Public Service Announcement - Big Shoe Graphics

A couple posts ago I posted an interview with a local artist by the name of Tyler Tolle. One aspect of the interview mentioned was the organization on campus he is involved with named Big Shoe Graphics. From the information he provided me and a little extra research I was able to create a PSA/radio commercial for the organization! Here is what I created.

Original King James Discovery

I found this article appropriate because it deals with the Renaissance. This article is not directly correlated to art but still I found this to be very important and very interesting.

Here is what happened. A small church in England by the name of St. Laurence Church has had a Bible sitting on a table next to the last row of pew for longer than anyone in the church can remember. Come to find out it is an original King James Bible, possibly the most important book to be printed in english. The Bible's age dates all the way back to 1611, the very end of the Renaissance. Here is the story. Also here is the link to a video of the story in case you don't feel like reading. VIDEO!!!!

Hilmarton, England (CNN) - A little English village church has just made a remarkable discovery.

The ornate old Bible that had been sitting in plain view on a table near the last row of pews for longer than anyone could remember is an original King James Bible - one of perhaps 200 surviving 400-year-old original editions of arguably the most important book ever printed in English.

In fact, the Bible at St. Laurence Church in Hilmarton, England, was sitting right under a hand-lettered sign saying it was an original.

The sign said it had been found in "the parish chest" in 1857, that the cover had been added, and that it was the second of the two impressions published in 1611 - the year of first publication.

But no one knew whether to believe it, parish council member Geoff Procter said. As the anniversary of publication in 1611 approached, they decided it was worth investigating.

"We had no way of knowing whether it really was a 1611 Bible so we had to get it verified somehow," he said.

He and two other church members took it to a specialist, the Rev. David Smith at the Museum of the Book in London.

Smith knew immediately what he was looking at, Procter said.

"We put it on his table and he opened it and immediately he said, 'Yes, this is a 1611 Bible,'" Procter remembered.

Geoff Procter of St. Laurence Church in Hilmarton, England, reads from the church’s King James Bible.

Smith identified it thanks to a printing error - a place in the Gospel of Matthew that should say Jesus entered the Garden of Gethsemane and spoke to his disciples instead says that Judas, who betrayed Jesus to the Romans, entered the garden.

That the St. Laurence Bible had that error, but not another one in the Book of Ruth, enabled Smith to pinpoint exactly when the book had been printed, Procter explained.

"We realized that this is quite an important find," he said, and last month the church quietly announced the discovery in the diocese newsletter.

They hesitated before going public, Procter said.

"It was one of those discoveries that we wondered if we should tell everybody or tell nobody," he said. "And we thought that as it was the 400th anniversary, we should talk about it."

St. Laurence Church is far from the only one talking about the King James Bible this year - the Globe Theatre in London is planning a reading of the whole thing in the days before Easter, and a literary festival has already done one. Cambridge University has an exhibition, and the King James Bible Trust lists dozens of special events planned this year to mark the anniversary.

The reason is simple, said Moira Goff of the British Library.

The King James Bible is "so embedded in us that we can't overstate the significance of it," she said.

It's the source of dozens of phrases and concepts that have become part of the English language - "an eye for an eye," "born again," "eat, drink and be merry," "God forbid."

The church recently discovered that its old Bible was a rare 400-year-old original King James Bible.

Experts point out that the King James is based on at least two earlier major English translations, so its creators were editors as much as originators of these phrases, but it is the King James Bible that the great English writers knew, Goff said.

"It's passed entirely into the English language, into the thinking of English speakers around the world," she said.

Its influence has been greater than that of Shakespeare, she argued.

"I think it's permeated the language in ways that we can't count as we can count Shakespeare, influencing people's religious thinking, influencing people's social thinking in a way that Shakespeare probably does now - but that's a more recent development," she said.

"It's the Bible that was read to people in church every week," she explained. "The great literary figures from the early 17th century onwards, this was their daily reading. It passed into their works," she said, citing John Milton and John Bunyan among others.

But the King James Bible shouldn't be reduced to merely its influence on writers, she said.

"I think we have to be very careful in looking at the Bible only as a work of literature. It is also Holy Scripture and I think that makes it a different sort of book than the great works of literature," she said. "It will be read by people who will possibly never read Shakespeare or Milton."

The St. Laurence discovery is very unusual, she said. Perhaps 200 copies of the 1611 printings of King James Bibles are known to exist, she estimated. No one knows how many were printed, she added, but she guessed that the number was probably around 1,000.

Most of the surviving copies are in institutions, such as major libraries at universities, colleges and cathedrals in the United Kingdom and United States, she said.

"Some of them may be in private collections," she added, saying there is no way to know how many such copies there might be.

The sign hanging above the Bible, announcing its origins.

The St. Laurence discovery is technically a fragment, not a Bible, since it is missing a few pages (including most of the first pages of Genesis, up to chapter 4, verse 17) and has been trimmed at the top to fit the wooden cover added in Victorian times.

But it fits a pattern, she said. As King James Bibles got old and needed to be replaced, many were tucked away as church treasures, as seems to have happened with the St. Laurence Bible.

The people of St. Laurence Church are now trying to raise money to build a special case so they can keep their Bible in use and on regular display.

That would make the church more or less unique so far as Goff knows, although she speculated that there just might be a few village churches still using their 400-year-old Bibles.

"It's possible there are one or two churches that have gone on doing it and they just haven't thought to say," she said.

"People are now beginning to realize the value of this particular edition. This is the 400th anniversary and there is a lot more emphasis on it," she said.

"They value it. They want to keep it and they want to use it."

Florence Baptistery

The Florence Baptistery located in Florence, Italy serves as a religious structure. This building is one of the oldest in Florence with its octagonal figure. This building is simply stunning especially for being built 1059. Up until the 19th century nearly all florentine catholics were baptized in this building. What the baptistery is best know for is the bronze set of doors located on the south, north, and east doors. The most famous of the doors being constructed by Lorenzo Ghiberti. These doors feature reliefs created by Ghiberti and have been described by other artists and famous Renaissance personal as "the Gates of Paradise."

In the year 1401 a competition was to be had between artists to design the bronze doors. Seven artists competed including the likes of Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Ghiberti. Ghiberti who was 21 years of age at the time won the commission and was set to make the north and east doors. At the time of the judging it was unclear who had won and it was up to both Brunelleschi and Ghiberti to work on the project together. Brunelleschi decided to leave for Rome, so the task was solely bestowed upon Ghiberti.

It took Ghiberti 21 years to complete the project. The bronze doors consist of twenty-eight panels, twenty of which depict the life of Christ from the New Testament. The lower eight panels depict the evangelists and the Church Fathers, Saint Ambrose, Jerome, Gregory, and Augustine. The most famous of the panels is said to be the "Sacrifice of Isaac."

The School of Athens

This painting is one of the most famous paintings by Rapheal of the High Renaissance. It was painted in between the years of 1510 and 1511 as a part of Rapheal's contribution to the paintings depicted inside the Vatican. The painting is a fresco, and it has the dimensions of 200 in. X 300 in. Within this painting Rapheal put the great thinkers of this time period in a Greek setting, many figures or characters in this piece can be identified as great Greek thinkers or Renaissance figures. Watch the video to find out more about this painting!

Codex Leicester

Since we have recently been talking about Leonardo da Vinci's many drawings and research I thought we could keep the ball rolling by talking about this next topic : The Codex Leicester.

The Codex Leciester is a journal of Leonardo da Vinci's that consists of a large collection of this scientific writings and findings. This journal is named after Thomas Coke who was later named the Earl of Leicester. Coke purchased the codex in 1717. Among 30 some scientific journals, this is quite possibly the most famous written by Leonardo. The codex not only provides scientific insight into this Renaissance thinkers mind but also provides through illustration, a link between science and art.

The codex is made up of 18 pages, which were written on both sides and folded in half thus creating this 72 page document. It is handwritten by Leonardo himself in Italian and is accompanied by multiple pictures and diagrams. The manuscript describes many scientific theories about multiple items including fossils, plate tectonics, erosion, the moon, and the flow of water.

A look at some pages from the Codex Leicester

It is astonishing to see how great this man's mind worked. He provides scientific explanation which clearly surpasses the thinking of this time. He describes how fossils can be found on mountains because of his theory that mountains once formed sea beds and were gradually lifted up (plate tectonics anyone?).  He also explained his theory of the moon in which he explained that the pale glow on the dark portion of the crescent moon is caused by sunlight reflected by the Earth. Leonardo successfully described planetshine 100 years before it would be proven. This dude was a genius!  

The Codex was purchased in 1980 by Armand Hammer, a wealthy art collector. He renamed it Codex Hammer. In 1994, none other than Bill Gates purchased the then Codex Hammer for $30.8 million, making it the most expensive book ever sold. Gates decided to rename the codex, Codex Leicester. He would later make scanned digital images of the book and distribute them as screen savers for Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95.

Leonardo da Vinci's Drawings

A drawing of a flying machine

If you didn't take my advice about joining Stumble upon you really honestly should! It is an awesome website that piles all of your interests in one spot and takes you from website to website of your interest. It is a great way to pass the time and to procrastinate from doing homework!

Drawing of studies of the shoulder and neck

Actually this website has helped me with my homework including my blog. Recently I stumbled upon a gallery of all of Leonardo da Vinci's drawings. Not only is this really sweet but it directly correlated to by blog topic! One of his more famous drawings is actually depicted in the background of my blog; The Vitruvian Man. Check out some of others and click the link for more!

A lot of these drawings are of human beings and the internal aspects of our bodies. Some historians say that da Vinci would actually rob graves in order to dissect the human body while others declare that he paid grave robbers to bring him his subjects to study.

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1QMIoP/www.drawingsofleonardo.org

The Arnolfini Marriage

This piece is truly amazing, but not to the untrained eye. The Arnolfini Marriage is an oil painting created by Jan van Eyck in the year 1434. This is a painting is a portrait of a wealthy Italian merchant named Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife in their home in the Flemish city of Burges.


This piece is considered to be one of the most original and complex paintings in Western art history. The illusionism and detail of the painting is incredible for the time. What many artist are in awe about this painting is the use of light to create interior space (I know you probably don't understand that if you aren't artsy fartsy).

Particularly where I notice the most detail the foreground of the piece is the woman's dress. But what really blows my mind about this piece is mirror placed behind them. Here take a look for yourself.

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

If you haven't heard about the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, I guarantee you have seen it or at the very least parts of it.

The painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was painted by Michelangelo between the years 1508 and 1512. This painting was commissioned by Pope Julius II and this piece is considered one of most elaborate and well known works of the Renaissance. Just so we aren't confused here, the Sistine Chapel is a part of the Vatican located in Rome (or Roma if you speak Italian). If you still don't know that I am talking about, this is where the Pope operates out of, yes the "Pope."

The ceiling paintings are a part of a larger scheme of decoration spread throughout the chapel. Such decorations include the largest fresco The Last Judgement painted by Michelangelo as well as other aspects created by other artists of the time.

The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo.

Depicted on the ceilings are nine scenes from the Book of Genesis. The Creation of Adam is most recognized of these nine scenes. Others include: The Seperation of Light and Darkness, The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth, The Seperation of Land and Water, The Creation of Eve, The Temptation and Expulsion, The Sacrifice of Noah, The Great Flood, and The Drunkenness of Noah.


To learn more about the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and all the art behind it, simply click the link.

Sweet!

Found this video of a digital 3-D remake of Michelangelo's famous sculpture the David! Check it out!

The Theft of the Mona Lisa

Want to know how much power one piece of art can possess? Consider this.

 In the year of 1911 the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. The thief acted swiftly and the piece was stolen one morning before the museum was open to visitors and when guards were not present. When the guards noticed it was missing they assumed the painting had been taken down for inspection and photographs. It wasn't until the day after the theft that museum officials finally noticed it was missing.

The French borders were shut down and departing cargo ships as well as any public transportation vehicle were searched. The museum didn't open until nine days later, the painting still hadn't been found. By this point the missing painting was front page news all around the world. People lined up by the thousands just to see the empty spot where the painting once stood.

This is were it starts getting crazy. A little after a week after the theft, a man named Joseph Gery Pieret presented himself to French officials with a small statue, claiming he had stolen items from the Louvre in previous years. Long story short, he claimed to be selling these pieces to none other than Pablo Picasso. Thinking that they had found a circle of crime that may be associated with the theft of the Mona Lisa, Picasso was brought in for questioning.

The accusations were true that Picasso had bought from Pieret. Though he denied it in court, Picasso almost certainly knew the two sculptures were lifted from the Louvre. Both Picasso and Pieret were let go free because prosecutors couldn't build a strong enough case that supported the two were involved with the theft.

Vincenzo Peruggia after he was taken into custody

Years passed and nothing had come up. Rumors arose that Mona Lisa was all around the world, from South America, to Switzerland, to New York. It turns out the piece had never even left France. The thief of the piece turned out to be Vincenzo Peruggia an Italian house painter and carpenter. He was arrested in Florence 1913. His hopes were to bring the piece back to Italy and enact revenge for Napoleon's large theft of artworks all across Europe.

Peruggia was able to steal the piece because he had once worked at the Louvre, he knew the exits and escape routes, as well the glass frame that encased the piece. He actually helped build the glass frame. Once he successfully had stolen the piece, it was placed in a closet in his apartment where it stayed for two years. He was caught when he tried to sell the Mona Lisa to a Florentine art dealer.

Because of Peruggia's patriotic reasoning for stealing the piece, he was considered a hero in the Italian press. His sentence was reduced, most likely due to the fact he was tried in Italy. The Mona Lisa was permitted to take an Italy tour before it returned to the Louvre. The publicity of the theft brought the piece to the status of fame. As one artists writes, "Mona Lisa left the Louvre a work of art, she returned an icon."

Where are they hiding it now?

If you have never heard of Musee de Louvre, or simply put the Louvre in Paris, then you are missing out (in my opinion that is). Not only is it one of the largest museums in the world and one of the most visited, it is also a historic landmark for France. Nearly 35,000 objects are exhibited within this structure.

During the Renaissance this structure was used as a residence for artists. It was also used to hold valuables to Francis I. One of those valuables was Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, which still finds its home there today.

The most memorable pieces housed in the Louvre tend to be some of the 6,000 paintings. Only 12 curators oversee the paintings. I will let the photos of this place speak for itself. If you are ever in Paris by chance this something you don't want to miss. Check out the photos and links.

http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en

Want to take a virtual tour? Check it! http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/visite_virtuelle.jsp?bmLocale=en

Interview with Local Artist

In the field of art, communication is a bit different then one might expect. This is mainly attributed to the fact that communication art wise is strictly visual driven. To gain some insight into this field and figure out exactly how artists communicate I interviewed a local artist named Tyler Tolle. He is heavily involved in the art program at Northwest and has a vast knowledge of the subject.

Tyler says that as far as communication goes between artists, it is somewhat limited. Typically the only oral communication involved in the field of art is done through critiques. A critique is someone viewing your work and telling you what works and what could be worked on. While the average person may look at a piece and say “I like the colors and how that part sticks out more than that part.” Where as an experience artist in the field looks at two different categories of the piece: elements and emphasis. Elements of a piece consist of shape, texture, form, value, contrast, space, and line. Emphasis is more how the piece is organized and where it takes you. You can explain a piece of art, but what I could tell you about the piece might not be what you see in the piece. 

To test this I sat down with two of my fraternity brothers, one which was an art major and the other just a regular Joe. I first asked the non-artist to describe a movie poster to me. He replied simply that certain things stick out more than others; he looked upon the painting in a very elementary type of way. I then asked the artist as to what he thought. He began to throw out words I had never heard. He talked about the layers of the poster, the values and the hues. He talked about the placement, the shapes and the lines. I was starting to get lost amongst the art mumble jumble.

The biggest communication that happens in the field however is silent. Visually artists communicate their thoughts through their works. Artists express their thoughts and emotions through their work. One thing that Tyler really wanted to make clear to me is that there is no set meaning for a piece. Art isn’t biased because each person has his or her own thoughts and ideas about a piece. He says good art has no direct message; it has several interpretations and meanings. In this field you communicate through writing, but very rarely. Sense there is no set interpretation to his art, he allows the other artists to view his piece, as they want to view it. Words on a piece of paper don’t allow that natural feeling. You create the piece, but the viewer completes it.

Tyler speaks of the biggest person he communicates with and it may surprise you.  The biggest person he communicates with is himself. He speaks with peers about their interpretation of their piece. He speaks with other artist and even artists that have passed that he doesn’t even know. He communicates through art, and others communicate to him through their art. Silent communication is key to the field. In order to better understand whom he communicates to and who communicates to him he looks at art to model after.

A lot of the time people think art is so simple. It isn’t just throwing something down with any emotion behind it. There is an assumption that art is very elementary and that its just filling space. There is much more thought to a piece Tyler says, you are constantly changing your ideas, sketching, then re –sketching, then sketching again. People don’t realize that masterpieces in museums weren’t just conceived as they are. A piece that sits in a museum has changed multiple times. It could have started as a sketch, then a painting, then completely repainted, then sketched again, then disregarded only to be re done. Someone may create a background for a piece just to let it sit for months or years then return to it later. There is no set process. No one knows the thought or the thinking done behind a piece other than the artist.

I am somewhat artistically minded and have previous education on the field, so I had few assumptions about the field. One thing I never really took the time to think about was the amount of thinking that goes into a piece. Not necessarily the simple pieces that we see day to day but the huge pieces we see in the places like the Louvre in France. I can’t comprehend how much work that is put into it. I wonder how many sketches and failed attempts it took before they arrived at the final one. My biggest question is; if they are constantly changing their piece, how do they decide that the piece is complete? 

Whoa, this is Sweet!

Found this video today which features an art museum in Seoul, South Korea where the paintings come to life and talk to you! Several of this paintings are Renaissance paintings including da Vinci's Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, as well as Jan Van Eyck's The Arnolfini Marriage. This video isn't in english but regardless this is awesome!

Nintendo Renaissance Art!

First and foremost if you haven't heard the web browsing device called Stumbleupon, I would highly recommend it. I must warn you though it will consume your life. Check out the link to get more info.

I was stumbling today and found this website that recreated Renaissance art with Nintendo characters into them. Its rather interesting to see the Last Supper with all Nintendo characters! Hit the "Nintendo" link to see more!

Lets Talk Composition

Look at that triangular composition!

Again, we need to get the boring stuff out of the way before we get started. Typically when we look at a piece of Renaissance art or any piece of art really we will see some sort of geometric composition. Artist try to incorporate some sort of geometric composition into their piece because it is more aesthetically pleasing. In Renaissance art more than not we will find triangular composition.

If you are confused as to what I am talking about, let me explain it in the simplest terms. Artist place the subject or other parts of their piece in a geometric structure in order to be more pleasing to the eye and also to create movement, your eyes will flow from one aspect of the piece to the next.

Lets look at one of the most famous paintings from the Renaissance that I am sure everyone is at least a little familiar with. This is the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Notice that the focal point of this piece is obviously her face, but notice that your eyes move from her face down to where her arms rest. Leonardo made this piece with triangular composition because it gives the piece a strong balance. There are also other triangles to be found in this piece, for example look at her eyes as the base coming down to the point at her mouth.

Before We Begin...

Now before we begin to dwell into this subject, I feel as if there is some background information that you need to be aware of. After all, how can you understand Renaissance art if you don't know what the Renaissance even is?

For this blog we are going to focus on the European Renaissance and heavily into the Italian Renaissance. So what is the Renaissance you ask? The Renaissance was a cultural movement in Europe that began roughly in the 14th century that lasted until the 17th century. This movement saw reform in the areas of intellect, as people began to look back at classical Greek and Roman manuscripts as well as art, and science.

This was not always the case though. Before this time period came the Middle Ages. The best way I can describe this period is people viewed their lives as: Life is short, and then you die. This was the attitude of the Middle Ages. During the Middle Ages times were dark, people typically didn't enjoy life.

The Renaissance was said to be born in Florence, Italy. People began to view their lives as a gift from God to be enjoyed. Suddenly the attitude went from "This is the only thing I can do with my life," to "What else can I do to make my life more enjoyable?" It is said that the Renaissance was the bridge from the Middle Ages to the modern world.

A work of art from the Middle Ages, notice the
dark and drab colors and lack of realistic human form.

An example of art from the Renaissance.
Look at the difference between the two pieces.

I can't stress enough that the people of this time were beginning to actually enjoy their lives, they wanted to learn all that they could, colors went from dark and dreary to live and colorful. Specifically we can see this through their art. Typically during the Middle Ages art was only used to tell stories for the church, but we find during the Renaissance artist were making pieces just for the sake of doing it.

Alright enough of this history lesson, I just thought we needed some background information so I wasn't completely throwing you into the storm without a little preparation. I hope this will give you a little more insight to the time period.

Why Such a Boring Subject?

I admit from the outside looking in, this subject seems extremely boring. You are probably thinking why would this kid want to torture himself for a whole semester of college? What kind of frat boy likes art, especially art that's seven centuries old? 

Thought this was appropriate.

I was once in your seat, staring at the words "Renaissance Art" on a high school white board, fighting off the urge to sleep. What is this teacher talking about?  Donatello, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael are the names of crime-fighting turtles, not artists. Spare me. When is lunch?

Luckily for me, I had a crazy awesome teacher that could make a cardboard box look like the Playboy Mansion. She showed me that there was much more to be found than just some paint on a canvas. Every work of art told a story, some simple, some rather complicated, but they were all interesting. From history to conspiracy theories there is so much behind one piece. It's truly amazing what one could do with the resources they had during that time. 

I realize that I probably haven't sparked your interest at all, but believe me, I will eventually. If you were like me, you know nothing of what is to come. I know that not everyone will find this interesting, but I promise if you keep an open mind you will find that what was once a boring subject will be pretty freaking cool. At the very least if you ever find yourself in a heated debate over Renaissance art, you could refer back to this blog.

 

NEW BLOG!

Welcome to my first blog ever created! I am creating this blog for my Composition 112 class at Northwest Missouri State University. With this blog I will dive into the exciting world of Renaissance Art! I know this topic seems pretty boring, but I think you will come to find it to be rather interesting as there is much that lies below the surface of this topic. Hope you find my blog interesting!