| Questions, Intuitions, Revisions:
Telling and Re-Telling Stories About Ourselves in the World
A College Seminar Course at Bryn Mawr College
|
Forum 3 - On paintings and stories
Name: Paul Grobstein
Username: pgrobste@brynmawr.edu
Subject: A new week
Date: 2002-09-16 12:33:00
Message Id: 2709
Comments:
Interesting stories in our first week's forum about Sharon's picture and in the second week's forum about the meaning of story. Sort of interesting to compare the two too. So, here's what Anne, Haley, and I thought might be fun for the third week. You get a choice about what you want to write about this week:
Choice 1:
Here's two more of Sharon's pictures (you can click on them to see them bigger). What kind of story comes to your mind from comparing the two pictures?
Choice 2:
Compare the first two forum discussions. Is it easier to write a story about a picture or a story about what stories are? How come?
Name: Diane Gibfried
Username: Oragif@aol.com
Subject: What is a story
Date: 2002-09-16 22:38:54
Message Id: 2713
Comments:
I am just wondering if it is enough to say that in a story, "something happens". For example, if I say, "It is raining." Is that a story?
I think maybe it is. Because those three words already make a story or picture in my head. And I can think of Van Gogh's painting of "Rain" that I love so much or my childhood memories of rain, or maybe "It's raining men" Or maybe I won't do any of those things and just think "it's raining". ... This makes me think about the fairy tale we read about the locust with the kernel of corn...I wonder if it was a parable about story making."A locust came and picked up a kernel of corn and flew away." Maybe that is the definition of a story. Maybe we come and pick up our kernel of corn and take it where we want it to go. Can there be a story where nothing happens? If I say "blue" is that a story? It think maybe it is because if I say "blue" blue happens. What is a minimal story? But now, "Drink Coca Cola" I don't think is a story... but maybe it is. Or maybe that is a bad example because it is already sort of an icon and so it is a story after all. But what if I say William, and you have no idea who William is and have never met him or any other William in your life.
Well then, I don't think it is a story. Because blue is something we have all shared, but William if you don't know him, well we couldn't share the experience with just his name. Is a story always words? Yes, I think that must be true. Words, spoken or written. Can a story be images? yes it can. Well, then what the images and the words have in common is "something happens". Can a story just be sounds? Oh my gosh, I think it can. I think music can tell stories as well as art. But I think I will stick to "something happens".
Name: Diane Gibfried
Username: Oragif@aol.com
Subject: Week 3
Date: 2002-09-16 22:57:22
Message Id: 2714
Comments:
Well, my initial posting was intended for Week 2 and somehow got into Week 3. So I figured while I was on the loop I would comment on the pictures and questions about writing a story about what is a story and/or writing a story about a picture. I think writing a story about a picture is easier.
Because a picture already is a story. This sequence of pictures is about a change in point of view, something revealed and understood or exposed.
And I think it supports my idea that in a story "something happens"
So that goes back to my question, if I say "blue"
Is that a story? What do you think? If I say "It is raining" is that a story? Does something have to change? Maybe blue is not enough. What if I said, "Blue... no blue" Or "It is raining, now it stopped."
Maybe "something happens' is not enough. Maybe it's more like, there is something, and then there is a change.(either in perspective, or understanding, or actual physical change.) At least, that is the story in the pictures for week 3.
Name: Risa Rice
Username: rrice@brynmawr.edu
Subject: No inherent stories
Date: 2002-09-17 11:21:52
Message Id: 2717
Comments:
stories do not inherently exist. it is our perception that what we are witnessing is a story that brings them into being. text/art/etc., become "story" when we allow them to penetrate us first, and in response/reflection to this we apply the term of "story" as we make the story of it. one person can look at some very abstract text or a painting and say, "that is NOT a story" and for another person, this may be the ONE story. and thus we assign that term after reflecting on what an experience of a text/painting/etc is and seeing how it measures up against our personal criteria of what a story consists. story, is then, i think, a conscious act, a making, started out of perceiving something as having certain qualities that we uniquely call "story", and then we actually make it a thing we know as a "story." it does not arrive to us as such, but may depart from us with our assigned term applied. it is not an act of recognizing some sort of "thing." i think one struggles to name what a story is because linguistically this phrase assumes the story IS indeed something,like a tree or another tangible noun when it is not, it is a conscious act of perception.
Name: Beatrice Johnson
Username: bjohnson2brynmawr.edu
Subject: The Picture
Date: 2002-09-17 13:24:34
Message Id: 2720
Comments:
Understanding is questionable, and at sometimes puzzling. I see the earth as we know it, being replaced. The shapes and colors are placed in vivid contrast. I see the earth of softness, beauty and color being replaced by something dark, rigid, and almost unknowing. The pieces almost seem human in form. The two seem not to fit and seem to be tumbling back to Earth, while the other seems to be traveling upward toward the unknown.
Name: Beatrice Johnson
Username: bjohnson@brynmawr.edu
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-17 13:30:10
Message Id: 2721
Comments:
I see a story as something that enlightens. I see it as something that entertains. I see it as something that teaches. I see it as something to spend time with.
At other times, I see it as something challenging, something questioning, something searching, and at some time downright humbling.
Then, at other times I feel the feelings, embrace the thoughts and wish that I could have told that story.
What is a Story?
Name: Rachel Steinberg
Username: rsteinbe
Subject: Choice 2
Date: 2002-09-17 17:27:39
Message Id: 2731
Comments:
It is easier to write a story about a picture. As we discussed in class, there is a lot of disagreement about what a story actually is, and whether an object can be a story. Some students say that the object is not a story, but there can be a story about it. I personally do not see the difference between these two phrases. Consequently, if there is a picture, one can tell a story of or about the picture and it would be the same thing. (I don't know how much sense that makes...)
When there is an image in front of you, you can easily picture a story to go along with it. Our brain works using a combination of images and words, and when one of these is supplied for you it makes life much easier. Seeing the image instead of having to imagine it yourself makes telling a story less complicated, and the story will make sense to everyone because they see the same image as you, instead of having to try to figure out what was in your head.
Name: Claire Mahler
Username: cmahler@brynmawr.edu
Subject: telling vs. describing stories
Date: 2002-09-17 19:39:08
Message Id: 2735
Comments:
Personally, I had a much easier time creating a story for the picture (two weeks ago) than detailing the definition of what a story is (last week). I think that this was true because it seemed that whenever I began a generalized definition of the word "story," I thought of yet another form of a story which didn't neatly fit into the previous definiton. On the other hand, when looking at the picture, there was no one answer--that description didn't need to be all-inclusive/incorporate all facets of possible meanings. I'm not sure why there seems to be such a stigma to create concrete definitions for words, yet art doesn't fall under that requirement (I'm not saying that it should, but I do find it interesting). So now that I've thoroughly confused anyone who attempted to read this, let me conclude with one last opinion about today's class discussion: yes, I do believe that stories can be told about objects, however, the objects are NOT stories in and of themselves.
Name: Margaret Ketchersid
Username: deputy@delanet.com
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-17 22:07:16
Message Id: 2741
Comments:
I'm choosing to answer question #2, but I wanted to say first that the two pictures brought to mind that painting of "The Lady of Shalott" in her boat by John Waterhouse. I don't quite see the connection but there it is. Our two paintings remind me of the world of fairies, mysterious and a little bit dangerous. Again, the connection there is unclear. When the rational side of my brain looks at these pictures I see lots of light and bright (yet soft) colors. To my more intuitive side they feel deceptive and dangerous. Maybe it's all these fairy tales working on my subconscious.
I think writing about what makes a story a story is much easier than telling the story of a picture. In the first instance, I'm using my brain, my rational side. It's a theory (like we talked about in class) and for me there is not much emotion in explaining a theory.
Telling the story of a picture, however, involves emotion and creation, and if you share that with other people you are giving them a look into your soul. So to back up a minute, maybe it's not the actual writing about either of these things that is easy or difficult-- it's the sharing what I've written with others. Now that I'm thinking, there can be emotion involved with theory--passion, for instance-- but it's from the mind, not the soul. Sorry to be so long and rambling and maybe non-sensical but that's the way my thoughts float by!
Name: Gwenyth
Username: gcavin@bmc
Subject: Story of a Picture
Date: 2002-09-18 00:18:04
Message Id: 2742
Comments:
I'd like to comment on Sharon's second picture, the one with the woman lying nude in the field. I thought this picture was significant because it represented a visual that I had already formed in my mind. I had been reading La Femme du Boulanger (The Bakers Wife) for my French class. It is about a baker's wife who'd run off with a sheperd to a small island. With the baker, she had been largely overlooked and unloved, married to a fat, ugly beast of a man! The sheperd was young, playful, very handsome, and treated her well. In one scene, a man was out fishing and saw her on this island. She was singing and lying completely nude, just totally carefree and happier than she'd ever been. This picture is exactly how I imagined this moment in the story. The woman looks so relaxed and because shes nude, it seems as if she has no cares or inhibitions at all. Sadly, in the story, the baker's wife is hauled back to the baker to continue her work in his shop. This picture is so comforting because that doesn't matter at this one blissfull moment. I know I was supposed to compare the two pictures, but this one was so striking that I couldn't possibly compare it to the other!
Name: Natalie
Username: nbishar@brynmawr.edu
Subject: choice 2
Date: 2002-09-18 02:58:43
Message Id: 2743
Comments:
Compare the first two forum discussions. Is it easier to write a story about a picture or a story about what stories are? How come?
its like they say a photograph is worth a 1000 words. Which no doubt there is. But the thing about a photograph is that the words are not there. It is where imagination and creativity come into play. If we have a story about what stories are, we have to take those words and turn them into a picture. This, i believe, takes more imagination and creativity. In a sense working backwards. Pictures always evoke language, a word or two at least, but words do not always evoke a picture, scene, or photgraph. Rather, we use words to describe what we see. When we see an image that strikes us, we can only express our reaction through words, gestures, movement of some kind. It is our nature, but also we are taught to respond with the language we are taught as children. So therefore, taking a story and painting a picture is more often harder to do.
Name: Margaret Ketchersid
Username: deputy@delanet.com
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-18 12:58:48
Message Id: 2746
Comments:
I think it is so fascinating that people see such different things when looking at the same picture. When I look at the picture of the woman I don't see blissful and carefree at all. I see despair or enchantment or maybe both. The way her body is laying (lying?) makes me think she has just crumpled to the ground with grief. Or possibly she has been overcome by some other powerful force (emotion, fairy stuff) and has fainted. I don't see her as being aware of her surroundings at this moment. But I also don't think she just took a rest at this lovely spot and fell asleep because she was tired. Something else is going on. I think those white spots in the grass are fairies and they are coming round the woman either to investigate what has happened and maybe help her or maybe because they were the ones who caused her to fall to the ground and have some plan for her. I guess it depends on whether they are "good" or malevolent beings.
Perhaps the second picture is a close-up of a piece of the first picture.
Name: Kristen Coveleskie
Username: kcoveles@brynmawr.edu
Subject: story about the 1st picture
Date: 2002-09-18 16:31:10
Message Id: 2755
Comments:
Our lives often take the form of this picture. The field up front is clearly visible. Every detail can be made out. Every blade of grass is distinct. It's up close and personal. There is even a flower. This is like our lives now. We can see it very clearly. We know where we are. We can make out the details like the blades of grass. Our today is composed of vibrant and visible colors. Our future is like the hill in the background. We see it although it is distant and unclear. It is not laid out and the picture is not as distinct, but we know that it's there and it is something to strive towards. The question comes when we look at the "field beyond." This is the mass of emptiness between our present and our future. Here the picture is unclear and fuzzy. The colors blend together into a cloud of white. We may know what we want now or even what we want in the future, but our journey there is filled with unexpected twists and turns. We can not possibly know how we are going to get from our today to our tomorrow. There are too many variables that may lead us into the unknown. Under the cloud of white there could be more flowers or there could be a bottomless pit ready to draw us under. We have no way of knowing. We must just look towards the hill in the distance and hope that as we approach it, things become clearer.
Name: Abigail Bruhlmann
Username: abruhlma@brynmawr.edu
Subject: choice 1
Date: 2002-09-18 16:33:10
Message Id: 2756
Comments:
In the field beyond, what do i see? Green grass that's itchy to walk through and tall enought to hide in. What lies waiting beyond the weeds, the seeds, the swirly-swirls of blue tufty sky? A mist, a gentle fog hovers over this place like lace with a shimmering cream puff in the center. The cricket's cry and the calls of "Kaity did, Kaity didn't" echo off the vast nothingness that encompasses the lonely marsh.
But wait, in this field, this field beyond the realm of our imaginations and realities lies a woman by the cool waters of the pond, beyond the weeds, the seeds, and the swirly-swirls of blue tufty sky. The air is clear here, the water is still. Quietly she lies in a dreamless sleep that transports her beyond the field to a place where beauty is serenity and where no prince can reach to save her from this peace.
i figured i'd try a different approach, as i have grown weary of definitions that i can't word to match the complexity of my thoughts
Name: Alex Frizell
Username: afrizell@brynmawr.edu
Subject: story or story of picture
Date: 2002-09-18 20:04:41
Message Id: 2759
Comments:
I find it extremely difficult to write a story about what a story is. It's almost as difficult to me as describing a color- how do you describe green without using things that are green? To me a visual basis is very helpful. If i see a picture, a painting, even an object, I can make up a story about it. I could make up a story about the making of the picture, where it came from, what is in it now, what the artist was thinking at the time, where it has been etc. However, I was very brief on my description of what a story is. I know what a story is, it was just describing it that brought difficulty. Paintings almost always already have a story, and therefore can be interpreted. Whether the story I created from viewing the painting and the story the artist had in mind while painting the painting were the same or not is irrelevant- They are still both stories.
Name: risa
Username: rrice@brynmawr.edu
Subject: two pictures: A Story about the dangers of golf.
Date: 2002-09-18 21:55:02
Message Id: 2760
Comments:
Brigitte knew she shoudn't mix Campari with Valium before noon on weekdays but who knew that by the ninth tee she'd be suddenly mentally and physically overwhelmed by the heat, by the pervasive pressure from the housing association to limit her lawn to only one type of frost-hardy grass, and from the tight Italian cleated loafers that surrounded her feet like a cavalry pinching off supplies.
All Brigitte could think of was how pretty the grass looked. How vital, how fresh and moist and simple to love grass. How not complex, how not competitive, how not burdened by ambition or prestige her sudden love of the seemingly cool grass seemed to her self in her almost-religious state. Brigitte saw in the grass the possibility of melding, of union. It occured to her for the first time that something had just occured to her for the first time. She could feel the grass already just by looking at it. They understood each other completely she felt. Yes, yes, Brigitte and the grass, they knew, they _knew_. Moments later they were in wild, aerobic dialogue. It was Isadora Duncan on LSD, it was Mitzi Gaynor walking backwards out of linen slacks, it was alcohol, and heat...
It was also very brief. The Valium hit Brigitte like a cannon load of soft tissue. Luckily, the ground was closer than before, and suddenly Brigitte knew what love was. It was getting out of those loafers.
Name: Kim Cadena
Username: kcadena@brymawr.edu
Subject: The two pictures
Date: 2002-09-18 22:26:36
Message Id: 2761
Comments:
There isn't one specific story that comes to mind as I look at the two pictures, but they remind me of a group of stories: the Greek myths.
The first picture, in the field, makes me think of the Elysiun Fields, especially with the mystic portal thing that is happening in the middle of it.
The second picture seems to be of a nymph or dryad or naiad of some sort. I can't tell whether she is crying or sleeping next to her pool, but she and her environment are definately unearthly.
I suppose I could tell a story of the nymph fleeing through the mystic portal crying and collapsing by the pond, but I don't know why she would do that. Oh, well.
Name: Joy Woffindin
Username: jwoffind@brynmawr.edu
Subject: which is easier...
Date: 2002-09-18 23:39:23
Message Id: 2763
Comments:
I think it is easier to write a story about a picture because that is a way of thinking in which we have been trained since we were very young. In fact, I would argue that one cannot even look at a picture without constructing some sort of story about it in order to understand it. This is simply the way human beings, or at least our culture, processes things.
It is difficult to write about what stories are because that is such a hugely broad and vague topic. In some ways it would seem that would make it easier, with more possibilities to explore, but we often have a hard time dealing with/talking about the abstract or metaphysical.
A picture provides a springboard for one to build their interpretation, but the questioning of a familiar term such as "story" is almost a stab in the dark, with so many possible definitions one is at a quandry where to begin.
However I find it interesting that when we discuss the meaning of "story" in a group, we are able to fine-tuned and whittle down our definitions to something quite meaningful (although there may still be disagreement on many points).
- Joy : )
Name: Paul Grobstein
Username: pgrobste@brynmawr.edu
Subject: a zen koan or two
Date: 2002-09-19 07:56:12
Message Id: 2766
Comments:
Here's a question that emerged from discussion in our section Tuesday:
Is the answer to the question "what is a story?" a story?
And here's a related question:
Is the question "what is a story?" a painting?
Name: Anne Dalke
Username: adalke@brynmawr.edu
Subject: "A word is worth 1,000 pictures"
Date: 2002-09-19 10:07:04
Message Id: 2769
Comments:
I'm remembering Marguerite Duras, a filmmaker and novelist, saying that "a word is worth 1,000 pictures": because it is so "chaste," because its relative "spareness" makes it particularly inviting of engaged interpretation (for an extended faculty discussion of this possibility see Language: A Conversation.
So...maybe the ANSWER to the question "what is a story?" is a picture....?
Anne
Name: orah minder
Username: ominder@brynmawr.edu
Subject: story for the two pictures
Date: 2002-09-19 13:58:27
Message Id: 2774
Comments:
Maybe the world was not created in a week but things came into focus in that first week. All the elements were there and each day of that first day another aspect of creation came into focus. It could be as if we are watching creation from the outside and as we come closer we can see more shapes and forms. We can see detail. We not only see the light of the sun but we see the sphere of the sun. We not only see the blur that might be a body but we see the contortions and the waves of human flesh. At first there were colors: greens and blues and yellows. On the first day the yellow defined itself from all the other colors and became light. On the second day the blue seperated itself and became the water and the tan seperated itself from the blue and became land. Through the week the distinct colors were intensified and concentrated and became physical things- like the yellow was concentrated so much that the sun became. Finally on the last day all the colors merged and intensyfied and in the center of this intense color was a person.
Name: samea
Username: iadieeve@aol.com
Subject: Compare the first two forum discussions. Is it easier to write a story about a picture or a story about what stories are? How come?
Date: 2002-09-19 15:28:50
Message Id: 2777
Comments:
it's definitely easier to write a story about a picture because the picture itself tells a story and all you ahve to do is interpret it and find the words to exprses your ideas... however..... iss definitely difficult to write about what a story is.. because peoples ideas n stuff are conflicting ont his forum and the conversation is still continuing while we still havent reached any solid definition that explains a story...
Name: Adina
Username: ahalpern@brynmawr.edu
Subject: choice 2
Date: 2002-09-19 18:37:10
Message Id: 2780
Comments:
It is much easier to write a story about a picture than to write a story about what stories are. Each of us gets a different meaning or different meanings from any particular picture. As the cliche goes, a picture paints a thousand words. In a sense, a picture really is a visual story, seen in the mind and written down. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to define what stories are, let alone to write a story about such an abstract concept.
Name: Elena
Username: eweygand@brynmawr.edu
Subject: story based off of comparison of two images
Date: 2002-09-19 19:09:30
Message Id: 2781
Comments:
And finally she collasped. Unfortunately, human determination can only stand up against the elements for so long. Her perseverance to trudge through the desert in search of rescue (and water)could not outlast the unforgiving rays of that sun. Her legs gave out and her face and shoulders greeted the ground without hesitation.
Out from a world of black and colliding pied colors appeared her bare image. It lay across the mossy earth, with soft young grass embedded in every tuck of her limbs. She felt the coolness of cloud shadows passing over her back every now and then. Nonetheless, the diamonds in her skin always welcomed the sun rays when they came out again. Though she thought of sunning her underside from time to time, the tank of water in her belly that was pacing its way through her body urged her to reconsider moving. Thus, beside the pool, this languid form resorted her attention to the preoccupation of something more appropriate, such as singing:
"Iiiii Want to soak up the Sunnnn! I got my 45 onn!...."
Name: Elena
Username: eweygand@brynmawr.edu
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-19 19:14:49
Message Id: 2782
Comments:
( I choose to write a story about 2 pictures, and not to directly answer the story question. I thought I had the shoice to do that, but that might have been Monday's assignment and not Wendesday's ? )
Name: Ro. Finn
Username: rofinn@earthlink.net
Subject: Comparisons: Paintings/Stories
Date: 2002-09-20 21:27:30
Message Id: 2812
Comments:
Hi all,
For me, the woman is sleeping/dreaming in an orderly place - predictable and calm - safe, good for sleeping but not as intriguing as the scene on the left. It's blurred, fluid, not fully formed - so there's newness and potential there - unknowns, possibilities. It has a sense of depth and distance, a sense of something happening in the middle burst of light (?), a movement of clouds?, changes in the wind. The one where she lays is suffocating by contrast. Is she dreaming the painting on the left? Does she yearn for less order, looser boundaries? Or is she already in the painting on the left and we can't see her without a microscope?
BTW, I think that it's equally difficult/easy to conjure up a story about a visual image as it is to define what a story is - we have not achieved consensus in either case, nor am I convinced that it matters.
Name: Bonnie Balun
Username: Balunbj@aol.com
Subject: Field pictures
Date: 2002-09-21 15:31:00
Message Id: 2830
Comments:
two atoms casually hurled together? No, I don't think so. Two atoms could never produce such a beautiful world. This is...Genesis.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.
Though I be smart, physically fit, surrounded by friends and material possessions, if I have not you, I am like a bell without sound, an invisible ghost...a useless, lifeless, naked body beside the still waters.
Oh spirit of life; breathe in me and through me. Help me to stand. Show me the direction you want me to go. Use me, so that I may spend the rest of my days in your service.
Name: Ro. Finn
Username: rofinn@earthlink.net
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-21 17:35:03
Message Id: 2831
Comments:
Late flash of insight... yesterday, I asked my companion of the opposit sex to read Cinderella and Briar Rose... the Grimm versions, and the grimmer (Sexton) versions. Well...
He reported that he totally empathized with the character of Cindarella. Seems he did a lot of house-tending as the oldest child with two working parents... said he never go to "go to the ball" either. Forrest is a great cook, so it may be worth mentioning that he went out of his way to say that he saw himself picking the lentils out of the ash... without aviary assistance. He felt, in no uncertain terms, that Cindarella's father was an and the prince was a real dolt.
To quote (more or less): "If I had been the prince, I would not have let the slipper out my sight so that the step-mutha could play her surgical tricks. And then, on top of all that, he needs to be told what's going on by birds!? Gimme a break. He's no catch." Remember, he's relating to Cind-y.
With regard to Briar Rose, Forrest did not connect with any of the characters or any aspect of the story or its message(s). A blank stare. By the time he had finished Sexton's version, he was aghast and regretted that both his daughter AND SON had been subjected to these tales... very interestink!
Would love to hear reports from your guys!
Name: Diane Gibfried
Username: Oragif@aol.com
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-22 09:30:06
Message Id: 2834
Comments:
What is a story? Is a picture? This is funny because it somehow reminds me of the symbol used in math for infinity. And oddly, it also reminds me of the old trick of writing... The statement on the other side is true. and on the other side of the paper "The statement on the other side is false".
And then I got to thinking that my dreams are usually pictures. I don't know anyone who dreams exclusively in words. However, I have never asked anyone who was blind about their dreams, and now I am curious. So I would guess that our subconscious synthesis of our experience and our symbols
are largely visual. And that makes me appreciate the power of visual images. Although words, dialogue and repetition of words also happen in dreams... but usually in some visual context.
Just going off on a dream tangent.
My painter husband insists that a picture is not always a story...
his answer is "no, it's a picture." But I don't think I agree.
After reading Margaret's comment about the painting she associated with the picture, I thought of the novel "Lady Chatterle
y's Lover"
Name: Kristina Copplin
Username: kcopplin@brynmaw.edu
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-22 13:39:36
Message Id: 2843
Comments:
The picture that most intrigues me is the one on the right, where the girl is lying nude on the grass. I think the scene conveys a sense of freedom and relaxation as she seems to have no inhibitions. While the other picture is also serene, in my opinion it does not communicate quite the sense of recklessness that the other one does. ( Also, I think it is a good picture to associate with Chopin's Awakening.)
Name: Diane G
Username: Oragif@aol.com
Subject:
Date: 2002-09-22 18:42:46
Message Id: 2849
Comments:
(The second picture) It also reminds me of Duchamp's piece which is at the Phila. Art Museum (I will find out the title) in which you look through a peephole and see a nude in the grass.
Also, I thought Risa's story was VERY FUNNY!!!!!!
Name: Phoebe Anderson
Username: panderso@brynmawr.edu
Subject: Choose 1
Date: 2002-09-22 22:21:18
Message Id: 2853
Comments:
I see the pictures as being an extension of each other. The first one is a first impression, getting off a plane jet-lagged and trying to take in the new scenery. The background is sort of hazy and unclear because your eyes haven't been able to explore every piece of it yet. Your mind is seeking to adjust and your primary goal is to sleep not to explore when you first arrive in a foreign place. The second picture is the closer look, the day after the flight when you are well rested and ready to explore. You see people (in this picture a person) in their natural surroundings, shopping, walking around as if they are in a computer generated world, ignorant of your presence. The sleeping girl represents these people who have become so relaxed and content in their surroundings that they can go around uninhibitated. The viewer of the painting is the visitor, questioning her daily life style. When I first looked at this second painting, I was curious about her nakedness. It didn't bother me, but I was unsure of what her intentions were. Is the day hot? Does she usually doze naked? I don't know the answers because I have only been given a clip of her daily life. Similarly when travelling in a foreign country, we only observe a clip of people's life styles.
Name: Mel Brickley-Raab
Username: mbrickle@brynmawr.edu
Subject: comparison of two pictures
Date: 2002-09-23 09:50:31
Message Id: 2855
Comments:
The story that comes to my mind is one of birth and transformation/ growth. The first picture is full of energy, eclectic. You can feel it. Sort of looks painful, difficult . There seems to be some struggling and wrestling. The core of the energy field is in the solar plexis area or heart area. very emotional. The second picture which for me is the next frame of the story is more tranquil. the woman appears to be physically and emotionally exhausted. It took alot for her to arrive at this place. However her journey is incomplete. It took this much to emerge
Name: Beatrice Johnson
Username: bjohnson@brynmawr.edu
Subject: A Picture, A Story; Two Pictures
Date: 2002-10-02 09:10:14
Message Id: 3081
Comments:
10/2/02
A Picture, A Story
A picture, a story are they so very different? Are not both trying to say something to someone? Trying to write about each can present a problem. You are trying to focus in, trying to understand what this person is trying to say to you. In both, a picture and a story, that person is seeking a release through this work, an outlet to be understood. I guess for me to write a story about a picture a part of me would be in that picture. I guess for me to write a story about a story again I would become a part of that story. Neither is easy. They call for one to become an active partner. They invite you in with words, sweet words and with colors, beautiful colors, allowing and asking you to become a part, if you so desire. Something like Life.
Two Pictures
Two pictures, four stories, perhaps more than that. Each artist is saying something. They are trying to express something to the viewer. That's two stories. Here I am trying to understand what it is they are trying to express. That's the other two stories. The first picture leaves a lot to the imagination. A serene setting, with little form, it looks like you are walking up to this scene or looking at it from a distance.
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