Vincent Bradford Jost II
Arts in New York City HON 121
Journal Blog #1 Ways of Seeing:
This is my first journal blog, so I am not, as of yet, accustomed to the format of this
exercise, regardless I will attempt to do my best. It is my assumption that these journal
blogs, are intended to function as responses to experiences and events that I have
experienced, the first of which being, the reading of the first three essays collected in
“Ways of Seeing”. I found the essays quite enjoyable actually, as was the discussion we
had in class. The first essay was the one that I enjoyed the least, while it was well written
and well formed, I was taken aback by the tendency of the essay to jump around different
topics. It seemed to jump from topic to topic, and era to era, though I believe it was
intentional, and intended to incorporate all the themes of the subsequent essays, I still felt
that it was jarring. The second essay was entirely made up of images that I believe
represented the degradation of the female body, and over sexualization of women, in the
media, and more specifically advertisement. The third and final of the initial essays was
about the role of women in art, and the perception of men and women’s roles in society
as well as art. The essay also detailed the difference between nakedness and nudity. I
found this essay to be the most fascinating of the three and thoroughly enjoyed it. Overall
I found the reading pleasant and felt that the discussion we had in class was fascinating
and intriguing.
Journal Blog #2 Night at the Museum
The Night at the Museum event, where all of the different Macaulay campuses
attended the Brooklyn Museum of art was an interesting, and quite fun experience. The
students were all split into groups (I found my group to be quite amicable, and
fascinating) and given tape recorders, we were then instructed to explore the museum and
discuss different pieces of artwork with our group, while recording it. Overall I found this
exercise to be vastly entertaining. My group began our quest on the fifth floor, which
exhibited American artwork. We were immediately drawn to a massive statue dominating
the hall directly outside the elevator. Afterwards we found another statue, and several
lovely paintings, my favorite of which being an immense painting of a lush landscape
beneath a brewing storm. My cohort and I spent quite a bit of time marveling at this
painting, and the amount of detail in but a single corner of the image was breathtaking.
Afterwards my cohort disassociated as we were pulled into conversations with some of
our numerous classmates. Overall I found the event to be a pleasant and informative one,
and I look forward o spending more events with members of the Macaulay program.