Beauty

Chapter 3, "The Art of Having a Lofty Perspective" is all about beauty,which is in the eye of the beholder. We can all recognize natural beauty as being aesthetically pleasing, or not, and the same goes for art. The opinion of art varies from person to person and that is the beauty of it all.

College is the same as art.  As I stated in my current blogs, I will be writing about college, a lot, because that topic is always on my mind.  The idea that one college is better than another, or has a nicer campus, or whatever, is in the eye of the beholder.  The tour guides of each college state that their school is the best and they are happy, not that the school would have a cranky tour guide. College campuses, like art, are different.  We need to accept these differences and the way people think about them and literally move on.  All art is some form of art and all colleges teach something.  To claim otherwise is to miss the point.

Art of Being Artless

Was George Eastman lucky or clever?  Did he have skill or just a marketing genius?  Was Bob Ross a talented artist or simply a brilliant promoter? Who is to say who is an artists or fraud?

Fraud is a word I chose with care.  Just because a picture is in a museum, does not make it great art.  The pictures that never make it to galleries is not  any less great? Of course there is always the idea that photographs have no value when taken and then years later are deemed great art. 

Acting is different.  We hear about paintings and photos that were panned by critics and later held up as an art standard, but acting performances that were said to be very poor are not usually heard to be brilliant in later years.  Bad acting as they say is bad acting (unless I learn otherwise later chapters).  Acting should also be part of the evolving review.

We need to get back to the issue of fraud. Are there really great actors as well as those that market themselves well, like Eastman and Ross.  The answer is yes. But does that mean anything?  At the end of the day if people want to purchase a camera they do not use particularly well, watch a guy who can paint some pretty tress, or tune into a sitcom with panned laughter, its all the same.

Bonnard

The thing about Blogs is, well, they are just that, blogs, or a train of thought or consciousness that takes on a shape or form (should I trademark that?).

We were assigned the task of writing about the article “The Art of Making A World” (“Art”).  If this were a traditional English class, I would feel compelled to do a summary of the article, quoting and citing and spewing back what I thought the teacher wanted to read.  However, I have entered my senior year at Herricks and am empowered with choices- do I want to do what is expected or venture out and use my voice and see what happens.  Voice wins. 

Upon reading “Art”, I thought, or knew, the article was about the artist Pierre Bonnard, his life, choices and paintings. But, then, almost immediately, like layers of a painting, the article changed and became about, well, me.

I am in the midst of applying to colleges and have many choices to make.  Where am I going to go? What shall I declare as my major?   Will I get in? What are my essays going to be about? My questions go on and on and on. The point is, that “Perspective is the key”, as stated in the first few sentences of Art. Perspective, of course, is the answer. 

“Art” spoke about perspective from an artist’s point of view, specifically, Bonnard. Bonnard chose to be with a woman, Marthe, who seemed a bit mentally unbalanced, to say the least.  Bonnard connected to her because , as stated, he “is the great example of an artist who made the most of a relationship that, to outsiders, seemed tragic, but which proves that all relationship are finally unknowable except to those inside them.” (p11) For me, perspective is not unlike Bonnard’s.  No one knows who I feel about this college process or can help me decide where I will end up.  It is all up to me and I do not have to explain my choice, only be happy with the final decision. 

“Art” put it best by stating that ‘it’s about looking hard enough to recognize, say, that things appear different when seen out of the corner of your eye or squinting into the sun or staring from the light into a shadow.”  (p.13)That is the artsy interpretation of perspective.  I would say, perspective is stepping back, taking a deep breath, looking at your options and then making an informed decision based upon the choices you are given. Whoever said that life mimics art or is it that art mimics life, wasn’t kidding.  Choices. We all have to make them.  Bonnard could have left Marthe, but chose to stay with her because she, on some weird level, inspired his art, but arguably ruined his life.  Choices.  I will have to make a choice about where I want to go school and cannot let my own Marthe (whatever preconceived notions about college or what I believe something one school may have over another) stop me from making my choice.

Bonnard said it best, “The moment one says one is happy one no longer is.” (p. 22) Bonnard would “go and look at them [subjects]. I take notes. Then I go home. And before I start painting I reflect. I dream.” (p.23) Again, here is an artist as college applicant.  If we are content, we do not strive.  Picking one college because of its location discards another potential college which has a program or two of interest.  Reflecting, imagining, dreaming, visualizing, picturing where I want to go makes me no different than an artist like Bonnard painting for perfection, nor was he different than a high school senior searching for his or her perfect fit.

I keep waiting for a sign from the universe telling me where to go.  It is said of Bonnard’s art, “things don’t happen, they’re implied.”  Just like in a Bonnard painting where Marthe is in the bath, the landscape is outside the window and a piece or part of Bonnard is somewhere in the picture, the answer is there, I just have to look for it. 

The Return of Zines

Hello , my faithful public readers! I have come back from a long a fruitful summer vacation feeling relaxed and refreshed, but more importantly ready to take on my senior year of high school. Starting this year off right, I will be making new "Zines" for the school to read. I will keep the theme and pieces a secret, but I will tell you this, my theme is on every seniors mind, and are probably stressing this subject every single day. This year I wow to work harder and to make my name known among the Herricks students. How? I do not know yet but I will let you know......