Final project plus some

These pictures contain a comparison of the little dipper and big dipper sice I did not have enough shells to do this myself. They also contain pictures dealing with cairns which we talked about in class, the power of three which is in the book that we read in this class and pictures that resemble the bid dipper and the little dipper  My focus for my final project was the big and little dipper, however, I thought up some other ideas for pictures that I could post. Therefore, they are more like many projects, and the big and little dipper are my major final projests.

I based my final project on the big and little dipper because astronomy is one of my passions. I was also influenced to do this when we talked about Nancy Holt in class. Nancy Holt was Robert Smithson's (the person best known for the Spiral Jetty) wife. Her interest in art was linked to urban space or industrial form and its relation to celestial bodies. The celestial bodies is where I got my influence from.

Since I did not have enough shells I wanted everyone to be able to see a direct comparison of the big dipper and little dipper (note that the two stars in the big dipper point straight to Polaris.

 This is a picture of the big dipper also known as Ursa Major or the great bear (she bear). This constellation is low in the autumn because it is looking for a place to est according to native american folklore. It was used for the Underground Railroad which slaves used to escape. I used Earth Art to create the big dipper because of its use in history and its relationship to the little dipper.

 These rocks were located near an area of the beach in my neighborhood so that people can back there boats into the water and not go off the backing ramp on one side. When I saw this it made me think of the cairns which we talked about in this class and how they are used to show the place where a person was buried. It is common to see people today leave flowers on their relatives graves. Therefore, in treating this pile of rocks as a cairn I made my contribution to it as seen in the picture below.

 This is a picture of the little dipper also known as the little bear or Ursa Minor. This constellation contains the North Star (Polaris) and has great navigational value. I did an Earth Art form of the little dipper because of Polaris and its value to the human race.

This picture shows three star fish that are spread almost equally apart and are approximately lined up. I did this for the power of three which is discussed in the book that we used in this class and which I have talked about in an earlier post and to show that people can strive for perfection but that this is usually impossible.

The above picture shows the big dipper and how it is seen as a bear. The  cup part is seen as a saadle on the bears shoulders and the tip of the big dipper can be viewed as the tip of the bears nose.

This is the story behind the big and little dipper if anyone is interested.

The Myth ~ The Great Bear and the Little Bear

To the ancient Greeks, Ursa Major represented Callisto, a follower of Artemis, virgin huntress and goddess of the crescent moon. Zeus, king of the gods, fell in love with Callisto and she gave birth to his child named Arcas. Some say Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the gods, became intensely jealous and changed Callisto into a bear left to roam the forest. One day Arcas came upon the bear. Callisto stood on her hind legs to welcome her son. Thinking himself attacked, Arcas readied his bow. Zeus, who saw what was about to happen, turned Arcas into a small bear. Grabbing both bears by their tails, Zeus hurled them into the safety of the sky, where they still roam close together as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. This action might explain why the ancient view of the Great Bear has an unusually long tail.

Variations of the Myth
Some say Hera had the last laugh, she moved the bears into a part of the sky near the celestial pole. There they would never set below the horizon, never resting, remaining the eternal victims of Zeus’ wandering eye.
Another legend says Zeus seduced Callisto by taking on the form of Artemis to deceive her. Artemis demanded the strictest chastity from the maidens who followed her hunting through the mountains. In order to save Callisto and Arcas from the wrath of the virgin goddess, Zeus transformed Callisto into the Great Bear and set her in the stars with Arcas, their child, beside her.
Still others say it was the rage of Hera or Artemis which cursed Callisto, who then turned into a bear pursued by her own hounds. Only later was she placed as the Great Bear among the stars.
Some say Arcas grew up to become king of Arcadia and brought agriculture to that wild and rugged country, for which he was immortalized among the stars as Bootes, inventor of the "Wagon," which is the other name for the constellation of the Great Bear.
A more ancient belief behind the story of Callisto is that the Great Bear is really Artemis herself, and that Callisto is another name for Artemis. Artemis is the ancient queen of the stars and the ruler of the Arctic Pole. The she-bear is her symbol. She is the "Sounding One" and the "Lady of the Wild Mountains" giving off a "brilliant blaze" as she hunts. She is the queen of the inviolate meadow far from the haunts of men. She is the queen of the crescent moon, moonlight being her actual presence, and she is believed to cause wild animals and trees to dance.
Later the English linked the constellation to both the Bear and Wagon. They saw it as the wagon of King Arthur, whose Round Table is reflected in the constellations circling the Pole, and whose name comes from the Celtic word for "bear." Legend has it that Arthur is sleeping in a cave with his knights beside him, and will return one day to save his country in its hour of need. The seven most important stars of the Bear-Wagon (the Big Dipper) are also known as the Seven Sleepers of Epheus, who lie dreaming in a mountain cave waiting for the resurrection. These Seven Sleepers, unlike Arthur, are said to have awoken after 200 years and gone down to the local town for provisions, after which they went to sleep once more.

In ancient China the seven stars of the Big Dipper were associated with the celestial palace of the Lord On High, the Star God of Longevity, the heavenly mountain, the paradise of the immortals. The star Sirius, the Heavenly Wolf, guarded this celestial palace. Today Sirius, which shares the space motion Ursa Major, is regarded as an outlying member of it!

The Great Bear throughout the ages has been linked to the gods and goddesses to royality and immortality. Open to this constellation in the springtime and receive its heavenly blessings! The paws of the Great Bear are up high, as if walking in the heavens, and the bowl of its Big Dipper is inverted as if pouring heavenly contents upon an awakening earth. Look up, be blessed and graced!

From
- Stars for Lincoln, Doctors, and Dogs by James Benbow Bullock (Gourmet Guides, San Francisco, 1981), includes last two images on this page
- The Lost Zodiac by Catherine Tennant (Bulfinch Press, Boston, 1995)
- Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, Vol. 3 by Robert Burnham, Jr. (Dover Publications. New York 1978)
- The Stars: A New Way to See Them by H.A. Rey (Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1980), includes top three images on this page

This is a picture of the lighthouse in Chincatique. It uses a spiral pattern. This pattern can be used to show that many people have passed this place or that many ships have passed by it.

This is a piece by Dechen Chodron and was made from wooden fingers. This artist made this piece to show how a drop of water makes ripples in the ocean and that the ripples from two drops will eventually intersect. However, I would almost look at it as an infinity symbol which demonstrates the eternity of Earth Art wether the piece remains forever in the earth or the picture of the temporary iece remains. It also shows the connection between people who all come from different walks of life and that we can all find a common interest that will always link us together.

This tree is actually slanted as shown, which I am sure everyone knows is due to the position of the sun relative to where the tree was planted. However, it made me think of how earth art could influence the structure of buildings today. For example, this tree, even though I doubt it, could have influnced the leaning tower of pisa in Italy. In case you did not know it leans because of the poor foundation it was laid upon and the Italians who built it wanted to see what would happen if they kept going ( they also are not known for their architectural skills).

Project For Earth Art

For my project I am considering using driftwood and seashells. I will use these in one of two ways: 1. To create a celestial constellation (similar to what Nancy Holt did) or 2. I might put some in the water and some on land to represent the degradation of Earth Art or to represent how Smithson's Spiral Jetty was submerged for four to five years and everyone thought that it was gone forever, but it resurfaced.

This picture was taken to represent the power of three, presented by the author of Overlay, Lucy Lippard. The number three is a powerful number because it is the smallest number that can be used to make a geometric shape. Lao Tzo said that tao generates one, one generates two, two generates three, and three generates all things. Also the self- reproducing principle of proportionate growth known as the Fibonacci spiral says that every number is tied to a process of nature. Three seems to be the most attached number to nature. However, I am unsure as to what ultimate process of nature three might be tied to. Possibly the creation of non-human influenced Earth Art.

I took this picture beacuase I believe that it shows the rise of the female's role in society. Lucy Lippard comments that females come from nature, specifically from earth and water (that is why we call it mother nature). This picture is representative of the rise of female roles in society because the land has risen out of the water, just as women have rose out of the historical dominance of a male lead society.