring."

Those were the words of John Constable, I realize that I had not displayed any of his marvelous "six-footers".

The "Leaping Horse" (1825) was one that stood out to me. It's just a simple scene of a river with a few understandable items within like a man in a boat and wildlife, but then there is a mounted man urging his horse over a low fence. It seems a bit out of place for a man on a horse to be there. I guess this is what Constable means by you must capture what you have at that exact momenent or it will be lost, " No two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world."

To read more about John Constable and to view more of his work, visit http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/constable/.

DANGEROUS Pigments!

It amazes me how people can find out if something is poisonous/toxic/not good in general. For example, pigments, they seem simple enough, the foundation for color.

The City of Tucson’s Environmental Division has compiled a list of pigments and their hazards. The list has many detailed descriptions on pigments and their side effects if used incorrectly. Surprisingly, even though many pigments have drastic side effects like being a carcinogen (a substance that tends to produce cancer) or extremely toxic, they are being used still.

People may argue that these side effects can only occur if the pigment is used incorrectly and that the availability and cost may outweigh the negative effects of the pigment. Many people believe adding lead to paint makes it extremely toxic and dangerous, but in reality longtime exposure to lead is the only way to be afflicted by one of many drastic side effects that may include: raised blood-pressure levels and blood deficiency.

Lead is used because lead is very durable and lasts a very long time. Some examples of lead based pigments are: White Lead, Mixed White, Leaded Zinc Oxide, Red Lead and Bone Black are just some of the pigments with lead in them. Many lead based pigments have basic lead carbonate or PbCO3. Other lead based pigments could use lead tetroxide (Pb3O4) or lead chromate (PbCrO4), both of which are toxic.

If you want to learn more about pigments and what are in many of them, go to http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/arthazards/paint1.html for much more information.

Pigments and Tempera Paint

It's funny when almost everyone in the world had painted in their life, but had not wondered what the paint was made out of. Well, the earliest pigments were from the Earth and mostly just mud and dirt, but as time went on, people began to create pigments synthetically. Pigments in paint are just like a Jell-O molds. The pigments are the things trapped inside the Jell-O, which in this case is the solvent, usually, oil or water.

To learn more about pigments, visit http://webexhibits.org/pigments/, the website has a lot of information about the history of the pigments and very detailed descriptions about certain pigments and colors.

John Constable

Regarded as one of the greatest landscape artists of all time, John Constable revolutionized the art world with his own innovations to traditional landscape and Thomas Gainsborough styles.

Entering the scene of the art world in the early 1800’s, John Constable gave up the reigns to his families corn mill company to pursue his love of the arts. During his career as an artist, he never got worldwide fame or fortune. He sold more paintings in France than in his own home country of England.

Constable believed that you must capture nature as it is, because it will never be the same again, “No two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world.” Constable’s philosophy of “rendering scenery more directly and realistically”, found him much praise by Romantic artists like Henry Fuseli, Eugene Delacroix and William Wordsworth.

Most of Constable’s works were painted in his hometown of Suffolk, England and varies places he knew well. He worked long hours outdoors, but always completed his final piece within the sanctuary of his studio.

This is just the tip of the iceberg on information about the riveting life of John Constable.

Please visit http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/constable/ for more information about his life.

World War I Soldier Poets

It's is amazing to me that a man in the trenches, so disgusting it is impossible to imagine them for someone who has not experienced them, write poetry like they have been doing it all their life. Men who look death in the face every day, write to their families and loved ones to not mourn for them when they are gone, but to move on. They write of sadness, chaos and products of war. You can really feel what they were trying to say through their straight forwardness of their writings. It escapes me how one who had faced such monstroncities, create such poetry as "When I'm Killed" by Robert Graves and "The Dragon and the Undying".

World War I The Great War!

The First World War was the first of its kind in terms of massive bloodshed and mechanized machines. Airplanes, machine guns and biological warfare decimated the normal foot soldier ill equipped for the dangers of this new kind of war. It is interesting how America got involved or didn't get involved. The United States, being a relatively young country, tried to stay out of Europe's affairs and tried at all costs to stay neutral. But they continued trade and provided monetary assistance to the Allied Powers (Russia, France and the U.K.) and cut of the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy) completely. So America's attempt at neutrality was kind of a cover up for what they really felt about the war being waged in Europe.

The Protestant Work Ethic

The Protestant Work Ethic was a new way of seeing work and working. Some important figures that had contributed to the new ideal of working was Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant movement, and John Calvin. Their combined beliefs about working was the will of God and therefore a way to serve him. Martin Luther, believed that God had implented the caste system and moving in the social ladder was considered a sin, because you were defying the word of God. Calvin on the other hand, believed that it was okay to move in the social ladder, because it was one's social duty to do one's best to work hard.

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was a time of great accomplishment in terms of making things by the masses. The new wave of workers supplied the factories with eager workers ready to work til sundown for near nothing pay. The thing that made the workers WANT to work was the fact that a new idea of working was going around, the Protestant Work Ethic. The Protestant Work Ethic opened new doors in terms of seeing work and working. The Protestant Work Ethic changed the view of working to support your own self and family to expanding and helping others. Martin Luther, forerunner in the Protestant Work Ethic, believed that working was a way to serve God, as working was the will of God. Another intellectual that contributed to the Protestant Work Ethic was John Calvin, who believed that social ladders were implemented by God and moving in the ladder was against the will of God because God placed everyone were he wanted them so moving would be disregarding the word of God.

Welcome To My Blog

The purpose of this blog is to reflect on what we are doing in Spencer Pforsich's 10th Grade Humanities class. At the moment, we are researching componenets of the Industrial Revolution and connecting it to the developement of art during that era. We, as a class, are trying to relay our information to one another via these blogs. The blogs are a way to share what we have learned like Url's that are useful or information we found. Some projects we are working on at the moment, include making an art piece from one of our poetry works that we have been working on over the past few weeks. Another project we are working on includes researching a component of the Industrial Revolution like innovations that resulted from the IR and how the IR influeced others to work, because of the new idea of working and serving God. The most recent project that our class is working on is making a NASCAR suit with a Presidential Candidate. On the suit, we Photoshop their sponsors/funding sources and research why those people/companies gave the candidate money, may it be the beliefs of the candidate and if it supports the company.