Opposites In Collaboration

For each artistic work within the readings, the context of its creation is held until the end before being revealed. This, in my opinion, is the better approach, as to offer it beforehand taints the initial impression that it creates in the mind of the viewer or reader. Once they have used their senses and deductive reasoning to extract the meaning they feel exists, they are then privy to the environment of the work’s creation. It is like drawing the curtain away from the Wizard of Oz—they understand why certain elements were included, focused on, or omitted. They can then look at the work anew and see, through finer lens, the clues for the message intended by the creator.

As I read “Seeing,” I was immediately immersed in the intensely vivid natural world. Making my way through its descriptive paragraphs, I found a marked similarity to Walden Pond, by Thoreau. It was not until I finished the essay and read the brief biography of the author, Annie Dillard, that my initial comparison with Thoreau was validated. And in being an essay in the same vein as Walden Pond, “Seeing” required that I clear my mind and be open to the suggestions of the author. In doing so, my perspective of what it means to see and engage in the world around me was broadened—I saw the important role that vision plays in my life; saw it by seeing how different the lives of those that lack it are.

“Ode to an Orange” was very different from “Seeing,” as its focus or approach was the exact opposite of the other; “Ode to and Orange” took an experience and expanded on its involvement and interaction with each of the senses; “Seeing” took one of the senses, sight, and expanded on its relationship with the many experiences of life. Yet it is because of their contrast that my understanding of how to draw meaning from natural life evolved. I have been taught how to dissect an individual moment, and I have seen how to take a single sensory perception and explore the depth of its capabilities.

The series of photographs and the oil painting both operated in similar fashions as the two essays. The photos functioned similarly to “Seeing,” and the oil painting, “Ode to an Orange.” The photographs explored the human experience of prayer in all its many forms and offered comparison and contrast between the many different ways and places that prayer takes place, whereas the painting offers the chance to pick apart all the visual elements inherent in a single moment frozen on the oil-covered canvas.

For each of these works discussed, the creators put a lot of thought and time into their efforts. The details were deliberate. They left impressions of themselves scattered throughout, and in understanding the context of the work’s authorship, we are able to find the details and identify the individual experiences that contributed to the artistic rendering and what their intended meanings are.