EARTH ART- VCU HONORS

Reflections

2008-12-03T13:57:00.001-08:00

Going into this class I didn't really know what to expect and I certainly did not know the true meaning of earth art. To tell the truth I was actually scared because I know I'm not a very artsy person. Well over the past month I have learned two things: I'm definitely not an artsy person and the true meaning of earth art. I never imagined that earth art could actually be molded and created by man. I think this earth art class signifies the true reason that the Honors College offers these modules to students. Now that the class is just about over I feel like I am more well-rounded person because of the understanding I have gained about art. I appreciate Mr. Birchett making this a class where we did not have to worry about writing papers or studying for test, instead we focused on art and what it means. After seeing the work of various artists such as Goldsworthy and Mendieta I now understand that art is what the person perceives it to be and there is not a strict guideline to creating art.

Final Project..."Circles of Life"

2008-12-01T13:21:00.001-08:00

Throughout this semester Mr. Birchett has repeatedly talked about time and how it is circular. When I started to think of my project and ideas ran through my head I kept going back to the idea of time and circles. Unfortunately, I’m not a very artsy person so it wasn’t quite as easy for me to figure out what to do, how to do it or even what it really means. This blog demonstrates my thought processes and how I made the project that I like to call “Circles of Life.”

Before I could begin the work I had to decide on a location to construct the art. As odd as it may seem I thought it would be appropriate to place the artwork in my own back yard. When you think about life and how it begins and ends most people think of their home or something pertaining to home.

To create the project I used four materials: leaves, grass, brick and sand. With my brother’s help we were able to create “Circles of Life” resembling the cycles of life. The following pictures show how the art was made and the final project from different viewpoints.

My brother, Zach, helped carry some of the materials and line up some of the circles.

I took this picture after I had created the circles with brick, but before I added the pathway, sand and burned leaves.

This picture was taken while the leaves were burning. I thought it looked pretty cool so I decided to add it!

"Circles of Life"

So what does “Circles of Life” represent? What is the importance of circles in earth art? First, I’ll explain my understanding of this piece of work. In this piece of art there are four circles outlined with brick, one large circle and three smaller circles. The larger circle represents the area or group that everyone is born into. No matter where you live, your race or your sex everyone belongs in this circle when they are born. Within this larger circle made of bricks there are three circles made of grass, burned leaves and sand. The live grass represents life while we are breathing. The burned leaves represent death and the sand represents how our bodies deteriorate after death and return to the earth. As you can see at three points around the larger circles there is a hole with a pathway leading to smaller circle. These smaller circles represent the lives of outstanding and evil people such as George Washington, Hitler and Marin Luther King Jr. The idea is that as you go through life in the larger circle you are presented with opportunities (holes in brick) that take you out (grass path) of this circle (life) and into a circle of your own where you will eventually return to the earth (sand).

This idea of the relationship between circles and life in artwork is not new. I think the root of this idea can be traced to feminism and how these views are represent in many pieces of earth art. According to Lucy Lippard the idea of women being an all mighty being may have began as early as 25,000 B.C. As history proves this idea relaxed over the past few hundred years; however, in the 1960s there was a new surge in feminism. Lippard also states that the earth is seen as a women’s body, which is obvious when a non-sex object is referred to as “she” instead of “he”. With the recent surge in earth art many artist have used circles to display women and life (life roots from women). For example, Susan Hiller’s “Eight” demonstrates a woman’s pregnancy using large circles and spheres.

So what does all this mean in relation to my work? Now that circles are commonly used to represent women and life I think it was completely appropriate to use different size circles and different materials to create these circles to create this work. As with any piece of artwork everyone may see “Circles of Life” differently, but I believe that all ideas can be traced back to life: the beginning, death, the end and the different paths that can be taken. Please post any ideas that you have about the work and what you think it represents!

Hint of Final Project!

2008-11-30T09:57:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-27T09:19:00.001-08:00

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???

2008-11-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2008-11-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

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!!

2008-11-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-20T16:31:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T17:30:00.001-08:00

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

2008-11-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

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.

2008-11-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

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.

Ladder to Nowhere?

2008-10-29T08:17:00.001-07:00

No Escape

Marie Saether
2004

What is Earth Art?

2008-10-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

In my opinion Earth Art is any piece of artwork that uses natural features of the World to create a piece of work. In addition, this artwork can also include man-made or computer generated features, but the main focus shoud be on the natural "earth" environment. For the most part Earth Art uses features such as dirt, leaves, trees, stones and other spectacles found in nature to generate a meaningful piece of work. This work also uses natural occurences in nature such as erosion or the natural movement of objects in nature and the sky. A lot of the time this type of artwork has been manipulated or sculpted in someway by the photograher or artist to help demonstrate the focus of the work. I believe that the underlying focus of earth art is to bring focus to the natural "art" of the World and take people away from the civilized artwork that we are all used to.