Ramble on Arts

Recently, the art festival of our school is in full swing. However, we should not focus on the arts only at the art festival but also in our daily life. There is an old saying in China that “There is no division between literature and art”(文艺不分家). Let us look at the arts that professors in the College Liberal Arts and College of Architecture & Design like.

Professor John Chua  Communication

There are so many new things that breed in this new world, the movies are no exception. However, Professor. John Chua would like to recommend a classical film, Schindler’s List to the WKUers. Schindler’s List direct by a Jewish director called Steven Spielberg. “I used to have one of the favorite movies is that one, for now, there are too many good films now and I cannot say which is my favorite. This movie is I used to say my favorite one,” said Professor. Chua. This movie influences the career of him. Professor Chua’s dream about movies started in this movie. He used to work for Steven Spielberg’s Organization for a couple of years. Also, he created his film script when he was a student.

The Schindler’s List is a melting movie that can touch the deepest place of the heart and bring indescribable feelings to the audience. This anti-war movie has strong power and makes people cry. We can reminisce about the history of this meaningful movie.

Professor Craig Blacklock  English

Professor Blacklock has studied arts for several years. He is also the teacher of the dance classes of our school and teaches the partnering dance: Swing and Salsa. Partner dance and social dance are what he loves; he enjoys a dance with someone and holds the thought that all the dance is interesting for different reasons.

He recommended several songs which are good background music for dancing but also listen well alone. Bob Marley’s redemption song which accompanied by a lovely guitar is excellent. They can defense depression and encourage people to rise. For the American swing dancing, his favorite song is Mack the knife. Though the story behind it is linked to death and killing people, the song is good to listen to and good for dancing. Louis Armstrong’s Mack the knife is nice, powerful song. These storytelling songs with splendid music are worth listening to.

P.S: If you want to join the dance class, look at the poster beneath:

Professor Mieke Bahmer  Design

Professor Bahmer is the faculty of the College of Architecture & Design, also a lecturer of Art History. In her opinion, the form of art is communication. If art is not communicated, it is not doing its job. Art is to express the artists and needs to be communicated.

Her favorite artwork is Hiberno-Saxon. Purse Cover from the Sutton Hoo. It is about 1000 years ago, or a little bit more. This little cover can tell us incidents of people we don’t know very much and a lot of stuff we just don’t know about England, France, and Germany upon till the middle ages. It is used to identify people. So, the culture is not literate, which means people did not read or write. If you want to know how high-status somebody was, you can look at his jewelry. Because the Saxon people have a different world view, a different way of expressing themselves. The patterns on the lid are abstract, there are not a lot of easy-to-read stuff for us, but a lot of funny animals, weird abstracted patterns. However, in the end, there is a very simple program. Geometrical combined designs and abstract animals.

She likes it because it is personal history which not from other cultures and is unusual. Also, just because it is fun to look at, she can gaze at it for a long time and does not feel bored. And our students can also find their favorite artwork in this way.

Professor Danny Dyer English

Professor Dyer is the lecturer of English as well as advisor of our school’s poem club. The following poem is one of his favorite poems. Professor Dyer loves this poem because his mentor, a teacher in California, loves it. The way his mentor talks about this poem, which changes his life, also inspires professor Dyer to write poetry. This poem reminds Professor Dyer of how great it is to share art with other people, and it reminds him of his mentor. The poem itself is just a beautiful poem in a quiet, simple way. We all have moments in our lives when we feel lost or alone or useless, and this poem captures that.

At last, let us enjoy this BEAUTIFUL poem:

LATE NOVEMBER IN A FIELD

by James Wright

Today I am walking alone in a bare place,

And winter is here.

Two squirrels near a fence post

Are helping each other drag a branch

Toward a hiding place; it must be somewhere

Behind those ash trees.

They are still alive, they ought to save acorns

Against the cold.

Frail paws rifle the throughs between cornstalks when the moon

Is looking away.

The earth is hard now,

The soles of my shoes need repairs.

I have nothing to ask a blessing for,

Except these words.

I wish they were

Grass.

Writer:Xu Sibo,Zhong Yilin

Proofread:Yoki Chen