Erin Saley's Blog

Michelangelo

erinsaley — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:35:51 +0000

Michelangelo

by: Zoran M., Ben T., & Erin Saley

To view our video click HERE

On March 6th, 1475, the foundation of art began. A great artist named Michelangelo Di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni came into to the world during the Renaissance, never thinking he would be the one to change the views of art. While Michelangelo’s mom was six months pregnant she fell off of a horse. After the birth of Michelangelo in Tuscany Italy, Angelo’s father could not provide for Michelangelo by himself. His wife was recovering from childbirth as well as the horse accident. Since Michelangelo’s father, Lodovico, was busy working in his privately own marble quarry business on a small farm, Lodovico sent Michelangelo to live with a family temporarily while his mother recovered.

Growing up, Michelangelo spent many hours of his day playing with carving tools. These tools made Michelangelo discover his love towards art. After about a year living with his temporary family, Michelangelo moved back with his family. By then Michelangelo’s parents were expecting another baby. By the age of six Michelangelo had 4 brothers. After the Simoni’s fourth child had been born, his mother died. Her death was caused by the suffering of holding four babies in her womb, without having the proper pre-natal care. Being the oldest son of a business man, Lodovico raised his children expecting them to grow up to follow in their father’s footsteps. Michelangelo’s passion towards the arts continued to grow. At the age of ten, Michelangelo moved to Florence. When Michelangelo talked to his father about his passion towards art, his father shunned it. He did not accept his son as being an artist. As time went on, and his passion towards the art didn’t fail, Lodovico decided to accept his son’s passion and he bought him a paint set. Although, Michelangelo preferred pen over brush, he was happy to have his dad support him in his artistic values.

After about a year of having support from his father, Michelangelo, then 13 years old, took part in an apprenticeship workshop. After getting a feel and acquiring the talent for the art of Fresco, Michelangelo enrolled in a sculpture school located in the Medici Gardens. Michelangelo’s talent continued to improve, impressing his peers. Michelangelo happened to impress the right person, Lorenzo de’ Medici, who is known as the magnificent. De’Medici was so impressed with Michelangelo’s work; he invited him to stay with him, and converse about different styles of art. It surely was an opportunity Michelangelo could not pass up.

While staying at the home of De’ Medici, Michelangelo encountered a new form of interest; he began to study human anatomy. The positioning of the human body interested Michelangelo so much that he began sculpting bodies, making sure to include every distinctive detail. These sculptures made Michelangelo known, and he began to get noticed.

Michelangelo’s living circumstances would eventually have to end, in which they did in 1492, after the death of De’Medici. Michelangelo was glad he had the opportunity to interact with such an inspiring role model who set him on the right track to grow in the world of arts; particularly sculpting.

Not only was Michelangelo a master of sculpting, he was a master of painting as well. Although he preferred to sculpt more than paint he was magnificent at both. In order to give the paintings and sculptors more of a realistic look he dissected human bodies to learn about the shape of their muscles. Michelangelo’s genius and his skill were the ingredients to the Master pieces he created. Michelangelo’s most famous Master piece is “The Creation of Adam” which is located in The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican with many of his other works he created on a project which included this one. It could be called the most amazing piece of technical work ever created due to how perfect is was handled and the speed to which it was finished. Many people feel that Michelangelo put a hidden meaning in his paintings either about his own life or something else. But what is for certain is it shows God as an elderly man in a cloak and shares it with the angels around him. And the angel who is wrapped around his arm is disputed as being either Eve or Sophia, who god placed on Earth before Adam. The way Michelangelo positioned the man and Adam can be interpreted as how God created man in his image and Adam’s pose in the painting is almost mirroring the elderly man’s.

Another of his great paintings is “The Last Judgment” which is also located above the altar at the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo’s painting is an amazing example of how skillful he was in his fresco paintings. But this particular painting depicts when Christ will come at the end of the world, also known as his second coming. It took Michelangelo approximately 9 years to finish and was later the topic of public nudity when it was decided instead of move the painting they covered up the nudity. But Michelangelo did hide something exciting in his painting, his self-portrait which can be seen on the human skin that Bartholomew is holding which is to symbolize his martyrdom.

Michelangelo also painted Prophets and Sibyls on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which are the largest figures he painted on the ceiling. There are twelve figures near the center of the ceiling that represent the coming of Christ. Seven of which are Israeli Prophets and the other five are female Sibyls of the classical world which were put there to demonstrate how the messiah will come for all people of the world and not only the Jews. The names of each other these figures are- Jonah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah, Isaiah, Daniel, Persian Sibyl, Erythraean Sibyl, Delphic Sibyl, Cumaean Sibyl, and Libyan Sibyl.

Like the painting mentioned before, another one of Michelangelo’s pieces in the Sistine Chapel is “The Great Flood” which depicts the biblical scene of when Noah had to get everyone on his boat along with a male and female of each type of animal before it would rain for 40 days and 40 nights wiping out the evil of its present world.

Michelangelo was very interested in the human body, and his favorite type of sculpture was nude sculptures in the style of ancient Greeks and Romans. In order for him to understand the human body more clearly, Michelangelo spent hours in the Santo Spirito hospital morgue in Rome. Carefully cutting open corpses and inspecting how the bodies veins, muscles, and tendons fit together. Although Michelangelo did not enjoy the macabre work, it gave him the knowledge he needed to create breakthrough realistic works of art.

Michelangelo traveled to Bologna, where he stayed for several years. While he was hired to create two marble figures which were St. Petronius and Kneeling Angel for the tomb of St. Dominic. After Michelangelo finished, another Sculptor accused Michelangelo of stealing his work. In order to keep peace Michelangelo left the city and returned to Florence. Once resettled in Florence. Michelangelo went to work on a marble statue of Eros, the Greek god of love. An art dealer saw Michelangelo’s work and told him that if the statue looked older that he could demand a lot more money for it. Michelangelo took the advice and buried the statue in the ground to make it look old, and shipped it off to Rome, where a cardinal bought it for 200 ducas (about 10,000 in today’s money). He only received 30 ducats so he angrily went to Rome and reclaimed his statue. While in Rome, an Italian Gentleman By the name of Jacopo Galli hired Michelangelo to create a 9.5 foot statue of the Greek god of wine. The statue was completed in a year and it was the Greek god holding a cup of wine in one hand and a tiger skin and satyr in the other. After making that statue a Catholic official called Cardinal Rovano in Rome saw Michelangelo’s work and thought that it showed remarkable talent, so he hired him to create a pieta as soon as possible.

Michelangelo was 24 years old when he finished the pieta, it was considered his first true masterpiece. People were astonished by how life like the sculpture looked. Not only did the bodies look very human, but the dress that Mary is wearing folds like real clothes. After the amazing sculpture was completed a sculptor from Milan tried like many others to take credit for the masterpiece. To undermine the fraudulent claim. Michelangelo returned to the sculpture at night and decided to carve his name across the chest of Mary. Which made the pieta the only known sculpture signed by the artist. “Through it (Pieta),… he not only surpassed any other man of his time, and of the time before him, but he even rivaled the ancients.” – Ascanio Condivi, Commenting on Michelangelo’s talent as a Sculptor.

People from all over the Italy Rushed to Rome to see the spectacular work but many commented that the Madonna looked younger than the man who in the sculpture is lying in her lap. The work Brought Michelangelo tremendous fame and was sought out by the most powerful men of his time. Michelangelo lived his like inspiring many people, that was the man Michelangelo set out to be.

Bibliography

1. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo

used May 3 and May 4 2009

owned by the wikimedia foundation

they do not own the copyright on Wikipedia articles

2. www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/michelangelo/

used may 3 and may 4

owned by Nicolas Pioch

3. www.artist-biography.info/artist/michelangelo_buonaroti

used may 3 and may 4

owned by Jalic Inc.

The Spartans

erinsaley — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:00:08 +0000

There once was a city state in ancient Greece that was located near the the Eurotas River. This city state was known as Sparta. Sparta rose in 650 B.C to become the dominant military leader, being the dominant leader meant having power over all of the combined greek forces during the Greco-Persians Wars. This role of leadership was due to Sparta’s unique social structure.

What makes Sparta so unique is having its citizens debarred from law, trade and manufacturing. Their fate rested in the hands of the perioikoi. He forbidded Spartans to possess gold or silver. Due to that rule, the spartan currency was made up of iron bars, making it hard for thieves anf foreignors to accumulate riches.

The spartan land supported military services. Military preparation began at birth. One way to tell if a child was strong enough to endure war was to bathe in wine. If the baby was strong enough it was to be brought before the Gerousia by the child’s father. The Gerousia had the final save if it was ready or not. If the child was “puny and deformed” it was thrown down a mountain. If it was a nobel baby they would begin to prepare its body to endure the hardship of war.At the age of 7 a child would enter the Agoge system which prepared a child for war. Boys lived in tough headquarters which were kept that way to help them prepare for how the war life was going to be. The horrible living conditions taught the boys how to steal there own food, and fight for survival. Along side of contuially phyical harm, boys were whipped if they failed to answer a question correct. Ath the age of 12 a young boy was matched with a unwedded male who acted like a father figure. His job was to teach the boy the skills needed in war. Also, the father figure usually had a sexual relationship with the 12 year old. At the age of 18 the Spartan boys became members on reserve for the Spartan army. From there they went on to do what they had been preparing for, for years.

Buddhism

erinsaley — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:37:10 +0000

To view my movie click HERE

To view my track click HERE

Buddhism

The religion of Buddhism is based off the teachings of a chief’s son. His name was Siddhartha Gautama universally known as Buddha and nick named the “Awakened one.” Siddhartha led an extravagant life, benefitting from the privileges of his social caste. Siddhartha came upon an ill man lying lifeless which

convinced him to think that suffering lay upon all existence. After a temporal feeling of hierarchy, Siddhartha renounced his title and became a monk. In order to comprehend the truth around him, he deprived himself of worldly possessions. After being awakened by understanding how to be free from sufferings, Buddha spent the rest of his live traveling India and teaching others how he came to understand.

The fourth largest religion in this world is Buddhism, with about 365 million followers. It was founded in Northern India and later on became established in Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma. There are 3 divisions of Buddhism Mahayana, Theravada, and Vajrayana. Buddhism even has its own language called Pali. Followers practice their religion in meditation halls or in temples. Buddhists have three symbols of their religion; these symbols are The Buddha, The Dharma and the Sangha. They are trained by moral discipline, wisdom and concentration and are brought up by learning that everything is temporary. The two main holidays are Buddha’s birthday and his enlightenment. It is a very interesting religion to learn about.

The central theme of the religion of Buddhism teaches followers that in their temporal lives, there are vessels of life, body, emotions, thoughts, tendencies and knowledge. They think that there is no sense of soul in this world. They live there religion by trying to break up the cycles of birth and death. Until Buddhist attain enlightenment, they are not familiar with their soul or self. The think they are an impermanent vessel in this world and that the world is an image of not knowing one’s true nature. Some more aspects that Buddhist must follow are the five main principles. These principles prohibit killing, harsh language, stealing, the use of toxic substances and finally sexual immorality. When a follower can achieve these 5 principles, they are on their way to reaching the state of Nirvana, which is a huge aspect in the lives of many Buddhists.

In the quintessence of Buddha’s teachings he comprised 4 noble truths. Though these truths are partially left unexplained many Buddhist go by these truths in their daily lives. The noble truths are: “the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering.” (http://www.pbs.org/edens/thailand/buddhism.htm). The noble truths are here to act as a plan to deal with the sufferings humanity faces. These truths provide morality to the Buddhist followers.

Another belief by Buddhist followers is Karma. To them karma is the good or bad actions one take throughout his or her lifetime. Positive actions such as optimism, absence of bad action and generosity bring out happiness in the long run. Contrary to good karma there is also bad karma. Those who practice bad karma such as killing, stealing and anything inhumane will experience negativity in the future. Karma is determined by 5 features. These features include; repetitive, frequent action; intentional, determined action; as well as actions being performed without regret; actions that are against extraordinary persons; and finally action toward those who have helped one in the past. In the world of Buddhist, however you treat something or someone, you will experience the same in return.

In the Buddhist cycle of rebirth, karma plays a major role. In order for a living being to be reborn, there are 6 different planes one can fall under. Three of them are fortunate realms and the other 3 are unfortunate realms. Those that acquire positive karma fall into the fortunate realms. They are the Demigod realms, the realm of gods and finally the realm of men. The highest realm of rebirth is the realm of men this reasoning is due to the offerings of an opportunity to reach enlightenment, also known as Nirvana.

You might wonder what Nirvana is. Well, it is a state of being free from individual existence and suffering. In fact, only one is said to have reached the state of Nirvana and that is Siddhartha. People who practice Buddhism practice it because their goal is to reach the state of Nirvana. Their reasoning is not only because it’s a state free from suffering, but also it breaks the chain of the cycle of rebirth from reincarnation. Another positive aspect of Nirvana is that you are free from all worldly concerns, such as hate, greed and ignorance. No one can quite explain in words how Nirvana feels; it is purely an experience no one would want to miss out on.

The religion of Buddhism has their own scriptures. It is called the Tipitaka, also meaning three baskets. This book is divided into three sections, which correlate with the three baskets; they are the Sutta Pitaka, the Abhidhamma Pitaka and the Vinaya Pitaka. The Tipitake was orally past down from Buddhist disciples. In the Vinaya Pitaka the rules of the British monks and nuns are written. The Sutta Pitaka has the actual written experiences that were documented by Buddha. Finally the Abhidhamma has teachings from the Theravada positions, which are now considered very advance for students learning about Buddhism. According to sources the Tipitaka was written down in 50 BC in Sanskrit. It was a huge impact on the growth of Buddhism.

Another branch of Buddhism is called the Theravada branch. The word Theravada means the “Doctrine of the elders”. This branch used Tipitaka as the spiritual guide, abiding by the innovative teachings of Buddha. Sri Lanka, Thailand and Burma acquired Theravada as their main religion. In the world there are over 100 million Theravada Buddhist. In this branch, they teach to refrain from every kind of evil, collect all that is beneficial and cleanse the mind and spirit. They achieve those goals by practicing meditation which makes them develop and ethical mindset and a deep eagerness of awareness. People who believe they are imperfect beings who have a temporal state on our secular planet follow the Theravada branch of Buddhism. When one person decide they understand the nature of existence and find nothing else valuable in this world, they enter the state of Nirvana, and are self satisfied for life.

In the “Greater Vehicle” branch of Buddhism, also called the Mahayana branch, they have liberal beliefs. They think that Buddha is the manifestation of divine being instead of concerning him as a divine being. Their thoughts are that Buddha acquires three entities; God like form, essence and body. The collections of those entities are what make him Buddha. Although they do pursue the Tipitaka, they believe that Buddha’s experiences are what ought to be lived by. Mahayana Buddhist proposes that there goal is to lead others into the state of Nirvana. Mahayana Buddhists also believe that each public figure has the capacity to increase Buddha hood in to his or her life.

No matter what branch of Buddhism you follow, in order to illustrate the moral principals Buddhists must follow the eight fold path. This path goes about the teachings of morality, meditation, wisdom and more basic teachings of the knowledge of a Buddhist. The eight fold path are “1.Right knowledge 2.Right thinking 3.Right speech 4.Right conduct 5.Right effort 6.Right Mindfulness 7 Right livelihood 8.Right concentration” (http://library.thinkquest.org/28505/buddhism/eight.htm). When followers accomplish the eight fold paths, it helps them realize the all earthly sufferings are caused by greed and selfishness. When the eight fold path is followed, the individuals suffering may end.

Many Buddhist practice meditation. There are two types of meditations; one called Samantha meditation and the second one being Vipassanā meditation. When practicing Samantha meditation one’s mind becomes calm, luminous, tranquil and purified of defilement. When practicing meditation, there goal is to be released from all suffering. Vipassanā meditation acts like Samantha meditation but used nature to become relaxed and at a stable mindset. Most Buddhist prefer Samantha mediation though, and it is also the most common form of meditating.

Today, the various forms of Buddhism continue to remain widespread in the region of East Asia. Buddhist who has continued practicing the Mahayana branch have greatly suffered from the agnostic dogma of Communism. Japan is the country that has the most diverse branches of Buddhism. Slowly but surely Buddhism has been spreading to another region. This started in the twentieth century and still has continually grown. The population of Buddhism has grown to nearly 500 million followers and is now practiced in at least 13 different countries. It is said that more people are taking on to Buddhism because they are becoming interested in a peaceful religion due to the stress in many human beings lives, especially in this economy. Many other religions are being by past and Buddhism is making music to peoples ears, particularly when people hear how relaxation and positivity is promoted into the minds of followers. All in all, Buddhism is the healthiest religion followed, and that is a great aspect in the lives of followers.

Bibliography:

1. Author Unknown. “Buddhism, Based on the Teachings of Siddhartha”. Religious Tolerance. May 8 2008. http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm February 15 2009.

2. C. George Boeree “Life of Siddhartha Gautama”. An Introduction of Buddhism. March 16 2000. http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/buddhaintro.html February 16 2009.

3. O’Brian Barbara. “Complete Nirvana”. Buddhism. June 13 2006. http://buddhism.about.com/ February 16 2009.

Could it be the mummy of Nefertiti?

erinsaley — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:10:38 +0000

Have you ever wanted to solve a puzzle that you can never figure out? If your so determined to solve something, you wouldn’t cheat and assume the answers to the puzzle were right, you would figure them out before saying you accomplished a goal. This situation correlates to archeologist Joann Fletcher’s situation. Joann’s task has been trying to solve the mystery of Nefertiti. She has come so far with significant evidence to prove her point, but is it correct?

The key to solving a mystery is having real facts and evidence. In this predicament, Ms. Fletcher presents facts to support why the remains found by her could be those of Nefertiti. First of all, when Ms. Fletcher came across the wig at the museum, it acted as her calling to be the one to discover Nefertiti. That wig is like a finger print. They were only worn by royal woman at the time of Nefertiti. In 1989 Victory Loray discovered the wig which happened to have 3 mummies occupying the area. It was in cave 35, the deepest cave there is.

Joann Fletcher had the opportunity of viewing the remains of the possible Nefertiti. While examining her for only two hours, she discovered that she had earring holes. Also, in cave 35 there were two other bodies in there, she hypothesizes that they can be the mummies of her son and daughter in law. There was one big test needeed to be done to continue with this search. The test was to determine if the mummy was a male or female. Joann contacted medics who brought a large x-ray machine into the tomb. Test results proved it was a female. When they viewed the inside of her body through the machine, they saw shapes of beads which resembled those worn at the time of Nefertiti’s existance.

All of the facts come together piece by piece, which clearly make the remains found by Joann Fletcher, those of Nefertiti. This opportunity came to Joann and she captured it and discovered a mystery under the determination of her character.

Neolithic World: Why was it important?

erinsaley — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:50:50 +0000

11,000 years ago a change happened that had an impact on where we are today. It is called the Neolithic revolution which was a breakthrough that had far reaching affects. All because of one thing, they learned to farm by producing there own food making them able to remain in one place. The settlement led to development in many areas, such as tools, villages and skills. The effects of the Neolithic Revolution allowed the making of cities and trade, which are both key components involved in the evolution of civilization.

No one knows how and when people began planting seeds for food, but scholars believe it developed in the middle east and continued on growing. The exact start of the Neolithic world doesn’t quite matter, all that’s significant is that it happened, which leads us to where we are now in our society. Another aspect viewed by scholars is they believe women might have noticed that if seeds were scattered on the ground, new plants would grow from them.

To continue with the Neolithic revolution another feature is needed. People learned to domesticate, or tame, animals that they had once hunted. The animals provided the farmers with protein and resources that they once never had. Letting them to become producers for the first time.
As time past, the farmers were successfully able to develop technologies to protect their crops and do measurements. Gradually they continued to develop leading us to where we are now.

In closing, the Neolithic revolution leads us to where we are today. Our world has made a huge turn around in 11,000 years. We needed to start somewhere. 5 years ago I would have never thought I’d be writing a blog on a website that I made. We never know as time goes on how things will be. 5 years from now I possibly may be talking into the computer and having it write what I say. “The world may never know”