It's an illusion

An artist named Julian Beever has been making pavement artworks all over the world for over ten years.

His pavement artworks are made out of chalk and often tell a story or express a message. The picture above is one is called Making Poverty History and it was requested by Live8 to support the pressure campaign on the G8 in Edinburgh. It was done in the Edinburg City Centre.

This work was done in Times Square in New York City and it is a view of Times Square from an aerial view.

Greek Art Test I

1. Jar used on ships
Minoan
These jars were used on boats to store things that were being traded or things that had been acquired through trade
They have the tapered bottom because the way they were stored in the boats. The boats had shelves with indents in them that held the jars in place.

2. Rhyton
Cycladic
This is a Rhyton bull. It was probably used in religious ceremonies or it was worshipped.The paint on it is a trademark of Cycladic art.

3. Freize (i think thats how you spell it)
Mycenean
I think it is Mycenean because it is about war. There are soldiers marching in the top part of the artwork. The Mycenean culture was almost entirely focused on war.

4. The Lions Gate
Mycenean
It is the gate that led into Agamemnon's palace. The stone walls around it show that the culture was a war like one because it showed that they needed to protect themselves against enemies.

5. Death Mask of Agamemnon
Mycenean
The death mask was made of Agamemnon when he died. It is the only artwork of Agamemnon. You can tell that it is him because it is made out of gold. Only the most important person would have a death mask made out of pure gold. His own wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover killed him. Clytemnestra's lover ruled Mycenea after Agamemnon's death.

6. Faceless person
Cycladic
Very little is known about the Cycladic culture. This figure is testament to that. It is faceless and in a relaxed position. Maybe it was used for prayer or simply decoration.

7. Octopus Jar (vase)
Minoan
This jar tells much about the Minoan culture. For example it shows that they are by the sea and therefore dependant upon it for food. They are interested in the better things in life and not focused on war. You can tell through the free and flowing design of the jar

8. Rhyton
Minoan
Even though the Minoan culture was interested in fine living they also had a dark side. This is a picture of the Minatar. The bull that would eat youth from Athens during religious sacrificial
ceremonies.

9. The burial shaft
Mycenean
This is where the remains of Agamemnon were found along with his golden death mask. It is made in the same uniform way that all Mycenean art is made, with mostly hard edges and more focused on function rather than fashion.

10.
Minoan
I think its Minoan because of the mixture of wood and stone in the structures and because there are no stone walls protecting it

Egypt ID test

1. The pyramid of Djoser
Old Kingdom
Significant because it is tells modern achaeologists how much respect the ancient Egyptians had for their dead, especially the pharoah. It tells us that the pharoah was treated as a god, or else why would they have built such grand pyramids for them?

2. The Stele of Narmer
Old Kingdom
Significant because it shows how Lower egypt defeated Upper Egypt and how powerful the pharoahs were. Narmer is shown here as being twice the size of anyone else in the stele and he is trumphantly crushing his opponents below him. he is shown wearing the crown of Lower Egypt. It is also significant because it is possibly the first historical piece of artwork. It sets the trend for artwork to come from Egypt in the future. His torso is turned to face the front but his feet and head are shown as walking.

3. the Pyramids of Giza, Khafre, and Khufru
New Kingdom
these huge burial sites for the pharoahs are significant because they tell so much about the Egyptian way of life. It tells how much emphasis they put on the afterlife because they spend so much time, energy and resources to build the massive structures for their pharoah, who they saw as a god. They stored things that the dead person would need with them in between death and the afterlife. They show that the ancient Egyptians were good matheticians and architects too.

4.
Old Kingdom
It shows goddesses taking care of babies. It has Old Kingdom characteristics because the relief is very low.

5. Menkaure and His Queen
New Kingdom
This is significant because it shows the development of Egyptian sculptures. Even though Egyptian art remained for the most part unchanged this sculpture shows characteristics unlike the others. First of all, Menkaure and his queen are facing forward, while still in a static stance. It also shows another uniquely Egyptian characteristic in sculpture. Their bodies are not fully carved out of the stone.

Science is Boring

I have never been a fan of the sciences. There's just something about chemicals and things such as protozoa and the conversion of U.S. measurements into the metric system that have always made me cringe. I always thought of the world of science and math as one that is completely separate from my favorite world of art, music and culture. This artwork above is a merging of the two worlds. It is not made with canvas and paint or paper and pen. It is the collision of particles shown from under a microscope. It was named "Simulated Bubble Chamber" by the blogger who posted it on the website I found.

A Whole New Way to Fingerpaint

"Things are not always what they seem"

I came across some interesting paintings today of animals by an artist named Guido Daniele. They are the hands and arms of people painted to look like animals. He calls them "handimals". He has a collection of over thirty of these "handimals", including fish, a horse, dogs, elephants, and crocodiles. He has also delved into the world of advertising. He advertises for companies such as AT&T and animal planet.

This is an advertisement for at&t in Egypt

More pictures of Guido Daniele's "handimals" can be found at his website: http://www.guidodaniele.com/bodypaint01.htm

R.I.P. Eyebrows

In ancient Egypt, they would shave their eyebrows as a sign of mourning when their cats died. Cats were highly respected and viewed as gods to the Egyptians. In fact, cats were so highly respected that humans would be put to death for killing a cat. Laws were also in place to prevent the exportation cats to neighboring countries. Cat cemeteries are lined up along the Nile and cat mummies are found in the tombs of ancient Egyptians. Bowls of milk, mice and rats were placed in cat tombs so that the cats would not be bored in the after life.

Ancient Egyptians didn't have b.o.

In fact, ancient Egyptians invented deodorants. They also invented lock and keys, combs, scissors, wigs, makeup, toothbrushes and toothpaste. They invented the 365 day calendar and were the first to divide the day into 24 hours. We should thank them for our sidewalks because, yes, they invented cement too. Egyptians were also the first to practice medicine. Medicine ranged from herbal and magic medicine to surgery. Egyptian doctors prescribed contraceptives and performed pregnancy tests, they also performed circumsicions.

Why I didn't take ceramics

"You say you want a revolution, Well you know we all want to change the world"- The Beatles

The reason I'm taking Art History is because I'm genuinely interested in it. I love to draw and paint and I let out a lot of stress through doing it. I want to learn more about other artists and why they painted what they did. I'm taking this class because I was tired of feeling like I was wasting my time taking classes that only challeneged me to memorize facts instead of challenging me to think differently. I didn't want to get sucked into thinking the way my friends and peers think just because I'm too lazy to learn about other types of people. I know there's more to the world than the things that MTV shows and I want to learn more about them through this class. Maybe I just listen to too much Blink 182, but I believe that teenagers are underestimated.