Episode 99: UVU's Possible BA in Art History

Recently Julia and Lauren met with Dr. Steven Bule and Associate Professor Courtney Davis to talk about the Bachelor of Arts in Art History that is in the works at UVU.

Utah Valley University

Episode 98: A&F Top 10 Churches

This week Carrie and Alisha list their Top 10 churches in an eclectic tour of the world.

Number 1: Crystal Cathedral (Christ's Cathedral)

The Crystal Cathedral, is known as Christ’s Cathedral

This modern beauty is a sight to behold in California. Designed by Philip Johnson in 1981, it is one of the largest glass buildings in the world!

We proudly award this church: Best Bling

Number 2: Salt Cathedral in Wieliczka Salt Mine, Poland

Yes that’s right, we said SALT Cathedral! This flavorful mine has an actual cathedral located inside, carved out of the walls of the mine. Life size statues and chandeliers of rock salt decorate the mine.

This cathedral earns the award of: Most Edible, yummm!

 In case you were looking for other buildings you can lick, here is a link for you:

http://gizmodo.com/buildings-you-can-lick-9-spectacular-structures-made-o-5992613

 

Number 3: San Diego LDS Temple

This picturesque temple belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and is located in San Diego. By day the temple seems to sit like a delicate cloud on the beautiful manicured grounds. The stark white exterior lights up when the sun goes down and looks like a halo in the middle of the city!

We bestow upon this temple the award of: Most Heavenly

Number 4: Washington National Cathedral

While part of the cathedral was under construction in the 80’s, a contest was held for school children to design Gargoyles and Grotesques to adorn the towers. One of the winners was Christopher Rader and his Darth Vader drawing, and then turned into a sculpture by Patrick J. Plunkett

Most Sci-Fi award we grant this

Number 5: Santuario de Las Lajas (The Shrine of Our Lady of Las Lajas) Columbia

The Shrine of Our Lady of Las Lajas

This Neo-Romanesque masterpiece was designed by the architects J. Gualberto Perez and Lucindo Espinosa and built between 1916 and 1949

We give this one the award of: Most Epic!

Number 6: Svyato-Spassky Convent in Kostomarovo 

Two churches are located in these caves, a Spassky temple and a smaller St. Seraphin Sarovsky church.  These churches dig deep into the cliff to provide surprisingly open interiors. These churches were also built as a way to protect parishioners in case of sieges or attacks

This cleverly disguised location earns it the Best Camouflage Award

 

Number 7: Hallgrimur Church, Iceland

This tall glass of water was designed by Guðjón Samúelsson who found inspiration from the basalt lava flows found throughout Iceland. The church is 244 feet tall.

We give this beauty the award of: Tall Awesomeness 



Number 8: Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, France

An ancient church turned museum of antique ornamental wrought iron? Talk about a dream come true! This church now houses a collection of wrought iron amassed by Jean-Louis-Henri Le Secq des Tournelles who was one of France’s leading architectural photographers to the 19^th Century.

This amazing museum/church is granted the Sweet Transformation award

Number 9: Mont Saint-Michel

This miraculous monastery fortress is located on a tidal island in Normandy. The city plan of the island is based on the medieval feudal system, with God (the monastery) at the top, then the great halls, then shops and stores, and without the walls, the farms.

Obviously we have awarded this one: The most medieval town on an island looking!

Number 10: Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul

This amazing mosque houses the tombs of the Sultan Süleyman his wife Roxelana.

Roxelana was a highly influential and powerful woman in her day.

We give this Mosque the award for Inspiring Carrie’s future interior design projects!


Thanks for joining us today! Come back next week for Julia and Alisha's episode on Fairy Painting.
Have a great week!

Episode 97: Irish and Celtic Art

Happy St. Patrick's Day one and all! This episode focuses on the rich history of Irish and Celtic art. You may not know this, but there is more to Celtic art than just the color green, leprechauns, and the four leaf clover. Irish and Celtic art is full of intricate patterns and symbols. Its' art tells many wonderful stories and is beautiful in its own unique way.

There are four main identifiable patterns in Insular Art: Spiral, Key, interlace and knot work, and zoomorhic images. You will see these designs in almost all Celtic and Irish art especially in the High Crosses, and Book of Kells.

Zoomorphic Image

Key Design

Spiral Design

Irish Knotwork

 The Irish Trinity Knot has several meaning to many different people. To the Christians, it represents the Godhead: Father, Son and Holy Ghost. To the Pagans, it can represent the three main earthly elements being earth, wind, and fire.

Trinity Knot

 he Claddagh ring has a rich history with a heart warming love story. The heart symbolizes love, the hands symbolize friendship and the crown symbolizes fidelity. This ring has a very specific way of being worn and can identify a persons relationship status.

Claddagh Ring

 These crosses can be up to 20 feet high. They are filled with detailed designs and will be found in many mosque courtyards and cemeteries. They show the intermingling designs of pagan Celtic art and early Christian Insular art.

High Cross of Muiredach

The Book of Kells is perhaps one of the most celebrated books in all of history. It contains hundreds of full-page illuminations which are often painted with gold. It is essentially a book of illustrations. This particular page from the book is the opening page to the gospel of Saint Matthew. It is the initial letters of Christ's name in Greek. This page literally reads: "Now this is how the birth of Christ came about."

 

Chi-Rho-Iota, from the Book of Kells

Zoomorphic Design

We hope you enjoyed this episode. We will have a Bonus Episode going up next week with Dr. Bule and Courtney Davis from the School of the Arts at UVU with some exciting information about the future of our Art History program! See you next week.

Episode 96: Exiled Artists

Probably as far back as written history artists have exiled from their homeland for being subversive, political activists, out spoken or just a little bit to much of a free spirit. Some artists have fled their homeland due to death threats while others, like David, were officially exiled by their government. War is another reason artists have left their homes, like Walter Gropius who left Germany and moved to the US to teach at Harvard University. 

Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David, Self portrait, 1794

Jacques-Louis David, Oath of the Horatii, 1784

The fact that David made it through the French Revolution with his head still attached to his body is amazing, but he also managed to get his King beheaded, become known as the "Art Dictator of France", become the court painter to Napoleon and still died a natural death in Brussels. Although his heart can still be found in Paris. 

David's headstone at Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris

Michelangelo Merisi o Amerighi da Caravaggio

Ottavio Leoni, Chalk portrait of Caravaggio, circa 1621

Caravaggio, David with the Head of Goliath, 1610

When Caravaggio was attacked by his enemies in Naples, his face was so disfigured that he was almost unrecognizable. The Head of Goliath is Caravaggio's self portrait after the incident. You can listen to Episode 15 on Caravaggio on iTunes. Our Caravaggio post is here.  

Walter Gropius

Bauhaus Building

Harvard Graduate Center or “Gropius Complex”. Commissioned in 1948

John F. Kennedy Federal Building, Boston, MA, 1963

Pan Am Building, now the MetLife Building, Manhattan, NY 1958-1962

Gropius House, Lincoln, MA 1937-38

Walter Gropius fled Germany during WWII. He took at job at Harvard's Graduate School of Design and went on to design many of the US's familiar modern structures. 

We hope you enjoyed this episode! Come back next week for our St. Patrick's Day episode with Jo and Alisha! Have a great week!

Episode 95: Friedensreich Hundertwasser

This was an especially fun episode to record because it was a listener request! We are so happy that it was requested because the more we learned about Friedensreich Hundertwasser, the more we fell in love with his art and personality.

Friedensreich Hundertwasser was born in 1928 and raised in Vienna, Austria. His birth name was Friedrich Stowasser but at the age of 21 he changed it to what we see now. He studied in a Montessori school but his real learning and passion came from nature.

Hundertwasser used the term Transautomatism to define his art style. This style is a kind of surrealism. The viewer is the prime focus to the art and it is all about how they interpret it. Hundertwasser was completely against straight lines and referred to them as 'godless and immoral'. He believed in being connected with nature and this concept was apparent in all of his works.

Painting: Color was his main focus in his paintings. He loved placing complimentary colors next to one another. He had two main categories for painting one was representing animalistic nature and vegetation and the other was the repetitive use of architectural symbols: houses, windows, gables and fences.

Yellow Houses: It hurts to wait with love if love is somewhere else, 1966

Singing Steamer in Ultramarine III, 1959

These pieces illustrate his love for vibrant colors and architecture.The lines may appear straight but he rarely used straight lines in his works.

Tapestry: Hundertwasser created his first tapestry because of a bet and created many more after that. He never used a template for his tapestries.

Yellow Ships, Sea of Tunis and Taormina

Printmaking: It was his aim to make many different unique pieces within the art of the graphic, thereby going beyond machine production.

Swimming Window, 1979

Architecture: Hundertwasser was quoted saying, "an uneven floor is a melody to the feet."

Hundetwasserhaus, 1983

Hot Springs Village in Rogner Bad Blumau, Austria

Waldspirale (Forest Spiral)

In his later years, Hundertwasser participated in nude speeches where he voiced his strong opinions on environmentalism and politics. His passion is what drove his art work to be completely unique and awe inspiring.

We hope you enjoyed this episode. Come back next week to learn more about Exiled Artists!

Episode 94: A&F's Top 10 Smooches!

It's almost Valentines Day, the day of love, and in honor of that day we here at Arts & Facts have compiled our own list of the top 10 smooches (kisses) in art. This has been a fun episode to research and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we had recording it!

Without further ado we give you:

Number 10

1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney

Snow White was the very first Disney Princess created in  1937 and was the epitome of innocence. I wonder if they knew then how long this magical kiss would live on, and how many incarnations it would have in pop culture.

Number 9

2004, Kissing Coppers, Banksy

These kissing coppers are located in Brighton, England on an exterior wall of the Prince Albert Pub. After vandals many attempts to deface the image the owner decided to sell it, for it's own protection (sure). In 2008 an art restoration company used chemicals to transfer the image from the pub wall onto canvas. You can still visit the Brighton pub to see a replica of the original, which has been covered by plastic to protect it from further attempts to deface it (as seen in the image above).

Number 8

Maritte, Lovers, 1928

Maritte's eerie interpretation of a kiss isn't an image soon forgotten. While kisses are supposed to be intimate touches the fabric over the lovers faces prevents them from actually touching. This can be interpreted in a couple of ways, the first is that as much as we might love someone we can never really know them fully, and the second is that perhaps the use of the fabric is a way to represent longing that can never be fulfilled. Either way Maritte's Lovers leaves a lasting impression.

Number 7

Picasso, The Kiss, 1969

The Kiss by Picasso is the last in a series of three, the other two being a sketch and a black and white image. There isn't a whole lot of information available on this piece but we think it's fair to say that if you didn't already know it was a Picasso you could easily tell at first glance. In this painting the woman seems to be much more engaged in the kiss than the man. 

Number 6

Canova, Psyche Revived by Cupids Kiss, 1787-1793

Canova's sculpture of Psyche and Cupid was just recently mentioned in our Classical Revivals episode, but it's so beautiful it deserves more attention. If you don't know the story behind this myth you can read more about it here at the Louvre's website. The twisting forms in this sculpture make it very interesting to view, keeping the eyes moving until they stop at Cupids lips. A very romantic piece to be sure.

Number 5

Richard Lam, Vancouver Stanley Cup Riot, Kissing Couple, 2011

This image was taken in 2011 during the Stanley Cup Riot in Vancouver, Canada. The riot broke out after the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup against the Vancouver Canucks (never mess with Canada's hockey!). Businesses were looted, cars were set a flame and 140 people were injured. In the middle of all this we see a couple laying in the street kissing. Some people thought it was staged, but the photographer who captured this image says it wasn't. In fact, the woman in the picture had been knocked down by riot police and her boyfriend was kissing her in an effort to calm her down. 

http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2011/06/interview-photographer-richard-lam-his-vancouver-riot-kiss-photo

Number 4

Gerome, Pygmalion and Galeta, 1890

In a kind of creepy story we learn that Pygmalion is sick of women. They're all rather superficial and selfish in his opinion, so he creates a sculpture of his perfect woman and kisses her everyday until she becomes real. In this image we see the moment of transformation when a normally cold kiss against marble becomes a warm kiss, flesh to flesh.

Number 3

Alfred Eisentaedt, V-J Day In Times Square, 1945

The Japanese had just surrendered and the war in the Pacific was over, people all over the US were celebrating. This is one of the images captured on that happy day in Times Square.

http://nypost.com/2012/06/17/the-true-story-behind-the-iconic-v-j-day-sailor-and-nurse-smooch/

Number 2

Klimt, The Kiss, 1907-1908

This painting is part of Klimt's "Gold Period" and is famous for being compared to the Mona Lisa in terms of genius. Unlike the previous art works we have talked about there really isn't a story behind it unless we talk about Klimt himself who was known for his "fierce sexual appetite". 

http://www.klimt.com/en/gallery/women/details-klimt-der-kuss-1908.dhtml

Number 1

Rodin, The Kiss, 1882-89

Rodin's, The Kiss, is known as one of the most romantic sculptures of all time. It's a natural number one for us here at Arts and Facts. The story behind this piece is from Dante's Inferno and involves two adulterous lovers who end up murdered by the woman's husband.

We hope you enjoyed this week's episode on Arts & Facts Top 10 Smooches. Next week we will have a listener requested episode on Friedensreich Hundertwasser! We will see you then! Have a great week!