Lacy

Aida Radames, entry scene Amneris Amneris Radames and The King of Egypt []

__Lewis Hine__
Lewis W. Hine was born in 1874 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After attending college, he became a teacher in New York City at the Ethical Culture School. He definitely encouraged his students to use pictures and photography to help explain and understand things. The class would take trips to Ellis Island and photograph the thousands of immigrants that would come through every day. In 1909 he left his teaching position to become a photographer for National Child Labor Committee. Hine then starting photographing workers, children and adults, doing what they do every day. He would often take the same risks that the workers were, if not even greater ones. Depsite his very famous work, as he got older he found himself falling into poverty much like that of the people he had photographed.

__Harry Callahan__
Callahan began teaching himself photography in 1938. Then in 1941, a talk from Ansel Adams inspired him to take his work seriously. In 1946 he was invited to teach photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago. When he wasn't teaching, he would go out every morning and walk the streets of the city taking many pictures. He would then go home and make proof prints of that day's negatives. Despite how many pictures he'd made, he would only produce about 6 final photographs a year. Mostly, the shots would be of his wife and daughter and the city streets, sometimes the two together. All including a very strong sense of hard lines and the contrast between light and dark. He would produce very different photographs though, some in color, some in black and white. He also experimented with double and even triple exposure, blurs, and large and small format film.

**__7am__**



 * __10am__**




 * __2pm__**




 * __4pm__**




 * __630pm__**



__**8pm**__





In this photo, a bride-to-be is, obviously, hanging outside of a window in China. I picked this photo mainly because it's something that you just don't see every day. This woman's fiancee broke up with her as they were about to get married to she decided to jump out the window and commit suicide. I think the mood in this picture is probably shocked. And for the people pulling her up, scared. But as you can see the woman down on the bottom left is clearly shocked. This is indicated by her wide open mouth. This picture made me feel kinda sad though because it's so sad to see someone willing to take their own life over something that's, in the grand scheme of things, not very important.

**__Fred Astaire__**


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFabjc6mFk4

His career started off when he was just a young boy. When his father lost his job, the family moved to New York City and decided to pursue a career in show business. Astaire and his sister, Adele, would perform together, and most people called them the greatest child act in Vaudeville. In the later years, he started to incorporate tap dancing in his routines. The inspiration to do this came from Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and John “Bubbles” Sublett. The pair grew older and still shared the stage, only this time in major Broadway plays. At the height of his career, some people would argue that Fred Astaire was the greatest tap dancer in the world. But sadly, in 1932, he and his sister split. Fred was now a one man show. This allowed him to expand his range of dance and get more creative. Just when he thought he had lived his partnership with his sister down, he started to work with Ginger Rogers. This was when his career shifted into being in films. The two made 10 films together, but he refused to call them a ‘team’. Astaire's execution of his dance routines were prized for their elegance, grace, originality and precision. He states “Working out the steps is a very complicated process — something like writing music. You have to think of some step that flows into the next one, and the whole dance must have an integrated pattern. If the dance is right, there shouldn't be a single superfluous movement. It should build to a climax and stop!” Frequently, a dance sequence was built around two or three principal ideas, sometimes inspired by his own steps or by the music itself, suggesting a particular mood or action. Many say that he was a perfectionist with his dancing and that before shooting a scene, he would rehearse for weeks in advance, often seeing for everyone else’s approval. Even after his death, his legacy still lives on and he is still an inspiration to dancers, singers and actors everywhere.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Astaire

**__Gregory Hines__**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbxI3K8GnpU

Gregory Hines had been involved with show business for pretty much his entire life. When Hines was just two years old, his father enrolled him in classes with a master tap dancer, Henry LeTang. This is where he got the starting foundation for the rest of his career, which would include mostly tap dancing. Even though he did have very formal training with his dance, he liked to think of himself as inspired by older styles of tap dance Gregory always thought of himself as a student with the old guys, Chuck Green, Jimmy Slyde, Buster Brown, Lon Chaney, all of the old hoofers, and Sammy Davis Jr., says the wife of one of his fellow dancers. When he got to be about 8 years old, he, his brothers and father were all in the same act. Not only was he a dancer, but an actor and comedian as well. Around this same time was when he was first on Broadway in a show called The Girl in Pink Tights. Once he started to outgrow his father and his brothers, he broke away and was a musician and singer in a band called Severance. To do this, he went abroad but found himself back in New York shortly after the band started. At this time, his Broadway career really started to take flight. He received a Tony for playing Jelly Roll Morton in George C. Wolfe's musical tribute Jelly's Last Jam in 1992, three additional Tony nominations, and a Theater World Award. But as he grew even older he was still very active in the movie industry and even released an album titled “Gregory Hines” in 1987. After this he even made some special appearances on TV, on shows including Will and Grace and the popular children’s show Little Bill. His last major hit was in Bojangles (2001), which he portrayed the title role of legendary dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Although he made sort of a crossover in his life moving from dance to the big screen, he was still very strongly connected to his roots of tap dancing. He was a tireless advocate for tap in America. In 1988 he pushed for the creation of a National Tap Dance Day, now celebrated in 40 cities in the United States and in eight other nations.

http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/gregory-hines/ http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/11/arts/gregory-hines-versatile-dancer-and-actor-dies-at-57.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

I watched the whole video of "Walzer". In this piece there's a woman who seems to be very frustrated. She's storming around the whole stage shouting out pretty random things. She's talking about her arms and legs, ears and mouth, and she's saying that she's able to do what she wants with them. She's just basically pointing out the obvious. I think the mood could be angry, or even mad. I feel as though someone might have judged her and she's just trying to let them know that she's just like everyone else and we shouldn't be judging because we're essentially all the same. What struck me is that this piece isn't a dance, at least not in my book. I thought there was going to be much more movement. More than this woman just walking around the stage. This fits in with the article we read because it's very different. If you just look at it for what it is, it really doesn't make sense. You have to go into it much further and look for the symbolism and really listen to the characters are saying, as it says in the article.
 * Response to Pina Bausch**

The one that looks the most interesting to me would have to be Da'Vine Joy Randolph, 'Ghost the Musical'. This one sticks out the most to me because there's a lot of special effects to be done it seems and making people walk through walls and pennies floating in the air would be truly amazing to see in a live show!
 * New Plays!**

When I was 3, my mom decided to put me in dance lessons. She knew I would like it because both my sisters liked it, and whatever they liked, I liked. I danced at Eleanor's School of Dance for 11 years. I took pretty much everything from tap to jazz to ballet. It eventually got to be very hard to juggle all my activities. I was always leaving class early to go to softball games or cheerleading practice or even piano lessons. When I got to high school, my mom thought I was old enough to decide what I wanted to set my heart on. I, of course, picked cheerleading. I am so happy and proud that I did pick cheer over dance because I know that I'm much happier doing that. But sometimes I wish that I still danced because all my friends who I've known since I was so young, are still at the same studio doing amazing things. No matter how old I am, I'll always remember my years dancing and how much I truly loved, and still love it.
 * Dance!**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0gJj7wBxSM

Happy Valentine's Day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ZeMsw5A48

Dear class,

I'm Lacy, I'm 17 years old and my birthday is on July 29th. I still hear the stories about that day from my mom and dad and my two older sisters, Tia and Carissa. My parents had them come to the hospital in matching shirts. It’s funny how my mom still has them in her closet, which is filled with things from our childhood that she insists on keeping. But as time goes on we all get older and start to do things on our own. Even with this happening, my family manages to stay pretty close. Almost all of my relatives live here in New York very close to our area. However, my mom still has some relatives that live in Italy. She went there to visit about a year ago with my oldest sister, Tia. It was the longest time I had ever been away from my mom, a whole 2 weeks. I enjoyed that time very much but after, of course, I was happy to have her home. My middle sister, Carissa attends the University of Tampa. So when she comes home for Christmas, my whole family is very excited and happy to see her. She loves it very much down there but misses her family most of the time. As you can see I could probably go on about my family forever…

As a kid, I was always involved in multiple things. I started out as a dancer at 3 years old. Then as I got older, my dad wanted me to start playing softball also. I thought it would be fun so I told him I would do it. I met a lot of my early friends through softball and had a wonderful time playing it, but eventually I grew less fond of it and decided to stop. Lastly there’s cheerleading. I started around third grade and have been doing it every year since. When it came down to it, I had to choose between dance and cheerleading, I chose to cheer. So now I’m on the varsity team here at Guilderland and I love it more than I can say. My sisters were on the team before so I not only feel that it’s right for me to be on the team, I feel like I’m meant to be on the team. Nothing brings me more joy than being with my friends and being at games just having a good time. Every year over February break, our team travels to Florida for a competition that we have won 5 times now. We go down for about 5 or 6 days so we usually go to the parks and hang out there. I've only been with the team once so far but I have to say that I had the time of my life. My family and I always went to Disneyworld when we were younger, but with the team it's a much different experience.

I can't believe that this is my last year of being a Guilderland cheerleader and a high school student. I definitely don't think that I'm ready to go off to college yet. I'm such a kid at heart. I love cartoons and movies that are probably better left to a younger audience. I can usually never go anywhere by myself and I tend to be shy at times. I'm used to having the attention of my parents on me because both my sisters have been on their own for a while. It's going to be a huge change when I go off to college but I know it will be a good one. I'm looking forward to taking the next step in my life!

-Lacy

10 of my favorite artistic things!!

1) Adele

2) Mosaic things

3) **Makeup!!!**

4) Painting

5) Collages

6) Books

7) Making cheer bows

8) Clothing

9) Musicals

10) Dance



I picked these pictures because I think it really captures the meaning of the whole story. Someone could work so hard for what they really wanted just to have it thrown all away. Once the next big thing comes along, people aren't going to look your way. Or you could be too picky about something and so you will never be satisfied. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have.

Art Questions!


 * Should art ever make you uncomfortable?** I think that sometimes art can make you uncomfortable. Art is all about the person making it. With everyone having different opinions, someone is bound to be uncomfortable by what someone else is thinking.


 * What should be considered a “work of art?” Who gets to decide this?** Honestly, I think anything could be a work of art. As far as someone deciding if it is or not, I think that should be the person who made it.


 * What is art for?** Different things. It can be for pleasure, a fun thing in your free time, or it could be to educate people about something such as your opinion.


 * Who decides what is “worthy” to be published/shown/recorded, etc.** I think the person who creates the art should be the one who decides whether it's worthy or not. If they aren't pleased with their work then they shouldn't publish it.


 * When does art become disturbing?** Art becomes disturbing when you don't agree with the message being portrayed or the picture makes your uncomfortable.

Constantin Brancusi was a Romanian sculptor. He originally created "Bird in Space" in 1923. When the works of art were arriving at the New York harbor, the customs officials didn't believe that this was a work of art. So they said it needed to be taxed. Normally, works of art didn't get taxed. Meanwhile they held it in a category with kitchen supplies and hospital things. Then other artists were saying that they don't even believe it's a real work of art. Eventually after the court cases, the judges ruled in favor of the artist.

Ann Hamilton
 * Installation Art-** describes an artistic genre of site-specific, three-dimensional works designed to transform the perception of a space.




 * New Media Art-** A genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art technologies, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology.



Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist between 1593 and 1610. His paintings combine a realistic observation of the human state with dramatic lighting. He was known for dramatic realism. He was not too friendly and hard to get along with. He was soon forgotten after his death. It wasn't until the 20th century that people started recognizing his work.




 * Claude Monet-**Was the founder of French impressionist painting, and he liked to paint mostly landscapes.


 * Pablo Picasso-**One of the most influential artists of the 20th century and cubism was his thing.


 * Mark Rothko-** Born in Russia and classified as an abstract impressionist.


 * Jackson Pollock-** Major figure in the abstract impressionist movement





[]


 * Willem de Kooning-** a Dutch American abstract expressionist. He was a part of the group called the New York school. These artists were abstract expressionists and action painters as well.








 * JMW Turner-**
 * Mary Cassatt-**


 * Georgia O'Keeffe-**


 * Eduard Manet-**


 * Rene Magritte-**


 * Henri Matisse-**


 * Jacob Lawrence-**


 * Romare Bearden-**


 * Vasily Kandinsky-**


 * Edward Hopper-**


 * Georges Braque-**


 * Paul Cezanne-**


 * Winslow Homer-**


 * Aaron Douglas-**


 * John Singer Sargent-**
 * Edvard Munch-**


 * James Whistler-**


 * Andrew Wyeth-**


 * Georges Seurat-**



The painting I chose is by Edward Hopper. It’s called “Morning Sun”. I like this first of all, because I do like all of his paintings. I love all the light and dark he uses. All the shadows are so real and really make the picture stand out. The colors are somewhat muted and realistic. But there are other reasons why I chose this particular one is because it makes me think. When I look at I don’t just see a pretty picture with a complete story. I think I like this one because I can look at it and make up my own story. When you first look at it you don’t see much, but I think that’s the point. There isn’t supposed to be a set story. It’s for you to make up. A couple questions come to mind when you see this. What is she looking at? What time is it? Is this her room? Why isn’t she still sleeping? Usually when we see a picture, there’s a clear picture of what’s happening. Here, you don’t know the story at all. You’re free to make it all up on your own which is why I think this would be a good picture to hang up in the hall somewhere. Each time you walk past it you could make up a new story because there’s countless possibilities.


 * Banksy-** An England based graffiti artist, political activist, film director and painter. His work is done in a distinctive stenciling technique. His art can be seen on streets, walls and bridges in cities around the world.


 * Jerry Rosembert Moise-** A Haitian graffiti artist. After the quake and everything bad happening there, in his own words he says he tries to help people get a better understanding of god and the good that will come out of that.




 * Marquis Lewis aka Retna-** An LA native whose work is a cross between gallery art and street art. He paints with fluidity and good technique but at the same time keeps that graffiti edge.



C215 aka Christian Guemy- French graffiti artist, doesn't hold back his identity and isn't very political with his art mostly painting his daughter and his wife.






 * Neural Net** Gabriel Pato, a Brazilian biologist, carries on his body the principle that the brain is a network. Neurons send signals to thousands of other neurons, and it is the number and the strength of those connections from which our thoughts emerge.


 * Christo**- His plan is to cover the Arkansas River with an anchored fabric which will cost $50 million. I pretty much want to know why it's necessary to cover a river. I think it would be nicer if I could actually see it as opposed to just staring at miles of fabric. Also, it's kinda a waste of 50 million dollars but the drawing looks pretty cool so I guess we'll just have to see how it turns out.




 * Okapis!** They are so cute! They're a cross between a zebra, donkey, and giraffe.



=
Style Wars- I liked this movie because it showed the people who are actually behind the graffiti. Listening to what they have to say can make you change your mind on what you think about the subject. Seeing the different types of work made me really appreciate it just because of the detail and the just the size. Personally, I think graffiti is art.=====

**Vik Muniz**-






**Barry Mcgee-**









 * Princess Hijab-**







Robert J. Lang-




















Robert J. Lang was an active participant in the bug wars, which were pretty much origami contests. The Origami Detectives were a group of people in Japan who would try to outdo each other with extreme designs of the assigned subject. I thought this was kind of weird at first but after looking at all the pictures of the different kinds of origami it made sense to me. There's a lot of things you can do with just paper and I could see how people would like do outdo one another. That's pretty much true with every aspect of life, but in this case they just decided to give it a name, the Bug Wars.

Shepard Fairey-






Thanksgiving!!


I don't really remember what music I used to listen to because I pretty much listened to anything my sisters had on. Most of the time that was either the backstreet boys and any other boy band that they thought was cool at the time. That was pretty much when I was very little like around 6 or 7. But there is one really embarrassing song that we would listen to all the time... The best memory that I have of this song was one new year's eve we were in my sisters room with our cousin and our little CD player (we thought we were cool) and we were listening to the hampsterdance. We all had a hamster at the time and I think we thought it was the greatest thing. So when we heard this song it was instantly our favorite. I hate knowing the words to the song...if someone were to play it right now for me I could probably sing the whole thing! As I got older around 10 or 12 the movie "The Cheetah Girls" came out. That was my movie. I made my mom go and get me the CD and I would listen to it non-stop. I remember so many times hanging out with friends singing and dancing to the cheetah girls on friday nights. That's another couple songs that I could sing beginning to end at this second, which is kind of sad haha. Another big thing with mostly just me, not my sisters, was Hannah Montana. I always watched disney channel and pretty much still do. I would put the CD in my stereo and fall asleep to it a lot. I don't know if this counts but in 6th grade when high school musical came out, that's when I really became obsessed. Right now people would make fun of me for still loving it, but they even did back then. I'm one of those people who does grow up, but I still love everything for little kids. My sister and I have all the movies on DVD and we still to this day watch them and physically get up off the couch and dance and sing to the songs. But back in the middle school days I would pretty much listen to it everywhere I went. I remember my little red walkman that I brought everywhere. Technically, I don't know if that counts seeing as I still LOVE high school musical.







http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6fpbBoIrXI


 * Little Richard**-



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3-OaNevkfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQ7drIDV88w


 * Elvis Presley-**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gj0Rz-uP4Mk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZBUb0ElnNY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHevX7wh99Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbPVML6EgE

=Motown!!!= Motown music originally came from Detroit, the motor city, which is where the nickname comes from.


 * Hitsville, USA**


 * Berry Gordy-** was an American music producer and was the founder of the Motown record label.


 * The Funk Brothers-** Detroit musicians who played on most Motown hits.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql7LbHXPWno




 * The Supremes-** Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard Motown's acts and are, to date, America's most successful vocal group with 12 number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23UkIkwy5ZM



The Moody Blues-


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGFVkM-2XO8&feature=fvst

**Neil Diamond-**


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2w-_Vtttrfc

**Folk Singers!**
They were definitely different from the other singers and bands of that day. They had a more poetic feel with their lyrics. To me, it almost felt like they weren't even singing at all. It was almost like they were just saying the words to a beat with music in the background. And well, to be honest, I didn't really like it. I just like to have more of an upbeat feel to my music and I usually like lyrics that I can sing along to, and I don't feel like I could do that with folk music!

My gift to the class!

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=twin+babies+talking+to+each+other&oq=twin+babies+talking+to+each+other&aq=f&aqi=g3&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=49320l53537l0l53671l33l31l0l25l25l0l185l774l0.6l6l0

http://www.buzzfeed.com/hgrant/the-life-of-a-modern-woman

**Pete Seeger-**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADtAU43MM14


 * Best Artists/Songs of 2011!**


 * Justin Bieber**- so many people will probably have a problem with this. But to me, he really is the best artist of 2011. He had a new Christmas album come out and sold millions of those and he was just the talk of the year between all the publicity and everything. I know that many people think that he's an insult to music and looks like a 13 year old boy, but I don't think anyone can deny the fact that he has talent. As far as I know, he doesn't really ever lip sync or sing with a track. His voice is enough for every situation. With many people these days, that isn't the case. He truly is a talented singer!

Adele- "Turning Tables"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omkUG4kugvw&feature=fvsr

**Best Movie of 2011!**

 * Bridesmaids-** my friends and I absolutely can't get enough of this movie! It's pretty much my current favorite of all time, but I'm sure I'll find another movie that's just as good if not better. It's a little inappropriate and I think it might be rated R, but it's definitely a great movie. My mom isn't usually the type of person to go for a movie like that, but she'll even tell you she loves it!



**Best TV Show of 2011!**

 * Pretty Little Liars-** of course it's one of those overly dramatic unrealistic shows, but an entertaining one nonetheless. I used to watch this show religiously early on in my junior year, but homework and cheerleading got to be too much, so I sort of stopped. Occasionally I would turn it on while doing homework, but I wouldn't really pay attention. Over break, the new season started to they were playing re-runs. It got me to remember just how much I liked this show. I'm always on the edge of my seat, or confused, or excited that I know what's going on and characters don't. Anyways, for this year, this show would have to be my favorite.



**Best Photo of 2011!**


“That night was very cold and from the Earth's depths came strong rumbling, as if the ground was going to open and swallow us. As the sky was illuminated with a strong red light, lightning struck all around as if it were the end of the world. There was a strong smell of sulfur and ash all around. The ash plume reached more than 12 miles into the air, high enough for it to be easily seen from space as it crossed the continent. The ash damaged places in Chile and Argentina, causing loss of cattle, contamination of lakes and rivers, respiratory illness, and cancelation of flights.”

Canon 40D, lens 70mm, f2.8, 2 minutes, ISO 1600

Caption: Lightning flashes around the ash plume above the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano chain near Entrelagos June 5, 2011

**Best Food of 2011!**

 * Chipotle-** definitely the best food...ever. My oldest sister, Tia, lived down in Manhattan for 4 years. Of course she was always on the go looking for a good place to get food, and this was one of them. I never really knew that we even had such a place until she came back home and said she was craving chipotle. When we first went there I wasn't open to trying anything new, by the way I'm probably the pickiest eater alive, and I begged my mom to take me somewhere else. But as soon as they put that rice in my bowl, I was hooked.



====**25 Most Powerful Songs-** its pretty interesting how playing Barney for detainees can get them to talk, I definitely wouldn't have come up with that one on my own. And of course the start of the whole auto-tune fad with Cher. I hope she feels bad for all the not so great songs that have been produced using it!====

====**Album Covers-** the Coldplay cover is probably what caught my attention the most. On my sisters old ipod which I used to listen to all the time, a song would come on and this would be the picture that would accompany it. It's nice to know that there's some story behind it and it isn't just somebody going crazy... I always wondered why someone would pick this to be the cover for their album, but I guess it is pretty cool.====

**Johnny Cash!**


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEV58ztuihs

**The Dixie Chicks-**
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,81093,00.html



To me this whole controversy actually seems pointless. They're just a couple of people speaking their minds and last time I checked, that wasn't a crime. The only reason that anyone is freaking out about this is because they're just singers and usually, you don't hear their political opinions. But, just like every one of us, they're entitled to their own and as far as I know, there's still freedom of speech in this country! So really, this shouldn't even have been an issue to begin with...