Slideshow Art

Leonardo Da Vinci is one of my favorite artists.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0NiiFFeLnc

Music Video

Aerosmith's "Crying" music video - A true work of art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2I4mZQmJMU

Diorama Drama

My diorama represents individuality. I used objects found in my everyday life to express this.

On the Graffiti Beat

This is some graffiti at my fraternity house...art?

My BlogRoll

Here is a list of some of my favorite blogsites. Enjoy.

1.)http://stillbmf.blogspot.com/

2.)http://loyalkng.com/

3.)http://summitandvalley.blogspot.com/

4.)http://iondynamics.blogspot.com/

5.)http://travelblog.viator.com/

Art on YouTube 2

"Dirty Car Art"- Meet Scott Wade - He turns muddy, grimy, dirty cars into masterful works of art
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1wfWPtjxMA

Art on YouTube 1

"Amazing Lego Creations"- Huge sculptures made entirely of legos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF5IOE0aLmw&feature=related

An Artist I Know

Debbi Covington, a long-time friend of the family, picked up painting shortly after retirement. She painted this portrait of me as a child by looking at an old picture my parents gave her. She truly is a gifted painter.

Poetry Slam

When I Dream

By Tanya Cooke

A lifetime of worry and regret,

filled with fears and unfulfilled dreams not met.

Not yet, no safety net, losing life's bet

and nothing to show for it but tears and my sweat.

Hurtin' back, heart attack. No one cuttin' me no slack.

Cuz' I'm a woman, on top of that

I'm Black, to be exact!

And what if I did dream of being something else.

What to do? Too late now anyway...

this is the card life dealt.

Oh but if I'd kept my eyes closed

just a little while longer.

I would have been stronger.

Yeah, and I would have believed all the dreams

yet to dream and I'd discover that

I could have been so much more

...If I'd only close my eyes a bit longer!

I believe this poem is intended to deliver a message. The message that life i short, unpredictable, lonely, and often disappointing. However, we should not focus of dwell on these thing, but instead close our eyes for a bit longer to reveal beauty in life; purpose.

I'm Having Another Catharsis

I recently hear the song "Some Devil" by Dave Matthews Band and it striked me with all sorts of emotion. In the song, the singer speaks of being "broken", "cut to the bone", and "lonely". I believe the singer is expressing an inner conflict. Maybe, some "devil" has broken his heart and he must "set it free" and move on. Maybe it is something that has been eating away at him for a long time an he is finally becoming liberated from it. Either way I found the song very meaningfull to me personally.

My Photographic Eye - Hurricane Katrina

Art in the Hip-Hop Culture

Hip hop is a music genre and cultural movement which developed in New York City in the early 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latino Americans. Hip Hop's four main artistic elements are MCing (often called rapping), DJing, graffiti writing, and breakdancing. The Hip Hop culture combines dance, music, and painting and manifests it into a unique style.

Turntablism refers to the extended boundaries and techniques of normal DJing innovated by hip hop. Traditionally, a DJ will use two turntables simultaneously. These are connected to a DJ mixer, an amplifier, speakers, and various other pieces of electronic music equipment. The DJ will then perform various tricks between the two albums currently in rotation using the above listed methods. The result is a unique sound created by the seemingly combined sound of two separate songs into one song.

Rapping, also known as Emceeing, MCing, Rhyme spitting, Spitting, or just Rhyming, is the rhythmic delivery of rhymes, one of the central elements of hip hop music and culture.

In America around the late 1960s, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists, and also by gangs such as the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads to mark territory. The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises both from early graffiti artists practicing other aspects of hip hop, and its being practiced in areas where other elements of hip hop were evolving as art forms. Graffiti is recognized as a visual expression of rap music, just as breakdancing is viewed as a physical expression.

Breaking, also breakdancing or B-boying, is a dynamic style of dance which developed as part of the hip hop culture. The "B" in B-boy stands for break, as in break-boy (or girl). The term "B-boy" originated from the dancers at DJ Kool Herc's parties, who saved their best dance moves for the break section of the song, getting in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style.

All of these contribute to the art of Hip-Hop and how it is viewed in today's society.

Dance

Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body. It is usually rhythmic and to music. It is used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. Dance is also used to describe methods of nonverbal communication and body lanuage between humans or animals. Dance is also used to describe motion in inanimate objects such as leaves "dancing" in the wind. In sports, gymnastics, figure skating and synchronized swimming are dance disciplines while martial arts kata are often compared to dances. These definintions of dance a dependent on social, cultural, aesthetic, artistic and moral constraints. .It is an art form that is directly related to the human body and the interaction of the world around it.

"This Is Me" - Self Portrait Cartoon

My Right Brain, My Left Brain

The right brain vs. left brain theory emphasizes that there are two different hemispheres of the brain that control two different "modes" of thinking. The right hemisphere focuses more on aesthetics, creativity, music, emotion, and holistic thinking patterns. The left hemisphere focuses on logic, analyzing, breaking things into parts, and rationalizing. For the most part, people have one particular hemisphere that is more dominate than the other which is why we have coined the phrase, "You are a right or left brained person". This statement is not exactly true however. A person is neither right nor left brained, but simply brained. Both hemispheres are used throughout day to day processes and are codependent on each other. In other words, one process cannot be completely carried out by only one hemisphere.

I Love This Piece of Architecture

"Fallingwater"

Frank Llyod Wright

Fallingwater, also known as the Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. Residence, is a house designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 in rural southwestern Pennsylvania. The house was built partly over a waterfall in Bear Run. I love this piece of architecture. The artist show incredible creativity which makes the structure very unique. It is perhaps one of the most well known pieces of architecture in American society. The structure is liberated from the constructs of what is considered a home and instead is a form of self expression. It is almost part of the waterfall itself, as though it was put there naturally. To me, this is a true work of art and is my personal favorite structure.