Michelle's Blog My life is almost as interesting as this theme.

The two pieces that I have chosen to review are the Earth Stones by Andrea Stanislav and the Tiananmen Square in the Hickman Johnson Furrow Learning Center.

The Earth Stones are six large pieces of rock with mirrors on top on the south side of campus. They are arranged like an arrow pointing into the heart of campus. They are possibly the biggest waste of space and money that Morningside College has come up with thus far, to my knowledge. I think that the rocks would have looked prettier in their natural place, as opposed to stuck randomly on to some college campus full of students who don’t appreciate art, including myself. This is not art as I define it. It is easy to appreciate the art and work in a painting or a photograph, or even earth’s natural beauty, but when earth’s natural beauty is forcefully moved and plucked on to a random college campus, there is nothing of value to this.

Let’s not forgot the random pieces of metal stuck to the top of them. What does this reflect? The poor spending habits of Morningside College? It’s a convenient place for vain girls on their way from Eppley to the Science Center to check their hair and make-up. And thank god for that because that’s just what the world needs: more accommodations for people who think they are just the most attractive things on this planet. On a more serious note, it could represent some sort of reflection in the sky and infinity, but that is a bit of a stretch.

Now, let’s move on to the Tiananmen Square created by Elaine R. Williams in 1989 in the Hickman Johnson Furrow Learning Center. If you like large, broken squares of glass with what looks like vomit all over them, this is the piece for you. The vomit of this piece is actually some sort of copper that was melted onto the glass, which presumably broke the glass. This could be seen as violence of some sort. The copper may be like blood, and the broken glass could represent a struggle. The plaque vaguely notes “Requiem for a Chinese Student,” and it is up to the viewer to determine what that could possibly mean.

This piece is located in the most social area of the learning center, also known as the Spoonholder Café. There are several tables and chairs sitting near this piece of fine artwork, proudly on display for everyone to see. Again, I don’t see how this could be considered art. I would call it a project, to put it nicely. In all honesty, if I saw something like this in a dumpster somewhere, I wouldn’t think twice about it. Something like this could be created by accident on construction sites across the globe. Does that make Jimmy the glass guy the next great artist? I would have to say no, and I don’t see how doing it on purpose makes any difference. It is all the same end result.

So, enough of this “art” stuff. Here’s a link to a video of stuff exploding because America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdkAgP_nDg4