"Fine, like moving the castle isn't hard enough!"

Today, we're going in a completely new direction! Remember how I briefly explained anime in my post on Sailor Moon :)? Today's topic is the great Hayao Miyazaki and his animated movies.

Hayao Miyazaki - Japanese manga artist, animator, and film director

If you've never seen a Miyazaki movie, I must profess, my dears, you must be living under a rock. His 2001 film Spirited Away (trailer below) was the first anime ever awarded the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Howl's Moving Castle (based on the book by Diana Wynne Jones) was nominated for the same category in 2005. His 1997 film Princess Mononoke (the first Miyazaki film to make it big in the West - Thanks, Miramax) was the highest-grossing film in Japan, until it was topped by James Cameron's Titanic. Later, Spirited Away would top Titanic.

Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli, the studio under which these classics were produced, in June of 1985. The logo features the lovable Totoro (pictured above) from Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro. I remember watching that movie in the After School Program in elementary school and I have quite a little collection of Totoro plushies. But that's a mere side note. :)

6 Reasons why we love Miyazaki's films (of 12983083459834058 other reasons)

1. While the style of his characters may look a little simple, Miyazaki is a master animator. The effects, the backgrounds, the action will surprise you.

2. He always gets Joe Hisaishi to do his music. *_* This guy is so good. (And yes, you can purchase the soundtracks :))

3. His movies have a message. They delight and entertain all ages, but you leave having learned something. Whether it's about love, humanity, industry vs. nature, good vs. evil...

4. They have something for everyone, so they're perfect for watching with friends and family.

5. The man created Totoro. And Catbus. He deserves our patronage and support.

RIGHT HERE! <-- Here's a great article in-depth article on Miyazaki's works and themes.

Three of his films you need to see right now (this is no surprise): Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle. GO NOW! I'll go with you.

3 Fun Facts!

1. Miyazaki's father, Katsuji, was the Director of family-owned Miyazaki airplane. This family fascination with aviation is apparent in Miyazaki's works even today...Check Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Castle in the Sky and Howl's Moving Castle.

2. Reoccurring themes in Miyazaki's work include human impact on the environment, feminism, anti-military sentiments, magic, and morally ambiguous characters.

3. Miyazaki believes that "hand drawing on paper is the fundamental of animation." The majority of his art is done in watercolor. While some of his films have employed computer animation for polish, his most recent film Ponyo (2008) returned to hand drawing for everything.

“I am an animator. I feel like I'm the manager of a animation cinema factory. I am not an executive. I'm rather like a foreman, like the boss of a team of craftsmen. That is the spirit of how I work.” - Hayao Miyazaki

"O"! More sculpture!

Back in 2008, my family and I took a trip to Las Vegas and Bryce Canyon/Mt. Zion National Parks. In Vegas, we OF COURSE had to tour all of the casinos and in the Bellagio (which also had Dale Chihuly glass sculptures...OMG!), there was an exhibit of sculptures in the "O" (Cirque du Soleil) theater lobby by sculptor Richard MacDonald. These works depicted Cirque artists in movement. And they are absolutely breathtaking.

MacDonald's works are obviously not limited to just Cirque artists, but those are the ones I wanted to share with you today. He works primarily in bronze. And more than anything I could tell you, I thought it might be better for MacDonald to tell you a little bit more about his work. Ah, the advantages of a live artist. :)

Hopefully, even though this is not a typical post of mine, you got a brief sense of the beauty this artist creates, and hopefully you'll be inspired to follow his art from now on!

Mosaic Meme Results!

Thank you everyone for having fun with this activity! Here are our wonderful, wonderful results! For those of you who have not yet tried this super addicting activity, you can find it HERE. Go see what you can create!

Alicia.

Anna.

Jacen.

Jennifer.

Kelly.

Liz.

Richard.

Whitney.

"I knew that I had come face to face with someone whose mere personality was so fascinating that, if I allowed it to do so, it would absorb my whole nature, my whole soul, my very art itself." - Oscar Wilde

Today, I give you...FUN!

Of course, everything on this blog is super fun (You know it is! :)), but today, I rediscovered a fun little activity PERFECT for people stuck inside for the night due to snow (*coughmecough*), procrastinating on homework, bored of t.v., or just plain wanting to create a visual representation of their personality! :)

This is the Mosaic Meme!

1. Answer each of the prompts below using Flickr Search.

2. Choose a photo from the first THREE pages.

3. Copy the URL of your favorite photo into this site: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php

4. Then share with the world!!

So, basically, I'd recommend opening two browsers, one for Flickr and one for Bighugelabs.com. You can adjust how many boxes you want in your mosaic...For this one, 3 (rows) by 4 (columns) is perfect! You can always add on boxes later if you find other prompts you want to add. Keep in mind the search results might not come up with EXACTLY your hometown or favorite color...but pick your favorite from what they give you!

1. First name

2. Favorite food

3. Hometown

4. Favorite color

5. Celebrity crush

6. Favorite Drink

7. Dream Vacation

8. Favorite Dessert

9. What I want to be when I grow up

10. What I love most in the world

11. One word that describes me

12. (Insert one of your usernames here)

My answers, for this one, were...Aleah (ob-v, my name), fruit, Atlanta (Baby panda from ZooAtlanta!), lime green, Robert Pattinson (I took this in 2008...Now I'd say Ryan Reynolds ;) ), red wine (Malbec, specifically), a tropical island, creme brulée (OMG, yum), an author, Love (she's reaching for a little heart), "Dreamer," and Shadowbc (Ironically, the picture that came up is of the Temple of Debod in downtown Madrid! :)).

If you don't like those prompts, other ones I've used are...Name meaning, favorite animal, favorite flower, eye color, Zodiac sign, Favorite place, favorite month, virtue you value, language you speak...

I made a new one today at random with no set prompts...just one to reflect me (though the last one was pretty good :)) and this is what I got!

Stargazer lily (1 of 3 fave flowers...partially responsible for this site name, Artgazer!)

Bubbles (nickname),

white tiger (fave animal!),

Prado Museum, Madrid (fave museum),

Cordoba, Spain (Fave country),

Blue Morpho Butterfly (I like 'em),

RAINBOW UMBRELLA! (just because),

Daffodils (2nd fave flower),

Peacock feather (My favorite pair of shoes has peacock feathers on the toes),

Malbec (Noted),

Rock music (Sweet air, dude),

Books! (and colorful ones),

Princess lady (Art Historian/I want to be a Princess...),

Ronda (Spain again!),

Author (I've got dreams!),

Lotus (3rd fave flower).

What will YOU come up with?? I'd love to see ya'lls results! (Post them in the comments or e-mail me your results at aleah.art@gmail.com and I'll either do a mass post of Mosaics here or on Facebook!)

"I paint because the spirits whisper madly inside my head."

I wasn't quite sure who or what I wanted to write about next...so I asked my fellow Art Historians and got El Greco! Excellent suggestion too for his lovely colors, elongated figures, and his connection to Spain. My favorite area is 17th century Spanish Baroque art and though El Greco came a bit earlier, I got to see some of his works at the Prado museum when I was in Madrid in 2007...and they're gorgeous!

El Greco - The Mannerist Master

First, let me just say...El Greco is NOT Spanish. He is, in fact, Greek, indicated by his nickname "El Greco" ("The Greek"). His real name is Domenikos Theotokopoulos (And now we know why he went by his nickname...) and he was born in Crete in 1541. He was considered a master painter in Crete, but like any other good artist of the era, he went to Italy to further his craft. In Italy (Venice and Rome), he reportedly studied under Titian. In 1577, he moved to Toledo, Spain (painted by El Greco in the painting above) where he remained until his death on April 7, 1614.

El Greco is best known for his Mannerist painting tendencies. Mannerism was an era of the late Italian Renaissance known for its elongated figures, highly stylized poses, and a lack of sensible perspective. El Greco took to this style, rejecting classical proportion and measure and emphasizing color as the most important element of art (likely influenced from his Venetian teachings). He used the emphasis on color, distorted proportion, and irregular light (as if each figure had its own light source) to dramatize religious tension and ecstasy.

El Greco is specifically known for his paintings, but he was also an architect and sculptor. His constructions were usually made for churches or their altars. Unfortunately, some of his works no longer survive because they were made of wood and perished or were destroyed over time. He was responsible for some of the architecture (paintings and interior sculptors as well) of the church and Monastery of Santo Domingo el Antiguo, where he is now buried.

After his death, as unfortunately happens with many artists, El Greco fell into obscurity. But he was rediscovered and found new appreciation in the 20th century with artists like Picasso, Eugene Delacroix, and Éduoard Manet. The color and expressiveness influenced Delacroix and Manet, while Picasso, Cézanne and other cubism frontrunners got attached to El Greco's distorted morphology. El Greco's works are regarded as catalysts for Expressionism and Cubism.

"Art is everywhere you look for it, hail the twinkling stars for they are God's careless splatters." - El Greco

Bubbles on a sea of elegance

My friend Clint just made it to Istanbul earlier this week, so even though I know my last post was about architecture, I had continue the theme. So, to contrast the Christian building of last post, today I want to look at another Islamic monument!

Doesn't hurt that I once again have my Islamic Art class notes to reference. :)

The Süleyman Mosque at the Süleymaniye Complex - Istanbul, Turkey

From afar, the first think you might notice is that...Hey! Wait a second! That looks like the Hagia Sofia, which is ALSO in Istanbul. What's with that?

Well, inquisitive readers, thank you for asking. This mosque, built between 1550 and 1557 under patronage of the Ottoman Sultan Süleyman ("Solomon") and under the design of the masterful architect Sinan, was a to compete, like a mirror, with the Hagia Sofia (Dedicated in 360 A.D. by the Emperor Justinian originally as an Orthodox basilica, converted to a mosque in 1453). The main dome is 53 m x 27.5 m, and at the time of its construction, it was the largest in the Ottoman empire, when measured from sea level to top of the dome. However, it is still smaller than the Hagia Sofia when the dome is measured from base of building to top.

The site for the mosque (and it's socioreligious complex complete with school, baths, a hostel, a hospital, a library, tombs, shops, etc.) are built on the 3rd hill of the Imperial palatine ("made of many hills") city. The location is advantageous because it's encircled by water, it's the place of the old Istanbul palace ( a place of reverence), and the Sultan can see the entirety of the city landscape from that particular hill.

The exterior codifies the Ottoman architecture style - Bubble domes (I love them!), flying buttresses, a monumental courtyard, and four spear-like minarets (Only the Sultan could grant 4 minarets. Princes could only commission 2).

But the interior is really the most fascinating part.

Ahhh, isn't it just gorgeous???

The structure of the interior is based on those four main pillars ("elephants feet"). I'll get back to them later. The only tile work in the room is around the mihrab, or prayer niche along the qibla (Direction of prayer, toward Mecca) wall. In Islamic tradition, worshippers always know where to face when praying due to the presence of the mihrab. It's supposed to act as a "sit in space" for the spirit of Muhammad.

The walls are otherwise unadorned, emphasizing the structural solidity of the building. Stained glass windows let in colored light and there's a ring of hanging lights, known as the "cosmic sphere" of lights, both of which give the inside a really ethereal, other-worldly presence.

Everything in the Süleymaniye mosque has a symbolic meaning as well as a literal function. The main dome is flanked by other smaller domes, meant to represent Gemini and other celestial orbits. The fountain in the courtyard is based on Kawthar, the mythical water basin in paradise. The mosque itself was to be a symbol of paradise. Lights from the stained glass windows were thought to be divine, on the wings of Gabriel. The oil lamps hanging in the "cosmic sphere" were "stars." Those four "elephant foot" monoliths holding up the mosque interior actually are meant to represent the Sunni "Four Pillars" of Islam...the Four Companions of the Prophet Muhammad: Bakr, 'Uman, 'Uthman, and 'Ali. This metaphor is also applied to the four minarets.

Fun Facts!

1. The mosque actually had a religious, social, AND political importance. The religious part is obvious. Socially, it provides the epicenter for the rest of the thriving complex. For the political aspect, readers in the Mosque praise both Islam AND the Sultan, as his power was thought to be God given. Large processionals mark his attendance/importance and after his visits, he would distribute alms to the poor (Emphasizing his power AND charity).

2.Only Sultans that had conquered Christian lands had the right to build a royal mosque in the capital, meant to be built with the spoils of conquest. This complex has marble pillars taken from all over the conquered parts of the empire, including four large columns taken from the Baalbek Temple in Lebanon, which supposedly also held connection to Solomon.

3. The Founding Inscription of the mosque is one of the very few in Islamic tradition that is NOT Qu'ranic (deriving from the Quran/Koran). Instead, it emphasizes Süleyman's divine right as ruler, promulgation of law, and announcing that this mosque was built as a public service, deemed by God.

"The people think of wealth and power as the greatest fate,

But in this world a spell of health is the best state.

What men call sovereignty is a worldly strife and constant war;

Worship of God is the highest throne, the happiest of all estates." - Sultan Süleyman

Quote of Today

From my American art reading...

"The love of art is the constant craving of the individual soul for those expressions of beauty, truth, and goodness so replete in the handiwork of the Creator; a taste for something better than what is merely earth, earthy; a penchant for those glorious talismans which out live time."

- Mrs. J. H. Layton, July 1861