What Is Art?

Introduction - What Is Art?

There are numerous “arts” in the world. Most people say, “this is art”, when they watch a beautiful and perfect work of someone. However, What is art? Every time I am in touch with a product and work which is made and created by someone or something, this question is always stuck in my head. Art varies a great deal in the shape. Art includes not only a photography, painting, sculpture and building but also, music, cooking, literature, landscape and so on. Then what is definition of art? Through the class in this semester, I have learned Cross Cultural Awareness, and I would like to state my opinion about what art is, with a background like the class, quoting the readings and experiences.

My Opinion on Art after the Class

We have learned Southern Culture in the class for example, a novel of William Faulkner, a painting of Theora Hamblett, Southern Food and a song of Elvis Presley. Southern culture is so called, folk art, and is produced by peasants. Usually, many people think art is produced by talented people like famous photographer or intelligent designer, not peasant and common people. However, I do not think art is a work only created by such great people. According to Edna Lewis in her essay, “What is Southern?”, she said, “I thought cooking in Southern was creative work.” Theora Hamblett also developed her technique of drawing, that is, “red over yellow”, cited in the essay of Theora Hamblett. Southern culture is apparently primitive because it does not follow the basic rule, but actually it is a collection of creativity. Also, we have learned Southern Culture, and at the same time, we have created our own works, getting from the original works like movie and photography. We created our own works, thinking what we think and what we would like to express. That is why I think southern culture is also art - including southern food, which is said that “Southern food was endangered or enduring.” as Fred W. Sauceman stated. However, people in Southern United States have created their arts using their creativity inspired by the land, environment and history, and I think that southern culture is a part of art and that southern culture will not disappear, and last for many generations same as other art like Picasso and Haruki Murakami.

Conclusion

After I have experienced the class, Cross Cultural Awareness, I have been in touch with a lot of art, and I have found art is a product which has creativity of someone or something. The painting of Gogh, “the Sunflower” is, of course, art. My mosaic about “the Everything is Illuminated” is art. In my opinion, the Grand Canyon National Park is also art. This is because it is a kind of art created by nature's creativity. Art exists all around the place in every era, and we live together with a lot of art. It is very vague and obscure as a definition, but “creativity”, this is my answer to the question, “What is art?”

EDITORIAL

What is art?

The word “ART” is almost everywhere in our modern culture but its definition is not really simple. One of the most difficult things when discussing art is finding a line between what is art and what is not. A basic definition of art refers to it as a product of Human creativity. It can be considered as the creation of beautiful or significant things. Art can also be a process of deliberately arranging in a way to affect senses and emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture and paintings. Art is very important in our life. It starts from our every day life and artists try to focus on our human nature or on our thinking. From paintings to music passing by literature art comes from our experience and our thoughts and it represents a path to follow in the exploration of the culture and way of living of a society. However art is very subjective and personal.

Considering the basic definition of art, we can try to analyze some very well known authors like William Faulkner and his short story “A ROSE for Emily ” to try to present a piece of literature as art. In this short story Faulkner presented a small town and the way that some people behave in this area. Is it art? If we try to consider the way that the author presented the story, the characters of the story, we can agree that you need imagination and creativity to complete such extraordinary short story, however journalists who are writing news everyday also use imagination and creativity. They use it everyday in their work, so can we consider what they are doing as art? Who can decide what is art and what is not art? Is it the common sense? If it’s the common sense, is it really a fair judgment?

We usually consider music and paintings as most significant art whether as art itself because we see people who are doing these activities not very similar to us. We usually believe that everyone does not have the skills for being a painter or a musician. This consideration is true, but is it a fair way to ascribe what they are doing the name of “art”. Is it just because everyone cannot do it that makes it become art? In this case we would say that art is not for everyone. These artists would have some special skills that make them become kind of sacred characters. This argument is very important to consider because it attributes art to a small group of people. If this argument is so strong, what about students who are learning music and painting in our colleges? What can we say about projects we did in our Cross-cultural class?

I’m very pleased to mention our works that we have done in our cross-cultural class because some of them recur skills and imaginations to be able to interpret and to present what we feel through mosaics, photomontages or collages. Can we consider them as art? My answer is yes. I believe that they are art because the creativity is obvious in these works. However the problem of exclusivity of art is very important in this case and we realize it’s not really true because it’s a matter of choice. Everyone can be an artist if they want to, but you may need more than the will.

This possibility for everyone to be able to become an artist is sends us to another kind of art named folk art. Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring trades people. This kind of art is utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic. Folk art is very important. Folk art is very popular. It is the expression of our every day life with all of its objects.

ERIC ROLEX JOSEPH

what is art by ELEA ORTEGA

ART ART ART WHAT IS ART?

A good definition of the arts is given by the Free Dictionary as "imaginative, creative, and nonscientific branches of knowledge considered collectively, especially as studied academically."

On the other hand we have the singular term art “Art is created when an artist creates a beautiful object, or produces a stimulating experience that is considered by his audience to have artistic merit.”

For instance we have Marie Hall and Andrew Bucci, their art was to provoke a sense or thoughts on people. So people could interpret their masterpieces, as they wanted. As I did with one of Marie Hall’s painting, Bright Fields, which on me provoke, happiness, love, and faith, because of the bright colors and the combination of intensity.

So, one could conclude that art is the process that leads to a product (the artwork or piece of art), which is then examined and analyzed by experts in the field of the arts or simply enjoyed by those who appreciate the arts.

Art is for everybody; sometimes it requires discipline for those who really want to penetrate into the beauty of art.

To me at some point, to create art you have to put your heart and soul, in order to create something meaningful. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is not art”.

For example, the entire projects that we have done, I consider them art, because they are made from the bottom of my heart.

Some examples of Arts are: Fine Arts, Liberal Arts, Visual Arts, Decorative Arts, Applied Arts, Design, Crafts, Performing Arts, and so on.

There is some other arts too, for instance folk art which is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic. It is also a way to express one's feelings and emotions in a material way it involves hard work and effort and it's able to motivate sentiments in its appreciators. Theora Hamblett is a perfect example, she was an artist from Oxford, Mississippi, she did not go to a professional school of arts and none professional artist taught her either. It was innate in her. She did not follow any rules; she had her own techniques, techniques that we then follow on class in order to create our own art.

My favorite arts and the ones that I can say I practice is the photography, which is the art of creating still or moving pictures. The other one is dance, which is human movement to express feelings and emotions and is an example of performing arts.

Now with all of this and with the case of our own creations I can come to the conclusion that Art is a way to express our feelings and thoughts, sometimes emotions that the heart download in some way. They are so many ways to express it for example we have sculptures, photography, music, painting drawings, dance. In addition art involves effort and a lot work. These ideas mixed together bring what it is art.With a clear statement or the intention to make the appreciator create her or his own meaning, art goes beyond that a form of expression becoming an instance of developing and creation of something new and original.

Art Is... (By Nelson Salgado)

Shorter than the most of the acronyms, the three-letter word “art” has been the reason of debates among scholars who have tried to give it a definition. In this respect, it is not a simple task to reach an agreement considering that everyone has her or his own point of view influenced and determined by his or her own experiences.

From my personal point of view there are three inherent aspects that belong to anything considered as “art”: First, the necessity of expressing one’s own emotions feelings, beliefs, fears, hopes, etc. Artists in a wide variety of artistic disciplines have been inspired by their first love, their hate toward an enemy, their political ideologies or their anxiety of facing a war, to cite some examples. Even though the motivations of the piece were merely utilitarian at the beginning, as it happens with folk art, the elaboration process itself involves choosing a source of inspiration, no matter how small and trivial it could seem. The following aspects also suits with the idea that folk art deserves to be considered as art.

Another aspect that I consider as an important element for making this definition is the fact that art involves the act of an arduous creation. This means that the work behind a painting, a sculpture or a song was very thoughtful, involving a stage of thinking and was followed by a laborious completion stage. In this regard, one might think about famous and popular singers declaring on cameras that their albums were the results of a “crazy night” only, what is certain is that the final result involved a lot of work and preparation.

It is also essential that the work must be representative of its creator. Although artists are influenced by trends or movements, a piece of art should always be able to be linked with its creator or at least with the trend that form part of. For instance, the Mississippian writer and novelist William Faulkner is internationally recognized by the distinct stream of consciousness that characterizes the narrative style in his novels and short stories. Little details or an entire hallmark, the purpose is that this new creation be as much representative of its creator as possible. As Marie Hull declared in an interview with Virginia McGehee Elias, “… Most artists are essentially students trying to arrive at some creative form of art that expresses their own individuality.” (qtd. in Batton Beth, Curator of the Collection and Public Programs, Mississippi Museum of Art).

Considering these three different aspects, it is clearer to identify what is art and what is not. Throughout the semester, my classmates and I made some handicrafts such as mosaics based on movie clips. Although we tried to add our own personal touch, as we were restricted to several guidelines, in my opinion, it made that those works lacked of the first assert: necessity of expression. For me, it avoids breaking the barrier between a handicraft and a piece of art. Totally different is what happened with the paintings based on Theora Hamblett’s style. In this case, even though we were trying to use Ms. Hamblett’s technique, we could still use our own source of inspiration in order to express ourselves through this work, which completely suits with the essence of art.

In summary, that meaningful and and full-of-effort expression involving the creation of something that is representative of its author in any discipline is the real essence of art.

What is Art?

What is Art?

“Art is the result of techniques and abilities made by an artist to create an appreciable product”, Here is a definition gave by Diallo Djibril , an English language intensive researcher in Victoria, Canada. Using this definition as a starting point, I am going to, through this editorial express, discuss it and also give my own definition of Art.

“...a result of techniques and abilities ...”

This part of the statement make us reflect on the exactness of the words chosen. First of all for the meaning. “Abilities” and technique fit in the two contexts of art:On one side, concerning something that have been worked in a institution with some established rules. The technique worked in a school for example, and the abilities of using established techniques such as perspective or the rule of third.

On the over side, concerning a gift (something innate) or something that has been worked without the application of established rules: Folk art. Folk art first defined the art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants. Nowadays, It is mainly refered to a oeuvre made by someone who don't really have the knowledge to do it. Theora Hamblett, a famous painter from Oxford, Mississippi, is a perfect example for a Folk art painter. Hamblett painted without any consistent background (neither proportional nor perspective were present in her work).That didn't affect the fact that her art was and is still appreciated. That brings diversity, originality and became because of it , ”appreciable”.

“...made by an Artist...”

This part of the sentences, unlike the previous, can be controversial because, some of the objects that we now consider as art have not always been considered as it. For example, Greek pottery were used in a practical way more than for decoration (these pottery were used for food, drinks and so on) or a Turkey-quilt exposed in the museum of the university of Mississippi in Oxford:this Turkey-quilt was made out of pieces of old clothes and were used for domestic necessities .

So the people who created this art (The pottery or the turkey-quilt) were not really considered artists even if they made things that can, nowadays, be qualified as art.

“...create an appreciable product...”

This part of the sentence shows the aim of art. The term “product” defines both material (Paintings, pottery, sculptures...) or immaterial things (music, theater, cinema...).The aim of the art in general is to be appreciate. Even for pottery or other material that were not made to become oeuvre-d'arts, They are considered as art starting from the moment that they are not used anymore for their basic functions but exposed to be appreciated by a public.

For me, Art is a relative notion. As a man made creation (for entertainment or for religious purpose), the notion of art depends of every individual person. Only the willing make art. I can see something as art because I decided that it is art (Consciously or subconsciously). For instance people who go to the museum, expect to see art, so, even if toilets are exposed there, they will see it as art. Art is a personal and individual, but not only. Art also depends on society and influences .For instance, if an artist decided to represent G*D in a painting it will be for most people, not art at all because the divinities are not supposed to be represented. The Jocund of Leonardo Da Vinci is an other example of the influence of society. It is considered as art everywhere even by people who never saw it because it has a cultural impact.

All throughout, we have been working on projects that contains paintings, photography, writings and so on.

In on side we are not painters or professional photographers, so we may not have the skills required to do these oeuvres but, in the over side, we had to follow some rules established (by the professors) such as the rule of third or the respect of color and brightness balance in photography. Our art is situated between awkwardness represented by Folk art and the opposite which is called fine art.

Referring to the definition above, I decided to consider it as Art but for someone exterior to the project, it will not be Art and will be surely “naive” and awkward. But if it was exposed in a museum, I don't think that those same people would consider it naive or awkward anymore.

ISSABRE Hamadoun

What is Art?

Art has been the central part of human civilization. When it comes to Egypt, pyramids are always brought up. So far, I have been to the University’s Museum, Rowan Oak, Graceland Too, and Ajax, and I wonder what exactly art is. Although the things that I mentioned above are different, they are all considered as art, because they have one thing in common: creation.

Art is the combination of creation and personal feelings of artists that would strike a chord with their audience. For example, Theora Hamblette is a famous folk artist in Mississippi. Most of her paintings are about her farm life. In one of her series, “Untitled”, is a shocking reminder to me, the good old days with my childhood friends. Little did I know about her life when I visited the museum, but somehow it came to me that the artist has something to say about her childhood. Hamblette told her audience through her paintings, and her paintings might give her audience different feelings. There was quilt art on display. I was astonished by how it looked, because quilt is something that we use to cover our bodies when we go to bed, but according to the director “when it is put on the wall it becomes art!”

In order to experience art, I made my very own painting and two mosaics. I think they are a kind of art, though I am not famous. I made them in the way that I perceived my pictures and in combination of my personal feelings, just like any artists. Another thing about this is that when I made my mosaics I was trying so hard to get the images that I perceived from the movies. When I put my images down, I knew I had to think about whether or not people could relate to my mosaics. If they can’t, then the mosaics should at least make them know what I wanted to say, just like Hamblette’s paintings.

Art is the refined form of creation, especially when it comes to literature. Literature refines words and thoughts of a writer. It gives us space to think about the things that the writer writes about. For example, in “A Rose for Emily”, Faulkner depicts a town life of his days. The way he wrote it makes us interested in the town life, and we begin to think carefully as we read. It also makes us ponder at the reasons why Emily would murder her husband. Literature also appeals to the emotions of a writer. “A Rose for Emily” is based on what Faulkner had seen in Mississippi. Accordingly, reading it is just like opening a door which leads me back to his days. I once believed it to be a true story!

Art could be found in the form of music. Whether it is rock and roll, country music, jazz, or blue, they could strike a chord with us. Music not only has stress-relieving sounds but also expresses the feelings of singers, and the feelings transmit to their fans. It is something that we listen first and share our feelings with one another about. I went to Graceland Too to see Elvis Presley’s collection, but when I got there the owner didn’t answer the door. As a result, I watched his videos on YouTube. I listened to one of his songs, “Words”, and it sounded so great. I have heard it sung by another band, but I didn’t know Presley came first. A quote from “Yesterday Once More”, “When I was young, I listened to the radio, waiting for my favorite song…,” best describes how I relate to music. It is the song that I would listen to again and again. I may not know how the singer feels. All I know is that the song is sad, and the singer craftily passed this feeling on me.

Art has many faces. It can’t be defined in one way. In short, if we find something to appreciate, it could be called “art”.

Introduction

Culture is something that a group of people share within a place, a region, or a country. To be specific, it could be food, customs, social values, or spoken and written language, commonly shared by a certain people. It also gives the people in this culture an identity that is widely recognized by other people. Without the coat of culture, a people may lose their identity as well as recognition. To introduce Southern Culture, I would like to discuss literature, painting, and food that I have learned in Oxford, Mississippi, as the miniature of Southern Culture.

William Faulkner


When it comes to literature in the south, William Faulkner, the winner of Nobel Prize for literature in 1950, is probably the first thing that people would talk about.

As a young man, Faulkner’s romance was not as smooth as people thought. He first fell in love with Estelle. But she was dating some other boys while in romance with him. It turned out that her parents wanted her to marry one of the boys she was dating. Sadly, she got divorced ten years after her marriage. After that, Faulkner married her.

Mr. Faulkner’s life as a writer is not as easy as people expected. Just like many writers, “the thrill of a penny more of less” put him under intensive pressure. In order to buy Rowan Oak, which is said to be $250,000 at his days, he had to write a lot. In addition, in search for inspiration for his writing, he drank a lot alcohol, and that is widely known as binge drinking.

The center of Faulkner’s works, as he described “postal stamps of native soil”, is about where he lived: Yoknapatawpha, where is actually Lafayeff Country. It was his ambition to write everything he had experienced in Mississippi. In one of his famous works, “A Rose for Emily”, he wrote about a family back in his days which used to be a big family. He detailed what was going in this town, what people at that time would do, and Emily’s family.

Reading William Faulkner helps us uncover the veil of Southern Life. He gives us some pictures of what the social values in this town were like. For example, back in his days women from high-class family might have to follow some kinds of social rules to maintain their prestige. Another example is that most of the people in the town were involved and concerned about Emily family. They were curious about what happened to Emily and eager to know what became of her. Finally, but not limited to, the story might be a fabrication, meaning that it might not be based on a true story. But the whole idea is based on where Faulkner lived.

Folk Art

Folk art, known as naïve art, outsider art, or primitive art, plays a significant role in Southern Art. Those artists don’t go to schools to be trained. They use whatever they have to create their styles of painting. I went to The University Museum. There is a huge collection of folk art, like painting on plywood or quilts. Among the collection, Theora Hamblett is my focus.

Theora Hamblett was born in Lafayeff County in 1895. She went to school in a small town of Paris. When she was young, she loved drawing. Graduating from Lafayeff High School, she became a teacher and taught for over fifteen years, in a small one to two teacher school. In 1939, Theora moved to Oxford, and much of her income was made renting rooms in her house to college students.

Theora Hamblett is best remembered as a memory painter. She produces a lot of paintings from the memories of her childhood. Without learning all the techniques for her paintings, there is no perspective in her paintings. There is a painting that some cows are running in circle in a field. Because of no perspective, it looks like the cows are running without Earth’s gravity. One of the series of her paintings in the museum, “Untitled”, is about some children are playing in circle. Another series is about her religious vision. There I saw some people ascending to heaven and Heavenly Father welcoming them.

Farm life is very important to Miss Hamblett. From her autobiography, she gave a miniature of what her life was like. Farm life is the center of her childhood, and it gives her the sources to paint, and churches her religious vision. In addition to farm life, churches also play an important role in Miss Hamblett’s life. Among her paintings, there are three religious ones the most important.

My Hamblett’s Style Painting

I did a painting, just like Miss Hamblett did. It is very interesting to do a painting like this. I have never learned any skills for drawing or painting. After I finished my painting, I realized how hard it was for Miss Hamblett to paint three hundred paintings, especially when she put two coats of paint on her trees. I did the same thing when I painted my trees. I first painted the sky, and then all the way down to the grassland. In order to show different colors of leaves, I put three to four coats on my trees.

Southern Food

Under the influence of many countries, Southern food is a various blend of food. Today, I went to Ajax with some other IEP students and teachers. We ordered some Southern food at. I ordered Plate Lunches, with pork chops, hash brown casserole, and turnip green. Another student also ordered Plate Lunches, but with chicken &dumplings, broccoli, and red beans.

Southern food is really good. My first impression on Southern food is just like any typical American food. But, after eating in Ajax, I could tell people that American food is not bad at all. I am really glad that there are some good food luring out there and waiting for me in America.

SOUTHERN CULTURE

The Southern Culture

The culture of a society can be defined as the way that people live and think as a group. Culture also includes musical styles, cuisine and customs. In America, There is a different between The South and other parts of the country. The combination of its unique history and “ fact that many Southerners maintain—and even nurture—an identity separate from the rest of the country has led to its being the most studied and written about region of the United States.”(Wikipedia)

CUISINE:

The influence that this part of The USA undergoes from Europeans contributes to the emergence of this unique culture. Their cuisine is often described as one of its most distinctive traits: “ Everything is fried”. Southern culinary culture has adopted an early Native American cuisine. Some notable "home cooking" meals include: fried chicken, corn on the pot liquor, vegetable stew, chicken and dumplings, and chicken fried steak. Even if the South shares so many characteristics, there are some differences between some States and their cuisine. The variety of cuisines range from: Tex-Mex cuisine, Cajun, and Creole, traditional antebellum fare, all types of seafood, and Texas, Carolina and Memphis styles of Barbecue. (Southern Culture, p456)

ART:

The Southern Region has been home of many artists.They present different kind of works from folk art, to expressionism. Artists in the South sometimes mixed spirituality and traditional religious motifs with surrealism and dream-like post-modernism. One of the most famous artists in the South is Howard Finster. Techniques used by these artists were very different but the results were still perfect. For instance Mari Hull is one of the famous artist in Oxford, Mississippi. Her technique is usually the utilization of pastel on paper to create a presentation original. Her influence is such that Marry Bawel said: “Any reference to art in Mississippi and the South since the early part of the 20th century would not be complete without Marie Hull. Her art and life as a painter and teacher have influenced hundreds of young artists to make their way in art.” The contribution of Southern artists in the developpement of the art in the US is widely acknowledged by people interested in the field. The paintings of artists from the South are sometimes a representation of the Civil war and the participation of their states in the building of the Modern America. Theora Hamblett is also one of the famous artists that people are proud of in the South. My painting is an example of her techniques.

LITERATURE:

As for art, Southern writers are well kwon and they present the reality of their region in their writing. Among famous writers in the South, we can cite William Faulkner, one of the most famous writers of USA. Faulkner won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1949. His writing is sometimes the description of the area where he lived. Faulkner brought new techniques such as stream of consciousness and complex techniques to American writings (As I lay dying). Other famous writers in the South deserve acknowledgement such as Mark Twain for his extensive knowledge of the Mississippi River and The South .He included in his works the injustice of slavery and the culture of Protestant public morality. Southern writers are known for their novel and their great capacity for transmitting to the reader their point of view.

The Southern of USA is very different because of its culture, its history, its people and their economic situation even if it is not homogeneous.

ERIC ROLEX JOSEPH

Explore Southern Culture by Genshu Ota

Introduction

　　　　　I have read an essay written by Theora Hamblett, “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner and an essay about Southern foods; visited museum and Rowan Oak; watched short documentary clips ; ate typical Southern Food, and discussed these in class. From these activities, I learned Southern Culture such as literature, art and food, and I think that Southern Culture have been formed, connected deeply to the land and history in Southern United States.

Southern Food

　　　　　This is a picture which is one of the most famous Southern food – fried okra. Okra is very popular in Japan, but I never thought okra is popular even in Southern United States because okra is a little sticky, and it may feel weird for American people. Though I ate a fried okra in the Ajax in square, we, Japanese usually eat okra in a raw or boiled, so it was the first time to eat okra with fried. As Edna Lewis said in the essay, “What is Southern?”, I thought cooking in Southern was creative work, too. Sweet potato was also stranger to me, and it was very sweet as if it were a dessert, not a dish. Local natural vegetables are used in Southern food, though certainly, genetically modified crazy green monster was used in someone's dish, I felt that “living in a rural setting is inspiring” as Edna Lewis stated.

Landscape Picture

　　　　　I took this picture in the Grove at noon in a sunny day. As it is written in an essay of Theora Hamblett, she loved trees and they appeared in many her works because she was growing up surrounded and inspired by many trees. That is why I took it in this place which is lined everywhere with many trees. And I needed light and shade because she used her unique technique in her works where “On my trees, I always put two coats of paint: red over yellow.”

Painting with Theora Hamblett

　　　　　This is my own painting of the landscape photo. Our mission is to paint following the way of drawing of Theora Hamblett. Firstly, I used her technique – red over yellow. However, I did not follow her everything, and I focused on two trees as an object for red over yellow because I would like to emphasize shade and light. Firstly I drew trees in green, and next put dot in red after yellow. And I used a gradation for the light of the sun. However, I have a point that I should have changed a little. I should have used white color in the side of trunk which the sun is shining on. Probably, Theora Hamblett used white color in trees in order to express the shining of the sun.

Conclusion

After finishing the painting, I learned something from the process of painting in the style of Theora Hamblett, and from her essay. That is her creativity. She created her own technique, red over yellow, and it is well evaluated even now. As Edna Lewis said in “What is Southern?”, I also thought that “There is something about the South that stimulates creativity in people, be they black or white writes, artists, cooks, builders, or primitives that pass away without knowing they were talented .” The way of drawing of Theora Hamblett seems to be primitive because she did not follow the basis of writing, but in fact, her works are very descriptive and very creative. I think it is also applied to entire Southern Culture including food. Southern has been separated from being industrialized, and cultivation has been mainly done by black people. We can see this in food. According to Edna Lewis, “Cooking is hard and demanding. It was then, and it still is now.” “the South developed the only cuisine in this country.” Southern Food has been inspired by the land, history and people, and been formed. It is one of creative work in Southern as well as art. I try to be creative here in the University of Mississippi, surrounded by many creative works.

Southern Culture

The Southern Culture is the product of many (previous or foreign) cultural influences, which permit it to developed its own customs (art, literature, cuisine). Because of (or thanks to) conservatives which maintain this history (those literatures, foods, and so on), the southern culture is nowadays, probably America’s most distinct culture .

Art

--Theora Hamblett--

Theora Hamblett , one of the most famous artists from Oxford, Mississippi, is well known for her paintings of nature and social activities in a “child style”. Hamblett started painting without any consistent art background .She began after few art classes at Ole miss university in 1950. The first remarkable aspect in her art were that there wasn‘t neither proportionality nor perspective and that causes her art to be qualified as a naive artist. Nevertheless, thanks to her hard work, in 1954, Betty Parsons a New York art dealer began promoting her work successfully.

Theora Hamblett's style painting.

The assignment for this work was ,from a real picture of a landscape, make a painting using Hamblett's technique. As said previously,it was hard for two things: the fact of avoiding the perspective while we are inspiring on a picture and the leaves which was more complicated that it seems.

Literature

--William Faulkner: A Rose for Emily--

After the first reading it is hard to depict any deepness in William Faulkner’s rose for Emily except some suppositions on gossip in small villages which are not that unfounded and can make us doubt about the veracity of Emily’s dark secret. But When the text is studied further, we can perceive that W. Faulkner was effectively describing southern values in two supplementary ways; how were the old southern values and how does it try to involve.

First of all,thinking of Emily’s secret, we can see that there is a parallelism, an allegory between her situation and the southern values of this era. Her aristocrat background which represented idyllic and almost perfect persons hide the atrocity behind as well as the atrocity of racism that existed and was in the antebellum south.

Secondly,also by allegories, he shows a conflict between the old southern culture and the new one. For Instance in the old one, Emily didn’t have to pay taxes but in the new one she have to but she couldn’t accustomed her self. As Thomas Dilworth said, “Emily rebelled against Southern values and , by ending her relation with Homer Barron […] she conformed again Southern ones”

Food

Southern Food has a huge responsibility in the hegemony of the southern culture. Two main influences make the southern culinary culture so rich and diverse but also maintain a certain cohesion.

First, the American Indian influence from which came Corn,the main staple of Southern nourishment. One of the popular sayings "If it ain't fried it ain't cooked" shows the second impact f the American Indian culture on the southern dishes. The big majority of the dishes are fried and greasy

The second is the African American influence which is also called the soul food. African American had also played a primordial place in the southern cuisine.Most of the dishes consist in various vegetables and rice which is one of the staple.

Finally,conservatism,which is more a principle than an influence, permit to maintain a certain cohesion and not be influenced by neither contemporary northern people nor nowadays influences.

Mentioned in songs and so on, hot tamale is a part of this culinary tradition. It Appeared at least in the early part of the twentieth century in what is called “the most southern place on earth” (the Mississippi and The some of the US other southern states).There isn't one story about how tamale have been introduced in southern culture but as many as there is tamale recipes but as Tamale recipes vary from place to place and from person to person, it makes a lot of hypothesizes about their apparition. Ones of the most recurrent are that migrant laborers who were brought in the US from Mexico to work the cotton harvest brought it with them or that it is a from African Americans. Hot tamale stayed in southern culinary tradition (while a lot of things have changed) because of family tradition and public demand. Today, African Americans in the Delta are the primary keepers of the tamale-making tradition even if it is possible to procures almost everywhere.

For Marcie Cohen Ferris,Food reflects both [the] national and regional culture as surely as do the fields of art, folklore, geography, history and so on. It expresses tradition, memory and, particularly for southern culture, family,conviviality and all the other aspects that are deep encrusted in southern societies.

So, why, if food is that important, it is not studied as it is for music or religion for instance ?

For her the problem came from the fact that food is too usual and to implicated in our life. For her ,if it was as rare as art or music, it will be easier and more acceptable for people to study it.

By Hamadoun ISSABRE

ALL SOUTHERN STYLE BY ELEA ORTEGA

ALL SOUTHERN STYLE!!

In the few past classes, we have been really interested into folk art and southern food. It all started at the Kate Skipwith Teaching Museum. We walked there, and discovered a lot of great things, we saw different paintings and art from people who lived here, in Oxford, Mississippi, and from people who did not, too. It was amazing, how the majority of the artists, were not professionals and they did quite amazing jobs. Not only painting, but also art, with other different objects. For example there was a big quail with different tones and patterns of fabrics.

Our first stop was in the Theora Hamblett paintings, which was my favorite. Theora Hamblett that loved so much the countryside in Mississippi, she was really passionate for trees, especially fall trees, she also used to dream about trees and then she would go and paint them. Her paintings are, usually surrounded by trees. Beautiful and huge fall trees, which makes her work completely stunning and colorful.

I remember walking in for the first time to Theora Hamblett exposition, and one painting caught my eye. What I love the most of Theora Hamblett’s work, is the delicate way she used to paint the leaves of the trees, she always would combine red and yellow and make it beautiful.

After the Theora Hamblett room we went to see other types of art from other Mississippians and others that were not from Mississippi. How they would spend their time doing amazing and surprising folk art.

Then we went to see other part of the museum, where was the art of Marie Hall and Andrew Bucci. Andrew was Marie’s student, which then becomes Andrew’s student. Teaching her modernism art. They are both really great artist. My favorite folk art was from Marie Hall and the name is Bright Fields. The reason why I loved Bright Fields is because, is so colorful and it inspires me love and serenity in my heart and soul.

It was a great experience going there. Although I have not been an artistic girl during this visit, it makes me appreciate the hard work of people. It also taught me how to understand what people thought in those past times, which is not that different sometimes from this time. And now, I feel more passionate for art then I used to.

We got to take pictures of landscape and then try to paint those landscapes. I had so much fun doing it. It was the time of my life, like the paramore concert that I went to, the august 18^th. I was trying to paint my tree as the Theora Hamblett’s trees. It was not perfect but almost.

This is my FOLK ART!!!!

We got to read A Rose for Emily, which is a short reading, wrote it by William Faulkner, which is the easiest readings from William Faulkner, because he always use hard words and nobody can totally understand what he is trying to say or explain. This reading I found it really tragic and realistic. In this reading Faulkner tries to explain, how in little towns or village, all the people knows each other, and how the people talks about each other, gossiping. And also shows the status of the people’s name or family.

ANOTHER EXCITING! PART

We got to go to Rowan Oak, also known as William Faulkner’s House. William Faulkner’s House was built in the 1840s. William Faulkner bought the house in the 30s and he did much of the renovations and decorations by himself. I took a lot of pictures and videos too. It was nice time in the William Faulkner’s House even though sometimes it was creepy. It was nice to see the place of this great writer and get to see where magic happened. It was a nice time.

The last thing that we have been doing is reading an article about southern food, and explains why the study of the food is so fascinating. The article talks also about the sense of what is Southern is more than just a Truman Capote or more than just biscuits. After this amazing southern food reading, we were required to read another form the Internet and watch a video about southern food both of them.

The name of the article from the Internet is called Hot Tamales at the Mississippi Delta Better known for its association with cotton and catfish and it talks about the relationship with the tamale, and it says that has been called “the most southern place on earth” according to the article. This article also talks about the beginning of the restaurant and all its history.

Then the video, last thing that we were required to do is about Scott’s Hot Tamales. This video I loved it. Elizabeth Scott’s talks about how they first got the recipe and the process how they step by step add more and more ingredients to it, and make their on recipes to their tamale. Even the girls who make the tamale were part of the video, and they talk about how much love they put on their cooking and making the tamales. Now, I want to taste those tamales so bad. It would be amazing. Those tamales for me are unique, they made those tamales with love and care, and there is nothing better that does something with love and care.

What I learned from the southern culture....

* I did not know, that here in the southern part of the United States, people like tamales that much. I thought it was only in Latin countries.

* I consider, really interesting how the slaves brought from Mexico the corn and then make tamales.

* I consider folk art amazing and how the people from the south, used objects, that you can not even imaging, what wonders you can do with them.

* Southerns are recognized worldwide by their folk art and their amazing literature.