Cencorship and Public Art

I viewed an oil painting by Anne Teigen, an artist featured at Opus6ix gallery. I was drawn to the use of color in her paintings, as well as the simple, yet complicated nature depicted in her work. I focused on a painting she calls "thoughtful", which captures a older women holding a glass of white wine in one hand, and resting the weight of her mouth and chin in her other hand. She is sitting alone, with her wine and a plate with four olives scatter across it. The women is very bland looking aside from her bright orange hair pulled in a high bun and her green, yellow, and blue shawl she is wearing. The expression on the women's face is what draws in the viewer. She appears very pensive, starring down past her hand. You realize that she is not looking at anything, but fixating her eyes steadily so she can process the thoughts in her mind. It is easy to assume that she is unhappy or sad, because naturally a person void of expression appears to be so. "Thoughtful" was among many of Teigen's paintings capturing people sitting alone.
After researching Anne Teigen I discovered that her inspiration for her paintings comes from her recent trip to Spain, in which she visited several tapas bars. There she observed the diners, some of them dining alone. More so than anything she realized the personal act of eating. The relationship a person has with their plate, glass, fork, etc. is entirely their own. Though her painting depicts a singe person, it is not to say that that person is necessarily alone, because she only offers that one perspective of the table where the individual sits. "Thoughtful" is showing the solitary act of eating, also capturing the element of 'deep thinking', which could reflect how personal she[Teigen] thinks eating and nourishing ourselves to be; we are one with ourselves, our food, and our thoughts. She mentioned too that she often situates tables and chairs around her paintings to allow the viewers an opportunity to "join the characters at their tables".

Creative Spirituality

Spirituality:
I define spirituality as beliefs, activities, or any other engagement a person partakes in which offer comfort, inspiration, encouragement, and healing to one's self, as well providing the framework for an individuals belief system and sense of purpose. When I think of spirituality the words free, self, feel, and believe flash in my mind. When I consider a spiritual individual I think of someone who is confident, intelligent, free-spirited, open-minded, objective, and accepting. I suppose I associate spirituality with liberalism, in that spirituality is without restraint and order; it is feelings and beliefs that are established by the individual and do not fit within the confounds of any organization.

Spirituality and Religion:
I definitely think that spirituality and religion differ. I associate spirituality with liberal ideology, whereas I associate religion with a more conservative philosophy. When i think of religion i think of order, structure, strict, rigid, and ignorant. spirituality seems to me to be more artistic and free, whereas religion is cultural mythology that people have sought to understand and belief in in order to maintain stability and control of life. religions are groups that people turn to to be told what to understand versus spirituality where people turn within and seek understanding on their own accord.

Creativity:
I define creativity as producing thought, theory, product, etc. that step outside of the norm. To be creative is to create something that is original. Creativity relies on inspiration within a person that is hardly motivated by something which already exists; meaning, not relying on some existing framework to motivate thought or work but establish something new. Creativity requires thinking outside of the box.

Source of Creativity:
The source of creativity is the individual mind. Something can be inspired by something else and still be considered creative. the individual mind is capable of creating ideas and ultimately finished work, such as art, that has never been thought of before. The human mind is very complex and no one mind is the same as another; therefore, a person allowing one's self to be free and vulnerable will create something beautiful and original--that is creativity.

Aesthetics of Horror Research

1. Susan Burggraf (2000). Susan Burggraf explores the appeal of horror movies. Bowdoin College: Campus News. Brunswick, Maine. Retrieved July 1oth, 2006 from www.bowdoin.edu/news/archives/1bowdoincampus/000817.shtml

In an article available on the Bowdoin College Campus News Website, the theories proposed by professor Susan Burggraf regarding why people enjoy horror are explored. Burggraf suggests two different theories that may explain, rather psychologically, why people experience enjoyment when watching horror films. One theory is referred to as "continuous reward" theory and the other "relief" theory. "Continuous reward" theories consist of the sub-theories "arousal" and "social", as well as the idea that fear and disgust are positively associated with fictional stories. the "arousal" theory follows the idea that viewers of a horror film are continually experiencing excitation through out, which she believes to be positively correlated with "sensation-seeking" in adolescents. The "social" theory suggests that horror is enjoyed in groups more so than individually, which includes gender roles, feeling a part of a social group, and, specifically pertaining to adolescents, the idea of violating social norms.
Burggraf explains the "relief" theory as experiencing fear or an equivalent emotion followed by relief once resolution to the horror is found; viewers enjoy the feeling of relief that is experienced once the terrifying moment has passed or once the problem is solved. She touches on the ideas of "empathetic distress", "catharsis", and the "snuggle effect". These ideas all relate to purging of emotions, from which people experience a positive feeling in the end.
Burggraf attempted to test her theories through which she was unsuccessful in doing. She measured individual levels of enjoyment through out a horror film via self-report measures. She found that the level of enjoyment of excitation did not fluctuate through out the film, which ruled out her "relief" theory. She also found that fright and disgust alone were not enjoyable emotions; however they did generate excitation that was considered positive following the initial reaction. Finally, Barggraf measured enjoyment among individuals and individuals within a group watching a horror movie. She found that almost always do people experience greater enjoyment when watching horror with a peer group.

2) Britton, Bonnie (2006). More guts and more gore mean more money at the box office. Indianapolis Star. March 19, 2006. Retrieved July 10, 2006 from www.news.uns.purdue.edu/Clips/2006/mar/060319.Sparks.Boxoffice.html

In an article by Bonnie Britton, she discusses the rising popularity of horror films. Horror films are becoming an industry in itself considering the number of horror movies that have been top grosses in the last few years. Britton discusses several recent horror flicks and the revenue generated, which is evidence for the popularity of the movies in recent years. She also includes some opinions from authorities, including Glen Sparks, a communications professor at the University of Purdue.
Sparks comments on why he believes horror movie go-ers do so. he offers that watching horror movies "generates a lot of psychological response... people come out of these films oftentimes feeling a sense of euphoria". He believes that some people enjoy horror movies, which in turn causes desensitization of violence, etc. and some people cannot handle horror because they experience "lingering cognitive fear responses". Overall, this article acknowledged the growing industry of horror movies and agreed that many times people experience positive feelings and emotions during and in the end of a horror movie.

Both of the articles discussed are similar to the ideas suggested in Gaut's article, in that they agree that positive experience occurs when people experience fear or anxious feelings and then relief, which ultimately inspire enjoyment. Carrol fixated much of his article on the idea of monsters and how people enjoy horror involving such mythological characters because they, on some conscious level, have understanding that such a scenario is unrealistic. However, excitation is experienced through fear and relief all the same.

Personal Adornment Reflection

I believe that how people dress and carry themselves reflects how people are in character. Values and beliefs are often expressed through dress and body adornment. I am a very dynamic personality when it comes to the way I dress and carry myself. In certain occasions, such as going out, I like dressing up; wearing heals, jewelry, fashionable clothes. On a day to day basis, I prefer going casual and wearing Birkenstocks, jeans, and a tank. I also have a sporty side to me, where I like to wear sweats, a hat, running shoes, etc. My body adornment is to a minimum; I have my belly button pierced, my nose, and my ears. Everything about my piercing is simple and tasteful; I do not really express myself through my body adornment like so many people do. Overall, I think that the way that I carry myself is relatively simple and natural. So, I guess that the way I dress and carry myself reflects my value of simplicity. I don't like to be too flashy, but also not too bland.
I make the choices that I do because the choice to carry myself the way that I do comes naturally to me. I do not over think it, I just dress the way I feel and add body adornment, such as piercing, if doing so makes me feel good or makes me feel beautiful.
I don't think that these decisions have changed dramatically over the years. Normal changes that occur with age, different environments, and trends have occurred, but nothing to drastic.
The core beliefs and values that my family upheld were to be a person of character and integrity, be true to yourself, love your family and friends, be ambitious, etc. My family allowed for self-expression; however, things such as tattoos and piercing were not something I could do at will, under the age of 18 and as long as I was living under my parents roof. Piercings were something I could talk to my parents about and negotiate with them about. When I asked to get my navel pierced, my father had a hard time with it, but my mom overruled, and actually got hers pierced along with me.
The core beliefs among my peers were to be trendy and fashionable. Middle school and High school is all about following the latest trend and getting the "cool" body adornment at the time. My desire to pierce my belly bottom was definitely influences by the peer group I was associating with at the time.

1. Order of values: Family, athletics, humor, love/sex, personal development, friendship, health, integrity, wisdom, enjoyment, loyalty, wealth, service, personal accomplishment, service, creativity, security, power, leadership, community, location, expertness, prestige.

2. Activities I did today: Volleyball, cleaning, school, hanging out with best friend, sleepover with boyfriend.

When comparing my top 5 values with the activities that I did today it is clear that many of my top 5 values are active in my daily life. Family is a value that I will always hold number 1 because they are my foundation and the people who show me unconditional love. Whether or not my family is a priority among my daily events does not change their ranking order in my set of values. Athletics is a value that I am very serious about. I play volleyball everyday, year round; therefore, it is a value I will always hold in my top 5. Humor is very important to me, it is a huge part of my personality, as well as the personalities of my friends and family. One very important element in my relationships with people is humor. For instance, my best friend is very funny and we share the same taste in humor. She is my roommate, teammate, and friend; therefore, I am with her nearly every hour of everyday. My boyfriend compares to the love/sex value, which is one that is truly important to me. I think that everyone holds love as a value, because nearly everyone in this world is seeking love or a partner if any. With love comes sex, which is something also very important to me. Hanging out with my boyfriend satisfies my desire for love (i.e., affection, loyalty, companionship, etc.) and for sex or intimacy. Love is a value that hold many subvalues, such as though desrcibed above.
I believe that I chose the top 5 values that I did, because they are ones that I have implemented into my daily life; therefore, those are the values that are most important to me and my life as it is right now. Some of those values will rank among my top 5 values for the rest of my life.

1. What belief patterns did you inherit from your family?
2. Which of those belief patterns that still have authority in your thinking can you acknowledge are no longer valid?
3. What goals do you have for yourself that you have yet to pursue?
4. What stands in the way of your acting upon those goals?

Chelsea Hewitt