Post on 31-Dec-2015
description
Walking Together/June 2007 with my son Haipeng,
MA in Architecture
MFA in English Creative Writing (Prose Fiction)
Ph.D. in English (Literature)
Chinese Language Cultural Studies Students’
accomplishment
Interdisciplinary Writing 134
Visual Intelligence & Verbal Intelligence
Thinking always includes, but not limited to, both visual and verbal dimensions.
They are not always explicit and may need to be teased out.
Visual Intelligence & Verbal Intelligence
Art, visual or verbal, explores issues and ideas that are relevant to us;
Ideas (propositions) come from making connections;
Connections are made by juxtaposition (apposition) and sequence, between parts & Whole, etc.;
Meaning is generated from careful connections/juxtaposition;
Sequence entails consequences;
A Character Is not a Box; Instead, It Is a Doorway…
Level 1— 杉 松 枫 橡 shān sōng fēng xiàng
Fir Pine Maple Oak
Level 2— 桃 李 梨 杏 táo lǐ lí xìng
Peach Plum Pear Apricot
Level 3--- 床 桌 椅 柜 chuáng zhuō yǐ guì
Bed Table/Desk Chair Cabinet
Chinese vs. English In CHINESE writing, you can SEE the
clue on meaning: Example: MU In ENGLISH, you have to VISUALIZE Imagine a TREE, recall what THINGS look like Your Third Eye/Mind's eye: the human ability
for visualization, i.e., for the experiencing of visual mental imagery; in other words, one's ability to "see" things with the mind.
Approaching Visual Texts
Compositional/technical Juxtaposition between vulture and
baby? Visible and invisible information/cultural
knowledge needed What is the nature of this juxtaposition:
harmonious or paradoxical? Sequence/order: can we switch the
position of the vulture and baby?
Montagein Film Editing
The juxtaposition of images to create new (additional) meaning not found in either individual shot by itself--1 + 1 = 3 (Russian School)
Imagine if the vulture and the baby were shot individually…
The unusualness lies in the inherent conflict between the vulture and the baby; to juxtapose them together is paradoxical; to juxtapose the way as Carter has done is even more alarming—Sequence creates consequence; if the sequence is changed, consequence will be different.
Emotional and Intellectual Dimensions in a Visual
Text “Emotion and intellect are not separate
analytical concepts but intertwined strands in the living painting. A painting, like a book or a so’nata, has a life to share with us.” William Kloss
So’nata is a composition for one or two instruments, typically in three or four movements in contrasted forms and keys.
Compositional Analysis Perspective Foreground/midground/background Proportion and scale Contrast in baby herself: the head vs. the
body; Contrast between the vulture and the
baby girl Color scheme: complementary or
contrastive?
Description & Analysissummative/evaluative
Description (Ch. 5)
Logical sequence in organizing your description
Spatial Relationships
Five senses Details
Analysis (Ch. 4) Break down Meaning/theme/
subject Organization/form/ structure Explanation Reflection Interpretation Evaluation
Approaching a Visual TextContextual/Historical
The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed.
Types of information; relevance
Biographical note on the artist
Velazquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y (1599-1660): One of the greatest Spanish painters and a master of realism. He was the court painter at Madrid and is known for his landscapes, mythological and religious paintings, genre pictures, and portraits, as well as for his brilliant illusionism and unique interpretations of subjects.
Types of information; relevance
Marginalia/Description Marginalia: Notes in the margin Samples in Frames of
Mind; Types of Notes Diction Syntax Contexual/Historical Crux: something
pivotal but perplexing
Description Descriptive
paragraphs convey how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes or feels.
Transitional words and phrases mostly clarify spatial relationships.
Describe the picture in a logical manner
(Structure) Juxtaposition Creates Meaning
Isolated, the two images remain inert (Alfred North Whitehead,1861-1947, in his book The Aims of Education, 1929); connected, they come to life;
The artistic eye (Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham 1915);
What does Carter suggest through the vulture/girl connection/juxtaposition?
What difference does it make if we swap the position between the vulture and the girl?
Narrative quality in visual art; Critical dimension in a visual text;
Structure/JuxtapositionAppositional/Oppositional
Juxtaposition, an act or instance
of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast; the state of being close together or side by side.
Harmony Tension Unexpectedness
in artistic juxtaposition
Defamiliarization—Russian formalism
Sequence/ConsequenceNothing is random in art
Placement CONTROLS ATTENTION. Connections by ELEMENTS Connections by Sameness &
Difference Connections by FORM Connections by ASSOCIATION
Description/Larger Purpose
Descriptive Language Descriptive paragraphs convey how
something looks, sounds, smells, tastes or feels. (126)
Transitional words and phrases mostly clarify spatial relationships.
Spatial order—establishes the perspective from which readers view details. For example, an object or scene can be viewed from top to bottom or from near to far. Spatial order is central to descriptive paragraphs.
Mother vs. baby
Textual details (patches)
Impersonal touch in adoption/ orphanage business
Double-Column NotebookWhile A to B is like this, C to D is like that
Mother Dog vs. Puppies
The second frame functions as commentary on the first frame
Appositional
The Block Method: discuss one work in its entirety before taking up the other one;
The Block Structure (360)vs. the Alternating Structure (361)
The Alternating Approach: moving back and forth between two works; offer point-to-point analysis
Constructing an ArgumentBased on textual Evidence Steps in collecting
data (inductive) Evidence Warrant Claim Juxtaposition
generate meaning
Steps in presenting the conclusion (deductive)
Claim Evidence Warrant Counterpoint Recap
IntegrationHistorical/Biographical
Adoption was handled in an impersonal manner in the old days in China;
Documenting the sources
According to…
Feng Zikai’s bio Google Feng Zikai By author By subject By key words By title By combination Fish the book
Pulitzer-Winning Photograph by Kevin Carter 1993/
The Last Kiss by Feng Zikai ( 1898.11.9 -1975.9.15 )
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The Steerage by Alfred Stieglitz published in 291 in 1915/Internal Framing
Two worlds separated by a gangway bridge
The Steerage is a photograph taken by Alfred Stieglitz in 1907. It has been hailed as one of the greatest photographs of all time because it captures in a single image both a formative document of its time and one of the first works of artistic modernism.
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Upper Deck vs. Lower Decktwo worlds separated by
a gangway bridge
Contextual/historical Biographical Compositional/
technical analysis Interpretation Drawing your
claim/conclusion Google Alfred
Stieglitz
Juxtaposition/apposition/connection
Sequence and consequence
Cultural knowledge: better view
Critical/cutting edge Authorial intention
Review 1. Thinking always has verbal & visual elements 2. ALL IDEAS COME FROM CONNECTIONS --by IMAGE ELEMENT (visible appearance) --by CONCEPTS (many things share a concept) --by MOTIF (element that links several things) --by THEME (many things ABOUT same issue) --by STRUCTURE (hierarchy, strategy, shape) --by ASSOCIATION (emotion, events, etc.) 3. All ARGUMENTS depend on SEQUENCE 4. All COMPOSITION depends on a HISTORY.
Young Girl/Old Woman Switchhttp://mathworld.wolfram.com/YoungGirl-
OldWomanIllusion.html
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