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In my understanding of Walter Benjamin's ideas, I do not think that what I did to the original paintings, repurposing them, still makes them art. He states that an original painting possesses a sort of aura and uniqueness to it which makes it art, and from what I did which is taking that painting and putting it into a shirt, which can have plenty of copies depending on the amount of people buying, it loses its uniqueness of an art piece and just becomes one of many copies. The art piece's value turns into an exhibition, for aesthetics, as it is attached to a piece of clothing people will wear and style depending on their liking.

On another note, I think that although the art piece has lost its uniqueness because it has been applied as clothing design, which means its originality is also long gone, there are still people who would gladly purchase for the idea that they are in possession of something that has been marked by a famous art piece. Looking at this in a more positive outlook, the art piece being attached to a shirt, although may be an act of piracy, would still help promote the art work providing knowledge about it to the people around who will both look and buy. All I'm saying is, I think that in this context of repurposing the art the way I did it, people may not see such act in a negative way but instead think of it as like "oh, this is a nice piece of art that has been put on a shirt, I should search more about this and look at other art works," giving it a positive outcome.

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Someone close to me gave me the name of "Blue Bird" around the first week when our friendship started and it made me realize how that accurately represents me, from how I like the color blue to how, like a bird, I believe in the strength of hope, spirituality, and freedom in the Lord.

For this activity, I used collage art to make my self-portrait, combining images that represent me, including an actual image of myself. In the collage, you will find quotes or phrases which I often tell myself and have embedded in my mind. As for the individual words such as "happiness," "focus," "success," and "travel," these are words I often repeat to myself as a symbolism of both short and long-term goals. Lastly, photos such as of family, friends, flowers, travelling, the bible, and lastly, the butterfly, which all resemble what I find important in my life.

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“Letter to Pedro, US Citizen, Also Called Pete”

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“Letter to Pedro, US Citizen, Also Called Pete”

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Reading through the poem, I have noticed some ideologies that seemed to stand out. First, the evident mention of colonialism and its enduring legacy in the Philippines. Although the country gained independence from the US in 1946, there’s still this lasting effect in the social, cultural, economic, and political aspects of the country which we got to adapt because of how long they have stayed and colonized the Philippines, same as the Spaniards. Second is in connection to identity which in a way is still connected to the first one. Because we are too exposed to the American ways, we are somehow forced, but in a less obvious way, to adapt a more Americanized identity, hence the “Also Called Pete” phrase which, in my understanding, is like a way of saying that “Oh, he’s a US citizen now so I should call him using an Americanized version of his original name.”

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Ever since the release of the Goosebumps movie way back in 2015, I have grown an interest for R.L. Stine's Goosebumps stories, so when I heard about there being a series with some of Stine's books being brought to life, I immediately decided to watch. Going through the series for the first time got me excited, especially with episode 1, because I've read its book version and seeing it have a live adaptation just gave me that certain joy and excitement. As I progressed through the series, I was able to immerse myself into the story in a sense that I was so focused with its storyline because to be honest, the characters were very good at portraying their roles and making sure that the viewer really gets to feel the right feeling while watching.

I would say that among all episodes, the one that really intrigued me was episode 5, entitled 'Reader Beware.' This is because in the episode, one of the main characters, Margot, was given a scrapbook that contained all the stuff that happened way back with her mom and her friends, showing a backstory and a little more context as to what happened before the tragedy of Biddle's death. What really interested me in that episode is the creative aspect to it because as Margot went through the pages of the scrapbook, she was able to somehow get into the scrapbook and be in that moment from years ago. I was amazed by it because to the people in the real world, it looked like she was in a trance, and in order for others to enter that state just like her, they had to be in possession of the scrapbook too. One last thing that got me from that episode is how because it's a scrapbook, you can draw on it to add elements. When the main characters started to get trapped in the scrapbook, their figures were drawn on the page of whichever room they were in, and in order for them to find a way out, the person with the scrapbook who isn't inside the scrapbook had to draw a door to help them, brilliant! I somehow really liked that bit because it wasn't exactly something unexpected but at the same time, as a viewer, I didn't expect the solution to actually be that simple, yet it was.

Rewatching the episode with more attention to the details and ideologies present, I was able to understand its message in sort of a deeper level. I became more attentive in a sense that I was not merely watching to enjoy but also to understand. With this, I was able to get a possible dominant ideology that circulated all throughout the episode. It appears to be that a dominant ideology there is the powerful and potentially dangerous influence of stories, imagination, and fear towards someone's thinking and perception of reality. Moreover, the necessity of critical thinking and inner strength to navigate through such influences is also evident in the episode. One has to have such a strong hold on to reality so that whatever tries to influence them into something that isn't reality will not succeed to do so. In the scrapbook, the 5 friends were able to find out what happened to Biddle and how Slappy basically influenced his thinking for a while now, which is what caused bad things to happen. It suggests that the real monsters might not just be on the pages but can also reside within our own minds, as we allow such entities to influence our thinking-- due to our desires of something more from this world, straying us away from reality.

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1. Works of art can stem from anything one finds interesting or intriguing all on their own. So long as the art is not influenced by any outside factors imposed to them by society as a whole, the art will be created for its own sake, to be an art. If the art is created or practiced for a purpose of entertainment and amusement, it is likely to be identified as separate from society.

2. It can be detrimental to think that art is a form of escape because it can cloud one's perception of reality. If you rely on art as an escape all the time, it may affect your judgment thus making you think that whatever the arts are telling you is what is real. Art can be created to entertain someone-- which can help them escape from reality, but you have to be able to differentiate that fiction from reality and understand that it was only meant for temporary entertainment because once you start to perceive everything like that fiction, it won't really help you escape but instead trap you in something fake.

3. Art can be used in many ways and one use for it is addressing problems or issues in a manner that is not so heavily impactful but still gets the message across. I think that it is important to be able to address problems that exist in the artist's time through art because this can help voice out to people what is going on in a sense that art creates a platform for illustration of problems in a manner that is less harsh. It would not only serve as entertainment to people but also serve as a source of information told in a creative way.

4. Lopez said in his essay that artists should use their art to address societal issues, giving them awareness about what the problems are around the world. He states that artists should create their art into something substantial, diverting them away from the idea of art for entertainment, and focusing on using art to inform, to teach. This way, the artists become teachers of their audience, providing them with knowledge through the art they create.

5. Lopez thinks that art should be substantial, it should have a purpose in society in a sense that it should address societal issues and be informative to people. He thinks that literature should connect with society giving it a purpose to be something more than just entertainment for the people. He thinks that art has no purpose if it provides no benefit to society, therefore for art to be substantial, it should be created in a way that is meant to help its readers either through enabling a thought process in them, providing them with information, encouraging them to do something, and the likes.

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Abbey with Oak Trees, Caspar David Friedrich

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If I were to give this painting a title, it would be "From darkness, follows the light."

I think that the aspect of the painting that would give the artist the idea of "lightening" is the transition of colors from dark to light. If considering the possibility that it represents an emotion, it can mean a sense of hope after a tough experience-- explaining that from darkness, follows the light.

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Even science students need to see the value in learning the arts as there are some matters about the world that simply cannot be answered by scientific research and inquiry. Often times, there is a need for a more artistic imagination and insight in order to answer such questions that the world throws your way. Although science can help in solving problems involving numbers and scientific inquiries, a more creative approach can appear to be more inviting in a sense that it can be easier understood by the majority of society in comparison to the complicated world of science. According to Dr. Jose Dalisay, Jr., "The arts are the key to those parts of us that reason and logic alone cannot reach." by which he meant that not every encounter you will have with the world can be solved by science alone. It is important to understand the arts and know how to interpret them, and be able approach things in a more artistic manner as this provides a more subjective yet still open for all thought.

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"How do the concepts of

representation, imitation and mimesis define art?" - Concept 1.

- I think that this means that the concept of creating art can come from wanting to turn something moving into something still, meaning that there are times wherein artists get inspiration from what's going on around them in real life and they turn it into an art piece of any form. They use something that they've come across in real life as an inspiration of sorts, making a representation of it in their art, imitating or mimicking it in their art.

"How does ‘expression’ relate to the artistic process, in general, or the

artist, in particular? How does this compare with art as representation?" - Concept 3.

- As it is more rooted with someone's identity or personality, 'expression' becomes something more personal in the sense that it focuses on who the artist is and not what the art is inspired by. In a way, it's something more original in comparison to representation, which takes ideas from something else and represents it through their art. With expression, the artistic process may consist of the artist trying to understand themself first in order to know what they want to express in their art that is related to their character as an artist. For instance, someone wanting to express their love towards another through poetry does so by making the poem consist of personal ideas and feelings, which is done to properly convey what they want to express.

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Activity 1 - Davao Chinese Baptist Church 

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Activity 1 - Davao Chinese Baptist Church 

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The definition of art that I chose is by the Encarta Encyclopedia which states that "Art is the product of creative human activity in which materials are shaped or selected to convey an idea, emotion or visually interesting form."

Explanation:

When our Pastor told us of the backstory of that centerpiece, I was amazed with how artistic its creation process actually was. The materials used for the formation of the background of the cross are all from the bits and pieces of wood gathered from the old church location after the place was demolished as they were moving the church to its location now. The designer thought that it would be a waste to throw all the wood so he thought of using them that way so that in a sense, a piece of the old church was still with them. It was basically some sort of remembrance from the past, added into the new church, in an aesthetically pleasing way. "A way of remembering our roots."