Blog Post #3: The Arboretum

As I ventured across campus Monday morning sick as a dog, my mood was just about as high as the temperature outside. Although I had never been to the Arboretum, my expectations were far from high due to my negativity that started off my day. However, right when I arrived my spirits were lifted. That’s the joy in life sometimes; starting your day with pessimism and low expectations, and then finding something that is pleasantly surprising to make the day a little more worthwhile.

The first thing I saw upon arriving the Arboretum was a vast lawn with the greenest grass with a beautiful, circular fountain in the distance. Immediately, I thought it would be a great place for a wedding. To my surprise, I learned shortly after that many people do in fact get married there, so many that there is a three and a half year long wait list! I thought to myself what many other students and alumni must think; if I wound out meeting my future husband at Penn State, what other place could I get married?

Before I discovered more of the Arboretum just a few things about nature and I. I used to really dislike the outdoors, between the bugs and the critters, and the excessive heat or cold. It just was not for me. But beginning the summer going into my senior year of high school, my best friend Lauren really showed me the wonders of nature. I live in Maryland, by many locks in the C&O canal, and by Great Falls, Virginia. Fourth of July 2011, Lauren took me to hike a trail called the Billy Goat Trail, and after once I reached the top, I realized how incredible nature could really be. From then on, we made it a tradition to visit the canal or Great Falls as much as we could, whether it is hiking, biking, or the occasional swimming.

Now back to my Arboretum experience. I got to walk around with my group members for the project, one of which is a native of State College. He shared with many neat facts with us about the large sundial, and even showed out how the time displays on the large stones. I was very impressed with the sundial, and thought it was a great focal point of the Arboretum. The uniqueness of the rigid stone, with the sharp and smoother stone on top was beautifully made. We later walked over to the sunflowers, which had to be my favorite part. Between the vividness of the yellow and the abundance of flowers, made the sunflower garden a truly incredible sight to see. My favorite part of the sunflower garden had to of been the bench that was surrounded with vines and leaves that sat right in front of it, which appeared like such a peaceful spot.

After walking through the mini mazes of flowers, I got a good sense of what the Arboretum was like. I was thoroughly impressed with the large variety of flowers they had packed in, so close together. I could definitely see myself revisiting, because there was information provided about the flowers, pollinators, and other critters that abide in the Arboretum.

Blog Post #2: Palmer Museum Visit

The piece of art I chose is named Affirmative Active, and was painted by Jerry Kearns in 1987. Kearns used acrylic on canvas, and chose to display this artistic method on an enormous canvas.

The piece displays a very large women, who is colored in black and white, and it set in front of a large colorful city landscape. She is shown doing manual labor, and a very determined expression on her face. The artist uses pop art to convey the message of "women's right to equal pay for equal work."

What really caught my eye of this piece, was that it really represented women's rights, and equal pay for equal work which was a major issue in the United States during in the 1960's. The rhetorical situation is clearly stated to be women's empowerment. The piece really seems to be in conversation with this movement because the message is blatantly aware, which reveals a very strong message. In the painting, the woman is wearing heels and a dress, which is typically something a woman in this age would wear around the house. I believe that it is significant that she is wearing this because it portrays the message that women can do anything men can do, regardless if that means just running the household or not.

This piece really connected with my emotions mostly because I am a woman, and women's rights is a cause that is very important to me. The piece makes such a bold statement about women's equality because the artist chose to display the woman in black in white in front of a large city landscape which is full of hot colors, like red and yellow. While looking at the piece it looks like the woman is dominating the city she is in front of. The woman also seems to be bigger than us, which shows her superiority. Her facial expression shows strength and determination, to reveal that women are tough, just like men are.

It was interesting that the artist chose to make his piece Pop Art. After some research I found that the Pop Art era for art was actually much earlier than 1987 when Kearns created it. Her clothes were also most likely from the Pop Art age, which brings up an interesting question. Why was Kearns trying to make his piece seem older than it was? I believe he did so to really revisit and emphasize the importance of women's equality, and the message that women work just as hard as men and deserve that recognition. Just like the artist named it, the woman is affirming and is performing an action just as a man would.

The claim that the piece is making is women's empowerment and equal pay for equal work. Even though during this time period, most women were stay at home mothers, they still worked just as hard as men, and deserve the same recognition that men do. This claim is very persuasive to me, because such a determined women is revealed in a dominating stance in front of an entire city, which really reveals strength for all women. Even today, some women feel inequality in the work place, as well as in everyday life, so although this piece was made in the 80's, its purpose is still relevant today.

This was my first time at the Palmer Museum, and I was pleasantly impressed. Living so close to Washington D.C., I have many experiences of visiting museums, and the Palmer. although smaller, really displayed a wide range of work. I can imagine myself going back, but next time maybe with a guide to really explain some of the pieces of work. I chose a piece that was pretty obvious of its purpose, but I think it would be interesting to hear the story behind some of the pieces of art that were more difficult to understand. I really liked how this museum had a lot of work ranging from pop art, landscapes, ceramics, photography to even 19th century work. It really displayed a lot of work that would be appealing to a wide range of people, which I think makes a museum very successful!

Blog Post #1

When creating my blog, my greatest priority was making a blog that would look inviting, and appealing to anyone who looked at it. This meant not having fonts of colors that were too girly, or too dull, and having an "About Me" page that would discuss my interests, as well as my connection and experiences related to art.

I chose the title, "The Art of an Argument," mostly to relate to English 15S. Since we are learning so much variation and different methods of arguments, I thought it was appropriate to relate an argument to be a type of art. After reading parts of "Everything's an Argument," I have learned that it takes a strong thought process to have a credible argument, which is sort of like an art in itself. I thought this title pertained to the class, and was easy to remember.

I went about choosing my template simply based on look. I thought that the color could be appealing to girls or boys, and was very bright and vivid, but not over the top. I especially liked the texture of the template because it was a mixture of very pastel-like colors, but almost looked splatter painted. I also spent a great deal of my time deciding on fonts. I made the font for the title different, with a cursive-like look in order to give it a more formal feel. I made it a greenish-blue color to bring out the colors in the template as well. I chose a font for the tabs that is very fun and stands out well, because it is a pretty big focus for the blog. The last font I chose was the one that would be used for all of my blog posts. I chose a font that was easily legible, as well as appealing and not too formal, so people would want to keep reading.

Besides the simple design choices, I chose to add a photo of me that would display on the main page. I did this because I thought it was a good way to really make my blog personal, and I always like putting a name to the piece of writing when I read. I also added a search engine and an email section, in order to make my blog a little more user friendly.

When making my blog, I spent a long time designing because I really wanted a good balance between making it personal, as well as appealing to whoever my audience will be. I did not think that it was too difficult to achieve this, mostly because I enjoyed making it. I hope that through blogging, I will achieve a more creative tone to my writing, and an appeal to my readers. :)