Frank Lloyd Wright – American architect (1867-1959) whose mentor was Louis Sullivan in Chicago. In the 1920s he created styles like Prairie and Usonian, and designed master-pieces like Fallingwater, The Guggenheim Museum, and Broad-Acre City.
Robert Adam – British Architect (1728-1792) in a family of Scottish architects. He designed the Etruscan Room, and simplified Neo-Classical furniture. He has a style named for him.
Richard M. Hunt – American Architect who was Beaux-Arts trained (1840-1860). He founded the ‘AIA’ (American Institute of Architects). He designed ‘The Breakers’ in Newport RI (1895).
H.H. Richardson – American Architect (1840-1890) who designed so Romanesque rusticated masonry buildings they named a style after him. He designed ‘Trinity Church’ in Boston (1875).
Walter Gropius – German Architect who helped establish Bauhaus School (1900-1940) with Peter Behrens, Marcel Breuer, A&H Meyer, and Muthesius. They specialized in industrial buildings.
Le Corbusier – Swiss Architect (1886-1965) who lived in France and was famous for his piloti. He designed houses as “living machines” (Citrohan House). Internationally he influenced Alvar Aalto.
Andrew J. Downing – American Gothic Revivalist (1815-1852) with A.J. Davis. He advocated quaint country houses with horticultural landscaping.
J.A.M. Whistler – American Artist who designed the Peacock Room and painted his mother.
Mies Van der Rohe – German Architect (1886-1969) who said “Less is more” and designed very abstract houses, skyscrapers, and the Barcelona Pavilion in 1950.
Louis I. Kahn – American Jewish Architect (1901-1974). He designed the Salk Institute and the Kimbell Art Museum. He believed that materials can speak to you about design form.
Historical Nomenclature: Types, Periods, and Names
Professor Stowell, Shepherd College
Some common problems with 3 classification terms:
Examples of architecture can be identified in 3 main ways: types, styles, and periods. Confusion with terms can arise due to over-lapping dates between periods, styles, and types. Types tend to be exclusive from time, styles may be subsets within periods but include revivals from past periods, and periods are over-arching generalized movements that overlap with other periods.
Type – A combination of distinctive features identifying common forms, more vague than style.
Style – Specific distinctive features of expression, characterizing something or someone.
Period – An interval of time labeled by the occurrence or prevalence of event conditions. A period in history is a time age, usually longer than an epoch, but shorter than an era.
Some detailed problems with names of types and individuals:
Historically Queen Anne ruled England circa 1700 to 1714. During her reign ‘Jacobean’ architecture from the 1600s was still common. Later Victorian Period ‘Queen Anne Style’ from 1870 to 1910 often exhibited bay windows, Roman arches, towers, and highly decorated romantic eclectic designs.
Similar names: Boule, Boulle, Boullee, Bacon, Bacon, and Bacon
Boule, Andre Charles (1825-1905) French Classical Artist
Boulle, Andre-Charles (1642-1732) French Baroque furniture designer, ‘buhlwork’
Boullee, Etienne-Louis (1728-1799) French Enlightenment Architect; Radical Neo-Classical designs of megalithic pyramids, cenotaphs, and cathedrals
Classical Revival – reviving styles from antiquity as accurately as possible
Neo-Classical – altering ancient forms to make new complexes
Gothic – The Goths were a Germanic Pagan tribe, predating their Christian cathedrals which they built after the fall of the Roman Empire. Their cathedral style spread, and became associated with romantic literature that often involved cathedrals, castles, and ruins and related themes.
Modern Architecture as a style or contemporary period is subjective. Current periods are often called ‘modern’ until being renamed later, as they become part of history.
As an artist, the more i study Heman action figure toys, the more i see more creative potential for custom work. Recently i chose Heman instead of GI Joe because imagination is valued over realism in the toys and art, and its not as military based. The wars and fighting involve all types of beings, not just warriors. i cant fix everything, but i can TRY to make things better with the toy part problems, and make art that works with social issues and commercial products. We are all commercial products now in society, so it seems sensible to study and work with MOTU as a fan.
I started with fan fiction and art projects, now I am getting back into the toys but as a custom craftsman. I dont always make art with my toy investments, but some customs are more original than others. I decided to try to mix Vintage figure parts with Origins figure parts, for two reasons. First with the mechanical figures I can add changes that stand out but solve problems, and it feels less personal than with the organic flesh characters; for example using wires to fix toy problems fits with the characters. Secondly the vintage Trapjaw head can be used to convert Kronis, and make him more valuable as a custom Trapjaw (Trapjaw is who Kronis becomes).
As beginners we start by tracing to make copies of what we epitomize as what a franchise brand tells us is the best image of that thing we like; this is also how we study existing examples and conditions as architects. As artists the more we are taught to be original, the more we realize that tracing is just one type of art, that is more akin to photo-copying. If we like an original piece, we want a copy of that thing to have around us, it is natural to some extent. However the psychology of the “real thing” vs the “reproduction” or “fake thing” quickly becomes apparent in stories like ‘The Golem’ or ‘Frankenstein’ or ‘Pygmalion’ or ‘The Portrait of Dorian Gray’ or ‘He-Man vs Fakor’ and on and on.
My process of creating is a constant debate between hating everything i have done, and loving it. Thinking the eyes are too small, changing them, then wishing i hadnt. I will keep adding layers of paint until i convince myself i cannot improve it anymore. It might take years or months or days. Most people do not realize that we learn by copying, but forgeries are the same thing except for the criminal act of saying the copy “IS” the original. Here is an example of how critical artists create: we think the eyes are too close, then move them apart, and later realize our own are closer than hers. It is interesting some of the optical illusions that shading and perspective creates. And some people really do have different proportions by centimeters than the norm.
Random people might not know or care about one of my mentors, Thor Carlson, but he encouraged me to make my own versions of Tolkien’s characters. He did not like that my versions were so similar to the cartoon artists. Yet my style is a blend of both original professional painters, and corporate commercial artists and their brands. My style (whatever look it ends up being for any particular piece) is both the best I can do as an artist and that kind of creative blending is what I enjoy doing because it is similar to what we call “playing” except its also work. My work is not for everyone, but opinions are a study of their own.
I do not think we should make exact copies in the Art world or in the industrial commercial world. Even in a line of action figures, I think deviation on the paint job is as it should be; and certainly when a new line is produced it should be markedly distinguished in some way (even if it is just a maker’s mark and date stamp) from other sets. Historically professionals like historians and mechanics and collectors find their ability to distinguish differences important, compatibility aside.
For example when doing a portrait of a popular commercial character I might love the facial proportions used by the Filmation artist here, it is a very pretty face and it is certainly the ideal original for me that many of us respect or try to copy. I do keep copies of Filmation originals and cannot change what they are even if i wanted to, they exist and thank goodness no one can delete them from existence. I do not think I will try to copy it exactly, because people can make prints of this how it is, i cannot improve on it.
For the critics we can apologize (not that it will help), as I did with fellow fans – “Sorry im not doing an exact copy of Filmation, mainly for copyright reasons, but also because i have some other ideas for how i think the Sorceress should look based on my imagination. You can do your own. Im basing the design on the Filmation basics, but also considering the toy figure and other face types (from cartoon to real life). I have always thought not all women in the show needed the same tiny nose, i think a longer ‘beak’ is fine.”
With the MOTU Sorceress it is interesting that her facial measurements match my own, both vertically and horizontally (except i made her eyes wider on purpose). The tiny details of her nostrils and how im shading in a cartoon kind of way, are of course different than reality, and different than the original that i am not making a copy of for this project. As with Race, it is important not to focus on comparing things that are meant to be different in some ways AND similar in some ways are to each-other, because it becomes pointless and evil.
Social idealizations are a major psychological reason why so many females want surgery. However both with many real ‘deviant’ faces (there are more than you think) and cartoon faces, we can notice how the mouth can be larger than the average proportions, which are usually in line with the nostrils. Here the eyes also appear wider and further apart than usual. When we laugh our nostrils can become stretched by our mouths, all kinds of odd things that do not seem correct by ‘normal’ standards. So we know eyes can be closer or more recessed (set-in) than may be attractive to us, but our ideals of ‘beauty’ aesthetics are not the same as Art, they are an important part of how we perceive art and what we call ‘Art’, but Art is larger than aesthetics because Art is not just superficial. True Art makes us think, and not always in ways we like all the time; in fact critics will often not call it Art when it does that, but they are being silly and are wrong about that. True Art is not always ‘fine art’ or ‘high art’ or even popular, it can be literally trash made by commercial industry.
A good way to handle critics is to realize by allowing them to comment, you can gauge who is friendly and who wants to be receptive to your work in the future. Too often people give advice to be able to say they are the master, and you are doing it wrong. You can try to please them, but you wont know until its too let whether you can or not, so it is important to be equally critical what is popular or you are told you “must” or “should” do. The spirit of true Art is not about conformity, it is about freedom. Brand worship that tries to stop others is not the way of people who love imagination in a “brand” more than corporate conformity. As critics we can also try to be self-aware when we are too personally invested in our own desire to put someone else down; hey it happens because we do not all get along!
Thank everyone who offers real support! Remember beware taking advice from critics who will not pay you a cent, even when you do what they argue. Many people just want to argue and disagree, I find myself doing that even internally, and it tends to be more destructive than healthy or helpful if the conflicts are not resolved successfully enough to be able to practice art AND enjoy it. It is actually ok if other people do things different than we would if we were doing it or have done it before. Critics often do not care what your reasons for doing things different are, and their opinions might be part of a problem of public perception you are challenging. It is ok when art is not just tracing a commercial product, but if people do trace, it is ok to practice line study too.
As an artist who has been a teacher here is my advice: Remember kids, there is a difference between tracing, and doing your own version! Heh actually even when we trace we rarely copy it as good as the original. In Art it is better to make your own, as close as you want or as close as you can do to what you like, but it does not have to be just one source of inspiration that goes into what you make. Make it your own brand.
As an artist who grew up in the Middle Class Museum and Art gallery, I have found several economic problems regarding public art trading and common marketing for average artists (average here meaning random majority rather than talent or skill level). This essay is not written just as social complaint, but rather in hopes that we can have a future where artists can work freely without living in fear of how to pay their bills or wondering what the odds are that a random patron will grace them with money that bosses would rather not pay. It is not about individual egos, it is about collective civilization.
1. Working Class incomes have not kept up with inflated costs of living for common people. Therefore lower class poverty has increased, and there are less in the middle class who can afford ‘luxury’ prices or fair prices for regular artists. The Gig Economy has failed artists because it has encouraged commercial competition for those who thrive in that egotistical realm, rather than allowing most artists a living wage.
2. Art is still too often considered a luxury, rather than a financially valued expression of a person’s life. Human life is too devalued, in a market saturated by urban-sprawl and exponential population growth. The Military Industrial Complex controls our economy, and therefore our lives, and they would rather pay most people as canon fodder instead of giving them a cent for their art.
3. While the internet has allowed more of us to participate in a multi-media market place of creative commons, basic income wages are still more illusive than ever before. More families and children have gone homeless in recent years, than in previous decades after the last Great Depression. While those chosen few are prospering well, even some of them feel like web-serfs, whose way of life is too dependent on commercial corporations, because they sell-out to funnel public liquidity.
I use Fine Art and Patreon, but my limited success barely affords me any income, despite my continuous work which includes over 50 books, hundreds of audio recordings, and thousands of art pieces (yes including photos and odd collections). Online websites like Youtube and Facebook work better for extroverts, but for introverts (even ambiverts) it is still almost as hard as it was before, due to market saturation. It is true that we can communicate from the comfort of our own homes now (if we have homes), but networking takes social skills and energy, which not all of us are capable of successfully sustaining. Humans are often barely tolerable, due to savage anti-social behaviors that we practice over and over like rituals of prehistoric predator-victim relations.
Art-sy Inc. for example is part of the problem, because they are brokers for plutocrats who run galleries as money laundering for millionaires and billionaires. Art-sy says “Currently, artists can not sell their own work on Artsy. But you can only sell the work of artists who we allow. Please select an artist from the list. Other artists cannot be submitted due to limited demand.” This is not helpful, as it ensures a closed loop monopoly of the mega-rich who determine what is popular by what they allow on the commercial markets, at prices they set, and they control the markets that are advertised commercially.
I have tried a few others, like Etsy, but they did not offer much income either. Most of us cannot earn a living doing art, due to cultural issue deeply rooted in competitive civilization. When we cannot solve financial problems due to larger economic market forces, the best we can do is survive in whatever ways we can. But how long will it take us to evolve to become more ethical as humans? How much harmony is needed between all humans before we can realize our potential as providers should not include allowing slave drivers and greedy plutocrats??
In the Philosophy of Art there are many theories. The definition of Art is not limited like the definition of Science, for good reason. These two categories of study are separated by a history of exponential evolving specialization. All things come from pre-historic and ancient Art; but as technologies increased and archive categories grew, Science came from precise technique methods of investigation and documented experimentation that can be “proven” or replicated as proof of theories for objective “universal” laws.
There is no objective definition of Art. There are subjective opinions as to what the limits are. If you have phenomenological experience with what you call ART, no critic can take that away from you. They may not behold what your mind’s eye beholds, but that is why their definition is limited. No one owns the definition of mundane craft or manufacturing art, just as no one owns the definition of sublime transcendental representation.
The meaning of Art is like the meaning of Life, it is a personal arbitrary revelation, to be decided by individuals for internal utility. Sure there can be social collective definitions of terms according to gate-keepers like dictionaries, that many of us can agree upon and use. However language itself evolves and is subject to the whims of changing cultural opinions. Elitists will not want to talk about the political power of oligarchs, but propaganda does affect opinions on every subject. To attempt to be objective about the definition of Art, we must expose and transcend propaganda, and most of those in power are unwilling or incapable to honestly do that (for obvious reputation reasons).
Copies and forgeries are distinguished from “originals” by their labels which try to explain what they are. Yet a copy does refer or represent the original mingling of things that came before, and forgeries require technical excellence sometimes on par with genius inventors they are copying. Im not sure how much “stealing” or “rip-offs” have to do with the labels of “tribute” vs “original”, but Warhol addressed it well; so refer to satirists, comedians, Dadaists, and DJs as to what it means to be original or fake, or good or bad in a modern context. Modernists won the revolution in Art, and therefore our definition of Art is conservatively formed from the ruins of the walls they progressively broke through.
Everything is derivative of something else, physical and mental constructs are chemical, biological, and artificial amalgams. Things come from other things, but their value is how obvious it is that they are like vs unlike other things, or how they are revealed to be distinguished from other amalgams. The struggle of artificial ‘uniqueness vs conformity’ is certainly an essence of Art. Art is not just for display of skill, it should spawn and provoke philosophy; and that is where the meaning of Art becomes Epistemology and Teleology.
“Everything is a remingling of what has already been mingled.” – Empedocles
[more later]
*
See companion essay ‘Expression Is Art’, that this definition of Art applies to
Variant essay based on this is published in the book ‘Ms. Nena’s Teaching Method’.
Edited By Walton Stowell from an earlier educational collaboration Nena did for teaching
In the 1700’s and 1800’s slavery fueled the Southern plantation economy, and it was spreading West. Over 388,000 Africans were brought to North America against their will and enslaved to work as property on properties. Since ancient times slaves were at the mercy of masters who owned them. The Old Testament features the liberation of Jews from Egypt by the will of God and his cleric Moses. Abolitionists wanted to end slavery because it was immoral. All workers should be free to travel at least, even when bosses refuse to pay.
Abolitionists fought fiercely for freedom for all, using many strategies. Some like Harriet Tubman helped slaves escape using an illegal system of secret hiding places and spies called ‘the Underground Railroad’. Social contact for abolitionists was dangerous, because they could be legally assaulted; yet people of all ages and colors participated in trying to expand civil liberties for individuals and a greater American society as promised by the Declaration of Independence (“…all men are created equal,…”).
Abolitionist lobbyists tried to change state and federal civil laws to grant more rights to more people. Frederick Douglass had outstanding speaking skills and influenced national leaders like senators and President Abraham Lincoln. Douglass dedicated his life to securing equal rights for all citizens of the US by peaceful means. This tedious process was slow with setbacks, and led other activists to believe violent revolt was needed.
‘The Freedom Trail’ was and is the path taken by the radical abolitionist John Brown on his last trip across the Mid-West towards Harpers Ferry in the East. Brown had already made several trips before to lead attacks in bloody Kansas. John Brown rescued slaves via the ‘Underground Railroad’, fleeing towards freer areas to the North-East. The physical ‘Freedom Trail’ was blazed from February to October 1859, when Brown came to Harpers Ferry with 21 armed men; but the spiritual and political liberation path continued and continues to grow today. His plan to capture the town and free slaves failed. Many were killed or wounded, and Brown was captured by marines led by Col. Robert E. Lee and his aide J.E.B. Stuart.
During the raid John Brown kept hostages and took refuge in the fire engine guard house. The engine house became known as ‘John Brown’s Fort’, and blacks visited it as a shrine. It was amazing a crazy white man and his loyal band could threaten white institutional tyranny.
The Fort remains an important symbol of the struggle for freedoms and civil rights. The Fort was moved to Chicago, then back to WV at the Murphy Farm, then to Storer College, and finally 150 feet from where it was originally.
After their capture Brown and 6 of his raiders were taken to jail in Charles Town and tried at the County Court House. Blacks and abolitionist journalists were not allowed at the pro-slavery trail, and could not visit him in jail until after sentencing. Brown wrote over 100 letters defending the Raid during the month between his trial conviction and execution. Brown and 6 troops were executed on December 2, 1859. However 5 of Brown’s troops had already escaped north after the Raid.
“I John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had, as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much blood-shed, it might be done.” – John Brown
John Brown had 20 children! Only one died in Kansas, and two died in Harpers Ferry.
5 Raiders who escaped: Osborne P. Anderson, Charles P. Tidd, Owen Brown, Barclay Coppock, and Francis J. Meriam
Osborne P. Anderson – the only black escapee, lived in Canada and Ohio (see note at essay end) Union Veteran, RIP 1872
Charles P. Tidd – lumberjack from Maine, farmer in Kansas, Union Veteran, RIP 1862
Owen Brown – stayed at his brother Jason’s house in Ohio, grew grapes on an island in Lake Erie, moved to California, RIP 1889
Barclay Coppock – from Iowa, fled to Canada, Union Veteran, RIP 1861
Francis J. Meriam – of wealthy Massachusetts family, Union Veteran, 1865
During the Civil War, Harpers Ferry became a refuge for African-Americans who were freed by the Union (North). These men, women, and children were called “contraband”, but they often had their first experience of freedom at Harpers Ferry. Military tents and shebang shacks lined Camp Hill. Osborne P. Anderson was the sole survivor of Brown’s raiders who escaped to write a book ‘A Voice from Harpers Ferry’ and serve as a Union soldier.
Harpers Ferry was shelled by canon-balls from the heights. Although the area had been deforested for weapons and charcoal, there were ruins, rocks, and trenches for snipers to hide and shoot. Safety and freedom were at odds.
When the Civil War was over, Frederick Douglass worked intensely to have the Union Federal government pass laws to end slavery nationally. Abolitionist efforts finally resulted in the 13th Amendment which ended slavery. The 14th and 15th Amendments established due process rights and the right to vote for African-Americans. Women would have to wait.
Property and state rights were freedom issues for both the North and the South (Confederates); but Confederate states considered people (slaves) to be property, and Union states ran factories with poorly paid labor who could move or quit.
The Freedmen’s Bureau for abandon lands and refugees was founded to provide assistance to African-Americans after the Civil War. One of the most important things that the Bureau did was to establish schools for freed men. In 1865 Reverend Nathan Brackett established a primary school for liberated slaves in the Lockwood House at Harpers Ferry, which had previously been used by armory masters and military officers.
Skin color and religion were bigger issues back then, but family blood-lines and laws protecting the rich (from having to share) still keep the classes divided today in much the same ways. Racial labels are attempts to divide humans into sub-species or breeds like we do with other animals; despite that the human race evolves across boundaries as cultures merge over centuries.
Brackett’s ‘Freewill Baptist Freedmen Normal School’ eventually became Storer College (1869), which accepted students of all colors and women too. John Storer was a rich merchant from Maine dedicated to Union equality for all, regardless of race or gender; and so he donated $10,000 for its’ higher education. Four former Federal Armory buildings on Camp Hill became school buildings (Lockwood, Brackett, Morrell, and Anthony Hall).
“When John Brown stretched forth his arm, the sky was cleared. The time for compromises was gone… and the clash of arms was at hand.” – Frederick Douglass 1881
Storer College trustees like Douglass advocated graduates to become civil rights teachers and spread the legacy of John Brown and Freedom’s Trail. The price of ending slavery was war, and the price of having freedoms is practicing them with vigilance. “John Brown’s Body lies a mouldering in the grave, but his soul goes marching on!” – folk and battle hymn song 1861
Even with an end to slavery and legal changes, it was still more challenging for blacks to rise from poverty in a bigoted class based system. After the South suffered Reconstruction era depression (1865-1877), rich racist whites took control in the South again and made Jim Crow laws to segregate blacks in society again from 1890 to 1965. There were court cases over the years (Dred Scott V. Sandford, Plessy V. Ferguson), but two Federal Rights Acts (Civil and Voting) finally restored the legally protected general equality promised and glimpsed 100 years earlier.
In the 1900’s two important African-American men had different opinions about the best way to achieve equality for blacks. Their names were Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois. They both contributed essays to ‘The Negro Problem’ in 1903, and they wrote ‘The Negro In The South’ together in 1907. Booker attended and taught at Hampton Institute, and founded the Tuskegee Institute in the South (1881). He had four children and wrote about Brown and Douglass. Booker felt that blacks should learn a craft or trade, and work within the system respectfully.
Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois believed in bold activism against discrimination, not accommodation. Equality meant to Du Bois that all adults should have the right to vote, children can attend quality schools, and fair law enforcement for all citizens. Du Bois was a socialist sociologist, Pan-Africanist historian, and civil rights lawyer from the North.
Du Bois and other activists suspected that conventional Bookerite meetings for black civil rights (Carnegie funded Washington) were not sufficient for progress, and so they decided to have their own public meetings. Bookerites worked to sabotage and suppress their rivals; but by 1900 Du Bois was awarded a gold medal for his Paris Expo work, which set the stage for his leadership.
The Niagara Movement was named for ‘Niagara Falls’ where their first meeting was held. The second meeting location of the Niagara Movement was Harpers Ferry in 1906. Harpers Ferry is an ancient confluence location for its natural beauty and river transport junction, but John Brown and Storer College make it most important for freedom issues. Du Bois and his fellows made plans to attain more equal rights for African-Americans.
“A more suitable place for the Second Annual Meeting of the Niagara Movement than Harpers Ferry would have been hard to find.” – Max Barber
The 1906 Niagara Movement Harpers Ferry meeting was important for several reasons. In Harpers Ferry they met in public for the first time on US soil. The meeting was peaceful despite numerous recent riots in other states. Women also became voting members, demonstrating that they recognized broader civil rights for all adult citizens. Niagara grew chapters in many states, with hundreds of members. They published a magazine called ‘Horizon’ from 1907 to 1910.
“We are not more lawless than the white race; we are more often arrested, convicted, and mobbed.” – W.E.B. Du Bois
In his speech ‘Address To The Country’, Dr. Du Bois clearly outlined his plan for securing equal rights for African-Americans: “First, we would vote. Second, we want dis-crimination in public accommodation to cease. Third, we claim the right of freedmen to walk, talk, and be with them that want to be with us. Fourth, we want the laws enforced against rich as well as poor; against white as well as black. Fifth, we want our children educated.”
Years later Dr. Du Bois would say this about the 1906 Niagara Movement conference: “…instead of meeting in secret, we met openly… and had… one of the greatest meetings that American Negroes ever held… and we talked some of the plainest English that had been given voice by black men in America.”
Blacks and whites would eventually be able to go to the same churches and schools, after years of hate crimes against anyone trying to integrate adult humans with skin tone and cultural differences. Although later black leaders (MLK and Malcolm X) and presidents have not held civil rights meetings or rallies in the town of Harpers Ferry, this is probably due to the continual flow of intensity inherent in the spirit of place, rather than lack of legacy.
When change needs to happen, we can visit places that inspire us to be brave enough to do what we need to do. Some people take holy pilgrimages for personal religious revelations. Harpers Ferry is sacred to historians and artists of all types for many reasons; while still being too controversial for others.
The Niagara Movement met at Boston’s Faneuil Hall in 1907. In 1908 a Jewish business man named Abe Kaplon built a modern house on the top of Camp Hill in Harpers Ferry, adjacent to his Odd Fellows Lodge, which helped to protect Storer College folk as brothers and sisters (FLT). That year Niagara met at Oberlin, Ohio; and there was a race riot in Springfield, Illinois. In 1909 Niagara met for the final time at Sea Isle City, New Jersey. In 1911 Dr. Du Bois encouraged all members of Niagara to join the ‘National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’ (NAACP). The Niagara Movement is considered the “corner-stone” of the modern civil rights era.
*
NOTES:
Niagara Movement leaders: W.E.B. Du Bois (seated), with J.R. Clifford, L.M. Hershaw, and F.H.M. Murray on the grounds of Storer College.
John Brown gave his last statements on hand-written notes, and gave two different ones to two jailers. This is the more famous one.
This project was inspired by the Teacher’s Conference in 2006 commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Niagara Movement’s meeting held at Harpers Ferry on the Storer College campus.
Nena Stowell had students cut and paste Storer buildings on map.Nena Stowell taught this historical map lesson as elementary art.
*
Lewis Leary was one of John Brown’s men, but before joining the gang he married Miss Mary in Oberlin Ohio. Mary Langston raised her grandson, wrapping him in a shawl that Lewis had worn. That boy was Langston Hughes, the poet who made his name as a member of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1931 Langston wrote this poem to black Americans who are “now free,” to remember abolitionist John Brown (1800-1859), his raid on Harpers Ferry, his trial and execution:
“Perhaps, You will remember John Brown,
John Brown, Who took his gun, Took twenty-one companions, White and black, Went to shoot your way to freedom Where two rivers meet, And the hills of the North, And the hills of the South, Look slow at one another — And died, For your sake.
Now that you are many years free, And the echo of the Civil War has passed away, And Brown himself, Has long been tried at law, Hanged by the neck, And buried in the ground – Since Harpers Ferry is alive with ghosts today, Immortal raiders, Come again to town – Perhaps, You will recall, John Brown.”
The sub-title of ‘An Introduction To Art Therapy’ explains that this 1950 ‘Teachers College’ Columbia University book is a collection of 6 ‘Studies of the “Free” Art Expression of Behavior Problem Children and Adolescents as a Means of Diagnosis and Therapy’. Art as therapy was a very important theme for Nena, so much so that it was a way of life. Practicing art for Nena was always an act of spiritual therapy for existential self identity.
This art therapy book was written by Margaret Naumburg, an ATR Psychologist from NY. Nena must have gotten her copy after the reprint in 1973. Naumburg wrote other interesting books on child psychology (1938), ‘Schizophrenic Art’ (1950), ‘Psychoneurotic Art’ (1953), and dynamic art therapy (1966).
Ms. Naumburg studied child education with Maria Montessori in Rome, and taught children and practiced psychology in New York. She opened the first US Montessori school in 1914, and founded her own Walden School in 1915. Similar to Steiner Waldorf schools, the Naumburg Walden School emphasized visual and performing arts more than public schools. Walden staff worked with psycho-analysts. Naumburg later taught at NY University.
Being of German-Jewish heritage, Ms. Naumburg grew away from her more traditional parents as part of the ‘Ethical Culture’ movement. Jung and Freud influenced her understanding of the human mind, and her own education developed her preference for creative aptitude rather than more conventional competitive fact testing. After 1970 math computation and information storage was best done by machines anyway. Individuality and initiative were more important to Naumburg than conformity and obedience.
Ms. Naumburg worked at NY State Institute and Hospital with Dr. Nolan Lewis. In 1973 Naumburg reprinted her ‘Art Therapy’ book, was a fellow of the American Ortho-psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association, and received the Ernest Kris Prize. In her lecturers she explained how she used art therapy to diagnose and treat mental health problems. Unconscious feelings are evoked through art (as with therapy), and the artist’s feelings about interpretations are the primary concern; as opposed to a critical authority dictating meaning. Expression as a process for greater self control and confidence remains vital to art therapy.
Naumburg states in this book that the purpose of her 6 studies was to use free spontaneous art expression with child patients to aid diagnosis and therapy. She published the results of her studies in various psychiatric journals before 1947. Dr. Lewis considered drawings to be wish satisfaction produced by imaginations, much like dreams. Release of tension is achieved through the art, even if it is unappreciated by others. However when art is valued by others it increases well-being for the artist.
Art analysis by professionals adds personal value to pieces which even the artist might have discarded as worthless. What would be ugly can become beautiful when beheld by an expert of integrity, an enthusiastic life coach, or simply a good person. Naumburg believed that conventional education was significantly superficial.
Her Montessori sensorial training helped Naumburg to realize that learning can be more holistic. Sources of behavior begin early, so the behavior of adults as disciplinary authorities or teachers is as much to blame for worldly and internal problems as any “bad” students. Fear of exile and punishment teaches cruel lessons of abuse of power, even if it corrects behavior; but joy of exploring, sharing, and creating teaches empowering fun lessons, and can be used to modify behavior as well. Control of motives is key.
The world is not just verbal or mathematical, it is also sensorial. Ms. Naumburg cited a Harvard University study which reported that Visual Arts “education was and still remains on a purely verbal level. Great emphasis is laid upon classification, description, explication… with products rather than processes…” (1956). She also explains how Freud believed that our subconscious is a basic factor in personality and behavior, so by expressing ourselves freely in art we are more likely to know ourselves. Self awareness or understanding why we do things helps us find our place in the World, society, and sub-cultures like companies or careers.
Ms. Naumburg cited Freud’s ‘Question of Lay Analysis’ on behalf of non-medical students of psycho-analysis. This begs the question of lower working class labors rights regarding higher education and possible common applications for psychology; not just elite methods in education applied by masters, but accessible psychological philosophy used in the daily life of all free people. Granted educational terms and methods change in popularity and evolve over time, like languages or fashions; but pursuit and practice of individual liberties for self-determination remain constantly vital for most of the masses. We may not want to say there is a “collective unconscious” like Jung did; but it is eternally mythological and always modern to say that repression is ripe for rebellion. Ms. Naumburg wanted us to teach young people (kids are people too) how to fish or how to grow garden fruit, rather than take products for granted and worship authorities who control fundamentals as tyrants.
Three chapters of the Naumburg ‘Intro To Art Therapy’ book are about 3 boys, one with “Tic Syndrome”. One of the studies is about a girl suffering from “anxiety hysteria with amnesia”. Most of the patients are said to have “behavior problems”. Chapter IV deals with “phantasy and reality” in their art. The book cover water-color painting was called ‘Coney Island: Parachute Jump, Ferris Wheel and Roller Coaster’, and made by a 9 year-old boy who was drawing a local scene he saw from his home. It shows the structures well with a “happy” sun, but has no people. People often use safe scenes to remember good times they had or wanted to have at places or dreaming about them; so some artistic meaning can be gleaned without even knowing the artist.
Challenging Social Views and Opinions of Art with Art
Views or perspectives in a work of art technically means we use cropping, fore-shortening, and radial lines to create the illusion from an individual point of framed of observation. In life we often use ‘views’ as a metaphor for ‘opinions’. The nature of views is so subjective, one would think society would be able to have more diversity on opinions of conformity and other artistic issues. Yet society is historically very conservative regarding snobbish upper class tastes. This is in part to protect the social status of the upper class, so they can point to standards of assigned value. Even the modern art movement, which started to rebel against elites deciding what is ‘good’ art, was soon adopted as a trend; valuable because of the price that elites will pay for what they want. The social value of modern art for the lower classes is almost lost today, as even art teachers are hesitant to have ‘low standards’ for ‘fine art’. Fine art is of course elite art which is deemed to have acceptable standards of excellence. Elite art snobs will also go so far as to say that art is not art at all, if it is not fine art. Those that buy their elite definition of art, may be required to do so when they purchase their college degrees and work to pay off loans; in obedience to wealthy clients and bosses.
Challenging people’s perceptions of Art (or other personal opinions) is rarely rewarding. Usually arguing with someone or mocking their perspective can be disturbing, but is philosophically important for the larger issue of the value of Art to the Humanities and Civilization as a whole. It is necessary to expand tolerance of styles to value the lives of artists, and we are all artists (if we are at all capable of self-expression at least as much as a bower bird or beaver). Art as a common practice of the masses has been devalued by the elite, in order to sell us what we can hear and say, sell us what we can see, and sell us what we can wear; and set all of the standards for those things. This system of empire is how independent tribes were subjugated for taxes and larger wars. True tribal warfare existed without empire, but empires band tribes together for larger wars that never end because they extract resources from the victims. In the case of slavery and low wage immigrants the resources are the workers.
Punishment (hard penalties, control by fear and pain, blacklisting to deny earnings) vs Payment (easy motivation, control by reward and pleasure, rights to allow earnings)
Capitalism has made the world addicted to commercial products.
Commercials are a primary revenue method for media, so we have been bombarded by advertisements as a way of life for generations. It was not always this way; there was a time for thousands of years when life was more organic socially, and common people sang while they worked on community crafts. Yes there were always big cities and pharaoh-type slave-drivers and lordly bosses for whom people worked, but the masses were less dependent on polluting and consuming for the rich.
Sadly most people are so addicted to commercial products, they consider spending money on independent artists to be a ‘cheesy waste’. Culture is brain-washed to be economically snobby. You can call me pathetic for wanting a more grass-roots economy, but there are millions disenfranchised by our commercial system, even while being fans of products they have been conditioned to buy because they ‘like them’. Professional critics play a prominent role in perpetuating this social-economic problem.
i like plenty of commercial products, but i have found it very hard to get people to spend even a fraction of what they spend on companies, on SCOD associate art no matter how much i publish and promote. Our economic purchasing habit situation is a problem, but it will not stop me from working on my projects. Quality should be more sustainably defined for the good of all society, rather than designed to support the rich. So many ignore this large economic problem by saying “You should make better stuff and advertise more if you want to make more money.” To me that crass attitude is part of the problem, again because they think of quality in terms of class idol worship, rather than average people’s lives.
To all those like me who buy independent and organic products as much as their budget will allow, thank you with all of my heart! We are in this together. Our efforts are not in vain, it is not selfish to want to live a better life and leave a better world to children who care more about other animal and plant lives. We should encourage each-other to ask our friends if there is something of theirs they want to trade for, rather than expecting them to get the nerve to ask us and seem ‘pitiful’ for wanting value to their lives.
The greatest case of Christian architectural evolution is the Constantinian Christian basilica of St. Peter in Rome, Italy. Roman Emperor Constantine had the original St. Peter’s Basilica built (320-360 AD) on the site of Nero’s Circus, to honor the tomb of St. Peter, respect other Christian martyrs, and honor Christianity as the new Roman religion. The adjective ‘old’ was only added after it was demolished in the Renaissance, to distinguish the current from the former building. Pagan Romans used basilicas as public meeting halls, and the architectural form began to change as Christians used it. Although St. Peter’s is still called a basilica (Pagan), it is a large church or cathedral (Christian). The Catholic Church reserves the word ‘cathedral’ for large churches held by bishops, but architecturally for the masses there is no distinction between a cathedral and a basilica. Papal (pope) coronations were held at the basilica, and in 800 AD Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ there. Soon after in 846 Saracens sacked and damaged the tombs and treasures.
Old St. Peter’s set an example for related cathedrals and thousands of smaller churches, which followed for hundreds of years and still continues today world-wide. It was a synthesis of assembly hall, temple, and villa. Old St. Peter’s held 4,000 worshipers inside, and thousands more outside in the atrium (akin to St. Peter’s Plaza today). The atrium was added later and had 5 doors (portas) in the gable wall leading into the nave. The atrium was called the “Garden of Paradise” during the Dark Ages. As a large colonnade courtyard plaza, the atrium served to filter and shelter entry into the interior nave arcade. Atriums or plaza squares are similar to typical Roman villa interior courtyards with fountains or sculpture in the center; in this case a bronze pine-cone fountain and Vatican obelisk. The transition from narthex to nave matches the Roman traditional private upper-class family household altar or chapel and open atrium relationship. Early Christian domestic architecture linked worship with privacy not only because Christianity was illegal, but also because it was conventional to have religious (Pagan ancestor) shrines in homes. Pilgrims approached the atrium portico typically by the eastern stairs.
Old St. Peter’s exterior was fairly plain, and resembled what we would consider a large stucco-masonry barn, rather than a classical temple. This lack of architectural adornment reflected the decline of the Roman Empire and the simplicity of early Christianity, which would continue into the Dark Age that followed. Ironically the new St. Peter’s basilica was the first time the facade had classical pilasters, as the Renaissance revived the Pagan styles. Old St. Peter’s long nave main aisle was flanked symmetrically by four side aisles, and lit by clerestory windows. A great arch framed the entry view of the altar and vaulted apse beyond at the western end. The apse and altar combination with nave procession comes from a long line of imperial Pagan temples (Egyptian Hatshepsut Temple 1480 BC to Roman Leptis Magna Basilica 210 AD). The 100 marble columns were spolia taken from earlier pagan buildings. Old St. Peter’s was over 350 feet long, with a colored marbled transept making a T-shaped Latin cross. The gabled roof with wooden beams was 100 feet high along the ridge peak, and despite fires and thin walls lacking buttresses it lasted for over a thousand years. Old St. Peter’s design was like St. John Lateran’s Arch-basilica Cathedral, built around the same time in Rome. The Renaissance reconstructed basilica was designed by architects: Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Sangallo, and Maderno. The new St. Peter’s is larger, and contains some relics of the old structure.
The nave arch had a mosaic of ‘Constantine and St. Peter’, presenting a model of the church to Christ. On the walls between windows were frescoes of Bible themes. Ghiberti and Vasari wrote that Giotto painted five frescoes which were “either destroyed or carried away from the old structure of St. Peter’s during the building of the new walls.” Some medieval relics survived reconstruction. From some descriptions and fragments, the Navicella atrium mosaic (1310) was recreated. It occupied the whole wall above the entrance arcade facing the courtyard. Matthew’s scripture (14:24) was the basis for the large medieval mosaic by Giotto. “After Peter came down out of the ship and walked on the water, he became afraid of the storm and began to sink. He called out to Jesus for help. Jesus caught him and reproved him for his lack of faith, and led him back to the ship, whereupon the storm stopped.” A standing Madonna and fragment of an Epiphany mosaic (circa 700) also survived; but many gold items, like Constantine’s Cross on the Tomb of St. Peter, were lost long ago.
Old St. Peter’s architecture is confirmed by archeology, historical written accounts, and archival drawings. The oldest depictions we have are from 4th century frescoes and 16th century architects before demolition and reconstruction. Excavations confirmed some of the writings and renderings. One of the written sources ‘Liber Pontificalis’ mentions the rumor that Constantine was urged by Bishop Silvester to build the basilica on the site of St. Peter’s grave, and make his coffin with layers of solid bronze with spiral ‘Solomonic’ columns. Its’ construction involved removing or relocating tombs and constructing an enormous foundation on an expanded hillside level-cut.
The turmoil in Rome from conversion to fall (300-500 AD) begins with the 2 main christian basilicas being built to try to appease the oppressed masses of protesters all over the empire who sympathized with the infamous Christian martyrs. It is easier to study the architectural language changes, because the politics was very culturally complex and hard to translate, other than to say it is always about power. Despite the old Roman Pagan authority being replaced from within by Christian Imperial authority, the city was sacked by Christian barbarian mercenaries and migrants (Visigoths and Vandals) for centuries (600-100). Finally even the basilicas were not safe against the last of the barbarians (Saxons, Vikings, and Saracens), until the Roman Church authority was supreme enough across European kingdoms to focus violence against the Eastern Empire and Jerusalem (again) with the Crusades (1100-1300). [dates circa nearest hundred]
This is an essay on color theory for artistic paintings, and not a scientific theory of light colors. Both art and science can view colors according to spectrums. However, there are some paradoxes between science and art color theories; which I do not explore here (but I do in other places). The main paradox is evident in the ‘Key Theory Types’, which shows that light and pigments have opposite blending keys on the greytone spectrum. The other color paradoxes are mainly association vs property issues (blue-red frequencies, color seen is what is reflected, greytones are not colors of light, etc).
The best way to depict color theory is usually by Color Wheels, with pallets of various colors in relation to each-other. Colors have 3 aspects: the name of the color itself (hue), the value tint-shade, and the tone saturation (closeness to true mid-value relative to other hues). Increasing tonal contrast in an art composition maximizes tints, shades, and saturations to accentuate distinctions. Decreasing tonal contrast dulls everything to greytone neutrality.
Color Controls (Hues): color names have ‘Tint and Tone’ (ie – light tint, vibrant tone)
Tint-Shade (Value) – true value, white adds brightness (tint), black adds darkness (shade)
Tone (Chroma) – saturation of true value and contrast between values (intense vs. dull)
Types of Paint Colors: Greytone (black & white) and True Colors (first, second, third types)
Browns – oak (tan), ochre-oxide, wheat-grain, dirt, true, chocolate, caramel, indian carmine (redwood), Vandyke
Greys – light (white), mid, dark (black)
*
Drogo’s personal paint supply of small containers for paintings: 8 Greens (for plants & trees), 6 Reds, 5 Blues, 5 Yellows (+orange), 4 Purples (+pink), 3 Browns, 2 Greys, and White & Black in larger containers.
I am defined socially by my supporters, more than if i were isolated and alone (obviously). Thank you for your support of my life’s work! Is my art and writing my career? I suppose it is, but not if careers must be defined purely by financial profit.
It is strange because my favorite parts of my education did not translate into making money in regular jobs, but i was not as prepared for regular jobs because of my own interests, which meant i cant really blame my art school because i didnt want the regular jobs it turns out. some of us need to spend fortunes to find that out, but trying to make the fortune back by working at regular jobs was the only real way to know whether or not there is a place there for me in conventional business. I like writing and art because I dont need a boss to do them. i still try to make money by selling my work to clients and pleasing patrons; but there is a big difference doing what i love my own way, and people supporting me as a friend, for favors that friends do. I always felt like having a boss meant i was doing work that i needed someone else to tell me how to do, so it was not really a job i would want, unless i was able to be the boss soon or the boss was my best friend. Only when my boss was friendly was a regular job even tolerable for me. Many people feel like they do not have a choice, and for many who just want to do what they are told for a paycheck or who need to provide for dependents maybe that is true; but i feel that if we want to be free, nothing can stop us from eventually quitting jobs that do not fit.
I have heard that being an adult means getting a regular job, to pay regular bills. In fact i always thought that would just happen naturally as an adult, that all my hard work in school would just translate to having the long lost career of my father’s generation. I have also heard that those pensions and life-long salaries are gone (although i still apply to the few that exist), and I know that technology has changed how work gets done, from even the ways I was taught with pencil and paper. I think this Covid Crisis is forcing society to change even more, towards the European socialist model, where a responsible civilization has a government that is by and for the people, and does not just use citizens to extract public resources for the rich. I mean, corporations still will do that, but adults will have a right to life, even if they are not enough of a competitive servant and smart enough to want to take more money from others than they need, simply because they ‘worked hard’ doing what someone else thought they should do.
When someone says “if adults can’t make enough money as an artist, they should get a real job.” I imagine cutting their head off, and sending it to our magical boss; you know the one who would want an employee like me. I would get a gold star and a raise for sure.
coffeedude65
Drogo
growing togehter
johnperryonline
Annie O'Dell
noellanatavano
Gary M
Tenuous Soap
Jessica Bowen
SCOD Public Blog 
Art Challenges Opinions
Posted in Art History, Arts (Design & Performance), Critical Commentary of Civilization, Economics, Ethics & Morals with tags art, challenges, LIFE, opinions, perspectives, quality, social, trends, value, views on October 15, 2020 by DrogoChallenging Social Views and Opinions of Art with Art
Views or perspectives in a work of art technically means we use cropping, fore-shortening, and radial lines to create the illusion from an individual point of framed of observation. In life we often use ‘views’ as a metaphor for ‘opinions’. The nature of views is so subjective, one would think society would be able to have more diversity on opinions of conformity and other artistic issues. Yet society is historically very conservative regarding snobbish upper class tastes. This is in part to protect the social status of the upper class, so they can point to standards of assigned value. Even the modern art movement, which started to rebel against elites deciding what is ‘good’ art, was soon adopted as a trend; valuable because of the price that elites will pay for what they want. The social value of modern art for the lower classes is almost lost today, as even art teachers are hesitant to have ‘low standards’ for ‘fine art’. Fine art is of course elite art which is deemed to have acceptable standards of excellence. Elite art snobs will also go so far as to say that art is not art at all, if it is not fine art. Those that buy their elite definition of art, may be required to do so when they purchase their college degrees and work to pay off loans; in obedience to wealthy clients and bosses.
Challenging people’s perceptions of Art (or other personal opinions) is rarely rewarding. Usually arguing with someone or mocking their perspective can be disturbing, but is philosophically important for the larger issue of the value of Art to the Humanities and Civilization as a whole. It is necessary to expand tolerance of styles to value the lives of artists, and we are all artists (if we are at all capable of self-expression at least as much as a bower bird or beaver). Art as a common practice of the masses has been devalued by the elite, in order to sell us what we can hear and say, sell us what we can see, and sell us what we can wear; and set all of the standards for those things. This system of empire is how independent tribes were subjugated for taxes and larger wars. True tribal warfare existed without empire, but empires band tribes together for larger wars that never end because they extract resources from the victims. In the case of slavery and low wage immigrants the resources are the workers.
Punishment (hard penalties, control by fear and pain, blacklisting to deny earnings) vs Payment (easy motivation, control by reward and pleasure, rights to allow earnings)
[More later]
*
Leave a comment »