Art is expression in the fastest form, novels taking hundreds of pages to draw emotion, while a single drawing can bring out the rawest feelings and personal experiences in seconds. There are many other things that can be achieved in art but for one artist Maya Lin, the art she does is made to convey emotion, show a universal truth, and create a spiritual atmosphere in her art. “Artists give form to the immaterial–hidden or universal truths, spiritual forces, and personal feelings” the attributes listed are found in her artwork. As every piece, she makes always exudes these same properties mentioned above to an extent.
Markedly Vietnam Vets War Memorial is the main example that shows Maya Lins what elements she uses primarily in her art pieces. Expressly the memorial ends up being a testament to individual sorrow and loss that those who visit will look at, the list of the gone, an overall minimalistic creation in memory of those gone. described with a diamond and just a name leads to a person viewing to be left with just the emotions embedded in the words. Specifically, the minimalistic intention is to drive attention to the names of the dead which provokes a personal response to the scene. This result was sought by Maya Lin in creating the memorial. In Maya Lin words “it
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The memorial is the center of a whirlwind of fear, sorrow, agony, and then after experiencing the overwhelming emotions, end up leaving with the feeling of acceptance, this forced confrontation is a demonstration of the core ideas implied with the design of the wall, imposing, defiant, and unforgettable. The memorial ends up forcing a person to understand and accept the situation. This idea is supported by Maya Lin herself who states “it is up to each individual to come to terms with this
The author, Brent Ashabranner, says to his readers at the end of his passage “Always to Remember: The Vision of Maya Ying Lin,” “It will make us remember that war is about sacrifice and sorrow, not glory and reward.” The it Ashabranner is referring to is the Vietnam Memorial designed by Maya Ying Lin. This memorial was the the main focus of his piece, “Always to Remember: The Vision of Maya Ying Lin.” The words Ashabranner used for his title have a significant meaning towards the passage. “Always to Remember” relates to the memorial and remembering those who died fighting in the Vietnam War. “The Vision of Maya Ying Lin” relates to Maya Ying Lin literally visualizing the memorial before is was even built.
Lin's work, unlike most previous military monuments, rejects the emphasis on heroics in favor of a poignant, contemplative, apolitical design which conveys an almost unbearable sense of loss. Simple, graceful, and abstract, the design specified two 246.75 foot long walls of polished black southern India granite, set below grade and connected at a 125 degree angle.2 Each segment of the wall is composed of 70 panels. At their intersection, the walls are 10.1 feet high and they taper down to a height of 8 inches at their extremities.3 The largest panels have 137 lines of names.4 The smallest panels have just one line. Each line consists of five names, which were sandblasted into the polished surface by hand, rather than cut into it with machine tools.5 Currently, the monument wall lists the names of 58,175 members of the armed forces who were confirmed killed or listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War.6
This book was also one of my first encounters with an important truth of art: that your work is powerful not because you convey a new emotion to the audience, but because you tap into an emotion the audience already feels but can't express.
The poem's persona and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall depend on each other to express the poem's intention. The poem's intention is to show that war is lethal, less than gloriful, and extremely real. Although years have gone by, these recollections are still affecting how he lives. Simply standing in front of the wall reminds the speaker of all of this. The Veterans Memorial takes on a life of its own. While the speaker is in its presense, the wall controls him. It forces him to remember painful memories and even cry, something he promised himself he would not do. The persona in the poem reacts to the power the wall has and realizes that he must face his past and everything related to it, especially Vietnam.
Since its emergence over 30,000 years ago, one of visual art’s main purposes has been to act as an instrument of personal expression and catharsis. Through the mastery of paint, pencil, clay, and other mediums, artists can articulate and make sense of their current situation or past experiences, by portraying their complex, abstract emotions in a concrete form. The act of creation gives the artist a feeling of authority or control over these situations and emotions. Seen in the work of Michelangelo, Frida Kahlo, Jean Michel-Basquiat, and others, artists’ cathartic use of visual art is universal, giving it symbolic value in literature. In Natasha Trethewey's Native Guard, Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,
... Vietnam Women's Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial honors members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The main part of the memorial was completed in 1982 and is located in Constitution Gardens on the National Mall, just northeast of the Lincoln Memorial. The Memorial is maintained by the U.S. National Park Service, and receives an estimated 3 million visitors each year.
Tragic events occur not only in the United States, but also all over the world. From these tragic events communities, families, and the government decide to place memorials for people that were lost and as a thank you for people protecting the citizens of the country. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Wall, in Washington D.C. is one of these cases. However, what exactly was the purpose of this memorial? The purpose of putting up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was not only to thank the veterans for their bravery, but to remind future generations about happened during the Vietnam War. Also, the memorial is important to help people and the veterans to accept the fact that the war actually
A description of the wall is necessary in order to provide a base for comparison with the rest of the story. Because we only get the narrator s point of view, descriptions of the wall become more important as a way of judging her deteriorating mental state. When first mentioned, she sees the wall as a sprawling, flamboyant pattern committing every artistic sin, (Gilman 693) once again emphasizing her present intellectual capacity. Additionally, the w...
September 11th, 2001 will forever be etched into American history as one of the worst terrorist attacks against the United States. To memorialize the victims that perished on this day, an official memorial was built in the footprints of the World Trade Centers (WTC). While the goal of this memorial was to be peaceful, some debates have arisen about the memorial. Some believe that they should have something different for the design and others dislike components of the winning design. Even with the many debates that surround this memorial, it is still a valuable piece of art to the public that provides a place for families and others to remember those who were killed on that day. People that visit the memorial connect with it physically and emotionally.
Before you begin reading this paper, look through the appendix. Are you shocked? Disgusted? Intrigued? Viewers of such controversial artwork often experience a wide spectrum of reactions ranging from the petrified to the pleased. Questions may arise within the viewer regarding the artistic merit and legitimacy of this unorthodox artwork. However, art's primary purpose, according to Maya Angelou, “is to serve humanity. Art that does not increase our understanding of this particular journey or our ability to withstand this particular journey, which is life, is an exercise in futile indulgence” (Buchwalter 27). To expand on Angelou's analogy, because everyone experiences a different life journey, art is different to everyone. In other words, art is subjective to the viewer. The viewer creates his own definition of what is art and what is not art. Some may recognize the artistic value of a piece of artwork, while others may find it obscene. Some may praise the artwork, while others will protest it. Censorship is derived from these differing perspectives on artwork. Through censorship, communities seek to establish boundaries and criteria that limit an artist's ability to produce “proper” artwork. However, some artists choose to ignore these boundaries in order to expand the scope of art and, in their view, better serve humanity.
Art is a very important part of humanity’s history, and it can be found anywhere from the walls of caves to the halls of museums. The artists that created these works of art were influenced by a multitude of factors including personal issues, politics, and other art movements. Frida Kahlo and Vincent van Gogh, two wildly popular artists, have left behind artwork, that to this day, influences and fascinates people around the world. Their painting styles and personal lives are vastly different, but both artists managed to capture the emotions that they were feeling and used them to create artwork.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial recognizes and honors the men and women who served in one of America's most divisive wars. The memorial was conceived and designed to make no political statement whatsoever about the war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place where everyone, regardless of opinion, can come together and remember and honor those who served. By doing so, the memorial has paved the way towards reconciliation and healing, a process that continues today. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial accomplishes these goals through the three components that comprise the memorial: the Wall of names, the Three Servicemen Statue and Flagpole, and the Vietnam Women's Memorial.
Maya Angelou uses powerful imagery to transport the reader into a specific event. One of the most influential pieces of imagery the author used
The mind creates the emotions and ideals responsible for art. The brain is capable of imagining glorious things, and art is the physical manifestation of these ideals. These ideals are usually intense emotions with aesthetic power (Wilson, 220). Art organizes these emotions in a matter that can easily express the ideals to...
The arts have influenced my life in amazing ways. Throughout my life, art has been the place I run to and my escape from the world. As I’ve grown older, art has become so much more than that. Every piece of art I create is a journey into my soul. It’s a priceless way to deal with my emotions and my struggles. I create art not only because I enjoy it and because I want to, but because I have to. Somewhere deep inside there is a driving force, urging me to put my heart down on paper. I become emotionally attached to each of my pieces because they are like dashes on the wall marking my growth. Each one is the solution to a problem I have dealt with and overcome.