In chapter six, Ellen Dissanayake talks about the connection of violent acts with the creation of art. On page 139, Dissanayake talks about Rollo May’s idea that “the impulses that drive some people to violence are the same impulses that drive the artist to create,” even though that the actually nature of both these are on the surface completely different. Dissanayake introduces the concept of comparing art and violence, with a connection between how some members of society view certain forms of art, with connections to immoral actions, in most cases including some form of violence. This can be seen repeatedly in the stereotypes that can be connected to musicians of specific genres. This reminds me of when I was younger and my mother would tell me the history behind rock and roll. She’d say that many people would actually blame an artist if an avid audience member committed a violent act; that they connected the violent emotions that an audience would receive to the violent act that they committed. These connections are really important when studying a society and their reactions to art, and how it can disturb their daily life and values.
This can also be seen from when Dissanayake, talks about the rituals and feelings that revolve around shamans. A shamanistic ritual is extremely focused on the audience; doing everything for the benefit of his/her audience, “Shamans rise to the challenge of the disturbing powers, inner and outer; by conquering them they also win over their audience (pg.138).” So it is important to see how the audience or society feels about the shaman and his rituals as a whole. With traditional traits there are traditional reactions in every society, “in being deviant they are on the one hand permitted to violate certain social norms,” because they are already expected to (pg.139).
This is the same with artists, depending on what type of art they create, and what common emotional response is associated with their pieces, will create a basis for how society thinks and deals with them. So, most music that is connected to violence is associated with sex, drug use and violence; and this is usually helped by the attitude and behavior of the artist themselves. I think these facts are what are used in the creation of an image, that will help intensify the audiences’ reactions to the artistic creation.

To Experience!!!!!

So I was not sure if we were suppose to talk about the definition of aesthetic experience with the help of Ellen Dissanayake; or if we were suppose to connect an example of our own aesthetic experience to Dissanayake’s definition. I’m just going to go with the enjoyable one, which might end up answering both anyways. I think I have had many aesthetic experiences, each of a different caliber, but just as ‘extraordinary’. One of my favorite things is reading, it has actually become an addiction that can get in the way of everyday life. I have actually lost count of how many individual books, novellas, graphic novels and comic books, that I have read in my life. Every time that I open a book and start on the first page, I am consumed. I have been over taken by the need to understand, the need to experience and the need to know what happens. I will do everything that I can to finish that book before the day ends, sometimes not even getting up to get food. I am engrossed in the story, the setting, the characters, the plot, the twists, but most importantly I am engrossed in the message. I am known to read any and all genres, it doesn’t really matter but a must have of any book is the message. To me a book with a message is just as strong as a painting with a message. This is where the aesthetic experience of reading comes from for me.
Ellen Dissanayake gives us the definition of an aesthetic experience as the ability “To experience something that is outside order and ordinary - which we can call extraordinary. There is an unquestioned human appetite for intensity, and though we can exist without them, intense emotions make us feel we are living.” Have you ever had a book that just gives you the chills as you read it, you are laughing and crying with the happiness and sadness of the characters involved? These things are a must for my reading experience, which helps it turn into an aesthetic experience. I have many books that I have even read over ten times already, and I still have such an emotional experience when I read them. As I said before, another big factor is if it has a message. I love books that have a strong message, including the genre of comic books. The have been some comic books that have just affected me so greatly, that I still connect other experiences to them.
So for me a great example of an aesthetic experience as Ellen Dissanayake is reading. To me, when reading an amazing book you can “experience something…we call extraordinary,” we can be transported to another life, another universe, or even another time. “Though we can exist without them,” we do not need to read books, we do not need what they give us to live; but they all can “make us feel we are living.”

Art blog 3: "Making Special" project

Everyone has an ability of taking a mundane everyday object or activity and, as Ellen Dissanayake calls is, “making special”. Dissanayake uses this term to describe the act of making something more than it’s original purpose or function, by adding to an object or activity in some way. Dissanayake says that “making special’ is an act purely human, and that every human has the ability and desire to “make special” at some point or another. There are many examples of “making special” such as graffiti, room decoration, clothing, body pierces or tattoos, food presentation, and the list goes on. The key to “making special” is the intention of the individual, because it’s the extra meaning to the creator or audience that adds the aspect of “making special” to it.
Our mission this week was to either find past examples of “making special” in our personal space, or by “making special” something new. I found my piece of “making special” in my dorm room. This is my first time being truly away from home. So when packing for college I decided that I needed something that reminded me of special moments or people, as well as something that showed my personality. So I bought a corkboard and went through various pictures and mementos to find exactly what I wanted.

The items on this corkboard include pictures of family and friends: such as the two pictures of the adorable little girls, who are the children of close family friends, and the generation picture of my immediate family, which includes my mother, grandmother, my brother and myself. There are also memories of awesome moments such as the picture of me riding on an elephant with my little brother, and the small after junior prom party with one of my best friends. Even just special items, such as the valentines card I got from my boyfriend and a miniature sword that transformed me into a pirate for the night while another best friend and I fought to the death with our mini weapons. These things and even the ones that just represent my favorite things, such as the pretty koi fish ornament, the Oriental fan and the fairy sticker, are all important to me; and have helped in the “making special” of not only my corkboard but also my room.