Tulips, Sunflowers, and Roses - Oh My!

On Monday, our English class took a field trip to the H.O. Botanical Garden at Penn State. Living in east halls, specifically on Park Ave, I have always noticed the massive field across the street. I was never quite sure what its purpose was to the school and why it was there. Truthfully, I looked up the location of the field trip fifteen minutes prior to class and I was surprised to find it so nearby. When I first entered the Arboretum I jokingly thought to myself, “Is this Narnia?” As I was exploring the garden, I focused on the exuberant colors of the flowers and how pretty they looked together. Flowers are my favorite type of plant because they are so beautiful and colorful. Different shades of green, pink, purple, red, white, and yellow were scattered down two strips of path that led to an arbor with a wooden bench beneath. The scenery was so peaceful; I truly enjoyed myself as I strolled down the graveled path through the serene garden. I could not help to think how pretty it must look in the springtime. The flowers just blossoming, birds chirping, and the overall tranquility. Back home, almost every beautiful Sunday my dad would spend the entire day working in the yard. He would always try to inform me about all different types of flowers and trees and during which season they grew. I have always thought that flowers and plants are lovely and add so much beauty to life. On the other hand, when it came to yard work – that was someone else’s chore. I was told that there was a pond in the Arboretum, and unfortunately I never saw it. In my backyard at home we have two ponds with waterfalls and koi fish. My dad puts in a lot of work to maintain our ponds and fish and I love spending time near them. The Arboretum allows people to get away from the outside world. Once you are in there, it is like you are in your own world. No cars, no bikes – simply nature. I hope that in the spring the garden will expand. I loved the flowers but I felt as if I was walking in a circle quite a lot. There are so many neat landscaping ideas, it would be awesome if they took advantage of that and made the botanical garden even better. Every year right at the beginning of spring we all go down to DC and look at the gorgeous cherry blossoms on the mall. I absolutely love the color of cherry blossoms and it made me wonder if they had cherry blossoms here as well. I definitely would come back to the Arboretum and bring my friends. The location is so convenient, why not? I will probably wait until spring, however, because plants are just about dying right now and it will look ten times more beautiful!

Palmer Museum of Art

On Friday, my English class went to the Palmer Museum of Art to look closely at the wonderful paintings and sculptures and to analyze them in a rhetorical way. It was my first time ever going to this museum, let alone any art museum so I was pretty fascinated. The downstairs of the museum was filled with Italian and Asian paintings and ceramic pots and vases. The Italian paintings were traditional and old and had the same idea. The Japanese paintings were different and smaller. Then upstairs, the art got more interesting – at least for me. Filled with much more modernized paintings by American artists. One artwork that stood out to me was a 1997 painting called Marilyn. The artist was by an American named Faith Ringold who was born in 1930. This painting drew my attention because it was obviously a portray of the famous and beautiful icon, Marilyn Monroe. Ringgold uses gouche, a type of painting, to create this masterpiece. This painting is not the average painting of Marilyn Monroe, because in this case her skin color is brown. After researching, I learned that Faith Ringgold is an African American artist. She was a big contributor and activist in feminist and anti-racist movements.

            Marilyn Monroe is seen as a major sex symbol in the 1950’s to 1960’s. She’s a white, blonde beauty that men drooled over and women aspired to be. I think Ringgold changes Marilyn’s skin color to emphasize that skin color does not affect beauty. I believe that this painting really reflects Ringgold’s strong attitude towards feminism and racism. She is making a claim that, African Americans can be just as beautiful and skin is simply just a color. This painting connects with my emotions because although I would not call myself a Marilyn Monroe fan, I am interested in pop culture. Ringgold creates a pop culture piecework that has a lot of meaning. She chose Marilyn because almost everyone has heard of her and she is primarily known for her looks. I think choosing Marilyn Monroe was a perfect example.

            I really enjoyed my visit to the Palmer Museum of Art. It was a fun way to do this assignment. I am a hands-on learner, and anything that is outside of the classroom, I usually enjoy. I definitely can see myself visiting the museum again in the future!

My First Post!

When thinking of a title for my blog, the first thing that popped in my mind was, "My First Blog". I know that this title is very cliche and unoriginal, however, I believe it accurately describes me and my blog because it is in fact my very first blog. I wanted a simple template because I wanted my blog easy to navigate and I find that I am a very simple and ordinary person myself. I love the color teal so I chose that as my theme of color. Teal is a really pretty color that I find everyone enjoys. To add some school spirit, I uploaded a picture I took of Old Main. I think that this picture shows my artsy side because I edited this picture on an iPhone photo sharing app called Instagram - which I am obsessed with. I have several different fonts on my blog because I think it adds excitement and makes it less boring. I love to play around with fonts no matter what I am doing so this definitely reflects my personality. The fonts I chose are pretty girly, which shows my girly side. As I learn more about blogging I'll definitely keep updating my blog but for now, I am proud to say this is "My First Blog"!

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