Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Reading #2
I read The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Meloy and I found it to be simply poetic. The way she vividly describes the color of the southwestern landscape is really kind of inspiring. Many artists spend a lot of time contemplating form and other elements of design, and many times color can be overlooked. Meloy takes a different approach by observing first each and every color she witnesses in great detail. For example she can observe how the ridge comprised of quartz crystals appears to be bleached during the day, however at night it transforms to various hues of blue. Or the canyons she expresses through crayons- they are not just rust colored; they are comprised of a plethora of reds, yellows, blues, purples, etc. As an artist, you have to be this observant; you have to throw out what you think you know, and what you think you see in order to concentrate on what there really is. I enjoyed the statement she made at the end detailing how all humans possess the "five fundamental maps to the natural world" alluding to the five senses. When creating a work, or at least creating an effective piece of work- the artist must attempt to create something that can actively engage those senses or "maps." Color allows a unique avenue to express some of these senses and can not go overlooked.
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Matt, I really like the idea of all humans possessing the "five fundamental maps of the natural world." This metaphor reminds me of the way a neuron maps its way through your brain connecting to different neurons as you experience more of something. For example when you experience a food for the first time that signal travels through your neurons connecting to different schemas you have developed from prior experiences with food. As a ceramic artist we have to relate other senses such as sight and touch to senses that are abstract to a fired piece of ceramic material. But, nonetheless we can definitely abstractly hear and smell and taste a piece, especially if this piece is in color. This is mainly due to the schemas we already have in place relating to that color. However, shape and texture then play a secondary roll in relating to the audience, for example, if we have a smooth drippy blue form we might relate it to water, but if the same color were applied to flat edged geometric shapes we might relate it to architecture.
ReplyDeleteOn some level, we can taste a color such as purple, but some colors have contradicting flavors. This may be confusing so allow me to elaborate. One sees a juicy red berry growing on a bush and expects when put in the mouth for it to be sweet and tangy. Most of the time this is true, but then you get those once in awhile bushes that deceive you into thinking they are sweet and you have to spit it out because the bitterness just sucked all the moisture out of your mouth. In terms of art, the bitterness or sweetness is in the details.
In a scientific perspective all colors have a light frequency and frequencies travel just as sound travels, like a wave. So scientifically speaking if our ears were acute enough we would be able to catch a sound frequency from color. :)