Week 6 Literature

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet May Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming of age that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome trauma. The book begins when three-year-old Maya and her older brother are sent to Arkansas to live with their grandmother and ends when Maya becomes a mother at the age of 16. Maya transforms from a victim with an inferiority complex into a self-possessed, dignified young woman. The book consists of a theme, plot, tone, symbols, and emotions. I found this book to be very inspirational. The words that she uses to describe her experience invoke a sense of beauty on an unbeautiful situation.

Week 4 Architecture

The Petronas Towers are an iconic landmark in Malaysia's capital city Kuala Lumpur.  Standing at 170 meters above ground, the Petronas Towers are twin skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The buildings, which held the titled of tallest in the world between 1998-2004, are an iconic landmark of the capital city. The distinctive postmodern style was created by architects Cesar Pelli and Achmad Murdijat, engineer Deejay Cerico and designer Dominic Saibo under the consultancy of JC Guinto. The technical elements are line, repetition, and scale. The twin buildings are made of steel and greatly tower over the surrounding buildings. I am impressed by the large scale of the buildings and the way that they seem to touch the sky line. They portray a feeling of dominance but surely that was the message that the engineers wanted to convey with it being in the capital city.

Week 3 Sculpture

This is a porcelain sculpture by Kate McDowell she describes it as, "humorous transformation which illustrates our current relationship with the natural world. The animals take on an anthropomorphic quality when they are given safety equipment to attempt to protect them from man-made environmental threats." This sculpture is the actual size of human lungs, so she incorporates the principal of proportion, construction, subtraction, and manipulation. The dimensionality is full round. The focal point are the birds but as you explore the entire piece you notice that they have made their "home" in human lungs. When I first looked at the sculpture I correlated the bird's singing with a human being singing because sound comes from the airflow of the lungs. I think that she should have used color to convey her message better. It looks unfinished and I feel that she could have really brought the sculpture to life if she incorporated color.  

Week 2 Picture

The photographer of this photo is Seyit Konyali. This is a photograph of a shepard in Beyşehir, Turkey. Shortly after the birth of his lambs he wears a poncho made of their mothers wool to make the lamb feel closer to him. He does this while their mothers are out feeding to gain trust from the lambs while they are young. In this photo the focal point is the shepard, this is achieved by taking the photo while the lamb are moving so they appear to be blurry or in action. This photo made me think of the saying "a wolf in sheep clothing". ..with a  twist. The shepard's goal is to gain trust and intimacy with the lamb so that they will trust him as they grow. Clearly this is working as evidenced by he lamb sitting on his lap.

Week 1

This is a Tlingit art carving by Odin Lonning. Traditional Tlingit art is composed of 3 colors, usually red, blue, and black. In most cases it is abstract and represents the different families in the Tlingit tribe. The Tlingit Indians are a matriarchal society and associate each family with an animal. In this particular carving a man from the Raven clan or house married a woman from the Eagle clan/house. The carving is a circular shape to represent unity. I understand the artist's message from this carving because I have studied Tlingit art before and have many friends who are from this tribe. I however, was surprised that the carving was not symmetrical on both sides because most Tlingit art is and that the Raven(husband) is carved above the Eagle(wife). This shows dominance which is rare for a Tlingit artist to do because they are matriarchal.