The Future of Music? (Interdisciplinary Issue Analysis)

Music has evolved substantially over the years as well as the means in which we acquire it. Originally music was created and performed at live shows. Then as convenience was proven to be a commodity the nifty fifties introduced vinyl records. Following this huge jump, cassette tapes were popularized in the seventies followed by the compact discs of the nineties. After the music industry seemed to reach its ceiling distributing music with the CD, the digital age headed by the newly developed internet reinvented how consumers could enjoy music. Apple created the iTunes store in 2003 in which albums and individual songs could be purchased and stored in one's own personal digital library. Along with utilizing the internet for music also came the parasite that is piracy. This monstrosity deprived music labels, artists and songwriters of their monetary dues. The only way to solve this issue was to create something that is more convenient than piracy which leads us into our current state of streaming music. Legal streaming of music has been pioneered by giants such as Youtube, Pandora and Spotify in their own respective ways; symbolizing, what seems to be the end, of purchasing music via download. It is important for any fan of music to be aware of the current state of music and if this new form of streaming is sustainable. To better comprehend how the future landscape of streaming music will pan out, I will be analyzing how a technological disciplinary stance views streaming as revolutionary through Spotify's innovative services compared to an economic disciplinary stance which considers two different business models to weigh the benefits of streaming.

(Spotify developed their own unique streaming service that is not web-based
and includes complex features to make it efficient)

Within this paper I will be evaluating two different scholarly papers that address the current and future state of accessing music. The first article is entitled “Spotify – Large Scale, Low Latency, P2P Music-on-Demand Streaming” was written by Gunnar Kreitz and Fredrik Niemelä and tackles this topic from a technological discipline. The second article identifies as an economic discipline entitled “An Economic Analysis of Online Streaming Music Services” and was written by Tim Paul Thomes. These two papers address the same topic yet they use different methods and reach the same outcome. To understand how they came to the same conclusion, the paths they took that led to their conclusions must be evaluated.

Addressing the technological article first, rhetorical devices are used to distinguish the idea that Spotify has advanced the process of streaming music. It is clear that this article is in fact scholarly because it addresses a particular group of people with a background in technology such as programming and uses discipline specific jargon. There are voluminous amounts of technology-based units of measure for example: MB and GB (storage), q5 and q9 (quality), kbps (bitrate), etc. The use of these measurements are important to the content of the article to demonstrate how Spotify’s streaming service exceeds the specs of many other services. The article breaks down the streaming service Spotify has developed into steps that are in depth such as “Playback Latency and Stutter” and in turn very precise when further elaborated technologically. Because there are so many steps covered and from a certain disciplinary view, the reader gets a very accurate insight to what the author sees in the topic addressed. In this case the author sees various categories that are involved in streaming music and compares them to previous developments to illuminate the advancements taking place. A very unique way I believe that the author highlights these advancements is by translating the content in the article to graphs that can only be used in the respected field of technology. The graphs display average usage times and system outputs for the times indicated.

(Example of graph used to express usage)

When developing this article the author holds certain aspects at greater value than others and this is how a conclusion is formed. The author clearly has a background in the mechanics of technology and therefore places importance on the capacity of streaming rather than on monetary values such as the case with our economic focused counterpart. Because of this concentration there will be strengths that cater to the author’s discipline and weaknesses that do not compliment this certain expertise. The ability to evaluate smaller pieces of a system and recognize their function in the bigger picture is a strength that this particular discipline possesses. As with any discipline a topic is only evaluated through a specific lens and it is difficult to see the topic from other perspectives. Additional breadth on the future path of streaming music simply cannot be provided by this article. Additionally the article describes a particular system for streaming music and predicts future growth in streaming. Potential road blocks are also proposed, yet the author only lists them and fails to expound upon them. I feel as if this was a weak point for this paper to build up the power of streaming in such great detail and then end the paper on a note that requires further elaboration. This leaves the reader with a hazy idea of the future of streaming music

Now that we have seen a specific stance on this topic, by analyzing the second article “An Economic Analysis of Online Streaming Music Services” we can note differences in perspectives to understand how these two authors reached the same general outcome. The first thing I noticed when reviewing this article is that it too uses a jargon specific to its discipline, which correlates to the first technology article. However in comparison the economic discipline was much easier for the reader to follow, which could be a result of the general population’s familiarity with finances. Furthermore, Thomes employs numerical statistics from credited studies to support his stance such as this excerpt: “In the US, the volume of digital music sales grew from $0.2 billion to $3.1 billion from 2004 to 2009 (see RIAA, 2010).” The article also features words that demonstrate relatability between the author and reader, for instance “obviously” gives the impression that both parties are aware of the issue.

(Example of economic equations used to determine streaming value)

To briefly describe the economic paper, the author proposes two models of streaming; one free with advertising and one with a subscription. The author outlines each model in terms relatable to the economic field, and then proceeds further with tools such as economic functions and equations to back up his proclamations. Comparing the two disciplinary papers, they both have visuals to support their claims however they are different visuals to convey different points. The equations given in this article are clearly specific for viewers of similar background and to simply prove prior calculations have been done to align with his content. Adding to this analytical viewpoint, most of the information given was in the form of cause and effect. The two proposed business models for streaming would be introduced and then various scenarios were given with likely outcomes, for example “ If the nuisance cost of advertising is small such that no flat-rate service is launched, the advertising level can be either too high or too low depending on the number of advertisers in the market.” It can go without saying that the author’s breadth in the field of economy was a strong point in his paper and allowed the topic of music streaming to be seen from different angles. The conclusion by Thomes was ultimately in the favor of streaming music due to the factors of reducing piracy and potential revenue from advertisement. The conclusion was not reached, however, without acknowledging the issue of property right holders not being adequately compensated by streaming services. The dilemma was addressed fairly and outweighed by determining that proper compensation to artists is feasible and discerning that piracy was the bigger issue at hand. I believe a hindrance to this paper was clarity. Yes it was addressed to a specific group, yet with better phrasing the concepts could be grasped by a larger audience.

Different disciplinaries have different values that discuss the same issues. Technology was used to demonstrate how streaming speed, storage capacity and reduced server costs pave the way for the future of streaming music. An economical disciplinary was used to weigh the financial hurdle of royalty payouts with the elimination of music crippling piracy to come to the conclusion that streaming has more upside. They each used tools to back their support of streaming services. The article with a technology focus had a well working knowledge of the intricacies of streaming to evaluate its efficiency as a whole. An economists, as shown here, is cautious to weigh each possible outcome from multiple angles and come to a sensible conclusion. Each discipline utilized visuals to back their claims, one through graphs and the other through financial calculations. With every unique discipline there is a central focus which highlights strengths and also includes weak points in the material overlooked. Technology and Economy were used to address the same topic and they both came to the same conclusion. Each author had different aspects of streaming music that were valuable. Through agreeing on the same outcome it demonstrates how advancements are made in society and the angles that are used to validate these important decisions.

Works Cited

Jarnow, Jesse. "Apple’s ITunes Is Alienating Its Most Music-Obsessed Users." Wired.com. November 17, 2015. Accessed December 4, 2015. http://www.wired.com/2015/11/itunes-alternatives/. 

 Dörr, Jonathan, Thomas Wagner, Alexander Benlian, and Thomas Hess. "Music as a Service as an Alternative to Music Piracy?" Bus Inf Syst Eng Business & Information Systems Engineering 5, no. 6 (2013): 383-96. Accessed December 4, 2015. doi:10.1007/s12599-013-0294-0.

Hong, Seung-Hyun. "Measuring The Effect Of Napster On Recorded Music Sales: Difference-In-Differences Estimates Under Compositional Changes." J. Appl. Econ. Journal of Applied Econometrics 28, no. 2 (2011): 297-324. Accessed December 4, 2015. doi:10.1002/jae.1269.

Kreitz, G., and F. Niemela. "Spotify -- Large Scale, Low Latency, P2P Music-on-Demand Streaming." 2010 IEEE Tenth International Conference on Peer-to-Peer Computing (P2P), 2010, 1-10. Accessed December 3, 2015. doi:10.1109/P2P.2010.5569963.

Seabrook, John. "Spotify: Friend or Foe? - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. November 24, 2014. Accessed December 4, 2015. http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/11/24/revenue-streams.

Thomes, Tim Paul. "An Economic Analysis of Online Streaming Music Services." Information Economics and Policy 25, no. 2 (2013): 81-91. Accessed December 4, 2015. doi:10.1016/j.infoecopol.2013.04.001.

Wang, Ye, Ali Ahmaniemi, David Isherwood, and Wendong Huang. "Content-based UEP." Proceedings of the Eleventh ACM International Conference on Multimedia - MULTIMEDIA '03, 2003, 412-21. Accessed December 4, 2015. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/957013.957099.

Weijters, Bert, Frank Goedertier, and Sofie Verstreken. "Online Music Consumption in Today’s Technological Context: Putting the Influence of Ethics in Perspective." J Bus Ethics Journal of Business Ethics 124, no. 4 (2013): 537-50. Accessed December 4, 2015. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1892-y. 

Artificial Gravity in a Zero Gravity Environment: An Interdisciplinary Analysis

Mars as Viewed from Earth
Courtesy of Linda Tanner (Flickr.com)

In 2010, The National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) officially declared a manned mission to Mars a long-term goal. The agency claims that they can be ready and technically capable of sending humans to an asteroid in 2025 and to the red planet as early as 2030. We as a people have sent numerous orbiters, landing craft, and rovers to Mars and have been attempting to explore the Martian surface since the 1970s. Sending a manned mission to Mars seems to be the next major step in the study of our second closest planetary neighbor and the next step in NASA’s and mankind’s exploration of our solar system. A flight to Mars and back would, as most experts agree, take a minimum of 500 days to accomplish with seven or eight months in flight time there and back. Aside from the near impossible technological considerations associated with landing a spacecraft on the Martian surface gently enough to not put the crew on board in danger and can actually take off again and return to earth, there is debate over how a crew would function after multiple 7 month spaceflights. The concern for this stems from the lack of sufficient gravitational pull during the trip, generating a, for all intents and purposes, weightless environment. This prolonged exposure to lack of gravity has very adverse effects on the human musculoskeletal system and is a major roadblock for any sort of distance space mission. For a spaceflight like this, many scientific disciplines would need to come together in perfect harmony to accomplish the goal. There are many scholarly articles dedicated to researching the problem of microgravity but I will specifically be analyzing and discussing how a physiological essay and a technical theoretical physics essay each approach the issue. The two articles, while both scholarly, use very different structural, linguistic, tonal, and visual methods to present their similar claims that longterm exposure to microgravity is extremely detrimental to human health and more research needs to be conducted on the methods of which to counteract it.

The two said scholarly articles I will be analyzing are titled “Effects of long-term spaceflight on mechanical properties of muscle in humans” written by Daniel Lambertz, Chantal Pérot, Rustem Kaspranski, and Francis Goubel, a study from the field of physiology, and “Artificial gravity as a countermeasure for mitigating physiological deconditioning during long-duration space missions” by Gilles R. Clément, Angelia P. Bukley, and William H. Paloski, a theoretical physics piece. To better understand how the different rhetorical devices within the two pieces are used, it’s important to understand where these scholarly articles sit in context with the topic of microgravity. The first article, the one viewing the issue from a medical perspective, consists of an original study conducted on 14 astronauts that compared the flexibility of the plantar flexor muscles the enable your foot to move up and down at the ankle. The study yielded findings that not only do muscles undergo muscular atrophy throughout the body, joint flexibility and range of motion decreased by 25 percent on average. The second piece delves into the technological advancements that could be implemented to counteract the effects of a zero gravity environment. The article uses a quite theoretical approach, usually basing their argument off physics, to criticize and raise necessary questions concerning the practicality of many common proposed solutions to the problem.

At first glance, taking both articles at face value, the authors of these pieces quickly establish their credibility in their respective fields in slightly different ways. The two articles are similar in the way that they are both written in your typical scientific, scholarly journal format. They begin with a summarizing abstract, progress to an introduction, and then proceed to weave through any quantitative data, measurements, observations, and experimental procedures. Your typical academic minded article closes with an all encompassing conclusion and ties the authors entire argument into a single cohesive section summarizing all the data into a disputable claim, and these articles are no exception. When discussing the rhetorical devices and techniques scholarly writers use to prove a point, the structure of the writing is an undeniably sizable portion to that. Laying out an argument in this way provides a roadmap to the researcher’s conclusion, something particularly useful in academic writing. This is particularly apparent and a necessary component of the first physiological study mentioned above. “Effects of long-term spaceflight on mechanical properties of muscle in humans” contains a quite complex set of mathematical algorithms for interpreting their data, with methods that might not be easily explained to other researchers in that field, let alone a general audience. The organizational structures chosen by the researchers on the project help keep their argument in as simple of terms possible, helping to not unnecessarily overcomplicate their concept. Consequently, this style of writing is very advantageous to most disciplines that engage in heavy academic topics. This sort of structure is advantageous to the technological paper as well in a unique way. The authors for “Artificial gravity as a countermeasure for mitigating physiological deconditioning during long-duration space missions” use a modified version of the common scientific scholarly format, slightly different than the first article, by creating an introduction, theoretical data set, and a conclusion under all three subtopics in the essay. These three subtopics are all included under the umbrella of the paper’s main topic of artificial gravity. This gives the claims concerning every method of creating artificial gravity discussed a very organized and constructed feel. Even though they implement the structure slightly differently, these scholarly articles establish credibility by explaining their data in a clear and logical manner. They create strong, clearly defined points, making it difficult to argue against their findings.

The nature of the content of these academic pieces strongly influence the way the authors establish their points. Both the articles, as most journals in the scientific community do, successfully explain very complex and abstract ideas. A feature that should be noted in both essays is the use of data tables, diagrams, and other visual aids to help readers, experts or not, further understand the topic. This could be exemplified in the technological paper specifically when the authors begin to explain the directional forces that would occur when astronauts would use a short range centrifugation machine. In context, a short range centrifugation machine (SRC) is a contraption that would spin a human around about a 20 foot radius while on a spacecraft. The hypothesis is that if the device were to be used for around 20 minutes a day, that would be sufficient enough to counteract the onset of the detrimental musculoskeletal effects of zero gravity. While describing how the SRC directional forces would not be the same on earth as they would in a zero gravity environment, rather than explaining the physics equations and the phenomenon of centripetal force in words, the force diagrams provided help readers to visualize the concept. These types of articles are rarely read by anyone besides other scholars in that field who are usually familiar with the content. However, the idea to academic journal is to share information within their respective discipline, and making anything more complicated than it needs to be is counterproductive to the overall goal of that discipline. The physiological paper approaches visual aids in a different way, providing charts and data sets to make they’re incredibly dense experiment more tangible. The authors of that paper included nine graphs, all of which corroborated their main claim of how exposure to a zero gravity environment specifically in the context of space causes joint stiffness and severe muscular atrophy. Aside from helping readers comprehend information, their visual aids help with the overall professionalism of the pieces and I think visual formatting and data presentation is critical in all writing and especially in scholarly work to promote believability and to have your ideas be worth considering.

The authors of both papers established their ethical credibility and their logical methods with the article structure as well as the visual aids presented and they continue to do so in the actual linguistics within the papers. I find the tone of the technological critique of artificial gravity to be the most fascinating. The authors of the piece took it upon themselves to use more of a candid approach to their writing. This is somewhat unusual in the field of theoretical physics since their studies are, after all, theoretical. One would expect a theoretical physicist to be more optimistic about the possible extreme solutions to microgravity, such as the idea of rotating spaceships. However, the researchers in this article provide a unique perspective seeing as they pointed out many issues with most of the proposed solutions. As seen in the quote “questions such as what are the impacts of centrifugation inside a space vehicle on the vibration level, motion sickness, or crew time need to be addressed by use of a human-rated centrifuge” (Clément), the lack of unrealistic or somewhat unverified data that can be found in some theoretical physics papers helps make the researcher's ideas on these topic more practical and credible. At the same time, the pointing out of errors in assumptions leads to a more constructed argument for furthering the research in developing artificial gravity rather than simply saying that countermeasures exist. The physiological journal employs a more serious tone offering countless equations and mathematical formulas to model their data of increased tension in musculoskeletal joints after spaceflight. This is abundantly apparent throughout the paper in a quote such as “mean MVC [maximum voluntary contraction (the distance you can bend your foot upward at the ankle)] was found to be significantly higher in preflight condition than in postflight condition (108.90 ± 19.70 vs. 90.90 ± 26.48 N · m)” (Lambertz). While it is understood that for a research paper that reports vast amounts of data straight from an experiment, a full, overly descriptive means and methods situation is necessary. However, while it is necessary to make sure an experiment is repeatable by another party, some of the mathematical explanations were redundant. After the data sets were compiled and represented in graphs, the eventual excessive calculations in sentence form I felt were unnecessary since the paragraph form discussion section and conclusion provided a much more useful data interpretation than a mathematical model can show. In other words, linguistically, The theoretical article takes a more of a “layman’s terms” approach while still maintaining its scholarly integrity, whereas the physiological article takes a much more mathematically in depth approach as is more common in the medical field.

The Discovery Space Shuttle. Similar to what Clément

discussed, in the early 2000s many scientists

hypothesized that the shuttle could be kept in perpetual

rotation to induce artificial gravity

Courtesy of Rob Shenk (Flickr.com)

Both these papers do a fantastic job corroborating their argument by using various rhetorical devices and techniques structurally, linguistically, tonally, and visually. If you wanted to quickly summarize the difference in their respective rhetorical techniques, you could say that one is more scientifically rigid than the other. What I mean by this is that the physiological article uses a much more concrete format to convey their argument on the degeneration of muscles and the increase in joint stiffness. There is really not much of a way to refute a mathematical model and the paper consequently follows a very narrow path as would be expected from an essay based on data collection alone. Conversely, the theoretical essay offers more of a discussion for how research in the field of artificial gravity can be improved and built upon. Even though the articles and disciplines are very different, they employ some rhetorical devices similarly and some dissimilarly. They both establish and arrive the same conclusion - that more research needs to be done in the field of artificial gravity to find a viable option to satisfy both disciplines, medically and technically.

Works Cited

Daniel Lambertz, Chantal Pérot, Rustem Kaspranski, Francis Goubel, “Effects of long-term spaceflight on mechanical properties of muscle in humans”, Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 90, No. 1 (2001): 179-188

Gilles R. Clément, Angelia P. Bukley, William H. Paloski, “Artificial gravity as a countermeasure for mitigating physiological deconditioning during long-duration space missions”, US National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health, Vol. 9, (2015)

Alan Sternberg, “Space policy responsiveness: The relationship between public opinion and NASA funding”, Space Policy, Vol. 27, Issue 4 (2011): 240-246
doi:10.1016/j.spacepol.2011.07.003

Kenneth S. Casey, “The Past, Present, and Future of the AVHRR Pathfinder SST program”, Oceanography from Space, (2010): 273-287
doi:10.1007/978-90-481-8681-5_16

Bethany L. Ehlmann, “Humans to Mars: A feasibility and cost-benefit analysis”, Acta Astronautica, Vol. 56, Issues 9-12, (2005): 851-858
doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2005.01.010

A.A. Edwards, “RBE of radiations in space and the implications for space travel”, National Radiological Protection Board, (2001): 147-152

Shreyasee Amin, “Mechanical Factors and Bone Health: Effects of Weightlessness and Neurologic Injury”, Current Rheumatology Reports, Vol. 12, Issue 3, (2010): 170-176

Peter Suedfeld and G. Daniel Steele, “The Environmental Psychology of Capsule Habitats”, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 51, (2000): 227-253

Shreyasee Amin, “Mechanical Factors and Bone Health: Effects of Weightlessness and Neurologic Injury”, Current Rheumatology Reports, Vol. 12, Issue 3, (2010): 170-176

Interdisciplinary Analysis by William Hargett

Factory by Wikimedia

Thanks for visiting the Creatively Decisive blog page for my final post. This post will contain an interdisciplinary analysis concerning climate change. The two disciplines that I will be examining include corporations/businesses and the public. The concept of global warming/climate change has always been very mysterious to me. From a young age, I was always uncertain as to what people were talking about when I heard “global warming” mentioned either in casual conversation or hearing it on the news randomly while walking past the television. It wasn’t until my high school science classes that I learned the correct definition of global warming, and the dangers that it presents for the Earth. “The term ‘global warming’ was first used in a 1975 Science article by geochemist Wallace Broecker of Columbia University. He wrote a paper called ‘Climate Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming (They)’” According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, “Global warming refers to the recent and ongoing rise in global average temperature near Earth’s surface. It is caused mostly by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is causing climate patterns to change (Climate change).” Even though this is a controversial subject, there is evidence of global warming impacting the climate. For example, the impact of climate change on coastal areas is significant. Sea levels are rising and carbon dioxide levels are up, which makes our oceans more acidic. The rise in acidity affects the entire aquatic ecosystem, and also causes floods and erosion. An example of the affected ecosystem is the coral reef “bleaching.” The warming of the waters due to global warming has affected storm surges, especially in low-lying areas such as Manhattan (Climate Impacts). According to the March 1990 publication of the Journal of Cold Regions Engineering, the most significant increase in wave action in the ocean is in the Arctic and Coastal regions (Gerwick). Not only are our ocean ecosystems affected, but areas within our lakes have also been effected. Because of human activity, the surface area of certain lakes have decreased (Bai). The 2005 Journal of Mountain Science reports that global warming has additionally caused a water shortage in locations such as Northwest China (Lu). Mathias Vuille reports in the Journal of Geophysical Research that global warming has also affected the Andean temperatures. While recently, the low-lying coastal areas have been cooling, the higher altitude areas have been warming (Vuille). Many different points of view about global warming are actively expressed. Political, business, scientific, and public points of view about global warming have the same ultimate goal in common, but many different points of view on how to reach the goal of containing/potentially eliminating global warming. From a corporate business point of view, global warming can be used to increase profit and to improve public image. The majority of the general public, on the other hand, looks at global warming and its effects on Earth as a developing problem needing increased public awareness of its seriousness.

The United States corporate world has finally realized that recognition of the existence of global warming can be used in a positive way. Corporate America is using studies of facts about global warming to improve both their public image and profit. Public image is an obvious play to the public on this subject. Consumers are obviously more likely to support an eco-friendly company as opposed to a non eco-friendly company. The common perception of why companies do not become eco-friendly “may be explained in part by the widely-shared perception that environmental action entails costs that impact productivity.” In an attempt to improve public perception, companies are beginning to label products as “eco-friendly,” “bio-degradeable,” and “energy efficient.” To advertise that a company is practicing global warming strategies most definitely increases positive public image of that company. Studies by economists help companies realize that the benefits of “going green” are greater than the costs of not participating in the movement. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) is an organization that includes companies such as Coca-Cola, Sony, and Toyota. The WBCSD provides research information to companies to help them develop the most efficient eco-friendly policies. Managers of companies need to develop a plan of action in order to develop and implement a climate change policy. First, they need to take preliminary measures in areas such as environmental intelligence, the amount of GHG, and the most effective way possible for the company. The company also needs to be as proactive as possible in its climate change policies, as compared to the “wait and see” policies of the past. Third, the company needs to develop its climate change policy based on “managerial actions, technical actions, and Sociopolitical actions.” One table included in the article is titled “Managerial Actions to Reduce GHG Emissions.” It includes both policies on how to manage global warming and a plan to manage and maintain the policies. The particular policy mentioned includes the promotion of awareness concerning the company’s global warming policy plan. Managerial actions also include increasing customer awareness of the new policies which typically increases their support. The Climate Change policy needs to be monitored closely, making sure legal rules are followed. Additionally, the policy needs to be consistently reviewed as there is always room for the policy to be developed and improved. Companies also use an Environmental Intelligence flow chart which helps companies predict global warming impacts. This flow chart focuses on economic issues, scientific and technical issues, social issues, and political and regulatory issues (Boiral).

Public opinions about global warming vary because people do not know what to believe due to the large amount of conflict over global warming issues. Twenty-four percent of the public have not heard much about global warming or either have not heard anything about it at all. Thirty percent of the public has very little understanding of what global warming is while seventy percent recognize global warming as a serious problem. Factors that contribute to the public’s opinions on global warming depend on a number of factors such as: personal values, peer influence, bias, and positive environmental practices. Efforts are being made to educate the general public on the developing problems associated with global warming and the need to be concerned even if they are not directly effected. Even with increased awareness of global warming, people still continue to give global warming a backseat to other issues such as toxic waste, economic problems, and foreign relation problems. Using as a key player in changing the opinions about global warming in the United States, California is pivotal if the nation’s attitude towards global warming is going to change. “Behavioral changes on both a personal and political level are needed to make substantial progress in controlling the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming.” Easy lifestyle changes that can save significant amounts of energy include carpooling, being reasonable with the thermostat, turning off lights, taking short showers instead of baths, and driving fuel efficient vehicles (Rhode).

Both the business world and the general public articles have addressed the same issue, while providing different language and appeal, based on their intended audience. The business world uses company language such as flow charts and informational tables to develop their own global warming policies. This article also emphasizes the economic benefits of having an environmentally proactive business strategy. In contrast to the business discipline is the public discipline, which is written to appeal to the general public. Public appeal is achieved by using diction that is easily understood by the general public. The general public discipline also presents the public with facts that appeal to the interest of the people. The corporate discipline, however, uses charts and informative tables that communicate effectively with business personnel. These charts focus on marketing opportunities, employee motivations, advantages with the competition, and information concerning emissions.

Both disciplines are addressing the same issue of global warming, but each emphasizes different reasons for becoming proactive. Businesses understand that being proactive increases public image and company production and profits. The use of organizational maps and studies of global-warming facts help businesses to develop effective and productive policies. Nevertheless, the general public places importance on the developing problems of global warming and the need to increase public awareness of just how serious of an issue climate change is. By appealing to the public’s awareness, more people will join the “going green” program by incorporating easy lifestyle changes. It is my conclusion that regardless of one’s reasons for helping to improve this developing problem, global warming should be a priority in all areas of existence, business or public.

Works Cited

Bai, Jie. "Changes in the Area of Inland Lakes in Arid Regions of Central Asia during the past 30 Years." Environmental Modeling and Assessment. July 1, 2011. Accessed December 3, 2015.

Boiral, Olivier. "Global Warming: Should Companies Adopt a Proactive Strategy?" Elsevier. October 27, 2006. Accessed December 4, 2015.

"Climate Change: Basic Information." US EPA. Accessed December 3, 2015.

"Climate Impacts on Coastal Areas." US EPA. Accessed December 3, 2015.

Gerwick Jr., Ben. "Effect of Global Warming on Arctic Coastal and Offshore Engineering." Journal of Cold Regions Engineering. March 1, 1990. Accessed December 3, 2015.

Lu, Aigang. "Main Content Area Impact of Global Warming on Water Resource in Arid Area of Northwest China." Journal of Mountain Science. December 1, 2005. Accessed December 3, 2015.

Rhode, Deborah. "Environmental Values and Behaviors: Strategies to Encourage Public Support for Initiatives to Combat Global Warming." Global Climate Change. Accessed December 4, 2015.

"They Didn't Change the Name from 'global Warming' to 'climate Change'" Skeptical Science. July 16, 2013. Accessed December 3, 2015.

Vuille, Mathias. "Impact of the Global Warming Hiatus on Andean Temperature." Journal of Geophysical Research. May 7, 2015. Accessed December 3, 2015.

Different Shades of Beauty

(Three Graces: Les Trois Femmes Noires by: Mickalene Thomas)

“Graces” or “Charities” are known in greek mythology as minor goddesses who represent characteristics such as charm, beauty, human creativity, nature and fertility. The “three graces” were said to be the daughters of Zeus as well as the entourage of Aphrodite (the goddess of love). To depict these women in high art has been popular for centuries and the trend stretches so far back that the artist and date of the very first portrait is unknown. More recently, in 2011 Mickalene Thomas created her own interpretation of the “Three Graces” formally naming it “Three Graces: Les Trois Femmes Noires” meaning the three black women. Through blending her pop art style of vibrant acrylic and eye catching rhinestone with a classical image of the “Three Graces” Mickalene Thomas simultaneously embraces the post-black art form by creating her unique rendition and showing how beauty, charm and creativity transcends skin tone.

Mickalene Thomas is a face very much associated with the post-black movement. Post-black is an African American art form that pushes to dispel the past ideas associated with black art. More specifically this category of art wishes to erase race from specific areas of art so it will not hinder the growth of black art nor put boundaries on it. What is often the case, post-black artists will take a piece of art labeled as “white” and create a brand new version where that notion is removed. The term  "post-black" was first coined in the early 90’s and later elaborated on in 2001 by Thelma Golden when she describes these type of artists as “adamant about not being labeled ‘black’ artists, though their work was steeped, in fact deeply interested, in redefining complex notions of blackness.” This style has gone beyond art and into music where young black people are impacted daily. Whereas in the past, music has been used for black individuals to be noticed, the roles have now started to shift for them to use music to impact others. In the same way Mickalene Thomas has used her influences such as her mother and her particular styles to encourage others that race is irrelevant. Her version of the “Three Graces” is a perfect example.

(Mickalene Thomas's mother)

Different aspects of Thomas’s portrait “Three Graces: Les Trois Femmes Noires” are individually significant to better understand her work as a whole. The women depicted exhibit the 1970’s in their wardrobe. To answer why Mickalene Thomas chose this time period, background information is key. Mickalene was born in 1971 meaning a major portion of her childhood was submerged in the seventies culture. Her mother embodied what it meant to be a black woman in the seventies. Growing up Mickalene looked at her mother as a role model, she describes her as a person that people gravitate towards because of the energy she radiated. She was strong, stylish, and comfortable with who she was; a trend that permeated black women in that time period. Transitioning into a new era, much different from the sixties riddled with inequality, black women found a new voice in the seventies that was unashamed. I can imagine the new found freedom these women had to leave their fingerprints on the culture. Confidence illuminated through their vibrant style, as well as dialogue filled with fervor. What is extremely admirable about them and relevant to why Mickalene chose them, is their redefining of beauty. Beauty no longer had to be straight hair instead it could be poofy with volume. Beauty no longer had to be restricted to fair skin, it could include darker complexions also. I hope you see now why she chose the seventies. What better way to change the ancient greek portrayal of the “Three Graces” than with the time period labeled as the “pivot of change”. 

(examples of pop art)

Her mother continued to impact her childhood by enrolling her and her brother in an after school art program in New York. Being exposed to new styles is fundamental in molding an artist’s personal art style. For Mickalene she took a liking to pop art. Emerging in the late fifties in the US, pop art became a popular new art form. The foundation of pop art was celebrating everyday life through popular culture. Prior to pop art, the culture of art was centered around high art, which was geared toward the aristocrats of the day. Reserved for people with a background on morality, mythology, and classic history, high art hindered many people from relating and enjoying art. Now if we focus on the pop art styling of Thomas’s “Three Graces” we can see why she used this style. Mickalene is trying to convey the same message with taking a high style form of art, such as the Graces, and give it a context that is more understandable. With her vision to see the connection between ancient art and modern day pop art is perfect for reintroducing this classic image in a way many can relate. By using pop art she further cements her role in the world of post-black art. She clearly demonstrates that no art form is off limits due to the past roles of blacks in art.

It is very hard to notice online, but after examining this piece in person intricacies are noticed such as the rhinestones and acrylic paint. Both of these are critical with selling the idea of pop art. She uses materials that have not been associated with such a work and they really make the portrait pop off the wall. Vibrant colors catch the eye, which was not the case of the earth tones in previous renditions. The rhinestones mean much more than an added layer of shine. The glistening stones represent the abstract beauty that these black female figures possess. They could also be a portrayal of special energy these women radiated. Yes the rhinestones are on the jewelry, which is where most onlookers would expect to see them, however they cover the dresses also demonstrating that beauty is not always in the place we expect it to be. By placing rhinestones on the exterior of the ladies, Mickalene Thomas highlights the smooth texture of the women’s skin using acrylic and this technique was important to show that the exterior of women should not hide beauty but rather illuminate it.

Other features that should be pointed out is the collage added to the portrait. A collage is the assembling of various pieces to make up a whole. The use of a collage in this particular case is symbolic. American Art author Derek Conrad Murray states: "In Thomas’s photographs and paintings, the charade of beauty is in violent struggle with the complexities of identity". Beauty is found in a variety of different ways and when combined they depict the beauty of a woman. In the same way her collage is exhibiting how a variety of different pieces come together and form a picture of beauty, charm and creativity. Mickalene also has the women embracing each other through touch. The “Three Graces” in the past have had the graces huddled with arms around one another. Something unique in this latest version is the three black women are simply touching with fingers. In my opinion I believe this slight variation represents how black women have evolved to become more independent and unique in today’s age.

Black women and black art have come a long way in the past decades. As seen through this art by Thomas, women have changed and made their voices heard just recently as the seventies. The concept of post-black art was made around the time I was born and I am only eighteen. It is fabulous to see how Mickalene brings these two recent phenomenons into the light with a piece of art that has been around forever; the “Three Graces”. Pulling from inspirations such as pop art and her mother, Mickalene Thomas combines these with her use of acrylic and rhinestones to create beauty that is not chained by complexion.

Works Cited

Murray, Derek Conrad. "Mickalene Thomas." American Art 28, no. 1 (2014): 9-15. Accessed November 11, 2015. doi:10.1086/676624.

Taylor, Paul C. "Post-Black, Old Black." African American Review 41, no. 4 (2007): 625-40. Accessed November 11, 2015. http://www.jstor.org.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/stable/25426981?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.

Sargent, Antwan. "Post-Black Art in the Age of Hip-Hop | VICE | United States." VICE. December 12, 2014. Accessed November 11, 2015. http://www.vice.com/read/post-black-art-in-the-age-of-hip-hop-123.

Jackson, Millie. A Little Taste Of Outside Love. Ace Records, 2007. MP3.

Lauren Fannin, "Theorizing Black Femininity" (master's thesis, Georgia State University), 1-19.

The True Heroes of the American Revolution

Photo by: JR P

When I first discovered that our next blog post subject was an art analysis, my heart instantly dropped. I did not know anything about art whatsoever. I had visited a couple of museums while in New York City, but I would normally just look at ancient armor or huge sculptures, completely ignoring the actual information or cultural relevance of the pieces. After accepting that I had to give art a serious try, I took a trip to the NC Museum of Art to try to find a piece of art with which I could really connect. After exploring the museum for about forty minutes, I found an American historical section. I have always had a passion for history, so I figured that I could easily find a piece that I would enjoy studying. I immediately saw First News of the Battle of Lexington by William Tylee Ranney. I found this painting particularly intriguing because of my love for the Revolutionary War. As I studied the painting I quickly knew from the title what was taking place in the painting: a messenger on horseback was relaying to a small town about the battle of Lexington and that the Revolutionary War had begun. I then thought about a famous Revolutionary War messenger that I could maybe connect this piece to, and Paul Revere instantly popped into my head. I then noticed the townspeople’s reactions, which made me realize that Ranney painted this scene to spotlight the common people’s huge contribution to the Revolutionary War effort. Although famous figures like messenger Paul Revere had impacts on contributing to what would become the United States, this particular painting targets the every-day civilian’s huge and typically overlooked contribution to the American Revolution. The people left their ordinary lives at a moments notice and were thrust into the war effort.

It is no shock that Ranney chose a critical American scene for this painting. A native of Hoboken, NJ, he was very well known for iconic American landscapes. He was not well known until the 1960's, when his western scenes brought him into the art conversation ("William"). Southgate says, “His genre paintings took the rapidly evolving American Frontier as their subject.” There is also thought that Ranney painted it to bring support and morale to the Mexican War movement which was occurring at the time. Ranney was very well known for painting the common folk. Southgate said that Ranney paints “the ordinary people who have been interrupted at their daily tasks when battle arrived” (Southgate).

There are numerous features of the painting that show ordinary civilians taking action at a moments notice to assist with the war effort. One example is the blacksmith, who it is implied that he ran out of his shop in the middle of working to hear the news from the messenger. You can also imply from the blacksmith’s clenched fists and grim expression that he is more than ready to take action and was not afraid to take action for the cause. Another man waits in the doorway of the blacksmith’s shop holding a weapon and listening to the messenger. This civilian also just came out of his work to provide support. Behind the blacksmith shop, there are is a man wielding a weapon as he walk out of a general store or saloon of some sort. There are also men on horses ready to provide their assistance. There is even a man ringing the church bell to sound an alarm to the town that their is an issue and a lady hanging out of a window to see what is going on. Needless to say, this small town went into action/chaos mode very quickly to stand up for what they believed in. On the right side of the painting, in the distance, you can faintly see another village. This means that there were countless villages that this messenger had to share news with. This reinforces the point that it was more than just famous messenger Paul Revere and his companion that prepared the country’s civilian militias for war.

Growing up, I heard Longfellow’s 1861 poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” numerous times. We all know the story. British troops were approaching a “rebel” weapon stockpile with an attempt to destroy it, and there were messengers that alerted the colonists of the approaching British forces (Currie). It was only until earlier this week that I discovered that the poem is completely inaccurate. The poem fails to document that Revere was actually supposed to be riding to alert John Hancock and Samuel Adams of approaching British troops. It also does not mention that Revere was actually captured, then escaped (Arnensen). Justin Ewers states that the poem “is inaccurate in almost every way.” Not many people know of the other rider who rode at the same time as Revere, Charles Dawes. Dawes was actually the rider who took the main road, while Revere and another messenger were attempting to sneak across a river to deliver the news (Ewers).

In no way am I attempting to discount the accomplishments of Paul Revere, I am just attempting to inform people of what “Paul Revere’s Ride” actually was and how many ordinary citizens have gone unnoticed with their efforts in the American Revolution. Obviously, messengers were extremely important to the American Revolution. Ewers writes, “ Thanks to the riders efforts, militias from all over the countryside were mobilized to take their revenge, driving the British all the way back to Boston. (Ewers).

The way in which the sky is painted also poses some interesting questions about the battle and the future of the war and what would become the United States of America. While the sky is dark and gray right over the village, there is light on the horizon on the right side of the painting. The darkness in the sky represents the current time, which was the colonists just losing the Battle of Lexington and being very overmatched by the British. The horizon, however, shows hope. While probably unnoticed by the casual viewer, I believe that the light on the horizon shows that if the colonists fight hard and stand up for the unjust treatment that they were receiving, then it would pay off in the end with a victory in the American Revolution and eventually the establishment of a new nation, the United States of America.

On the top of the middle building on the left, the year “1770” is inscribed. Since the painting was created in 1847, Ranney obviously wanted to let the viewer know the relative time period of the painting. However, it is curious that he did not inscribe the exact year of the battle in the building. It is possible that Ranney just wanted the viewer to know the relative time period so that the viewer would somehow connect the relative time period (which was full of unlawful taxation and control) to the situation that was then currently taking place in Mexico in order to increase national morale and support for the then current situation with Mexico.

After extensive analysis of this painting, I have concurred that William Tylee Ranney obviously has a huge interest in both American history and American identity. He likes to show the common people’s roles in situations. While there are several Revolutionary War concepts that can be connected to this painting, (most of which I have pointed out in this post) it is obvious that the main reason that Ranney created this painting was to show the common man’s contribution to the Revolutionary War effort. This was extremely clear to me because of the way he portrays the civilians jumping to action at a moments notice. I then put some thought into the subject and realized that these common people were essentially the backbone of the American Revolutionary War effort, and that they were typically overlooked by a few prominent figures, who did not always actually meet up to the standards that legends made them up to be.

Works Cited

Arnesen, Eric. "The Myth of Paul Revere's Ride." Calliope. July 1, 2011. Accessed November 9, 2015.

Currie, Stephen. "The Battle Of Lexington." Cobblestone. October 1, 2002. Accessed November 15, 2015.

Ewers, Justin. "Rewriting the Legend of Paul Revere." U.S. News and World Report. July 7, 2008. Accessed November 9, 2015.

Southgate, M. Therese. "First News of the Battle of Lexington." The Cover. July 3, 2002. Accessed November 9, 2015.

"William Tylee Ranney East of the Mississippi." American History Illustrated. 1992. Accessed November 11, 2015.

Don't be a Show Off: Criticizing Materialism through Art

"Bride" by Beth Lipman
Courtesy of cadetompkins.com

In 2012, The North Carolina Museum of Art acquired “Bride”, the ten foot tall sculpture envisioned and created by Wisconsin based sculptor and photographer, Beth Lipman. After many days of deconstructing and transporting the many hundreds of pieces from its former home, the sculpture now bookends a hallway in the museum’s modern and contemporary art section. An artist well versed in sculpture and glass art, Lipman always uses the artistic style of glass sculpturing to represent some criticism of human social behaviors and tendencies. “Bride” is a very intriguing piece both in its construction as well as in its significance. This piece presents a larger debate on the topic of materialism whilst making immense use of symbolism to exhibit social critiques. In “Bride”, Beth Lipman blends the contemporary style of glass sculpturing with elements of the realism and still life movements by creating a still life in an oversized, three dimensional form by using an elaborate display of glass objects and a theme of a bride and marriage to symbolize and specifically protest the idea of excess and materiality in individuals.

Firstly, Lipman's medium of choice is integral to understanding the significance of her work. Lipman's “Bride” is a fascinating piece in and of itself just within its physical attributes, structurally and compositionally, and is a very striking piece mostly because it intentionally comes off as grand and deliberately excessive. The hundreds of glass pieces, all original and handcrafted by Lipman, stand on a shining high gloss wood stand just shy of ten feet in height. This "wood tower" is comprised of five layers, large at the bottom and becoming progressively smaller as the sculpture climbs, much like a wedding cake, hence the name of the piece “Bride”. The glass bowls, goblets, glasses, candlestick holders, and many other forms of glassware that sit upon these platforms are placed in a way that is paramount to understanding the meaning of this piece. The objects are arranged in such a way that, on the top platform, the pieces are all perfectly organized, intact, small, and incredibly detailed and, as your gaze descends, you’ll notice how the glass pieces become more and more disorganized and their condition goes from flawless, to partially chipped and shattered, towards the bottom.

This still life by Claude Monet would be a
perfect example of a traditional still life.
Courtesy of Petrus Agricola (Flickr)

Additionally, Beth Lipman’s artistic niche is, for her enormous and complex glass sculptures, alongside utilizing her handmade glass in her sculpture, derives from still life paintings from as early as the 16th century. The history of this art form is quite expansive and complex to say the least, but notable artists who posthumously are revered for their still life work include Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, and Georgia O’Keeffe. Traditional still life usually features meticulously chosen everyday, inanimate items as modes of symbolism, usually representing wealth or power. For example, many artists of this school of thought depicted silverware, flowers, glassware, or fruit. In this way, the items they chose were inherently material and somewhat flamboyant at their core. They are symbols of elegance and these items are not necessarily owned for their utilitarian attributes. Similarly, throughout the history of still life paintings, you’ll find that the art form has religious roots, especially in the context of materialism. Many religious still life artists stress the importance of material and tangible goods arguing that one should be focused on being connected with their spirituality and less so with physical assets. Conversely, modern still life has since evolved from this and most still life artists, if they are protesting excessiveness, as Lipman does, they highlight the facade and shallowness that is inherent with those who only make actions for show or only possess certain items for the social status symbol associated with owning them.

In “Bride”, Beth Lipman combines her work with sculpture with the classic still life style to present the same idea, but in a three-dimensional form. In many ways, she can express her criticism of excessiveness more clearly with sculpture than she could with a more typical oil painting. For example, because a sculpture is inherently a tangible, physical, three-dimensional entity, the piece stands out to you, demanding your attention, more so than a painting would. In other words, Lipman’s whole artistic mindset is to create symbolic still lives in a three dimensional context. Her work, as a non-traditional form of still life, supports the idea that the traditional meaning behind still life and realism transcends any artistic medium.

This social critique of excessiveness and materialism in “Bride” is consistent with the Dutch and French still life paintings of the 1500s and onward. These still life masterpieces were in the context of the artistic style of Realism, a conduit for various forms of expression whereby everyday and “realistic” items or people are portrayed in a realistic way - an art where nothing is dramatized or over-glorified. An essay by Peter Demetz titled “Defense of Dutch Painting and the Theory of Realism” corroborates this assessment as it describes in great detail the effects of still life, specifically in the context of realism, its importance in society, and how it relates to still life paintings. The essay focuses mostly on the glorifying of realism, however its art section is quite relevant since it shows how still lives and realism are essentially codependent on each other. A part of realism includes the criticism of materialism that goes much deeper than simply collecting elegant material items. Most versions of materialism, and definitely Lipman’s perspective, would argue that materialism extends to non-tangible objects like success and wealth, which fit the bridal and marriage theme of “Bride”. An example of this in Lipman's work would be “Bride’s” shape. Constructed like a wedding cake, “Bride” uses that likeness as a parallel to wealth and power since wedding cakes were originally a socio-economic status symbol and were exclusively a luxury item.

Along with the wedding cake reference, specifically what makes “Bride” radiate themes of excessiveness, wealth, and materiality is the glassware. The ten feet that the sculpture stands at allows for hundreds of glass pieces to be featured, thereby allowing Lipman to use this as a way to express the concept of excessiveness, obviously, a heavily criticized human attribute in this piece. She emphasizes this by utilizing the tiered effect in “Bride”, where the pieces are more broken the lower they are on the sculpture, which can be interpreted as the veil that materialism and excess inherently creates. At a glance, on the top and surface everything, looks perfect, but as you look closer, you notice how everything is less than such. Look closer than that and you’ll notice certain objects are completely shattered, all a symbolic anecdote for the lack of depth in the life of someone who would choose to live a life of material. Artfully crafted glass pieces are made for the sole purpose of being for show and for their elegance. “Bride” doesn’t simply protest the possession of elegant items as some sort of a status symbol, rather the glassware and other fashionable and sophisticated items are used to symbolize a greater critique and conversation about materialism and the lack of emphasis on interpersonal experiences.

Many of Lipman’s previous works, such as “Laid (Time-)Table with Cycads”, to name just one, have been explicitly said to be social critiques of materiality of society and the excesses that plague us. “Bride” differs from her typical social critique in the way that “Bride” is is meant to be about a specific individual and a society at the same time. As referenced in an interview, she briefly mentioned how “Bride” was created specifically with the intention of being reminiscent of “the individual”. This would make sense considering the context of which “Bride” is set in. A wedding is symbolic of the joining of two people, whereas just the image of a bride is symbolic of a singular person. Again, selfishness doesn’t immediately come to mind, but if you think about the definition of the word “bride”, it is a singular term. A bride is a symbol of power, jealousy, wealth, and fortune, and weddings themselves are synonymous with excessiveness and doing things for show. In this way, “Bride” is a physical embodiment of the materialistic and excessive tendencies that everyone has within them.

Another point of interest, and something I think is a specific choice by Lipman, was the decision to leave “Bride” particularly ambiguous. The connection between her glass sculpture masterpiece and materialism is apparent, however the piece lacks a sort of historical or era specific context. This is done on purpose to make “Bride” applicable in a variety of contexts by not citing a particular context. This piece differs in this way from her other creations since they don’t really have an individual and personal connection and are completely wholly societal critiques. It is this ambiguity that is what is so significant about “Bride”. The sculpture demands your attention, forcing you to be almost overwhelmed by its intricacies, which can only be experienced seeing it in person. The piece radiates excessiveness and it becomes abundantly apparent that it is being protested. Although, it becomes difficult to put your finger on who or whom “Bride” protests, something I believe, after much consideration, was an intentional choice made by Beth Lipman, and probably the overarching factor as to why this piece is so unbelievably intriguing.

It is the combination of the artistic style still life, the philosophical ideas of still life, the philosophical ideas of realism, and modern sculpture that brings “Bride” to life. Lipman found a way to intertwine the aesthetic and cultural significance in a way that they are interdependent on one another in order to present her protest of materialism and excessiveness. Had she chosen a different medium, her message would not have been nearly as clear and the piece, had it been an oil painting, wouldn’t have particularly stood out. “Bride” grabs your attention, hence why I was interested in it. But after some thought, I now realize that the medium carries the significance of “Bride”, and it is for that reason “Bride” presents such a meaningful and interesting social critique of materialism within society and ourselves.

Works Cited

Peter Demetz, “Defense of Dutch Painting and the Theory of Realism,” Comparative Literature 15. No. 2. (1968) pp. 97-115. (accessed November 14th, 2015)

Museum of Modern Art. "What is Modern Art." MoMa.org. https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/what-is-modern-art (accessed November 10th, 2015)

Glass Art Society. "About the Glass Art Society." GlassArt.org. http://www.glassart.org/about.html
(accessed November 14th, 2015)

Essential Humanities. "Modern Sculpture." Essential-Humanities.net. http://www.essential-humanities.net/western-art/sculpture/modern/ (accessed November 14th, 2015)

Beth Lipman. "News." BethLipman.com. http://www.bethlipman.com/news/ (accessed November 10th, 2015)

North Carolina Museum of Art. Entire Site. ncartmuseum.org. http://ncartmuseum.org (accessed November 10th, 2015)

Time Trips. "Still Life: A History" TimeTrips.co.uk http://www.timetrips.co.uk/still_life_history.htm (accessed November 14th, 2015)

Drishti Magazine. "Wedding Cakes" DrishtiMagazine.com http://drishtimagazine.com/wedding-cakes/ (accessed November 14th, 2015)

Hunter's Unit 4 Mid Unit

Beyonce

Beyonce demonstrates the role many black women are assumed to have in our society. The painting I chose addresses how black women in the 1970's best represent the three qualities of the three graces.

Abstract Art

This an example of abstract collage artwork. Abstract art uses lines, shapes, and colors that deviated from the worlds references. Mickalene Thomas utilizes this technique with her version of the three graces. She paints the picture to where it appears as a collage and the background it very abstract and almost unnoticeable, and both techniques assist with the focus on the women.

The Three Graces

This is a classical high art type of painting. The Three Graces represents three minor goddesses that are the daughters of Zeus as well as the entourage of Aphrodite. The three women represent the characteristics of Charm, Beauty, and Creativity.

1970's

Mickalen Thomas was born in the seventies and experienced part of her childhood in the seventies. Her mother was also a huge influence on her pursuit of art and embodied many central themes of the seventies. It is key to remember that the seventies followed the racial issues of the sixties, and black women had so much to share with their new sense of equality and freedom.

Pop Art

Andy Warhol was huge, and he is known as the father of pop art. Pop art is the concept that everyday things can be portrayed as art with meaning. The theme for centuries has been that of high art, pop art celebrates the normal in which more people can relate and find meaning in.