Two pieces of art.

Since I am taking two classes about art- Art Appreciation, and Introduction to Visual Art it should be easy for me to describe art works. I choose two, one of them is photo by Henri Cartier Bresson (I watched a movie about him as a project for one class), and Picasso- “Girl Before a Mirror” 1932 (I described visual elements and principals of design for other homework).

These two pieces of art have two fundamental differences: one of them is photography, and in addition to this black- and white, and another one is colorful painting. The first one “The Decisive Moment” by Bresson show a men who is jumping through the water. We see his shadow in there,and on the background a fence with probably advertisement, and behind it buildings, and another man. Henri Cartier Bresson wanted to show in his photographs a movement, and I think in this piece of art it shows very well.

The “Girl Before a Mirror” 1932 by Picasso is a oil painting on canvas. It grabs our attention because of colors- artist used every color from color wheel. The painting is clear- we see a girl looking at herself on the mirror; we don’t have to think what artist wanted to show us. He used different shapes (geometric, and organic J ), different lines, and even pattern on the background. The painting is balanced.

I like both of the pieces because of their originality. And I think that Gitte Brigitte Maronde would be happy to see that I use art and describing it not only in her class, but in another too.

Two gifts you have received

I received in my life many gifts. In my family there was a tradition to give gifts on many occasions, like Christmas, Birthdays, Santa Claus day, Name Day, Mother Day, Children day, Valentine Day, and so on. The best time for gifts was for me a December, and even starting from November 25- my Name Day (there is a tradition in Poland that in a calendar there is in every day one name, and in that day every person who has the particular name has a holiday), and then through the December 6 up to Christmas.

When I was a child I used to write letters to Santa Claus, and putting them on the window for him to take it. One time I wrote that I want a keyboard. I was around 10 maybe 12 years old. On December 6, I woke up and I saw big package. I rushed to it to open, and beside many candies was my dreamed keyboard. I was so happy that I even didn’t want go to school, I just wanted to play. In the package were some books with music for different songs. After school I set the keyboard and started to play with it. I tried various rhythm and sounds that I could choose. I tried to learn how to play diverse songs. Then, I played with my father. I played that keyboard many years and I have studied a lot, but I guess I wasn’t too motivated to keep me studying and finally I stopped. When I was moving to Chicago I gave it to my younger cousin.

Second important received gift was a cat. I got him from my best friend. It was a gift for my 20th birthday. She came to my work with her hands closed, and she put something on the table. When she pull up her hands I saw a little, grey bundle. It was my cat. She was so small. Since that time I have her all the time with me. She flew to the USA from Poland because I didn’t want leave her there. I think that my house, without this cat would be sad, and definitely quieter.

Two places you have studied.

I have already studied in two places and in two countries. I have studied in University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, Poland and now in Harold Washington College in Chicago. They have so much differences that I even didn’t think that would be so many.

Studying in Poland took place on weekends, since I had been working on week days in Travel Agency. I used to live in Tarnow, but the University was in Rzeszow, one hour driving away. I choose that school because of prestige- the better private school in many rankings, and because of major that I was interested in- Advertising and Public Relations, which was connected to Journalism. I didn’t have basics like Biology, Physics or so, this classes I had already took in High School. My classes included Photography, Language stylistics, Journalist workshop, Multimedia workshop, Psychology and so on. We have learned stuff that we would need in our profession. Everything was very interesting, and exciting. The building was the newest technology, with computers almost in every class, with “computer kiosk”, where we could check our schedule, grades, everything what we needed. The University has 2 big buildings; one of them is especially for Tourism classes with huge sports hall. Students were expected to do a lot of their own. We didn’t have homework, just big projects and exams. We didn’t have to bring anything done for each class. We had to be well-prepared for session.

Now, I am student at Harold Washington College, one of the community colleges of Chicago. Modern building in the middle of the city, and with some classes contain computers. With homework that have to be done for every class, and I think I am still not used to it. J The place that I have to take one more time classes that I took in high school, and the place where I can see diversity of culture and language. What I like here is that from everywhere you can get help. There are many rooms in which people ale just waiting for needed students.