Visit to the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church

I found that the visit to the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church was interesting. The thing that I enjoyed more than anything was the church itself.  I have traveled around Europe and have seen several magnificent Catholic Churches; however I have not had the chance to visit many impressive churches in the United States. I am sure that there are many churches that can compare to those in Europe, but my visit to the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church was my first experience in a church even remotely similar. I love the way in which Catholic churches use artworks as a way to remind people of their duties of a Christian.  The ornamentation inside the church is absolutely fantastic.

I do not really consider myself a Christian, but I would consider visiting a Catholic church. I appreciate their emphasis on tradition. I noticed that their some of their hymnals were written in Latin, which indicates to me that there is an emphasis on the importance of history. There is something intriguing about the Catholic Church. I feel that it differs from other sects in the way in which the entire religious service is carried out.  To me it seems like they take the religion more seriously (in a traditional sense) than say the Baptists or Methodists do. The feeling I got when I entered the church was something along the lines of, “I definitely understand that this is a holy place.” Upon entering many Baptist churches I felt as if I were simply entering a community center of sorts. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with the more contemporary elements found in Baptist churches. I simply feel that if I were to go to church on Sunday I would choose a catholic church, because I appreciate tradition in religion.

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IDEE

All things considered, I think that I did relatively well on my midterm. I was hoping for an A; however a B will suffice because I still have an A in the class. I think it would help to prepare an outline for the final at least a week in advance so that I can revise it however I see fit. For the midterm I made outlines for both of my essays two days before. This was poor planning on my behalf, because it did not give me time to revise and plan out my essays.  One thing that I think that greatly needed improvement was my analysis of the music. Thinking back to my midterm I now realize that I did not include very many technical terms in regards to the pieces I was analyzing, but I instead focused on the way in which the musical pieces as a whole affect the individual.

I’m not sure if the new format is going to be beneficial for me.  Being held accountable for two cultures as opposed to four is nice; however I did not feel that it was very difficult memorizing all of the pieces from each culture. I feel that my concluding comparison paragraphs may have been a little brief, but I also believe that, for the most part I successfully utilized them.  One thing that I think will make the final easier is the fact that we don’t have to focus heavily on the three themes. That was the one thing that I found very difficult.

Last week’s lab was useful. I think it helped me see where I need improvement. Like I said before, I believe that my essays fell a bit short when it came to analyzing the art and music. I need to remember to discuss the technical and formal elements of each piece, and then find a way in which I can relate such elements to the themes and concepts. 

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Islamic Art

Unfortunately I had to miss our classes visit to the Islamic Mosque last Saturday, and instead I had to watch a movie about Islam. I chose the movie Islamic Art II which sounded pretty interesting considering I am an art major. I was very disappointed by the fact that the movie was simply a video tape of a speech given by a visiting artist in 1981. What the artist was discussing was quite interesting, but the video itself was absolutely awful.  The artist, whose name escapes me at this moment, was discussing the treatment of tile work within an Islamic Mosque. He started his lecture by explaining that many styles of tile work from areas such as China and Turkey were adapted by the Islamic people to better suit their aesthetic.  He stated that by looking at the tiles one could immediately notice the Chinese inspiration; however Chinese porcelain dishes were not discovered in the region until about 100 years ago when over 8oo bowls were found.  The tile making process was pretty interesting. In many cases if there were colors showing through the tile, such as turquoise leaves that were distinctly different from the painted surface of the tile, then the turquoise stone would actually be attached to the back of the tile, and would show through a cut out hole in the front.  The visiting artist and his crew actually cleaned the tiles in the mosque in order to view them more accurately. To their surprise, what appeared to be faux marbling actually turned out to be a green ground with white abstracted figures such a ducks and flowers. In one set of tiles the crew uncovered a painted image of two very stylistically painted tigers. This kind of imagery is rare within mosques; however the speaker explained that it is a common misconception to think that there is absolutely no representational imagery in Islamic art. He explained that although it may be rare it is not forbidden in all mosques as many people think.  This can be seen below. 

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