Author: Mia Cole

When choosing between the two, I would have to say I gravitated and enjoyed Rent much more than La Boheme. I could actually grasp the theme of the musical and I enjoyed the modernity of it as well. Watching the Opera… I will say I didn’t go in to it very excited, so that may have added to my overall dislike of the experience. The opera being in Italian, was cool, to hear a different language sung in such an articulated way. However, having to read the little word screen and watch them on stage was too much for me. Even when I did read, it didn’t entirely make since to me when looking at them on stage, like the words didn’t match the actions. I will say, the sets and costumes were amazing, the illusion of them being in a room at the top of the house was amazing.

To contrast the two, the Opera is based in Paris in the 19th century while the musical is based in NYC in the 20th century. Despite that, they both share the message of showing people figuring out their life during difficult times. For instance, with Mimi in La Boheme, she passed due to Tuberculosis, and in Rent, Mimi and Roger have HIV and Tom and Angel have AIDS. The changes in diseases properly reflects the musical adapting to modern times and making it more relatable or emotion provoking to the audience.

Description from STEAM:

Through this project I reflected who I am and the values I have on my mask. I created an “olive branch” halo around the top of my mask to represent my drive to promote peace and justice, while combing my interest in the law in general. I also included white dogwood flowers in the halo to represent the state tree of Missouri, as that is where i’m from. I included the quote “I Dissent” to represent my admiration for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the beliefs she emitted. I also included a colorful handprint with bandaids across it to represent my desire to work in pediatrics, specifically as a Child Life Specialist. I added a soccer ball streaking down the right eyebrow, to symbolize my love for soccer and my injury as I added 9 staples for the 9 stitches I got there.

Getting to hear Rich’s insight on the art of tattoos was surprisingly very interesting. The way the industry has changed over time, with the use of needles and machine types, is also insane. I can’t imagine the older or other cultures’ practices. Also the inclusion of how activism and advocacy can be blended into tattooing is remarkable. How Patty wouldn’t let the guy who wanted a racist tattoo get it done by her was pretty iconic. He did include a heart wrencher with the guy, (Norman?) who was shot by the police for appearing to be dangerous and suspicious at a rally simply because of his tattooed appearance. The truth behind why tattoos are so looked down upon is a sad truth, and I love how Rich tries to change that stigma through his art and continued advocacy.

On Tuesday night, we visited The Brooklyn Museum. I will say the journey there wasn’t absolutely terrible, while it did feel like it took forever, it was nice to see a part of the city I hadn’t been to before and I love to window shop, so seeing the nice houses also was an unexpected treat. Once in the museum, it was vastly large, and appeared to have tons of art within it. However, since we were limited to only the fifth floor, I felt a disconnection from the museum as a whole. It was a good snippet of museum, but Julia and I walked the entire floor very quickly, even with taking a decent enough time to look at and read the paintings descriptions. I did find numerous floral or scenery paintings that I did quite enjoy, however, lots of the art to me made absolutely no sense, and some made me wonder how they got a spot in such a nice looking museum. I oddly enough think that with access to all the floors, I may actually want to attend this museum again on my own, and explore the entirety of it and a decent time, not midnight…

Over the weekend on Sunday our seminar class attended the Arpino Dance Festival at The Joyce Theater. The trip their wasn’t atrocious, me and Julia strolled over to the bus stop and had some good conversations. Only almost panic was when we were still on the bus at 12:20 and we were catching the 12:30 ferry , but we hit a slight jog and made it! Riding the subway is always an interesting time, but we survived and me and Julia then got Starbucks (Pumpkin Chai is AMAZING!). 

Attending the dance festival, I didn’t really know what to expect, as I’ve never attended anything of that sorts or watched dance beyond Dance Moms. Walking in it seemed to be a very nice location, especially with the looks of the other guests. I also experienced extreme sonder, as for our class we had to attend this event, but these people each had their own life  and reason to attend. 

As this was free, I won’t complain crazily, but the seats were a tad too close and whoever constructed the stage in general should be fired (personally). Looking at the stage I couldn’t see their feet, and to me, with little dance knowledge, sees their feet to be a huge part of their technique and not being able to see it, I feel like I lose some of hard work they put into their dances. Also in Valentine, I could infer what she was doing when she was on the ground but I honestly could only see parts of her head. 

To the dances, I enjoyed them, but I don’t have a extremely long attention span, so I lost the plot very quickly in my opinion. Within the first dance, Confetti, I honestly was amazed by what they did dance wise, but the costumes for the men personally fell flat. Those pants… White should historically be banned for everyone. I will say in Valentine that I could relate to the guy dancing, as I too sweat an extreme amount, but boy, was it just raining off of him onto his poor partner the entire dance. 

I will say that all the dances had amazing technique and beautiful overall setups. However, I don’t entirely find a vast appeal in this art. I was talking to Julia about how in the 2nd grade my school attended The Nut Cracker, and I had never been more bored in my entire life. Staying completely silent isn’t extremely hard for me, but when it’s a rule it then becomes hard and takes away my interest as I have thoughts to share but have to suppress them, which usually leads to me forgetting them. So I’ll say it correlates to the dances we saw, as I wanted to say somethings to Julia, but being so close I almost felt as if we were being watched, so we stayed silent. I know it would be distracting to other guests and the performers when talking, but I feel as I would enjoy it more if it wasn’t as strict, but that usually doesn’t coincide with the fine arts. 

To conclude the trip, I will say it did create an overall good day as it gave an excuse to be out in the city on a rainy Staten Island day, getting to tour parts I hadn’t seen and an insane Raising Canes with a DJ. 

I chose this protest art piece because it’s message is one I feel very strong about and I love the way in which it is portrayed through this painting. It can be seen that there are tons of dead bodies lumped together, all under a pedestal/column, holding the all mighty, a revolver. It is placed so high and on what appears to be almost a silk pillowcase, painting the true imagery of how guns have been honored or regarded as having more value than human lives. The artist, Juan Pablo Ruiz, commonly creates art that depicts allegories revolving around our nation’s politics and violence. This art was created in 2020, which is well known to be a time of extreme fear and violence throughout the entire world. Especially with the rise of publicity on Black Live’s Matter protests due to the increase of gun violence and shootings, like George Floyd.

I would say that this piece is still extremely relevant today and sadly will be for many centuries to come. Just recently with the school shooting at Evergreen High School in Colorado and with the statistical amount of gun violence deaths since 2020 being 223,926, not including the numerous amount of deaths still occuring day to day. Therefore, it is evident that this art piece is evident to be within today’s daily life.

On Saturday I had went to a satellite fair of The Armory Show at Zürcher Gallery. There I saw a very random array of art pieces. Some were very, very simple, like rectangles with a few colors placed upon them. Or a piece of wood painted fully blue. Those didn’t speak to at all, and as the temperature within the building was extremely hot, I was looking around very quickly, therefore limiting my extra time to deeply dissect those particular pieces.

I did find more of a mental connection towards the nature pieces. I find that to be a similar theme with the art pieces that I usually enjoy. One piece of the trees, had a 3D portion that really brought the project to life and made it stick out (no pun intended) amongst the other pieces during my quick walkthrough. I also enjoyed another art piece, one of a leaf, that was 4D (I believe…). During the short moment I saw it, to me it was already interesting just based on it’s presentation, but after further inspecting the photo I took of it, there are amazingly intricate details within it. The shadow work and overall design is just amazing and although I don’t understand the process of completing it, I know that artist did whatever techniques they used very well. Overall, I would say that it was a good visit, and for the smallness of it, it was a quite calm trip.

I went to The Metropolitan Museum of Art on Saturday. Walking up to the museum, it was very pretty and aesthetic, setting a fancy tone as there were fountains going. It was a tad bit chaotic entering the museum though. It was a little busy, which was understandable and purchasing my ticket was awkward. I didn’t know the zip code for Staten Island and I didn’t understand what he was asking when he wanted me to pick how much I paid. With that I get that it’s the donation aspect of it, but I hate making decisions, especially one of that, so he just put my total at $1. Going through the museum, it was extremely vast, with pieces of art at every corner. It was extremely hot in there, especially since it was raining that morning and we had dressed to accommodate that. It was definitely not as quiet as the other art museum I had been to (Nelson Atkins in KC), it was a lot more comfortable of an atmosphere. As one who never fully understood the love of art entirely, I did get a tad bored. But there were still pieces of art that struck my interest. Mostly due to my lack of an attention span, I didn’t care to look as deeply into the art pieces as others may do.

I loved this piece. I’m a sucker for anything floral and with that gold frame it was just chef’s kiss. With that I noticed that I felt more enjoyment or desire to take a picture when the painting’s main idea was focused on nature, flowers, or landscapes, rather than one’s depicting figures or people.

Overall, the trip was good. But for me, I don’t feel the need to go again nor the hype of the MET. It definitely was a cool experience to say I’ve gone, however, my viewpoint on art still hasn’t changed.