Article Summary

"The First American Modernists" 

Article by Lance Esplund, August 7, 2014

Esplund's article is about the Shakers, an American religious group facing extinction whose aesthetics and innovations have influenced modern design. Only three active followers remain of the group that developed their own style based on their core values. 

The Shakers are a Protestant sect that came to America from England in 1774. They strive to emulate the life of Christ by embracing celibacy, pacifism, and gender and racial equality. At their peak, the group reached around 6,000 people across eight states. 

Their architecture and furnishings reflected the beliefs of the Shakers while contributing to the modernization of style and design. Modesty was valued by the group and their simplistic work was an expression of that. Embellishment and ornamentation encouraged people to be prideful, a sin in the eyes of the Shakers. The beauty in their work lies in the utility rather than the traditional aesthetic. 

Esplund's article also touches on the fact that in a highly innovative new world which was experiencing Industrial Revolution, the Shakers helped maintain the value of craftsmanship. The influence of the artisans that created such unassuming but durable pieces ultimately stretched across the country and eventually across the Pacific to Japan to mesh with Zen-like ideals. 

Though the Shaker community has fallen victim to time, their presence remains in much of today's modern aesthetic:

 

Victims of the Image

Lautz Bros. and Co. Acme Soaps Advertisement. (Late 1800s). Buffalo, NY.

Soap advertisements that exploited the differences between African Americans and Caucasians like the one above were not uncommon in the 1800s. What may have seemed innocent and comical at the time, in actuality connoted that blacks were a dirty race and needed the whites' help to get clean. According to the advertisement, the Lautz Bros. soap was so strong it could wash the black from a black boy's skin. The advertisement caught my eye because it is one that blatantly compares the two races, establishing one as superior. The black boy in the advertisement looks excited to be turning white, while the white man in the image appears to be holding the boy in a way that makes the whole scenario look like a demonstration or a baptism of sorts. The white man is in control and the African American boy is happy about it.

Dove. Dove.us. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014.

This advertisement was NOT featured in Paul Rand's Victims of the Image, however was recently a subject of controversy due to poor planning on the part of the advertisers. There were many complaints about the ad layout. From left to right we see a black woman, a Latina woman, and a white woman. Behind them, before and after photos of skin washed with dove soap. What some thought it suggested was that the soap would turn a black woman white eventually, which is of course not the case. The people responsible for the ad in 2011 admitted that it was completely unintentional. I found this interesting because it shows that despite the vast decline of racism since the 1800s, people are still aware of the social stigmas surrounding race. 

Visual Theories: Cognitive

EXPECTATION

The Frog Video

Stoetter, Johannes. The Frog. 2012. Bored Panda. Web. 17 Sept. 2014.

Johannes Stoetter is a body paint artist, who specializes in illusions crafted by one or several human bodies. The image that appears to be of a colorful frog is actually an illusion composed of five different people. Expectation plays a role in our perception of this image and causes us to see the frog long before we can make out the five separate bodies that make it up.

CULTURE

Robertson, Todd. Klan Kid. 1992. Gainesville. Dayton Daily News. Web. 18 Sept. 2014.

This photograph captured by Todd Robertson is an excellent example of culture in terms of the Cognitive Theory. In it, a Ku Klux Klan child is seen approaching an African American police officer at a KKK rally in Georgia. The KKK is culture specific and the uniform would not be recognized for its true meaning by someone who was not familiar with American culture. 

WORDS

TAKING MY ROOMMATES' FOOD WITHOUT THEM NOTICING

What Should We Call Me Blog

The "What Should We Call Me" blog on tumblr.com is an example of how words give meaning and affect our perception. The blogger takes moving pictures from television shows, Youtube videos, and other sources and puts her own meaning to them in bold words above. This gives the images a new meaning and conveys how she can relate to them. 

Visual Theories: Sign Examples

Forrest Gump. Dir. Robert Zemeckis. By Eric Roth. Perf. Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Sally Field, and Mykelti Williamson. Paramount Pictures, 1994. DVD.

In this snapshot from the 1994 film Forrest Gump, both the image of the man holding the yellow smiley-face t-shirt and the smiley-face itself can be considered iconic signs. By definition, an iconic sign bears resemblance to the thing it is referencing. Therefore, many photographs can be considered iconic. The smiley-face on the t-shirt the man is holding is another example of an icon. It represents the face of a happy person, the upturned mouth making its message clear to a viewer. Although it is very simplified, we can understand the icon to represent a smiling face. 

Richters, Linda. Rainbows and Rain Clouds. 2006. United States.

Indexical signs can be defined as samples of what they represent, instead of direct depictions. A rainbow can be considered an indexical sign because one can gather from it that it has rained recently. Though the rainbow looks nothing like rain itself, we can logically come to the conclusion that it has rained when a rainbow is present.

Because these symbols have been used since the Renaissance period, I feel it is not appropriate to credit a particular person for this image. The two standard gender symbols are derived from astrological signs and were first used to mark the effective sex of plants by Carolus Linnaeus in 1751. 

The symbols that denote male and female gender are symbolic signs. These abstract depictions of biological sex do not resemble their subjects in the least, but are well known signifiers. The symbols have since been manipulated and recreated to represent the transgendered and have been combined to represent sexual orientation. 

Sin

Team Rest PowerPoint

Nonverbal Communication: Team Rest

Non-Verbal Communication Team Exercise

REST

Sleep
Lay down
Relax
Nap
Bed
Pillow
Couch
Peace
Chill
Night
Down Time
Break
Vacation
Calm
Quiet
Recovery
Half Time
Breather
Water
Warm
Stillness
Blanket
Bath
Hot tub
Doze
Rest in Peace
Dark
Alone
Hammock
Sunday
Stop
Sit
Recline
Eyes
Closed
Breathe
Slow down
Reflect
Soft
Music
Movie
Yoga
Meditate
Bedroom
Beach
Boat
Swing
Massage
Cuddle
Tired
Dream
Candles
Robe
Wine
Chocolate
Ice Cream
Hangover
NyQuil
Hotel
Cruise
Passenger
Baby
Cat
Rain
Honeymoon
Pajamas
House Shoes
Yawn
Drool
Snore
Read
Spa