Art and Leisure: Art Exhibit

            On Monday, October 25^th, 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.

Diversity and Cultural Events: 38th Annual Greek Food Festival

                This past Saturday I went to the 38^th Annual Greek Food Festival at the Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral located in downtown Birmingham, AL. Before I went to the festival, I did not even know that there was a Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Birmingham, AL. Also, I had no idea what the festival was going to be like before I went to it. The only thing I knew about the Greek Orthodox Religion was from television, movies, or school teaching. For example, my ideas of Greek Orthodox families were that they were loud and would be dancing in big groups of people. On the other hand, I do know that this cultural heritage was going to be something different than anything that I have ever been involved with or visited.

                The morning of the festival I realized that I was going to need to shed any type of negative feelings I had about the festival. I needed to also shed my feeling of superiority about my cultural prescription and look at the festival through a Greek individual’s perspective meaning that instead of looking at the festival from the outsider’s perspective, also known as the etic perspective, and enjoy the festival through an emic perspective. I believe that to know about the Greek culture or the festival I need to first know about the Greek’s history. Through some researching on a website (www.goarch.org) and from the program at the festival, I learned that the Christian religion was a major influence in the Byzantine Empire. However, the Great Schism in the fifth and sixth centuries led to a division from the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church, which is the religion that I am. From then on, the Greeks developed separate from the Western Christianity. Today, the Greek Orthodox Church is a communion of self-governing churches, but they are all united by a common faith and spirituality. After learning more about their history, I discovered that there is not much difference between the Orthodox and Catholic religions.

                When I got to the festival, I realized that I needed to continue to understand this culture on its own terms, also known as cultural relativism. I went inside the area next to the church, and there was music playing and groups of people lined up outside in line to get food. The lines were so long that I decided to pass on the food and just take a look around the festival. However, I did get some peaks at the food being served, and the food did look delicious even though I had no idea how to pronounce most of it. So, I went to watch the band play some music. While I was watching the band, a couple of little girls dressed in traditional Greek attire started doing a traditional Greek line dance. I was so surprised that these very young girls had already learned about the traditions of their culture. After watching them dance, I started feeling a little bit of culture shock. I found myself missing the surroundings of my Catholic Church and the congregation I am so used to seeing every weekend. So, I took a couple of deep breaths and decided to take a tour of the church thinking maybe it was the heat that was making me feel funny. When I walked into the church, I was overwhelmed. The paintings and the sculptures inside were so beautiful and well-designed. The atmosphere reminded me so much of the St. Paul’s Catholic Cathedral downtown. There were different stations inside the church. For example, they had a section dedicated to the different items used at weddings and baptisms.

                In the end, I had more fun than I thought that I was going to have at the festival.  Going to this festival helped me to realize that even though people may look or act differently from me that we all may be more similar to each other than we previously thought before experiencing each others' different cultures.  

My Cultural Prescription

          Hello, my name is Breann Murphy. I speak English, and I am a female. I have always lived in Birmingham, Alabama. I am from a middle class family. My race is white Caucasian, and I am 20 years old. I am a Roman Catholic and have grown up in a Catholic family since I was born. My sexual orientation is straight also known as heterosexual. 

          Growing up, my family has always supported and cared for me. One negative experience would have to be living through middle school and high school. Although high school can be hard for some students, middle school was the hardest for me socially. I feel that because of this experience I have become a stronger individual and more confident with myself.  

          Since I was five years old, I have been a part of several dance teams. However, I decided to take a break from dancing this year ending my 17 year dance career. Growing up, dancing was a way of helping me to break out of my shell. Also, I am a History major, and I am planning on attending law school. Finally, one dream of mine is that I hope to travel to many different places in the world throughout my lifetime.