Assignment 5c

1. MoLAA is the Museum of Latin American Art. It is a museum that allows for people to learn more about the Latin American culture. Through this semester I have learned a lot about the Latin American culture and the new knowledge has given me a better understanding of the art work being presented in the museum. I have learned about the different historical event through time that has influenced some pieces.

2. Title of artwork: Venezuela

Link for artwork: http://www.molaa.org/Auction/past-auctions.aspx

How you came across this piece, how it connects to your study of humanities:
I came across this piece by looking at the MoLAA website. It relates to my study of humanities because it shows a map and the people.

Observation:
I see some kind of map and people in all different directions. It is a really interesting piece that is kind of hard to interpret. It looks like a person is lost in a big city. The piece looks like it was done on canvas with paints. It is mainly composed of straight lines. It is a very flat piece, even the people are flat. There is not a lot of texture. The only variation is in the people. It is interesting because the background is very planned out and organized and then there are the people images. I like it because it is clean lines with a bit of chaos.

Interpretation:
This artwork is about a man in different places in a big city. The background is very planned out and clean cut. Then there is an image of a man in three different positions. It looks like the same person. I particularly like the man image that looks like he is taking off.

Judgment:
I chose this work of art because it caught my eye. It is very different. I think this work is very interesting. This work makes me feel good because it shows the variety and vulnerability of a person. I feel this way because the person is shown in three different ways and he looks kind of lost.

Questioning:
I would like to know what the artist was really trying to portray. I would like to know when this work was done to get a better idea of its meaning. I want to know what the artist was thinking when he made it. since the work is so interesting, it makes you question what the artist was thinking and trying to portray.

Assignment 5b

1. I do not know what the title of this piece is.

2.http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3DThe%2520Virgin%2520of%2520Guadalupe%26y%3DSearch%26fr2%3Dtab-web%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501&w=220&h=362&imgurl=www.astro.com%2Fim%2Fvirginguadalupe.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.astro.com%2Fastrology%2Fin_quadalup_e.htm%3Flang%3Ds&size=33.5kB&name=virginguadalupe.jpg&p=The+Virgin+of+Guadalupe&type=JPG&oid=61bdf62691714d24&no=3&tt=8,709&sigr=11n66taug&sigi=114hpvtjk&sigb=13ncntcsa


3. I came across this piece when I was looking up the Virgin of Guadalupe. It was done by Diego Rivera during the independence period. It has to do with humanities because it shows us what the people of this time believed in. It shows us the art during this period and how it was composed.

4.Observation: In this piece I see an person praising a higher person. You can tell that the higher power in this case is the Virgin of Guadalupe. The person below her is praising her with arms raised and a content look on their face. The person below her could be an angle. It looks like the work was done on some kind of paper with paints. One reason why I like this painting is because the images are not very realistic. The general shape is there but it does not portray all the features of a human face. The artist used bold shapes and earth tone colors to get his point across. This is a piece of art that was made to make a statement.

5. Interpretation: This artwork is showing us that the Virgin of Guadalupe is someone to be praised by all. The artwork is very bold and forthcoming. It is almost saying that if you cannot see the point then you are not looking at the right painting.

6. Judgment: I chose this artwork because I really like the boldness and simplicity of it. When I look at this piece I get the feeling that the person depicted in it is a very good person and is praise worthy. I feel this way because the images are so rudimentary but get the artists point across very nicely.

7. Questioning: I would like to know why the artist made his work so bold and simple. Is there a real meaning behind how he executed it or was that just how all his work was? It was done in the time where the Virgin of Guadalupe was discovered, so what prompted the artist to make such a painting? Was this painting done for religious purposes?

Assignment 4b

Tongue Piercing

Page 9, Recto, of the Codex Telleriano-Remensis

The image above is taken from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis, a Post-Conquest religious text painted by Aztec artists in a style that is a hybrid of Mexican and European art. The worshipper is piercing his tongue and letting the blood flow as a gift to the Teteo. The tool in his hand looks like a pointed stick, rather than a thorn, bone perforator, or obsidian shard, so I believe this painting may be depicting the practice of “drawing straws through the flesh” I mentioned in my article on traditional forms of autosacrifice. If anyone’s got more information on this particular image, I’m all ears.



http://tlacochcalli.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/images-of-autosacrifice/

Observation:

I see a man piercing his own tongue. He looks to be happy rather than scared and he is doing it of his own free will, no one is forcing him to do it. The subject of the work is a sacrifice of blood to Teteo. The work seems to be drawn or painted on some sort of paper. It is a very simple drawing with not a lot of detail. It captures the basic shape of a human and a crude interpretation of some one trying to pierce their own tongue.



Interpretation:

The work is about a sacrifice. There is a brief paragraph below the picture on the website that I found it on. It says that this was a sacrifice to Teteo. The sacrifice wasn't the actual piercing but the blood falling on the ground. This was also a sacrifice that was self inflicted.



Judgment:

I chose this work of art because of its simplicity. It is a very simple drawing depicting something you don't see very often. I saw it and I wanted to understand the picture more. I think it is kind of creepy. It is a man who looks like he is willingly sticking a rod through his tongue and letting the blood pour to the floor. Even though I an slightly disturbed it gives me a lot of insight to their culture at the time. It is interesting to see how they showed their gods their devotion. I am still not too sure why they did it.



Questioning:

I would like to know where you would find a piece of art work like this, like in a book, or on a wall as art. I want to know why they think spilling blood on the floor would be a good sacrifice. Why they do it by piercing their tongue. I want to know why the artist thought it was important to make a piece about this sacrifice and why the shapes making up the person and action are so simple. There are a lot of questions this piece of art can lead you to. Maybe that is what the artist had in mind. Maybe it was a piece for storytelling.

Assignment 4a

The Conquest/Colonial" Era

The "Conquest/Colonial" era was from 1492-1810. This era did the most to shape what Latin America is today. During this time the native population was wiped out due to Spanish and their disease. since the Spanish were now in charge, the native religion and culture was forbidden. The Spanish system promoted exploitation by allowing Conquistadores and officials to have "encomiendas", which are basically slaves. The Spanish got rid of their existing power structure and replaced it with their own getting rid of the upper class. They did this to all with the exception of Peru. The Spanish did not understand the way the natives kept their history so they put it up fr debate and changed it to what they wanted.

3 Interesting Facts about California Missions:

1) There are 21 Missions in California. The missions were founded roughly a day apart from each other and span from San Diego to Sonoma.

2) The missions were built as religious outposts. They were established by the Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order between 1769 and 1823. The missions were built to spread the Catholic faith and to colonize the Pacific Coast region.

3) The missions actually failed in their objective to convert, educate, and "civilize" Californians in order to make them Spanish colonial citizens.

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZIgBWqsm3s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_missions_in_California

I chose the California missions because I don't really know much about them except for the fact that they are here. I wanted to get a better understanding on where they came from, who they came from, and why they are here. In choosing this topic I had my questions answered. It was good getting to know the history behind my state a little better.

I used a video clip from youtube. The clip gives you a little bit of background information on the missions in California. It tells you that there is an older lady who is putting all of what she knows about the missions on a website. On her website there is a lot of information that no one else has published. I also used wikipedia. The wikipedia information is straight forward facts about the missions. It gives you a lot of information on what they are and where they came from.

Assignment 3c

Matthew McDonald:

Paulo Freire saw a need for more people to vote and in order to vote they needed to read and write. Paulo Freire taught many to read and write so they could vote. The importance of voting was so the people could impose change. Being taught how to read and write allowed the people to no longer be oppressed. Since Paulo Freire was imprisoned and then exiled from his country, he took his good teachings to other countries and helped a lot of people there. I think it is really great how even though he was stopped form doing what was right in one area he took it to another area. He never gave up.

Chris Formato:

His response to the prompt is very organized in his blog. He points out three things: Paulo Freire's critique of the banking system, a book he wrote, and his educational views. Just by looking at Paulo Freire's approach to education, you can see that he is a person who was interested in dialogue rather than having one person dictate.

Paulo Freire's ideas and concepts tie into our class because it is a class. It is a bunch of people sharing their ideas with other people. Freire would be very happy to see that what he believed most in, dialogue, is being used in classroom settings all over the place. Freire would also be happy because we a group of people seeking education beyond reading and writing. We have completed the basics and are now looking further into the cultures of different countries.

3b Maya Calendar

http://www.hei-art.com/vaults/precolum/graphics/p05.jpg

I was watching one of the videos from the youtube link about the Maya's and heard them say something about the accuracy of their calendar. I though it was really interesting how they knew everything we know today and it was so long ago. It has to do with the study of humanities because I am looking at the way they planned their days and how the people lived. It also shows me how things regarding the calendar haven't changed much over such a long period of time.

Observation: I see a depiction of a hard working man. He is in the middle of a circle and around him are figures that I can't really make out. The subject of this piece is the calendar for the working man, what days are good and which ones aren't. It looks like the work is made out of stone. It is carved out of a rock with simple lines but details figures. The figures are not very realistic looking. The artist used some sort of technique to make some areas darker and others not. For the most part it is a pretty simple piece.

Interpretation: This piece of art is about a man and his work schedule. I know that it is a calendar and the working man on it leads me to believe that it is his schedule on when will be the best time to get certain tasks done.

Judgement: I chose this work of art because I am interested in the Maya calendar and I wanted to know what it looked like. I feel that that this work was a very important thing for a working man to have in order to be successful. I feel this way because the Maya were a hard working people who relied heavily on their knowledge of their sense of time.

Questioning: I have an idea of what the work is depicting because I have done a little research on it. It is a calendar from the Maya's. I would like to know what this work is really depicting, I can only guess based on what little research I have done. I want to know how they came up with this calendar. Who was the artist to draw up the calendars and who decided how it would look?

Assignment 3a

1. Pre-Colombian means all the history before European influences. It quite literally means before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During this time the Caribbean was populated mostly by three groups: the Ciboney or Guanahautebey, the Taino or Arawak, and the Caribs. All these groups were basically completely wiped out when Columbus came and all their history is now skewed.

http://atheism.about.com/library/world/AJ/bl_CaribbeanAncient.htm

5. I am choosing the Maya's. I am choosing them mainly because I have actually visited the ruins in Mexico in 2000. They were such a brilliant people and knew so much without the technology we have today.
The sources I used are the youtube video and my other source is MSN Encarta: http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576077/maya_civilization.html

6. The Maya people lived in what is now eastern and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belixe, El Salvador, and western Honduras. They lived and did very well for about 2000 years. they had three periods: the preclassic period, the classic period, and the postclassic period. during each of these periods they became smarter and more advanced.

In the classic period is the period where they thrived the most. We see a religion come from the classic period. The Maya people worshipped many gods with a main one called Hunab Ku. They performed ceremonies which would involve a sacrifice to a god in order to gain their favor. All of their ceremonies were done in pyramids that were extravagantly carved and painted with many intricate details.
Sun Tample
Also from the Classic period we see the emergence of science. The science they were really good at was mathematics and astronomy. Their biggest achievement in the science was their calendars. They had one calendar the was based on the sun and another calendar that would tell them lucky and unlucky days. They used the concept of zero which was very important in their ability to make such accurate calculations.

7. I used a video from youtube and MSN Encarta. The links are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyvw6G9Max0 and http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576077_2/Maya_Civilization.html. I believe the youtube video I used is credible because it is a clip from National Geographic and there information is credible. As for youtube, it is credible because there is so much on one topic that if something were wrong you would easily be able to prove it. I also used MSN Encarta and that is a credible source because it is an online encyclopedia. No one can change what it says and no one can make anything up.