The Arboretum at Penn State(#3)

Until Monday, I did not have a good idea about the Arboretum. I had heard about at times, but had never seen it and never looked into it in depth. I had an idea about where it was located, but I wasn't even sure about the location. If I had not gone with my class, I probably wouldn't have gone  any time soon.

However, it was a great experience. I wouldn't say I'm exactly a nature-lover because I don't actively pursue experiences with nature, but I do admire the beauty of it and the awe that can sometimes come over you when looking at mountains, expansive lands, or sometimes even a simple flower or plant. The Arboretum is a place just for such a thing because it integrates all the things that can be great or beautiful in nature and places them in one place. It is very nice and relaxing place to just walk around. I could imagine myself coming back and walking around and simply enjoying it all, but I don't think I would bring friends. For me, this would be a place to spend by myself, with my own thoughts, and contemplate what I am seeing. With all the varieties, I know I missed many things, so going again would be a new experience to search for things that I didn't take notice of the first time.

The Arboretum is a great experience because you have the chance to see things that aren't common everywhere, and you see them all in one place. At the Arboretum, a person will see many different varieties of flowers, such as sunflowers. A person will see trees and plants growing all over the place and can be from the sides or above. All the plants come with a sign telling you what it is and also its scientific name. It just doesn't stop at flowers, however, because there are other things such as a pond and the plant life that is in the pond. You would also see a big fountains that overlooks land below the Arboretum and that leads directly into the garden. The place itself will lead you in different circles, so the visitor will be able to see all over the garden and possibly from different sides. The multitude of different plants that surround the visitor will show you how vast everything is and that this isn't close to being complete. It shows the great variety of life that exists all around people that we may never notice.

The Arboretum is can astound with all the varieties of plant life that it has in store for the visitor. It has so many things that you can just contemplate, look at, and enjoy. It is a great place to enjoy nature and all the life that is situated around us. It is a beautiful place to visit and walk around, or simply sit and watch the multitude that surrounds you.  Even if you are not a nature-lover, everyone should be able to enjoy the Arboretum.

The Art at the Palmer Museum(#2)

Last Friday, I entered into the Palmer Museum to look for a single piece of art that drew me in and that I connected with on some level. The painting that did all this was one of the first I had seen. My admiration of it struck me as soon as I turned to it. The piece was named Boy Looking at Mount Fuji by Katsuchika Hokusai. The piece depicts a boy sitting on a tree and staring up at Mount Fuji. Though I went on to view many other great pieces, this piece stayed with me after I left.

Katsuchika Hokusai lived in Japan 1760 to 1849 in a time known as the Edo period. The piece was created in 1839, which was several years after he created what he is best known for: the Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji. The piece is very much of its time and place, and seeks to portray life in accordance and beauty with the mountain. Hokusai created the Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji because of the increasing amount of domestic travel and to show his obsession with Mt. Fuji and show its beauty. The same can be said of this piece. It shows the beauty of the mountain and the power it creates in us.

The pathos of the piece is strong. There could be a range of difference emotions that come out of this piece. For instance, the first time I had seen it I immediately felt the loneliness of the boy. That was the first emotion, but after viewing it for more time, I also felt that the privacy the boy is enjoying in this seemingly secluded spot and staring up at Mt. Fuji might have exhilerating and fantastic. At once, I was struck by the happiness of privacy, but also the sadness of loneliness and, in the background, a beautiful Mt. Fuji.

Katsuchika Hokusai lived in Japan 1760 to 1849 in a time known as the Edo period. He is best known for the Thirty Six Views of Mount Fuji, a collection of drawings with Mt. Fuji in difference seasons.  As someone who hasn't been interested in art or painting in any kind of depth, I recognized many of his pieces from television or other media. That instantly struck me that this man is well-known.

The artist is making the claim about how beautiful and daunting Mt. Fuji can be and about how we can experience it. His claim is that we can just appreciate the beauty of it and experience nature like Mt. Fuji by ourselves and to feel the power it can bring to you. From the painting, I must say that he did an excellent job at making that claim and is persuasive because the way in which create the mountain backdrop against the boy is stunning to me. It is beautiful in itself, so how can the mountain that inspired such powerful emotions on paper not be just as powerful in reality?

Before my visit to the Palmer Museum, I had never went to a art museum before. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much from it, but soon I getting into the paintings and thinking about them. From this visit, an interest was sparked into the possibility of going to other art museums. I feel that the Palmer Museum was an experience I enjoyed, and my interest in going back is alive. I felt it was a very great way to just enjoy the paintings and see how I feel about each one, and seeing how the varieties of art has changed from century to century. It was also a great way to view history with these artworks that are centuries old and comparing them to modern day art. The visit has sparked an interest into art and about analyzing it to identify what is going on beyond the aesthetic pleasure of it.

-Information about the author comes from http://www.katsushikahokusai.org/

My Blog(#1)

Template: The template I chose for my blog is very simple and straightforward, but at the same time also retains a very nice surface to use and appreciate all that the page has to offer. I liked the way it was easy to look at and everything popped out very nicely. It is very organized and am able to clearly modify things from now on. The background was chosen not only because I enjoyed the picture of the book in a close-up, but also because I like to read and love having books.

Title: After a good amount of time deciding how I should use the name of my title to elaborate both the primary subject of the blog, but also have a nice phrasing, I chose to The Arts and Man at Penn State. This title was not all my doing, but was inspired by the title of a book entitled God and Man at Yale by William F. Buckley Jr. For some time, I have appreciated the concise way Buckley used to tell you what the book was about. I thought by changing some of the words around for my purpose, I could use the conciseness to my advantage

Color: My blog has primarily dark colors with some the splashes of green in the font that clearly jump out from the background. My favorite color since I was a child was green, so I thought by getting green into the color mix, I was injecting some of my personality onto the blog.

Font: I'm not the kind of person who would go looking for the craziest types of fonts. I'm more of person who appreciates the easy to read fonts that are clear to the reader. However, in order to take away some of the sternness of the font, I used the Luckiest Guy font for the title to be easily readable and to compliment the page. I think it keeps the straightforward style, but also shows that it isn't all about business.

Pages: I chose to use pages because I thought it would be easier for the reader and to myself. With these pages, everything can have a place, and I am able to add things without interfering with the blog posts. I also wanted something like "About Me" so that I could easily go in and add or change things around and have no limit on what I would want to write.

I believe this page compliments me well. It was created by me and I didn't just simply throw a few things together. I searched for the best template, background, font, and color that I liked the best. It shows my tastes and shows some of my personality.