On Monday, October 25th, I went to the Turkish-Ottoman Empire Art Exhibition in the Great Hall at UAB. When I walked into the Great Hall, there were not many people there, so I was able to walk around and look at everything that I was on display. I picked up a brochure that describes the artist of the paintings. Her name is Pamir Thompson, and she grew up in Izmir, Turkey. She now lives in Lilburn, Georgia with her husband and daughter Leyla.
There were paintings, jewelry, and traditional clothing that were put on view at the exhibit. The clothing and jewelry are representations of decorative art. These items were a symbol of the Empire’s history and way of living. Next to the items were different history books that would describe the meaning behind the piece of jewelry or item of clothing. The paintings were symbols of visual arts. They were decorative because of the different colors and art strokes, and each painting was some kind of graphic design of flowers, Turkish people, or cities located in Turkey.
In class, we discussed the different aspects of art. Art is defined as an alteration of physical materials, sounds, and movement in attempt to evoke the senses. There are also five common elements of art which compares art cross-culturally. One is that there is an artistic process which does not have to be necessarily practical. Second, the piece of art must be able to create a response either negative or positive. Another element is that the art has to be transformational. Art also must be able to make a symbolic statement, and it has to be able to display the talent that created the art.
For example, the paintings by Pamir Thompson represent these five elements that compose art. The paintings are not necessarily practical, and, when I stood and looked at each art piece, I was able to feel a response. I thought that the paintings were beautiful. The colors were made of different warm and cool tones with the color blue making up the majority of the art work. The art was also transformational because it was able to take a location and put it onto an art board using paint. The art was also symbolic because each painting described a different element of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire. Lastly, there was definitely talent used in making these paintings.
I enjoyed being able to see the different pieces of art, jewelry, and clothing. I am not usually the person that will go through an art exhibit, but I enjoyed this experience. I am beginning to think that maybe I might go to a different art exhibit some day in the future.
