Greek Sculpture

I had never thought of these realistic sculptures as exaggerated, but now that I watched the video I see that! the postures, the muscles, and the structure overall looks so natural even though it really is not. The accomplishment of naturalism and distortion at the same time is successful.

When the Greek created sculptures of women, how were they portrayed? we know that men were meant to be athletic symbols, were women meant to be symbols of beauty?

Ancient Aegean

• I think It's great that the archeologist chose to restore the ruins, and the use of modern material is a good idea so that we can get an idea of how much of it took creativity to restore.

• I wonder how long it took to restore.

Japanese folding screens

Last summer I visited the World's Fair exhibit at the Nelson-Atkins and came across this interesting Japenese folding wall, and it was so great to look at because the waves moved as you moved from side to side and it was all hand embroidered. 

Hashio Kiyoshi created a gold-medal winning embroidered screen titled Morning Sea. This piece was first exhibited at the 1915 San Francisco World's Fair. 250 shades of blue silk were used to embroider this panel.

http://www.themagazineantiques.com/articles/inventing-the-modern-world/

While Kiyoshi's work is contemporary, it is clearly true to his culture. 
Japanese embroidery has been around for over a thousand years. It was initially used for decorating items that were used for religious ceremonies. With time it became a more artistic skill, and it is now more widely available than it initially was.

http://www.japaneseembroidery.com/nuido/index.html

Folding Screens

                                                             Watch up to minute 3:48

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVnQvhS4vRs&NR=1&feature=endscreen

These folding panels were functional furniture as well as decoration. The content of some of these had a lot to symbolize about the owner, for example, hawks and pines were military representations, while plum trees could represent Zen abbots. It depended on the artist and how they interpreted the profession of the owner. 

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/fold/hd_fold.htm


So to start off on the background information of Japanese folding screens, these images show japanese screens that were painted with ink and covered in gold leaf. 

The Battles of Hogen and Heiji, Edo period (1615–1868), 17th century
Japanese
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper

Each 60 15/16 in. x 11 ft. 8 in. (154.8 x 355.6 cm)

Landscape and Chinese Figures
Nagasawa Rosetsu (Japanese, 1754–1799)
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink on gilded paper

Each 67 3/8 x 146 3/4 in. (171.1 x 372.7 cm)

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/edop/hd_edop.htm

With time, panels started to be decorated with embroidery rather than ink.

Art Therapy and Alzheimer's

Looking at this article was really interesting to me.

William Utermohlen, an American artist living in London, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1995. In a span of 5 years, Utermohlen created self-portraits which significantly reflected his progression of Alzheimer's. Slowly, his subject matter began to get closer to his face, and his face began to lose certain features. The quality of his lines became less precise, and his face became more abstracted. His work was probably a resemblance to his reality becoming abstracted.

 This type of activity would be very interesting to perform with patients suffering of dementia, this way the patient and the family members of the patient would visually experience the stages of the disease. It would also be a keepsake once the patient was gone. 


http://www.technologyreview.com/photogallery/429486/dementia-the-self-portraits-of-william-utermohlen/?a=f

Art Therapy--Drawing faces of the living and the dead

Faces from China's Past: Paintings for Entertainment & Remembrance

I came across this current exhibition on the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Although I have not seen it yet, I found the description to be very interesting. During the earlier ages of China, artists would paint faces of the living to honor them, for they meant a lot to them in some way. They would also paint portraits of the ones who were no longer in our physical world, with the intentions of commemorating their lives. These portraits were not meant to be high works of art, they were more for families to enjoy. 

Visitors of this exhibition were asked to draw portraits of someone who means or meant a lot to them, I think this would be a great activity for art therapy patients to cope with grief by commemorating a loved one who passed away, and honoring another significant person who is still with them. 

 I should go see this exhibition some time! :)

 http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/exhibitions/faces-from-chinas-past.cfm

Art of Asia

I love how the house setting transitions smoothly into nature, unlike western culture which clearly divides the outside from the inside.

It was kind of odd to me that there would be different chairs depending on one's importance, I wonder if this is still practiced today?