ARTS-PAINTING-POETRY

Trust Me With Your Heart

2009-10-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

by Kathleen Sheppard

Why does your heart grow doubtful dear?
Tense and beating, full of fear.
I keep with me your everlasting love,
and bless the day God sent you from above.

You remain my angel and I feel that I must,
tell you that within you, you have my trust.
My love is the tide, your soul is the shores,
you have my heart, do I have yours?

I'll belong to you till the very end,
and you will forever stay as my lover and friend.
It has been so good like this from the start,
so darling please, trust me with your heart.

The Amazing Paintings : Beautiful Paintings by Vladimir Kush

2009-10-14T04:51:00.000-07:00

Homeless Reader - 2006 - Black & White Photography

2009-08-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

Located in Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. The profoundly powerful image of an New York homeless individual using plastic garbage bags to keep warm, while reading 'The Independent'. A stark reminder that while the country spends billions on the Iraq war there are Americans that lack the base essentials of food and clothing.

The Bells

2008-06-03T23:00:00.000-07:00

by Edgar Allan Poe

I
Hear the sledges with the bellsSilver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells.

II
Hear the mellow wedding bells,
Golden bells!
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells!
Through the balmy air of night
How they ring out their delight!
From the molten-golden notes, And an in tune,
What a liquid ditty floats
To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats
On the moon! Oh, from out the sounding cells,
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells!
How it swells!
How it dwells
On the Future! how it tells
Of the rapture that impels
To the swinging and the ringing
Of the bells, bells, bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells,
Bells, bells, bells
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells!

III
Hear the loud alarum bells
Brazen bells!
What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells!
In the startled ear of night
How they scream out their affright!
Too much horrified to speak,
They can only shriek, shriek,
Out of tune,
In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire,
In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire,
Leaping higher, higher, higher,
With a desperate desire,
And a resolute endeavor,
Now - now to sit or never,
By the side of the pale-faced moon.
Oh, the bells, bells, bells!
What a tale their terror tells
Of Despair! How they clang, and clash, and roar!
What a horror they outpour
On the bosom of the palpitating air!
Yet the ear it fully knows,
By the twanging, And the clanging,
How the danger ebbs and flows:
Yet the ear distinctly tells,
In the jangling, And the wrangling,
How the danger sinks and swells,
By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells
Of the bells
Of the bells, bells, bells,bells, Bells, bells, bells
In the clamor and the clangor of the bells!

IV
Hear the tolling of the bells
Iron Bells!
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels!
In the silence of the night,
How we shiver with affright
At the melancholy menace of their tone!
For every sound that floats
From the rust within their throats
Is a groan.
And the people - ah, the people
They that dwell up in the steeple,
All Alone And who, tolling, tolling, tolling,
In that muffled monotone,
Feel a glory in so rolling
On the human heart a stone
They are neither man nor woman
They are neither brute nor human
They are Ghouls: And their king it is who tolls;
And he rolls, rolls, rolls, Rolls
A paean from the bells!
And his merry bosom swells
With the paean of the bells!
And he dances, and he yells;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the paean of the bellsOf the bells:
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the throbbing of the bells
Of the bells, bells, bells
To the sobbing of the bells;
Keeping time, time, time,
As he knells, knells, knells,
In a happy Runic rhyme,
To the rolling of the bells
Of the bells, bells, bells:
To the tolling of the bells,
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells.

Some Type of Painting....

2008-06-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

"Waiting For Love"
(Impressionist Painting)

"My Kind of Tunes"

(Cubist Painting)

"Born Once Again"

(Abstract Painting)

Art Picture (Posters).....

2008-05-31T01:01:00.000-07:00

Seven Ages Of Man

2008-05-31T00:41:00.000-07:00

by William Shakespeare

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players,
They have their exits and entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then, the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face,
creeping like snailUnwillingly to school.
And then the lover,Sighing like furnace,
with a woeful balladMade to his mistress' eyebrow.
Then a soldier,Full of strange oaths,
and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden,
and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth.
And then the justiceIn fair round belly,
with good capon lin'd,With eyes severe,
and beard of formal cut,Full of wise saws,
and modern instances,
And so he plays his part.

History of Poetry

2008-05-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

Poetry as an art form predates literacy. In preliterate societies, poetry was frequently employed as a means of recording oral history, storytelling (epic poetry), genealogy, law and other forms of expression or knowledge that modern societies might expect to be handled in prose. The Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic which includes poetry, was probably written in the 3rd century BCE in a language described by William Jones as "more perfect than Latin, more copious than Greek and more exquisitely refined than either." Poetry is also often closely identified with liturgy in these societies, as the formal nature of poetry makes it easier to remember priestly incantations or prophecies. The greater part of the world's sacred scriptures are made up of poetry rather than prose.

The use of verse to transmit cultural information continues today. Many English speaking–Americans know that "in 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue". An alphabet song teaches the names and order of the letters of the alphabet; another jingle states the lengths and names of the months in the Gregorian calendar. Preliterate societies, lacking the means to write down important cultural information, use similar methods to preserve it.

Some writers believe that poetry has its origins in song. Most of the characteristics that distinguish it from other forms of utterance—rhythm, rhyme, compression, intensity of feeling, the use of refrains—appear to have come about from efforts to fit words to musical forms. However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song. Another interpretation, developed from 20th-century studies of living Montenegran epic reciters by Milman Parry and others, is that rhythm, refrains, and kennings are essentially paratactic devices that enable the reciter to reconstruct the poem from memory.
In preliterate societies, all these forms of poetry were composed for, and sometimes during, performance. As such, there was a certain degree of fluidity to the exact wording of poems, given this could change from one performance or performer to another. The introduction of writing tended to fix the content of a poem to the version that happened to be written down and survive. Written composition also meant that poets began to compose not for an audience that was sitting in front of them but for an absent reader. Later, the invention of printing tended to accelerate these trends. Poets were now writing more for the eye than for the ear.

The development of literacy gave rise to more personal, shorter poems intended to be sung. These are called lyrics, which derives from the Greek lura or lyre, the instrument that was used to accompany the performance of Greek lyrics from about the seventh century BCE onward. The Greek's practice of singing hymns in large choruses gave rise in the sixth century BCE to dramatic verse, and to the practice of writing poetic plays for performance in their theatres.
In more recent times, the introduction of electronic media and the rise of the poetry reading have led to a resurgence of performance poetry and have resulted in a situation where poetry for the eye and poetry for the ear coexist, sometimes in the same poem. The late 20th-century rise of the singer-songwriter and Rap culture and the increase in popularity of Slam poetry have led to a renewed debate as to the nature of poetry that can be crudely characterised as a split between the academic and popular views. As of 2005, this debate is ongoing with no immediate prospect of a resolution.

What is Poetry?....

2008-05-31T00:07:00.000-07:00

Poetry (ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.

It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the reader's or listener's mind or ear; it may also use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on imagery, word association, and the musical qualities of the language used. The interactive layering of all these effects to generate meaning is what marks poetry.

Because of its nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another: a possible exception to this might be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that words carry (the weight of words) that are most important. These shades and nuances of meaning can be difficult to interpret and can cause different readers to "hear" a particular piece of poetry differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitive interpretation.

World's Largest Photo

2008-05-25T21:37:00.001-07:00

"The Great Picture" is the world's largest photograph taken with the biggest camera in the world. I love the fact that my little digital camera with 7 mega pixels fits in my pocket and can be taken anywhere, but I don't think a giant jet air craft hangar sized camera will ever be very popular!

In July this year the Guinness Book of Records certified the hangar as the largest camera in the world, measuring 13.71 x 48.76 x 24.38 m (45 x 160 x 80 ft). The photograph was also confirmed to be the largest photograph on canvas, measuring 9.62 x 33.83 m (31ft 7in x 111ft).

The photo depicts the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. It is currently on show at the Art Center College of Design, South Campus Wind Tunnel, Pasadena, California until the 29th of September.

The Legacy Project says "The photograph is a magnificent tribute to a historic turning point in Orange County history as well as a statement about the evolution of the photographic medium, hand versus mechanical/technological processes, and the importance of “vision machines” to the advancement of culture." See more about the making of the picture and the Legacy Project.

DEVOTION....

2008-05-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

by: Thomas Campion (1567?-1619)

FOLLOW your saint, follow with accents sweet!
Haste you, sad notes, fall at her flying feet!
There, wrapt in cloud of sorrow, pity move,
And tell the ravisher of my soul I perish for her love:
But if she scorns my never-ceasing pain,
Then burst with sighing in her sight, and ne'er return again!

All that I sung still to her praise did tend;
Still she was first, still she my songs did end;
Yet she my love and music both doth fly,
The music that her echo is and beauty's sympathy:
Then let my notes pursue her scornful flight!
It shall suffice that they were breathed and died for her delight.

Featured Poet

2008-05-20T22:10:00.000-07:00

Sarah Lindsay

Sarah Lindsay is the author of Primate Behavior (Grove Press), a finalist for the National Book Award in 1997, and Mount Clutter (Grove Press). Copper Canyon Press will publish her next book, Twigs and Knucklebones, this fall. She earns her keep as a copyeditor for a custom publisher in Greensboro, North Carolina.

View featured poem

About Parnassus: Poetry in Review

Parnassus: Poetry in Review was founded in 1973 by Herbert Leibowitz (editor) and Stanley Lewis (publisher) to provide a forum where poets, novelists, and critics of all persuasions could gather to review new books of poetry, including translations — international poetries have occupied center stage from our very first issue — with an amplitude and reflectiveness that Sunday book supplements and even the literary quarterlies could not afford. Reviews and essays, to be effective, would have to shun academic thinking and prose, and above all, embrace the diverse voices of democratic pluralism. Our literary profile has been defined by a passion for disinterested, wide-ranging, incisive commentary — and lilting prose; a poet’s reputation has never guaranteed a favorable or negative review. We never impose a point of view on any of our writers.

"For poetry reviewing, the best magazine, of course, is Parnassus: Poetry in Review."
—James Laughlin

"Parnassus: Poetry in Review, like the mountain whose name it bears, rises up unchallenged."
—Helen Vendler

"Parnassus: Poetry in Review plays a central role in contemporary letters."
—Octavio Paz

"Without Parnassus: Poetry in Review, American poetry would be dangling from a blurb."
—Rodney Jones

Parnassus: Poetry in Review
Volume 30, Number 1 & Number 2

Publisher & Editor: Herbert Leibowitz
Co-Editor: Ben Downing
Assistant Editor: Adam L. Dressler
Poetry Daily / Amazon.com Bookstore
Selected books available by Sarah Lindsay:
Primate Behavior
Mount Clutter

What is Body Painting?...

2008-05-17T21:16:00.000-07:00

Body painting, or sometimes bodypainting, is a form of body art, considered by some as the most ancient form of art. Unlike tattoo and other forms of body art, body painting is temporary, painted onto the human skin, and lasts for only several hours, or at most (in the case of Mehndi or "henna tattoo") a couple of weeks. Body painting that is limited to the face is known as face painting.

Traditional body painting

Body painting with clay and other natural pigments existed in most, if not all, tribalist cultures. Often worn during ceremonies, it still survives in this ancient form among the indigenous people of Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific islands and parts of Africa. A semi-permanent form of body painting known as Mehndi, using dyes made of henna (hence also known rather erroneously as "henna tattoo"), was and is still practised in India and the Middle East, especially on brides. Since the late 1990s, Mehndi has become popular amongst young women in the Western world.
Indigenous peoples of South America traditionally use annatto, huito, or wet charcoal to decorate their faces and bodies. Huito is semi-permanent, and it generally takes weeks for this black dye to fade.

Actors and clowns around the world have painted their faces--and sometimes bodies--for centuries, and continue to do so today. More subdued form of face paints for everyday occasions evolve into the cosmetics we know today.

Modern body painting

Body art today evolves to the works more directed towards personal mythologies, as Jan Sterbak, Rebecca Horn, Youri Messen-Jaschin or Javier Perez.
Body painting is not always large pieces on fully nude bodies, but can involve smaller pieces on displayed areas of otherwise clothed bodies.

Body painting led to a minor alternative art movement in the 1950s and 1960s, which involved covering a model in paint and then having the model touch or roll on a canvas or other medium to transfer the paint. French artist Yves Klein is perhaps the most famous for this, with his series of paintings 'Anthropometries'. The effect produced by this technique creates an image-transfer from the model's body to the medium. This includes all the curves of the model's body (typically female) being reflected in the outline of the image. This technique was not necessarily monotone; multiple colors on different body parts sometimes produced interesting effects.

Joanne Gair is a leading body paint artist whose work appeared for the tenth consecutive year in the 2008 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She burst into prominence with a August 1992 Vanity Fair Demi's Birthday Suit cover of Demi Moore.

Body painting is commonly used as a method of gaining attention in political protests, for instance those by PETA against Burberry.

Body painting festivals
Georgetown University fans with painted chests in Atlanta. Such painting is common in many sports.

Today body painting is huge in both amateur and professional arenas. Body painting festivals happen annually across the world, bringing together professional body painters as well as keen amateurs. Body paintings can also typically be seen at football matches, at rave parties, and at certain festivals. The World Bodypainting Festival in Seeboden in Austria is the biggest art event in the bodypainting theme and thousands of visitors admire the wonderful work of the participants.

Bodypaint festivals that take place in the US include American Body Arts Festival in upstate NY and US Bodypainting Festival in Albuquerque, NM.

Fine art body painting
The 1960s supermodel Veruschka is often cited as being many body painters' muse.[citatio needed] Her images in the book Transfigurations with photographer Holger Trulzsch have frequently been emulated.[citation needed] Other well-known works include Serge Diakonoff's books A Fleur de Peau and Diakonoff and Joanne Gair's Paint a licious.

Since the early 1990s bodypainting has become more widely accepted in the United States, and more and more body artists are beginning to come onto the national community.
Starting in late 2006 Sacramento art galleries started to use fine art bodypainting as performance art to draw new patrons.[citation needed]

In 2006 the first gallery dedicated exclusively to fine art bodypainting was opened in New Orleans by World Bodypainting Festival Champion and Judge, Craig Tracy. The Painted Alive Gallery is on Royal Street in the French Quarter.

Body painting in the commercial arena
A woman is painted with an ad for Linux. Many artists work professionally as body painters across the world. Their work is seen regularly in television commercials, such as the Natrel Plus campaign featuring models camouflaged as trees. Body painters also work frequently in the film arena especially in science fiction with more and more elaborate alien creations being body painted. Stills advertising also used body painting with hundreds of body painting looks on the pages of the world's glossy magazines every year.

The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, published annually, has in recent years featured a section of models that were body painted, attired in renditions of swimsuits or sports jerseys. Sometimes accessories are used such as bows or buttons. Some allege this allows SI to skirt their own no-nudity guideline.[citation needed]
In the 2005 Playmates at Play at the Playboy Mansion calendar, all Playmates appeared in the calendar wearing bikinis, but Playmates Karen McDougal and Hiromi Oshima actually appeared in painted on bikinis for their respective months.[citation needed] In October, 2005, the Playboy magazine cover featured a foldout of two models (Sara Jean Underwood and Victoria Thornton) wearing only body paint. The February 2008 cover of Playboy magazine featured Tiffany Fallon body painted as Wonder Woman. These covers and other body paintings done for Hugh Hefner's parties at the Playboy Mansion are created for Playboy by artist Mark Frazier.[citation needed] Michelle Manhart, Playboy model and former Air Force Staff Sergeant, recently posed in body paint for the cover of a 2008 pin-up calendar (published by Operation Calendar).

Face Painting

Face paint is an artistic application of cosmetic "paint" to a person's face. There are special cosmetic "paints" made just for face painting; people should ask before having face paints applied what kind of paints are being used. "Craft" paints are not meant for use on skin and are not acceptable, nor are watercolor pencils or markers. These can cause staining and allergic reactions.

From ancient times, it has been used for hunting, religious reasons, and military reasons (such as camouflage and to indicate membership in a military unit). In re-entered the popular culture during the hippie movement of the late 1960s, when it was common for young women to decorate their cheeks with flowers or peace symbols at anti-war demonstrations.

For several decades it has been a common entertainment at county fairs, large open-air markets (especially in Europe and the Americas), and other locations where children and adolescents are. Face painting is very popular among children at theme parks, parties and festivals throughout the Western world. Though the majority of face painting is geared towards children, many teenagers and adults enjoy being painted for special events, such as charity fund raisers.

There are many kinds of face paint, including:
Designs that include the emblems of favorite sports teams, cartoon characters, and other designs that are "cute" or otherwise appealing to the young.
Dramatic designs that appeal to all ages.

Costuming designs which transform the wearer into someone/something completely different, such as Jack Haley's silver face makeup as the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz.
Designs that endeavor to color the face in such a way to indicate solidarity with a cause, usually the outcome of a sporting contest or membership in a group.

Most theme parks have booths scattered around where a person can have a design painted on their face. A similar activity is the application of "instant tattoos", which are paint or ink-based designs that are put on as one unit and removed by means of water, alcohol, soap, or another mild solvent

Use in military
A soldier applies green face paints as camouflage.
It is common in militaries all over the world for soldiers in combat scenarios to paint their faces and other exposed body parts (hands, for example) in natural colors such as green, tan, and loam for camouflage purposes

Body Paints

Modern face and body paints are made according to stringent guidelines, meaning these are non-toxic, usually non-allergenic, and can easily be washed away. These are either applied with hands, paint brush, and natural sea sponge, or alternatively with an airbrush. Contrary to the popular myth perpetuated by the James Bond film Goldfinger, a person is not asphyxiated if their whole body is painted, although wearing body paint for a prolonged period may cause heat stroke by inhibiting perspiration. Liquid latex may also be used as body paint and allows for better perspiration, however care should be taken to avoid the painful removal of hair when the latex is pulled off.

As for Mehndi, natural brown henna dyes are safe to use; however, synthetic black dyes can cause serious skin allergies, and require patch tests before the actual paintings commence. Jagua is a dark indigo plant based dye that is safe to use on the skin and is approved for cosmetic use in the EU.

Whatever the type of body paint (the same is true for cosmetics), should the skin show any sign of allergy, one should immediately cease using it. Moreover, it should not be applied onto open wounds, nor should it be applied too close to the eyes. It is not advisable to use paints or products which have not been formulated for use on the body as these can result in serious allergic reactions.

Manufacturers of widely available professional body and face paint include: Kryolan, Mehron, Snazaroo, Wolfe Face Art & FX, Ben Nye and Fardel.

Hand Art

Hand art is the application of make-up or paint to a hand to make it appear like an animal or other object. Some hand artists, like Guido Daniele, produce images that are trompe l'oeil representations of wild animals painted on people's hands.

Can I be Your Soldier...

2008-05-14T02:39:00.000-07:00

by Danny Dork

Lost and alone of the battlefield of love
With no way to shield yourself from the pain
Falling down again and again,
Surrounded by fire, wishing for rain.

Living life trapped in the depths of your mind,
with an iron case surrounding your heart.
Not being able to trust in anyone,
for to many times you've been ripped apart.

But....Can I be you soldier?
Rescuing you from all your pain,
carrying you off the battlefield,
through the fire and after the rain.

Tending to each emotional wound,
while dusting off that old iron case.
Making right all the wrong that was done to you,
putting that quality glow back in your face.

All these words I say to you,
Might not come as a surprise.
Because of all the other guys
that came in your life,
telling you nothing but lies.

I can't tell you to trust me,
with all you've been through.
But everything I say here,
I say because I truly love you!

CLOWN PAINTINGS.....

2008-05-14T02:34:00.000-07:00

The Road Not Taken By ROBERT FROST

2008-05-13T03:44:00.000-07:00

Mountain Interval1916
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

POEM OF THE DAY....

2008-05-11T21:41:00.000-07:00

Godzilla Headache in Reverse

more than anything i would like
to see the morning come up over the hills
and know that the haze that clutters these
rooms will dissipate
forever in the heat of the coming day &
more than anything i would like a river or
rivers of molten lava
to come crashing down this door that holds
this city captive &
more than anything i would like to sleep
under branches that wave in the wind
as if motioning to some unseen secret way
over there where
the morning comes up over the hills
like a star-spangled-banner type of sound
that repeats itself through all the valleys
covered with all the nervous laughter of
another morning
coming slowly
up over the hills

Robert Todd

OCTAVIO PAZ (Spotlight Poet)

2008-05-08T03:58:00.000-07:00

A Nobel Prize-winning poet, Paz was born in Mexico City. His literary mentors included Pablo Neruda, and he served as Mexico's ambassador to India in the 1960s.

Octavio Paz was born in Mexico City in 1914 to a family of Spanish and native Mexican descent. He was educated at the National University of Mexico in law and literature.

Under the encouragement of Pablo Neruda, Paz began his poetic career in his teens by founding an avant-garde literary magazine, Barandal, and publishing his first book of poems, Luna silvestre (1933).

In his youth, Paz spent time in the United States and Spain, where he was influenced by the Modernist and Surrealist movements. His sequence of prose poems, Aguila o sol? (Eagle or Sun?, 1951) is a visionary mapping of Mexico, its past, present, and future.

His collection Piedra de Sol (Sun Stone, 1957) borrows its structure from the Aztec calendar. This long poem, and Paz's sociocultural analysis of Mexico, El laberinto de la soledad (The Labyrinth of Solitude, 1950), established him as a major literary figure in the 1950s.

In 1962, Paz became Mexico's ambassador to India and resigned six years later in protest when government forces massacred student demonstrators in Mexico City.
His later work shows an ever-deepening intelligence and complexity as it investigates the intersection of philosophy, religion, art, politics, and the role of the individual. "Wouldn't it be better to turn life into poetry rather than to make poetry from life," Paz asks. "And cannot poetry have as its primary objective, rather than the creation of poems, the creation of poetic moments?"

His various collections of essays engage culture, linguistics, literary theory, history, and politics with a level of originality and erudition that is unrivaled; these and his poems form a breadth of work that expresses, in the words of Carlos Fuentes, "the existence of a plurality of possibilities for harmony and truth, outside the limited range of our inherited dogmas."

Paz was awarded the Cervantes Award in 1981, the Neustadt Prize in 1982, and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1990. Paz died in 1998.

A Selected Bibliography

Poetry
Luna Silvestre (1933)
Baja tu clara sombra y otros poemas (1937)
Entre la piedra y flor (1941)
Aguila o sol? (1951)
Piedra de sol (1957)
Salamandra (1962)
Selected Poems (1963)
Pasado en claro (1975)
Vuelta (1976)
The Collected Poems of Octavio Paz, 1957-1987 (1987)

Prose
El laberinto de la soledad (1950)
Corrientae alterna (1967)
Posdata (1970)
Tiempo nublado (1984)
La otra voz (1990)

Essays
El arco y la lira (1956)
Los hijos del limo (1974)

SCULPTURE

2008-05-04T02:43:00.000-07:00

Sculpture can concurrently be referenced as the most traditional and the most innovative of the visual arts. It is among the oldest and most contested forms of representation. In its complexity, sculpture is both noun and verb, both the means and the end to production. It is according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "originally, the process or art of carving or engraving a hard material so as to produce designs, or figures figure in relief, in itaglio, or in the round. In modern use, that branch of fine art which is concerned with the production of figures in the round or in the relief, either by carving, by fashioning some plastic substance, or by making a mould for casting in metal." Most basically, sculpture can be defined as an artistic medium in so much as it acts as a mode of communication through which the artist emotionally and intellectually expresses himself to the audience. Historically, sculpture has been defined against, and typically in direct opposition to, painting, largely because sculpture breaks the constraints of the canvas and embraces the possibilities of the third dimension. It occupies a space in a manner that is impossible to the very nature of painting. As such sculpture, "...is to be distinguished from painting as the plastic art that gives preference to the tactile sensations as against visual sensations," (Read, 232) and as an art form that, "...gives satisfaction in the touching and handling of objects (see touch) That indeed, is the only way in which we can have direct sensation of the three-dimensional space of an object" (Read, 228). Intrinsic to sculptures third-dimensionality is mass and volume, both actualities of form that cannot be captured in painting. As W.J.T. Mitchell argues, "it [sculpture] does not project a virtual space, opening a window into immensity as (say) a landscape painting does; it takes up space, moves and occupies a site, obtruding on it or changing it," (166). Essentially, sculpture takes up real, tangible space. In fact, it is possible to consider sculpture as the artistic embodiment of space, as does Heidegger in his definition of this particularly artistic medium. The philosopher explains, "We would have to learn to recognize that things themselves are places and do not merely belong to a place," and that sculpture is thereby "...the embodiment of places," (Heidegger, 6-7) (see body embodiment). Mitchell proposes that place, "...includes both physical and institutional sites, the cultural location of sculpture among the arts and media as well as its placement in real space," (169). The reference
to architectural place is key here, particularly since among the oldest of western sculpture originates within architecture. Within ancient Egypt, sculpture was, "...subordinate to architecture, and the nature of architecture determined the nature and even the technique of the sculpture," (Read, 229). Sculpture found its place within the architectural structure, largely in relief (Read, 229).
In the Egyptian conception of art, there was no reason for sculpture to be separated from practical function as the, "intention behind Egyptian art is functional. There is no room for fantasy," (Read, 229). There was simply no reason for art, and especially sculpture, to stand on its own as an artifact of nothing more than the creative experience. The architectural foundations of sculpture, both literal and figurative, continued into both the Greek and Roman conceptions of this medium. Sculpture was tied to temples, public buildings, and monuments (Rowell, §III, i). Two significant changes should, however, be noted. Whereas Egyptian sculpture existed primarily in relief form, Greek and Roman sculpture, the latter of which was mainly inspired in the replication and restoration of Greek sculpture began to experiment with freestanding figures (Rowell, §III, i), as, for instance, in the statue of Aphrodite of Melos. Furthermore, whereas sculpture has previously been considered merely decorative in nature, it now began to take on a stronger significance as the representation of the gods (Penny, §I, i). Architecture, and particularly the temple, "...was designed as a showcase for the image of the god within it," (Rowell, §III, i). Among the best realized examples of this is the Parthenon and its tremendously complex frieze, which exists in a space all its own; "The concept of space here is not illusionistic. But the measurable, real space is not the significant factor. The space in the Parthenon frieze is purely sculptural" (Butler, 39). Though Classical sculpture certainly paid great attention to religious, sacred artistic creations, there certainly existed a secular sect as well. The concept of ideal beauty that figures so greatly into the sculpture of this period, "...must have had religious motivations, but it was a severely disciplined aesthetic exercise with an appeal translatable into secular terms," (Penny, §I, ii). In the mid 5th century BC, in the aftermath of the Persian wars, the Greek aesthetic centered itself on, "...ideal beauty, pure harmony, and physical perfection, with man wholly at the center" (Butler, 33). Mortals became artistic subjects presented in the light of aesthetic and ethical aspiration. Such is Youth, a bronze figure that captures ancient conceptions of perfect beauty. Important as well though within statue is the exploration of character by the artist. The figure represented is not merely a representation of ideals but a singular individual as well. Here, one can see the Classical movement from abstraction to naturalism, through which, "artists learned to search men's faces for what was revealed there," (Butler, 43). The real, as opposed to the ideal, has begun to achieve the significance it would later carry. The progression of Classical ideals that would eventually continue through rediscovery in the Renaissance was initially inhibited by a number of factors that would eventually lead to the advent of the Medieval era. Yet, perhaps the most important of these is the standardization of religion to Christianity, whose doctrine placed great restrictions on idolatry. Sculpture again became largely restricted to architecture, though some autonomy was eventually achieved. Statues were re-introduced into the architecture as columns and would later occupy niches or free-stand on alters (Penny, §I, iii-iv), as at Reims Cathedral. The Church, and aspiration to its own divine ideals, became the primary motivation and inspiration of sculpture at this time. The functionalism that marks this extended period in sculptural history simultaneously produced and was produced by the art "theory" of the times. This is particularly due to the fact that up until the Age of Enlightenment, artists were the prime authors of treatises on art. Among those ancient texts that dealt with sculpture were those by Polykleitor and Euphranor, both sculptors themselves. Not coincidentally, the content of these treaties were primarily instructional in nature. Likewise in the Middle Ages, the absorption into Christianity of ethics and aesthetics reduced the possibility and interest of personal creative exploration. The artist's mission was tracked purely into the wills of the Church; "...the paramount requirement for the craftsman - the imagier -was to teach the Church's lessons..." (Butler, 1). The expression of the individual was thereby devalued to a greater purpose, which was reflected in sculptural treatise. This is not to say that theory did not exist in relation to art at these times. Theory, which can perhaps be better understood as philosophy at this point, simply did not concern itself solely with the study of art. Rather, it explored art in the service of larger ideals. In both the ancient and medieval worlds, art, including sculpture, was largely defined and constructed towards the achievement of abstract ideals, whether they are divine, ethical, or intellectual in nature (Avery, §III). Art, and art thought, for its own sake simply did not exist, as we now understand it. The (re)birth of humanism in the western Renaissance brought with it the beginnings of a revolution in the concept and practice of sculpture. The nature of the work of art was no longer purely functional in nature. Rather, art began to take on an autonomous and unique significance as, "...having a purpose manifest in the work itself, independent of any teaching or ceremonial context," (Butler, 3). The result was a, "...new self-awareness about the intellect's involvement in creating the work..." (Butler, 3). Just as art began a life of its own, so did the artist. Individual creativity and vision were now recognized in a manner that the Classical artists had only begun to pursue. The sculptor in particular found himself in a position that had previously been reserved for his product. No longer was sculpture alone allied with the divine but the artist himself, "...resembled his creator through his ability to shape himself and his world. To create an image accurately representing his own body and to do it in a beautiful form became a sacred task for Renaissance man," (Butler, 109). Among the best known and appropriate of sculpture representative of this time is Michelangelo's David. The Classical figure is invoked here in the overall structure of the body. However, there exists something more natural, more direct than the work of the Greeks and Romans. The stance is more relaxed and fluid and the sculpture's expression contorts his face in a manner that is contradictory to conceptions of ideal beauty (Butler 130-131). This elaboration and exploration of understanding of sculpture and the sculptor was to explode in a conceptual revolution in the 18th century. At this time, art history and art criticism are born as academic disciplines, particularly in the publication of Winckelmann's History of Ancient Art in 1764. Furthermore, the critical reviews of Denis Diderot cemented the significance of art criticism and its eventually transformation into art theory (Barasch, 3-4). A new field of study was established, one concerned solely with the history and theory of art. Though the approach to conceptualizing art changed drastically at this time, actually sculptural production, though not poor, focused mainly on the re-appropriation of classical style, as an answer to the simplicity lost through Rococo (Butler, 6). Though style may have been saved, however, innovation was sacrificed. "Winckelmann, Herder, Hegel, and other philosophers and connoisseurs of the time who say sculpture as the leading art form could only recognize it in Greek terms. Their approach allowed for no progress in sculpture... . The Neoclassical artist's response often lapsed into imitation" (Butler, 7). Through this point, sculpture maintained itself as a purely visual medium, striving to, "...create a pictorial illusion in which the ponderability of the material was etherealized.... The sculptor worked with and for the eye and never conceived his work as possessing any other unity than that of the visual image," (Read, 235). However, developments in painting throughout the course of the 19th century, and most particularly French Impressionism, transformed the concept of the picture in such a way alluded the very nature of sculpture. In response, and out of necessity, there came the introduction of the tactile in to sculpture, particularly through the work of August Rodin (Butler, 10, 11). The sculptor embraced the complexity of depth, though not only physically but emotionally and intellectually as well. As in his The Thinker , Rodin's figures speak to, "...the human condition-about solitude, longing, rapture, despair," (Butler, 225). No longer was sculpture purely an exercise in prescribed form, but an exploration of intuition and dynamics (Butler, 225). Herein can be located the next break in sculptural practice and theory, the point Rosalind Krauss defines as the fissure between the pre-modern and the modern sculpture. The former is allied with the Heideggerian definition of sculpture earlier proposed. The author recognizes that when sculpture was allied with the monument (pre-modernity) it held a specific place, "...and speaks in a symbolic tongue about the meaning or use of that place." In other words, monument and place are allied together to produce a sculptural cohesive whole. However, with the birth of modernism, Krauss argues that the internal logic of the monument begins to crack. This is not to say that place no longer holds a necessary spot in sculptural success. However, whereas the monument incorporated space positively, modernist space embodies it only as a negative. The birth of modernist sculpture enters into, "...its negative condition--a kind of sitelessness, or homelessness, an absolute loss of place," (Krauss, 34). The monument becomes, "...functionally placeless and largely self-referential," (Krauss, 34). The modernist rejection of space, she argues, demands that sculpture now be defined in the negative. It no longer "is" but has become the embodiment of what it "is not" (Krauss, 34-35). In the birth of modernism, "Sculpture, it could be said, had ceased being a positivity and was now the category that resulted from the addition of the not-landscape to the not-architecture," (Krauss, 36). Not insignificantly, it is in Modernism that one sees the severance of sculpture from architecture. Essentially, sculpture becomes the complex opposite to what Krauss defines as the combination of architecture and landscape: site-construction. With the advent of the postmodern, one begins to see the development of an even more complex comprehension of sculpture. Sculpture is no longer a simple negation of place, and subsequently a rejection of landscape and architecture. Instead, as Krauss argues, sculpture begins to explore the avenues of possible combinations between the negative and the positive: landscape and the not-landscape, architecture and the not-architecture (Krauss, 41). In this construction rests the various experiments of 20th century sculptural placement. For instance, the sculptural garden takes on a renewed significance, though at this point, the gardens are largely associated with a single sculptor. Taking one step further, Land Art developed in the 1960's. Site and sculpture have become a cohesive whole. A more contained and accessible version of this is the installation. Here too, the particularization of place is realized (Rowell, §III, ii). The 20th century has also witnessed the re-configuration of painting and sculpture. However, this time, sculpture became the defining force, and painting adopted the concerns of, "...plastic values, geometric forms, and the analysis of objects in terms of their weight, density, and volume," (Butler, 14). What then was sculpture to do? What else but to re-constitute the medium so that, "...the qualities of three-dimensional mass, contained surfaces, stability, and certain types of materials and settings are not essential to sculpture" (Butler, 18). The sculptural medium has freed itself to explore other dimensions, that are rooted not in the physical, but in the emotionally and intellectual.

Diana Konopka Winter 2003

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)

2008-05-04T01:58:00.000-07:00

One the greatest and unhappiest of American poets, a master of the horror tale, and the patron saint of the detective story. Edgar Allan Poe first gained critical acclaim in France and England. His reputation in America was relatively slight until the French-influenced writers like Ambroce Bierce, Robert W. Chambers, and representatives of the Lovecraft school created interest in his work.

TO THE LAKE

In Spring of youth it was my lot

To haunt of the wide world a spot

The which I could not love the less -

So lovely was the loneliness

Of a wild lake, with black rock bound,

And the tall pines that towered around.

But when the night had thrown her pall

Upon that spot, as upon all,

And the mystic wind went by

Murmuring in melody -

Then - ah, then, I would awake

To the terror of the lone lake.

Yet that terror was not fright,

But a tremulous delight -

A feeling not the jewelled mine

Could teach or bribe me to define -

Nor Love - although the love were thine.

Death was in that poisonous wave,

And in its gulf a fitting grave

For him who thence could solace bring

To his lone imagining -

Whose solitary soul could make

An Eden of that dim lake.

Edgar Allan Poe

(1809-1849)

THE ARTS OF INDIA

2008-05-04T01:13:00.000-07:00

The Arts of India are the illustration of the religious life of the Hindus. Like their faith, the arts have been preserved for the past three thousand years, from change and decay, from foreign invasions, and from the fury of the nature. We owe its preservation to the future generations. For, it exemplifies how life can indeed revolve around the arts.

– K. L. Kamat

An Indian of African OriginFrom a Deccan Miniature Painting

Couple Rides A Camel

Rajasthani Painting

Paintings involving camels are a favorite topic of Rajasthani

(Rajasthani - people of province of Rajasthan) artists.

Artist Restoring a Painting at Minakshi

TempleMadurai, Tamilnadu

"Ardhanarishwara" from a Maithili Painting

Take a moment to view Alex’s works because one sculpture is worth a thousand words!

2008-05-02T23:24:00.000-07:00

I try to achieve harmony of colour and shape in my works. I studied as a painter and as a sculptor and now use both these skills to create 3-dimentional works. My wall sculptures are comprised of a multitude of repetitive forms and gradations of colours.We live in the age of advance technology and machines and I try to reflect it in my art.The creative process us the most rewarding part of my work. To embody a big idea in a relatively small painting or sculpture, present this concept to others, and succeed in appealing to their senses is a very difficult, yet rewarding task. I hope that the energy, with which my paintings and sculptures are imbued, will touch the hearts and souls of others.

Please visit my website for more details and information about my works!!! http://www.alexroukart.com/

Leonardo Painting Has Coded 'Soundtrack'

2008-05-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

Italian Musician Uncovers Hidden Musical Notes Encoded in Da Vinci's 'Last Supper'

By ARIEL DAVID Associated Press Writer

It's a new Da Vinci code, but this time it could be for real. An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting.

A laptop screen shows musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," during an...
A laptop screen shows musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," during an interview with Italian musician and computer technician Giovanni Maria Pala, in Rome, Monday, Oct. 22, 2007. Pala, a 45-year-old musician who lives near the southern Italian city of Lecce, began studying Leonardo's painting in 2003, after hearing on a news program that researchers believed the artist and inventor had hidden a musical composition in the work. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

"It sounds like a requiem," Giovanni Maria Pala said. "It's like a soundtrack that emphasizes the passion of Jesus."

Painted from 1494 to 1498 in Milan's Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the "Last Supper" vividly depicts a key moment in the Gospel narrative: Jesus' last meal with the 12 Apostles before his arrest and crucifixion, and the shock of Christ's followers as they learn that one of them is about to betray him.

Pala, a 45-year-old musician who lives near the southern Italian city of Lecce, began studying Leonardo's painting in 2003, after hearing on a news program that researchers believed the artist and inventor had hidden a musical composition in the work.
"Afterward, I didn't hear anything more about it," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. "As a musician, I wanted to dig deeper."

In a book released Friday in Italy, Pala explains how he took elements of the painting that have symbolic value in Christian theology and interpreted them as musical clues.

Pala first saw that by drawing the five lines of a musical staff across the painting, the loaves of bread on the table as well as the hands of Jesus and the Apostles could each represent a musical note.

This fit the relation in Christian symbolism between the bread, representing the body of Christ, and the hands, which are used to bless the food, he said. But the notes made no sense musically until Pala realized that the score had to be read from right to left, following Leonardo's particular writing style.

In his book "La Musica Celata" ("The Hidden Music") Pala also describes how he found what he says are other clues in the painting that reveal the slow rhythm of the composition and the duration of each note.

Submit your poem here! (http://www.poetryamerica.com/)

2008-05-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Free Poetry Contest!!!
Submit your best poem for a chance to win our online poetry contests. Read our best love poems, romantic poems, sad poems, inspirational poems and more.

Browse and explore the world of poetry through http://www.poetryamerica.com site that spans a deluge of works with a broad range of themes. Sonnets, ballads, limericks, narrative, haiku, acrostic and topical poems are just a few examples of different forms of poetry. In fact there are over 52 types of conventional poetry and another approximate 40 invented forms. The craft of poetry comes in so many ranges. Poetry makes so many allowances that traditional writing does not many times. Poetry permits one to express one’s emotions that otherwise would not find means to materialize itself.

Photo Gallery of Famous Paintings by Famous Artists

2008-05-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

Famous Paintings: Claude Monet "Water Lilies"

Famous Paintings: The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

Famous Paintings: Degas "Four Dancers"

Famous Paintings: Van Gogh Self Portrait 1886/7

Quiet Man by Ella Kay

2008-04-29T22:35:00.000-07:00

Quiet Man

by Ella Kay

Quiet man,
How gently your words,
carress me.
Soothing my heart,
Reawakening my life.

Your smile lifts me,
your touch gentles me.
Peace is found in your arms.
Your presence excites my mind,
my body sings your name,
I am happy.

Our hearts are open,
each giving freely to the other
to walk in the sun, our words
warming our hearts and lighting
our eyes.

I wait
to feel your hand in mine
to touch your face
to sit warmly wrapped
in your arms...
To share the stars......

Do you love Arts & Paintings?

2008-04-29T02:11:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, i just founds some Arts and painting on the internet while I was surfing? Check this out and enjoy looking at it.

http://m3mary.com/portraits/portraits_2.htm

So what can you say?..... Any comments?....

What Is A Poetry?.......

2008-04-29T00:55:00.000-07:00

What is poetry?

A short piece of imaginative writing, of a personal nature and laid out in lines is the usual answer.

Will that do?
Poetry definitions are difficult, as is aesthetics generally. What is distinctive and important tends to evade the qualified language in which we attempt to cover all considerations. Perhaps we could say that poetry was a responsible attempt to understand the world in human terms through literary composition.

The terms beg many questions, of course, but poetry today is commonly an amalgam of three distinct viewpoints. Traditionalist argue that a poem is an expression of a vision that is rendered in a form intelligible and pleasurable to others and so likely to arouse kindred emotions. For Modernists, a poem is an autonomous object that may or may not represent the real world but is created in language made distinctive by its complex web of references. Postmodernists look on on poems as collages of current idioms that are intriguing but self-contained — they employ, challenge and/or mock preconceptions, but refer to nothing beyond themselves.

What is Painting?

2008-04-29T00:32:00.000-07:00

In general, the maining is the process, art, or occupation of coating surfaces with paint for a utilitarian or artistic effect. A picture or design in paint. But here, we going to concentrate about artistic painting.

(In Many ways, I mean the words "PAINTING" is being applied.

here on this blog we are talking about painting in Arts.)

What Is An Art?

2008-04-28T23:11:00.000-07:00

Our world has become a very visual one - we have art all around us. Understanding art is understanding our world! A good first step is to try to understand what we mean by art.
What is Art? While there is no single answer, and not everyone will agree on a definition, involving your students in a discussion of this question can be exciting, engaging, and enlightening. Both you and your students will see art in new ways after exploring the many kinds of art we have all around us.

This kind of discussion is not only an important one to have at the beginning of the school year, but one that can be brought up again more than once. It is a good introduction to an art program in general, as well as a good way to lead in to a new medium. If you are not confident with your own art knowledge, regard this kind of discussion as a learning experience for yourself as well as your students, something that you are exploring with them. You don't have to be the "expert" at everything! By learning side-by-side with your students you are modeling the curiosity and thoughtfulness you want to inspire in your classroom.

Your role as teacher will be to lead your students to discover the enormous variety of art. You will probably hold this discussion in several parts, as it will get quite lively and will take some time! Use some of the following points and questions to nudge the discussion along. See if your students can come up with some of these points themselves, and better yet, even go beyond them! And as they form their opinions, remind them that some of these questions are being debated everyday among artists! .

The following are points and questions you can use to keep the discussion going, adapting it, of course, to your age group:

What is Art?
What are the various forms of art? When you think of art, what do you think of? Paintings & statues are common answers. (If your students use the word statues, bring up the difference between the words "statue" and "sculpture". "Statue" suggests sculpture that is realistic, usually representing the human form. "Sculpture" is a broader term, because many, like the styrofoam sculpture shown above, are abstract.) Try to elicit more forms of art, such as ceramics, printing, photography and collage.

Is there a size limit to art? Remind your students that art can come in all sizes, from massive public art to dainty table top pieces. What are some large public pieces that the students know about? For a perspective on size, you can mention Christo's Fence, a temporary white fabric fence that undulated for miles over the Northern California hills, passing through pastures of dairy cows. This is also an example of art that was ephemeral. On the other end of the scale, the little sculpture shown below, an angel made by a four-year-old, is only five inches across.

Is art defined by its materials? We're all used to thinking of paintings as art. Or bronze or marble sculptures. But art can be made from all kinds of materials. Try to think of some. Various kinds of paint and drawing mediums usually come to mind, but also ceramics, metal, wood, fabrics, plastics... it can even be an "assemblage" of junk. The assemblage shown below is one of my pieces, "The Case for Art", using an old suitcase and a pair of shoes.

A work can even combine art forms! Photography, ceramics, metalwork, collage - these can all be incorporated into a painting, or vice versa. The mixed media piece below combines drawing with a photograph taken by the young artist.

Some art moves! A piece may turn in the breeze, like the Calder mobiles. Or have a motor. They can have sound - an artist in San Francisco even created a musical instrument that makes sounds when the ocean waves move over it. The mobile shown below, inspired by some pictures of work by both Calder and Matisse, was made with painted pieces of foam core.

Does art have to be representational? Is it necessary for it to actually look like something, such as a woman, or a vase of flowers? Does art have to be realistic? Is it better if it is realistic? What makes it realistic? Can it be something that suggests something real, even if it doesn't look exactly like our eye sees it in real life? This wire sculpture of a face, below, was made by a fourth grader, inspired by Calder's wire sculptures.

What about abstract art? Do the students know what that means? What is abstract art about? It can suggest many things, create many moods, or simply celebrate something as basic as form or color. You'll notice that when your students look at abstract art they tend to describe it in terms of feelings. They'll say it makes me feel happy. It makes me feel tense. Or they'll say this painting looks angry. Or quiet and peaceful. This is a wonderful way to interpret art! The white foam core sculptures below look beautiful as a group. They are completely abstract, but suggestive.

Is it art or is it literature? The piece below, done by a fourth grader, was an abstract painting to reflect a poem written by the artist about the color black.

Is it art if it illustrates words? Are the illustrations in a book art? And what if an art piece is really a play on words? The piece shown below is my "Not a Good Drawer", referring of course to the expression kids use - good drawer - and using an actual drawer spattered with paints.
Not a Good Drawer, assemblage by Carolyn Holm"

Can art be functional? If a piece is something we use for everyday living, like a fork or a blanket, can it be art?

Are crafts art? Jewelry making, quilting, and woodworking are all referred to as crafts. Some people also call them art, while others only use the word art for certain pieces that they feel cross the line from crafts to art. Is the thing that makes the difference between craft and art the fact that it is functional? Or is the difference more about whether it is good or mediocre art, and relegating the mediocre to the craft category?
Is all art good art? Is there such a thing as mediocre art? Who decides, and how is it decided? Here's where education comes in - the more you learn about art, including doing it, the more you understand it, and the more discerning you become.

If art is used to sell something is it still art? We call this commercial art. What are some of the forms of commercial art around us? Trademarks and logos are powerful visual communicators. Other kinds of commercial art are billboards, tv ads, animation in computer games, and package design. Some of these are beautiful. Some are not. But all were created by someone for a specific commercial purpose. Is that art?

Does art have to be beautiful? What about a piece that looks truly ugly to you? Is it still art? Perhaps the artist is communicating something with that "ugliness". Sometimes the artist is trying to shock the viewer, or to make you feel uncomfortable. Why would an artist want to do that? Perhaps to make people see things in a new way?

Does it have to be painstaking to be art? Does it have to be something that takes a long time to do, and is very difficult to do? Or can a quick sketch on a napkin be a work of art?

Is it art if it is intended for another purpose? If it is originally created with the intention to instruct, or record, or illustrate, for example, is it still art? Art has always had many roles. It is thought that the beautiful hunting scenes painted in caves by prehistoric man were made as part of a ritual to assure a successful hunt. Paintings (and now photogaphy) have long been used to record how things or people look - portraits of people, landscapes and cityscapes of places. The ancient Greeks used ceramic vases to depict scenes from everyday life. Art has also long been used to tell stories or history. Religious art sets out to explain beliefs, tell a spiritual story, or simply for inspiration (think of the impact of walking into a a gothic cathedral, with its combination of soaring architecture and light filtering down through stained glass windows.) Art can be used to memorialize an event or person. The Viet Nam memorial and the Aids Quilt are two memorable examples. The round cement garden stepping stone, shown below, was created by a young child as a memorial for a dog.

Is "found art" really art? Some artists take something they simply find, and mount it and call it art. If you found an interesting piece of wood, and polished it and mounted it, would that be art? If you didn't polish it, but just mounted it, would it be art? If you just brought a piece of wood in and didn't do anything to it, didn't mount it, would this be art? Some artists will say yes, some will say no. One thing to think about is that the word art is a root in words like artifice, artifact, artisan, so linguistically it implies something made by human hands. So in that light, perhaps that piece of wood needs to have something done to it by the artist to make it art? Or is it enough that the artist selected it?

If art is something done by human hands, what is art generated on a computer? Does our definition of art include that?

What is the one thing that all these art forms have in common? All art has one defining thing that it shares with all other art - COMMUNICATION! All forms of art communicate something... a feeling, an idea, a record of fact, another way of looking at something, a statement about something wrong in our society, an appreciation of something beautiful, a spiritual understanding. Just try to think of an example of art that does not communicate anything... can you?