Art has always been a major part of my life as I grew up, primarily because my mother wanted to be an art history major (though changed to an English major), so she enriched both my brother and my life with as much art as possible. I have visited many of the local art museums in Colorado, many with several famous guests such as Chihuly and Andy Warhol. I even adventured to Paris to see the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay where I walked my way through the Mona Lisa, winged Victory, and the Venus de Milo. She taught me how to appreciate all types of art, even if they appeared ridiculous and over the top because apparently someone, somewhere thought it was interesting enough to bore visiting elementary schoolers. Up until high school, I was an avid artist myself but ceased when the world of science seized my attentions as well as passions.
I turned my attentions toward the appreciation of art, something I for which I was better suited. Senior year I decided to take an advanced placement art history class to fill the empty hole in my schedule because it might be "fun." Turns out, it was enthralling yet rigorous. I learned more than I ever cared to about art from the prehistory to the beginning of the new millennia. In taking this art history class, I'd like to think that I have grasped a basic understanding of art in general and the characteristics that make it unique to not just a single person, but all of mankind. For example, the world renowned Leonardo da Vinci perfected a technique known as "sfumato," which gives a painting a smoky look by utilizing almost no extreme lights or darks. There is more to art than meets the eye and analyzing it, much like the rhet
orical analysis of this class, opens new doors to what the artist was commenting on, be it politics or his/her narcissism. That art history class, cliché enough, has changed my perspective of the world because art influences nearly everything, even if we don’t know it. The colors on a billboard can, in an attempt to solicit, manipulate the manner in which we think, for example yellow signals the brain that the person is hungry. Art is as facsinating to me as the frontiers of science, it has the power to effect people in similar and unique ways at the same time.
“To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.” -Schumann
I turned my attentions toward the appreciation of art, something I for which I was better suited. Senior year I decided to take an advanced placement art history class to fill the empty hole in my schedule because it might be "fun." Turns out, it was enthralling yet rigorous. I learned more than I ever cared to about art from the prehistory to the beginning of the new millennia. In taking this art history class, I'd like to think that I have grasped a basic understanding of art in general and the characteristics that make it unique to not just a single person, but all of mankind. For example, the world renowned Leonardo da Vinci perfected a technique known as "sfumato," which gives a painting a smoky look by utilizing almost no extreme lights or darks. There is more to art than meets the eye and analyzing it, much like the rhet
orical analysis of this class, opens new doors to what the artist was commenting on, be it politics or his/her narcissism. That art history class, cliché enough, has changed my perspective of the world because art influences nearly everything, even if we don’t know it. The colors on a billboard can, in an attempt to solicit, manipulate the manner in which we think, for example yellow signals the brain that the person is hungry. Art is as facsinating to me as the frontiers of science, it has the power to effect people in similar and unique ways at the same time.“To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.” -Schumann
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