Art History.

I love Art History.  At least I think I do.  One of my favorite classes was Art History with the incredible Professor Barbara Crawford.  I loved her classes partly because of the WAY she taught and partly because the subjects are ones I have always been interested in.  Prehistoric art history has always interested me, Old Stone Age to Ancient Egyptian to Golden Age Greek and Roman history is fascinating to me.  It doesn't take a lot for me to get excited about that stuff.  I love learning about it.  But from the dark ages then Renaissance on... that's a whole other story.

I NEVER liked those artworks.  I thought they looked weird and depicted religious persons and subjects in such a strange way.  Nothing made sense.  I just didn't like it.  At least not until the classes I took with Professor Crawford, and also some classes with Dr. Madison Sowell and his wife Dr. Debra Sowell.

I learned about the circumstances these artworks were created.  I learned about who made the works, who paid for the works, and why they were depicted in certain styles.  In the case of Art History before the dark ages, I grew to love the subjects even more.  Professor Crawford would get excited about what she was teaching.  She had us stand up in class and strike the poses of the statues we were studying.  She taught us about the civilizations and how each artist was affected by the events occurring in their lifetime.  It was some of the most fun I've ever had.  And come test time, she would ask a few questions, and basically you just had to write down everything you knew and learned about the subjects, drawings included.  I ran out of time so many times because I just had so much I wanted to write!  So basically I'm a dork.

I didn't grow to really love the Dark Ages and Renaissance until I took a class called Saints, Signs, and Symbols with Dr. Madison Sowell.  For the class we had to buy a dictionary titled The Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art.  

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Let me just say, I will keep this book FOREVER.  In Dr. Sowell's class we learned all about religious symbols, what they mean and represent.  We learned about all the different saints depicted in Dark Age and Renaissance art.  It completely changed the way I looked at art from those ages.  I grew to love it.  

I was very fortunate and blessed to attend a Travel Study trip to Italy in May of 2011.  Everything literally came to life there as I saw the sculptures, paintings, and architecture I had learned about.  I took this dictionary with me, since we were to be studying the Art of the Renaissance.  And boy did it help my friends and I learn some things about the saints and myths depicted in the art work that is all over Italy.  

I have also kept my Art History book, I took some good notes in it and it just contains so much good information I don't want to lose.  I also paid a good amount of money for it, but that's beside the point...

I was talking to one of my nieces about her Art History class a few days ago and we were comparing the different editions of the books we have (She is attending school and taking the same class with Prof. Crawford).  The book has been sitting out on the floor next to the couch because it's too darn heavy and I didn't feel like carrying it 20 feet to its shelf in the next room...

I looked at it yesterday and had a thought... "I should read that"... 

So, in an effort to refresh my brain, learn something new, and use my time for something useful, I am engaging in this endeavor to read my entire Art History book, from cover to cover.  I already cheated because I only skimmed the preface (curses!), but I am starting with the introduction.   To make myself accountable for this I am going to post about something I have learned every time I read.  

I want to do this, to rediscover my love for Art History and to learn to teach myself.  Now on to the reading! (And watching the Food Network for some art I can eat! :) )

image found here