My Personal Photos of London

I loved living here in London their was so much for me to see and do.

Geocaching

Geocaching opened my mind it lead us to some historic places and objects thought London’s rich History.

Take for instance the Roman Wall


The Great Fire of 1666


Jack the Ripper


The London Canal System


The Prime Meridian

Philosophy of Art

Philosophy of Art

There is so much that I have learned this past quarter, I have enjoyed interpreting art, analyzing art, and focusing on aesthetics.

When it comes to art interpretation my mind goes back to the first two week here in London when we made a trip to the Saatchi Modern Art Museum, located off of Sloan Square. There was a series of paintings there by the artist Shadi Ghadirian in his or her Untitled form the like everyday series, all of which had an impact on me. It features Middle Eastern women but instead of faces they were replaced with Irons, plates, or brooms. I will always remember these paintings, showing the inequalities among men and women.



When I think of aesthetics I go back to our Aesthetics dinner where we as a class went to Taz and had a wonderful Turkish meal. I remember taking pictures of everything on the table and trying to remember the names of everything that we ate. It seems as if I dissected everything that night.


Another fond memory I have is at the Romeo and Juliet play at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. I remember standing for three hours trying to take in the experience of watching this comic tragedy. It took me some time before I really understood the concept.

Master-Pupil Pair

This was a difficult assignment It is some what hard to create criteria as to what is good and what is not good when it comes to art. It is as if we are putting art in a box and telling why some pieces are better then others. The drawing on the left I like a lot more but that is not enough of a reason to tell you that it is better. I like the shading and the angels that the artist used in sketch, as opposed to the drawing on the right. The picture on the right has more life to it look at her eyes, look at the shading of her face, notice how the hair just falls along the her face it looks natural and real as opposed to the other one. It turns out that the drawing on the left was done by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Music Evaluation

Music Evaluation

I enjoy classical music but never really pay attention to who the composer is or the title of the song that I am listening to. I found the first song that we listened to in class to be very soothing and peaceful in the beginning and then it changed the cello and the piano seemed somewhat against each other. During the second song the music just flowed much better. The cello and the piano worked together they were in unison working together to make a beautiful piece of music. I love how the second song seem to be so mellow and pleasant makes me think of having a picnic in an English garden during a nice and warm summer day. About half way through the piece the tempo pick up for a short wile and then it mellows out again. The cello and the piano compliment each other throught the piece.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is one of William Shakespeare’s many classics. It has been studied and in high school English classes all over. I had always known Romeo and Juliet to be a tragedy, I had never thought of it to be a comedy. I was somewhat surprised during the play, that their were several times where I found myself laughing; and I would think of one high school English teacher that I had had and I would feel bad for laughing during a tragic story.
Over all I thought the play was alright I didn’t think it was wonderful, I did find some of the comedic lines to be a bit to much and somewhat inappropriate. I am glad that I had the experience to see the play at the Globe, I would not care to stand for another three hours to watch a play. I was really confused by the casting there were only two British African actors in the play one was Romeo and the other Tibolt, I don’t understand whey they were in different families. One would think that they would be in the same family in order to make it clear to the audience who was a part of which family.
I did enjoy all of sword fighting scenes and I believe all of the actors did an overall good job. I do feel as if Romeo went a bit overboard and was somewhat over animated when he was prancing across the stage. My favorite part of the whole play was in the final scene when Romeo and Juliet had just died and a duck flies over the theater and quacks, it was really funny. I did enjoy how everyone rose from the dead and danced and sang at the very end it defiantly lighted the mood causing everyone to leave on a happy note.
According to Paul Taylor writer for the Independent "True, it's an "original practices" Romeo and Juliet that is stronger on charm and comedy than on poetic intensity." which I strongly agree with.
As for a comedy with a tragedy I am not a huge fan of them, but I am glad that I had the experience to see Romeo and Juliet at the Globe.

The Bloomsbury Group

The Bloomsbury Group
As did research on the Bloomsbury Group the more I read the more interested I was in them. I found it odd how there is more to say about the personal lives of the members than there is out about their writings, and art work. All of the members were in some ways unique yet they were all very similar. They were defiantly set apart from the rest of society for the things that they were doing back in that time period.

Its members included E.M. Forster (Author) John Maynard Keynes (Economist) Virginia Woolf (Author) Vanessa Bell (Artist) Duncan Grant (Artist) Clive Bell (Art Critic) Lady Ottoline Morrell, to name only a few. They remained a fairly tight-knit group for many years: recent biographers have attempted to detail their tangled personal relations.

I found Virginia Woolf to be really interesting. She lived an interesting life filled with depression, anxiety, and nervous breakdowns. She was a brilliant writer who wrote with passion and her feelings. I enjoyed the walk to her former residency; it gave me the opportunity to explore Bloomsbury. I really enjoyed her works.

I also did some research on Lady Ottoline Morrell I enjoyed learning about her personal life I found it really funny that she refused to marry a man who she had been have an affair with because he was an atheist, if she was that religious she wouldn’t be having an affair. For some reason I did not really like her writing, the sad thing is I don’t know why I don’t like it.


E.M. Forster (Author)
FORSTER, E.M. (1879-1970),
Novelist lived here.
Arlington Park Mansions, Sutton Lane, Turnham Green, W4
Hounslow 1983

John Maynard Keynes (Economist)
KEYNES, John Maynard (1883-1946),
Economist lived here 1916-1946.
46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, WC1
Camden 1975

Virginia Woolf (Author)
STEPHEN, Virginia (Virginia Woolf) (1882-1941),
Novelist and Critic lived here 1907-1911.
29 Fitzroy Square, W1
Camden 1974

Vanessa Bell (Artist)

Duncan Grant (Artist)

Clive Bell (Art Critic)

Lady Ottoline Morrell
10 Gower Street, WC1
London Borough:
Westminster