scribbled in the margins

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cafegirl is a working artist and graduate student with utterly appalling work habits and a very old laptop. This blog is specifically intended for graduate school writing assignments. If you have wandered in from my other blog, please note that I am blogging anonymously. Please remember that my classmates and professors read this - so play nicely. That being said, I DO encourage comments!!

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Unit 2: Lesson 1

Prompts for this blog:

*Do you have memories of dancing as a child?

I certainly remember dancing when I was a child. As a toddler, I used to dance to the Valleydale Sausage tv ads. ("Hooray for Valleydale! All hail! It's Valleydale!") and also liked to dance and sing along to my grandfather's copy of "The Battle of New Orleans".

I liked to dance almost anywhere - especially in our back yard - and couldn't wait to take ballet lessons.

From elementary school to the summer before my Junior year in college, I studied ballet. (Snapped something in my ankle that summer.)


*When you hear music, are you affected by the rhythm you hear?

Some rhythm patterns just annoy me. Some make me feel like dancing.


*Do you start to tap your foot or bob your head in time to the music?

Again, it depends on the specific rhythm pattern.


*Do you think of Africa as a country or a continent?

That's an odd question. Africa is such a huge and varied continent.


*What images come to mind when you hear the word Africa ?

I've never been to Africa so most of what I know about its cultures and history come from fragments of material culture. I suppose I'm something of an armchair explorer. I have a piece of mud cloth in my studio, several masks from Ghana, assorted baskets, clothing and tea glasses from Morocco and several bookshelves devoted to Egyptology.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Too Much Text On This Page So Here's Something To Break It Up



Hopper's Nighthawks at the Diner

Chicago Art Institute

It has often been said that this painting is about urban alienation but I have always found the Diner cozy and inviting. If you see the painting up close, it is clear that the people are interacting with one-another. The server appears to be talking to the patron who sits with his back to the viewer. The man and woman seem to be having one of those conversations. The Cafe beckons the viewer like a glowing oasis in the darkened city. One really interesting thing, however. There's no door! No way into the cafe - at least, not within the viewer's field of vision. So, if you do get a sense of alienation it might be because you don't see the door. It's subtle - but very cool!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Chez Nous

Our home is designed to both work and relax in. We really live in our home and not just use it to store our stuff.

Our work space is upstairs. My husband and I have separate office/studio space. My husband is an IT professional and has spent most of the last decade telecommuting so private work space is essential. We respect one-another's privacy and territory. Furthermore, the work space is off-limits to anyone other than ourselves.

Downstairs, the living space is divided into three major areas. At the front of the house is the semi-public front great room (LR/DR), next is the semi-private back great room (Kit/FR) and the Bed/Bath is set off to one side. (Really, only the Bed/Bath has any measure of privacy on the first floor because you can look from the front door clear through to the back!)

We like the open and flowing space and have kept the palette neutral with mainly dark furniture (black or wood) and light walls, floors and window coverings.. This neutral backdrop serves several functions: It provides a good backdrop for artwork; a high-contrast environment is easier for my husband to see; it's more relaxing for me because I am a synesthete. (This will probably come up again in my writing for this class.)

We learned a lot from building and living in our previous house. The movement from the more public to the more private spaces of our home better reflects the pattern of our daily activity. There are two major problems with this design, however. We don't have as much storage space as we did at the previous house (an open plan demands plenty of storage space!) and the furniture and appliances that we purchased for the other house have never quite fit the current one. It makes for daily aggravation (We cannot open the refrigerator door all the way, for example, because the plumber installed the kitchen sink too close to the fridge. And our FR sofa doesn't really fit the space available for it but, as we spend every evening on that sofa, we are not inclined to replace it until it dies a natural death!)

As I started this assignment I thought that my current domestic space was more of a reaction to some of the living situations that I encountered after I left my parents' home rather than being rooted in my upbringing. But I must admit that my lifelong need for privacy and my strong (strong!) territoriality laid the foundation for what I expected/needed/tolerated. I have lived in circumstances that tested my limits - both while single and since my marriage - and have tried to create a more appropriate and supportive living space for my husband and I.

Some Personal Observations From The Past Week

Hall asserts that culture is the extension of the human organism and that, while humans shape their cultural environment, they are also shaped by their culture. Yet, despite the fact that different cultural complexes construct/structure behavior and perception in different ways, they are all rooted in human biology and physiology.

So, what examples can I provide from my personal experiences this week that might illustrate what Hall is discussing?

There are some weeks when my social interaction is largely confined to going to the gym, church, a trip or two to the grocery store, casual shopping and maybe dinner out. This past week, I also went to a live music venue. For the most part, these are fairly well-scripted activities. By this I mean that there is a rather clearly established and adhered-to set of behaviors that characterize these activities. In fact, it's often quite easy to spot people who are unfamiliar with the script.

In going over my activities this past week, I am reminded that I've had very little actual face-to-face conversation with anyone other than my husband, aside from a few "Peace-be-with-you"s at church and the usual customer/server interactions. Still, it's clear that there has been a lot of communication going on.

I called these activities "scripted". There are implicit or explicit guidelines in place for many such activities. One would expect that in a house of worship but it is also obvious that there is some variation in practice. I'm Episcopalian and belong to a rather large church. We all use the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) for worship and so it's easy for people from other Episcopalian congregations to walk into any other Episcopalian church and participate. The explicit guidelines for the service are in the BCP. There are two communion rites and knowing if the service will be either Rite I or Rite II tells a person in which part of the BCP the service will be found. But there are places in the Rite II service where it says that the congregation may either kneel or stand for particular parts of the service and this is where the guidelines become more implicit. Newcomers and visitors tend to unconciously glance around them to see what those around them are doing. Among other things, this behavior reinforces the sense of community in the worship service. The prayers themselves have a cadence that virtually everyone follows - consciously or unconsciously - praying simultaneously as a chorus.

As I've said, one expects to encounter this behavior in a house of worship but it is also evident at the gym! Apart from the whopping great arrow posted on the wall that signifies whether today is clockwise or counter-clockwise on the track, there are very few explicit guidelines. Instead, gym etiquette regulates behavior and that tends to be acquired through experience - and a bit of logic. Generally speaking, walkers keep to the inner lanes of the track and runners to the outside. There are quite a few people who come to the gym that are not familiar with this point of etiquette so the gym actually posted signs over the lanes. These lane signs are regarded as suggestions by most people and not as hard and fast rules. Some people walk faster than others run, for example, so the signs are heeded or ignored according to the conditions on the track. People who are new to the gym fail to even notice the signs. Actually, some newcomers and infrequent visitors fail to grasp the significance of the track and its lanes altogether and will stand and chat in a running lane or weave to and fro, disregarding the other people on the track.

During my trips to the gym this week, I saw people doing exercises that are more safely performed at some distance from the track - balance ball, free-weights and so on - taking place on the track while it was being used by over half a dozen runners. The lack of familiarity with gym etiquette found its purest expression in the duo that were engaged in a rather loud and ostensibly work-related conversation with a clearly courtship-related subtext that was evident in their body language. I could not help but note the wide berth that runners gave them during the forty-five-plus minutes of conversation. The runners steered a much wider path around them than they would normally do around people on the track which suggests that they were according them the sort of private space reserved for courting couples.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Lesson 2: Part 1

Prompts for this blog:

1. What images of childhood come to mind when you look at [the] photos.
2. If you have children or grandchildren, what memories do these pictures awaken?
3. What makes you laugh?

To begin with, I don't have much experience of children. I didn't have any siblings and most of my cousins were older than I. I don't have children and have limited acquaintance with them. Therefore, my impressions of childhood are largely confined to my own experiences.

For the last year, or so, I've been working on a series of monochromatic paintings that are (loosely) based on old b/w photos from my childhood - because, when I was a kid, nearly all of the photos were in greyscale. Furthermore, since color TVs weren't all that common, most of the visual images from that era are also in greyscale.

My actual memories, however, are not so much visual as they are tactile and olfactory - the smell of cool concrete after a rain, for example. Or, the feel of grass and gravel beneath my feet.


As to what makes me laugh....

....satire....absurdity....The Daily Show....cats....people with quick wit and a sly sense of humor that sneaks up on you (like our nephew!)....hanging out with friends....my husband....

Friday, August 18, 2006

"Art Is Not A Thing; It Is A Way"



I have seen this quote variously attributed to Oscar Wilde and to Elbert Hubbard.

Regardless of who said it, I have had this quote displayed in my work area for about thirty years.

Art is the process, the activity.

It is not the artifact generated by the activity.

I do not go into my studio to "make art".

That's not how I understand the process.




Today's pic is also from the Art institute of Chicago. It is The Fountain by Sargent.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Something To Look At While You're Here


This is The Shelton With Sunspots by Georgia O'Keefe and is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.















(I've posted this because I want to see if I've figured out how to do it properly.)

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Is Art A Universal Language?

The prompts for this blog:

1. Is Art a universal language?
2. Does our personal lens or cultural viewpoint affect our capacity to truly appreciate another's art?
3.Is a translating process necessary?
4. What are the most basic, globally shared human experiences?

1. Yes and No. Art is a language that all cultures employ but there is great variety in its expression.

2. All experience is subjective so our personal lens cannot help but alter our perception and comprehension of artistic experience.

3. Is translation necessary? Not always. Art can be experienced on many levels. But some things require a greater understanding of the context in order to fully appreciate the content.

4. The most basic, globally experienced human experiences are birth, pain, death, hunger, sex, fear and community.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Welcome, Classmates and Others!

House Rules:

1. If you've wandered in here from my other blog, please note that this particular blog is tied to my graduate studies. My classmates will be reading this. My professor will be reading this. So, no horseplay and no glass containers around the pool.

2. As this blog is available for the public to view, I ask you to refrain from calling me by name.

3. Please do not refer to my other blog or blogger identity while here. Likewise, please refrain from mentioning this blog or identity on my other blog.

4. Play nicely.

More Housekeeping!

Don't mind me!

Blogger seems to be having issues again today. So, I'm just checking to see if this publishes OK.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Getting Ready For A New Semester

The subject for this semester is Global Arts.

You might wish to bookmark this blog because there have been repeated problems with it disappearing from the class blogroll on Bb.

Monday, August 07, 2006

More Housekeeping

My apologies to anyone who has tried to post a comment on this blog. Evidently, Blogger is eating the comments and I did not realise this until someone emailed me about this.

I have not disabled comments and am hopeful that this problem will soon be corrected because I do value input from my readers.