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Botswana Botswana is a African country located just North of South Africa. Today, according to BBC News, Botswana is one of the more successful countries of Africa. They have less corruption and more human rights records. It is also important to note that this country is less densely populated and has vast lands uninhabited. In spite of this they make a lot of money off of tourism from safaris and they also profit from one of the world's largest diamond trades. However, their success is newly established. Botswana once held the record for the highest rate of HIV/Aids. The dynamic changes this country has faced over the years has lead to some amazing diverse art which is why it is important to note their highs and lows. Before Botswana became what it is today the people of the country was less fortunate. They didn't have the modern technology or ability to make advanced things. So a lot of their art was illustrated through things like pots. Their pottery was a huge part of their expression and art. Their art was also very important because their pots were used daily for very important things. Their pots and cups held things like water, and they used them for cooking. Another art that was expressive as well as useful was wooden crafts. Wooden crafts made very crucial things to everyday life such as utensils. They crafted the wood to make forks and spoons. They also made things like chairs and jewelry. Lastly, woven baskets were very popular to the Botswana people and still are. They wove baskets from palm strings. They then added color by boiling the strings with dye. It took a lot of work in order to make these baskets; they were very time consuming. They, again, were also functional. The baskets were used for storage for things like grain. More recently, however, the country has become more popular for their paintings. A huge theme to paintings that derive from Botswana are nature. I have noticed through my research that this country has a tendency to work with natural materials or depict nature in their works. Cheyenne The Cheyenne people were very interesting people. They were constantly on the move from Arkansas to Minnesota to North Dakota. A lot of other tribes and other people wanted what they had and their territory. They fought fiercely for what they had and because of that they had a great appreciation of the world around them and the little things they had. The tribe also had a very difficult time with diseases. Smallpox hit them very hard and wiped out a lot of their people. The Cheyenne tribe had a lot of art and beauty in their music. Their music was very unique. They used a or of flutes and drums. Their voices were also a huge part of their music. They would also use face and body paint in order to enhance the experience. The tribe would gather around at night and do a fire dance where they would sing, play music, and dance around the fire with all kinds of face and body paint. They expressed their happiness, their anger, their pain. They would pray to their two gods, one of “heaven” and one of “hell”. They would also pass around the peace pipe. Speaking of the peace pipe, it was also a big part of their art. They were shape it, add color and feathers to it, maybe some beads as well. The peace pipe was an essential part of their rituals and they expressed their feelings through the art incorporated in the pipe. Another craft that the Cheyenne are well known for is their pottery. The Cheyenne's pottery was less functional than the people of Botswana, yet was still functional to hold things. However, the Cheyenne people really created their pots as a form of expression. A lot of their pots featured things like birds and other animals. They also had a lot of shapes and patterns. The Cheyenne people also worked with beading. Unlike their other forms of craft, the beads were solely expressive and not functional. They were meant to be beautiful, maybe tell a story, add something unique to their home or tribe. Some of the beads were worn or sewn to clothing or bags that were used to carry things. Many times the beads had geometric shapes like triangles. They had a lot of symmetry as well. Today, a lot of the Cheyenne art still involves beadwork. They also make paintings and canvases that depict natural elements and the hardships that their ancestors went through. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13040376 N.A. “Botswana Country Profile”. BBC. 2018. https://traveltips.usatoday.com/traditional-art-botswana-22751.html Lee, Lexa. “Traditional Art of Botswana”. USA Today. 2017. http://www.botswana.co.za/Cultural_Issues-travel/botswana-country-guide-art-for-all.html https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cheyenne-people https://sites.google.com/a/svvsd.org/native-americans-and-longmont/home/sub-topic-3
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Art and Beauty
Aesthetics involves studying beauty. It's about how to classify beauty, how to define it, value it, and determine it. It studies how people react to art and why. For example, whether a person enjoys art or whether they just tolerate it or even don't care about it at all. It classifies it's beauty. Art and beauty throughout history has been extremely dynamic. When specifically talking about history, the definition of beauty has changed drastically because of the time era. Different time periods have valued different things and therefore what has been considered beautiful changes too. I was reading an article by Steve Herrmann posted in April of 2013 and he had some very interesting things to say on the topic. He described things being beautiful in history when compared to God or a creator. He focused art and beauty in history on whether or not the art incorporated a creator, a higher being. When you think about it, God, or any other creator has always been a huge topic since the beginning of time. Some cultures focus everything around faith which would make sense that they would only find artworkbeautiful if it involved God or a higher power. Therefore, art has previously been defined as beautiful when it involves a creator. Take Rembrandt for example. He was an artist during the Baroque period. During this time art was all about God and it was even considered a weapon for religious wars. In a sense, it was the first propaganda. He painted about religious happenings such as Belshazzars Feast like in my example. Today, this painting might not be considered beautiful. It's pretty dark and the sense of style in the painting is not even close to today's artists. However for that time period it was wildly beautiful because of its meaning and importance and relevance to the world around it. Another example of art and beauty in history is Donatello's pieces. He was alive during the Early and High Renaissance days. During this time the classical reformed culture was coming alive again. Donatello's sculptures were considered beautiful because they were classic. They pictured the real version of anatomically correct bodies and figures. However, his sculptures were also considered beautiful because they were different. Pieces of art that catch our eye and things that we don't typically see can also be considered beautiful not only in history but also today. Before Donatello, it was more popular to sculpt on top of a flat background so that the artwork stood out beyond the background. He did do some of his pieces like this. However, he ventured out and creates his artworks with no background. He made a 3D sculpture and because it was so uncommon for his location and time it was considered rare and beautiful. Art and beauty can also be related by how visually pleasing something is to the human eye. A blog was posted by Annemieke Cloosterman and she quotes published author David Bohm. Seeing as beauty can be defined differently by everyone I wanted to take the bloggers account into consideration, especially since I agree with it. She and Bohm said that visuals such as patterns are pleasing to the eye and therefore are considered beautiful. For example, geometric shapes or symmetry can be considered beautiful because it's orderly, it's "right". An example of this in history could be seen in the pieces by Monet. Keep in mind that I'm not only discussing patterns but I'm talking about what generally is pleasing to the human eye. Monet worked during the time of Impressionism. During this time, it was popular to capture natural lights in paintings and drawings alike. Monet did a great job of making scenes of nature beautiful by incorporating lots of light and shading. It looked real and therefore was beautiful and pleasing. It was natural. The picture I supplied is of a woman walking on a very sunny day. It almost looked like a blurry picture but the light is still well represented. Art today is so interesting because of how different it is. Throughout history people have learned sculpting and different ways to do it like Donatello. People have learned how to make something dark and dreary beautiful because of its context. People like Turrell have learned to use only light to make a masterpiece. We are still learning how to make different things beautiful and how to work different things such as light into pieces of art. The vast knowledge of art is what makes art today beautiful. The diversity of it However, art does not have to be beautiful. It can be ugly, horrendous even. If art could only be beautiful then no one would know what art was since everyone has a different perspective. I think it's also important to note that different things about art can be beautiful. The color could be beautiful. The message could be beautiful. The people in the art could be beautiful. Or perhaps it's not beautiful at all. Maybe the people, the colors, the message are all ugly. It could still be art. As long as there's intent, there's a goal, there's emotion. Herrmann, Steve. (2013). The Relationship between Beauty and Art Cloosterman, Annemieke. (2013). Art and Aesthetics. Mindstructures https://www.biography.com/people/donatello-21032601 https://www.dummies.com/education/art-appreciation/art-history-timeline/ https://www.mindstructures.com/art-and-aesthetics/
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