Rivers Johnson - Is Beauty Universal?

One question that's been running through my head while taking Search for Beauty is does beauty translate across cultures? Does culture apply to beauty? It seems like the answer would be obviously yes because we see and hear art from other cultures all the time that we can appreciate as beautiful. But think of it this way: do we see the art of another culture the same way they do? I tend to doubt it. If this is true, wouldn't the beauty we derive from another culture's artwork merely be a translation of their concept of beauty to our own culture's concept of beauty? A translation maintains the idea of the original content, but it always adds it's own twist, creating entirely new content.

Rivers Johnson - Sublime

Most people don't use the term sublime the way that it was originally intended, or when they do it's usually on accident. The term is meant to describe something beyond your ability to deal with, something so grand that just realizing its existence puts you at a loss. Sometimes sublime means something scary. Not scary like a-man-coming-at-you-with-a-knife scary, but scary in the way that the unknowable is scary. Like the way that the vastness of the universe is scary. Not scary in a bad way, but scary nonetheless. Scary can be beautiful. Never be afraid to be afraid.

Rivers Johnson - Nietzsche's Apollo and Dionysus

The dichotomy between the Apollonian and the Dionysian is everywhere around us. Simply look at the leaf of a tree and you are part of this battle. It seems that our society seems to view life in terms of beauty or in terms of explanation and order. The leaf can either be regarded as beautiful and admired for it's form and appearance or pondered scientifically to decipher the mechanisms behind the leaf's existence.


What is sad is that people don't recognize the connectedness of these two things. The scientific study of a leaf should not simply inform you of the leaf's function, but also of it's beauty. Next time you examine a leaf closely think of how beautiful the idea of a leaf is and appreciate the wonder of nature you hold in your hands.

Rivers Johnson - Schopenhauer's Escape From Will

Schopenhauer wrote that art was the only true escape Man has from the grasp of Will, our basal drive for survival. Out of the all the arts, Schopenhauer singled out music as the truest form of art because it speaks directly to the emotion of a person. Emotion is completely separate from the Will and therefore speaking to it separates us from the Will in a way. Schopenhauer describes great artists as geniuses because they can separate themselves from their bodily needs and focus and their art which reminds me of a song lyric I heard the other day:

"I'm not upset, just confused/And it's so tough/I can't relate to this world/I'm not bored enough/Watch out/The music will complete the change in you"

Escape from this world, music changing the listener, sounds something like what Schopenhauer is talking about, doesn't it?

Rivers Johnson - Was Plato Right About Art Being Imitation?

Plato's theory on art is based on the idea that art is an imitation of real life, which itself is an imitation of the Forms. Back when he wrote that, art generally was representative of real things. But how does this view hold up when we take into account modern art?


Jackson Pollack's work is world renowned and generally accepted to be art. But his art certainly doesn't fit into Plato's view of art as imitation of real life. So either Pollack's work cannot be art or Plato was wrong. Thoughts?

Rivers Johnson - Audience Involvement

I recently watched a great video online about overcoming apathy in today’s society. In the video the speaker discusses communication techniques that we could implement in order to get people more involved in politics and other facets of responsible society. A few of the techniques he spoke about included ways to involve the audience to stimulate response and this reminded me of the talks we had earlier in the semester about the relationship between performer and audience. What do you all think about what the speaker has to say? Do you think greater audience involvement would lead to greater societal participation?

Hank Harrison - Sport as a form of Art

In another blog entry, I said I felt like my laptop is in some way a form of art because of the creative engineering that went into producing and designing it. Are there, though, other forms of art? At the moment I'm watching the beginning of the NFL draft and it got me thinking about sports. After a few moments of thought, I realized I find much beauty in sport, specifically football.

Imagine a field of 22 men, each facing off with a man of the opposite team. That means eleven different little battles being fought or one purpose: to move the ball downfield. A play, for example, that calls for a deep pass down the field is something that requires a massive amount of coordination and determination. The quarterback snaps the ball and the linemen each block their man and provide a pocket for the quarterback to stand in. The receivers sprint downfield, executing cuts and dodges in order to run their rout to perfection. Just when the quarterback sees an open man, a defensive end comes barreling through the offensive line at the QB's blindside like a freight train through a tunnel on track for a collision. Just in time, the running back picks up the block and gives the QB another two tenths of a second... just long enough to launch the ball 40 yards down field where he thinks the receiver is going to be. The receiver has to find a way to break from his defender and make his way to the ball flying through mid air. Using all the energy he has at his disposal, he churns his legs just a little faster and leaves the defender behind. He snatches the ball from the air with outstretched hands and falls into the endzone...

Or, maybe the quarterback gets laid out at the start of the play. Such is football, such is sports, and such is the reason (in my view) that a completed deep pass in football is one of the most beautiful things in sports. It is perfect coordination and adaptive ability between eleven men doing their part to achieve the same goal.

Hank Harrison - Art as an Escape

A number of the philosophers we have studied this semester discuss what art's purpose is. Plato seems to think of art as a distraction, Aristotle seems to think of art as a way to teach us about ourselves (specifically through drama) and Schopenhauer believes art reveals metaphysical truths about reality. Nietzsche, though, seems to think of art as an escape. He is about as much of a bummer as Schopenhauer is as far as believing that we're all just dying one life long and that life is a struggle, but he thinks of art as a way to cope with said struggle. Art is how we put a smile on our usually frowned face.

Nietzsche holds that there are two main kinds of art: Apolline art and Dionysiac art. The former is designed mostly as this kind of escape. It is a dream world that keeps the terrors of life at bay and allows us as human beings to find some kind of superficial peace while we wait to die. Dionysiac art, on the other hand, is art that absolutely intoxicates us. It is Subliminal art, as Schopenhauer might have said. It is the feeling we get when were in the middle of a huge singing crows at a rock concert. We allow ourselves to be totally taken over by and directed by it. Now thats an escape, and its another reason why I believe music to be the highest form of art.

Hank Harrison - Heidegger

In my opinion, Heidegger is one of the most broad thinking philosophers in the curriculum second only to Kant. Heidegger thinks of art as not only an object, but an experience shared between the observer and that what is being observed. A piece of art is not defined only by its material make up but by the experience an observer has. This experience reveals truth about being in that it provides an example of the sum of a culture's progress to the point the artwork was produced. An observer can effectively look into that culture and partially understand it through their experience of that art.

My favorite element of Heidegger's is that he distinguishes art from other objects produced. He says that an object proclaims its purpose or function whereas art, on the other hand, proclaims its existence. Art exists! Its beautiful! Job done! A hammer, on the other hand, is not really worth anything until it is used. Maybe a hammer functions "beautifully," but a piece of art IS beautiful as it is.

Hank Harrison - Schopenhauer

For such a bummer of a philosopher, I think Schopenhauer's outlook on art is well thought out and rather optimistic. His epistemology is based largely off Kant's, so I'll skip talking about the concept of separate perceptions for each person and the fact that the world we perceive is disconnected from "reality" and how the world actually exists. The difference between Kant and Schopenhauer that most sticks out to me is that Schopenhauer believes that we can access the "real" world that our senses inaccurately perceive. He believes we can do so through art. Art, to Schopenhauer, is representative of not only something in reality but of the idea that rests behind the artwork. Its not the painting, its what the painting represents. Interestingly, Schopenhauer incorporates Platonic theories as well as Indian philosophies into his own.

I think this says a great deal in favor of Schopenhauer's intellectual ability. Unlike Hume, who I believe is restrained by his own hypothesis, Schopenhauer is open minded enough to learn from the thinkers that came before him and apply their rational to his own. Unfortunately, his outlook on life is totally gloomy, but at least he wasn't closed minded.

Hank Harrison - Kant

Ive noticed that Kant's philosophy in art, as in epistemology, has permeated through so many other philosophers. Schopenhauer and Nietzsche especially, Kant's view of the world seems to be especially coherent. His inclusion of the human perception as being different for every person seems to be totally logical. We all do, in at least some regard, live in completely different worlds. We all act on information gathered through our senses and computed in our minds, and each of these functions are totally subjective. What, then, is actually universally applicable to all human beings? Kants answer, I believe, is logic and reason. This is not to be confused with sciences like physics because, as Kant says, these are further abstractions from reality. The reality that we experience is not necessary dictated by formulas and Newtonian laws alone but by something more. This something more, in my view, is our perception. We apply what we receive in data and think in our minds to our own subjective rationality.

Thus, physics and chemistry and mathematics are only tools we can use to further process what we detect in reality, not rules to which reality must adhere.

Hank Harrison - Hume

How could Hume possibly have felt like he was on to anything when he was trying to quantify exactly what makes something beautiful? I've never been much of a fan of Hume's works, but with art I feel he is especially misguided. He even contradicts himself regularly. For example, when he says that beauty is objectively based somewhere, how then can he say there will be disagreements? If beauty is objective and universal, that would mean there are no disagreements on what is beautiful. Hume says these differences would be based on either cultural influences or psychological influences. In my opinion, this is Hume copping out of having to admit his original premise is totally incorrect. It sounds to me like he wants so badly to value his "sentiments" as the source for beauty that he cannot figure out a way to explain things in a more coherent manner.

Hank Harrison - On my roof

Especially when finals are approaching, I find the library to be too crowded and distracting, so I prefer my roof. On my roof, I sit under a huge canopy of all different kinds of trees. The privacy fences on either side are totally covered in vines leading up to the trunks of the trees which are then draped by the canopy itself. Its like I'm sitting in a cathedral of green with light blasting in through the gaps to illuminate my studies and enlighten my perception of what is naturally beautiful. I dont know if this is the sublime or if this is any kind of higher form of art, but from my perception I most definitely see beauty. As Kant might say, I know its beautiful simply from the fact that I derive pleasure from mere contemplation of sitting on my roof observing the trees. Whenever I try to quantify the feeling I get from roof-studying, I simply cant. Words cant contain feelings, especially feelings from observing beauty. This is how I feel that nature can be art, and the work of art in nature that I see from the roof is especially beautiful.

Hank Harrison - My Laptop

How often do we think of the things that we use as beautiful? People usually dwell on paintings or poetry as being worthy of consideration for beauty but what about the things we use? My laptop for example, I think is absolutely beautiful. It helps me do what I need to do in such a flowing efficient way. Its a Mac, so that means it has a snazzy aluminum body and the software is totally integrated with the hardware. The touchpad is so well thought out that it feels like an extension of my own hand. I feel like I can literally reach into my desktop screen and grab an icon. The screen itself is more than just a collection of pixels we can use to depict an image, it becomes the image itself. My background right now is a high definition picture of a perfect barrel wave with a surfer cruising through the middle, and through my laptop, I can view and manipulate the image. Through my laptop, I am connected to the rest of the world and to a certain extent, to the art the world has to offer and this connection is made, by my laptop, almost seamlessly. If this is art, it is the art of execution and efficiency, and it takes more than a utilitarian mindset to create it: it takes imagination and creativity. That is why I feel like my laptop is in some way a work of art.

Rachel Worthington: "Nature" is What We See

"Nature" is What We See:

"Nature" is what we see --
The Hill -- the Afternoon --
Squirrel -- Eclipse -- the Bumble bee --
Nay -- Nature is Heaven --
Nature is what we hear --
The Bobolink -- the Sea --
Thunder -- the Cricket --
Nay -- Nature is Harmony --
Nature is what we know --
Yet have no art to say --
So impotent Our Wisdom is
To her Simplicity.
- Emily Dickenson

In this poem, Dickenson is presenting to the reader her experience with the presence of God through his works in nature. She contemplates on nature and uses each example of it as a way to communicate how humans are inherantly one with it. The hill, bumble bee, sea, eclipse and soforth are examples of nature that humans hear, see and know; however, it is the meaning that the objects have is where one finds the divinity with in them. By discovering the beauty and meaning behind nature, one begins to understand theirself in relation to nature. Dickenson speaks of harmony between the self, nature and the Divine. Using a phenomenological approach, she attempts to represent the difference between things we simply observe with our senses with the things we engage our senses into. Lines 9 and 10 express how we know nature because we are of it, but we can only try to recreate the feeling of unity with it through art. She illudes to the notion that one can find themselves when they look for the self in nature.

Baker, Abu, and M. S. Ahmad. "Delving into the Mysteries of Dickinson's "'Nature' Is What We See"/ETUDES APPROFONDIES SUR LES MYSTÈRES DE "'NATURE' EST CE QUE NOUS VOYONS" DE DICKINSON - This Article Is an Attempt to Decipher the Meaning of Emily Dickinson's Poem 668 "'Nature' Is... - Canadian Social Science." Internet FAQ Archives - Online Education - Faqs.org. Canadian Social Science, 1 Nov. 2010. Web. Apr. 2011. .

Rachel Worthington: Religion and Art

The world that we perceive in our minds is different from the world that actually exists. When one is "seeing" something, the thing that is being observed upon gets meshed together with passions and the emotions drawn from those passions. Historian and art critic, James Elkins, asserts that "seeing alters the thing that is seen and transforms the seer," (Plate, 21). Art is a representation of what is seen, and it communicates an original presence. Of course, the word representation implies somewhat of an alteration of the original because it is conveyed by one person's individual perception. Art refreshes the seer and gives him a different way of looking at the world. Religious art, including rituals, recreates the initial essence of something so that the seer can share in the religious experience. Art is a vehicle for the senses and consciousness to escape the every day world and allows one to "see religiously," (Plate, 22). Once the seer is transformed in this way, he begins to see everything differently. One will find himself "noticing things [not] noticed before; time moves slower or faster; and new ways of thinking are" integrated into the person's overall view of the world. It is because of these affects art has on humans that religious art holds such immense power.

Plate, S. Brent. Religion, Art, and Visual Culture: a Cross-cultural Reader. New York: Palgrave, 2002. Print.

Sean Meslar- KPAX

For once, I don't have a philosopher to reference for this film. I think an interesting theme to keep in mind which relates closely to the central theme of the film is that of personal identity. Are we defined by what we think we are or the circumstances associated with our existence? While our reductionist scientific worldview tends to suggest that there is an objective definition attached to our identity, I tend to disagree. Everything that can be said to be true of a person is a byproduct of his or her mind rather than their body. This position stems from my more (philosophical)idealist/ dualist worldview which values the immaterial over the material. David Hume's sharp critique of causality destroyed any faith I had in the scientific method or the reliability or importance of the physical. So if Prot thinks that he is from KPAX, he should probably be taken to be the authority on the issue. This stance may come into conflict when we consider those who are labelled insane (as was Prot), there are many instances of the insane holding delusional truths that don't seem to correspond to anything reasonable. To this I have a, perhaps slightly comical, philosophical solution. In order to be considered sane, every person must be able to understand, articulate and demonstrate Descartes's cogito (I think therefore I am) and Aristotle's law of non-contradiction. Problem solved... just so long as the psychiatric community takes my word to be the authority.

Rachel Worthington: A Song in the Breeze

I had just gotten out of my religious studies class, where we had been discussing the power of meditation. We had been talking about how meditation could help an individual discover the one true self and become enlightened. I walked home from class that night, and as I approached my house, I felt the urge to sit out back and do a little meditating myself. I sat in the yard and just listened to the Earth, as the crickets and the wind sung softly in my ear. I heard the rythm of the nature around me, but I tried to focus on my breath. I meditated for about 20 minutes. When I opened my eyes, I felt a sense of calmness and love for nature. I sat for a few more minutes in the darkness, before I ran inside to get a pen, paper and my guitar. The song lyrics below were inspired by my realizations and sense of inner peace that I got from removing myself from the world I mindlessly perceived every day. My consciousnes felt broadened and infected with the knowledge of something I could not quite identify. I felt a powerful essence that night, which gave me a brief but glorious sense of awareness and unity with the cosmos. That essence is the focus of this song.

It is the mountains on the horizon.
No matter where you look you can't see on.
Wonder farther through the valley,
In search for this Blessed One.
As your feet collect the dust from
The wreckage of the age of time,
In yourself you'll finally find it:
A light for the blind,
On all it shines,
You will find,
In Dying 1,000 times.
As a voice whispers so softly,
you wonder if it's He or you or me.
And it's singing of the wisdom,
as the notes float on the breeze.
It's fleeting fast, you won't forget it
because it rests within our core.
You're getting closer to the One from
which all beauty was born.
Take a breath, detach and listen
and soon the world will go
and the wind will blow
then you'll know
we're all, mono-soul.

Rachel Worthington: The Cosmic Dance of Shiva

Cosmic Dance of Shiva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5hO8YFroLI&feature=related

This video is of an Indian girl dancing the Cosmic Dance of Shiva. Every movement of her body was a symbolic for the power and worship of Shiva. The third eye symbol on the girl's forehead is representative of the Shiva, both as the Destroyer and the Creator. Her movements are reenactments of the dance of the universe, as it continually is destroyed, only to be re-created again by Brahman. The placement of her fingertips in parts of the dance shaped the sacred syllable, OM, which symbolizes the beginning and the end. The purpose of the dance is to bring about a spiritual energy that exists in all of nature and the cosmos. The beauty and grace of the dancer is derived in the beauty and divinity found in nature.

Brandon Ferry - Dance and Philosophy

Sacred and Profane Beauty has brought up the subject of dance in regards to philosophy countless times as this semester has gone on. Specifically the notion of dance capturing a moment while the world seems to stop is extremely interesting to me. "The real" and everything around it are what the dancer feels during this euphoric experience, and feelings of spirituality must be intrinsically felt by the dancer as well. A world behind this world is experienced if the dancer truly loses them self in such a spiritual moment and in that case the concept of ecstasy takes hold. With such an intrinsic connection to ecstasy, the euphoric state of dance can only be completely understood by the dancers themselves as they encounter a great human experience on this earth.

Brandon Ferry - Ecstasy

In relation to the Van Der Lew text, I found the idea of ecstasy as inherently fascinating despite its complex ideology. The notion of "standing beside oneself" is a crazy concept to me and I can't help but think there are many times in my own life where I may or may not have experienced true ecstasy. Defined as being so overcome with positive emotion that it feels like you are experiencing it outside of yourself, I feel as if the ingesting of a psycho stimulant may be needed to feel that high on life. When I saw 127 Hours, I regarded the scene where Aron Ralston cuts off his own arm as a euphoric exercise of choosing life over death. Although he was in a great deal of pain, the feeling he must have experienced of being free while being lightheaded from maiming himself must have been indescribable to someone who has not encountered such a life-altering event. Ecstasy may be something I will encounter later in my life, and until that day comes, I will continue to speculate on the idea of sitting beside oneself.

Schopenhauer and Music

Nineteenth century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said that “the effect of music is so very much more powerful and penetrating than is that of the other arts, for others speak only of the shadow, but music: of the essence.” Schopenhauer’s philosophy was a groundbreaking, albeit a complex one. He viewed music as a unique kind of revelation, derived from the world of experience, also known as the phenomenal world. He believed that the “inner nature” of all things was present in individual experiences and he characterized their existence as “the will." Viewing Schopenhauer’s ideals in relation to music with a cultural vibe allows the listener to attain a great understanding of how to listen to a song and its lyrics.

Sarah Firth, Hegel: On the Arts

When reading the book ‘Hegel: On The Arts, Milestones of Thought’ (translated by Henry Paolucci) there is a passage on the romantic art form that caught my interest. Hegel states that “ In the first stage of arts development…, spirit works imaginatively to give external spiritualized form to a content which is derived from the natural sphere either directly or through conceptual abstractions above its underlying substance. In the second stage the relation is reversed: spirit it self is recognized as arts proper content, and nature supplies, with the natural form of man, the sensuous shape most adequate for spirits manifestation. Art attains classical perfection here because spiritual individuality and bodily representation interpenetrate one another completely.” I interpret this as saying that first the artist attempts form a shape the spirit of the artist works to give life to that shape and turn it in to a piece of art. Then, like all artists, the creator puts a portion of his soul in to the artwork and the art work takes on a life and a meaning of its own either through the abstraction of the artists view or the translation of the idea to paper. Although this passage is only speaking of the representation of a human form in romantic art, I believe this philosophy of the creation of art pertains to all forms of art.

Brandon Ferry - Everyday Things Seen as Art

Our text regards every art as movement and that in art the objects of life obey a particular rhythm (Van Der Lew, pg 155). I wholeheartedly agree with this notion and the idea that " powerful life can speak from a painting or statue, as though motion were frozen." These forms of art are great testaments to capturing a moment in time for another audience to interpret and to regard with a good deal of original thought. Contemporary art seems to always find groundbreaking ways to connect with its audience and relay the artist’s true emotion. No matter what the art form is, (music, film, paintings) as long as it finds a unique way to connect to its audience and say something, I see it as an extraordinary piece of art in an ordinary situation.

Brandon Ferry - Dance & Religion

Reading through the text of Sacred and Profane Beauty, I realized that dance is an extremely prevalent art form in many religious customs. Although the book states that "opposition has arisen to the dance in the early Christian Church, but even at that time, dance presented no direct danger" (Van Der Lew, pg 50), I feel that dance is regarded as unfaithful by judging, outside eyes. As dance has evolved throughout the years, so has religion and what is deemed moral or even acceptable. With a strong focus on displaying one's true feelings of religion, I believe that one should express themselves positively in order to give their entire selves, body and mind, to participating in religious customs. Maybe in my next few years, I, myself will become more religious, but if and until then, I have a great deal of respect for those who dedicate their mind, body, and souls to their positive religious beliefs.

Sarah Firth, Aristotle in ‘The Nature of Art’

In the book ‘The Nature of Beauty’ it is clear that the ancient Greek philosopher and pupil of Plato, Aristotle saw all art as representations. However, unlike Plato, Aristotle believed that art is not working against the truth but with it to relay qualities of human nature. Aristotle was very fond of poetry and drama and believed that art in poetry does not represent words but things that potentially could be. Aristotle also thought the part of art that is representational gives us pleasure. Is this because we see something familiar in the art work and this allows us to relate to the art? He believed that through art we can enjoy things that would be unpleasant if they were real. Is this saying that because something is in art form it detaches us so much from the moment captured in the artwork that what would be ugly in reality seems beautiful to us in the art?
When referring to dance, Aristotle speaks of “mimesis in the medium of rhythm.” My interpretation of this is that a dance is representing an emotion, not to imitate it, but to embody it and bring forth this emotion in the viewer’s eyes.
My impression when reading Aristotle is that, like Plato he sees art as an attempt to cop reality, but unlike his teacher, he believes that art has potential to enhance and enlighten the viewers experience of the things that are represented in art.

Brandon Ferry - Graffiti

After reading through some news articles, I found it very interesting to come across the debate of the value of graffiti. Many of these news stories labeled this form of street art as not artistic and undeserving to even be considered being placed in a museum. I disagree wholeheartedly, and although some graffiti is vandalism in the truest sense, a lot of graffiti is done with the artist trying to say something worthwhile about their own personal beliefs and values. In many cases, graffiti is utilized as a marketing technique to lure in customers and attract business. I find a good deal of graffiti as worthwhile and extremely interesting art, with true passion lying just between the lines of spray paint. As we keep continue trying to find ways to label what art is, I think if a piece of "art" can send a message to a viewer, then it has accomplished its job in a sense.

Brandon Ferry - Film as Art

Being a film studies minor, I always see filmmaking as true art in every essence of the word. Not only does every little aspect in the creation of a film (writing, directing, cinematography, acting) all qualify as art, but all together it is one big piece of art. Some films exemplify more artistic merit and value than others, but when a film is crafted with such reverence to good filmmaking, the viewer cannot do anything but respect the great film that they have seen. The above movie still from Slumdog Millionaire can be seen as a piece of art taken out of context of the movie or it can be a testament to the artform of the movie itself. Either way, a picture says a 1,000 words, while a film can say much, much more.

Brandon Ferry - Body Art & Trauma

A 2010 article by Sophie Anne Oliver entitled "Trauma, Bodies, and Performance Art: Towards an Embodied Ethics of Seeing" discussed how self-reflection should be taken into account when the piece of art is disturbing or has even maimed or injured the person in the photograph. I find this extremely interesting because I, as a viewer, need to take a step back and not only analyze the artistic merit of a piece of art, but also take into consideration the morality of such an art. Should considering morality be part of the self-reflection process when discussing art or should we just objectively view art for what it is? As I grapple with that question, I only feel as if I can gain more of an understanding of art in order to culture myself with various works of art.

Brandon Ferry - Blurry Photographs

Another outside reading which I wanted to bring attention to is an article entitled Blurred Images Put Ideas in Focus by Philip Douglis which discussed how blurry photos can still be regarded as art. It gives a great deal of reverence to the idea that art is in the eye of the beholder and different meanings for each viewer can lead to a different encounter with an art form. This blurry photo for instance can be interpreted by the viewer in many different ways, whether that be seeing the tree as the point of focus or how the lighting obscures the true time of the day. Interpretations are very subjective and in this case I don't know how else to label a blurry photograph than as art in its truest sense.

Brandon Ferry - Culture & Art Discrimination

For another outside reading, I analyzed Walter Ashe’s 2002 article entitled Dominant Cultures, Oppression, and Other Societal Issues Affecting the Identity Development of
Diverse Populations which argued that the oppressed not being able to think for themselves in relation to culture, art, and politics. Those who disregard the world and world events around them and do not participate in our society’s voting procedure do not think for themselves and never truly advance through any ranks of the country’s economic statues. Although this is a very vague argument attributed to Ashe, I see some inherent truths in it. The oppressed’s future is many times regulated by the oppressor, but one is not strictly confined to a future of being powerless. Culturing oneself with art and various religions is necessary in order to properly view the world with great subjectivity.

Sarah Firth, Kemal’s Aesthetic Judgments and Idealism.

In the book Kant and Fine Art Kemal states that “…pleasure, even in aesthetic judgment, should be explained in casual terms, as a matter of fact, rather than as a demand that must be satisfied.” My interpretation of this is that art does not need to satisfy pleasure to be beautiful. He says that explaining an object existence and how it gives us pleasure makes our endeavor to understand the object redundant. The author explains that to say that the aesthetic use of ideas is linked with understanding and interpretation is to say that art is only determined by whether it produces pleasure and so if the art of other cultures throughout time is not understood to be pleasurable it is no longer art and holds no influence on human development. Kemal does admit that much of art is of interest to people because it causes pleasure, and aesthetic judgments can stir the same emotions in the same manner. However, he says that the difference between something that is pleasing and something that has good aesthetics is that we can identify what it is that is so agreeable about a pleasing object and why it is so agreeable, but with an object that possesses aesthetics we can not.
My observation is that Kemal contradicts Hume by saying it is not an agreed understanding that establishes an object as art, but actual physical qualities that determine art to be art. My understanding of Kemal statements is he asserts that art does not have to be pleasurable to be beautiful. I would argue that the essence of beauty is creating some sort of pleasure whether it is the pleasure of an unfamiliar feeling, the pleasure of being in awe or surprise, or the pleasure of a revelation derived indirectly from the beauty. However, not all art must be beautiful.

Sarah Firth, The Artist’s Intentions

Poems about Art, By: Sri Chinmoy
“My Art is no art without my mind's simplicity. My Art does not want to subscribe to the view that unhappiness commands the world. When I paint or draw, I keep my mind's thought-garden completely free of self-doubt-weeds. My Art is the hide-and-seek between my soul's illumining smiles and my heart's streaming tears. The Artist in me has three faithful, sleepless and self-giving friends: a newness-eye, a oneness-heart and a fullness-life. The heart of my Art and the heart of a child are extremely fond of each other. They love each other deeply; they need each other constantly; they are interdependent, sleeplessly. My mind says that anything I do is too insignificant because I am wanting in qualification. Needless to say, this includes my Artwork. My heart says that anything I do is too significant because the God-Touch is always there. Needless to say, this includes my Artwork. The moment I start painting, I clearly see my soul-meditation is blessingfully clasping my heart-aspiration-flames. First things first: the Artist in me, before embarking on his Artwork, invariably catches his heart's aspiration-express. True, in my Art I want to see the face of earth's beauty. But I want to see the heart of Heaven's Divinity more, infinitely more.”
(http://www.srichinmoypoetry.com/poems_quote/poems_about_art/)
I read through this poem and to me what the artist is trying to say is that he has these entities and feelings and this love inside of his heart and inside of his soul. He wants to bring these things out in to reality so he can see them and marvel at them and share them with the world and art allows him to do that. In the process of doing so his art also filters out his fears and his self doubt and takes him out of the negative places in his heart. The art that comes from inside him gives him hope and fulfillment in a way that external things do not. I believe these feelings are synonymous with the experiences of many artists and illustrate the purpose of many artists’ creations. The artist is seeking completion from his art and desires to communicate what is in his soul.

Eric Shulman on Students Adapting to CNU

Coming in as a freshmen here at CNU, everything looked spectacular. The great lawn was bright green as it extended about three different buildings, there was peaceful noises as you could hear the birds chirping and the wind howling, and there actually was not a hastle to find a parking spot for afternoon classes. All of that has changed in just short years here at CNU. It's landscape has been completely flipped upside down, and it has been tough to adapt to. All around campus, students see construction workers cutting down and rebuilding more and more buildings as the years go on. All students hear during the day now is the hammering or the sawing of wood or metal on the different buildings around the school. Parking lots have been closed and narrowed down to allow workers the right to maneuver. The great lawn has been narrowed down to half of what it used to be...as students see less and less people picnicking or throwing the frisbee. Individuals, however, must adapt to this because all that is ahead of us is a brighter and better CNU. Although a brighter and better CNU for students will probably come after my two more years. Oh well, CNU will eventually be an amazing place to look back on saying, "Hey, I went to school there!"

Brandon Ferry - Buddhism

After reading the outside reading article Listening to the Buddha's Own Words: Direct Participation as a Principle of the Teachings of the Buddha, I saw that the main theme prevalent in the article was that more studies into the religious and spiritual sides of communication are needed by those practicing the faith. Direct participation with the religious art of Buddhism are seen as a direct communication with the Buddha himself and with greater understanding of this religion, we can strive to see beauty in all forms of benign religious practices. being from a Christian background, I personally see Buddhism as an extremely deep religion that allows one to get more in touch with their artistic and spiritual sides.

Brandon Ferry - Hawaii's Culture & Religion

As an outside reading/documentary, I chose the PBS film Hawaii's Last Queen as an interesting source to analyze. Christianity played a large part in forever influencing Hawaiian culture and the spread of this religion even altered Queen Lili’uokalani’s identity and values since she grew up with its prevalence in her own society. I personally can see how Christianity could influence the natives so much, since I have attended Catholic school for a good portion of my own education. I can imagine that scare tactics were used by the missionaries in order to manipulate the Hawaiian people, especially those at such a young age. Although I saw great benefit in attending Catholic school as a kid, I constantly considered the ramifications of my daily actions and was scared whether I would go to Hell because an authority figure made me fearful if I ever went against religious rules and doctrine. I believe that fear can be a powerful tool and I assume that the missionaries used it to become authority figures to the natives, at least in religious functions at first.

Hawaii's Last Queen. PBS Documentaries. 2007.

Brandon Ferry - Hoover Dam Photo

This seemingly ordinary photograph of the Hoover Dam may appear on the surface to be an innocuous photo of one of America's most treasured landmarks, but when the background of its existence is taken into account, it becomes all the more breathtaking. Standing 890-feet above the Colorado river, the Hoover Dam provides hydroelectricity to over a million people as well as providing water to 20 million residents of Western states. This particular photo, with the subtle colors of the dam contrasting the dark blue water adjacent to it, speaks volumes to me with an incredible amount of beauty and veracity. Although man is responsible for the construction of the dam, the natural elements of its reasons for existence in all their glory make me value the simple act of snapping this picture from an aerial view.

Brandon Ferry - BP oil spill martini

Defining beauty is sometimes a rather challenging task, since the classic phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" seems to hold an incredible weight of truth. After I came across this photo of a martini inspired by the tragic BP oil spill, I had mixed feelings regarding its true beauty. At first, it seems as if it is a disrespectful "tribute" to the tragedy that glued Americans to their tv sets for months, but after researching its origins, all proceeds from the drink will go directly to Greater New Orleans Foundation's Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund. With this fact in mind, the image of this drink and the intentions behind it invest a great deal in true beauty after a unspeakable disaster.

Link to story & photograph: http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2010/august/140603/Anna-Maria-Island-bar-creates-BP-martini

Brandon Ferry - Underground "Mail Rail" Photographs

Through simply reading through the top stories at yahoo.com, I stumbled upon a crop of beautifully fascinating photographs of an abandoned post office railway in London. Constructed in the 1920's, as an elaborate way to shuttle mail back and forth, this "mail rail" used intricate underground tunnels to great use. With the discovery of the mail rail, photographers jumped at the opportunity to visually document the cold, industrial-like beauty of a relic from our American past. Viewing these photos, I felt as if I was experiencing an abandoned past, ripe with disregarded potential. The photos themselves survive along with the original mail rail as pieces of a forgotten time in American history.

Link to photos: http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792

Sarah Firth, On Hume’s Standard of Taste

Hume’s idea is each individual’s taste is their own so there can be no standard of judgment. On the contrary we have critics who are able to say whether something is good art or not art at all. Are these just people with enough clarity of mind to truly see what maybe the popular idea of beauty; or are they individuals who only adhere to the precedents of judgments set by an isolated group of individuals in the artistic world? If the latter is true, how do we know that these standards that have been set are not also subjective to a particular individual’s or group of individuals taste?
I agree with Hume that there could be some qualities that most of the world considers beautiful. However, I do not believe that any quality is universally beautiful. There is no one feature that transcends time and culture and is ultimately beautiful in every human beings eyes.
I agree with the idea that all sentiments are right because a sentiment is only in reference to itself: a person’s feelings. However, I believe any determination or understanding can become truth whether it has always been truth or not. This is because understandings are concepts and concepts only exist in the mind. The only people who can confirm these concepts to be true are the people who think them. Therefore, if a group of people understand something to be true then the concept is true, and so becomes a part of reality to the individuals whose truth it is. If an understanding is disproven to an individual who once thought it was true, then it is no longer an understanding. An example of this is the popular practice of blood letting as a cure all for illnesses in medieval Europe. Though modern medicine has disproven its effectiveness, it still stands that the blood letting technique was understood to be a true multipurpose medicine in those times.

Eric Huggins - Art as Cognition, Aristotle

Unlike Plato, Aristotle sees art (including music, dance, literature, painting, and sculpture) as representational. He claims that we see art as pleasurable in the sense of the virtue in which it is represented. So when you view something that looks very aesthetically pleasing, and you can’t understand why, this is a good explanation. I can understand how a painting, or a sculpture is representational; but what about music? Music without lyrics is nothing more than tones, strung together in melody and sometimes harmony to produce a coordinated noise that we find pleasing. Can it represent the pain of a wronged lover, or the joy of a new season? How do we distinguish between these? Beauty is certainly in the eye (or ear) of the beholder, especially when it comes to music.

When it comes to poetry, or literature produced in a play or opera, Aristotle argues that a more successful tragedy has a wronged character that an audience can identify with. This can explain why women can relate to stories about a woman being wronged by a man and thus the phrase, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” came from. Also, this would explain why men relate to a story about a man who tragically loses his family and seeks vengeance.

It’s amazing how each philosopher makes a legitimate case for their view of art. Beauty is certainly in the eye of the beholder, but how do we determine what art is more beautiful than another? When I have kids, my little girls’ drawing of her and her daddy – to me – is going to be so much more beautiful than any Monet or Picasso. Maybe there is something there…

Rachel Worthington: Art and the Divine

Religious art communicates emotions and messages to the audience. This image tells the story of human existence. In the center is Brahman. The entirety of life comes from Brahman. As the painting shows, the souls who did not reach enlightenment are again reborn through the earth, as we are now. Once the souls have reached enlightenment, they divorce the worldly and can be free from rebirth. This painting illustrates the connection between nature, beauty, humans and the divine. Since the divine and nature share a relationship, we all are one with nature and the divine, yet we are separate as well. As we spring from nature, the way in which we can find Brahman is through nature.

Sarah Firth, Beautiful Companionship

Reality is tricky. Sometimes you can be so sure that you have a firm grasp on it but you truly are living behind the smoke screen of your own bias. The only thing that we have to keep us grounded to reality is our own experiences and the reflection of our selves that other people show us. If our ego gets in the way of our better judgment and experience, we only have our trusted friends to bring us back to our true form. Plato thinks of degrees of reality as a line. The least real is images, then bodies, and then concepts then true forms. If we only rely on our experience to guide us in life, experiences can only be created by objects, so we only rely on the physical images and the body of these things to guide us. Thus, according to Plato, we are relying in things that are less real. When we rely on the companionship of a true friend we are relying on the encounters we have had between our selves and another person. These encounters are more real because another person also has an ego and experiences thus they can relay concepts and reciprocate ideas. In this way it is easier to appreciate a companion in their true form which is the ultimate reality in Plato’s theory.

Sarah Firth, The Cupid and Psyche Syndrome

In class we had a discussion about the story of Cupid and Psyche. The story goes that the most beautiful princess in the land was said to be more beautiful then The goddess of beauty her self, Aphrodite. This rumor angers Aphrodite so she sends her son, Cupid, to go make Pshyche fall in love with the ugliest beast in the land. In the process of doing this task Cupid pricks himself on one of his love arrows and falls instantly in love with Psyche. He then whisks her away to his “castle” in the far away mountains. Psyche's sister comes to visit her and sees that she is not living in a castle but a terrible raggedy place. Some how, over time Psyches’ sister also falls pray to the delusions until a guide brings her back to reality with the power of reason. The guide is not able to bring Psyche back into reality because Psyche is in love with the world that she exists in. In a sense her lack of reason is her longing for death because she longs to be closer to the gods and her love cupid. The moral of the story, those who are deluded by their own fantasies and refuse reason are suicidal in a sense. From the religious point of view the message could be perceived as; one must see reason before delving completely in to blind faith. This story however reminds me of much of the sheltered life that college students live, and could be extended to the comfortable life that most Americans live. We are so distracted by the beautiful world that we make around our selves that we don’t see that the rest of the world is rotting right in front of our eyes.

Rachel Worthington: A Wilderness Experience

When I lived in Montana, it was impossible to not see beauty in nature every day. I recall an experience I had one warm summer night. It was the night after graduation, a girlfriend and I went for a walk in the valley near school. A heat storm had been brewing all evening, and it was dark by now. Every few moments the sky would escape the darkness, as the lightning illuminated it with flashes of purple and white. All the stars seemed to twinkle as brighly as the lightning bolts. On the mountains ahead, little fires were igniting from nature's electricity. Trees would burst into flames, simmer to a steady burn and moments later, the fire would vanish. We stood there together, but it felt as if we were in two different worlds. I watched as the fires danced across the mountains. I felt an essence all around me, not a presence, and it felt divine. I don't necessarily believe what I was experiencing came from a spiritual being, but I think beauty in nature captured me that night. it opened all of my senses at once and allowed me to have an experience with a phenomena that I will never forget.

Sarah Firth, Ugly Nature

I could never perceive the natural world as a whole as being ugly, though there are so many things in nature that are terrible looking. There are so many beautiful things in nature that can’t be ignored even though there are many perils that are ready to attack at any moment. The beauty of a flower, the warmth of the sun, the smell of fresh air, how could anyone have ever thought of the outdoors as disdainful? These times when nature was so close it was an ugly enemy are so different then today, where nature is an exotic stranger. This might not be so in other parts of the world where nature’s bad temper still has the lives of some people hanging in the balance, such as Niger and Somalia. Nature may have also recreated it self as an enemy in places such as Japan and Thailand. Though nature may be overwhelming it is still beautiful. The fact that nature is so overpowering may be why it was once so hard to see in the past. We have been taught that beauty that is sublime is often also feared in some way. When artists started painting nature scenes in art people started admiring nature. Perhaps art served as a looking glass that people could safely stand behind to view nature as beautiful.

Lauren Achtemeier: Leaving nothing behind

Discussion in class about the Appalachian Trail hiker called CC leaving his poles behind got me thinking about the “leave no mark” philosophy. I agreed with his decisions to throw the sticks away so as not to degrade the experience for others, since it was not his mountain to claim. I feel like similar acts can be applied to other things in nature. In some circumstances, the photography of wild animals seems to leave a huge mark upon the poor animals subjected to out of control human curiosity. It also tends to imply that a person is claiming that space as their own through picture taking domination, instead of sharing it with the animal. I witnessed someone camera bully a raccoon the other day on the edge of campus First off, guy seriously invaded the animals space by coming within a couple feet of it, then proceeded to snap three pictures with flash in the animals face, the whole while it was prevented from escaping due to construction fencing. It is plausible that the animal was temporarily blinded the guy’s lack of respect. The guy with the camera does not own the lawn anymore than the raccoon. It was simply out scrounging for food. The camera bullying was the guy’s way of leaving a mark upon an act of nature, instead of simply enjoying the moment. It may not be the Appalachian trail, but leaving marks upon animals in a local environment only continues destruction of the nature around us, instead of letting it be.