"Making Special"

This week’s blog assignment was to write about “making special” and how we personally do. After I studied my personal space however, I felt a little depressed. My space back home is decked out from floor to ceiling with paint, pictures, art, posters, and things I’ve collected. Almost everything had to stay home since I had to fly here. I stuffed whatever I could in three suitcases, leaving very little room for extras. Campus Apartments doesn’t provide much space for decoration anyway, but the two tapestries I did bring went up by the couch.

The desk area looked deserted, so I’ve begun to display things I normally wouldn’t to make it feel more like home. Take for example my Campbell’s recipe box, or my beverage bottles, or my hats by a pile of rocks from Agate Beach, and posters I’ve collected from around campus. I also cut up my Beatles folder and displayed it on my wall. With this in consideration, I’ve certainly “made special”, but it doesn’t feel very special yet. A little happiness worms its way into my heart as I look down at my doodles on my notebook.

I’ve always been a doodler, drawing on everything I could and shouldn’t. Since I’ve been here I’ve been slightly stressed and haven’t been feeling too creative, but I found myself doodling again today! I don’t have a specific pattern or theme to what I doodle, but it’s usually constant for each individual object I’m drawing on. Except for my Jansport backpack back home (I wish I had a picture to share) which is my favorite; complete with dinosaurs, cassette tapes, palm trees, nautical stars, lyrics, and more. Drawing is my favorite form of making my things and space “special” and unique. It not only looks neat when it’s finished (which it rarely ever is) but it usual means something to me. It often speaks of a mood I was in or a thought that was dominating in my noggin for the moment. Ellen Dissanayake states “… one intends by making special to place the activity or artifact in a ‘realm’ different from the everyday.” My activity of doodling is an aesthetic realm entirely, but the temporary transition into a little more interesting zone makes all the difference in my attitude.

Investigating Creative Expression: Papunya Tula

One of this week’s blog options asked us to choose a type of creative expression and explain how an anthropologist would investigate the form and substance. Australian Aboriginal culture has always captured my curiosity. So here is my chance to look into one of their more contemporary forms of art. Popularly known as “dot painting” this creative form of expression is called Papunya Tula! Its story begins in 1971 in a dessert settlement in Central Australia. 

You, as an anthropologist might begin studying the surface or aesthetic qualities of these paintings. Depending on the time frame that the piece was finished, you will find different styles. From 1971 to 1972 the paintings were bright in color and used whatever material was at hand. Particle board and other metal sheeting was recycled to paint on. At first glance these paintings look abstract - full of circles, ovals and other strange shapes.

 But after 1972, the paintings apparently begin to change. As pieces were starting to sell outside of their small settlement, natives worried that sacred things would be discovered by outsiders. So the paintings take on a "dotted" look instead. Canvas and composition board are much more commonly used underneath the paint. Now, the pieces of artwork seem even more abstract and color schemes are toned down. 

Understanding that not everyone everywhere has the same idea for what is "beautiful" I will refrain from using that term. But you would have to notice the lovely patterns and symmetry in these pieces. There's a harmonic flow to each painting and the use of color seems well planned out. 

However "aesthetically pleasing" these paintings are from the outside, what is more important to the anthropologist is likely the story from the inside. You might be curious to know why these began specifically in 1971. A little bit of research or a look into Papunya Tula: Art of the Western Desert by Geoff Bardon (Available through the HSU book exchange if you're curious: http://library.calstate.edu/humboldt/worldcat/record/28667308?source=regional) would reveal much of its history. You would find that the settlement was a meshed group of Australian Aboriginal people from different language groups forced together by an oppressive government. Journeys were a large part of their culture, but denied the right to travel, the people grew frustrated and felt helpless. Geoff Bardon arrived in he witness the children drawing in the sand. So he encouraged them to paint. Hesitant at first, the elders of the settlement allowed the children to paint and express their "dreams" (which are also crucial to Aboriginal culture). Unfortunately years later after paintings were being sold outside of the community, the natives became much more secretive about the stories and their meanings in the paintings. An intriguing job for an anthropologist would be to encounter these people about their artwork. There is a group that exists today called Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd. There are 120 artists and they have works in galleries world-wide. 

http://www.papunyatula.com.au/history/

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/aug2001/tula-a24.shtml
http://www.aboriginalartstore.com.au/aboriginal-art-culture/papunya-tula-aboriginal-art-mov.php

What is art?

My name is Justine, and I’m from a small town in Illinois along the Mississippi. I transferred here this year to study anthropology. I plan to settle on an emphasis by the end of the semester. Art has always been a passion of mine, so I hope to incorporate it into my degree. 

I’d like to begin by arguing that each individual has his or her own right to decide for themselves what art is and what is not. Even if we as a class form a definition or guidelines, to the rest of the world it will still remain “in the eye of the beholder”. But for obvious reasons we have to attempt to outline what it includes.  After our class discussions I think it’s fair to say art is an ambiguous term. However, thank you to Friday’s class, defining art as “creative expression” should relax the debate a little. I like this definition because it allows for a broader category. I can include “cake design”, or music, or dance.

Someone brought up in class that art is something more “original” in the sense that it is a piece hand-made and not mass produced. I strongly agree with this argument. Of course there are exceptions but in general, something produced by a machine is not art. But then not everything made by hand is art. A shelf built by human hands is not art.

Art is not to simply provide a functional object but to go beyond a function. It’s the “adding to” that makes it a piece of art. An ordinary object can be transformed into art by this “adding to”. I believe that when something is added, to be considered art, it would have to be added with design or something “original” in mind. For example painting a shelf a single color isn’t really art. But painting a design on it would make it art. Art provides an intangible function such as provoking an emotion, thought, a memory, or inspiration. It’s a means of expression – negative or positive. Many times art can translate what language cannot; our imagination can be translated into something tangible. It’s the creation of things displeasing or beautiful that has other than practical uses.

I’m very interested in early human life, and I read that we will be studying the markings of early hominids and Upper Paleolithic cave paintings. I would love to take away from this class a new understanding of their “creative expression”! I hope to grasp a better understanding of where “art” lies in the priorities of other cultures around the world.