The inspiration and memories that I have developed over the course of this class.
The progression of this opera was very interesting and; in a sense, I expected but did not expect the plot line at the same time. I state this because the plot line sort of reminds of the plot lines that occur in the average ancient Chinese dynastic dramas. However, since this opera was written by a Italian, I did not expect for such a connection in plot line to modern dramas about dynastic China.
What stood out to me in the opera was the cruelness of Princess Turnadot. I did not expect Princess Turnadot to be so coldhearted and ruthless when telling her ministers to continue torturing Liu when she would not expose the Prince’s name. The beheading of The Persian Prince, in the beginning, also further demonstrates how ruthless Princess Turnadot is. Personally, knowing that she is a princess and the female lead of this opera, I expected Princess Turnadot to have a more positive image in the opera. However, the opera just emphasized the negative traits of Princess Turnadot. I perceive that the writers probably decided to let Princess Turnadot be more of an ‘evil’ character so that there would be more of a shock and contrast when Princess Turnadot actually returns the Prince of Tartary’s love.
Like many people who have read this opera, I think that it came as quit a shock that Princess Turnadot actually decided not to kill the Prince of Tartary, but instead marry him. However, I felt like that ending was a bit abrupt and I would have like to see the opera expand more on what happens after the couple gets married. I think that there should have been a sequel to this opera, just to expand on the marriage life after the couples wedding. This marriage is not necessarily a normal relationship, where people move from being in a relationship to getting married. So I think there could potentially be a lot of marital problems that the sequel could go into. I would definitely read/ watch the sequel because of the drama that may occur.
Overall, I think that the opera storyline is relatively easy to follow and I definitely look forward to seeing the opera live. I just hope that the entire opera does not feel as long as it is.
Often times, people go about their day in a routine format. They go straight to and from work or school. Rarely, do these people ever take time to pause, look at their surroundings, and say to themselves, “Look at how pretty these falling leaves are. Look at this intricately woven spider web.” This is exactly what Jim Toia did.
Not only did Toia take time to absorb the beauties of nature, but he also tried to preserve the the beauties he saw in nature and transform them into art. In the NY Times article, “Pieces of Nature Preserved as Art at the New Jersey State Museum,” Tammy La Gorce talks about how Mr. Toia transfers spider webs among other things onto paper and preserve them as pieces of art for display. What Mr.Toia does to preserve these webs is that when he sees a spider web he will first scare off the spider. Then he would spray the spider web with oil stain and transfer the web onto paper. Below you can see one of Toia’s spider web arts.
The artist Jim Toia captures nature in his work, currently on display at the New Jersey State Museum. Here, “Galileo’s Gaze” (2007), oil and spiderweb on antique register paper.
As a “nature obsessed” artist, as the New York Times calls Toia, Toia saids that art is essentially all around us. His only job as an artist is to capture and preserve the art that nature has already been given to us. The method of preservation, however, I think is up for dispute.
I think that Toia’s art does not necessarily have to embody the physical aspect of the art that he is trying to capture. Every time that Toia sees a spider, he takes away the spiders web for art. The spider then becomes homeless and has to rebuild his home. Sometimes, Toia invades the home of the same spider multiple times just to obtain the same web. Although Toia states that he feels bad for taking the web of the spider, he usually just brushes the guilt off and says to the spider “Sorry to take it from you buddy. But you did a great job.” I understand that Toia at least isn’t killing the spider to obtain his form of art. But I personally think that Toia should change his medium of preserving art. Instead of physically taking the spider web, he could take pictures. Pictures still capture the essence of the beauty of nature that Toia is trying to create, even though the web is not actually on the photo. For his works of art like the “Ant Colny Cast” I think there art alternative ways to creating the cast, such as using a 3D printer, so it isn’t neccesary to cast the actual ant colony. Personally, I would rather Toia’s art not effect the natural habitats of the organisms that he is trying to capture.
“Ant Colony Cast”
Overall, I think that Toia’s creation of art using nature and what is in our surroundings is a great idea. I would love to see some of his works at the New Jersey State Museum. I think seeing the art works in person will certainly have a different effect on me.
Going into the play, I did not expect much. I already knew a little background on what the play was about. However, I was utterly shocked by the plot of the play. After I finished reading the play, my first reaction was shock and horror. It was disheartening to read about so many tragedies that all happened in a single play. Even in Romeo and Juliet, the only tragedy that takes play is the death of Romeo and subsequently, the death of Juliet after she finds out Romeo died. In this play there is the series of tragedies, starting with the beating of Wendla by Melchior, followed with the rape of Wendla and the suicide of Moritz. Personally, I found that the amount of tragedies in this play was too much for me to handle, which made it a bit hard for me to get through the entire play.
However, after getting past all the shock and horror from the initial reading of the play, what remained was sorrow and pity. I pitied all the character and what they had to go through, I pitied their lack of knowledge and their ignorance. But more than anything, I am furious at the adults in this play.
In my opinion, I think that all the tragedies that occurred occurred because the adults in this play did not want to teach their children about sexual education and puberty or even acknowledge the problem that their children were facing. I understand that the topics of rape, abortion, homosexuality, and sex were taboo subjects and that it was uncommon for people to openly speak about these topics. However, I think that it was the parent’s responsibility to educate their children on these topics, because if they don’t, who will?
With regards to the play as a whole, I think that Wedekind did a fantastic job in shedding light on the various taboo subjects discussed in this play. Although Wedekind is probably not the reason why students are mandated to take a health course in high school now, I think he definitely played a part in it. Even today in the modern world, some people still aren’t open to talking about these topics, but there has been progress since the time of the play.
I definitely look forward to the actual performance of the play and see if any moderation were made from the actual play.
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” this is a saying that is often use in the art world, since a picture can tell essentially tell a story. However, in reality, the story told in a picture representations only the story the photographer wants to tell and not the story of the characters or objects a photo. I have obtain this realization after reading “Every Portrait Tells a Lie.” The article is mind opening and makes one think about what the characters in a photo are really thinking behind the scene that the photographer created. I like to think of the characters in a photo as actors and the photographer as the director. The director sets the scenes and capture the characters in a idealized way in which the photo tells the story that was imagined by the director. For instance in the picture below it appears as if a regular family is casually taking an exciting, joyful holiday picture. However, in reality the father of the child has probably just arrived home from a long day of work and is extremely tired. The smile that he presented most likely took all the energy he had left in him. The mother of the child was probably nagging her husband about arriving home late for the holiday and not putting his shoes on the shoe rack,not too long ago. However, since women excel at fake smiling, the smile that she pulled off in the photo took little to no effort for her. The little girl in the photo is secretly thinking “When will this picture be over with? I hate taking pictures.”
However, despite all the feeling and thoughts that may be going through the minds of the people in the picture, the photographer still managed to display the family has a wholesome, joyful family when in fact they may be a completely dysfunctional family of three. This is why people like taking photos, because they can idealize themselves and be something they are not. In a photo, one can remain young forever and achieve immortality, but in reality immortality is impossible. Pictures and portraits tell lies in that sense, because in those images one can be metamorphosed into someone they are not. I think that a picture or portrait of a person can be but may not be the mirror image of that person.
Relating this back to Sargent and his portraits, I believe that Sargent did paint portraits of certain people according to the impression that he wanted to give off. For example, in his Madame X, painting one could theorize that Madame X in real life, may have been more overweight and tan than what was presented in the portrait. However, Sargent used his imagination and paint brush to create the flawless body and skin complexion in the portrait, thus idealizing the body structure of Madame X. Although I do not see anything wrong with idealizing an image in picture or portraits, the next time I look at an image I will try to uncover the truth that lies under the lies in the image.
The essay on “John Singer Sargent” originally did not resinate or interest me. However, after learning about his most famous oil painting, Madame X , and the controversy behind that portrait, I began to ponder on why there was such negative feed back on the painting. Thus, I began to observe the famous portrait myself. In my first encounter with the portrait, I immediately noticed that the portrait gave off a very realistic presence. The portrait seemed as if it were a snapshot of a women in a distracted state. In addition, I also noticed the apparent contrast between the women’s snowy white skin and her revealing black night gown. The overall shadowed background also emphasized her already pale skin. Lastly, I noticed Sargent included a deep neckline and sharp profile features in his portrait of the women. Based on the observations I made, I came up with the theory that the reason why some many people perceived the portrait negatively was because the women in the portrait eluded with confidence and an unprecedented aura of sexuality loomed around her. I hypothesize that the confidence that the women in the portrait had fueled negative reactions, because the confidence I saw may have had transformed into arrogance in the eyes of others. The people in the late nineteenth century probably did not see arrogance as a positive trait, thus resulting in the portrait’s controversy. The low-cut, thinly strapped dress also played a part in the portraits controversy because many saw it as scandalous, especially since in the original Madame X sketch the strap was dropping off her shoulder. I believe the sexuality in this portrait was new to the people of that period. As a result it was rejected as a new style of art since sexualizing women in art was viewed as offensive. It is usually easier for the people to despise and reject something then for them to except it, just like it was easier for people to reject homosexuality than for them to accept it.
In regards to John Singer Sargent as an artist, I agree with the author of “Picture and Text” that he is an bold and articulate artist. When I look at the portraits that Sargent has painted I think he captures the character of each person in his paintings very well. For example, from Sargent’s Doctor Pozzi painting, I get the feeling that Dr. Pozzi is a person of high status because of his attire, but he does not seem hard to approach. I also get the impression that Dr. Pozzi is a confident person, but not to the point where he seems obnoxious or cocky. In another one of Sargent’s works, Lady Play Fair , I get the impression that the woman in the portrait is proud of who she is, my guess is that she is house wife. From the portrait I imagine that she is also a well-mannered and educated lady. The ability of Sargent to present these human traits in a simple painting amazes me. It is also a mystery of how and what combination of techniques Sargent uses to achieve this effect on its audience. I wonder what mysterious message I would would convey if I had my portrait painted by Sargent.
On one hand I feel like I do not have much to say about myself, but on the other hand I feel like I can talk about myself for hours. Lets start at the very beginning…
I was born in New York City on November 5 of 1997 and a few months after I was born I was sent back to China to be raised by my grandparents. I lived in China in the Fu Zhou province until I was approximately four or five years old. Thereafter, I returned to New York to start my education. Below is a picture of a night market near where my grandparents lived, where I often went to play at night with my cousins. 
Around the third grade, my parents decided to move to Clarksville, TN for business and we relocated there for about three years, before moving back to NYC again. Living in the south was really different compared to living in New York City, since everything was more spaced out and not within walking distance. Although I enjoyed my time in Clarksville, I think I’m more of a city person.
Before returning NYC, my family took a vacation back to China and it was my first trip back to China. During this trip I was reintroduced to my cousins and grandparents and it was one of the best vacations I ever had filled with excitement and adventure. Because of this trip I discovered my love for traveling and thus decided to major in international business in college. Since my first trip back I have only had one other trip back, but I definitely will make many more trips back. I am also really into listening to korean pop, watching korean variety shows and Thai soap operas, and reading manga which is why I also really want to go to Korea, Japan, and Thailand. I have no idea how I acquired these hobbies, but I’m really glad I did even though some may seem really out of place.
In addition to traveling I also enjoy working out and playing sports. I enjoy every sport that uses either a racket or paddle such as: tennis, ping pong, and badminton. I may not excel in these sports, but I have fun engaging in different sports. I also like playing volleyball and basketball. I’m always looking for people to play sports and workout with.
Some people have also told me that I look really mean and unapproachable when I’m alone or when I’m listening to music, but I’m a pretty kind person and I don’t bite so please do not be afraid to talk to me! Lastly, I just want to tell you that I love food and two of my favorite things to eat are brownies and french fries!!!
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