Friday, December 13, 2013

Extra Credit Event #1 - Western Museum of Mining & Industry

Extra Credit Event #1 - Western Museum of Mining & Industry
 
 
 
Finally!  A staff member who was more than willing and happy to take a picture!  The WMMI is one of my favorite museums in my hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado. I chose this visit because I think it's fascinating to view older technology in an artistic light. Imagine how futuristic this technology was during the 19th and 20th centuries!
 
 
 
The museum features pieces that are still functioning to this day.
 
 
I love walking through the mine shaft area and seeing the old tools and methods of transport.
 
 
This is a popular attraction in the Pikes Peak Region.  Not only can you view these amazing feats of antique technology, but also pan for gold, explore their extensive library, and watch live demonstrations of the equipment.
 

I also love that they have two burros on site named Nugget and Ore.  But unfortunately, they were not available the date of my visit because of inclement weather.  I would highly recommend this museum if anyone is ever in Colorado Springs.
 
~ Claire
 

Event #3 - Joyce Cutler-Shaw

Event #3 - Joyce Cutler-Shaw
CNSI Art Science Gallery














I was a bit embarrassed to ask someone to take a picture of me at the exhibit opening... but I was able to sneak a picture of the esteemed, featured artist, Ms. Joyce Cutler-Shaw.

I really enjoyed the exhibit opening because it truly gave us a look inside the brain of Ms. Cutler-Shaw. Through MRI scans and overlaid pictures to create collages of her journey through life so far sparked by memories. I really enjoyed the pictures and gained further understanding of each of them through the side not cards. I also really enjoyed listening to her speak about her exhibit and the passion she showed for it. 

If anyone is still on campus and the exhibit is still on campus, I would highly recommend going to see it. It makes you think and perhaps remember your journey so far and picture your memories. 

~Claire

Event #2 - J. Paul Getty Museum

Event #2 - J. Paul Getty Museum

Here I am outside of The Getty!  Again, none of the staff would allow me to take a picture with them, however, they were nice enough to let me take a couple of pictures inside one of the exhibits.




Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door (Camera Obscura Works)






The above two works, The Lightbulb 1991 and  Opening Page: A Farewell to Arms were two of my favorite pictures from the exhibit. They both grabbed my attention in different ways, but they made you think. However, The lightbulb took something so complex as a camera and made it incredibly simple. The other took a simple page in a book and overlaid it making it complex. 


At The Window: The Photographer's View
(Photos About and Taken Through All Kinds of Windows)
I did not get any pictures in this exhibit, but greatly enjoyed this one also. It was unique because it was filled with many artists works. Some consisted of strangers in a living room, others of apartments in the city. My favorite was Colorado Springs, CO 1968-70 by Robert Adams, American, born 1967. It was a  simple silhouette in the window of a small  home. But instead of looking from inside the house out, they were on the outside looking in, and I just really enjoyed it. I also like Buffalo, New York ~1970 by Charles Swedlund, American, born 1936. I liked this one because it was a window in the middle of someones body, in black and white. It was almost signifying looking into someones soul and getting past the outer cover of a person.

I would highly recommend these exhibits, but I am also a photography lover. I would also highly recommend The Getty in general, because of the incredibly galleries as well as exhibits that they host. 

~Claire


Thursday, December 12, 2013

Event #1 - The Hammer Museum

Event #1 - The Hammer Museum
 
The Hammer Museum. It is one of those buildings that we pass on a daily or weekly basis, yet how many of us stop in and see an exhibit there? I was guilty of that. I had never stopped in to walk around. However, I greatly enjoyed my time there, even though none of the curators, even outside of the exhibits, would take a picture with me as proof, so I asked one of the staff members at the front desk instead. Hopefully that will satisfy the requirement of proof of having attended the event.
 

 
The Hammer hosted two really interesting exhibits, yet I found the subject matter of one of them to be slightly disturbing.
 
The two exhibits were Forest Bess: Seeing Things Invisible; and James Welling: Monography.
 

 
Forest Bess’ exhibit was slightly disturbing to me because it had such a sexual focus through unusual medical procedures. I would not recommend this exhibit to classmates if they cannot handle disturbing matter with sexual content.
 
 
 
I would suggest James Welling’s Monography however, because it truly grasped the eye as well as made you use your imagination. It also touched on the groundbreakings of technology, which resemble modern day technologies. One of my favorite pieces was the Jacquard Loom: which Welling said was the “beginning or inspiration to the modern computer.” I really enjoyed the pictures of railroads and trains, because it also shows the progression of technology through art. As well as the pictures of gelatin and die to
create what appears to be coal.
 
 
~ Claire

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Space: The Final Frontier For this Class and For Society

"The Earth is a very small stage, in a vast cosmic arena."
    ~Carl Sagan

We have been learning about space all our lives. Starting with the planets and cute little songs to remember them. Looking at pictures of astronauts, space shuttles, and looking through telescopes. When looking back at those years, I never remember thinking that we are just a speck of dust in the sunlight. We grew up with more of a Capernicus mentality and thinking we were the center of the solar system. We then learn from Galileo Galilei that we are not the center of the solar system and that the sun is. 


Solar System
(to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star)
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
Oh so bright and oh so far.
In the sky, a tiny dot.
Glowing gas that's very hot!
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
Oh so bright and oh so far.
Beaming, beaming, gleaming moon,
Like a giant white balloon,
Round and round the Earth you spin,
Through the month, new shapes you're in.
Beaming, beaming, gleaming moon,
Like a giant white balloon.
Glowing, glowing, red-hot sun.
Shining light on everyone.
Earth goes round you once a year.
You're a star with atmosphere!
Glowing, glowing, red-hot sun,
Shining light on everyone.


When you look at the stars at night, what do you think about? Do you think that they are balls of fire, just burning out or beginning to die? Do you think about the moon and how the Earth's gravitational pull keeps it in orbit? Or are you thinking of the childhood song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star? Space is a vast unknown that expands billions of lightyears.  

One of the most incredible telescopes around is the Zeiss telescope that resides at the Griffith Observatory in Hollywood where 7 million people have had the experience of looking at Haley's comet and other comets such as Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake. What is a telescope? "an optical instrument for making distant objects appear larger and therefore nearer. One of the two principal forms(refracting telescope)  consists essentially of an objective lens set into one end of a tube and an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses set into the other end of a tube that slides into the first and through which the enlarged object is viewed directly; the other form (reflecting telescope)  has concave mirror that gathers light from the object and focuses it into an adjustable eyepiece or combination of lenses through which the reflection of the object is enlarged and viewed." Telescopes give us the ability to combine art, science, and technology all into one machine that can range in size from an action figure toy to the most powerful telescopes in the world that are enormous and incredibly strong and powerful. They allow us to see into the depths of the univers and take pictures of the stars, planets, and galaxy. While also allowing scientist to begin understanding the once greater unknown. 


~Claire 

Citations:
"Space." CanTeach. CanTeach.ca, n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2013.
"Telescope." Griffith Observatory. Griffith Observatory, n.d. Web. 29 Nov 2013.
"Telescope." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC, n.d. Web. 1 Dec 2013.
Griffith Observatory, . The Zeiss Refractors of Griffith Observatory . 1965. Photograph. Griffith Observatory, Hollywood. Web. 1 Dec 2013.
Camel Country. 2013. Photograph. FairfaxDigitalWeb. 1 Dec 2013.
 Sagan, Carl. Pale Blue Dot. 2007. video. YouTubeWeb. 1 Dec 2013.