Hint of Final Project!

Today I was looking to find a piece of earth art that relates to my final project. As I was searching through Google I ran across this picture taken by an amateur artist.


As we've seen in class circles and spheres are a major part of earth art. The use or circles is present in many pieces of work that I have seen online and that we have looked at during class. The relationship between circles and life is so important in helping the artist demonstrate their ideas. I'm not sure what the artist was getting at in this picture, but I think it looks really cool and I can certainly relate it to my final project. Sorry I can't go in too much detail, but would you really want me to spoil it? I didn't think so!!! More to come.....

Crop Circles

Crop circles are created by flattening common crops such as wheat, corn and soy. The earliest known crop circles were created in the 17th century, but it wasn't until recently that people became interested in this type of work. Most of the earlier crop circles were circular (duh--hence the name); however, this type of work has transformed into crop art. This basically means that the work is no longer strictyl circular, instead it can form any shape. I'v decided to just post a few pictures of crop art that I found to be pretty interesting.

Scrambled or Fried???

How do you want your eggs? Scrambled or fried? This is probably the coolest looking picture that I have come across as I've been searching for earth art. I'm not really sure what the artist was getting at here, but it looks so realistic. If you look closely at one of the egg yolks you can see a group of people so I wonder if this was some kind of school project?

Blue Holes!!!

What is a blue hole? How and where do they form? When I first saw the picture of the Great Blue Hole in Belize I wondered the same thing.

A blue hole is classified as a sinkhole or cave in a body of water. Most blue holes are circular with steep walls that give the water a distinct dark look compared to the surrounding water. Since the holes are so deep and the circulation is poor it’s almost impossible for typical sea animals to live in these blue holes; however, they are typically infested with bacteria.

Looking through the pictures of blue holes around the world I am astounded at the creations that have been made on Earth over the past thousands of years. Most of these blue holes are over 300 feet deep and are found in the middle of very shallow water. This is exactly what I think about when I think of earth art. All of these phenomenon’s are examples of how the earth has used it’s own resources to create an amazing image.

It’s believed that blue holes were formed during the ice ages because the sea level was so much lower. During these times “chemical weathering” formed large holes that were submerged once the ice melted.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_hole)

These two pictures are of Dean’s Hole, the deepest blue hole known, at 663 feet on Long Island, Bahamas.

This is a picture of the Great Blue Hole, arguably the most famous blue hole. It is located off the coast of Belize and reaches depths of over 400 feet.

Here are some more pictures…Enjoy!

Virginia Beach....it was cold!!

This weekend I was down in Virginia Beach and took some pretty cool pictures! Here they are--

I think this picture kind of relates to the topic that we looked at in class about borders and boundaries. When I took the picture I was worried about how it would turn out with the sun shining down like that, but I really think that adds to the picture. I think it really puts the "boundary" in the spotlight!

Ok, so at first glance this really doesn't look like much, but if you could see the surrounding location you would probably think it's weird too. This tree was at the end of a sandy road and I'm really not sure why it's there. At some point I'm sure someone had a purpose for the rope, but I'm not sure what it would have been.

Believe it or not both of these pictures were take from the same spot. (right- looking down, left- looking up) I think it's really unique how the earth can look so different just by looking a different way. This is definitely one of my favorite sets of pictures.

These two pictures were taken a ways off the water and closer to the dunes. I think they really show how the earth can create it's own art without any influence from man. Some of the designs in the sand and the placement of the grass is really neat considering that it wasn't placed there by man.

This last picture really doesn't resemble art, but I liked it so I decided to post it!

Guatemala Series

This past summer I studied abroad in Guatemala and took some really cool pictures, but at the time I did not really look at them as earth art. Throughout the post are numerous pictures from around Guatemala. If you have any questions please feel free to comment and I will answer them to the best of my ability. I hope you enjoy.

Over the past 50 years the architecture in Guatemala has diminished dramatically. The most obvious place to notice this is in all the churches around the cities. Guatemala is a very religious country with thousands of churches, but recently the earth has begun to take over the land and reclaim the terroritory that the churches were built on.

These next pictures were taken at the ruins of Iximche. Iximche was an ancient Guatemalan city from the late 1400s until th early 1500s. Even though 400 years has passed since the city was "destroyed" it is still very easy to see how it was laid out. I believe that these pictures of Iximche are extraordinary pieces of artwork and they show how the earth can use man-made features to create these types of landscapes.

This next set of pictures by far are my favorite. The next few pictures were taken on the active Volcan de Pacaya. I never thought I would actually close enough to take these amazing pictures. These are perfect examples of true earth art without any human interference. If you are interested in seeing actual explosions of this volcano just type it in YouTube.


The rest of the pictures in this post don't have any extreme significane other than just showing off the beauty of earth art!

Jonestown, Guyana

Ok, so I know this isn't earth art, but I found it to be interesting. Some of the pictures are GRAPHIC!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonestown

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/jonestown1.html

Local Earth Art

Today I ventured over to University of Richmond to see what kind of "art" I could find because I know they have a little different style of campus. It was about 8:30 this morning so it will was still quite chilly and definitely below freezing. As soon as I parked and started walking around I saw this fountain over in the middle of a little courtyard. At first glance I didn't really see the "art" in the fountain, but when I was closer enough to get a better look I noticed that nature had taken a man-made structure and used it to make it's own "earth art".

I think the picture to left shows the best features of the foundtain. If you look closesly you can tell that not only is the water running over the edge, but some of the water is still frozen into numerous ice sickles. I think it's so unique how everyday this water fountain goes through three cyles. Early in the monring the cyle is completely frozen, as the sun rises there is a mixture of ice sickles and liquid water and finally in the bright afternoon sunshine the fountain is complete liquid. Everyday, thousands of people walk by this fountain and don't even realize what the beauty of the art if they would only stop and take a closer look.

Just a little history of the fountain--- As you can see below the fountain was presented in 1972 in appreciation of the service of Leslie Booker.

Below--Pictures of the same fountain taken from different perspectives.

Lucien den Aren, Land Art Project (1985 Netherlands)

This photo was taken at a small air strip in the Netherlands. After looking through the many photos of earth art I've found that it's common for the authors to incorporate a swirl into their work. It would be interesting to find out if this has any significance or if it is just used for eye appeal. If anyone finds anything please post!

Dadang Christanto, 1001 Earth Humans (2005)

This piece of art was used at a conference focusing on monuments and public memory. To a certain point I believe that a lot of art was created for rememberance of an event or person. Not only in American society, but in societies around the world, public monuments to remember events and people are very important. As for this particular piece of work, I find it strange that most of the monuments in the water all look the same. I'm not sure if the author was trying to signify something or if it was just coincidence.