ART SPEAKS by Lawrence Technological University

L+ideas

LTU Library Digital Magazine

ART SPEAKS Issue #6 1

May 2022

Art is a powerful means of communication between the artist and the viewer. Most artists consider the reactions others will have upon viewing it”. 1

About the Cover

Before I tell you about this work, what is your reaction when you look at it? Did you ask yourself: Who is she? What she is listening to? What is going on here?

This is a statue of, “Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii”, created by Randolph Rogers in 1859. He portrays Nydia’s, “... heroic attempt to lead two companions out...of the burning city of Pompeii”. Her, “...closed eyes ... allude to her blindness, while the hand raised to her ear refers to her acute sense of hearing”. 2 Why did the Rogers choose a blind girl to lead people out of Pompeii? Why is she a flower girl? Why does he show her cupping her ear to listen? The moment you begin to ask questions you initiate a dialogue between you and the artist’s work. Art is subjective and your interpretation may vary greatly from that of the artist and others. Perhaps, the cupping of the ear and listening is symbolic of the artist wondering what people are saying about his work. Maybe her astute sense of hearing represents an artist’s sensitivity to changes in the world. Is Rogers saying art should be, ‘blind’’ to anything but truth? Perhaps Nydia being a flower girl could be a metaphor for nature, purity and the beauty of art. But being blind she can’t see the flowers. Maybe the artist is saying we are blind to the destruction of the world. Oh and one more thing to consider, the name Nydia means “ A safe place, a safe refuge”.3 Art has spoken. Now, let the conversation begin.

Sherry Tuffin Editor stuffin@ltu.edu

Healing Power of Art

https://www.healing-power-of-art.org/how-artist-members-want-viewers-to-respond-to-their-art/

Metropolitan Museum of Art

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11951 3

The Name Meaning

https://www.thenamemeaning.com/nydia/

Cover Image: Pexels-zack-jarosz-1727658

Table of Content About the Cover………………………...………………………………………………………………………………….2 Mission Statement………………...………………………………………………………………………………….....4 Editors and Contributors………………………………………………………………………………………………..5 Motor City Sculpture………………………………………………………………………………………..………….. 6 Director’s Letter “What is Art”…………………………………………………………...…….…………………7-8 Campus Map…………………………………………………………………………………………………....….….10-11 Learn about Your Library & Library Assistance……………………………………………..…………..12-13 The Language of Art………………………………………………………………………………………………….14-18 Purchase an Exhibition Catalog? Absolutely!................................................................20-22 Free Resources to Learn More About Art………………………………………….…………………………..23 ART SPOKE TO ME.....……………………………………………………………………………………….…....…....25

Art Speaks in Many Ways…………….………………………………………………………………….26-29 At the Bottom of a Scottish Lake……………………………………………………………………..30-33 Initiation into the Art of Storytelling……………………………………………………..………..34-35 Thank You, Leonardo……………………………………………………………………………………...36-37 My Musical Neighborhood……………………………………………………………………..……….....38 Art is in the Eye of the Beholder………………………………………………………………….....40-42 Midnight Oil: Power and the Passion……………………………………………………………...44-46 Additional Resourses and Recommended Reading………………………..………………...…………...47 Listening to Art.……………………………………………………………………………………………………..……...48 Off the Rack ...…………………………………………………………………………………….…………………..…….49 Affirmations..............................................……………………………………………………..…..………....50 Book Looks Reviews and Book Club……………………….................…………………………………...….51 Heads Up!......................................................................................................................52-53

L+ideas Next Edition, Submissions, Archives………....................................……………………….54 3

Mission Statement of the Lawrence Technological University Library Bring People and Information Together The library’s mission is to play an active role in the instruction of library users including students, faculty, administrators, staff and alumni, in the effective use of information resources. The faculty and the professional librarians are full partners in the educational process.. The librarians perform both an educational and instructional function.

In the modern technological environment, it is imperative that students be taught how to locate and evaluate appropriate intellectual resources for study, research projects, problem solving, and professional advancement both in the library and from alternate sources.

L+ideas Editors: Sheila Gaddie Sherry Tuffin Story Contributors Gary Cocozzoli Steven Kish

Sofia Lulgjuri Alice McHard Edward Orlowski Tami Stanko

Motor City Sculpture https://tinyurl.com/5yn3em58

New sculpture 'Motor City' adds to public art on Lawrence Tech campus

Photo credit: Matt Roush

An intriguing work by Interlochen sculptor Douglas Gruizenga now graces Lawrence Technological University’s campus near the LTU Architecture Building.

Called “Motor City,” the sculpture resembles six pistons of an auto engine—a perfect image for a Detroit-area university that sends so many graduates to work in the transportation industry.

Each of the three two-piston pieces is fabricated of aluminum and weighs about 300 pounds.

A Southfield city ordinance requires Lawrence Tech to install works of public art as part of any major construction project. This particular piece was related to the ongoing construction of Blue Devils Stadium. --Lawrence Tech Magazine, November 24, 2021 6

Gary Cocozzoli LTU Library Director

What is ART? through the little dots of Pointillism, to a lifelike almost three-dimensional still life painting or portrait.

I have often considered this word. Just what is “ART” anyway? Looking the word up in LTU’s online Oxford English Dictionary, the following description seems appropriate:

Sometimes the method of communication can stun an unsuspecting populace who cannot readily accept the shock of the new. If people are stunned or displeased or confused, that artist may be satisfied with the “emotional power” that the work generates. But more often, the work promotes beauty, calm, and delight…that is emotional power too.

The expression or application of creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting, drawing, or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Therefore, to me ART is communication, just not limited to typical ways like verbal or written form, though those too can be ART, but in a visual or tactile way. The communication is the idea, perhaps as abstract as Picasso, or

That is where skill comes in, as ART can also mean knowing how to do something well. A successful artist knows how to create a work of ART that either communicates an idea or triggers you to

come up with your own idea about the meaning of ART. Because you are in the picture too, ART is always about what you think it is about.

meant to me. Perhaps you had similar experiences in your life. This issue of L’ideas considers ART in all its many forms, and how ART has impacted the lives of our contributors. We hope it will spur you to think about ART and its impact on life in some new ways.

In a high school English class, I explained to the teacher what I thought a passage from Shakespeare meant. He said I was wrong. Was I? It was my idea, based on my perceptions at the time, and he was wrong to say my thoughts were WRONG. That lack of finesse didn’t keep me from thinking about art and literature and what it

Gary R. Cocozzoli Director of the Library gcocozzol@ltu.edu

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Issue #6

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The Language of Art I cannot teach anybody anything; I can only make them think. ~ Socrates learning to not just ‘look’ but to ‘see’ an artist’s message. She uses art to help people hone their observational skills. People who find her art training valuable include: the FBI, Interpol, homicide detectives, U.S. military intelligence, Scotland Yard, doctors and nurses, the State Department, Fortune 500 companies and more. Missing details, even small ones, can destroy companies and even cost lives .

Art makes us think. In fact, according to Erik Wahl, “The purpose of art is to produce thinking”. 1 Art allows, “... peo-

ple, both individually and in group settings, to express emotions, commemorate history, expose injustices, overcome obstacles, and gain an understanding of the world around them”. 2 What language(s) does an artist employ to, communicate a message or a mood or a story? What if you don’t know or understand that language? How do we learn to ‘listen’ to the non-verbal forms of art?

To prove that we are often ‘deaf’’ when art speaks, she asks the reader to study a painting, a photograph or a sculpture and note as many details as possible. Simple right? Studying one piece of art in the book I noted half a dozen things such as: it’s a woman, she’s older, she’s

Amy Herman, lawyer, art historian and author of, ”Visual Intelligence”, (a must read book) describes the importance of 14

smiling, she’s wearing a red dress, has a ring on her left finger and is eating a pear. Confidently, I turned the page certain I had seen everything in the piece. Astonishingly, Herman pointed out a dozen or more details that I had not seen. What reflection? What broach? What feather? What rainbow? Everything in an artwork is there for a reason; it has a message. But when I had ‘looked’’ I hadn’t ‘seen’ a lot of what was right before my eyes. The artist had something to say but due to my lack of observational skills the message was incomplete.

conveyed? What does it mean when a painting takes up a whole wall instead of fitting into a 8” x 12” frame? Seeing all the elements of a piece of art is an essential beginning. Locating the various elements in a work is like hearing the words but you still need to be able to put them together to form an understanding of the artist’s message. Translating the symbolism is a way to decipher the message. What is the artist telling us by choosing a winter

Learning to understand what art is communicating is not an innate talent that you are born with, but a skill you can learn. If you love films you can develop knowledge about how things like lighting send a nonverbal message to the audience. When the main characters are colorfully dressed and the background characters wear muted, neutral colors what is the director drawing your attention to? Listen to the different messages produced by a banjo verses an alto saxophone. What is the musician saying with the choice of musical instrument? What mood is being

Pixabay

motif? What does winter mean in ‘art speak’? It could be symbolic of cold, dark, despair, dormancy, loneliness, survival and the end of life.3 The artist has chosen to include birds which can symbolize, among other things: freedom, nobility, fertility and bravery.4 (What is the artist saying by adding the 15

it saying to me?

pattern in the snow? What does the tree in the distance signify? Such a simple photograph and yet there are clues from the artist about the message she wishes to convey to us. What this image says to you may differ from what it says to me because “Culture and history

influence how and what we see.”

I learned that the soldier was General Alpheus Starkey Williams a prosperous Detroit businessman who served as a Union officer in the Civil War. Through my research I was to learn a great deal more about this amazing man. But I still couldn’t answer the question of why this statue had such an effect on me.

Fortunately, art is subjective and there is no wrong answer.

Artists are storytellers and this statue tells the story of a tired Union soldier and his weary horse. But the complete message wasn’t clear to me. I couldn’t decode and understand art speak. Then I read an article by Dan Austin of Historic Detroit that helped me to decipher the message. Austin wrote, “Sculptor Henry Merwin Shrady cast Wil-

Sometimes art can capture your attention and you don’t understand why. On Belle Isle there is a statue of a soldier on his horse. From the moment I

liams atop the horse studying a map of the battlefields during a storm, perhaps symbolic of the tempest in the union at the time”.6 Dressed in rain gear, his exhausted horse with head drooping and tail between his legs, General Williams is trying to find his way – much as the country was during the Civil War.

General Williams

saw it I was drawn to it for reasons I didn’t understand. What was it about this statue that intrigued me? What was

The sculptor evoked a sense of sadness and compassion through his work.

Perhaps, that was what initially caught my attention. Art was speaking to me and allowing me to ‘hear’ a message from another time and another place.

footwear – a man’s work boot; a business man’s loafer; a women’s pair of heels; even the tiny shoes of a child – were chosen specifically to illustrate how no one, regardless of age, gender, or occupation was spared...a grim reminder of the souls who once occupied them – yet they also create a beautiful place of reflection and reverence”.7 A simple, but powerful way that art can speak the unspeakable.

The saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words” is true. Artists use images to crystallize a message, an emotion, an event and in doing so can produce a powerful story. For instance, how can an artist make everyday objects such as shoes speak powerfully?

Sometimes art speaks in a way that we can’t understand. The artist(s) lived so long ago, in a time of pre-language, that we can only imagine what messages they are communicating to us. The Red Hands Cave in Australia showcase aboriginal art. The hands on the Shoes on the Danube

“Installed along the bank of the Danube River in Budapest, this monument consists of 60 pairs of 1940s-style shoes, true to life in size and detail, sculpted out of iron .... depicting the shoes left behind by the thousands of Jews who were murdered ... [ the ] style of

Picture caption

cave walls were painted between 500

and 1600 years ago. Made using ochre, These, “... ancient images, the

oldest symbol of our species, are reminders of our universal humanity and physical nature ... [and] lengthen and broaden our view of history and that is what world history is all about”.8

were here. Don’t forget us”. “Part of the beauty of art...is that anyone can discuss it. You don’t have to be an art historian...”.9 Artists speak to all of us...if we just listen.

No one knows for sure what the hands represent. I choose to believe they are a greeting from our distant ancestors reminding us, through their art, “We

Sherry Tuffin Library Book Reviewer stuffin@ltu.edu

http://www.theartofvision.com/2016/08/02/the-purpose-of-art/

https://artistryfound.com/the-purpose-of-art/

https://symbolsage.com/winter-symbols-and-symbolism/

https://www.streetartmuseumamsterdam.com/post/2019/05/09/on-the-wings-of-birds-a-brief-

discussion-on-the-symbolism-of-birds-in-art 5

https://www.toledomuseum.org/education/visual-literacy/art-seeing-art

https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/alpheus-starkey-williams-monument

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/shoes-on-the-danube-promenade

https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/9.2/forum_kimball.html

Visual Intelligence: Sharpen Your Perception,Change Your Life (2016) p. 12

A Good Listener

Why Born Enslaved! (Negresse), Modeled 1868, Carved 1873 Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (French, 1827-1875)

Purchase an Exhibition Catalog? Absolutely! My first glimpse of Why Born Enslaved! was while perusing a Metropolitan Museum Art Bulletin. I marveled at the expression of resistance that was captured in marble. I thought anyone seeing the sculpture would be empathic to the enslaved woman and support emancipation. With that assumption, I gave the image another cursory inspection and turned the page. It was not until the announcement of the exhibition, Fictions of Emancipation: Carpeaux Recast, on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, from March 10, 2022, through March 5, 2023, that I began a more

serious examination of the sculpture. First, I should have considered the date of the sculpture. It was modeled well past the Civil War. Thus, the question arose, “What was the artist’s intent in producing the sculpture?” I decided to purchase the exhibition catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition. Exhibition catalogues are a particularly important type of literature for Art History. 1 They provide documentation relating to all the items displayed in a show at a museum or art gallery and they contain new scholarly insight. Most importantly, the scholarly essays 20

from curators and academics provide a conceptual framework through which to view the objects. Without having studied the catalogue I would not have learned the probable reason the artist created the work. Nor would I have known the sculpture was not a portrait but modeled from a photograph which was part of an ethnographic portrait series.

Walker refuses the bodily presence of the enslaved both in her jettisoning of the bust in favor of its mold and in its display. Abjection, instead, figures as both refuse and refusal as the hollowed-out form of Carpeaux’s Why Born Enslaved! is knocked off its pedestal and made to lie on the ground.3

The most illuminating aspect of the

While the museum exhibit itself might have wall text with a brief introduction to the exhibit as well as having text panels for each piece, anyone wanting more information on the theme of the exhibit might be interested in purchasing a catalog. Few exhibition catalogues are available online. Catalogues are expensive to produce, and underfunded cultural institutions need the revenue the sales of catalogues generate. A good catalogue embodies the flavor, the temper, the attitude, the very feel of the show, while revealing something important to us about the nature of its subject. 4 As Max Hollein states,” The aspiration for any exhibition catalogue is that the scholarly contribution will have an impact well past the

catalog was that it identified artists who had recently engaged with Why Born Enslaved! In 2007, Kehinde Wiley responded to the commodified body evoked by the sculpture with the marble bust After La Negresse, 1872. Eschewing the nudity and binding ropes of the earlier work, Wiley instead depicts the sitter in a Lakers jersey. In so doing, the artist brings the question of bodily objectification into the contemporary moment, with the basketball jersey in particular evoking the long history of exploitation and commodification of Black athletes within the sportsindustrial complex.2 In 2017, Kara Walker cast a copy of the bust in plaster titled Negress. With Negress, 21

closing date of the exhibition. Indeed, Fictions of Emancipation will significantly and permanently reframe the discourse on abolition in nineteenth-century sculpture.” 5

Sheila Gaddie Reference Librarian sgaddie@ltu.edu

1.Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 2018-2020: Part II: Late Eighteenth Century to Contemporary: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, v.78, no. 4 (Spring, 2021) 2. Caitlin Meehye Beach, Elyse Nelson and Wendy S Walters, eds., Fictions of Emancipation: Carpeaux’s Why Born Enslaved! Reconsidered (NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022), 95. 3. Caitlin Meehye Beach, Fictions of Emancipation, 100. 4. Michael Glover, “What Are Exhibition Catalogues for?” Hyperallergic, May 16, 2020. https://hyperallergic.com/563950/what-are-exhibition-catalogues-for/ 5. Max Hollein, Fictions of Emancipation, 8.

FREE Resourses to Learn More about Art

Detroit Institute of Art

https://www.dia.org/education/resources

Coursera

https://www.coursera.org/search?query=art&

10 University Courses You Can Take for Free https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-10-university-art-classes-free-online

edX Art Courses https://www.edx.org/learn/art

Artist: Angela Treat Lyons Work: Our Secret 24

Art Speaks in Many Ways I woke up to a misty morning, drew sprinkled over each blade a grass and in the evening soaked in a blazing glorious sunset with the sky alight with colors to enliven any imagination. Is this truly art?

haunting melody but from the deep memories it conveyed when I heard it as a memorial to the tragic events that unfolded on Sept 11, 2001.

Then there are exciting moments of music like when I hear the strains of the 1812 Overture with a fireworks display. Or just hearing a favorite song as I take a drive. Music is something that deeply envelopes us through and through so that a piece of music can take to sometimes years in the past to a time of happiness or deep sadness in a split second, even if we have not heard

Our world is filled with sights that take our breath away and leave us with a sense of awe. To me this is just one facet of art that surrounds each of us in a myriad of ways every day.

We can hear a symphony that can linger for a long time in our memories. Mahler Symphony No. 2 entitled, The Resurrection Symphony can bring tears to my eyes not only from lonely,

or thought about it decades. This is truly an art form that we cannot fully

comprehend. It involved our memory, and our emotions so much so that we are surprised when out of the blue a song or a piece of music will hurl us back to a moment from long ago.

Life. The art of storytelling is certainly one of the greatest gifts that we would never want to be without. Books and movies can take us to unimaginable places, places that we may not have actually experienced but feel like we are truly a part of that wonderful story.

Art involves all of our senses not just our sense of sight or sense of hearing but what about taste. Are there art forms that involve our culinary desires? Do you remember a meal that was so delightful that it comes back to remind us of that special event when there was good conversation and a delicious meal.

And, of course, you can see great art in many cities that have Art Museums. I will never forget the sight of the huge painting of Guernica by Pablo Picasso while in Spain. It was a memorable experience that lingers still.

I think back to a time when traveling with my husband and a friend and we stopped in a restaurant in Vermont and I enjoyed a scallop dinner that to this day makes my mouth water for the taste of that wonderful meal. Another avenue of art that fills every part of life but often (at least to me) neglected or not given much thought, this is the area of fashion. Clothing defines us in many ways and there is a real artistry to those who can bring about an idea to a final product that makes us happy just to put it on.

Of course, there are many avenues of art that come to us through TV, and films as well as print form such as books and magazines that can provide a feast for our eyes. Being a film buff I revel in films with beautiful scenery like the movie, Out of Africa or a Hidden

Art also surrounds us in the variety of architecture and public sculptures. One my favorite things to do is to travel some place new to see spectacular buildings. Buildings from the sacred to everyday transportation sites like train/ airport stations, there is real beauty and artistry in the buildings all around this world and certainly they give us a sense of place and beauty!

know that art surrounded them and was a part of their daily lives. I do not think we could live without art as it permeates our entire daily life, without which it would be a very dull, and sad existence, so celebrate whatever art you find today and enjoy it!

Alice McHard CoAD Student Services Coordinator College of Architecture and Design amchard@ltu.edu

And what did the ancients tell us of their art? Who were these people? We may not know all their story but we

Airport Terminal, Gander, NF Icelandic Houses

Sainte Chapelle, France

Easter Island

Callanish Standing Stonees 28

Sites for Photos: https://rgallery.art/collections/tennessee-great-smoky-mountains-national-park https://blog.artsper.com/en/a-closer-look/artwork-analysis-guernica-by-picasso/ https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2014/09/10/where-the-sixties-never-stopped-swinging-gander -international-airport-canada/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Chapelle#/media/File:Sainte_Chapelle_-_Upper_level_1.jpg https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/easter-island-statues-location-scli-intl/index.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callanish_Stones#/media/File:Callanish_standing_stones_1.jpg

" I hope too that my book will illuminate my belief that the love of art --be it poetry, storytelling, painting, sculpture or music -- enables people to transcend any barrier man has yet devised." Mary Ann Shaffer December 2007 Author “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society”

At The Bottom of a Dark Scottish Lake: How Synchronicity II by the Police Speaks to me

By The Police/A&amp;M - http://www.45cat.com/record/47076br, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44471144

If you ever happen to find yourself as a

prior nine-plus years of being.

ten-year-old boy in the early 1980’s, chances are you may harbor many of the

The album explored ideas about interpersonal power dynamics that were

numerous, unhealthy obsessions that I did: post-apocalyptic wastelands, wardrobes

mostly absent in popular music in the 1980’s. “Wrapped Around Your Finger” is a

made of a functionless montage of well-considered yet disparate parts and

Machiavellian tale of turning the tables on a domineering other. “Mother” is about the

also angsty, futuristic soundtracks. In the year 1983, I found myself to be in such a

futility of escaping the insane expectations of success-crazed parents. Much to the

place. After all, it was the year of Return of

chagrin of thousands of amorous couples at high school proms of that era, “Every

the Jedi and it’s desolate, anomic world of Tattooine. Also released in 1983 was The Day After, and the ambient, radioactive

Breath You Take” is actually about surveillance and obsession, and is far from the

hum of a smoldering planet, where the survivors of a global, nuclear war found

love song many thought that they were dancing to. And though I ended up loving

themselves envying the dead. It was also the year of the album Synchronicity by The Police.

most of the songs on the Synchronicity album, the music video and song which

Synchronicity mostly lacked the existential

convinced me to buy this album was “Synchronicity II”.

dread of those cinematic hellscapes of 1983. (The song “Walking in your The “Synchronicity II” music video is every

Footsteps” is however a direct comparison between mankind’s presumed fate and

bit the early 80’s wasteland that film The Road Warrior was a few years prior.

that of the dinosaurs, but I digress…) Nevertheless, I found it to be soul stirring

Drummer Stewart Copeland appears to pound out the beat atop a hill of ruin while

in a way that I had not experienced in my 30

guitarist Andy Summers plays the driven

felt like a weight too heavy to endure.

guitar line on what appears to be scrap metal with strings. The group’s singer

Sting and Summers had also both recently experienced separations from their long-

Sting (born Gordon Sumner) intimidates in the foreground like a man possessed,

time partners. And despite all of this, The Police at the time were the biggest musical

singing about separate yet somehow related events (more on this later) while

act of the era without a Jackson surname. (In a weird twist of art-imitating-art, the

rocking a spiky blonde look that would end up becoming my hairstyle for the better

year after the release of the “Synchronicity II” video, Sting, who was apparently

part of the next five years. The video con-

in-demand as an actor, menaced another

cludes with a journey across what is

post-apocalyptic wasteland in the 1984

presumed to be the “dark Scottish loch” that may be the origin of some vague,

movie Dune.) The now ubiquitous Sting was trying to make sense of it all, and referenced the

unknown horror, referred to in the song.

book The Roots of Coincidence by Arthur Koestler in his search for meaning. Koestler, a pseudoscientist, proposed the idea that there was a link between the physical and paranormal worlds, being influenced by Carl Jung’s concept of synchronicity (referring to events that seem somehow related while lacking causality). These ideas impressed Sting to such a degree that he wrote two different songs called “Synchronicity” for the next Police album.

https://tinyurl.com/5aba6e43

Synchronicity II is the tale of two (possible

The whole package was (and remains to be) mysteriously intoxicating.

three) stories that are somehow interconnected. Yet the connection is never

During the leadup to the recording of this album, The Police had reached critical

explained. The first storyline is about a dysfunctional, unhappy family, going through the motions of daily life. The second storyline is about the drudgery of

mass, where years of internal conflicts, individual ambitions and external pressures

the work routine, where a man (possibly 31

the father from the first storyline) avoids thinking about the pollution caused from

attempt at performance was a sloppy, illinformed foray into jazz (inspired by Andy

the factory he works while taking some comfort in his secret voyeurism against a

Summers’ post-Police musical output). I found that I had bit off way more than I

backdrop of constant humiliation from his employer. The third storyline is about

could chew, and eventually retreated to the type of art-rock The Police were known for.

something mysterious and sinister emerging from a dark Scottish loch that is apparently growing legs and walking onto

This album also inspired me to start using

the shore.

my library card in more ways than I previously had. As a child, I was obsessed

The song is much more than just it’s story. It is an aggressive (and often abstruse)

with reference books, but after years of reading any article about the Synchronicity album that I could get my hands on, I

masterpiece of music. It lacks a tidy ending, musically and narratively. Instead

started branching out. First were the books of Ian Fleming, as his James Bond novels

of a guitar solo, Andy Summer turned to dissonant feedback to enter the bridge,

were written at his Goldeneye Estate, where Sting later also wrote most of the

and its outro riff sounds like a warning siren. The ending refrain of “many miles

Synchronicity album. As I later discovered

away” repeated itself over and over again, like Sting was trying to convince the

The Police back catalog, I can still remember being a middle school student asking the librarian for the book Lolita after

listener that we were in no immediate danger (though listening to the song, the

discovering the song “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” from an earlier Police album and

listener certainly knew otherwise). It was in every regard the opposite of the phony

later requesting the text of Cyrano de Bergerac after discovering the classic Police

faux-1950’s illusion that the Reagan-era seemingly couldn’t get enough of. I was

song “Roxanne”. (I did try to read some Carl Jung, but didn’t enjoy it and gave up

smitten.

on it quickly.) My 80’s Sting hairstyle aside, this song (and album) was what convinced me to get

Synchronicity would prove to be The

involved with music. It took a few years to find my niche, but I eventually picked up

Police’s final album, as the conflict between the three reached a boiling point

the bass guitar (like Sting). My first honest

after the album’s tour. During an aborted 32

Greatest

Hits

album in 1986, a confrontation turned physical, and there

factory and the monster or was it just synchronicity? The fact that I am still

were even reports of Sting pulling a knife of Stewart Copeland. Throughout the

asking myself these questions almost 40 years later is a testament to how one,

ensuing years, there was always a rumor of a reunion tour, and in 2007 it finally

solitary piece of music can conjure an emotion, inspire an aesthetic, make your

happened. I got to fulfill a true bucket-list item on July 26th, 2008: seeing my favorite

drive fast without even realizing it, encourage one’s intellectual curiosities,

band of all-time live in concert. But it

drive one to study an abstract language

wasn’t meant to last, as the three of them

(music), feed you through the early years

soon after decided that in the interest of

of learning how to play your instrument,

their friendships (and sanity) that the band

permit you to waste time on the rote mem-

remain broken up.

orization of band minutiae and let you feel okay about obsessing over something

I still listen to this song and think about it

as absurd as a walking, Scottish slime monster.

often, particularly about the “shadow on a door, on a cottage on a shore on a dark Scottish lake.” What was the creature’s intentions? How

was a

creature

that

originated at the slime of the bottom of a lake able to walk on land? Was there a

Steven Kish Reference Librarian

connection between the pollution from the

skish@ltu.edu

Initiation into the Art of Storytelling world of wonder, excitement, mystery, and

suspense

16th

century

Elizabethan England.

“Cue for Treason” is historical fiction for young adults. The teen heroes are pitted against rich, powerful enemies of Queen Elizabeth I. The plot is saturated with cryptic messages, dark towers, malevolent knights, a roving theatrical I was eleven or twelve years old when I discovered that art speaks, in my

case through a book. It has been said that books don’t have covers they have doors. Little did I know that

troupe,

and

quirky

characters. I still recall my total immersion: holding my breath; heart pounding; palms sweating, living each and every adventure experienced by the heroes, Peter Brownrigg and Kit.

when I opened the cover (door) of

I was magically transported from my

“Cue for Treason” by Geoffrey Trease

living room to a dark highway in the

that I would be propelled

English countryside hearing the heavy,

into

pounding hooves of horses carrying evil

The art of storytelling can offer travel

lords bent on my

(I mean Peter and

to another time, another place. Open

Kit’s) destruction.

The voices of the

the door of a book and enter a world of

heroes and

the villains

as vivid and

unlimited, unimaginable treasures that

real to me as the those of family

can transform your life forever ... if you

and friends.

listen when art speaks. Sherry Tuffin LTU Library Book Reviewer stuffin@ltu.edu

Peggy Marco, Pixabay

Thank you, Leonardo

Visual art speaks to us all the time.

that drew my attention the most were

Every

the ones that I’d never heard of or seen

day

are

informed

and

delighted – to alter a favorite phrase of

before.

Unfinished

the late Milton Glaser – by the hand-

paintings

lettered sign at our favorite coffee shop,

under-paintings stand out in memory.

with

Michelangelo their

green

thoughtful murals that adorn buildings,

even

well-conceived

and

designed

The piece that really spoke to me the

billboards (those may be fewer and

loudest that day was held in a quiet

farther between then we would like).

closet-sized room under dim lighting.

And some times art speaks to us much

We had to stand in line to see Leonardo

deeply. For me it was a drawing

da Vinci’s Madonna and Child Cartoon,

that spoke to me from a distance of

official title, The Virgin and Child with

12 inches and 500 years.

Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John

the Baptist (‘The Burlington House On a trip to London, I spent a day in

Cartoon’).

the National Gallery looking at many pieces of art that were a major focus in

Once inside the space I was dazzled. I

art

history. It was a great experience

could sense the movement of da Vinci’s

to see these works in reality instead of

hand across the surface. I could see the

in reproduction. However, the pieces

marks he made, the same marks I 36

make. Though I am not comparing

were waiting, feeling a connection back

myself to da Vinci in any way, seeing

through all those years. If I’m listening,

that I make the same marks he made

I still feel it today.

when creating an image shifted a

Thank you, Leonardo.

thought in me. The thought went from a questioning “I am an artist ?” to a

Sofia Lulgjuri

truly felt knowing. I walked away, after

University Art Director

being prodded by my friend that others

Marketing and Public Affairs

Images Copyright National Gallery of Art, London. 37

My Musical Neighborhood

For as long as I can remember, music has been my steady companion. As a young girl, I relished weekend trips to the tiny record department at Kresge’s where I could choose a 45 to add to my budding collection. Other catchy songs playing on the radio had to be captured on cassette and played over and over until they were memorized. Fingers were crossed that the DJ didn’t talk over the song’s beginning, or cut in before the song was over.

Although the lyrics are sometimes at odds with the feeling of the musical arrangement, what came through to my ears was joy. My brain seemed to attach to the words that matched the positive spirit (“I’m so happy / that you love me / Life is lovely / when you’re near me”).

Hearing a song like this as my music sensibilities were forming helped shape the way I think about music to this day. A good song was one that could evoke a feeling or an entire mood, and genre was not a consideration. In my musical neighborhood (arranged alphabetically of course) a band like Chicago could end up being between Cee Lo and The Cure!

One of the earliest songs that captured my attention with its energy and overall cheerful tone was “Make Me Smile” by the band Chicago, from their 1970 self-titled album. There were so many voices and instruments to hear and try to identify -guitar, bass, piano, multiple types of horns. The song presents as a pop song, but has elements of jazz and rock interwoven throughout.

Tami Stanko Administrative Assistant College of Architecture and Design tstankok@ltu.edu

My experience with art started young, about four years old. It was then when my older brother Dennis, perhaps unwillingly, began taking me along with his friends to our local theater one block away, the Mercury in Northwest Detroit, for the weekly kids’ matinee. Our mother surely thought 80 cents was a good investment for a few hours of peace and quiet in the house, when she could better tend to our napping baby brother Tom. (i.e., 25 cents admission, 15 cents for popcorn, times two…it would cost about $7.85 today; a good deal then and now for some peaceful moments.)

-like laser beams set forth to obliterate Earth. Together, we traveled to the forbidden Altair and then our destination was Gobi. Heaven knows how we fought alongside Mr. Allison, and wondered how Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) happened to be in Tokyo when Godzilla made its presence known.

That giant mural ahead of us, when the curtains parted and we settled back, provided a unique opportunity to learn about things beyond our experience, just like art tries to do on a canvas. Our dad took us to the Detroit Institute of Arts and I remember being fascinated with the “CinemaScope” mural by Diego Rivera in the main hall. It was telling a story with color and movement, which I didn’t fully understand, but was just like those movies at the Mercury. And I was no less dazzled.

It was there in those blue push-back seats that I became a film fan for life, and learned essential life facts, like you could never ever go to sleep again lest an alien take over your body, or that the WW2 films we saw could be WW3 when the alien spaceships with their periscope

Movies are art. The director of a film is

like an artist. Both have to have an idea of what they want to say. They have to have a model, like a vase or actors; they have to decide the mood (brilliant color or muted tones? Color or charcoal? Realistic or impressionistic?) Both have to decide what is the underlying story they want to tell, like in a script. Both are communicating to us, but with different methods and mediums. Whether we like the gist of the communication or not, we do have to think about the message. Art speaks to us; what is it that we hear? And see?

textbook. When I turned the corner into a room at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017, the visiting “Whistler’s Mother” painting was positively shocking to see, because it was so much larger than I ever had imagined (6.5 feet tall). It made an impact I will always remember since it was quite a different experience than the tiny images seen throughout popular culture. The artist designed his painting to be seen in full scale, and directors design their films to seen larger than life. It is not like movies cannot be appreciated on a cell phone, but the impact of this art is best experienced in a museum for movies, the local cinema.

To me, the movies are an important part of life. Comparing a film at the movies to one on television is like the difference between seeing art in a museum vs. a

Over the years, my tastes became my own and my range of film interest has broadened considerably. My brother Dennis is gone now, but I thank him for giving me the gift of the movies those many years ago. I still think of him when the lights go down as I am about

to experience my next exposure to the art of motion pictures… in a theater. Gary Cocozzoli is the director of the LTU Library, a film fan and has a historical interest in the cultural impact of the drive-in theater

A Brief History of the Mercury Theater place was a wonder...on the auditorium walls, there were fantastic images of the galaxy painted, lit by blacklight, so it glowed in the dark. It was totally stunning. They installed 70mm in 1959, and six track stereo, so it was very impressive. They did premiere Pollyanna in 1960, and that was the first time a Disney film ever premiered at a non-downtown place. By the time of the switch-over, I was old enough to go by myself or with friends. The Wrigley next door was a moderate upscale supermarket, sort of like Kroger is today. We had a Woolworth, A&P, Father and Sons Shoes, Cunninghams (ultimately, CVS) and Federal Department Store, sort of like Kohl's. My school was literally off the parking lot to the right of the photo.

In October 1959, the Mercury became a first run theater, with the top films that used to play downtown. Exodus was a prestigious reserve seat engagement. We still went there, but they didn't have many "kiddie" matinees in the same way. The 42

“Capitalism” Banksy New York Post

Midnight Oil: Power and the Passion In April of 1984 (my Freshman year of

international success (breaking out

college), I found myself watching a

with their hit, Beds Are Burning), one

television show entitled Thicke of the

thing didn’t change: their commitment

Night.

to use their music and their platform to

The musical guest was a

little-known (in the U.S.) Australian

address

issued

rock band named Midnight Oil. Veter-

concerned them.

which

greatly

Their lyrics contin-

ans of Sydney’s pub-rock scene, the Oils were on the show to promote their first major international release, the 1982 album 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. This was unlike anything I was hearing (and

seeing) at the time: incredibly

tight,

innovative music featuring so-

phisticated and intelligent lyrics, and I Midnight Oil onstage, Chicago 2017 (credit: Jeff Elbel)

became an Instant fan. Throughout my undergraduate years, 10-1 (and its

ued to speak about things like nuclear

1984 follow-up, Red Sails in the Sun-

proliferation, the environment, aborigi-

set) was a fixture on my late-night

nal rights, labor struggles, and global

turntable.

politics – all while staying uniquely Australian in their

As Midnight Oil finally gained some

viewpoint.

you could dance to it! 44

And

Midnight Oil

didn’t just talk the talk when it came to

projects.

advocacy,

walk.

announced that they would be reuniting

Whether at home or on tour, the band

for a world tour the following year.

supported grass-roots political move-

Drawing from the entirety of their

they

walked

the

Then, in 2016, Midnight Oil

Extensive catalog, each night of The Great Circle tour featured an entirely different setlist, to the delight of their fans (or ‘Powderworkers’, as we call ourselves).

Reenergized,

returned to the

the

Oils

studio, releasing The

Makarrata Project (a collaboration with various First Nations artists) in 2020, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 Album Cover

and this year saw the

(credit: Sony Music Australia)

arrival of the

appropriately-titled Resist. Forty years

ments, and their protest performances

after the release of 10-1, Midnight Oil is

in front of the Exxon headquarters in

still making great music, and still giving

1990, and at the closing ceremony of

voice to a vision of a better world.

the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney,

Over the years, their music, message,

are the stuff of legend. The Oils disbanded in 2002, as lead

power, and passion, have had a

singer Peter Garrett left music to

tremendous impact on me, and

pursue a political career. Elected to the

significantly influenced my worldview.

Australian

It is safe to say that I consider Midnight

Parliament

served until 2013. the band

2004,

During that time,

Oil the soundtrack to the work I do with

occasionally reunited for

students in my Activist Studio (https://

one-off benefit shows, and the other

activistarchltu.wordpress.com/). I take

members focused on different musical

Heart Garrett’s encouragement from the stage of the Vic Theater in Chicago in 2017 to “do good work, stand in the gap, and speak truth to power.” If you wish to be inspired by Midnight Oil’s music as well, I have created a Spotify playlist entitled The Conscience of Midnight

Oil, which can be found at this link: (https://open.spotify.com/ playlist/58EVV1iOUn8T0D0c1goM2f? si=6c954278da2a4bf7)

Edward M. Orlowski, RA; LEED AP; NOMA; SEED Associate Professor of Architecture Associate Chair of Architecture - Graduate Studies He / Him / His Lawrence Technological University 248.204.2850 http://activistarchltu.wordpress.com/

The author and Bones Hillman (RIP Bonsey). Cleveland, 2017 (credit: Joe Sebatian)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES on ART SPEAKS

“Baltimore Guards Take Seat at the Curator’s Table.” By Hilarie M Sheets, NYT, March 25, 2022 https://tinyurl.com/td4rhx7w

Color (ed) Theory: Ultrasheen https://www.artic.edu/artworks/236371/color-ed-theory-ultrasheen

Video of the artist Amanda Williams speaking about her Color (ed) Theory Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGawXbTtupk

ART SPEAKS

Articles inside

Affirmations

Midnight Oil: Power and the Passion

Thank You, Leonardo

My Musical Neighborhood

Motor City Sculpture

The Language of Art

At the Bottom of a Scottish Lake

ART SPOKE TO ME

Art is in the Eye of the Beholder

Purchase an Exhibition Catalog? Absolutely