Peaceful Morning at the Arboretum

This past chilly Monday morning, I visited the H.O. Botanical Gardens at the Penn State Arboretum. Yes, that is quite a mouthful! Anyway, even though I happen to live across the street from the Arboretum, I never noticed it until my English teacher said that we will be taking a field trip there. The garden is open daily from dawn to dusk and there is no admission charge. All that is asked is that you remember to be respectful to the garden because you wouldn't want to ruin the experience for others. I was pretty excited to go to the Arboretum because not only did it mean that I'd get to spend my Monday morning taking a leisure walk around the gardens, I would also get to sleep in! What college kid doesn't love having the opportunity of sleeping in on a Monday!?

This was my first trip to the Arboretum. I really enjoyed the time I spent there. It was a very relaxing and peaceful way to start my Monday morning. As I wandered around the garden, I let my mind run free and take in the beauty of my surroundings. The garden has different paths that lead you all throughout the garden so that you can view the many plants, lily-pads, flowers, gourds, and bamboo. There is also a beautiful Overlook Pavilion that overlooks the circular garden and a pretty fountain that you will first see as you are walking toward the Arboretum. While I was walking through the garden, I went underneath an archway and when I looked up, I saw green gourds hanging from the top which was pretty cool. I also like the different flowers arranged all throughout the garden. They were so many colors such as red, orange, and purple which made the garden feel lively and warm. In the middle of the garden there is a pond filled with many types of lily-pads. I'm glad I didn't spot a frog because I probably would've freaked out. After I finished looking at the lily-pads I continued to walk until I saw a section filled with bamboo stalks. While I was looking at the bamboo plants, my teacher shared with me that bamboo can be used as a means of torture because it grows very quickly. All you have to do is lay a person on a bed of short bamboo stalks and it will grow so quick that it will go right through the person's body! When I heard that I shuddered a little and imagined how painful that must feel. I then headed to the fountain and took in the beauty of it. I walked around it and even stopped to look at the view of some workers working in the field, the Forest Resource Building, the Business Building, and finally my dorm residence East Halls. After that, I made my way back to my dorm but not without taking one final look at the Arboretum.

I am somewhat of a nature-lover because every now and then I like to get away from my busy life and relax in nature's surroundings. I have always enjoyed taking walks or bicycle rides with my dad through the Valley Forge National Historic Park which is located in Valley Forge, PA. I also like to watch water-shows and walk through gardens, meadows, and woodlands with my mom at Longwood Gardens which is located in Kennett Square, PA. My neighborhood also has many trails that lead into the woods that I like to take walks on with my little brother and sister.

I really enjoyed my visit to the Arboretum. It was a great way to start off my Monday morning. I will probably be going back many times to continue exploring the Arboretum because it is pretty big and I only got to look at a small portion. If you happen to know anyone that enjoys nature and its perks, you should tell them to go here. It's a nice escape from the busy campus life and a great place to go and think and reflect on things in life. Check out the fountain as well at night because the water combined with the lights is quite a sight!

Here are some pictures I took of the different things in the Arboretum

Sarah Bernhardt

As I was walking through the Palmer Museum of Art and observing the different styles of paintings, sculptures, etc. many pieces caught my attention. The Peacock Blue and Yellow Seaform Set with Yellow Lip Wraps by American artist Dale Chihuly, which is a seaform made of blown glass, the Thompson and Bleecker Streets by American painter George Luks, which is a nice oil on canvas painting of an open-air market in a working class neighborhood in lower Manhattan in the year 1905, and finally Sarah Bernhardt from Rebus by Brazilian American artist Vik Muniz, which is a colorful picture of French actress Sarah Bernhardt. Out of these three pieces, Sarah Bernhardt from Rebus is my favorite. This is one of the first pieces you will see when you enter the second level of the Palmer Museum of Art. Even after looking around the at the rest of the art on the second level, I was drawn back to it. I just couldn’t stop looking at this amazing piece!

Sarah Bernhardt was a French actress who lived from October 22, 1844 to March 26 1923. She was born in Paris, France as Rosine Bernhardt (Sarah Bernhardt is her stage name). She is known as “the most famous actress the world has ever known”. Sarah was also given the nickname “The Divine Sarah” because she was a serious dramatic actress. She has been in many famous plays and films and even after getting her entire right leg amputated in 1911, it didn’t stop her from ending her career. Bernhardt also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which is located at 1751 Vine Street.

Sarah Bernhardt is from the Rebus Series which was made in 2010 by Brazilian American artist Vik Muniz. The Rebus Series is a collection of pictures that are made of toys. From far away, Sarah Bernhardt looks like a colorful painting of the beautiful actress who has a nice gown on and is leaning on a chair. When you walk up closer to the piece, you will see that in fact paint is not being used to portray her but instead it is toys! You can’t help but be amazed at how this picture tricked your mind into thinking it is made of paint when it is really made of toys. I felt like I was looking at a page in an I Spy book as I was looking at the picture and finding objects that I recognized. While looking at the picture, I came up with a list of some of the different toys that I saw on this piece of art. Here is what I saw: Letters in the alphabet, dominos, Shrek & Fiona, toy animals, dice, chess pieces, toy airplanes, Lego’s, Spongebob, Eve from the movie Wall-e, toy animals, toy soldiers, toy cars, Pez dispensers, jacks, palm trees, and beads.

Vik Muniz was born on December 20th in 1961 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He moved to New York in the late 1980s after being shot in the leg and using the compensation money from his injury to fund the trip. He currently lives and works in New York City. He originally was a sculptor but grew more of an interest in photography. Muniz has worked with many different materials such as dirt, diamonds, sugar, string, garbage, and even chocolate syrup to create images. His works have been exhibited worldwide and his solo show at MAM in Rio de Janeiro was second in the attendance record (Picasso is first).

I thought it was very cool and creative how Vik Muniz was able to use these different toys to create a beautiful and colorful picture of Sarah Bernhardt. It shows viewers that you can really take anything and make it into a beautiful form of art. By using toys to portray images I think Vik is trying to tell viewers to be young and enjoy your life because “you are only young once”. When you look at his Rebus Series, you kind of feel like a kid again because you are looking at pictures made of toys and it brings you back to the days when you used to look at I Spy books and have competitions with your friends to see who can find the objects the quickest.

I really enjoyed my first trip to the Palmer Museum of Art. My mother and I have been going to the Philadelphia Museum of Art regularly since I was little because its only 45 minutes from my house so I’ve pretty much always been a museum-goer. Out of all the exhibits I have seen at Philadelphia Museum of Art, my favorite exhibit by far is the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit. I was like a kid in a candy store when I went to see it. I really enjoyed looking at all of his paintings and I didn’t want to leave. Anyway, I’ll definitely be taking my mother to see the Palmer Museum of Art. I know she will enjoy it as much as I did.

Here are some pictures I took at the museum of Sarah Bernhardt from Rebus Series:

Works Cited

http://www.answers.com/topic/sarah-bernhardt

http://www.wastelandmovie.com/vik-muniz.html

http://arndtberlin.com/website/media/artists/Muniz/Vik_Muniz.pdf

 http://inspirationgreen.com/muniz-junk-art-series.html

Blog Analysis

Title: I wanted the title to be simple but not completely plain to the point where it doesn’t catch a reader’s eye. I decided to go with “So Sophisticated: The Arts at PSU” because it pretty much sums up what the arts at Penn State are in one word. Sophisticated. Even through all that has happened in the past year, the academics and student/faculty body has remained sophisticated and showed the world that Penn State is and will always be a great institution.

Template: "Simplicity is best" is the motto I kept in my head while I was deciding how I wanted my blog to look. I wanted my blog to be easy to navigate through because I know how quick young adults (including myself) get frustrated when they can't find something on a blog/website. After changing my mind multiple times I finally decided to choose the "Watermark" for my template. I then changed the background to a spotlight because I want the readers to know that the arts at Penn State are in the spotlight.

Color: I decided to go with a sunset color because I feel that it gives the reader a mellow and relaxed feeling. I want the readers to feel like they are at home while reading my blog posts. I didn't want something to bright and flamboyant. For the text colors I just stuck with black, white, and grey. Many times I have come across articles that were in colors such as pink, red, blue, etc. that were pretty hard to read. So to keep it simple, I decided that black, white, and grey would do the trick.

Font: After going through the entire list of fonts and seeing how my title looked with all of them, I finally decided that the "Lobster" font would be the one. I like the cursive look it has to it and I think my title looks great. For the post texts, I went with the font "Georgia" because it's plain, easy to read, and also happens to be the name of my mom =)

Pages: As I stated earlier, I want my blog to be simple and easy to navigate. So to accomplish that, I put pages in my blog so that everything is easy to find. So far I have a "Home" page and an "About Me" page and I'll probably add some more as we get further into the semester. The "About Me" page basically will tell you about myself, my interests, etc. and I like that better then the "About Me" sidebar because get to let the readers know who I am.

I think my blog looks pretty good. It definitely took longer then I expected because I changed my mind a lot and I got distracted every now and then by Twitter, Skype, or the people that live on my floor. After all these hours, I now have a blog that I am satisfied with and that I believe says who I am as a person. I am pretty quiet and relaxed and I wanted my blog to have a relaxed feeling. I hope that through this blogging course I will learn how to not be so quiet and let my voice be heard through words. I am also looking forward to seeing everyone's opinion on things because I might learn a thing or two from them.