The Titian Exhibit

I just realized I never posted anything about my latest visit to the High, so what better time than now. Typically my attention span for 'museum' art is very low. Wandering around and reading about ancient paintings and sculptures of Gods isn't exactly what I would call a good time, although I absolutely appreciate the work and its beauty. However, the Titian exhibit was actually very interesting to me. I realize that it is an exhibit and it should have a certain flow, however I was particularly intrigued by the descriptions throughout this one in particular. More so on the third floor than the second, the way the paintings and descriptions were set-up truly told a story. I was able to learn the background of Titian, what he did, and how all of his paintings came to be. It was very interesting to me that the royal family admired his work so much and paid for anything that he created. I even was very interested in observing the Diana's. While I normally can't stand in front of a painting and actually think about it, those two paintings have a very intriguing subject and fit together very nicely. What I surely enjoyed the most about the entire exhibit was the use of color in the paintings. I don't believe I have ever seen oil paintings with such vivid and boldly used colors, and that definitely set them apart from other works and genres. Very impressive exhibit all around!

Wood Carpet

After I posted the entry about the paper models, we began building models out of cardboard. I came upon this really interesting website that describes the design of a wooden carpet. I personally was impressed that somebody was able to construct a rug out of wood, because that isn't a material that most people would ever consider using in that context. I'm not really sure how effective it is in terms of keeping a person warm, but I thought the idea was awesome.
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/7Y5Y5g/www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/8823/elisa-strozyk-wooden-carpet.html

Websites!

After today's tutorial at the library, I realized I have already done the exact same thing. In computer science (which is actually quite a torturous subject for me), we learned how to write HTML and CSS. The amateur website that I made is already on my prism account at http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~hyeganegi3. Basically, we just had to write the text and set all of the colors, text, etc. in html code. We needed to have one paragraph about ourselves and a few links. I happened to include a good amount about turtles, which are my favorite animals! So I feel  much more prepared for our current project knowing that I have done something similar previously.

Coffee Art

I remember somebody posting something a few weeks prior about food art. I recently stumbled upon this really fascinating article that is titled "30 Examples of Latte Art Too Beautiful to Drink".

http://webdesignledger.com/inspiration/30-examples-of-latte-art-too-beautiful-to-drink

It is actually art the baristas made with the foam on top of a latte. I thought this was really interesting because I have never seen 'art' in coffee or any drink type thing in general.

The Smithsonian

Since we are discussing museums now, I thought it would completely appropriate to write a blog about my trip to the Smithsonian Institute. When I was in about third or fourth grade, my grandparents took my sister and I on a road trip to Washington D.C. and other notable southern cities. One stop along the way included a visit to the Smithsonian. There are many things I remember very well, like the giant dinosaur skeleton. But the one item that I remember the most was the Hope Diamond. I'm not sure if I loved it so much simply because I was a girl and it was a massive diamond, or if it was because The Titanic was still a reasonably recent movie and I was amazed that I was actually looking at the same diamond it referenced. Either way, I still have the pictures from my trip, and I would definitely love to return there now that I am older!

Paper Art

We began a new exercise this week in architecture with modeling. We are using different weights of paper and cardboard to form models that echo the movements of everyday objects. One of the particular videos that my instructor had us view as a reference was showing a model created by Theo Jansen. Jansen is a Dutch artist, best known for his kinetic sculptures as shown. His style is known as a fusion between art and engineering, and this was the video that amazed everyone I know, made completely from paper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOF3C4Q5eJY&feature=related

The Fantastic Fox

After taking pictures of the Fox Theater for my assignment, I became very interested in the design of it and why the architects used such unique styles for the building. The Fox seats about 5,000 and contains an "Arabian Courtyard"  of a night sky made from one hundred embedded crystal 'stars'. I learned that the building was originally part of a large mosque, explaining the characteristically arabian architecture. As a theater, it opened in 1929, not even two months after the stock market crash. Many very famous movies premiered at the Fox in the mid-century, including Gone With The Wind. The theater closed and re-opened a few times before it was named a national historic landmark in 1976. It is estimated that around 750,000 people visit each year.