Documentary Response 5

Our last field trip of this amazing trip was to Dublin again. I love Dublin. The atmosphere of it is amazing! I love the feeling of the busy city. It is really neat to see all the new era things mixed in with all the old building and history there. Both trips there I have come back with wonderful new information about Ireland. On this trip we went to the Chester Beatty Library and we went to Trinity College.

 

I really enjoyed the Chester Beatty Library and all of the collections. Chester Beatty was a very rich Irish-American who collected so many wonderful things over his lifetime.He made his fortune mining in Cripple Creek, Colorado and that is where he earned the name King of Copper. He started collecting Oriental art and books. His collection ranged for Chinese art to Japanese literature. By the 1940's he had built up a very nice collection. Also by this time he owned 19 ancient Egyptian papyri. In 1950, he moved his collection to Dublin. Then the collection was moved into the Dublin castle in 2000 and that is where it is located today. Sadly, we could not take pictures of any parts of his collection. It was such a grand exhibit. The Chester Beatty Library is not a small place it has three levels and is full of items, but it only shows about a third of Chester Beatty collection. I would love to go back to the exhibit and take hours to look at everything!!

 

Then we went to the famous Trinity College! The college was founded in 1592 as the "mother" of a new university. The name was the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin before it was changed to Trinity College. That was a good move to change the name. Could you image saying, "Why yes good sir I go to the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin," you would be out of breath after saying that. :) When the college was founded it was an all male college. However, in 1904 woman were finally admitted as full members of the college.

 This is the original entrance to the college!

 This is the bell tower, which only rings for meal times, exams, and graduation!!

 

Besides being a beautiful old college Trinity is famous for two more reasons. The main reason is for The Book of Kells which has a lavishly decorated copy of the four gospels in Latin. it was associated with St. Colum Cille who founded a monastery off the west coast of Scotland on an island called Iona in about 561. The Book of Kells was probably made in the 9th century by the monks of Iona. And of course you could not take any pictures of this grand book. I was a little disappointed by the book. Only because it has been made into such a tourist site that it isn't very pleasurable to see it.

What I really enjoyed was the Long Room which is the longest library in the world. It is 65 meters long, it contains 200,000 of the Library's oldest books in oak bookcases. It is so amazing to see all the books and think about all the knowledge that is in that room. Also being a complete nerd, like myself, the smell of the old books is wonderful. When you walk in you are hit by the smell of books. I got that feeling I always get when I open a new book to read. Luckily we could take picture in here :)

 As you first walk into the beautiful Long Room!!

I wanted to climb up that ladder so badly just feel the old covers and flip the pages!!

 

 

Just Some Extras:

 

 In the Garden on the roof of The Chester Beatty Library!!

A cool looking piece of art on the Trinity College Campus!!

And well me of course!!!





Memorial Project!

When we got this assignment I was a little stumped on what memorial I was going to do. I thought about to doing one for the Holocaust or maybe Ground Zero. However, I felt like I was taking the easy way out if I did not do an Irish memorial while I was in Ireland. For that reason I have picked is Famine Memorial by Edward Delaney (1930-2009) located in  St Stephan's Green Park in Dublin. The reason I have picked this one is because on the first trip to Dublin on June 27th my class, Nick Norwood's World Literature, actually walked through this park. I was actually fascinated by this piece of art in the beginning of the park, so naturally I took my own pictures of it.

 This is the picture I took of the memorial!

And is just a better angle.

 

This memorial is dedicated to the Great Famine that hit Ireland between 1845 and 1852. This was a horrible time for the Ireland's population. One million people died and then one million people left the country. The reason for the famine is because the potato crop got hit with the disease know as  potato blight which at the time was most Irish families main source of food. It hit the middle class and lower classes the most. It was a horrible time for the Irish nation.

 

It is an abstract piece. The figures do not completely look like humans. I think he choose to do abstract and make these figures look abnormal to get the point across. That the Great Famine did so much damage to the human body, because of the hunger people went though it changed their bodies into things that were not recognizable. People were skin and bones and Edward Delanery did not want to sugar coat it. He was trying to remind the public of the ugliness of the famine. When asked Delanery said "Truth lies in proportions, not in size." Well in1971, the memorial was blown up by unhappy citizens and had to be reconstructed by the artist, and through the blast only the head survived of one figure.

 

The memorial is created by using the lost-wax method of bronze casting. It is human sized and has that blue tent of the bronze casting. It simple has a wall behind it and two potted flower plants on either side of it. I believe he wanted to get a reaction from the public so putting in a public park was probably the best idea. Being in a park you know people are going to see it. You can walk all the way around the figures. You can tell that Edward Delanery wanted the entire piece to be a statement, because even the backside of the figures were odd shaped. 

 This is from a different angle to show you the sides of the figures and the black and white takes it to the new level. Not having any color makes it seems more uncomfortable.

 These are the flowers by the memorial!

 

Even though this memorial is not very well known it is powerful. Like I said earlier looking at the figures makes you start thinking about why these people are so deformed and then finding out that it is about the Great Famine hits you hard. The artist wanted to make you do a double take, to make you think, and to make you feel the sadness of this disaster. That is why I choose to do this piece, because it made me do all three of those things the moment I saw it in the park.  

Documentary Response 4

This past trip we went to Kilkenny which was this beautiful little town. I had so much fun walking down the streets and find neat shops. They had clothing stores I have never seen or been in. The town also had some very nice places to eat.
Our group want several places. However, my favorite was the Butler Museum in the Kilkenny Castle. The exhibit was called Point of no return by Magnhild Opdol. The artist is really into to nature and the death that occurs in nature.

So I am now going to show some of her work and tell you want I believe it to mean. Well here we go...

Fawn; Bronze (Unique), hand blown glass. 2013 Fear of the Unknown

The artist took this worthless plastic toy and casted it into bronze, then sat the fawn by himself, and he is facing another picture called Fear of the unknown. It is a vintage post card where the artist used a black marker and took out the background which only left the two small deer to see. I believe she was trying to get the view to understand how we care more about a piece if it has more value tied to it, because if she had left it the way it was we would look at it and say that's just plastic and move on from that piece. Now the reason she had the fawn standing alone and facing the postcard is to show the he wants to be in a group. That the fawn does not like to stand alone. Then the postcard represents that only two deer together is not as safe as three deer together.

  The Silence After, Pencil on paper, 2013

During the tour I caught myself staring at this piece for a long time. This is actually a scene from the Disney movie Bambi. Magnhild Opdol actually removed all the animals and colors, so it only a creepy grayscale forest. While I looked at this piece I get this deep felling of loneliness. You feel like you are sucked into this drawing and you are the only living thing in the are. It is a nerve racking experience. The name of the drawing gives a lot away, because of she exhibit being about death in nature it fits perfectly. I feel like she was portraying the feeling after an animal has got shoot. The animal is about to die so it is lonely, cold, and is watching the colors fade away. That is way this piece is so powerful!

 

 

 

 Mysteries of Love, Wood and taxidermy roe deer legs, 2011 

 This is my favorite shot of this! Also my favorite piece!

The reason I love this piece so much is because I see the comical side of it. The artist likes to take left over animals and stuff them as her pieces in the shows. I look at this and laugh, because coming from a town where hurting is a big deal. After killing the deer you want the head and the feet. The feet are important. However, these feet are just holding up a worthless piece of wood. It shows that no one life is greater than the other and that even though those feet show how good of a hurter you are when you put a piece of wood there instead of a gun then what is the point. It also sounds how much humans love their guns. They hold them on a very high platforms. I loved this piece so much that I am giving it as a gift to my grandfather who happens to be a very big gun lover.

 

Just Some Extras:

 The Necessary Lie!!

Invitation of Love

 Just for a laugh!!

 

Muesum Project!!!

Abstract expressionism is the first movement that truly started in American. Abstract expressionism was started in New York in the 1940's. It was the movement of World War II. In fact New York became the center of western art which had always been in Paris hands. In the United States,  Alfred Barr was the first to used the words, Abstract expressionism, to descried the works of Wassily Kandinsky in 1929. This movement made a big statement, because it broke all the "rules" of painting. The Abstract Expressionist, or the New York School, work followed no techniques or subject matter. The art was all about that human psyches. I choose to do Abstract Expressionism, because how fascinated I am by it. It truly feels like you are looking into the artist mind and soul when you look at an Abstract piece.

The reason I have opened up "The Mind Museum" is to show my community that there is more to art than the basic landscape or portrait. the benefits of seeing this piece can have make the view have a strong reaction to the work. They can look into the piece and maybe see a piece of themselves. On the other hand, they could feel the emotion that is being show the work. Being from a small country town, I know that this museum needs to be opened up in Valdosta, Georgia so that the community can start to view it as art as well. I want it to be easy to see the art and to understand it. Then moment someone says "Wow, I get what is happening in this piece of artwork" or to hear some one say "This might look like a little kid drawing, but I can feel that it is so much more than that" is when I know my museum has been successful.

The entrance fee will be two dollars for child under five, five dollars for students and seniors, and then seven dollars for adults. Instead of having a high admission fee the museum would host parties, charity functions, spoken word poetry nights, and music nights! The Museum would charge more for these events. We would have the art displayed on the walls, however there would be thin case around it to keep the hands off of them. The collections would be stay in the museum for six to eight weeks, then we would get a whole new artist and collections. I would get an ad on the radio, because most of south Georgia people love to listen to the local radio stations. The Grand opening we would have a raffle for free things to do around the town. For example, we would give away a dinner for two at the Mama and Pop's a very famous Italian place in town and then gift cards to a few places around town. The Mind Museum would have a special event one day out of every month where we would have Paint Your Mind nights. You get to paint something and eat dinner for twenty dollars. The meal would be a nice three course meal outside on the patio and smooth jazz playing. Then we would have a Kids Night where child under five are free and they would be able to finger paint on the patio. I like the idea of there being guided tours, however I would want them to go through the exhibit first so they can form their our ideas.

The Mind Museum would be open Monday through Saturdays. During the week we would open at ten in the morning and then close at eight. Then on Saturdays we would open a twelve and close at ten. During the day we would have guided tours going on and we would have a play area for the children so they could paint and play. We want to aim for the museum to be a family place! Where the parents and young adults can relax and soak up the art, while the younger children can play.

Now for the important part of this business plan is the collections. We are so lucky to have got this pieces from some of are private collectors. We have three exhibits that will be here for our grand opening. We have piece from the man that started the movement Wassily Kandinsky. Then we have some of the great De Kooning . Last but not the least is the wonderful Jackson Pollock's famous works! The way we will have the museum set up is that every artist will have one exhibit to themselves. I want to show the visitors how the artist changed over a period of their lives. It is only paintings in this collection, so there will two guides in every room so they can tell them about the artist after the walk around the room first.

The List of pieces we have:
In Wassily Kandinsky
Ravine Improvisation it was made in 1914 with Oil on cardboard, 110 x 110 cm

Black and Violet it was made in 1923

Contrasting Sound was made in 1924 with
Oil on cardboard, 70x49.5cm

In Jackson Pollock's:
Blue (Moby Dick) it was made 1943; Gouache and ink on composition board, 18 3/4 x 23 7/8

The She-Wolf made in 1943; Oil, gouache, and plaster on canvas, 41 7/8 x 67 in



Shimmering Substance made in
1946; Oil on canvas, 30 1/8 x 24 1/4 in

Lavender Mist: Number 1 made in

1950; Oil on canvas, Oil, enamel, and aluminum on canvas; 7 ft 3 in x 9 ft 10 in





In De Kooning:
Pink Angels made in 1945. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 52 x 40"

Nude Figure–Woman on the Beach made in 1963. Oil on paper, mounted on canvas, 32 × 26 1/2 inches



...Whose Name Was Writ in Water made in 1975. Oil on canvas, 76 3/4 × 87 3/4 inches

The interior will be very classic and modern. The floors will be beautiful hard world floor and the walls will be an eggshell color. 



This is just an example of how the out line of the museum will be. I would like to spilt into four parts, however I want the exhibits to take up most of the wall area. Then each artist will have a room to themselves and the door ways would be fully open, so that you can still have the feeling of an open space. The art will be hung on to the wall and protected by a thin layer of glass to keep hands from touching it. Then the piece would have one light above to brighten the would thing up. There would be labels beside the painting. The labels would be on touch screen where you can find more information about the history of the piece and the artist. We would carefully taken them out of there cases to clean them once a week in the left over space of the museum.

The Mind Museum would be located in the heart of downtown Valdosta. The downtown is already full of trendy restaurants, clubs, and shops. The museum will have a patio out the backdoor and the patio would be surrounded by beautiful gardens! The flowers are planted in no orderly fashion so you might have a pink, blue, yellow, then red by each other. The lights would not be harsh just a soft calm feeling to the patio. This is were we would host most of our events. The gardens would be open to the public on days where we didn't have special events. It will be a place where  you can come a think about what you just say in the museum. There would be a small café under the patio where you can sit and reflect on what you have just seen.

 

The total experience of The Mind Museum would be a wonderful day trip with friends and family. Our logo would be "Fun for every mind set!"

 

 

 

 

Documentary Response 3

We recently went to Kerry for the weekend, and it was such a beautiful place. Also the ring of Kerry was rich with all kinds of history.

One major piece of history I learned from going to Kerry is the story of Daniel O'Connell. He is compared to George Washington, because he was so important as the political leader in Ireland just like George Washington was to American! It all started when he was born in Carhan which is near county Kerry. He was born into a big family and got adopted by his very wealth uncle, Daniel Charles, Count O'Connell, and was raised by him.

 

These are the old ruins of the O'Connell house. Where Daniel O'Connell was born!













After getting his law degree he started on his political journey. His first campaign was for Catholic Emancipation. He campaigned through all of Ireland and getting the support of all Irish people helped him tremendously, because of his supporting the British gave in! He was the first catholic to serve on Parliament. He had two more campaigns in his life. The second one was for  The Tithe War, he was strongly against violence. He was sicken to see all the violence in his people. However, he got the sides to come to an agreement. Then his third campaign was for Repeal of the Union. This turned out to be his least successful campaign. During this campaign he got arrested and was sent to prison for a year. however, he was released after three months. Even though the stay was very short it affected his health and he got very sick. He died on his way to Rome on May 15th in 1847. He said right before he died that his heart goes to Rome, his body to Ireland, and then his soul to Heaven!

Then we got to see the amazing St Mary's Cathedral, in Killarney. It is a Roman Catholic Cathedral. It started being built in 1842 and was not completed until 1855. The famous English Architect Augustus Welby Pugin. However, after the interior was damaged in 1973 it was removed and re-done by  D.J. Kennedy.

St. Mary's was designed in the Gothic Architecture Style!

 In this picture you see the Rose Window which was a very important part in Gothic Architecture.

Also inside St. Mary's there are Arches running along the entire Cathedral!

 Again you see the Rose Window. And from this angle you start to see the shape of the building. If you went above the church you cold see it was designed in the shape of a cross which is the most important characteristics  of the Gothic Architecture!

Then we went to Blarney Castle which is nearly six hundred years old. It is located near Cork, Ireland. The Castle dates back all the way to before 1200. However, in 1210 the wood was replaced with stone. Now it is big tourist spot. Especially when it comes to Kissing the Blarney Stone which is suppose to give you the gift to speak with eloquence. Walter O'Leary, one of our wonderful tour guides, said that if you got the gift of eloquence then you could tell someone to go to hell and they would look forward to the trip!

 The Blarney Castle!

 In this you can clearly see the watch tower.

 

In this you can see the inside of the castle. I really enjoyed that you could walk into and up this wonderful landmark.

And yes I kissed the stone! However, I do not think I could tell someone to go to hell and them want to but hey at least I did it :)