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I found this week’s topic quite interesting because I had previously never thought of how medical technologies influenced art.  When Professor Vesna started off with discussing how years after her art class she realized how important it was to study the human bone structure and all of the details in the human body in order to be an artist, it really made me think.  Artists focus so much time and effort perfecting the drawing of a human body.  With the development of medical technologies such as the x-ray, first discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen and the MRI, first invented by Raymond Vahan Damadian, artists are able to take a closer look at the human body (Professor Vesna). 

The human body is an inspiration for artists and because of medical technology artists are able to expand their creative abilities in relation to the human body.  For example, the artist and jewelry designer, Emily Watson uses her inspiration from anatomy and geography to create jewelry that allows her to comment on the physical world and share how we are a part of it (Emily Watson).  I found Emily Watson’s work fascinating because it goes to show that the human body is not limited in its inspiration for artists who draw, in fact, the human body and medical technology serve as stimulus for artists of all kinds, even jewelry designers.

Lastly, when Professor Vesna discussed how our media and entertainment is full of medical practices and surgeries, it immediately made me think of the popular TV show called Grey’s Anatomy.  Grey’s Anatomy is one of my favorites shows and it is extremely well received today.  The show takes place in a hospital and every episode contains multiple different surgeries and medical crises.  We as humans are intrigued by our own bodies.  Medical cases are abundant and popular among our media entertainment today.  Clearly, there is no bound on the influence that the human body and medicine have on our culture and artists today.

"About Grey's Anatomy TV Show Series - ABC.com." ABC. Abc, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://abc.go.com/shows/greys-anatomy/about-the-show>.

Human Body and Medical Technologies. Dir. Victoria Vesna. Perf. Victoria Vesna. 2012. YouTube.

Human Body and Medical Technologies Part 3. Dir. Victoria Vesna. Perf. Victoria Vesna. 2012. YouTube.

Medlej, Joumana. "Human Anatomy Fundamentals: Basic Body Proportions."Design & Illustration Tuts+. Envato Pty Ltd., 4 Nov. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/human-anatomy-fundamentals-basic-body-proportions--vector-18254>.

Watson, Emily. "List of Galleries That Currently Carry My Work:." Emily Watson. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015. <http://www.metalemily.com/pages/Galleries.html>.

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With the development and advancement of technology today, new art forms are being created and becoming popular.  Looking at Apple in particular, lately I have noticed advertisements on billboards driving down the freeway and blown up on the walls of the Apple store displaying photos taken by individuals with their iPhone as well as drawings created on various iPhone apps.  The pictures and drawings that Apple is showing off are amazing.  Although this kind of art may be different than what we would normally view as original artwork, I believe that we all desire to express our creativity in one way or another and with the growing use of technology in our daily lives, we are finding ways to use that technology to manifest our artistic abilities. 

(Billboard that says "Shot on iPhone 6")

In Walter Benjamin’s piece The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, he discusses how mechanical reproduction puts an end to uniqueness and originality; however, I think it can be seen through the iPhone, for example, that authentic work is still created today in the midst of mechanical reproduction.

To look back and think about how Apple released their first iPhone in 2007 and to see how far technology has advanced today is incredible.  I think that with the overwhelming dependence that we have on technology today, it can be seen in a negative or positive light depending on your perspective.  We do have the opportunity to see it positively, in the sense that the mechanical production of technological devices has led to the invention of new ways for us to express our creativity, as seen through the iPhone’s photography capabilities.  I am excited to see what new opportunities technology will allow us to express artistically and creatively in the future.

(Shot taken on iPhone 6 by Gabby K. using the apps Camera and VSCO Cam)

"Apple - IPhone 6 World Gallery." Apple. Apple Inc, 1 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. 

<https://www.apple.com/iphone/world-gallery/>.

Griswold, Andrew. "17 Outstanding Photos from Apple's 'Shot on IPhone 6' World Gallery." Fstoppers Photography News and Community for Creative Professionals RSS. Fstoppers, 10 Mar. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <https://fstoppers.com/contests/17-outstanding-photos-apples-shot-iphone-6-world-gallery-61493>.

Robotics Part 1 Lecture. Perf. Victoria Vesna. 2015. Film.

"The Spread of Industrialization and Its Phases." Modern World History Interactive Textbook. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://webs.bcp.org/sites/vcleary/ModernWorldHistoryTextbook/IndustrialRevolution/responsestolR.html

Zohn, Harry. "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction." Walter Benjamin. Schocken/Random House, 1 Feb. 2005. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm>.

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The crucial role that math plays in creating art is often times overlooked.  It is important to go back and recognize the ways in which math is incorporated into works of art and how famous artists came up with revolutionary ideas that changed artists approach to drawing.

This week’s lecture revealed that math and art are much more intertwined than you might think.  Buckminster Fuller stated that we were all born as geniuses, creative and with the ability to be whatever we wanted to be, however, we become “de-geniused” when we enter into the educational system and start to believe the lie that math and art are unrelated.  Brunelleschi was credited to be the first person to properly use linear perspective in about 1413; he studied geometry to develop his ideas on perspective. And lastly, the golden ratio is a technique artists use, as shown in the Parthenon, to design a perfectly symmetrical building.    These are only three examples of how art and mathematics are related, however, there are infinitely many more ways we could show their connection.

Leonardo da Vinci was brilliant in the way he incorporated math into his artwork.  His piece of work known as The Last Supper is a perfect example of one-point linear perspective.  This perspective uses a single vanishing point to create an illusion of depth.  Not only that, but da Vinci’s famous work called the Vitruvian Man is a depiction of how math is in art.  The Vitruvian Man by da Vinci is meant to resemble how the human body is perfectly proportioned and how architects should use those proportions to design and create perfect buildings.

Mathematics is the magic behind all brilliant artwork.  It is the backbone for the design in architecture, and the juxtaposition of math, art, and science, reveals the complex mathematical formulas behind creative masterpieces.

"Golden Ratio." Golden Ratio. MathsIsFun.com, 2014. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <https://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/golden-

ratio.html>.

"Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper – ItalianRenaissance.org." Italian Renaissance. ItalianRenaissance.org, 20 June 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.italianrenaissance.org/a-closer-look-leonardo-da-vincis-last-supper/>.

Paralle. Lesson 3: Vanishing Points and Looking at Art (n.d.): n. pag. Marc Frantz, 2000. Web. <http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf>.

Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&feature=player_embedded>

"Vitruvian Man, The Proportions of a Human Figure." Leonardo Da Vinci. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.davincilife.com/vitruvianman.html>.

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My name is Elise Schroeder and I have personally experienced the divide between two cultures, as C.P. Snow puts it, the divide between the literary intellectuals and the scientists.  Coming into UCLA I was declared as a pre business economics major.  My mind was set on getting a degree in business economics, as in high school my strong suit was always math and science.  To my surprise, after taking multiple courses at the university, I realized I was more interested in subject matters such as sociology and I began to see that my interests were changing.  It is funny because, as touched on in this weeks lecture, on campus, switching from a business economics major to possibly communication studies feels like entering into a completely different world.  I believe that coming to UCLA has really highlighted the intense separation that we have created between north and south campus majors.  The video “Changing Education Paradigms” points out that our educational system has been teaching us to separate the two cultures since we were very young, so the problem stems from a young age and I am becoming more eye opened to it now as a college student.

Not only have I noticed the divide within the majors and educational system at UCLA, but I have also noticed it throughout most of my life in my dream of becoming an interior designer.  People would always comment on how it was so “interesting” that I loved math and science, yet I wanted to be an interior designer.  They commented on it as if the two things were worlds apart.

It is so easy to see all of the different aspects of our lives where our culture has created the divide between the two cultures of art and science, however, it is also clear from the lecture this week that there shouldn’t be a divide at all.  In fact, in “On Creativity,” David Bohm explains how creativity does not only dwell within the artists and literary intellectual culture, but creativity is extremely prevalent among the scientists as well.  Many common threads connect the two cultures, however our own culture today teaches us otherwise.  Today we live in a culture that is dependent upon technology, and as Kevin Kelly points out in his piece “The Third Culture,” he sees that for our culture, technology is changing our perspective on the world.  With my appreciation for math and science and my simultaneous aspiration to be an interior designer, I hope I can be one example to help close the gap between the two cultures that exist today.

Bohm, D. "On Creativity." JSTOR. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2013.

Changing Education Paradigms. RSA Animate, n.d. 2010.

Kelly, Kevin. "The Third Culture." The Third Culture. N.p., n.d. Web. Feb. 1998.

Snow, C. P. “Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution.” Reading. 1959. New York: Cambridge UP, 

        1961. Print.

Two Cultures Part 1.  Victoria Vesna. 2012.