Alexis Rockman's Kapok Tree

Only the mango tree that soared and sprawled over the native scrub seemed out of place in the otherwise familiar scene. A bush clearing, a tent, a campfire, and an old bushie — an artist might title a painting The Romance of the Aussie Bush. In fact, an observer would soon sketch a likeness, though not with artistic intent and the drawing later lost amid the chaos of a murder investigation.

Every painter has a certain style of painting, whether it's intentional to paint abstract or unintentional to paint as a modernist. I analyzed Abigail Kuchar’s artwork. She is an artist at Western Washington University. Currently, she is enrolled as a student and working on her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Recently, she exhibited her work in a Symbiotic Qualia, Western Gallery (group BFA Thesis Exhibition). Her ideas on visuals are very unique as compare to another artist. Her work is heavily influenced by reoccurring natural forms and patterns, representing, the specific shapes that have been successful in a variety of different applications. For example, the formation of bubbles, lichen, barnacles, anemones, spores, pollen, and seed pods, all have similar compositions. By creating work that includes these forms, the viewer is presented with something unusual, but vaguely familiar. Her material used in the artwork is environment-friendly.

The six trees are very evident when you first look at the painting more often than not it will be the first thing that catches your eye. There are multiple rivers around the painting nevertheless they are all connected in some way. One of the other main focal points that grabs the eye is the white

The foreground of the painting displays quite a few important formal quality details. The lower right quadrant exhibits a comparatively focused escalation in the chiaroscuro of the tree trunks. The crustiness of the deep earthy tones and the lushness make the lower right quadrant appear darker and more jungle-like. In opposition, there are some blue hydrangeas in the same vicinity that provide for a visually appealing contrast to the darker tones that surround them. The blue hydrangeas manifest themselves as wild and uncultivated.

Annie Dillard describes the Napo River in the Ecuadorian jungle in a beautiful and calm way. This is illustrated blatantly when she uses vivid imagery and descriptive word choice to speak about amazing phenomena in the jungle. She describes the beauty of the illuminated fireflies, the variety of the colossal trees, and the millions of noises spread throughout the jungle, creating a melodious lullaby. She describes the native peoples with delight, and the vastness of the jungle in awe. Although, Dillard describes the obvious beauty of nature, she also describes the jungle in a different way.

“Could it be that we are supposed to be talking to the plants and animals, interacting with them, accepting the gifts they offer, and using them in ways that further their growth?”(Starhawk, 162). I feel this quote from “Our Place in Nature” is a great way to start the topic of how artists uses plant life in their work. It shows how artists might try to interact with the environment for ideas on the works that they come up. I feel also that they are trying to be one with the environment. I feel if you spend enough time in nature, you will build a strong connection with everything around you. This comment is justified when Starhawk said, “I can walk into any forest where the trees are strange and understand something about the relationships

I am analyzing the form and content of a stylized painting entitled The Palisades by John William Hill. This was found in the collection section of themetmusuem.org which was painted during the pre Raphaelite movement; when artist emphasized meticulous detail in what was observed rather than imagined nature. This artwork shows the aesthetics of nature, depicting a peaceful scenery with spacious green acres during the year of the 1870s. During the late 18th centuries, natural resources weren’t highly industrialized and that in itself shows how nature was essential for all human species. I argue that this painting shows how everything in nature connects and communicates with one another.

Will all the comforts that we have in the world today; we tend to forget what really matters and what gets sacrificed for such comforts. No one wants to live in the day and age where everything takes time for things to get done. We all tend to forget that the sources available on earth are limited and will disappear with excessive use. As of today, people are becoming concerned because of natural changes such as global warming. Many may disagree but those who agree are making lifestyle changes and are considered to be “eco-conscious” or “going green”. There are artist who are trying to create change by sending a message through there artwork. Last year, I took a mythology class at College of the Canyons where I was introduced to the story behind the White Buffalo Calf Woman painted by Rogue Guirey Simpson, 1992. I find this painting to be really beautiful and show the relationship between “man and beast”. It is a very important story within the tribes especially the Lakota. For the Lakota tribe, the birth of a white bison calf is taken as one of the most holy events one can ever witness period. For the first time in 1994 a white baby calf was born in decades it created huge pandemonium.

In order to compose this assignment, I visited the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum (CAM). The USF Contemporary Art Museum is a compact museum on campus located near the Dance buildings and the Theatres. The museum opened its establishment in 1989 and has offered a wide range of art from around the world including the United States, Africa, Europe, and Latin America (usfcam.usf.edu). In order to keep students engaged in the art, the museum changes its exhibits a couple times a year. Currently, the exhibition on display is entitled Extracted and incorporates “the extraction and circulation of natural resources around the globe” (Megan Voeller). Despite the museum being not large in size, I was able to attain a sense of nature through photographs, sculptures, video messages, and banners produced from artists including Otobang Nkanga, Marina Zurkow, Claire Pentecost, Mary Mattingly and Daniel Shiffman. The social angle most strongly related to the exhibit on display at this time is nature and culture. Extracted was motivated by relationships between humans and the environment referring to “complex technical processes behind oil drilling and mining or industrial agriculture” (Megan Voeller). Most of the artists focus their work on nature including the environment, ecosystems, and life itself.

Truth can be many things, both good and bad, but it can be harmful from trying to be helpful. Truth can be hidden to make others feel better, or not told at all so they are not burdened with it. In both “The Censors” by Luisa Valenzuela and “A Visit to Grandmother” by William Melvin Kelley, love is shown by hidden truth to protect their loved ones. In “The Censors,” Juan ventures to a censorship office to censor a letter to the woman he loves and is trying to protect, but is executed in the end.

The small strip across the top of the visual, presents us with an alternate world that is natural and heaven-like where numbat-like creatures are suspended upon tree branches. The gaze of the numbat-like creatures leads us to the quote, “They didn’t live in trees like we did”. Through the inclusion of text Tan portrays that the numbat-like creatures don’t understand the rabbits. This quote does not show any strong emotions, but instead the blatant tone bestows a ‘clueless’ feeling to us, the responders. This section is very small in contrast to the rest of the image showing the rabbits. This symbolically represents the unprecedented manner in which the rabbits came and quickly “made their own houses”. At observing the picture more closely, we can conclude that where the numbat-like creatures are sitting, the sky is lighter compared to where the rabbits are placed; implying that the lighter colour is the time the numbat-like creatures were familiar

Using natural phenomenon as a starting point for abstraction, Mark Grotjahn’s paintings straddle the polarities of artifice and nature. His painting, Lavender Butterfly Jacaranda over Green (Fig. 2), expresses his fascination with nature. Transferring the experience of observation to an intrigue of creative possibility, Grotjahn harnesses the mysticism of nature through aesthetic formality.

    The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution set out to guarantee the equal rights of citizens. It decrees, “No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property...nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. Despite this written assertion of seeming equality for all citizens, various groups faced hardships and discrimination in the century following the Fourteenth Amendment's ratification. This amendment would continuously interpreted and reinterpreted as social movements cited it as cause for their mobilization and activism. Two social advocacy movements were (and are) the Civil Rights movement that gained momentum in the 1960s and the Disability Rights Movement of the 1970s.

In Nature & Landscape: An Introduction to Environmental Aesthetics, Allen Carlson proposes that scientific knowledge can enhance our aesthetic appreciation of the natural world. He draws a connection between technical know-how used in the context of natural landscapes and art history or criticism in the context of conventional art forms. In either case, the viewer would find relatively more meaningful experiences of aesthetic appreciation than if one looked at a painting or landscape without any prior knowledge about it. Carlson endorses this point within his larger Natural Environmental Model, which asserts that though the environment is not entirely of our creation, it does not mean that we have to approach it without any prior understanding.

Vincent Van Gogh is a well-known artist to people because of one of his paintings, The Starry Night. Van Gogh has painted many other pieces during his lifetime including one that is currently on display at the Minnesota Institute of Art, Olive Trees. This painting is part of a series of olive tree paintings consisting of a total 18 pieces of art. The one at the Minnesota Institute of Art was painted November of 1889 and is known as “Olive Trees with Yellow Sky and Sun”. Through a contextual analysis of this piece a lot can be discovered about its meaning. When this piece is compared to other artwork by Van Gogh even more fascinating details emerge about this piece of art.