Tyler's Thought on 20th Century Art

The Abolitionist movement can be considered the largest revolt against the government in United States History. Because of its popularity (I know a lot about that topic), and unpopularity for that matter, it was one of the most artistically covered topics by painters across the world. There is one artist that stands out, his name is Jacob Lawrence and his work is featured at Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill. His art is unique because he is an African American painting a white protagonist. Lawrence painted 22 pictures dedicated to John Brown, an American abolitionist who was most well known for his violent uprisings. The pictures focus most on the actual figure of John Brown and his message of violence against pro-slavery southerners. I focused on the final painting of the series, a painting that depicts the hanging of John Brown for treason against the state of Virginia, killing 5 pro slavery men and leading a slave insurrection. In painting 22 of the series, dedicated to the anti-slavery movement, Lawrence uses a simple style portraying Brown as a dark figure ascending into the blue sky, dying for his beliefs.

The first thing you notice about the picture is John Brown seeming to be left just hanging. Side note: on the matter of leaving people hanging don’t do it fellas; you’ll have to actually be nice to make it up to her. Anyway this is strange because generally you can see the hanging platform or even the ground in a picture such as this. I believe this was done on purpose to represent a sort of ascension into heaven. Because John Brown was seen as almost a saint to the anti slavery cause many black believed his death was martyrdom. He also didn’t want to associate Brown with the other men on earth, which if they were attending this hanging were probably slave owning men. If you look at his eyes there are clearly close representing he is already dead and all that is left is his body. Lawrence made a point not to show Brown suffering in his death but giving him an expression of almost peace and self content; as he knew he did everything he could to fight the war for black freedom.

The use of color in this painting is uncomplicated but very important. He uses only basic colors and does not mix colors between the images. He does this to create a strong realist image of the passing of John Brown. Brown is dressed in all back, typical for the representation of death; don’t do this on the daily- it freaks girls out. The colors are also very bold not using light or watery looking paint. He does this to rub the statement in your face and make you confront the problem of what is happening in the picture. As regular man Brown seems to be elongated in this picture, almost larger than life. It was definitely meant to portray him as a major figure. The background colors in this painting are also important. They are not dark and gloomy but are bright blue. This means that the sky is seen as a happy place where one would aspire to venture.

In the picture you also notice the lack of detail, my personal thoughts are to never leave a body’s detail unexamined but then again I’m not an artist. However I believe the reasons for this lack of specific elements is so that the painting really encompasses the true meaning of the event and does not get lost behind fancy clothes and pretty skylines. It is all about the message behind the work and not so much the actual painting itself. To add to the realism is the shape of the painting. It is a very rectangular painting, almost like a window frame that looks into another world outside. The other interesting thing about the piece of work is that it is unsigned. While most artist put their names in the corner of their work Lawrence does not. Again this represents the painting is not mean to bring him fame or wealth but to really rely a message to all those who did not experience such tragedies as slavery themselves.

Along with analyzing the style of the painting, it is important to understand why the painting was done and who its message was directed towards. As mentioned earlier Jacob Lawrence is and African American who grew up in the age of the Harlem Renaissance and the idea that blacks should fight for their culture and respect, rage on my brothas. Now Lawrence didn’t only paint one picture of Brown, he did 22. They went in a series showing the stages of his uprisings and the effects they had along the way. He really wanted to highlight Brown’s whole life and all the time and effort he put into his revolutionary ideas. Each picture in the series follows the same artistic style. The paintings use bright colors and defined figures as to create a realistic image. His series also follows a very in your face theme of death and destruction. All the pictures prior to the last one are showing the violent planning and actual events John Brown partook in, including Pottawatomie Massacre, Bleeding Kansas and the raid at Harpers Ferry. All of the paintings lead up to my final piece of his death by hanging. This last bold message is almost a warning to all those involve; watch your back you could be next.

While the purpose of these painting are to reach the emotions of those involved in the anti slavery movement or those who appreciated it, they can also be seen as painting of joy to those who didn’t appreciate it. All art is to be viewed and taken in as an individual’s thought, and how an individual thinks is based on where they stand in society. For instance I believe making fun of other people is funny, but this is only because no one has the balls to make fun of me. If I were 5 feet tall and wore glasses I believe I wouldn’t think it was so funny after all. Based on this logic one can conclude that some people view this art and are glad to rest their eyes on the final piece of the collection where Brown is hung. While some look at the painting and see ascension and the death of a truly great man. The first thing you notice about the picture is John Brown seeming to be left just hanging. Side note: on the matter of leaving people hanging don’t do it fellas; you’ll have to actually be nice to make it up to her. Anyway this is strange because generally you can see the hanging platform or even the ground in a picture such as this. I believe this was done on purpose to represent a sort of ascension into heaven. Because John Brown was seen as almost a saint to the anti slavery cause many black believed his death was martyrdom. He also didn’t want to associate Brown with the other men on earth, which if they were attending this hanging were probably slave owning men. If you look at his eyes there are clearly close representing he is already dead and all that is left is his body. Lawrence made a point not to show Brown suffering in his death but giving him an expression of almost peace and self content; as he knew he did everything he could to fight the war for black freedom.The use of color in this painting is uncomplicated but very important. He uses only basic colors and does not mix colors between the images. He does this to create a strong realist image of the passing of John Brown. Brown is dressed in all back, typical for the representation of death; don’t do this on the daily- it freaks girls out. The colors are also very bold not using light or watery looking paint. He does this to rub the statement in your face and make you confront the problem of what is happening in the picture. As regular man Brown seems to be elongated in this picture, almost larger than life. It was definitely meant to portray him as a major figure. The background colors in this painting are also important. They are not dark and gloomy but are bright blue. This means that the sky is seen as a happy place where one would aspire to venture.In the picture you also notice the lack of detail, my personal thoughts are to never leave a body’s detail unexamined but then again I’m not an artist. However I believe the reasons for this lack of specific elements is so that the painting really encompasses the true meaning of the event and does not get lost behind fancy clothes and pretty skylines. It is all about the message behind the work and not so much the actual painting itself. To add to the realism is the shape of the painting. It is a very rectangular painting, almost like a window frame that looks into another world outside. The other interesting thing about the piece of work is that it is unsigned. While most artist put their names in the corner of their work Lawrence does not. Again this represents the painting is not mean to bring him fame or wealth but to really rely a message to all those who did not experience such tragedies as slavery themselves. Along with analyzing the style of the painting, it is important to understand why the painting was done and who its message was directed towards. As mentioned earlier Jacob Lawrence is and African American who grew up in the age of the Harlem Renaissance and the idea that blacks should fight for their culture and respect, rage on my brothas. Now Lawrence didn’t only paint one picture of Brown, he did 22. They went in a series showing the stages of his uprisings and the effects they had along the way. He really wanted to highlight Brown’s whole life and all the time and effort he put into his revolutionary ideas. Each picture in the series follows the same artistic style. The paintings use bright colors and defined figures as to create a realistic image. His series also follows a very in your face theme of death and destruction. All the pictures prior to the last one are showing the violent planning and actual events John Brown partook in, including Pottawatomie Massacre, Bleeding Kansas and the raid at Harpers Ferry. All of the paintings lead up to my final piece of his death by hanging. This last bold message is almost a warning to all those involve; watch your back you could be next.While the purpose of these painting are to reach the emotions of those involved in the anti slavery movement or those who appreciated it, they can also be seen as painting of joy to those who didn’t appreciate it. All art is to be viewed and taken in as an individual’s thought, and how an individual thinks is based on where they stand in society. For instance I believe making fun of other people is funny, but this is only because no one has the balls to make fun of me. If I were 5 feet tall and wore glasses I believe I wouldn’t think it was so funny after all. Based on this logic one can conclude that some people view this art and are glad to rest their eyes on the final piece of the collection where Brown is hung. While some look at the painting and see ascension and the death of a truly great man. ">

Tyler's Thought on who likes Jackson Pollock and Who Thinks his Art looks like a Kindergarden Project

Jackson Pollock drips and throws paint on canvases. Many people question his artistic abilities and call his work no more than Childs play. His work is most certainly abstract, but the real question is does it have meaning, like the NFL’s make a wish foundation. There is quite a division of opinions when the public is asked. Many art critics believe Pollock is the most revolutionary artist since the abstract movement began. However many people in the general public do not understand and study his work as it is meant to be seen. When viewing Pollock’s paintings one must keep an open mind and take notice towards the deliberate use of color, placement and texture and paints or all meaning is lost as a blog on canvas.

Blogs are the most prevalent source of criticism towards Pollock’s work. This tends to be because of the many people writing them; while most are very intelligent and knowledgeable, many have only seen Pollock’s work on the internet and never had the opportunity to view it in person- I being very rounded have actually seen it in person. One blog in particular was very interesting- its title, Jack the Dripper. The author of this blog believes we will wake up one day and realize that much of the modern abstract art has been the biggest sham in history of art. They question its differentiability between art and pretty wallpaper. The author argues art should have form and structure so that it can represent real life and reality and that Jackson’s style is simply throwing paint on a whim with no real purpose.

Art critics overwhelmingly believe Jackson Pollock’s modernist work is extraordinary, ask my coach he’ll tell you what else is extraordinary. Anyway it is not hard to find such praise as they are in plentiful articles spanning across numerous databases. In Action Painting: Perspectives from Two Sides of the Atlantic, one such famous art critic in the 1950’s was Harold Rosenberg. He described Pollock’s art as “the gesture on the canvas was a gesture of liberation from value-political, esthetic moral and future declared a radical new aesthetic.” The paint on the canvas was not just thrown on without any care to placement but had purpose and structure. This type of action painting is to “not show a picture but to tell an event,” possibly the whole life of the artist.

Pollock was deemed this powerful artist by many because he was said to have influenced other artists, during and after his time. His genre of art can be seen in Helen Frankenthaler’s stained canvases to the poured sculptural form of Lynda Benglis all the way to Kazuo Shiraga of the avant-garde Gutai movement in Japan. His artwork is also studied in schools across the nation and copied by many aspiring artist. So while the public and art critics have many dissenting opinions, art is meant to be interpreted by the individual. You must see it for yourself and then pick as side, just as we are either Paton or Eli.Blogs are the most prevalent source of criticism towards Pollock’s work. This tends to be because of the many people writing them; while most are very intelligent and knowledgeable, many have only seen Pollock’s work on the internet and never had the opportunity to view it in person- I being very rounded have actually seen it in person. One blog in particular was very interesting- its title, Jack the Dripper. The author of this blog believes we will wake up one day and realize that much of the modern abstract art has been the biggest sham in history of art. They question its differentiability between art and pretty wallpaper. The author argues art should have form and structure so that it can represent real life and reality and that Jackson’s style is simply throwing paint on a whim with no real purpose.Art critics overwhelmingly believe Jackson Pollock’s modernist work is extraordinary, ask my coach he’ll tell you what else is extraordinary. Anyway it is not hard to find such praise as they are in plentiful articles spanning across numerous databases. In Action Painting: Perspectives from Two Sides of the Atlantic, one such famous art critic in the 1950’s was Harold Rosenberg. He described Pollock’s art as “the gesture on the canvas was a gesture of liberation from value-political, esthetic moral and future declared a radical new aesthetic.” The paint on the canvas was not just thrown on without any care to placement but had purpose and structure. This type of action painting is to “not show a picture but to tell an event,” possibly the whole life of the artist.Pollock was deemed this powerful artist by many because he was said to have influenced other artists, during and after his time. His genre of art can be seen in Helen Frankenthaler’s stained canvases to the poured sculptural form of Lynda Benglis all the way to Kazuo Shiraga of the avant-garde Gutai movement in Japan. His artwork is also studied in schools across the nation and copied by many aspiring artist. So while the public and art critics have many dissenting opinions, art is meant to be interpreted by the individual. You must see it for yourself and then pick as side, just as we are either Paton or Eli.">

Tyler's Thoughts on Jackson Pollock

The current record price for a painting sold is 140 million dollars, artist- Jackson Pollock. Pollock is most well known from his abstract style of painting called splatter painting. Many of these abstract paintings look like paint tossed on a canvas. While many art critics called this new style of painting a revolutionary movement, some believe the focus should concentrate on his more meaningful and personal style, his incorporation of American Indian Art.

Pollock’s style of painting was not always just some splatters on a piece of cloth like we think of today. Over 40 of his paintings were devoted to showing the culture of American Indians says the article From Raging Bulls to Miserable Drips. Pollock dedicated many years of his life studying Shamanic Rituals and greatly admired them. These rituals represent an outer sign of inner change. Most of the time these scared rituals involve drumming, dancing and rattling. You can look at many of his earlier pieces of work in comparison with traditional Native American paintings and seem many similarities. Some of the same images come up when comparing the two linked styles of artwork. Masks and dark colors are very prominent in that they represent the Shaman way of life and their cult like beliefs. He once quoted “I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk round it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. This is akin to the methods of the Indian sand painters of the West.”

While Pollock did feel very linked to Indian art, it is not what gained him his name as one of the most famous and creative abstract artist to date. So you are probably wondering what made his artwork so great, why did everyone have their panties in a bunch over splatter. Well the answer is because he was the first to try such an approach to art; his revolutionary idea of what is called splattering painting changed the art world and how “good” artwork was perceived. During these later years Pollock turned subject towards water as an inspiration for his work according to Paths to Dissolution: Water and Abstract Art. The fluidity of the paint, to him seen as water, led to a more direct engagement with the paint, venturing further than any artist had gone before. The idea of water for Pollock became somewhat representation for his all his artwork. The title of his pieces began to reflect this all they all were linked to this vital resource. Amongst the most obvious of these examples are Water Figure,The JPater Bulland and Watery Paths.

The two authors of these articles clearing have a varying opinion on what Pollock’s most inspirational pieces were but they do agree that Pollock’s art followed a progression that allowed him to expand his horizons and become the influential artist he is seen as today. While one believes his African American Art style should be view all by itself and appreciated in a more singular manner and the other believes it was what inspired and led to his truly great work the splatter painting, they both agree Pollock posses a talent that is unmatched by many historical and modern artist. Pollock’s style of painting was not always just some splatters on a piece of cloth like we think of today. Over 40 of his paintings were devoted to showing the culture of American Indians says the article From Raging Bulls to Miserable Drips. Pollock dedicated many years of his life studying Shamanic Rituals and greatly admired them. These rituals represent an outer sign of inner change. Most of the time these scared rituals involve drumming, dancing and rattling. You can look at many of his earlier pieces of work in comparison with traditional Native American paintings and seem many similarities. Some of the same images come up when comparing the two linked styles of artwork. Masks and dark colors are very prominent in that they represent the Shaman way of life and their cult like beliefs. He once quoted “I feel nearer, more a part of the painting, since this way I can walk round it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting. This is akin to the methods of the Indian sand painters of the West.”While Pollock did feel very linked to Indian art, it is not what gained him his name as one of the most famous and creative abstract artist to date. So you are probably wondering what made his artwork so great, why did everyone have their panties in a bunch over splatter. Well the answer is because he was the first to try such an approach to art; his revolutionary idea of what is called splattering painting changed the art world and how “good” artwork was perceived. During these later years Pollock turned subject towards water as an inspiration for his work according to Paths to Dissolution: Water and Abstract Art. The fluidity of the paint, to him seen as water, led to a more direct engagement with the paint, venturing further than any artist had gone before. The idea of water for Pollock became somewhat representation for his all his artwork. The title of his pieces began to reflect this all they all were linked to this vital resource. Amongst the most obvious of these examples are Water Figure,TheJPater Bulland Watery Paths. The two authors of these articles clearing have a varying opinion on what Pollock’s most inspirational pieces were but they do agree that Pollock’s art followed a progression that allowed him to expand his horizons and become the influential artist he is seen as today. While one believes his African American Art style should be view all by itself and appreciated in a more singular manner and the other believes it was what inspired and led to his truly great work the splatter painting, they both agree Pollock posses a talent that is unmatched by many historical and modern artist.">

Suzie's Thoughts on Whitworth's Photograph and Trash

One of the photographs in T. Coke Whitworth's Zionville, NC series is a digital print depicting a bare, wooded area interspersed with people's unwanted and used personal items. The used tires, couches, and bins look more like trash than used particles, though, primarily because these items are not in their correct environment. Instead, the photo immediately sends signals of disgust and disappointment to the viewer because of the man-made trash that is encompassing the natural habitat and wildlife, a scene that is becoming much too familiar in today's society.

Sunshine, lively deer and squirrels, green leaves, and newly budding flowers are non-existant in Whitworth's photo. The background is grey, the trees are bare, and no animals are in sight. Bright colors are completely absent, even the chairs and couches are dim and bland. The picture appears lifeless. Man's trash is overcoming nature, something we're all aware of by now, and this confiscatement of nature's habitats is blatantly obvious in Whitworth's snapshot. There is nothing abstract or mysterious about this piece of art. I immediately felt distress and anger when I saw the trashed woods. Man is taking over natural ecosystems, and in turn, animals all over the world, and especially in the US, are quickly losing their homes.

Too many people are wasteful in today's society, and this immense problem is honestly and readily depicted in the photograph. One of the objects in the foreground is a tasteless picture of a naked woman which is tacked to a tree. My eyes were initially drawn to this segment of the photo because it is one of the first objects in focus, and I automatically became disgusted. Because this feeling had already originated in my mind, it would be difficult to turn the mood in a different direction. I therefore think that Whitworth originally wanted pull his viewers' focuses in on this artificial and vulgar commodity in order to give them a taste of what the rest photograph was going to entail. Once my eyes wandered over the remaining pieces of the photo and I saw the lack of life, the trash, and the wastefullness, the feeling of repulsion and outrage continued to accumulate.

The few ragged couches and chairs that appear in Whitworth's photo represent abandonment and desertion. They are turned over and look to have simply been thrown into the woods as if it were a landfill. As I stated earlier, the image seems to be lifeless, and this desertion of wildlife is exemplified by the empty, turned over, worn out furniture.

The grey, bland colors, lack of life, and trash in the woods that appear in Whitworth's photograph all point towards the growing social dilemma that man is taking over Earth's natural ecosystems. We are taking too many things for granted, and instead of trying to fix the problem by using composts, recycling, etc., too many people continue to dump their used items in woods, fields, and other wildlife habitats. The photo is difficult to look at, because it reminds us that scenes like the one Whitworth captured exist in more places than they should. But hopefully, the more viewers that witness Whitworth's realistic photos, the more people will realize that it is imperative we change the way we are living our lives.

Suzie's Thoughts on Andy Warhol and Mao

Andy Warhol's large, fifteen-foot painting of Mao Tse-tung reflects the immense impact that the Chinese leader had on the country. The head-on, close up, enormous portrait of Mao's face portrays his importance and dominance of the Chinese people to Warhol's audience. Although Mao remains a controversial figure to this day, Warhol's painting was not meant to represent his personal and political views about the leader, but rather to represent Mao's influence and to perhaps make facetious assertions about a serious topic.

Once the viewer recognizes the magnitude and importance of Mao, his or her eyes then focus on the painting itself. The brushstrokes, colors, texture, and medium, catch the viewer's eyes because they are what is seen when one is close to the painting. The viewer can only see the larger picture of Mao from a much farther distance. Large, thick brushstrokes form the majority of Mao's green shirt (not a very flattering shade of green, I must add) and the blue background. Both of these colors strikingly contrast with Mao's orange-colored face. These are the three primary colors of the color wheel, and they essentially comprise Warhol's painting. Because primary colors are used, there is not much mixing or blending of the foreground with the background. Mao is the prominent focus of the piece, and neither he nor his green shirt blend with the blue background whatsoever. Rather, the use of contrasting colors furthers one of Warhol's goals: to make Mao's stand out from the background thereby signifying his grand historical importance.

Because the image already existed before Warhol and speaks for itself, he simply used it as a referance piece. Therefore, Warhol's purpose wasn't to express his personal or political views about the leader, but rather to show his significance. It appears that some blue highlighting appear on Mao's eyelids, along with a hint of pink brushed on his lips. Because of these observations, the author of "Andy Warhol's Mao, 1973", Anne Rorimer, argues that Mao's blue eyeshadow and slightly pink lips signify a type of mockery about superficiality and perfection within our society. However, I originally did not agree with her assertion. At first thought, I believed that the colors bring some contrast and brightness to the painting, but were not used in a joking matter. However, based upon my knowledge about Warhol and his obsession with artificiality, perfection, and famous people, I then decided that the idea that Warhol might have used brighter colors to signify makeup on Mao is not out completely of the question. The possibility that Warhol created Mao with makeup on to create a jesting tone would coincide with what historians and art critics know about Warhol and his bizzare, flamboyant, mocking personality.

It is difficult to acknowledge the difference between the possiblity of artificial cosmetics and the fact that the blue and pink colors might have been used simply as a painterly substance to make the artwork more complete. Depending on one's views and previous knowledge about Warhol, this interpretation could greatly differ from person to person. Whether or not one agrees with Rorimer's analysis, I think it is safe to say that Andy Warhol was indeed a talented artist, and definitely made history with his unique assimilations of pop icons.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4113141.pdf

Kevin's Thoughts On "The Dutchman"

When I first saw this painting at the Ackland Art Museum in Chapel Hill, I stopped. I lingered for a long time trying to understand what exact goal was behind this painting, which appeared to me at the first glance like a semi-skilled college student randomly dividing a canvas into a million sections with wavy lines, and coloring them in an extremely complex way. It is “The Dutchman,” by a Nigerian artist, Moyo Okediji. Its disconnected colors, curvy lines, swirled shapes, and complexity generated a sense of chaos and confusion. This painting, as I later realized, depicted a tale of the horrified and disorganized reality of the slaves on the Middle Passage “journey,” and demonstrated the social conflicts between them and the slave traders. Okediji attempted to remind the viewers of the suffering from the slavery and to reconnect African Americans to their heritage.

The painting was hard to make sense of at a distance. The reason was that its intense variety of colors, curves, and shapes prevented my eyes to focus on any particular part of the image. The dominating color throughout the painting seemed blue. Other colors included yellow, black, orange, purple, brown, etc. The colors were disconnected and they overlapped each other. Curved lines were everywhere, dissecting the image into various shapes and thus breaking the overral unity of the painting. A total chaos was how I described it. I feel dizzied by its complexity. So, I moved back and forth, from the left to the right, trying to view the painting from different angles and distance in attempt to fully grasp what the artist had depicted. I moved closer, squinting my eyes, and seemed to adjust my gazes to the right focal points as outlines of many people emerged. With the help of the placard, I realized that it was about the Dutch slave trade. A ship was labeled “DUTCH” in the upper right hand corner, and the slave traders made identifiable by their skin colors, stood with callous facial expressions. I also saw several slaves: in the middle of the painting, a slave was being held upside-down. Next to it to the left, a drowning slave, thrown into the deep Atlantic ocean full of sharks, was sticking his hand out of the water. These scenes clearly demonstrated the suffering of the slaves. As the description stated, it was a “voyage through death.”

Beyond depicting the surface scene of slave trade, Okediji managed to employ several techniques to force the viewers to actively perceive and helped them achieve emotional and physical connections with the slaves. The slave trade was one of the darkest period in human history. It was associated with torture, disease and hunger. However, Okediji used bright colors for most of the painting. It was not a message of optimism or hope or whatever good things that came along with bright color. The contrast and brightness of the colors simply created a strong visual impact and attracted the viewers’ attention at first glance. However, viewers could find it hard to quickly understand the painting because of its complexity. In order to sense the tragic and chaotic details, the viewers had to explore the painting with further examination. When closely looked at, the figures of people were not clearly defined. They are distorted, teared into several blocks. The wavy lines made it hard for the viewer to grasp the whole body of any figures. Each object seemed to be separated from the other. Within each of themselves, they are divided into numerous sections of different colors, creating a sense of movement. For example, the slave who was help upside down had black legs, blue body, brown arms and red hands. This break of unity symbolized the slaves’ disturbing, anxious and chaotic mentality. The curved lines also mimicked waves, thus they created wave -like motions and symbolized instability.

The sparkling colors created distractions. It made it impossible for viewers to focus on one figure for a long time. Okediji forced the viewers to move their eyes all over the painting through the wavy lines, making it hard for them to distinguish separate parts of the painting. In this process, viewers would experience confusion and chaos, which were exactly what the slaves had gone through. Although I could not quite clearly identify each figure or object, everywhere I looked in the painting, I could catch glimpses of disturbing signs: tortured body, drowning men, crying woman and shocked faces. Okediji wanted the viewers to feel the pain, chaos and disorganization that his ancestors were going through. And viewers did not need to comprehensively understand each part of the painting to sense these sufferings that the slaves on the middle passage journey had to endure. The colors are also significant in another way. The massive blue not only depicted the Atlantic Ocean, it also symbolized African Americans’ blues music. Okediji wanted to reconnect the African Americans to their cultures and heritage. The active engagement from the viewers could lead them into thinking. People would reflect back to this dark history and establish the emotional and physical connections with the slaves.

Okediji was telling a story in this painting. It was a documentary of the suffering of the slaves in the Middle Passage. As an artist of African heritage, Mayoto Okediji felt his ancestors’ pain as a result of slavery. It was this realization that inspired him. Being an art insensitive person myself, I stared at this image in Ackland Art Museum for nearly an hour to finally see through it. It dazzled me. It’s worth it.

Kevin's Thoughts on "Self Portrait With Bandaged Ear and Pipe"

Van Gogh’s “Self Portrait With Bandaged Ear And Pipe” passes on a message not only of his overwhelming physical suffering, but also of extreme mental despair, fear, and immense anxiety. The sallow face, bandaged ear, and shrinking chicks convey his unhealthiness. His distorted eyes signal hopelessness; the completely covered up body with multiple layers of clothes, rough and flat use of color, and the burning pipe reflect his spiritual instability and anxious mentality. Some, however, have different views towards this portrait. In article “Comparison of Van Gogh self-portraits,” the author argues that despite the pain and despair on the surface, the painting represents calmness, order and peace of mind. I certainly disagree.

The portrait is a mirror reflection of Van Gogh, facing the viewers at a slight angle. The man is wrapped in a thick green winter jacket, wearing a black feather hat that one would only wear in severe coldness. However, the man is not in any outside wildness. Instead, he is sitting inside a rigid room, without windows or any other media through which the outside chillness can reach the room. Yet he wears his outdoor gears. It makes him look like he is so physically fragile and weak that he needs warmth to keep him alive. Beyond warmth, Van Gogh seems in need of protection and a sense of security. His spiky hat looks defensive, jacket buttoned up, like a shell, demonstrating his fear confronting the harsh reality. Thus, he wraps himself with everything he can to protect himself from the outside world.

Van Gogh expresses extreme sorrow and remorse. One of the most noticeable features in this painting is his unusual facial composition － the pallid face, soulless eyes along with the powerless lips. His face is thin and his complexion appears unhealthily yellow, giving the impression that he is aging significantly every second. The eyes are drawn not looking at you. The distance between them is noticeable closer than a normal, healthy person. They lack the sharpness, or sparks or reflection that can create three dimensional effect. Instead, they are dry and extremely flat, as if two random pieces sticked to the face. That reminds of me a hopeless person who stares at a mirror and looks at himself and is not expecting anything anymore. He appears dazed and lost. If eyes are the widows to the soul, Van Gogh’s window, apparently, is closed. Van Gogh has lost his physical strength as he can barely hold a pipe in his lips, which leans downward.

The color in this painting carries an emotional and spiritual message. It is somewhat monochromatic in a sense that the background is entirely composed of red and orange blocks. The author argues that Van Gogh expresses “emotional consolation and support through the stable shapes and colors of the background,” claiming that red establishes a secure base and orange above represents warmth. He sees the contrast between the foreground and background colors as complementary and in stable order; thus he concludes that Van Gogh has achieved order and control. However, the colors indicate different messages to me. I see anxiety. The contrast between the “hotness” in the background and the coldness the blue hat and green coat embody signals a sense of disturbance and inconsistency. Van Gogh have lost his patience to paint. Unlike many of his other paintings, such as “The Starry Night” and “The Sunflowers,” which contain a rich and subtle background, this portrait is filled with flat colors and looked very incoherent to the overall tone of the paint. It seems to me that Van Gogh simply throws whatever color he has next to him on the canvases on a whim. These drips have no particular meaning or purpose. Van Gogh did not want to modify it, instead, he wanted to get it over with the paint. The source of the inconsistency and roughness originates from his anxiety. Furthermore, the fact that Van Gogh is smoking a pipe also conveys his anxious mentality. Imagine when you come across a super hard problem in your math homework. You’ve been spending hours on it and still can’t figure it out. What would you do? If you are a smoker, I suppose you would light on a cigarette. Smoking is a natural outcome of anxiety and uneasiness.

Therefore I conclude, in this painting, Van Gogh is not only emaciated on the surface, but also broken on the inside. I admit that knowing the background of Van Gogh may change my interpretation, but nevertheless, you cannot say he is ready to go out and party.

Autumn's Thoughts on Felrath Hines' Aquatic Adventures

Felrath Hines’ Aquatic Adventures contrasts dark and light colors, symbolizing the distance between races in the United States. He completed the painting soon before his death. The style strayed from his usual geometric patterns, so painting the piece was an “adventure.” Hines worked his entire career to resist being labeled as merely an African-American artist. He did not want his race to place him into a “special category with a particular group.” Instead, he wanted his art to hold universal appeal and not relate exclusively to African-American topics and audiences. With this last painting, Hines communicated that race issues had decreased, but more still needed to be done.

With the majority of Hine’s paintings, he used geometric shapes and presented them in a symmetric pattern. He chose this style to allow his viewers to escape the messiness of society. Hines used Aquatic Adventures to introduce a new style featuring curvy shapes and wavy borders. Hines abandoned his usual style to give his viewers a new perspective. His geometric style portrayed simplicity and stability. The new bends represent disorder and complexity. Hines could not portray race issues as neat and orderly. His new style called for a change.

Hines’ call for change can also be seen in the wavy lines and curvy shapes of the piece. The title Aquatic Adventures suggests wave-like motions and rolling tides, with new ideas constantly coming and going. Hines completed the painting in 1993. Although long after the Civil Rights and Segregation periods, race issues were still present and affecting society. The arcs symbolize transition. Races were still working towards living equal lives and having equal opportunities. Older generations were stubborn to change their beliefs and lifestyles. The arcs also represent progress and action. In 1993, several African-American citizens held powerful and meaningful positions in society. Douglas Wilder became the first African American to be elected governor in 1989. Colin Powell served as Chairman of the US Armed Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993. In 1992, Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois became the first African-American woman elected to the US Senate. America was finally moving towards harmony between the races.

The thin white borders surrounding each figure imply how close races were to connecting, bonding, and living in peace. Only minor concerns kept races from fully accepting change. The fear of history repeating itself held some from trying to interact with different races. Also, the uncertainty of what would happen if they did interact kept many from trying. People only knew of violence and hatred, and could not visualize peace and unity. Most of all, many felt that they would lose their pride by harmonizing with races that harmed their family and friends. The white borders could also identify the small barrier that would always exist between races. The border did not mean that they could never achieve harmony, but that history would forever keep them apart. From cultural aspects, different races followed different rituals and traditions. Also, living in peace would not make them lose their race identity. Race does identify people and provides part of their background and where they came from; this produces the thin barrier. However, one race is no better than another, and that is what Hines aimed for in Aquatic Adventures.

Also pertaining to the idea of equality was Hines’ use of color. The various colors represent the different races. Hines shows the potential of how peaceful it would be for races to intertwine by making the contrast in colors beautiful and tranquil. The painting renders serenity with its cool color palette, smooth texture, and flowing lines. The painting shows that the storm has passed and the calm is soon to come. The light blue, the brightest color in the piece, signifies emerging light, illuminating and overpowering all the dark and harmful events of the past. Overall, Hines’ use of color exposes optimism and hope for the future.

Finally, the title Aquatic Adventures relates to the ocean’s system of living. In the ocean, species of fish swim together in schools. They travel collectively for protection and companionship. Venturing out and interacting with other species is risky, because they do not know if they will become friends or the fish’s next meal. Mingling with the other species is the adventure. Once they gather enough courage to socialize with other species, they find that they have much in common. They can learn from one another, protect one another, and live in harmony. There are always going to be the few species that cause harm to everyone else, but the ally species should work together and fight them off. The enemy species should not affect their peace and newfound companionship. This idea of survival and harmony in the ocean is similar to what Hines attempted to portray in his painting. Learning to live peacefully with different races is part of nature. We all have things in common and should focus on these traits to become friends. Focusing on our differences only creates more problems. Hines’ vision shows how close approaching harmony is for American society.

I feel that Hines did a wonderful job of capturing the struggle of peace among the races and the actions being taken to resolve the struggle. Also, using a new style that he was not very familiar or experienced with is impressive. The impact would not have been as strong had he used his usual geometric pattern technique. The curvatures clearly show movement and the progress being made to end race issues. The thin white borders surrounding each figure show how close races are to connecting and illuminate each color’s, or race’s, best qualities. The calm color palette gives Hines’ audience hope that peace is to come. I am sure Hines’ never imagined that in 2009, Americans would elect the first African-American President. The use of the ocean theme relates the race issue back to nature, and how the races can relate to each other and exist united. Overall, Hines’ Aquatic Adventures portrays how far American society has come to settling race issues and anticipates optimism for the future.

Autumn's Thoughts on Monet's Monetary Success

Claude Monet's painting Impression, Sunrise 1873 portrays a sailor journeying to the many possibilities his day may offer. Monet also produced nine other variations of this painting, all open to many interpretations. Some believe that his "mass productions" of nature series were done for monetary purposes. However, it is Monet's obsession with changing light effects over a day's period and color that led him to produce many variations of the same themes.

In “The Dispersal of the Modernist Series,” John Klein argues that series painters, such as Claude Monet, were driven by monetary motivations instead of unity and variations. He claims that the installation of Monet’s series had no distinct pattern or purpose, other than to persuade buyers that they wanted to purchase one of Monet’s pieces. Monet is one of the view artists who had financial success during his lifetime. His talent and perspectives varying the use of light, color, and texture directly generated Monet’s popularity and success. Viewers were drawn to his works because they could easily relate to a piece, and were able to connect with one over several others. Claiming that his main motivation was commercial fails to see the true beauty of his series and the intentions of his variations.

John Klein claims that the installation of Monet’s series had no significance other than appealing to the viewers interested in buying. He argues that “the way Monet’s series paintings were installed did not propose narrations of moments in the day or seasons in the year.” Monet was actually quite obsessed with the effects of light over the course of a day. As seen in all of his series, each piece portrays the same subject at a different moment of the day or season of the year. This pattern is what brought so many people to enjoy Monet’s work. They could go to an exhibition and choose their favorite piece out of several, deciding between various lighting, colors, and texture. Those that take pleasure in the brightness of spring could relate just as easily as those fond of the warmth of fall. Monet’s financial success was due to his wide range of viewers, not the strategic installations of his series.

Also supporting the idea that Monet’s installations were designed for commercial purposes, Klein declares that “these modern series have neither beginning nor end.” The appeal to Monet’s work is the viewers’ freedom of interpretation. They can choose their own beginning and end from his series, depending on how they view each piece. The truth about Monet’s installations was that he insisted to present his paintings as a unified achievement because the “his individual paintings ‘only acquire their full value by the comparison and the succession of the whole series’ when it is seen together.” The installations of his series were intended to make each painting look its best and illuminate various aspects of the surrounding paintings. Monet’s exhibitions were so powerful that buyers, who could afford it, wanting multiple paintings. These buyers found a story and connection in the pieces they desired. Monet’s intention was to create series that his viewers could connect to, and that is what he accomplished. His talent and easily relatable pieces brought him commercial success, not the design of his installations.

Declaring that Monet’s financial achievement only came from his series’ installation designs insults his creativity, determinations, and pure talent. It is possible that the rarity and excitement of owning a Monet piece from a series overshadowed some technical elements it possessed, but at the end of the day, Monet’s series mesmerized his viewers. His individual paintings were great, only appearing more magnificent when displayed together in series. Monet’s monetary accomplishments were only a result of his hard work and simply beautiful artwork.

Kevin's Thoughts On Leonardo Da Vinci And Sfumato

Dan Brown's tremendous bestseller “The Da Vinci Code” has reintroduced and regenerated people’s vast interests in art history, especially toward Leonardo Da Vinci and his masterpieces. Predictably, many people sunk their teeth back into the century old Mona Lisa identity controversy and the hidden knowledge behind it. However, true art historians study Da Vinci seeking much more than fictionalized myths concerning his art collections. His perfection of employing visual effects － an imaginative technique creating enigma and ambiguity, blurred backgrounds and edges, and subtle hidden illusions － represents his true qualities that have produced people’s continuing fascination towards him. Among these qualities, the Sfumato technique generated many discussions. One article explains the inspiration behind the technique and how it stimulates viewers’ active engagement. The other article demonstrates the magical visual effect that the technique can create and the visual effects it arouses.

In “‘Blurred’ horizon in Leonardo’s paintings,” Luba Freedman explores the motivation behind Da Vinci’s unconventional artistic device － depicting the horizons with vagueness. He concludes that the hope to stimulating the spectator's participation largely inspired Da Vinci’s adoption of such technique. During Da Vinci’s career, the traditional painting construction involved portraying a distinct horizon line in the background that's discernible to the spectators. However, Da Vinci departed from the tradition. Insead of having a defined line, he created an imperceptible transition between light, shade, and colors, and m ade everything without borders. As a result, the horizons in his painting are often left blurring and fading. Da Vinci transferred the blurring horizon to the vague depiction of the whole background.

For example, in “the Annunciation” (on the left), the background has various planes: the garden, the harbor and the distant mountains. The horizon line is barely traceable. In “The Virgin and Saint Anne” (on the right), the distant mountains have blurred outlines. The background does not have a continuous

horizon line. The same can be seen in “Mona Lisa.” The background consists of vague mountains with two roads that gradually fade away in to the distance. The boundary extends to indefinite depth and “ceases to be traceable.” The contrast between the ambiguous background and focused subjects in the foreground creates a sense of mystery and forces the viewers to perceive actively as their gazes have to move back and forth between the front and the distant view in an attempt to interpret the backgrounds. Thus it triggers the spectators’ imaginations and encourages just the type of active perception that Da Vinci wished.

This technique is Sfumato, and it appears to have more magical effects than simply creating imagination. Remember the eye trick game on iphone? You stare at a black and white image of Jesus for 30 seconds and then close you eyes and look at something bright, the image of Jesus would emerge. That’s because the image is constructed in a certain way so that it stimulates a particular interaction between the eye and the brain which creates the visual effect. The article, “The Turbulent Structure of Sfumato within Mona Lisa,” describes a sensational visual phenomenon in the painting “Mona Lisa” in which the figure seems alive and the face of Mona Lisa evolves into an infinite form of other faces depending how it is looked at. The author, Diogo Queiros-Conde, claims that Sfumato - a technique that involves vague, blurring depiction of transition - gives the painting a “turbulent structure.” Just like people can experience turbulence on an unpredictable flight, moving and constantly changing, the viewers can perceive an unstable, moving figure. Like, fluid, it is a perfect unity, yet it displays the continuous movement. The author introduces a visual experiment that illustrates the visual effect in “Mona Lisa.” His instructions are the following. Set it in moderate lighting. Then blink your eyes, choosing alternately one eye and closing the other. Increase the frequency and stop suddenly. People can observe that Mona Lisa’s smile and gaze change: the smile can disappear or be strangely amplified. The face takes on very different expressions: “The painting behaves like a sand dune, constantly reorganizing itself after each blink.” Thus one should see the face of Mona Lisa taking on infinite forms, leading to infinite faces. This is not a universal visual effect that one can observe in any painting. After applying the method on an ordinary portrait chosen for comparison, the author claims mere blinking would barely change anything in our perception of the portrait. But with Mona Lisa, a simple blink can modify our vision.

Both articles structure their argument and evidence similarly. They initiate their arguments with a general conclusion and support the arguments with examples. Professionally, they tied in their convincing techniques. But to me, Luba’s observations seem more realistic and easier to detect. People can clearly perceive the vagueness in the examples and immediately have their own interpretations, whereas they might not be able to successfully observe the movement of Mona Lisa’s face because of the light limitation, quality of the painting, etc. When I look at “Mona Lisa,” I always get lost in the blurred, unmeasurable space, but I can hardly perceive a living, breathing person that has changing facial expressions. Maybe I'm just not artistic enough and should stick to my forte of calculus.

Suzie's Thoughts on Andy Warhol and Monroe

Andy Warhol, an amazing pop-artist, has produced many world-renown paintings and prints. His famous Elvis and Marilyn screens, Campbell’s Soup Can painting, and other pop art prints made Warhol an incredibly well-known pop culture artist and some might argue, the first. Many art historians have debated and will continue to discuss what makes Warhol's artwork so alluring and entertaining.

The article “Andy Warhol’s Silver Elvises”, by David McCarthy, explains some
major themes and motifs Warhol's pieces incorporate, such as overlapping, placement of paintings side by side, and repetition. McCarthy uses evidence like this to support his analytical claims and other critiques. McCarthy believes that the overlapping of Elvises may hint to male-to-male contact, thereby possibly indicating a homosexual theme, tying into Warhol's personal lifestyle. Other artists view the exhibition (The Ferus exhibition, which displays the numerous screen prints of Elvis) and described it as being a “musical mural” with a “rhythmic beat”, and righteously so, the screens depict of Elvis Presley, after all! While McCarthy does bring up some valid and interesting points, he lacks a sufficient evidence and opinions needed to adequately support his broad claims.

Now I know every woman over the age of sixteen is familiar with the artsy and creative portraits of the one and only Marilyn Monroe! She is one of the biggest pop culture and fashion icons in the world and like Elvis, she also inspired Warhol's artwork. In the article, titled “From Max Ernst’s Oedipus Rex, to Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe”, the author, Donald Kuspit, takes on a slightly more cynical tone about Warhol’s work, to many-a-teen girl's dismay, I'm sure. Kuspit argues that pieces such as Marilyn Monroe hold no emotional value whatsoever and simply portray the superficial lives of celebrities in popular culture. Although both authors agree that Warhol’s work is extremely enticing, Kuspit believes that Warhol’s Marilyn is seductive because of her “social superficiality and complete lack of inner life” as opposed to Warhol's actual talent that he is able to convey. Kuspit goes so far as to state that Marilyn Monroe is not even a person, but rather a synthetic mannequin, molded by society with a "manufactured identity". Warhol was intrigued by pop culture and even stated that he wanted to be a star to meet other stars, so Kuspit argues that his Marilyn piece solidifies the fact that she is simply a “great synthetic product” with perfect skin and a seemingly perfect, famous life. Kuspit continues to assert that Warhol was only interested in the impression his work made, and therefore made Marilyn’s face flawless and attractive, rather than presenting the flaws that every human possesses. Even though her completely flawless face is not reality, it furthers Kuspit’s claim that Marilyn and the piece itself are both purely synthetic objects and that Warhol was fascinated by her (and other celebrities such as Elvis') artificiality. Her flawless, animated mannequin look indicates that she is a puppet on a social string. Kuspit believes that Warhol created art only with the intention to help one look good enough to be socially successful.

Both authors agree that Warhol was captivated by the lives of famous people and pop culture itself, but McCarthy discusses the techniques and themes associated with Warhol’s work, whereas Kuspit is convinced that more importantly than Warhol’s talents was his portrayal of people as synthetic figures, absent of true inner life. The second one appears to be more convincing than McCarthy’s, most seemingly because Kuspit follows his claims with more evidence and powerful opinions than McCarthy does. Although McCarthy does incorporate evidence such as themes of repetition and overlapping, Kuspit spends more time discussing the actual Marilyn piece and analyzing the perfection of her skin (among other things) in relation to Warhol and his lifestyle and interests. The further analysis by Kuspit allows the reader to better understand why Warhol possibly created the unique pieces that he did.

Autumn's Thoughts on Claude Monet

Claude Monet remains one of the world’s most famous and successful visual artists. His many series illustrating nature themes developed him the name” the founder of Impressionism.” Two articles by Gary Storm and Colleen Carroll explore the techniques and inspiration Monet used while painting his series.

Gary Storm argues that Monet’s theme and variations technique attracts an audience the most. Storm explains the different appeals of theme and variations using Monet’s Grainstack painting series. This technique states a main theme and then continuously varies it, while still maintaining the original theme’s quality. Each variation presents a new perspective. Storm claims that using theme and variations creates immediate beauty and pleasure through its simplistic form, order, and logic. The audience can quickly and effortlessly capture the painting’s meaning, making the painting more relatable and inviting. Storm also claims that using theme and variations creates a fusion of paradoxes that represent human thought patterns and the natural world. An interrelated patterns system holds each experience. Monet wanted his audience aware that they are related to all they study, or in his paintings’ case, nature. Two other notable motifs Monet painted include Rouen Cathedral and Waterlilies. These theme and variations “reveal the beauties to be found in the accurate observation of nature,” providing the most genuine connection.

In the second article, Colleen Carroll calls Monet “the founder of Impressionism.” Impressionism defines a painting style where the overall tone and theme’s effect grab the focus, not the details. Eúgene Boudin inspired Monet to paint his landscape pieces outdoors. Monet explains that “only the surrounding atmosphere give subjects their true value.” While spending time painting outside, Monet developed interests in the lighting effects over the course of a day. Monet’s first and perhaps the most popular series exploring lighting effects is Impression: Sunrise. The audience can see the sea and waterscape influences of Turner, where the sunset was painted. The colors shine bright and pure, the brushstrokes loose and rapid, and the painting portrays a sense of movement. Monet’s impressionistic style allowed his audience to bond with a particular theme and enjoy its various perspectives.

Concerning the lighting and color Monet used, the articles express similar opinions. Storm claims that, “Monet sought to capture the essence of light itself.” Monet’s Grainstack paintings incorporate brown, purple, gold, blue, and black. The various colors reveal lighting effects during the day and the year’s changing seasons. Monet’s brush strokes, varying in size, thickness, and texture, created “false-color”. He claimed that “so-called ‘true colors’ do not reveal, and even camouflage, subtle realities.” Carroll presents similar claims, emphasizing how Monet’s impressionistic style depended on light effects.

The most significant difference between the two articles involves Monet’s detail use. Storm claims that Monet mastered the theme and variations art form. With this technique, Monet painted many variations reflecting one theme. The minor details, such as color palates, lighting effects, shading, and texture, distinguished his variations from one another. Although Monet adjusted very minor details, each variation portrayed a different idea, feeling, and perspective. Carroll claims that Monet mastered, and even founded, Impressionism. The overall tone and theme’s effect carry the most importance, not the details. She provides evidence of a reoccurring theme of lighting effects over the course of a day. With lighting being the main theme, other details such as color, texture, and size possess little importance.

I feel that Storm’s argument includes much more evidence, making it stronger and more convincing. Although the history behind Carroll’s argument that Monet painted using an Impressionistic style contains truth, the many subtle details Monet used may have been overlooked. Storm’s evidence proves Monet obsession with details, for they were the only way he could create various paintings, involving the same subject, without being redundant and boring. His varied brushstrokes and complementary color use exemplify the details that altered the entire painting’s image. Also, Storm’s brief explanation of how Monet believed that we must be aware of how we are related to all that we study digs deeper into Monet’s overall nature theme, and how all his theme and variations are related. Overall, Storm’s immense amount of detail and evidence disputes Carroll’s argument, such as Monet disputed us being disconnected from nature.

Tyler's Second Podcast

Autumn's Spring Break Experiment

Tyler's First Podcast

Kevin's Podcasts

Feeder 2.2

Unit 2 Project

Suzie's Podcast 2.2

Kevin's Thoughts On Behaviors Interventions For Aggressive Children

Children suffering from severe mental and behavior disorders, including oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD), who often depict aggressive and antisocial behaviors, can benefit from the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), an external behavior intervention from psychological approach. Behavior psychology, a sub-topic of psychology, bases on the theory that “all behaviors are acquired through conditioning”. Therefore, it becomes possible to “reshape” people’s behaviors through conditioned stimulus. This process is called behavior intervention or behavior modification. It anticipates to reinforce the desired behavior of a person through rewards and punishments. Studies have shown that this type of treatment has clinical significance as well and can be used for therapeutic purposes. The CBT has become the most widely accepted treatment that can help solve problems concerning depression, anxiety, personality, substance abuse, etc. The use of CBT extends to children and adolescents as well. Concerning complex childhood aggressiveness and its diverse causes, an article titled “Behavior Modification of Aggressive Children in Child Welfare” examines the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral intervention in dealing with children with aggressive behaviors.

The article reveals that children with social problems and aggressive and delinquent behaviors are prevalent in child welfare settings. ODD and CD exist widely within young children 5 to 15 of age (2.31% for ODD and 1.47% for CD). Typical behavioral patterns of ODD are “characterized by intense defiance, anger, irritability, and vindictiveness”; while, CD includes “a variety of behaviors directed against people, animals, norms, and property” which has the danger of developing into “weapon using, bullying, torturing animals, deliberately destroying others’ property, theft, [etc]”. Because of the prevalence and negative potentials of these behaviors, a more psychotherapeutic orientation of child welfare needs to be introduced. Previously, some empirical evidence supports the use of cognitive-behavioral approaches for children aggressiveness, conveying that the implementation of CBT in children welfare program will effectively reduce the aggressive behaviors and could achieve better results than child welfare does alone. The author develops an experimental design that tests this assumption.

The design is performed very much in the same way as the experiments we conduct to test the statistical significance in Stat class. 24 young children from a children welfare institution, including ones diagnosed with either ODD or CD are divided into 2 groups - the intervention group and the control group - with 6 children in each group who have aggressive behaviors. In order to minimize bias and reduce the impact of confounding variables, sex distribution, youth welfare subprograms, school types, age average and grades of the children are all kept within certain range for both groups. That means that the differences in those categories will not result in statistically significant variation in the outcomes. Before the treatment, parents and teachers evaluate each child by examining the social problems, attention problems and delinquent behaviors that are associated with him or her. The results are collected. At the mean time, each child takes a survey and obtains an overall score of aggression based the results. CBT includes exposing people to stimuli, in this case, children are exposed to correct actions and performance in each given conflict situation. The theory is human will behave based on what environment they are exposed to and what the consequences are for each reaction. During the therapies, each child in the intervention group participates in various consulting and modification sessions where they are asked to perform specified behavior tasks. The trainers help them individually to analyze each performance in detail and and direct them into “prosocial perceptions” through role-playing and practicing the socially desirable behaviors. Tokens will be given for each right behavior and avoidance of aggressive behavior. At the end of a session, children can exchange their tokens for play time. This is an example of positive reinforcement that encourages children to continuously avoid aggressive behaviors as “playing-time” is something that young children really enjoy and care about. Moreover, children will then practice the right behaviors in a social environment as they perform in contact with other children. This creates an environmental interventions as Children will tend to behave favorably if they see everyone else in the group behaves in prosocial ways. The process of self-reflecting and reflection of others will help stabilize the positive behaviors. Furthermore, parents receive consoling where they learn to provide with a harmonious family environment by changing unfavorable interactions.

Immediately after completion of the combined treatment, evaluations from parents and teachers are collected again and each child will take another survey and obtain a new score on their aggression level. The children in both groups show dramatic changes in their behaviors. For both groups, the ratings in externalizing symptoms, social problems, attention problems, aggressive behaviors and peer relation problems present significant decrease. However, datas show that children treated with CBT intervention show a larger decrease ratings regarding their problematic behaviors; meanwhile, they demonstrate a stronger increase in prosocial behaviors than those treated without CBT.

To maintain subjective and professional, the author acknowledges the limitation of this experiment. As much as they try to avoid possible bias and reduce the variance between the two groups, the difference and the uniqueness of each individual will be doomed to influence the outcomes to some extent. Therefore, the effectiveness of the CBT might be overstated or understated. Furthermore, the sample size of each group is too small, leaving the rooms for “coincidence”. Think it in this way: if you toss a fair coin for only 5 times, there is a chance that you end up with 5 heads (even if the possibility of head should be 0.5). Despite these limitation, given the implicit theory behind the study and the “predictable” outcomes it shows, there is still a good reason to believe that cognitive intervention can assist child welfare programs and lead to a more effective treatment for reducing undesirable behaviors and “promoting deficient social skills” for children with aggressive behaviors.

Autumn's Thoughts on Alcohol Consumption Patterns Among College Students

It is well-known that personality traits predict drinking motives, and drinking motives predict drinking patterns. However, the connection between personality traits and drinking patterns for students who drink both for coping and enhancement reasons remains unknown. Abby L. Goldstein and Gordon L. Flett of York University in Toronto, Canada attempted to discover this unknown. They conducted a study relating drinking motives with personality traits and drinking patterns of college students over a year time span, a smaller project of a study examining the relationship between childhood variables, personality, alcohol use, and adjustment to university. According to the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, “College students represent a population at risk for binge drinking and alcohol-related consequences, including academic and legal difficulties, physical and psychological concerns, increased injury risk, and involvement in unsafe sexual practices.”

Goldstein and Flett separated 138 first year college students who reported drinking alcohol within the past year into four categories: coping, enhancement, enhancement + coping, and non-internally motivated drinkers. They hypothesized that coping motivated drinkers will have more alcohol related problems, enhancement and non-internally motivated drinkers will drink larger quantities of alcohol, and enhancement plus coping motivated drinkers will have the most extreme binge drinking problems. The study was conducted using data such as neuroticism, drinking quantity, and sensation seeking values. Each participant completed two questionnaires; one given during the first six weeks of the fall semester and the other given three months later. These questionnaires tested neuroticism, drinking quantity, sensation seeking values, and other drinking related measures.

The first questionnaire measured neuroticism and sensation seeking. Neuroticism was tested with the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI), consisting of five 2-item scales analyzing the “Big Five” personality factors: extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Sensation seeking was measured by the 4-item Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS-4). This is a condensed version of the Form V of the Sensation Seeking Scale. Response choices ranged from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5).

The second questionnaire measured drinking motives, anxiety sensitivity, positive and negative affect, alcohol problems, and alcohol use. Drinking motives were assessed by the DMQ-R made of four subscales: enhancement, coping, social, and conformity. Participants shared the frequency in which they consume alcohol for these reasons. The scale ranged from 1 to 5, 1 being almost never/never and 5 being almost always/always. Anxiety sensitivity was measured with the Anxiety Sensitivity Index-Revised in 1998. The ASI-R analyzes six domains of anxiety sensitivity that form a single higher-order factor. The Positive Affect Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) measured the positive and negative affect. Respondents rated their emotions according to 20 adjective descriptors, half positive and the other negative. They also indicated the extent to which they feel these emotions using a 5-point scale, 1 being very slightly or not at all and 5 being extremely. Alcohol problems were assessed by the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index. RAPI is a 23-item questionnaire that analyzes the frequency that students experienced alcohol problems within the past year. For this study, participants were given 0 points if they did not experience the item in the past year, and 1 point if they had. Their total score was calculated to represent the frequency of their alcohol problems in the past year. Lastly, alcohol use was assessed with two parts of the Canadian Campus Survey: the amount of alcohol consumed per drinking session and episodic binge drinking. Binge drinking was determined by asking the students how many times in the past two weeks they had consumed five or more drinks.

The means and standard deviations, separate for men and women, were calculated from the data results of the questionnaire. Analysis concluded three observations: (1)Coping and enhancement motives were positively correlated with each other and alcohol use, (2)Coping motives were negatively correlated with positive affect and positively correlated with negative affect, neuroticism, and anxiety sensitivity, and (3)Enhancement motive were significantly and positively correlated with anxiety sensitivity. Based on these observations and the means and standard deviations, the students were placed into four groups. 19 participants were coping motivated, 23 were enhancement motivated, 11 were coping and enhancement motivated, and 85 were non-internally (neither coping of enhancement) motivated. In conclusion, roughly 38% of college students were internally motivated drinkers and 62% were non-internally motivated drinkers.

With these figures, Goldstein and Flett’s hypothesis disproven. They hypothesized that coping motivated drinkers will have more alcohol related problems, enhancement and non-internally motivated drinkers will drink larger quantities of alcohol, and enhancement plus coping motivated drinkers will have the most extreme binge drinking problems. Their research shows that coping motivated drinkers do have more alcohol related problems, so that portion of their hypothesis is correct. However, the research also showed that enhancement and non-internally motivated drinkers consume the least amount of alcohol of the four groups. Also according to the research, coping motivated drinkers have the most extreme binge drinking problems. From Goldstein and Flett’s research, one can see that coping motivated drinkers have the most alcohol related consequences.

Tyler's Thought on Public Speaking Phobias

453 phobias exist in the world today. You fear darkness, sitting, ugliness, nudity (looks like they’re not getting any), everything, colors, bathing, sitting in a car and 445 other things. 13% of the population suffers from a social phobia, some more common than others. Public speaking phobia affects the largest number of individuals with social phobias, 40% to be exact. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treats public speaking phobia when in session with a therapist. While CBT is preferred, problems can arise in the treatments. Such problems include lack of therapist control, patient’s inability to imagine and audience, self flooding of emotions and loss of confidentiality when put in front of a real audience. A new method of CBT has been invented called virtual CBT (VRCBT), where a fake audience is used to simulate the real situation. A study has been done and is explained in Behavioral Modification Journal. that tests whether VRCBT is a better alternative to conventional CBT.

People with public speaking phobia perceive communication in front of others as dangerous and feared, sort of like talking to the hottest girl in school. Anxiety builds up and manifests as physical symptoms such as sweating, loss of words, redness and shortness of break. Avoidance of such situations then becomes the next step. Patients do not confront their fears thus they build up and manifest in their brain. Many times they overestimate the threat of public ridicule and disapproval and tend to catastrophize negative consequences and personal events that have no relation to them.

Cognitive behavioral therapy treats the most symptoms in patients. The most common component to CBT includes exposing patients to stimuli, in this case people listening. The client experiences two things while in therapy, they have a lessened sense of anxiety during exposure and they learn no catastrophic even is coming as they anticipated. Exposure to their fear may be done in two ways, by natural setting or by imagination. In natural exposure the patient actually speaks in front of live people; however this becomes very time consuming and expensive. The therapist also loses some of their control over the situation, for they cannot make the people suddenly disappear if something goes wrong. Running into someone the client knows at these public events also becomes a problem because everyone will now know he or she is in therapy. In imaginative exposure the patients visualizes and audience in their heads. This manner is less effective because therapists cannot tell if the patient is truly following directions or is thinking about other things. Other problems include an overflow of thought and dramatizing the situation.

Virtual CBT introduces a new way to perform therapy for people with public speaking phobias. It is already currently being used to treat other phobias such as fight phobia, fear of driving, claustrophobia and agoraphobia. New advances in technology allow for these virtual simulations to seem very life like. Exposure to the stimuli occurs in the same way expect the client but on a helmet connected to a computer to visualize his or her audience. The helmet system provides both visual and audio input. A special program allows the therapist to manipulate different elements of the scenery, allowing for gradual exposure. For example the operator can make the audience clap their hands, seem uninterested or get up and leave. (The exact view the patient has, the therapist has so their progress can be monitored).

VRCBT proved very effective in a recent study done on public speaking patients. 88 persons were tested with different methods of clinical help. The results were measured on how well the patients preformed behavioral tasks. The data showed men and women who were treated with VRCBT did better than those treated by other types of medicine. Overall the virtual therapy shows more improvement over conventional methods in quelling anxiety of patients as well as allowing therapist to control the environment more effectively. People with public speaking phobia perceive communication in front of others as dangerous and feared, sort of like talking to the hottest girl in school. Anxiety builds up and manifests as physical symptoms such as sweating, loss of words, redness and shortness of break. Avoidance of such situations then becomes the next step. Patients do not confront their fears thus they build up and manifest in their brain. Many times they overestimate the threat of public ridicule and disapproval and tend to catastrophize negative consequences and personal events that have no relation to them. Cognitive behavioral therapy treats the most symptoms in patients. The most common component to CBT includes exposing patients to stimuli, in this case people listening. The client experiences two things while in therapy, they have a lessened sense of anxiety during exposure and they learn no catastrophic even is coming as they anticipated. Exposure to their fear may be done in two ways, by natural setting or by imagination. In natural exposure the patient actually speaks in front of live people; however this becomes very time consuming and expensive. The therapist also loses some of their control over the situation, for they cannot make the people suddenly disappear if something goes wrong. Running into someone the client knows at these public events also becomes a problem because everyone will now know he or she is in therapy. In imaginative exposure the patients visualizes and audience in their heads. This manner is less effective because therapists cannot tell if the patient is truly following directions or is thinking about other things. Other problems include an overflow of thought and dramatizing the situation. Virtual CBT introduces a new way to perform therapy for people with public speaking phobias. It is already currently being used to treat other phobias such as fight phobia, fear of driving, claustrophobia and agoraphobia. New advances in technology allow for these virtual simulations to seem very life like. Exposure to the stimuli occurs in the same way expect the client but on a helmet connected to a computer to visualize his or her audience. The helmet system provides both visual and audio input. A special program allows the therapist to manipulate different elements of the scenery, allowing for gradual exposure. For example the operator can make the audience clap their hands, seem uninterested or get up and leave. (The exact view the patient has, the therapist has so their progress can be monitored). VRCBT proved very effective in a recent study done on public speaking patients. 88 persons were tested with different methods of clinical help. The results were measured on how well the patients preformed behavioral tasks. The data showed men and women who were treated with VRCBT did better than those treated by other types of medicine. Overall the virtual therapy shows more improvement over conventional methods in quelling anxiety of patients as well as allowing therapist to control the environment more effectively.