by

Early Christian Art – The Pagan Influence

The Good Shepherd slide

My Powerpoint tour for this week covers the first 5 centuries after Christ.  The only problem with Art History online is that we have to read a lot and assimilate the information for thousands of years in the span of 5 weeks.   This whirlwind schedule makes it harder to create a guided tour of the years we are covering each week!

This particular study was as fascinating as the Egyptian tour last week, but there was not enough time to delve deep into it.  I love history!  We get to choose our own topics.  The premise for this week’s tour is to look at how ancient mythology and cultural beliefs impacted early Christian art.  The term for that blending is “syncretism”.

You can access the full tour through the link below:

Garvin_Sheri_W3A3_Tour

I usually tell you when a teacher gives me feedback for correcting things; however, can I put the teacher’s response in here without sounding “full of it”?  This was the most gracious feedback I think I have ever received on something I have worked hard on.  It was a thrill to read it and made the hours of research worth it!  I am humbled because I did not think it was quite that good (it was such a rush job) but I loved his appreciation!

“AWESOME WORK!  This is one of the most original tours I’ve ever gotten, and using the theme of the pagan influences on Early Christian art is simply brilliant.  What a fantastic exploration of the syncretism occurring in this early period of Christian art!  Thoroughly enjoyable read.”  Jeremy Hockett, Instructor, The Art Institute

Thank you, Mr. Hockett!!!

by

The Fascinating Monastery at Sinai

One of my history assignments was to choose an Early Christian art piece or architecture and discuss the impact of having a patron.  The Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt was quite intesting and has a rich history.

Something I found funny was the fact that it was built where they believe the original burning bush is located.  There is no other bush like this in all the world, from what I could gather, so that makes it a prime suspect for people.  Some photos show a fire extinguisher next to it… people are so funny.

The link below will pull up my overview of the patronism over the past 2000 years (don’t worry, it is not detailed and I only hit the highlights):

W3A2_Monastery

by

Time out for a birthday party!

I have to make a note about Lainey’s birthday this year.  We were all very busy, but we made sure that we took her out for dinner at a place she had never been.

If you like meat, you must visit a Fogo de Chao Brazilian steak house!  It is a fantastic experience as they bring huge skewers of beautifully cooked meat (various cuts of steak, chicken, pork, and lamb) to your table and cut a slice off, which you take with the provided tongs.  The all-you-can-eat salad bar was well worth it and bears a mention. 

A wonderful time was had by all!

Charlotte - Lainey - Sheri

by

Egypt and the Bible

As you recall, I am working 30 hours a week, so I am learning how to balance the whole work/life/homework “thing”.  Three weeks into it and I am loving the job, though!!! 

I am also loving my art history online course. There is a lot of writing involved, however, so I am only going to upload the projects that I think my audience (that is you!) would find interesting.

The New Kingdom Slide - Abraham-Joseph

Each week we have to write a Guided Tour covering 8 pieces of art with a definable theme in the era we are studying.  This week covered the ages before Christ.  I decided to explore Egyptian culture and coorelate it to what was going on in the Old Testament.

Clicking the link below will access my Powerpoint (in PDF form).

Garvin_Sheri_W2A3_EgyptTour

Added later:  During Spring break I found a very interesting writeup of the time of the Exodus, who was reigning, and what was going on in politics and the changes in religion in Egypt.

by

Script Writing Update

There is not a whole lot to be said about the script writing class.  Basically, we are learning to write scripts for advertisements, a training video, and this week it was a website proposal with embedded videos. 

It seemed much easier to do a real proposal with a real project, so I worked with a client to start planning a website that she is interested in setting up.  It was a great exercise for both of us!  I feel like this project has prepared me to work with a potential web client more than any other so far.  I enjoyed it.

A glimpse of 3 fun pages out of my proposal packet…

Cover Page (fun?)

The site map did not have to be huge.

Home page layout

by

Typography: Tobias Frere-Jones

Instructions were to produce a brochure in black and white on the typographer of our choice. I chose Tobias Frere-Jones, a 40 year old whom I have found fascinating. How can typography actually be interesting?!!! But I am finding it very much so!

This was a double sided, single fold down the middle, brochure.  You can download the entire brochure through the link below:

GarvinSheri_Proj5_Brochure_II

The front and back pages were created to "bleed" onto each other.

by

Art History Online

This week I ended a quite successful run with my Marketing online course and started Art History, which will last for the next 5.5 weeks. 

Day 1, today, we were supposed to post a photo and I posted my blog link but forgot the photo.  So here it is!  We took this one Sunday with 4 of my nieces /nephew. 

I think we need to rethink this whole “sit-on-Aunt-Sheri-for-our-photos” thing!  They are getting too big and I am almost burried!  And that was with the 2 little ones not even participating.  Fun though!

For other photos of me, check out the My Art tab above.  The first photo you will see is of me airbrushing a white sheet used by high school seniors here in some Indiana schools to promote their accomplishments during their athletic season.  This one was commissioned from me this past summer.  I did it for the experience… and I asked that my phone number not be given out!  I don’t have the set-up for huge pieces like that… notice, I tacked it to the fence to paint it!!!

by

Harrison College – a 2 month consulting project

Woo hoo! Don’t underestimate the power of social networking! A previous boss learned of a need at Harrison College for a “Curriculum Development Technician” and looked me up on Facebook. She sent me the contact info and personally recommended me to the project manager.

I winged off my resume on a Thursday between classes, got a call 2 hours later during Typography, and stepped out to take it. I was sitting on a table in an empty classroom hammering out the contract details when Kevin (my instructor) walked in. That was a bit amusing for me, but not necessarily for him since he had no idea what I was doing and gave a frown. (I later explained it to him.)

Hired…and started work Feb. 9. Pretty cool, eh? I am thrilled because I am so ready to be back at work and doing something that is within my competencies! School is fine, but doing “real” work is validating. My friends keep telling me that school IS my job, but somehow, it feels different.  And by the way, the work is right up my alley – organizing information and specifically instructional content, plus it is keeping me tied into the whole e-learning world from the supplier side (as opposed to the consumer side.)  Needless to say, I am loving the project.

Moral of the story:  use social networking wisely.  You never know who is watching or who might look you up and when!  I guess that goes for blogs too!

by

New Art Page Added

I have added a new page (My Art – a tab across the top) that you may want to check out.  Many people ask me about my art work and not having my web site up has hindered my response.  It is always easier to show than to tell, when it comes to art.  So I took time away from homework this morning to add this overview organized by the decade (I have been selling my work for 30 years.) 

You will notice a list at the bottom of that page.  These are each pages of photos.  Remember, needing desperately to get to my homework today, these are just a quick overview and still under constuction! 

Enjoy!

by

Dissecting a Font

Typography is an interesting class, but I also think we are learning things I will never use in my entire life. Such as much of the terminology of a typed letter. While the history of type is interesting, it is probably one of those odd things from college that will stick in my head til I am 95 and be of absolutely no use to me unless I am in New York City and end up in the Cash Cab.

However, I am convinced I will remember that the curve that connects the serif  to the stem is called a bracket and that some letters have beaks while others have bowls.  And don’t even start me on the floppy ears, tails, eyes, spurs, and loops!  It is crazy intense!

Project 3 was to dissect the type and to create our own hand made type.  I preferred to practice writing with my Wacom tablet than to expend undue energy making it fancy.  Some weeks you have to make choices and this week practicing with my Wacom won out.  It is actually much more difficult than I imagined and I need all the practice I can get!

FYI – below is a Wacom tablet for those who might not be familiar with them…

So the lower example is my hand drawn font a la Wacom tablet in Adobe Illustrator.