The Downside to Quality Time, The Truth About Student Critiques

I originally had a plan for this blog entry. I planned to woo the audience with my innocent charm and cleverly structured wit. I planned to delve into Serbian History and provide a thorough background on all the facts and points you may not have known, but always wondered about the allusive Serbians. I guess you will have to postpone your excitement for tomorrow night and instead focus on the injustice that is found in every expecting high school classroom.

The peer critique, found in almost every mainstream English/Language Arts classroom is a horrendous act of treachery on the part of the teacher. While it can be argued that the Peer Critique (also referred to as the "Peer Evaluation") is a way of weeding out the unworthy edits and pawning off the simple grammatical edits on unprepared students, it can also be argued that for the higher level of writers in the class, this system does didly-squat. Instead we are returned an essay exactly like the one we handed off, wondering whether you are really that good. Is it possible to be that good? Probably not, no one is a flawless writer at age 15. So, instead, you must find another person to edit your piece. Someone who would rather be doing something else. It is such a process for such little gain.

I would love to see a chance to get our work edited by a professional or someone of higher educational level. Perhaps then we would get adequate feedback that might help us in the writing and editing process.

Oh wait! We ARE getting that chance! Tune in later for more information on my professional interview and feedback session.

So Many Serbians, So Little Interest

WARNING: Before I begin this blog entry you must understand that I am 99.99% Serbian. The other .01% is Croatian which holds a very close relation to the Serbs because many years prior to the civil war the two were the same thing. I believe this fully merits my criticism, and sometimes harsh outlook at Serb culture and history.

After extensive research of Serbian art throughout the Industrial Revolution, I have come to find that there is virtually nothing to find. While art was present throughout all of European culture, the more influential artists and works of art were not found in Serbia. If one is interested in the history of fine art and those who contributed to the movement and development of art, they would be much better off searching the streets of Paris or Rome. Belgrade, while dominantly religious, was not focused on entertainment and expression.

With that in mind, I have recently completed two faux art critiques of Serbian painter Arsenije Arsa Teodorovic and his two most famous works.

History of the Serbs, Art Style

Serbians have long been a forgotten treasure in art history. Maybe not in individual works or artists such as Arsenije Arsa Teodorovic, but looking back, there are definitely some things to be seen. For example, in the Midieval era, before Serbia officially converted to a Christian Nation, there was an acropolis in the provence of (what is now called) Leskovac that was home to many temples and churches to the gods. Although all the temples on the acropolis were beautiful, the most deserving of our attention, and possibly the most famous Serbian artwork is the Studenica Monastery in Kraljevo (central Serbia). The Orthodox monastery is styled in the 13th/14th Century Byzantine way with frescos lining the historic walls.

Like the culture and people, the art and painting style developed with the country. During and after the Ottoman Empire conquered the land, the art movement suffered what appeared to be a permanent extinction. But like the citizens, the art society snapped back and quickly fell into step with the prominent art producing nations of the time. Thank-goodness it did, or art today would be suffering some of its great works.

Arsenije Arsa Teodorovic, Serbian Painters

Arsenije Arsa Teodorovic, one of the few recognized Serbian painters of the Industrial Revolution is in reality not recognized in any way in art society or history. Hopefully I will be able to gather enough information on my target subject within the next few weeks in order to satisfy the project requirements and inform all of you a little about Serbian painters.

What I have learned so far is basically a reassurance that Arsenije Arsa Teodorovic is a legitimate painter whom can produce pieces to be critiqued and learned from. The only bit of substantial information I have come across so far is the fact that Arsenije Arsa Teodorovic focused mainly on the Romanticism movement. The majority of works were produced during the Romanticism period, however, as the times changed, so did his work. He, like many other Serbian painters were able to adapt with the artistic revolutions.

Artists of the Industrial Revolution

When attempting to pick your favorite, or even a mildly interesting artist from the Industrial Revolution there are many things that could benefit the process and/or hinder your attempts at finding the perfect candidate. For example, since the Industrial Revolution was a earth shattering, life changing event in modern history, it sparked the imagination of many famous, and in some ways, unexpected artists. The seemingly endless supply of artists is a excellent way to kick off your search for a research subject. However, along with the hordes of artists comes the hordes of terrible work and meaningless riff-raff pieces. The key is to be able to distinguish the artist from the bored factory hands. The talent from the raw emotion.

In many ways it is simple to see when someone has talent as a fine artist. Other times it might be difficult to tell unless you are a professional art critic. (Which I doubt this audience is.) I found the best, foolproof way to pick an artist is to do a little background research before committing to them. You may be surprised what you learn about famous painters and sculptures or who you discover in the dark corners of a lowly Google link.

Losing My Place

This is the first post on my brand new blog. I had a little trouble creating it because I kept renaming them and coming up with new ideas for the design. I didn't realize that the more times you rename your blog, you aren't actually renaming it, you are in reality, creating an entirely new blog each time. I am not really sure what this blog post is supposed to include. I guess I will just start by describing why this blog was created. Our new semester has officially started and our new projects are mostly surrounded around art. In chemistry we are learning how to make paint, in humanities we are turning one of our poems in to an art piece, and in social studies we are using art to learn about American history and how it affected the artists of the time. This blog is here to follow my progress throughout the second semester specifically focusing on my art projects.