Dirty Art

It has been a long held belief that Leonardo Davinci's "Mona Lisa" 1503-1506 is one big mystery; this isn't exactly true. It's known, according to the account of Georgio Vasari, that its a portrait of Lisa Gioconda the wife of a Florentine silk merchant. The real mysteries are mostly the result of a filthy painting that's too popular to remove from display and clean. Most people who visit the Louvre go specifically to see the "Mona Lisa", but is it really important to appease the people or should preservationists clean the portrait?
Once a year the painting is removed from the protective case in order to check the panel for warping and to change the silica preservative inside the glass box. During this time a special investigative team has used a special laser see through the dirt and investigate the painting through the centuries of grime. After these laser assisted studies, historians have been able to reveal evidence that the "Mona Lisa" was probably a recent mother; as indicated by a thin veil traditionally worn by nursing women at the time. A copy of the "Mona Lisa", dated to the early 17th century, reveals many of the details that have been hidden in the original painting. The painting is certainly more striking when the details are all fully visible.
Yes, it would be annoying to visit the Louvre to see the "Mona Lisa" and find that it had been removed for cleaning, but the interpretation of a clean image could be monumental. Besides, the Louvre contains one of the largest and most spectacular collections of art in the world; anyone who goes to see only the "Mona Lisa" is missing out on the vast collection which includes "The Venus de Milo", Leonardo's "Virgin and Child with St. Anne", Vermeer's "Lacemaker", David's "Oath of the Horatii", and Gericault's "Raft of Medusa" just to name a few. It might be good for some people to be forced into looking at something they might never have seen had the "Mona Lisa" been there to distract them.

I'm an Auntie!!!

This is Brenna Rose McMillan, and though she isn't genetically my niece she may as well be; her mom and I were as close as sisters growing up. Brenna was born about two and a half weeks ago, January 12th weighing in at 6lbs 9oz. Now that I'm done with school I've finally had a chance to visit Alexis and meet Brenna. I'm excited to take on the role of auntie to this beautiful little girl.

The Crystal Cathedral

I have lived, literally, ten minutes from the Crystal Cathedral for the past two and a half years. I have never attended a service however, largely because the Vegas style message board at the entrance signified what kind of a church the Crystal Cathedral is; large, flamboyant, and focused on profit and prestige. My art class took a field trip there today as our final class trip.

We had planned on eating lunch there, but after enjoying Indian, Cambodian, and Japanese cuisine on our other field trips the class decided that the food was too bland and much too expensive. We opted for Mediterranean food down the street from our school and set out on a journey into one of the strangest, and wealthiest, churches I've ever been in.

Past the Vegas style bulletin board and the lines of cypress trees, we parked in a lot that had music piped into it. In the shadow of the bell tower is the cemetery, mostly dominated with wall plots, but it also featured several family "garden plots" where for a mere $250,000 your family can have a tiny garden spot. Beneath the statue of Job or the "I Found Him" sculpture you can be buried for $500,000.
The land is peppered with palm trees, that reflect around the building like an extension of the California landscape.
Religious sculptures are everywhere, but these have been done by the heir to the Johnson&Johnson fortune, and yes, Jesus is chrome in this one. The effect of which is nothing short of creepy beyond belief.

The original building from the late 1960s is actually pretty amazing in it's construction, though it looks a lot like a sky scraper. This building is now an office building because the Crystal Cathedral has basically become a self contained buisiness.
This is the bathroom; marble everywhere, chrome fixtures, and mahogany paneling. There was, of course, music being piped in from the ceilings and lots of Thomas Kinkade paintings on the walls. My feelings about Thomas Kinkade are numerous and related to the same issues I have with the Crystal Cathedral; profit first, but in the name of God.

Another melodramatic sculpture, which is amazingly well crafted, and appraised at more than my dream car. Next to Moses (not shown) is an actual burning bush.
This is the interior of the main building, the Cathedral itself; that organ is absolutely spectacular, as is the sound and lighting set up. There are over 10,000 windows that make up the building; maintaining those windows is a full time job, and due to Santa Ana winds they often break, according to our tour guide. Everything about this place screams "We're glorious! Look at us!" Well, I'm pretty sure that the point is not to look as "us", it's to look to one much greater than us. The gift shop is larger than some Christian Book stores I've been in and is full of more self promotion than Disneyland.

There was a brief moment, however, that I found myself lost in the glory of God and it wasn't in any of the crap about the gaudy cathedral, it was in a book called "House of Worship: Sacred Spaces in America." This book features small worship spaces that people with a passion for God worked hard to create; nothing grand, just spaces for people to go and worship in humility. The antithesis to the Crystal Cathedral, these sacred spaces spoke to me because it was obvious who they were for and what they were about; no threatening glass spires required.

The Vacant Chair

My thesis is done! All that's left is approval from my adviser and a grade to be given! What is my thesis on you ask? Well, here's my abstract, hopefully this will explain well enough.

Whole design books are dedicated to the art of the chair. Objects that echo the needs and values of the societies that create them, chairs have the power to fade into the background as useful objects for one society but emerge renewed as relics when a new society develops around them; becoming reminders that an era has passed. Inherently anthropomorphic, composed of a seat, legs, sometimes arms, and a back; the object echoes the human form and becomes a reminder of those who have sat or will sit in it. As a relic the vacant chair becomes a symbol of people who have passed through and used it, only to abandon it as life abandons all humanity. Preserved in painting, photography, etching, sculpture, or other media the vacant chair is used in the representative sense; recalling a specific time period and society. Sculptors of Buddhist stupas chose to represent the ascended Buddha as an empty seat cushion with a hovering umbrella and contemporary artists explore similar themes of passage and remembrance through found objects and photography. The symbolism of the empty chair has gone through almost as many revivals and renewals of meaning as the design of the form itself. As the physical object fades into the background of everyday life, the symbol of the empty chair holds power, waiting to emerge as a memento mori under the analysis of both contemporary and past artists.

What did it take to get myself to sit down and edit my thesis? Bribery of course. I decided that if I went to the Gypsy Den to enjoy a large coffee (large there is equivalent in size to a 7/11 Big Gulp) that the editing would get done. Two hours later the editing is done, and I am sufficiently caffeinated. Now I just have to type my revisions, add a bibliography, images, and turn it in. The end is in sight, and I could not be happier.

Tin Pan Caravan: Anais Mitchell- 1984

Every Thursday there is a farmers market down the street from my school; I love perusing the stands, smelling the oranges, and tasting the many delicious samples. Yes, we have fruit available in our cafeteria, but there's something wonderful about the process of finding my own at a little stand just down the street. This is my bounty from today, oranges, strawberries, tomatoes and garlic hummus...all for $6.

Thesis Woes

One thing I've learned while writing my thesis is that just because I find something interesting does not mean that prior historians have found the same thing interesting. Case in point, "Soundings" by Robert Rauschenberg 1968; the work is a dark room in which a wall has been mounted with chairs screen printed onto canvas. Behind the canvas are real chairs, suspended, with an intricate light system that's voice activated. Different lights react to various changes in tonality and create a work of art that is not complete without human interaction. The light system is certainly an interesting concept, but I'd like to know why he chose the subject matter that he did. Why did Rauschenberg choose to use chairs? He could have used any object to create this work, but he chose chairs. As I prove in my thesis, vacant chairs have certain connections with the human form and often represent absent people and the passage of time. Rauchenberg happens to use this very simple chair in a lot of his work, which fascinates me. Prior historians on the other hand? Not so much. I keep finding reviews of this work that basically add up to the equivalent of "oooh look at the pretty lights." Come on people! Give this undergrad something to work with!

Mark McGowan Kings Cross Somersault

Somersaulting the World into Awareness

Performance artist Mark McGowan, somersaulted 40 miles across England over a reclaimed door and a pile of bricks last year in order to demonstrate the need to "reuse more and recycle less." A representative for the artist explained the reason for the performance piece; "materials destroyed during demolition and refurbishment contain enough energy to heat 10 million homes every year in the UK." Yes, energy conservation is a good thing. Yes, reusing items from demolition is a good thing. All the same, I have my doubts that the somersault is the ultimate means of achieving awareness for this issue.

Idyllwild's Iron Garden

One of Idyllwild's most interesting yards is located on Wayne drive, just off Darrell in Fern Valley. Formerly the Jorgensen residence, the property contains a plethora of collected iron items. The Jorgensens moved to Idyllwild in 1947, and the collection grew in the front yard from the time they got there to the time he died in 1985. Anna, his wife, maintained the yard from that point on and was always willing to guide people through it. I remember being guided through the yard as a little girl, exploring the bells, shovels, random tools, and signs. The construction always amazed me, and Mrs.Jorgensen was always willing to discuss the scene in her front yard. Anna Jorgensen died about three years ago at the age of 99, but the yard is maintained by neighbors, and it's still a pretty impressive place.

There was no rioting in Watts today, but there was an art field trip.

This is across the street from Watts towers...just to give an example of the type of neighborhood I spent my afternoon in. My art class ventured into the shady LA neighborhood in order to observe the work of "outsider artist" Sabato Rodia. I shamefully admit that prior to this I had no clue what Watts Towers actually were, or why they are so famous; I always assumed they had something to do with the riots during the 1960s. As it turns out they had nothing to do with the Riots, though I'm sure there was some rioting by neighbors when the towers went up.
Sam Rodia, an Italian immigrant who earned a living as a construction worker, spent 33 years constructing the towers in his spare time. He worked alone, using minimal tools, no scaffolding, and a multitude of found objects to adorn the steel and mortar structure. When asked why he did it he simply said, "I wanted to do something big and I did it." The structure was finished in 1954 and in 1955 Rodia moved to Martinez California where he lived until his death; never returning to the towers he worked so hard to erect. It's interesting to see what results from the impetus to create something, just for the sake of creation.




Some of the crockery Rodia used as decoration, if it were in mint condition, is estimated to be worth thousands of dollars by various modern collectors of ceramics.

This is his signature and impressions of all the tools he used to build the towers.

Ella is Not Alone!

In a previous post I lamented the fact that Ella Fitzgerald was the only woman to be sculpted as part of Chapman's creepy bust series; and the most scantily clad I might add. Well, today I discovered a second woman amongst the many male heads! This is Donna Ford Attallah, and her bust is now nestled in an alcove on the second floor by the over sized art books; I found her today while doing some research there. Apparently she donated "The Library of Arts and Humanities" this past year, earning her way onto a pedestal nestled amongst the books she so generously supplied. I am thankful for her donation, considering that I do most of my research in that very topical section, and I am glad to see another female amongst the sea of men.

The Collapse of the World

Kennesaw State University is currently conducting an investigation concerning the collapse of their 175 ton sculpture entitled "Spaceship Earth" by Finnish artist Eino. Apparently no one witnessed the collapse of the $1 million globe, which has only been in place for three months now. A New York Times article discussed the collapse of the sculpture, stating that the school has ruled out vandalism, but the artist has not; Eino claims that there was nothing structurally unstable about the sculpture. The globe, complete with a smaller bronze sculpture of the first executive director of the Sierra Club, had been commissioned with the hopes that it would raise debate over global warming. The New York Times quoted a professor who suggested that they leave it on the ground, "it might be interesting to leave the sculpture as it is as a reminder that if we don’t take care of this planet soon, it’s going to fall apart, just like this.”

The Wonders of Interterm

This is my car, parked in front of the dorm I live in, at 10pm. No it's not a mirage, this is one of the wonders of interterm; along with room to walk on the sidewalks, better food, availability in the computer lab, cheerier grounds keepers, and quieter dorms, comes abundant parking. There is a choir of angels singing somewhere right now.

Trompe l'oeil Ceramics

There's a gallery in Laguna Beach that has these amazing ceramic vessels; I don't even know the name of the gallery because each time I've passed it I've been mezmerized by these things. Trompe l'oeil, French for "fool the eye", they look like a combination of drift wood and dried coral or shell. Part of the fun of looking at ceramics is trying to figure out the process it took to make an object; my guess is that these were wheel thrown with thick walls that were then carved into. They are so symmetrical I can't imagine them being formed in any other way than wheel throwing. I wish I could recreate one for myself because the cost of an original is WAY out of my budget; I don't think I have the skill for this though, so I will continue to appreciate them in their gallery setting.

Field Trip!

My final Chapman University class is proving, thus far, to be a vast change from any other class I've taken here. Titled "Finding, Doing, Mapping" the course is basically an experiment in awareness, and interpreting the world around us in as unique a way possible. This means that my homework is to photograph interesting things, document where I find them, and then create a work of art based on this information. Today we were sent into a salvage yard a couple blocks away from campus where I discovered this amazing aqua chandelier, priced at $5,000. A beautifully rusted door, and a painting that makes me think of Nazi propaganda; I love this class.

Observations in Glass

On the way to Whole Foods, adorning the Presbyterian church off 17th street in Tustin, is this amazing stained glass window. I'd love to see what it looks like from the inside, with the sun streaming through. The scale makes me think of the windows in the Chartres cathedral, or any other gothic cathedral for that matter; spanning floor to ceiling I imagine this window would be impressive when fully lit.


When I stopped to get a closer look I was intrigued by this, someone had etched a cross into one of the back panels. I'm always interested in Christian graffiti; how does defacing something convey the message of Christ?

The Countdown Begins

This evening I will be driving back to Orange to finsh my final class; that's right in just 26 days I will be done with my Bachelors in Art History!