Handwriting...a Dying Art?

For our creative project we researched and put together a collection of handwriting samples. My partner and I passed out a quarter sized white piece of paper and directed students to write their names on the paper. We didn’t give any other instruction besides our desire for it to be done in ink as opposed to pencil. At the end of class students turned in their sheets of paper with their name on it and we went to work. For the in class presentation we showed a PowerPoint with the sheets of paper as slides to portray the different handwritings of our fellow classmates and we also put together a piece of art with all the names compiled onto each other.

The piece of art reflects an abstract expressionalist piece of work such as Jackson Pollock’s,  Autumn Rhythm. Although, at first glance the work may seem random but there is a certain pattern in his paintings. Abstract expressionalist pieces may appear meaningless, out of sorts, spontaneous, and automatic but they are not. They are just different from traditional art that provides the meaning of the work whereas this genre of paintings demands much more from the viewer. The viewer must contribute and participate in the work. The handwriting piece that we collaborated demanded direct participation from the viewers to make it possible. Writing one’s name may be spontaneous and automatic as it requires hardly any thinking.

Writing at first glance may appear meaningless, may even appear as chicken scratch but it has depth and personality to it that is unique to its owner. Handwriting is only meaningful when a person in educated in the corresponding language as the reader. Not only must the reader be educated but the piece must be legible to a degree of readability otherwise the purpose and meaning of the work is lost. As I began learning more about handwriting I came across a very interesting article put out by the BBC The Slow Death of Handwriting - BBC News which pointed out the dying and uselessness of handwriting. Registration Manager Ruth Hodson said, “If everything we do still had to be done by hand, there would not be enough hours in the day.” The age of technology in which we live, with cell phones, blackberry’s, computers, and laptops they have taken the place of the need to hand write things. The last holdout profession that still relies heavily on handwriting is clinical communication. Doctors claim taking notes is quicker to jot down ideas than to put up a record on a computer, but how significant are the notes when they are illegible?

At the bottom of the BBC article there are comments made by readers and most people seem to encourage the use of technology over handwriting things, that technology is much more convenient, faster, and breaks the barrier of illegible handwriting. After completing this project, reading the article and comments I have really thought about my own writing. Just this semester I have started taking notes on my computer but there is something about writing things down. I enjoy writing in a journal it is therapeutic for me to write feelings and goals down. I really enjoy going back to old journal entries and it is the handwriting, the emotion in the writing that is just as powerful as the content. I remember things much more when I write them down as opposed to typing them and I hope somehow through the surge of technology that handwriting is somehow preserved.

NPR Top 3

As I was scrolling down the list of the top 100 songs from NPR I immediately clicked on La Bamba by Richie Valens. I love that song and have great memories associated with it. Who doesn’t love that song and who can help but start to dance when it comes on? It is incredibly catchy and a fun, easy song to sing along to. Richie Valens was one of the first Latino rockers to hit the stage of Rock and Roll and his presence set the precedence for other cross over artists to perform as Valens did even though he was only on the music stage for nine months. Valens on route for his four state Midwest tour in the dead of winter died in a fatal plane crash in 1959. Although his presence as a musician was short lived his influence has not been cut short.

                                                                         Richie Valens

La Bamba was suppose to be the second track to what was assumed to be the hit record Donna but it was La Bamba that stole the show. Valens and the recording studio was shocked that a Latin based lyric song could be popular. Valens was an American Mexican who did not know Spanish and was incredibly hesitant to even perform La Bamba. La Bamba for him was a Mexican folk song that was well known in his parent culture with over 500 verses. The true roots probably go even further back to African cultures who interpreted La Bamba to be wood, the wood dance floor. In the Mexican tradition La Bamba is a dance performed by newlyweds by tying a ribbon with their feet to symbolize their love. Valens was very concerned that he would mock his culture and his roots but he worked on his accent and sang the song in Spanish and it was a smash hit. Valens was accompanied by great side musicians and ended up making a lot of TV appearances. He was a very talented performer who knew how to sell a song and that is exactly what he did. La Bamba is a fun loving song that can catch everyone’s attention. I thought it was very interesting to learn that La Bamba was one of the first Latin American songs to hit the stage in the music industry because to me Mexican roots have always been intertwined with American history. It is also very interesting to note that Valens was very concerned with performing the song correctly with the right Spanish accent he wanted to represent his culture correctly. The importance of being “politically” correct goes a long ways back.

                                                         "La Bamba"

                                                           Aretha Franklin

The second song that really caught my attention and that I have a lot of fond memories of is Respect by Aretha Franklin, the queen of music. Growing up in a household of all girls in a fairly conservative household as the oldest I took it upon myself to flex my feminism ideals and Respect became a theme song in our household. I often led dance rehearsals with my five younger sisters directing movements and costume designs. The song Respect was all about a call to action and has been for a very long time, not just for me as a young white American girl growing up in the Northwest in the 1990’s. Respect is women at all stages of life. Evelyn C. White made a direct connection with the song as a young thirteen year old girl growing up in the middle of the civil war movement.  Following the Birmingham church bombing White idolized Franklin as a black female singer who demanded action. She was a black woman who had a voice and gave a voice to women everywhere who were facing great turmoil. Women started demanding rights as the civil movement progressed. Franklin with her song became a leader.

                                                               "Respect"

Music has the power to become a face of a movement. The song has a raw energy to it with a twinge of triumphant elation that did not paint a dream-like life but a harsh reality that many women were facing at the time. The song makes women feel good about them, like they can conquer all of their troubles and worries to have hope. The song continues to be a powerhouse of motivation for women everywhere. It is a common topic in the Mormon community that women are under attack of degradation by the media and society but Respect is a landmark of a song that gives women power and confidence. I thought it was very interesting and motivating to learn that one of my favorite songs has such deep roots that have affected women over many centuries and was recorded during a very tumultuous time period in the civil rights movement.

                                                                    {via}

The third song that I chose to study was the musical Oklahoma by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. Growing up my parents went on date nights so my sisters and I would cook up some pizza or fish sticks and pop in a movie. There was a period of time when we, mainly me as the oldest sister became fascinated with musicals and Oklahoma was one of the first to win over my heart. Since then my father has been a huge supporter of my musical love as we often get in the car together and he will start to sing the ever famous lines “Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I’ve got a wonderful feeling everything’s goin my way”. Curly the hunk cowboy star starts the show as he enters stage singing the docile, sweet, optimistic song. My first time of seeing the play I loved the opener it was an absolute hit as it was with other critics only after it was rigorously reworked. The docile opener is unique to Oklahoma as that was not a traditional way of opening a musical.

The play was done by Richard Rodgers without his previous lyricist Lorenzo Hart who became a nonfunctional alcoholic and so Rodgers pursued this opportunity to work with Oscar Hammerstein in 1943 to produce Oklahoma. The lyrics were written first and then the music was added later and because of that this was one of the first times that the plot and storyline became the leading characteristic in a play over music. Although Oklahoma had a very uncharacteristic opening song as mentioned previously in that it began with a sweet, docile opener it was a success because when it was first showed the song produced an overwhelming sigh from the audience in New Haven. The play was originally showed in New Haven under that name Away We Go instead of in New York to avoid the harsh critics that it was sure to follow but after a few alterations, particularly of adding the whole ensemble Oklahoma song the play moved to New York performing over 2000 times on Broadway. The story of two lovers was an instant success in a war torn America who fell in love with Curly and Lori.

                                                      "Oh What A Beautiful Morning"

Romeo and Juliet

                                                                      {via - roma}

To my pleasant surprise one day in class a fellow BYU student announced the opening of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. I was so excited for the performance I immediately went and bought my sister and I tickets for opening night.

Romeo and Juliet was the first Shakespeare play I read my freshman year in high school and ever since then I have taken every opportunity to read more of his plays. Going into the play I knew BYU had changed the setting to the Guilded Age in America but that did not affect my anticipation for the performance. Even though I knew the setting had been changed it was still shocking to see the actors dressed and act is a more familiar way. Even though Shakespeare composed his works far before the Guilded Age and in another country the same principles and themes affect life. The themes in Romeo and Juliet are very applicable to Shakespeare’s time, the Guilded Age time period, and even now.

When I got home from the play I quickly jotted down some of the lines exchanged between Romeo and the apocrypha. The two men exchanged poison something that I hadn’t noticed before but was greatly emphasized in this rendition of the play due to the setting. Romeo paid the apocrypha gold and received literal poison to intake. Money and gold as explained in the play is a poison and can have just as much control over a person’s life as drinking poison. In Romeo and Juliet for instance the Montague’s and Capulet’s were completely torn apart because of their lust for money. Amazingly, as I read through the pamphlet given out at the play the exact quote that I had unknowingly written down was emphasized.

            That Romeo’s money is “worse poison to men’s souls; doing more murders in this loathsome world that [the] poor compounds [the apothecary] sells”.
            Both money and poison were poisons that led to destruction. The Guilded Age embodies that destruction. This rendition of the play does a good job of pointing out that Romeo and Juliet is not solely about lovers’ suicides but about the role of money and society that they lived in. Their families were at war due to society, status, and wealth. Society had a huge impact on Romeo and Juliet’s lives which got me thinking about the society I live in today and how am I affected by it?
            One influence that I am facing as I am approaching my 21^st birthday is whether or not to go on a mission. As I turn 21 that becomes an option. The society in which I live I know a lot of girls my age that have chosen to go on a mission and if I do choose to go on a mission would be very supportive of me going on a mission. I honestly feel like most girls my age are going on mission and so I feel a lot of pressure from society to serve a mission but in reality I will not go on a mission simply because of societal pressures.

JaZzInG uP mY LiFe

     A recent Wednesday night I ended up at a Jazz Ensemble performance at BYU in the HFAC. It was incredible! I have been to a number of musical performances at BYU, all of which have been absolutely fantastic! There are so many talented performers in the performing arts and I for one am not as talented in that area but I have greatly benefited from the concerts put on. My first experience with Jazz music was a little bit of practice during my piano lesson years ago back in high school. Oh and then there was one painfully dull and drawn out Jazz concert in high school that I attended all in the name of supporting some young women in my class. I like to think that I have become cultured and can now appreciate things from a wide spectrum of genres. Now I can't say I listen to Jazz music on a regular basis but after the concert I think I am going to have to change that. I love Jazz music! There is something about it that is so exciting and makes me want to move, it pulls at my soul and I am automatically happy and inspired, I feel like I can conquer the world in style, in ragtime.

Luckily we just studied the birth of Jazz music in the United States that came about with the mix of African American slave culture, immigration, and industrialism. The music I heard reminded me a lot of Scott Joplin and his style of Blues with catchy ragtime rhythms. I still remember playing Maple Leaf Rag on the piano, one of Joplin's popular pieces. Joplin’s great talent that he brought to the music world was syncopation. Joplin infused European and African American styles to create a new rhythm now recognized as ragtime. I have played in ragtime and have also felt a sense of liberation with that type of music. Those feelings might have something to do with growing up playing the piano and having to follow the strict count and measure but when I got to learn Maple Leaf Rag I could use a little, very little J freedom in counting. I could play the notes with a little give here and there and “feel” the music and that’s how I felt the other night listening to the Jazz Ensemble.

      Jazz music is a kind of branch that was born out of ragtime. Like blues, jazz is associated with musicians from the south most of which had to overcome some type of obstacle to become a voice and a recognized artist. Jazz musicians and music quickly gained favor with the majority of the population and was soon considered one of the greatest art forms to be born in the States. Jazz music was born and gained popularity within the modernist movement. Jazz is part of the modernist movement because of the leading characteristics of jazz. Jazz is based on experiments, on improvisation, an interest in new technology, and focus on self-creations over the individual piece of artwork. Jazz lyrics focus on secular themes which is a very modernist idea. Further infusion of classical and folk music varied the styles and breadth of jazz as did each musician. Every jazz performer is unique and brings to the stage their own set of ideas and interpretations of jazz. Louis Armstrong, a noted jazz musician, is known for his voice and for his interest in ensemble solos. 

                                 
                                                       {via: Music Liner} Louis Armstrong         
     Armstrong is in fact one of my favorite Jazz musicians and he has certainly made his mark in music history. The BYU Jazz Ensemble was inherently influenced by his style. It was Armstrong who introduced the idea of solo showcasing and highlighting specific musicians throughout a piece, the Jazz Ensemble did that Wednesday night, highlighting certain performers throughout songs. Armstrong was one of the first musicians to treat his voice like an instrument and to make new and different voices. Armstrong's music is unique and can easily be identified by his voice. Armstrong just like many other musicians overcame a difficult childhood he was an orphan and was adopted and became a great musician.
This Thanksgiving season I am so thankful for cultural events, for lots of genres, talented students that surround me, and most importantly for music and the happiness it brings me!

Selections from Maynard Dixon Art and Spirit

More on Maynard Dixon
{via- youtube}

What's Next?

Coincidentally after having written this paper I feel like the paintings theme is very applicable to me. I don't have a game plan for my life, I don't really know what my next step is but somehow I'll figure it out, these things do always seem to work out :)



{via: google books} No place to Go- Maynard Dixon

  

 Maynard Dixon developed as an artist when many different art philosophies were flourishing and because of this Dixon’s artwork became a conglomerate of different philosophies. Modernist and regionalist are two ways that Dixon is described which is very unique because those two philosophies are contradictory. Regionalist paintings came about in response to modernist paintings that were being produced. Regionalists were realists and focused on “true” American values of going back to nature; they were traditional in response to the modernists who were looking to the future. Modernist philosophy rejected tradition and looked to new methods in technology and used a lot of symbolism to express hidden messages in their artwork. Dixon can also be described as a social realist because of his chosen themes of his artwork. All three of these philosophies influenced Dixon and can be seen in his painting, No Place to Go.

Dixon’s background sheds light on his painting style. Dixon’s love of the American land and country was rooted in him at an early age because he was raised by an aristocratic, well to do family that was closely tied to the Civil War. As Dixon began to study art he worked with Arthur Mathews, a tonalist, and associated with many artists in the Bohemian Men’s club in San Francisco. Dixon found work as a newspaper illustrator and moved into a more modernist style over impressionism. Dixon’s love for nature and influence of modernist friends led him to be a mixed artist with both regionalist and modernist styles. Even though Dixon had a hand in the business field and was busy with illustrations, he was known to dress up as a cowboy to fully embrace their philosophy of becoming one with nature. Dixon’s second marriage was with Dorothea Lange, the prominent photojournalist of the Great Depression she had a strong influence on Dixon as a social realist. Dixon’s surroundings and social circle really influenced his painting style to become a conglomerate of many philosophies.

{via: Shorpy - Lange}

  {via: Arts Magazine - Dixon}   
                                             

                                           

No Place to Go is most easily described by Dixon himself as, “honest art of the west” and that is exactly what it is (Bingham). The painting is of a homeless man with a full duffle bag slung over his shoulder leaning hunched against an old picket fence. The overall composition of the painting is very balanced with a rounded hill in the background complemented by a fence in the foreground lining the hill with the man in the center. Clear lines repeat throughout the painting: the hill, man’s cap, fence, and grass slant diagonally down towards the ocean. There is a sense of peace and contentment as one studies the painting. The colors of the painting are muted and although the man is made separate from nature, there is a clear distinction between the two the colors complement one another. The man is wearing a dull navy blue jacket that pulls out the blue hues in the mountain and background and even a little blue in the grass. Similarly, the man’s pants and cap are brown and the shading goes very nicely with the fence and the grass. Even Maynard Dixon’s signature fits right into the painting; it is located in the corner of the grass in a brown used throughout the painting. The colors over all are very naturalistic and muted. The lines in the painting are blurred: the one between the two hills, the one in the foreground that the man is standing on and the background. The color choice and the balance in the painting really pull out the regionalist quality in the painting. The man complements nature like he was raised by the land he is part of it. “That sense of sun and space and silence—of serenity—of strength and freedom—if I can interpret that with what I can master of technical requirements, I will have reached the best of my endeavor" (McKay). If Dixon had dressed the man in a black and white business suit he could not have achieved the naturalistic quality that the painting has.  It seems as though Dixon consciously wanted to portray a man with natural roots that complemented nature. Dixon recognized the power and majesty in nature and he harnessed it and used it to his advantage.

The overall subject of the painting is of man who has come to the end of the road; he has traveled some unknown distance and has reached his destination, the ocean. The tone of the painting is contemplative; the man appears to be reflecting on his past decisions that has led him to here he is now. The subject of the painting brings out the social realism side of the painting. This painting was done during the Great Depression when unemployment ran high and not very many job opportunities were available and men backed up their bags to travel anywhere looking for work. The average American man easily related to this painting because it was a reality for many people during the depression. Social realists captured what life is really like and that’s what Dixon did in this painting in fact he did a whole series of paintings called the “Forgotten Man” which illustrated different affects of life in the depression. Dixon said, “The depression woke me up to the fact that I had a part in all this, as an artist" (Hagerty, 206). Dixon used his passion and talents to paint and depict life. The man in No Place to Go is sculpture like and the face lacks any specific details these qualities allow anyone to become the man depicted. It makes the painting much more relatable which was a very important characteristic to social realists. The average citizens needed to know that their problems were known and that they mattered. At a time when there was so much need and despair, their only hope was to search the nation for a new job. The painting sets the tone for Dixon’s series the “Forgotten man”, which reaches out to the American citizen and gives the “forgotten man” a voice.

Majestic flares in the painting represent the modernist influence on Dixon. The hills are very simple purged of any detail but they are majestic and dominate the foreground over the ocean and small skyline. The painting is set at the onset of the sun setting and is symbolic of the closure of the day but also of the man’s hopes.  The man depicted presumably has searched for a job and a place to start his life anew but to no avail, he has reached the west coast with no luck. Dixon’s emphasize of line, shape, and color supports the claim that he is a modernist painter. It is not so much important that the painting be of an unemployed man standing against a fence on a hillside close to the ocean but use of bold lines, shapes, and color. The lines are diagonal, expressing the sense of decrease, and despair the hills are large and powerful free from adoration, and the few colors used are bold and naturalistic taking into account the time of day of the painting. There specific attributes in No Place to Go make it a modernist painting.

Dixon painted in the 1930’s in America during the Great Depression when many different philosophies were bursting forth and his paintings reflect many of those ideas. Regionalism wanted to simplify life, to resort back to nature and the traditions of America. Social Realists sought to portray life how it really was without any embellishments. Modernists looked to the future and technology and painted with symbolism to portray hidden messages that could only be decoded by specific readers. No Place to Go is one such painting that displays influences of regionalism, social realism, and modernism.

                                 

                                                                



Maynard Dixon developed as an artist when many different art philosophies were flourishing and because of this Dixon’s artwork became a conglomerate of different philosophies. Modernist and regionalist are two ways that Dixon is described which is very unique because those two philosophies are contradictory. Regionalist paintings came about in response to modernist paintings that were being produced. Regionalists were realists and focused on “true” American values of going back to nature; they were traditional in response to the modernists who were looking to the future. Modernist philosophy rejected tradition and looked to new methods in technology and used a lot of symbolism to express hidden messages in their artwork. Dixon can also be described as a social realist because of his chosen themes of his artwork. All three of these philosophies influenced Dixon and can be seen in his painting, No Place to Go.

Dixon’s background sheds light on his painting style. Dixon’s love of the American land and country was rooted in him at an early age because he was raised by an aristocratic, well to do family that was closely tied to the Civil War. As Dixon began to study art he worked with Arthur Mathews, a tonalist, and associated with many artists in the Bohemian Men’s club in San Francisco. Dixon found work as a newspaper illustrator and moved into a more modernist style over impressionism. Dixon’s love for nature and influence of modernist friends led him to be a mixed artist with both regionalist and modernist styles. Even though Dixon had a hand in the business field and was busy with illustrations, he was known to dress up as a cowboy to fully embrace their philosophy of becoming one with nature. Dixon’s second marriage was with Dorothea Lange, the prominent photojournalist of the Great Depression she had a strong influence on Dixon as a social realist. Dixon’s surroundings and social circle really influenced his painting style to become a conglomerate of many philosophies.

Works Cited

            Bingham, Paul, and Susan Bingham. “Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts, About Maynard Dixon, Mt. Carmell Utah Gallery and Museum, www. Thunderbirdfoundation.com.” Thunderbirdfoundation.com. The Thunderbird Foundation for the Arts. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://www.thunderbirdfoundation.com/maynard-dixon.cfm>.

            Hagerty, Donald J. “The Art of Maynard Dixon.” Google Books. Gibbs Smith, 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2010. <http://books.google.com/books?id= U6UzaYIfIT0C&dq=maynard dixon art work&source=gbs_navlinks_s>.

            McKay, Jayne. “Maynard Dixon: Art and Spirit.” Maynard Dixon Documentary. Cloud World LLc., 20008. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. <http://www.maynarddixondoc.com/about.ht

ml>.     



James Abbott McNeil Whistler

Whistler was an American expatriate aesthetic painter living in England in the late 1800's. Whistler took a bold stance to paint "art for art's sake". A painting was not about the subject but about the feeling, the movement of the painting, the brushstrokes. The titles of Whistler's paintings are reminiscent of musical terms such as arrangement, harmony, nocturne, and symphony. One particular painting to note I like is Symphony is White #1.
Many of Whistler's paintings caused drama in society. This particular painting was criticized for conflicting morals. The woman painted was the known mistress of Whistler yet she is depicted in all white which is a well known symbol of innocence, purity, chastity, and youth. The platform the woman is standing on is a dead, skinned animal, hardly appropriate for a young woman to be standing on. The wilted lily in the young woman's hand is also an interesting detail, as is the ruffled hair and dark overtones throughout the painting. These interpretations by critics were all preposterous to Whistler because he painted for "art's sake" and nothing else. I like the conflicting feelings that the painting presents, and I suppose should not be interpreted any further according to Whistler.

{via: Art Cyclopedia}

One story that never ceases to amaze me is about Whistler's Harmony of Blue and Gold. Whistler's character is seen in it's true colors.Whistler was commissioned to do an interior painting for Leyland in his home in England. Whistler had been brought in to fix what another artist had befuddled in the living room,. Leyland went out of town for business trusting Whistler to make the

necessary improvements according to the agreement. But upon Leyland's return home he was shocked to discover that Whistler had completely painted over all of the walls and furniture due to the fact that he was completely overcome by the project that he had gotten lost in the art of it all and couldn't stop or restrain himself. Leyland was of course upset and refused to pay the price Whistler was now asking for.The scandal led to one of the many trials Whistler was involved in. Leyland did eventually pay Whistler but for only a very small portion of what Whistler wanted for his work, and as Whistler predicted, the Peacock room out-lived  Leyland and is still today one of the great art works of Whistler.

{via: FSg exhibition}