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1. Hopi Native American creation of the Kachina Dolls

2. Ogata Korin artwork of wind god and thunder god

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The Arts of Edo Era and Hopi

I picked the Edo era and Hopi to learn as well as share their historic and artistic events. I am going to start with the Edo era and how the art of Edo has begun. The Edo era is in Japan where the society had experienced a stable environment that is fueled by a military society. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the leader who created this fortunate event, which is called the Edo period. Edo can be referred to the time period and is also known as the city of Edo which is now called Tokyo.

Tokugawa is a commander that was known for creating a “military career that expanded for six decades with a victory of Sekigahara” making him a successful shogun for the nation. The Edo period was the final period of traditional Japan to have “internal peace, political stability, and economic growth.” prior to the environment Japan was having, Artisan and merchants business began to start booming in the year sixteen fifteenth because there was an increase in demands for luxury goods. The artisan and merchant were known as “chonin” which meant people of the blocks. “Artists catered to chonin tastes, as well as continuing to produce for the traditional art patrons in the elite classes of the nobility and samurai.  As the Edo period changed, the artist became a success in their finances and better educated. They became known as a genius creator and were celebrities.”

“The Edo period is one of the richest in the history of Japanese art.”  Artist created pieces with screen paintings, scrolls, sculptures, ceramics, lacquers, textiles, and woodblock prints. One of the art pieces that is part of the important development to the Edo period is Ukiyo-e which means “painting the floating world” and is created out of woodblock prints. “The paintings’ subjects served as important cultural figures: fashion icons, celebrities, and even stand-ins for historical and legendary characters.”  The characters in the painting were called “binjin” known as beauties. The artist wanted to symbolize the ideals of “style and sophistication.” In the Buddhist perspective, uki means “sadness” and “yo”  is life and all of it together it is “the sadness of life.”

 Two artists that “came from families of cultural significance named Hon’ami Kōetsu and Tawaraya Sōtatsu.” They were both known for their spectacular arts and the history of it during the peak of the Edo period. Hon’ami came from a family of swordsmith who served the shogun, samurais, and the great warlords. Hon’ami did not have as much interest in making swords as he did with painting. He and his relative, Tawaraya did the same type of artwork except Tawaraya’s work had more bolded outlines and outstanding colors. Tawaraya and Hon’ami found “a school of painting that was continued by Ogata Kōrin, the style of which was colorful and strongly decorative, recapturing the Yamato-e tradition of classical Japan.” This is where they both became well-known for their arts. Tawaraya famous artwork is the folding screen titled “Wind and Thunder God.”  Tawaraya use of colors mainly “gold and silver influenced a later artist named Ogata Korin” who was the one that continued the school of painting. Ogata was a samurai “who had served under the Ashikaga rulers and was related to a famous calligrapher and swordsmith, Hon’ami Kōetsu”, He started art because he lost his fortune that he had inherited. It was his way of work to make a living. His fame for his art peaked around the year of sixteen ninety-seventh, his first masterpiece was a screen fold that was painted with flowers and autumn leaves. As of today, all their beautiful artwork is now owned by a popular museum called MOA Museum of Art, where it is displayed and shared for the audience to see and learn about the Japanese historical events.

  Next topic is Hopi. Hopi is a Native American tribe that is very well-known for its arts and crafts. They create a lot of things such as woven items, kachina dolls, and pottery. The Native Americans who created this famous art are located in northeastern Arizona. Their ancestor created a tradition to create this specific art, the people were called pueblo Indians or the Anasazi. They were people who lived in the pueblo and were known for their prolong tradition with farming.

 Hopi was best known about kachina dolls, it is part of the Pueblo culture. These dolls were made as gifts by men and to be given to little girls and for the boys, they would bows and arrow at a special ceremony. The word Kachina is a religion in the Native American, they do not just make dolls but also mask. Men wear these mask to perform a correct ritual dance for the tradition. They use these mask and dolls to represent the “500 divine and ancestral spirit beings who interact with humans over the years.”  They teach children and identify the kachina dolls that represent the spirits. One powerful Kachina doll that the Native American created and is well-known in their religion is He-e-wuhti. The doll has a black face representing what of a warrior she is. She is “powerful and terrible to behold. She holds a bow and her hair is tied up on one side onto the wooden form used to create the “Whorl” hair design of a Hopi maiden. Her hair is down and flowing on the other side, the aspect in which she was found as her mother was preparing her hair when an enemy attacked the Pueblo.” This warrior took over her father’s bow and lead women and men to defend Pueblo.

 Another beautiful artistic creation from the Native Americans is their pottery. Pottery in their town, Hopi was discovered in the eighteen-nineties. A woman name Nampeyo created her own form of art and is recognized worldwide to be a famous artist from the Hopi culture. Her husband who works on an excavation took shards of its “ancient pottery home.” and brought it to her making this type of art inspiration bloom.

Another woman named Grace Chapella who was also a potter who is neighbor with Nampeyo. She has lived for about a hundred and six years and continued making pottery until she passed. Grace was known as a “The White Pottery Lady,” because of the off-white color of her pots. She sold the wares at the trading post established by Tom Polacca who was also a Tewa from First Mesa.” Her stunning artwork is displayed forever in the Brooklyn Museum.

Work Cited:

 https://www.nga.gov/research/publications/pdf-library/edo-art-in-japan.html

 http://education.asianart.org/explore-resources/background-information/artists-and-patrons-edo-period-1615-1868

 https://www.britannica.com/event/Tokugawa-period

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/ieyasu_tokugawa.shtml

 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sotatsu

 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/the-edo-period/

 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ogata-Korin

 https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/south-east-se-asia/japan-art/a/ogata-krin-red-and-white-plum-blossoms

 http://scalar.usc.edu/works/american-indian-film-archive/hopi-arts-and-crafts

 https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-82007549/hopi-art-modern-symbols-of-an-ancient-people-tradition

 https://www.camerontradingpost.com/kachinas.html

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art and craft

Art and Craft are two forms of creativity that society is debating about. Some may believe that it is the same thing and some think there are differences to it. I did a few types of research about it and found a variety of answers about art and craft. I found a video on youtube that takes you back to when art and craft were started. I watched a video published by Ted-ed that a woman named Laura Morelli explains about the history of art and craft and how both of the meaning has transformed over time. Of a former period, around the thirteenth hundred craft was not originally considered art back then nor the concept of art has existed yet. At the time villagers needed a type of income to survive so, they decided to create crafty things such as a vase, lace printed wine glass, swords, and much more; These job titles became either a stonemason, blacksmith, a hatmaker, or a presco painter. Patrons would take their work collectively instead of individually and take the credit of those who created the crafts. Until the year fourteen hundred, people started to separate the idea of art and craft. In Florence, Italy people created a new cultural idea that is called the “Renaissance humanism.” “ Florentine intellectual began to spread the idea of reformulating classical Greek and Romans work while placing on a greater value on individual creativity then collective production” which later in fifteenth fifty artists began to grow more popular and made a petition with the patron for their merit. Then the society grew and the idea of art has expanded, an artist who creates paintings, sculptures, and architecture were considered art and the artist were well-known for their masterpieces. The people who created the candlesticks, gold jewelry, and wrought irons gate were known as “artisan.”  This is the root of art and craft when the idea began. With Laura’s lecture I got a better idea of what is craft and how it was reformed, then I continued to research how and why is it different from art. The difference between art and craft is that craft is planned out; there are certain methods and steps to create the masterpiece whereas “art” you do not have to plan it, it just becomes in the making. Artisan crafts, because it can be another way to be artistic since their skills on art (painting, sculpture, and etc.), is not up to par. Art is a way to express emotion and craft is a piece of work which is displays as an artistic creation. When an artist creates a painting, their purpose is to make the audience experience a feeling. Craft is what attracts the audience. The only thing that craft and art has in common is its value. In medieval times, they consider a lace wine glass art because it valued the society that they are in and that is when the idea of craft and art start to merge. Some artisan paint on their pieces therefore, some art is part of it. In some cases, both terms can be put together but it won't be the same definition. In my perspective, I do not believe craft is not art. It is a different term for a reason, and it is very different from art. They share the same artistic creativity but craft falls into a different category. They title the creator of the masterpieces different to show that it is a difference. I found a comparison that helps spreads out different views. It explains how craft is more of an activity that is to be learned and skilled, that the mind is where the creation of craft began and not the heart like art.

Cindy Sherman is a contemporary artist who does photography as her artwork. She first started her work in the nineteen fifties taking black and white photos. She took many photos of women expressing stereotypes on them. This is a way to express feminism and she believes the world perceives a woman as. Another contemporary artist is Olivier Jamin, he has been deaf ever since he was born and specialized in hand-drawn multi-colored art and stencil graffiti art. He aims to spread awareness of deaf and disabilities.

Work cited: https://keydifferences.com/difference-between-art-and-craft.html http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-art-and-craft/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVdw60eCnJI / https://www.thebroad.org/art/cindy-sherman

https://www.ojart.net/

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Black painting canvas

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Necklace with compartment for “magical text”

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Music Swing By Dove

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saraswati 

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Parvati 

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Goddess Durga 

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Art Institute Of Chicago

I decided to do the field trip as a date for valentine’s day. I went to the Art Institute of Chicago, it was spectacular and adventurous exploring all different types of artwork. There is a lot I really liked and it was hard to find anything to dislike considering the majority of the art pieces were fantastic. As I browse through the museum, I found a few favorites of mine. I stopped and admired at a necklace displayed in a glass case. The necklace has an image of a military saint riding a horse and a compartment build inside for “magical texts”. The description explains that this necklace purpose is to put “magical texts” in the sliding compartment and those “magical texts” are supposed to protect the person who is wearing the necklace. This necklace is made by a  Syrian or an Armenian silversmith and is given to the Easter Christian. This is one of my favorites because this necklace in a way reminds me of a locket. But instead of memories being locked inside the necklace, it is a good charm. I have a big belief on the powers of words and law of attraction which is why this caught my eye. It shows that in history, that they value protection and good luck. This is a unique piece to give someone you care about.

As I continued to go through the museum, I found the modern art section which is where I found this one artwork that is my least favorite. It is a canvas painted over with only the color black. I dislike it because there is not much detail to it nor color. At first, I was disappointed thinking that it was an easy painting just colored in black, but as I took the time to record my feelings over 15 minute my emotions and perspective changed. I felt that it is very depressing to look at, and the painting almost gives you a feeling of emptiness. I had a strong feeling toward this piece of art because I can connect that the artist is not in a positive state, and seems lonely. Looking at the piece, there are textured lines beneath the black paint, as if the artist had completed a painting only to cover it with black paint. It was not necessarily dark in the emotional sense, just lonely or melancholy even. The black felt like a blue like an artist had the blues. This was the most interesting art piece to observe out of the museum.

As I start heading out of the museum, I slowly observed the Asia culture art pieces once more. A sculpture caught my eye, the sculpture title is  “Goddess Durga Slaying the Buffalo Demon”, It is displayed with a woman putting her one foot down on a bull and raising her arms up showing that she is strong and invincible. The story behind about Goddess Durga is that she posses the combined energy of all the gods to defeat the buffalo demon that is called “ Mahishasura.” This is how the Goddess Durga story began; The demon buffalo Mahishasura conquered earth and was not satisfied, which lead him to want to go in heaven and start invading. Mahishasura then battled the king of Gods, Indra. Indra went to go ask the Lord Brahma, who is a god creator, to help him defeat the buffalo demon that has invaded earth and heaven. Lord Brahma insists to meet with Lord Vishnu, who is the maintainer of gods and Lord Shiva, whose responsibility is to destroys or transform gods about the crises they are facing. The three gods discuss the problem that was being faced and spoke about how the demon can be defeated by a woman. There were three goddess names Parvati, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Parvati is the goddess of love and beauty. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth. Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge. The Gods took all three goddesses and merged their powers as one, and that is how the name Durga was created. “The Goddess introduced herself in the same melodious and strong voice of Mahadevi, "I am Katyayani because I was formed in the ashram of Katyayan. I am Durga [Durga literally translated in Sanskrit means "the invincible"]. I am the incarnation of the Mahadevi and I have come here to destroy all evil."  This sculpture has a big history behind it and I really like that it shows girl power and the beauty of how a woman can be strong and protective of her people.

For the art analysis, I observe an art piece called swing music (Louis Armstrong) created by Arthur Dove.  Arthur had a connection to music and art, he enjoyed listening to jazz and swing while painting. In the painting, the background is pitch black and has red irregular forms showing the rhythm of how jazz and swing are played. Dove portrays the color red in the association of Armstrong’s trumpet which is known as “red, hot, trumpet.” The art that inspired dove was the viewing in the year 1937 film Artists and Models which is where Armstrong and his band were spotted. Then a year after Dove creates “music swing” which ended up in the Art Institute of Chicago later on. My judgment on Dove’s art piece is that it is very authentic. I admired that Dove let jazz and swing music take control of his feeling and put it on a canvas showing how the rhythms and the color associated with Armstrong. It shows a good ideal of how music and art connect together.

Work cited:

http://hindumythologyforgennext.blogspot.com/2011/12/goddess-durga-slayer-of-mahisha.html

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~asi/musi212/emily/dove2.html

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/65901/swing-music-louis-armstrong

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Feminist Aesthetic

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Native American Aesthetic

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art & beauty

The study of art and beauty is known to be called aesthetics. It is about all types of arts in the works that can be related to a cultural object or a particular type of style. Aesthetic creates all kinds of design that includes transcendence, symmetry, texture, edge delineation and harmony. The word aesthetics can vary its definition apart from the study of art and beauty. Aesthetic is an adverb and adjective that relates to medicine as in aesthetics medicine and also cosmetology. The word came from the Ancient Greek, originally called “aisthetikos” meaning sensitive, sentient, and esthetic.

Art is a form of communication to expose what the artist is experiencing. Art is something people do, it requires a creative process and skills to put in the making of art. The creative process comes from the emotions of the artist.  Art is where we express our feeling towards something in ways words can not be put into. It is a method where we can put our desires, intuitions, and thoughts into creation as a way to carry our intent. It is where we can take our meaning on another level. It is a way of grasping the human world and the world of society.

The differences with art and beauty are that art is about who has produced whereas beauty depends on who is looking. It depends on each individual to judge what is beauty to them. There is are measures that go along with what we expect beauty to be. “It is measures of affect, and measures of emotion.” Beauty is only a personal judgment that no one can be inflicted to it. It is what brings excitement in our brains; it is a special emotion that beauty brings upon to society. It almost relates to happiness, as Stendhal said: “beauty is a promise of happiness.” The quote defines that beauty will affect each individual in happiness if they come to find what beauty is to them. Beauty is not only about art pieces but it can be in nature, a theme, or a person. It comes within all different size, shape, and color, but depend on an individual to decide what beauty is to them.

Art and Beauty do not equal as one but it is always associated with each other. Art is what embraces beauty. Beauty and art have something in common, they both require to have human emotions in order to exist. Without human emotion, we would not be able to create art and have our own point of view to what is beauty. Art requires our desires, intuitions, and thoughts to be put into the work of art while beauty needs excitement and euphoria. “Art and Beauty has arose during the eighteenth century in Europe. A group of philosophers got together and developed such fields as poetry, sculpture, music, and dance.  These fields were classified as art and were put into one category as les beaux or also know as the fine arts.”

Over the centuries the relationship between art and beauty have changed from then. Many people have argued what type of art that is to be aesthetic, but the type of arts is so different that no one’s concepts could explain them all, each piece of work has its own expression and its own values for the aesthetic perspective. In society, not all people will agree on things, so people develop a special aesthetic on their terms.  A few examples of the category of aesthetic are  “Black aesthetic, feminist aesthetic, Native American aesthetic, and Asian aesthetics.” This is proof that there is no single dignified idea or the main focus of a theme that can grasp the artistic experience for all people. Another example, Feminists have not been happy with the way aesthetics is played out for a while. The reason why they are not happy with it is because they point out “how white males are the one who has articulated the perspective for beauty in the eighteenth century.” Aesthetic was originally defined as “man of taste”. It means that a man’s judgment is depended on what is beauty and what is not. Feminist use the category feminist aesthetic to demonstrate how art is understood by using society issues such as gender. Historically and in the present, we have witnessed how a persons gender identity greatly impacts the society, the feminists use artistic tools to overrule that issue in society.

A lot has changed over the decades from the eighteenth century until now, it changed so much because new things are happening every day and it brings new ideas to each individual. Art creates a shortcut to explore our experiences and feelings towards something, so in this artistic world people are able to spread their thoughts and passion to others and hope to make a connection in the viewer’s eyes. Art doesn’t have to be beautiful in order to be called “art”, that is not the point. Art is supposed to be where we convey ideas, thoughts, and emotions, it expresses the meaning of what the artist has presented. It goes miles down about a story, the experiences, and beliefs. Overall, it is art and beauty that influenced society greatly and has expanded so many creative imaginations that are now exposed as beautiful masterpieces for the world to see.

work cited: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/wellness/1987/01/27/beauty-through-history/301f7256-0f6b-403e-abec-f36c0a3ec313/?utm_term=.3413b50e3cd8

http://www.feministezine.com/feminist/modern/Feminist-Aesthetics-Main.html