Blog 33: Due Dec. 21 by Midnight
(You will not have a blog over the break. I know this makes you sad...)
THIS BLOG HAS TWO PARTS--PLEASE DO BOTH for full credit:
1. Watch either the TedTalk embedded above, OR one from this playlist:
http://www.ted.com/playlists/14/are_you_there_god.html
or this one, by Benedictine Monk David Steindl-Rast (heavy accent, beware!)
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful.html
First, tell me which one you watched. Then, write about it reflectively: what is familiar to you about it, what is foreign? What do you agree or disagree with, on an individual basis. What does this talk tell you about a more global perspective and understanding? Was there anything that was new to you? A concept, a way of looking at things, or a piece of information about a religion/spirituality/belief different from yours?
2. We are steeped in a holiday season. Whether you see the holidays as a mass-market money-making scheme, as a reason to gather family together, or as a time of celebration and reflection of religious tradition, it is a time when those in the areas of the world influenced heavily by Judaism and Christianity give one another gifts. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a lengthy essay about gifts in which he talks about the graciousness and gratefulness he feels when given a gift, be it something he can hold in his hands, or something he can hold in his heart. Hopefully, it's the latter that makes you truly humbled.
In thinking about gifts, try to answer this question: what is the greatest gift that you have been given? (This gift can be tangible, intangible, for any reason or for a specific reason, it can be symbolic/metaphoric...think about something you are grateful to have!) Why was it such an amazing gift? Who gave it to you? What gives this gift meaning for you? How did you or do you show your gratefulness for this gift?
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Blog 32: Art and the other Areas
Blog 32: Due Dec 14 by Midnight.
This week, we will be looking at various pieces of visual art; certainly not all of the visual art there is--not even close!--but you will have the opportunity to exercise your inner aesthetic philosopher. As we do, it's important that you are able to contemplate how art can inform your other Ways/Areas of knowing.
The TedTalk this week is really engaging and witty. It dives into how leaders can use arts and aesthetic philosophy to be effective in leadership and effective problem solvers by applying the creativity necessary in art. Towards the end of the week, we will begin our venture into religion and spirituality. I think this is an apt place to really dive in an look at how art seeps into so much of what we know or attempt to know.
Please pick one of the following below to respond to this week:
1) One of the things that John Maeda says in his talk is that you aren't supposed to know what is going on in art; in fact, if you have no idea, than you're "doing it right." He said the purpose of art is to ask questions (can you see why I love this talk?!). Pick a piece of art that you are familiar with. You may need to provide a link or a description. Then, focus on the questions it asks its audience. What does it ask you, the individual? What does it ask the collective?
2) As we move into religion and spirituality, what is your opinion on art or creative endeavors that are commissioned, or at the very least, motivated by religion? Do you believe that art commissioned by religious leaders still fulfills your own personal standards for what qualifies as art?
3) Flipping the coin: whether you are an artist or a member of the audience, is there a spiritual experience at work when you view/hear/read a great work or a moving piece? Many have compared seeing the Russian Ballet, a performance of the opera Aida, listening to a great symphony, or viewing Michelangelo's Pieta to being in the presence of something greater than human beings. How would you explain this? Have you had this experience? Can you describe aptly through language what it was like?
This week, we will be looking at various pieces of visual art; certainly not all of the visual art there is--not even close!--but you will have the opportunity to exercise your inner aesthetic philosopher. As we do, it's important that you are able to contemplate how art can inform your other Ways/Areas of knowing.
The TedTalk this week is really engaging and witty. It dives into how leaders can use arts and aesthetic philosophy to be effective in leadership and effective problem solvers by applying the creativity necessary in art. Towards the end of the week, we will begin our venture into religion and spirituality. I think this is an apt place to really dive in an look at how art seeps into so much of what we know or attempt to know.
Please pick one of the following below to respond to this week:
1) One of the things that John Maeda says in his talk is that you aren't supposed to know what is going on in art; in fact, if you have no idea, than you're "doing it right." He said the purpose of art is to ask questions (can you see why I love this talk?!). Pick a piece of art that you are familiar with. You may need to provide a link or a description. Then, focus on the questions it asks its audience. What does it ask you, the individual? What does it ask the collective?
2) As we move into religion and spirituality, what is your opinion on art or creative endeavors that are commissioned, or at the very least, motivated by religion? Do you believe that art commissioned by religious leaders still fulfills your own personal standards for what qualifies as art?
3) Flipping the coin: whether you are an artist or a member of the audience, is there a spiritual experience at work when you view/hear/read a great work or a moving piece? Many have compared seeing the Russian Ballet, a performance of the opera Aida, listening to a great symphony, or viewing Michelangelo's Pieta to being in the presence of something greater than human beings. How would you explain this? Have you had this experience? Can you describe aptly through language what it was like?
Sunday, December 1, 2013
Blog 31: Endangered Art
Due: Saturday, Dec. 7 by Midnight
The TedTalk will be relevant to your responses in this week's blog, so you will want to watch it. It's about 13 minutes long.
We have been talking a lot about the purpose, the value, and the motivation of art. What we haven't talked much about yet is, while human beings are perhaps the only beings driven to create in the arts, we are also capable of destroying these endeavors. To many, the arts and aesthetics are seen as frivolous, wasteful of time and energy, and nothing but entertainment. Ben Cameron (in the TedTalk) references the internet as one potential thing that stands in the way of people accessing the live performing arts, while others could argue that the internet provides a way for more people to be exposed to the performing arts.Your answer will come in two parts:
2. Sixty years ago, a trip to an art gallery, a ballet, a symphony, a play/musical/opera, or being given a classic book of poetry or literature was considered a decadence (or at least a great move on a date!). While Ben Cameron says that the live performing arts are competing with the internet, discuss other 'roadblocks' that you see standing between the average 15-25 year old and their exposure to art (of any kind). Or perhaps you don't see much of a decline--if so, what (perhaps) could cause one?
The TedTalk will be relevant to your responses in this week's blog, so you will want to watch it. It's about 13 minutes long.
We have been talking a lot about the purpose, the value, and the motivation of art. What we haven't talked much about yet is, while human beings are perhaps the only beings driven to create in the arts, we are also capable of destroying these endeavors. To many, the arts and aesthetics are seen as frivolous, wasteful of time and energy, and nothing but entertainment. Ben Cameron (in the TedTalk) references the internet as one potential thing that stands in the way of people accessing the live performing arts, while others could argue that the internet provides a way for more people to be exposed to the performing arts.Your answer will come in two parts:
Choose one of these:
1. The arts (performing arts, industrial arts, visual arts, etc) are constantly being threatened as a way to cut budgets in public schools (K-12). Advocates say that students can access the arts in their communities and that school time should be used strictly for core academic subjects. Make a case for or against this movement.2. Sixty years ago, a trip to an art gallery, a ballet, a symphony, a play/musical/opera, or being given a classic book of poetry or literature was considered a decadence (or at least a great move on a date!). While Ben Cameron says that the live performing arts are competing with the internet, discuss other 'roadblocks' that you see standing between the average 15-25 year old and their exposure to art (of any kind). Or perhaps you don't see much of a decline--if so, what (perhaps) could cause one?
AND Everyone respond to this:
What has been your best experience in your life thus far with being a purveyor (audience member) of performing arts? Perhaps you visited a big city where you saw a world famous production; perhaps you sat in a church somewhere and listened to Handel's Messiah one Christmas; perhaps you saw a mime performing in Paris, or maybe a play at our very own MCT that moved you). Why was this experience memorable? Do you see yourself as an adult who seeks out experiences in the performing arts?
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