The Land as Art
An assortment of photos and writings encompassing my interests in the natural and artistic world around me.
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Conserving Military History
Starting today, I will begin documenting my experiences and knowledge that I’ve gained through working at the Center of Military History, Museum Support Center in Fort Belvoir, VA. My internship began a little over two weeks ago and so far it has been an incredible opportunity. I’ve met a number of extraordinary people and I’ve seen some amazing pieces of art and artifacts. Although my main project for the summer is to assist their head art curator, Sarah Forgey in rehousing and properly storing over 6,000 works on paper completed by soldier-artists, I’ve also been tasked with other various projects. My hopes is that through this blog, I will be able to share with you all I have learned and hopefully spark your interest in military history and how the Museum Support Center (MSC) works to conserve it.
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Landscape and Western Art - A lengthy introduction
Let’s take a moment to think of when we as artists and art lovers look at the land as ‘landscape.’ Malcolm Andrews explains that this moment is of significant importance. The moment an artist documents a piece of land or a view, he/she is creating a landscape. Their representation of the land and the way in which they react to it are documented in a single painting or sketch.
How can we constitute a relationship with landscape? Andrews goes on to explain the importance of the ways in which landscape has been represented through art over the last 500 years in Europe and North America. His understanding of this process is in two parts. One must first turn land into landscape and then landscape into art.
I found that the more I read into Andrews’ explanation and his comprehension of landscape, I was leaning more towards the basics. I felt closer to Kenneth Clark’s study, Landscape into Art. My understanding throughout my college career is as follows. A ‘landscape’ is a person’s view of the land whether that is a view of the countryside, the mountains or a swamp. Art is the artist’s physical interpretation of the way in which they reacted to the landscape studied. Land becomes landscape the moment it is turned into a piece of art, or even simply looked at in an artistic way. Others may disagree with my opinion but I am a realist.
Despite my agitation towards Andrews explanation, he sums up landscape rather well later on in Chapter 9 of his book, Landscape and Western Art. Andrews writes, “Landscape in art is a framed representation of a section of the natural world, a cropped view, selected and reduced so that it can be a portable memento of an arresting or pleasing visual experience of rural scenery.”
My only question is, why couldn’t he have just said that sooner?
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Robert Smithson's Earthworks
Robert Smithson’s Earthworks have been created all around the world. His Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake, Utah resonates well with me for one obvious reason. With the way in which the spiral has been preciously formed using the natural materials surrounding the lake, it has a close resemblance to our Spiral at Sweet Briar College. Although his is moe momentous, they were both created with the same hope and inspiration.
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Field of Dreams
As I was walking through the piles of leaves, I could barely hear a conversation taking place a mere six feet away. When I think of leaves, I don’t think, what does a leaf sound like? I think to myself, how does it feel in my hands and what are the different hues a single leaf could have been?
It’s easy to become lost in your own thoughts while walking around our campus. Throughout our time spent promenading through the woods, I too feel as if I could drown in my imagination as I develop ideas for my next art assignment.
The next thing I know, I entered into an open field as if I were in a dream. This just so happened to be my favorite part of campus. With not an inch of the main campus in sight, I could imagine myself laying there for hours. I’d rest my eyes, organize my thoughts, and maybe take some time to plan out my future.
The amazing part about choosing your own future is that my future could mean in five minutes, in an hour or maybe even in a couple of years. Either way it’s my future and as long as I’m there, I grow to love who I am at that moment; a free thinking, unstressed girl in my own field of dreams.
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A Non-Minimalist Landscape
The wonderful thing about the land is that it is far from minimalist. Minimalism is constrained and elitist to an extent. Art form is meant to be thought provoking. It’s meant to make you think, make you feel, make you want to get up and fight for something. Landscape holds true to all of these. It enlightens me. It has the power to make a person feel. It in powers me to want to run, jump, write or dance. Minimalism on the other hand, makes me want to scream. I have a hard time finding beauty in something so spare when just sitting outside is fresh air for thinking and dirt for digging.
Landscape is filled with mystery and natural obscurities. Minimalist is just to simple. What you see is what you get. Nothing more, nothing less.
