Sign Off

            This is Dan signing off.  Not sure what I’m supposed to write exactly.  I enjoyed the class, we covered some interesting topics, and I really enjoyed studying graffiti and the cave paintings in the Dordogne Valley.  The diversity of the presentations by my fellow classmates brought some extra dimensions to the class, as well as some new perspectives.  This was my favorite part of the class; the presentations were all very well done.  I learned about a bunch of topics that I otherwise wouldn’t have known anything about.  It was also real great that there were some similar subjects discussed but with a slightly different scope or perspective.  I thought the evolutionary perspective in “What is Art For?” was interesting, it made really good sense in some places but other portions of the book disinterested me.  I thought ethno-aesthetic analysis is a good tool when analyzing art, but it needs to be grounded in a further understanding of a culture.  

My Art Project

            My research was involving the manipulative capabilities of propaganda during World War II.  I highlighted examples from both Nazi Germany and the United States, specifically film and posters, two of the most prevalent mediums used by the government at the time.  They were also some the most effective means of getting the state’s message across to the American and German people, as well as the territories under the control of Nazi Germany.  Their effectiveness lies in the mediums ability to reach mass audiences, which we also discussed in class; who exactly is consuming the artworks.  In the beginning of the semester we discussed graffiti and cave paintings a decent amount, which got me to thinking about the consistency throughout humanity to put up our artworks on walls, so this line of thought led me to propaganda posters and the power of those artworks to motivate the average citizen; artwork on a massive scale, implemented by the government.  We discussed the meaning or intentions of art and, in this case, the meaning and intentions were quite clear: manipulate and coerce the masses into achieving the goals of the state.

            My research process involved a lot of reading.  I gathered a bulk of material relating to propaganda.  I searched peer-reviewed, scholarly articles, and a couple of books to gain a full understanding of where my research could go.  My first wave of searching involved trying to find articles analyzing propaganda for its artistic value, it led to a few articles but not too much.  Then I cut down the broadness of my search and limited it down to WWI and WWII propaganda amongst the various nation-states involved in the conflict; still too much information.  I decided to limit the subject to the various forms of WWII propaganda in Russia, Germany, Japan, and the US, but the research I gathered had just as much about the use of film as it about posters.  At that point it was clear that film had to be included.  When it came down to crunch-time and I began trying to form my research into something pretty I realized that the scope should be limited to the two superpowers of the war: America and Germany.  This scope was needed because of the high amount of propaganda used in WWII, specifically by these two nation-states, and especially through the mediums of film and posters.

            If I had to do a follow-up project to this it would be the analysis of propaganda by social and behavioral scientists in between WWI and WWII, leading up to the role of social and behavioral scientists in the Office of War Information.   

Thanks Warren, I know it's Winter Now

            Bodies flipping, twisting, turning, soaring through the air, and then they finally, flop into snow, Warren Miller has been creating blissful ski movies for over four decades.  They circulate every year, appearing late October or early November, bringing anticipation for the offspring of the mountain and winter to return to Eden.  Bountiful mounds of snow adorn the screen as Warren’s movie play, as the master artist crafts his tool across the mountain’s canvass you begin to get that familiar feeling, an addiction present in your mind; it’s time to go skiing again.  Warren’s movie is a signal for the pilgrimage to the mountain to begin.  The master’s of the mountain grace the screen, every flip, spin, grind, turn, line is unique and a statement by them filled with the passion and love that one cannot help but feel while in the harmonious presence of the mountain; what peace and freedom.  No master is greater than Warren Miller, not in terms of skiing or riding ability, but because his films evoke the feelings one has when winter is approaching and skiing is on the way. 

            Since long before I was born his movies symbolized the ski season, they have evolved along side of the sport.  A mix of mountains (freeskiing/riding, backcountry and Heliskiing) and street, although predominantly mountain and skiing (it is a Warren Miller movie) this year’s movie was a sublime mixture of the direction skiing is going but also a tributary of Warren Miller, and skiing’s, big mountain past.  The amazing locations like Squaw Valley (where I do most my skiing), the Himalayas in Kashmir, and Alaska were where the master’s created the artworks, dreaming of new lines and building new jumps where they were previously unimagined.  One cannot help but drift back into their one mind a dream that first run down the mountain.  The innovation of helmet cams made that desire all the more apparent; the tease of being there, engaged in the steeps, ripe with fear and exhilaration, the goal of the movies are simple: make you want to ski, goal achieved.  Wanted to upload videos from the movie and can't, I'll settle for the link.

Videos from Warren Miller

Globalization, Art, and Culture

            To understand the social life of objects, one must understand the multiple processes that affect how an object is perceived.  In the examples discussed in the reading, aboriginal/native art, the processes of globalization and its affects on the culture producing an object must not be ignored.  These representations are widely seen in anthropological study and, in class, we have seen multiple examples of the products of globalization affecting indigenous or native cultures.  Examples that come to mind are: the telephone-wire basket crafted by Zulu basket weavers, the changes in aboriginal art over time (in Waiting for Harry, the burial ritual would have usually been preformed at night, but because of the threats on Aboriginal Australian culture due to colonization and globalization, they must now have detailed records of their culture so it is not lost), and La Dia de Los Muertos, which has the hybridization of Aztec and Spanish culture from colonization, as well as the commoditization inherent from globalization.  As the reading says, we cannot treat a culture with boundaries that are not affecting by the current social, economic and political forces that currently present within the ever changing global arena, culture will be greatly altered and morphed along with the pressures of an evolving world, after all, the idea that culture changes over time is present within most anthropological definitions of the term.  That stagnation faced within anthropological theory is a malevolent force in understanding culture, as anthropologists, we must evolve along with culture, which seems to be the underlying theme from the reading.  Is this evolution being realized? I believe it is.  The presence of globalization undeniably alters culture and recent anthropological works indicate that the understanding of the affects of globalization is relatively strong. 

            The study of objects and participant observation are definitely not obsolete, on the contrary they are more crucial to the understanding of culture now more than ever.  One must participate in the activities of a society and culture to fully understand their significance to the people that are involved in expressing values present within their society and culture.  The study of objects can lead one to a further understanding of a culture through the symbolism present within it.  Through symbolic analysis and observing a culture through participation in significant activities of that society and culture, one may be able to gain a more holistic understanding of the pressures causing cultural change.

            

The Ethnoaesthetics of Ballet

            The author, who’s name is way to complicated spell and long, so she will be referred to as “the author” hereafter, discusses the concept of ballet being categorized as a form of ethnic dance for western culture, an assertion with which I agree.  She describes the relevant literature of the study of dance being ethnocentric and inadequate for the analysis of other dance forms beside that of western culture.  In describing the literature she has gone through, a theme of marginalization occurs when scholars are not analyzing the value and impact of western art.  The belief is embodied by the usage of specific terminology like primitive, ethnic, and folk dance, all of which carry a stigma of inferiority to the precise beauty of western dance.  They are written off as spontaneous, inexact, no technique or artistry, and being on the verge of orgy (the author highlights other assumptions of characteristics involved in traditional dance).  These characteristics are often misleading; the author shows this in the examples she uses, specifically Hopi dance and its traditions.  She discusses how the definitions western society has for dance further convolutes the picture of traditional dance.  This discussion moves into the characteristics of ballet that exemplify the attributes of western society that are virtues.  Considering that western society is comprised of multiple countries and backgrounds she considers ballet a form of international dance.  The nature of ballet explicitly portrays many characteristics that are constantly present in western society, some are: religion, sex, perfection, fear, beauty, love, misunderstanding, self-sacrifice, emotional and physical suffering, as well as tragedy (40).   All of these aspects contribute to ballet being viewed as a form of ethnic dance, as well as being an example of ethno-aesthetics. 

            In the section above, which I summarized the aesthetic aspects of western culture that make ballet an ethnic dance, it is clear that this an ethno-aesthetic analysis of ballet.  The author describes specific aspects of ballet that reflect the culture of western society.  All of the present characteristics mentioned above are aspects of western culture that are seen everyday, by every person within it.  Specifically sex and beauty, which are highly present in ballet, are perfect examples of this truth.  An individual in western society cannot go through daily routine without seeing imagery of sex or beauty.  Advertising is ripe with these two characteristics and considering the commercialization within western culture; a person cannot go more than a day without being reminded of sex and beauty within any kind of advertisement.  The high prevalence of the rest of the characters, which I will not get into in the interest of time, also exemplify this belief, and make the ethno-aesthetic analysis of ballet very fruitful.  

Good example of the characteristics discussed by the author (plus I've liked Aronofsky since his Pi days)

Ethno-Aesthetics

            Ethno-aesthetics can be defined as a regional, local, or indigenous beliefs expressed artistically through various mediums including, but not limited to, the ritualistic or the ceremonial purposes of that society or group of people.  Ethno-aesthetic analysis is trying to uncover specific cultural and social traits from that group of people.  It can be analogous to conducting an ethnography.  The medium of interpretation is through a dramatically smaller lens, and the conclusions drawn cannot begin to express the complexities of the culture, but it can gain some knowledge and understanding through the mediums analyzed.  Ethno-aesthetics encompasses a wide array of activities and mediums of expression.  It could be ceremonial, ritualistic, celebratory, painting, song, dance, sculpture, and many other mediums.  The purpose is to gain some sort of understanding about the cultural and ethnic expression through the medium being utilized by that group of people.  The largest hazard of this form of analysis is that is through such a small lens and does not generally encompass the whole of the culture or society.  The analyzer is only subjected to a miniscule portion of that culture; the preverbal tip of the iceberg.  This limited analysis cannot possibly gain a holistic view of the culture that is aesthetically expressing their cultural values. 

            The implications of globalization and hybridization in ethno-aesthetics are pretty prevalent.  La dia de los muertos is an excellent example of globalizations effects creating a hybridization of cultural values and expression of those values.  The day of the dead is a great example of this because of the connection between catholic colonist view combined with indigenous aspects of Mexican culture, specifically Aztec.  The day of the dead is a celebratory expression of hybridization in ethno-aesthetics.  

Totems

“’It is the figurative representations of this plant or animal [on ceremonial objects]…which have the greatest sanctity’, because it is these which provide the tangible expression of the group’s place in society. ’personified and represented to the imagination under the visible form of the [picture of the] animal or vegetable which serves as a totem.’” 

            Totems presence as art is reflected in this statement of Durkheim’s relayed through Layton.  This quote illustrates the importance of artistic totemic representations for small-scale societies that follow totemic religious beliefs.  The symbolism that is present in totemic depictions of animals or plants is a more than just a painting or drawing that is both representative and abstract.  The totem is representative of the people, and their ancestral patterns, that associate with that symbol.  These religious beliefs all have the underlying presence of the group’s ancestry.  It is the connection to the groups past.  It defines how the world unfolded its mysteries to the group defining certain principal and practices to live in a truly positive manner.   

            Totemic religious beliefs play a massive role in small-scale societies; it delineates kinship patterns, a process for resolving disputes between groups, and subsistence patterns. Kinship patterns are reflected in totemic religious views.  One group is expected to produce a husband or wife for the other.  This is the basis for the ancestral patterns that are associated with totemic beliefs.  Once a member from a related group joins another through marriage, they, and all future family members, depending on whether they are male or female, are now a part of that group, or destined to be attached to another associated group.  Totemic beliefs also transcend religion into the realm of law and order.  Totemic beliefs can also develop into a basis for handling disputes between group members.  They involve processes for handling a wide-range of issues, like “property” disputes, issues involving the mate of another group member, or witchcraft.  Symbolic totemic representations can also be related to subsistence.  They can be related to a resource that a group exploits seasonally.  Clearly totemic symbolism is not limited to this concept, there are plenty of other reasons a specific representation is used, and they vary from culture to culture, but it can be related to a specific subsistence pattern.  The presence of symbolism in totemic representations stretches far beyond my analysis, but these are just a few reasons to show how far beyond mere artistic symbolism totemic representation extend.  It is a religious system that encompasses many aspects of life.   

Aborigines Make Death Special

           This film showed exactly why Aboriginal Australians are so rich for study.  The complexity of the their culture provides rich insight into how previous hunter gatherer groups may have lived.  The interconnectivity of their law, totems, myths, painting, song, dance, rituals, religion, and how these aspects of their culture vary regionally from a connected group in one region to another group in another region, these similarities are the main reasons why it is so complex and difficult to gain a true holistic understanding of Australian aboriginal culture.  The film did such a beautiful job of displaying the vast cultural richness of the Australian aborigines.  Most of the aspects of the aboriginal religion are connected to totemic representations of ancestral kinship patterns (excuse me while offensively generalize about aboriginal religious belief, they would put me under spear-fire if my generalizations reached their ears).  In the build up to the funeral, there were methodical, meticulous efforts made in preparation for the event.  Over the course of these preparations, the religious songs of the ancestors of the deceased were sung, the dances celebrating that ancestral lineage were celebrated, paintings were drawn for the coffin, the sand sculpture was made, food and subsistence items were gathered, the right number of people with the correct status had to be present, and the bodies of the group were painting towards to culmination of the ritual.  All of these artistic acts and processes of making sure the ritual was properly realized; are acts of making special.

            The preparation of the aboriginal funeral rites is a long daunting process.  The proper hollow log must be chosen for the coffin, certain songs and stories must told and sung, certain dances must take place amongst the correct number and status of people, the correct sand sculpture must be made, and the deceased person’s ancestral lineage must paid homage to with the right people present.  All of these acts define making something special and represent ceremonial art.  The songs, dance, and stories are art; and the painting of the coffin and bodies of those participating in the ceremony are definitely artistic expression, making the impact and importance of these ceremonies all the more impactful.  The symbolic and abstract nature of the painting of the coffin is the most dramatic example of making special.  A specific, boring, plain piece of wood, although of a specific type, is selected for the ceremony.  Then over the course of the days leading up to burying of the dead, the coffin is painted methodically in a specific manner, with specific symbols representing that person lineage so that they can become part of the spiritual realm in which their ancestors reside and still live through the songs, stories, dances, and totemic landmarks that make up the aboriginal culture and life.

Sand Sculpture

A Painting of a Fish

Some Aborigines with Ceremonial Attire

More Interpreting

            Anyone reading my blog the last couple of weeks has already noticed that I have basically been toying around with the idea of interpreting the cave paintings and prehistoric art; so this post may seem a bit repetitive.  When discussing the study and interpretation of prehistoric art it undoubtedly revolves around two fields of study and analysis, ethological and archaeological.  It is necessary to make the statement however that these two fields of study should be highly interdependent on one another, especially regarding the potential interpretations of the artworks of an extinct culture.  In order to fully understand the culture producing these works of art, one must engage in all activities surrounding the methodological collection of data and the ethological interpretations of that data.  One cannot possibly “make sense” of all the potential interpretations of these artworks unless fully understanding all of the data surrounding that presuppose that analysis.  Ethological data referring the to composition, juxtaposition similarities, size of the works, choice of animals used, and the relationship of the works to unidentified markings all include the potential for ethological interpretation.  However, all of these activities involve the collection of data.  Archaeological data would include: the frequency of certain animals used, the artifacts/ecofacts present in the caves, and once again the general composition of the piece.  All of these aspects are just data until one tries to make sense out of them, which requires ethological interpretation.  One of the common interpretations of prehistoric art, particularly cave paintings, is often they served a spiritual purpose.

            Due to the lack of a written language, it is not out of the ordinary to speculate that these works of art were used in a spiritual, mythical capacity.  From my own armchair perspective, this interpretation seems legitimate.  You can almost picture a group of people ritualistically surrounding the artwork in the great hall of bulls while elders speak a great tale as torchlight flickers along the works, breathing life into them.  But, in this same analysis, there can also be totemic interpretation arising from this manner of thought.  A work of lions and rhinos juxtaposed together can be seen as a totemic relationship between groups identifying with the totem of the lion or the rhino.  Now, what exactly these totems represent is highly uncertain, and I won’t begin to insult the proponents of this theory with my simplistic analysis, but, through this example, it is easy to discern how similar theories can develop and how not one can ever be definitive due to the death of the culture that has produced them.  The one interpretation that we know is undoubtedly true is that the production of these artworks was highly important to the culture that created them.

Speculative Interpretations

            “Their work portrays the animals that their culture valued, not so much in a practical way—or else there would have been more fish, which were an important part of their diet—but in an aesthetic or mythological or spiritual way.” (17)

            There are many theories for explaining the meaning behind the Cave Paintings in the Dordogne Valley.  As we have been reading, they range from the most simplistic (the paintings represent the world that the people of this region and time period were apart of) to the most unsubstantiated due to the culture being extinct (mythological, totemic, spiritual, magical, etc).  Our ethological interpretations of the paintings can never be fully proven without a living member of the culture; speculation is all the remains.  When archaeological evidence is difficult to interpret, there is often a jump to this realm of thought, in the context of the cave paintings in the Dordogne Valley, it is more than warranted. 

            My personal opinion on the art works is that they must have had some mythological, spiritual, or totemic purposes.  Raphael’s theory of the painting being related to clan structures and separations also seems reasonable but there still must be some mythological/spiritual/totemic explanation for the symbolism of why a clan would identify with a specific animal.  The selection of which animals the artists used in their works is also very intriguing.  They generally seem to be Bison, Mammoth, Horses, and Rhinos; essentially they are animals that they were able to hunt and that would have produced massive amounts of meat and tools for a group (I’m not sure if they did hunt them, tried to find info on it, and couldn’t find any).  According to “The Cave Painters”, the mega-fauna mentioned weren’t a massive portion of their diet. These animals are also very powerful animals with massive potential for danger if a group were to hunt them.  Horses were not domesticated at this point, so it is not unreasonable to assume that they could have been hunted. 

            Whether or not prehistoric groups in this region hunted these animals is irrelevant though because it is not significant of the potential symbolism attached to a particular animal.  The most logical application of the paintings seems to be the mythological or spiritual purpose of the art works.  The recent discovery of children’s artistic and overall presence within the caves where the artwork was housed shows that these artistic practices are definitely transmitted to the next generation, as opposed to being the work of just few people over the course of time.  It also shows the cultural importance of continuing the painting process because children were encouraged to participate in abstract artistic expression, which could have further bonded a group and reinforced cultural values through representation of their mythological or spiritual system.  Totemic representation could be involved in the symbolism of the animals.

            Obviously there is no definitive conclusion to be drawn from these artworks.  All that can be definitively interpreted is that clearly the paintings served a purpose that would reinforce the culture the group/groups producing these paintings.  It’s enjoyable to speculate just what is the exact meaning of these artworks, just as it is when viewing art in today’s society.

Sources

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/30/world/europe/prehistoric-cave-art/index.html

Method in the Madness

            Annette Laming-Emperaire’s analysis of the cave paintings at Lascaux, particularly the methodology she used, is very logical and brilliant.  In anthropology, it is the tendency of those studying phenomena that is difficult to explain to reach the extraordinary, mythical, or magical.  Laming-Emperaire is directly criticizing the previous analysis of cave paintings in France, as well as the methodologies that have developed these speculations.  The archaeological approach, the one that she proposes as the best suitable means of discovering facts about the paintings and the people whom created them, is the best method of discovering facts about these artifacts, rather than mere speculations based on ethnographic interpretations. 

            The archaeological method involves gathering information on how these works were created, one aspect is the materials that were selected and the tools used to adorn these walls with the beautiful representations of animals that were roaming the earth at that time.  The most crucial analysis of these works of art comes as one interprets them as a collection of artifacts.  How were they composed?  Is there a method behind the chaos in which the images were arranged?  Is there an association between certain animals being used in a specific artwork?  Is there a connection between the associated animals and sexes of members of the groups, could they have served a ritual purpose?  Are the arrangement and distribution crucial to their understanding? 

          All of these questions can be answered through methodological analysis, it doesn’t have to necessarily be through trolling into the ground and discovering further artifacts, although this practice is greatly helpful because you may find evidence of a speculative theory surrounding the societal purpose of these artworks/artifacts.  What Annette Laming-Emperaire was trying to impose on the analysis of these works is that there is an obvious need for speculation, but it should be grounded in archaeological and methodic research.  She directly attacks that theory of the paintings having a magical hunting association.  Laming-Emperaire debunks this theory by highlighting the fact that very little of these works have spear or arrow markings indented in the artworks, and, if these artworks/artifacts were used for the purpose of magically taking down prey, there would be some markings on the paintings where the group would prod the image, releasing the magic.  This is speculative, but seems reasonable based on evidence of magic cross-culturally.  Laming-Emperaire sees the repetitive appearance of symbols in multiple locations as the only true evidence of a cohesive set of beliefs.  This would provide the evidence for totemism and confirm the mythological speculations surrounding the purpose of the cave paintings.

This is from Chauvet

Also from Chauvet

This is the Great Hall of Bulls in Lascaux

This is also from Lascaux

Hunter-Gatherers and Art

“Procuring food in groups and making it edible would foster improved vocal and non-vocal communication, and the development of certain technical, motor, and sensory skills, such as tool making, dexterity, observing powers, appreciation of symmetry, and the development of “handedness”—a dominant, more skilled hand and eye” (110).

How has the development of these skills, in combination with the high amounts leisure time facing hunter gather societies, contributed to the development of art as an evolving behavior?

            Hunter-gatherer societies were clearly amongst the first humans to engage in the behavior of art.  The complexity of social order we have today was minimal for these small groups of people.  These societies are the basis at which our complexity in social organization has bloomed from.  First the obvious needs to be pointed out; this social structure does not need to be complex because if these societies experienced a fair amount of stratification, the longevity of that group would be highly questionable.  Within this social order of early human society, the skills that Ellen describes manifested over the expanse of hominid existence.  As time passed, communication and language developed, learning progressed over generations of knowledge being shared between people, and advancements in tool making created the skills needed for artistic expression.  The process of making tools is probably amongst the most crucial for creating art because of the expertise needed to create a well-fashioned tool (good hand-eye coordination, the selection of proper material, and a knowledge of symmetry to maximize the usefulness of the tool).  Through the mechanisms of early societal organization and the mode of production for the society, the raw materials were now present, but how did art fully manifest itself?

            The amount of leisure time within a hunter-gatherer society directly enabled the development of artistic expression.  Shortly after the selected quote above, Ellen states: “Their leisure must have been occupied with practicing and developing skills, but equally so there must have been time to idle, to chat, to dream” (101).  Clearly this statement is just speculation, but that doesn’t disprove it as it has been seen in anthropological studies of hunter-gatherer societies that modern society has encountered.  Aboriginal Australians are example of leisure time leading to complex mythology and art, which is intertwined with their culture’s religion and system of laws.  Aborigines exploited seasonal resources in different areas.  These resources often expanded great distances, so, they walked.  With these travels, there was often songs and stories that went along with this journey, as well as totems representing the physical manifestation of their spiritual world connecting with their existence, thusly making the stories true.  The presence of stories were often seen in subsistence and tool making as well, like the building of bark canoes to exploit resources along the coast (obviously this was only amongst coastal tribes).  The point of this example is to illustrate Ellen’s point about subsistence, tool making, and leisure time directly contribute to the development of the behavior of art.  The main idea that should be taken away from this is that as society develops, then the social behaviors that humanity revels in will also develop.  Through tool making, leisure time, and increased socialization, humans developed a great capacity to express themselves, and the world around because the abstract concepts need to create art gradually developed as the social mechanisms with which we organized and feed ourselves also developed. 

The Aesthetic Nature of the Arts

            The main driving forces behind the arts have to be the aesthetic experience and the symbolic meaning attached to the aesthetic experience of an artwork.  These are the two most impactful experiences of the arts.  The first aspect of an artwork that catches people’s attention/curiosity is usually the aesthetic qualities of the piece.  In other words, does this piece pass the enjoyment/dislike phase of the viewer?  In either reaction from the viewer of the piece, the aesthetic experience is present.  The aesthetic experience may, and is, most likely intertwined with the symbolism attached to the meaning of the piece.  This experience directly relates to the individual through the cultural practices in which he/she has learned to behave; it is the experience of breaking from the ordinary that appeals to the viewer of the artwork.  Some of the aspects of the arts that are definitely involved with the aesthetic experience, other than symbolization, are the complex emotions that humans display, the need for sociality, and the need for humans to be entertained or intrigued to avoid monotony and boredom.  The arts are often an emotional expression that can reach out to masses of people.  This aura that the arts illuminate is part of the socialization and emotionality that is intertwined with art, and is a contributing reason for the aesthetic power of art, and what ultimately makes it such an extraordinary experience. 

Another aspect of the aesthetic and social experience of the arts is the process of going to a museum or viewing a piece of art.  There are codes of behavior/mannerisms that are expected in viewing an exhibit; the experience of going to a museum with people and feeling connected, through a piece of art to one another because of the realization of a shared similar view or belief; and in this context, it is the ritualization of the way we appreciate the arts that make it a social behavior.  People flock to view an exhibit or artwork that speaks to them, and once there, people exchange their ideas about the aesthetic and symbolic nature of the piece that appeals to them, making that piece significant and further connecting people together, and thusly connecting them to the intensity of experiencing that art work.  This connectivity is what makes the arts so relevant in cultures across humanity; it is feeling of something much larger than oneself. All of this appreciation is impossible without the aesthetic experience of art.  All of these factors of the aesthetic experience of art cause a break from monotony and the mundane.

Make My Lacrosse Stick Special

            Today I’m going to make my lacrosse stick special.  Lacrosse originated as a Native American ritual (game) that some tribes played on the east coast of the United States to prepare for battle.  Warriors would decorate their bodies in preparation for the blood sport.  Over the years, as the game has evolved, the practice of decoration, or making special, has not left the game.  Players decorate the heads (the top of the stick where the ball sits) with colored stringing or dye them various colors.   Both types of decoration are an expression of the style of game that the individual player plays.  Let’s go dye my stick.

            Like I said, the stick expresses the style of the player; as an attack-man (an offensive player) the style of my game was flashy, I always went for the stylish move to score a goal.  I no longer play (so this stick was dyed a few years ago), but I found this act of “making special” interesting because of its anthropological connection to the native groups near where I grew up in New York, and the continuation of the traditional practice of expressing yourself in the game.  Considering the style I played; my stick was pretty flashy. 

            First you need some supplies.  I’m using a small trashcan to contain the water and dye (red and blue, after dyed it turns to this ugly, flashy purplish color) that I’m using to make my stick special.  I boil some water.  While waiting for the water to boil, I take a hot glue gun and lay out some newspaper so I don’t make a mess.  I slowly streak the hot glue over the lacrosse head horizontally, working from the base up to the top.  I do this so that white streaks will appear after the dying is complete.  I let the glue dry and by that time the water is at a soft boil.  (NOTE: Don’t leave the head on the newspaper to dry, use a wire hanger and don’t hang it over something important leave it outside or in the garage over some newspaper).  I dump the water into the trashcan and add the blue dye.  Then I take the lacrosse head and place it into the water and dye for about five minutes (the longer or shorter you leave it in will affect the color, shorter = lighter color, longer = darker color).  I check it at three minutes and take it out after five.  I take out the head and let it dry for a 4-6 hours.  Then I take the head once more and repeat the gluing procedure while I boil the water in preparation for the red dye.  This will give the head blue and white horizontal streaks across its purple overtone.  As the glue dries the water is once again at a soft boil.  I put the water into the trashcan and add the red dye.  I place the head into the water and wait for five minutes, again checking it at 3 minutes to make sure the color is where I want it.  After five minutes of soaking in the dye, I remove the head and let it dry for another 4-6 hours (clearly this is either an all day or two day procedure).  After the head is dry, I take a butter knife and scrape the hot glue off, revealing the blue and white streaks.  Then I string up the stick using white stringing (the head is flashy enough on its own). 

Un-dyed Lacrosse Head

My Dyed Lacrosse Head

Another view of it

Primitiveness

            Robert Layton states very clearly his opinion of “primitive art”, and the societies that created those art works, “Any community which possesses a tradition of artistic expression has more than a little sophistication in its culture.” (p. 3).  The key part of that belief lay in its last few words, “…in its culture.” (3).  This is what makes the discussion of “primitive art” problematic.  These words are what make Ellen Dissanayake first describe the nature of what western society has come to label “primitive” society.  She states: “`Primitive` societies are…characterized by small-scale settlements, a low level of technological development, an unspecialized economy and a nonliterate tradition, and generally slow-changing, unquestioned homogenous social institutions and practices relative to nonprimitive societies.” (p. 42-3).  Therefore, now gifted with some sort of scope for the word “primitive”, we can begin to understand what Layton meant when he described “primitive art” as having, “…more than a little sophistication in its culture.” (p. 3).  This statement refers to people of small-scale societies that not only possessed enough sophistication to identify hundreds or thousands of edible/non-edible plants, and how to track, hunt, kill, butcher and make use of all parts of an animal, but also had the intelligence to creatively express their spiritual/general beliefs regarding the world around them.  To create a work of art with high significance and relevance to a society’s spiritual beliefs, for not only their-own, but also other generations to follow, takes a high amount of time, intelligence, and sophistication.  I don’t see the art created by our human ancestors as primitive; I see it as the basis for all of our artistic expression because there is no difference between “primitive art” and western art.  “Primitive art” is the creative expression by our human ancestors that describes how they view the world around them.  How is this concept different from most western art?  It’s not.  If you look at arguably the most famous artistic period in human history, the renaissance, you see a similar pattern of artists expressing their feeling and beliefs about the time that they are living in.  This time period was a dawning of many scientific theories, a reawakening of philosophical thought, and questioning the dominant institution of the time; the catholic church.  This is all reflected in many of the artworks of the period.  In art’s most basic sense as creative expression, there is no difference between the works produced by the people of the renaissance and those that created the cave paintings in France because both traditions are effectively portraying the world around them as those cultures knew it.

            Both Layton and Dissanayake disapprove of the term “primitive art”.  Dissanayake took multiple pages (p. 43-4) discussing why she is uncomfortable with the term.  Layton on the first page of his textbook states: “…the term `Primitive Art` will not be used here…” (p. 1).  True to his word, “Primitive Art” is not used much, if at all, in the first chapter of his book.  Both authors discuss a great deal about the art of small-scale societies but both try to remain objective. 

Sources for Images

http://smarthistory.org/Donatello.html

http://www.oddee.com/item_93915.aspx

http://ohhaythurr.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/cave-paintings-feb-14/

http://www.elementalsource.com/drupal6/student-blog

Art?!?!

I’m Dan and I’m anthropology major.  My interests in anthropology are Archaeology and Cultural Anthropology.  I’m graduating this May.

            A concrete definition for art seems to be elusive. Art is interpretation.  Art is subjective.  Art is beautiful.  Art is disgusting.  Art is personal.  Art is emotional.  Art is historical.  Art is cultural.  Art is meaningful.  Characteristics seem to emerge, and will always continue to emerge, but they do so without structure or explanation; the all-important definition still eludes us based on contradicting principals or ambiguity.  There is one characteristic that is seemingly a universal truth amongst art: art is soulful.

            Art is an expression of the soul.  Like art, the soul is difficult to define but some definition is necessary to understand the connectedness between art and soul.  I believe our souls are made up of the inner and outer workings of our hearts and minds.  Soul exists in how we live our everyday lives, whether it’s from how we treat people, what we find beautiful or disturbing, or having a positive or negative outlook.  Soul is what inevitably makes us human.  It is in the direct, distinctive connection between art and soul that sets art apart from all other human experience.  One can see a work of art and immediately feel a connection to it, whether or not the connection is positive or negative is irrelevant, the artwork still has made an impact on them.  It is because of all the various expressions that are present in art that make it soulful and unique. 

One single artwork, let’s say a painting, can express historical, cultural, political, and philosophical characteristics at the same time while still being amazingly beautiful in terms of artistic form.  It’s not in the rigid structures of composition and form that makes art beautiful to the casual observer, but it’s in what that work of art display to the casual viewer.  People always say: “this piece just speaks to me.”  Well, what exactly is it that artwork is speaking to?  It’s the soul of the person, the inner and outer workings of their hearts and minds.  People and art have always been connected because of this idea.  A person creates an artwork with the intention of expressing their own feelings, opinions, and ideas because they hope that people will also feel connected to that artwork.  This is a soulful connection.  An artist expresses oneself openly and honestly to the world leaving oneself open to acceptance, rejection, ridicule or praise.  The common observer will feel what their soul, culture and human nature have taught them to feel.  And this opening up of the soul is what we, as anthropologists, are concerned with studying.  It is the connection between people and art that we are trying to analyze, and that connection begins at the core of every human being, the soul. 

Here are some pieces that I like.

Sources of Pictures

http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Article/555679

http://www.friendsofart.net/en/art/salvador-dali/untitled-woman-with-flower-head

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fear_and_Loathing_in_Las_Vegas.jpg