Module 8

1. I choose the video on the Byzantine and Later Greek art video because of a interest arisen in me due to the mandatory video we had to watch. It made me want to know if the ideas of importance in Greek art continued down the path of being very over defined or if it would return to a more basic description of man in the images.
2. For the How Art Made the World video the key concept is looking into what was deemed important to those who created art at the times of the pieces being made. For the figure of Willendorf it was clear that the important items to the culture was over defined features focused on that of fertility and health. Which did arise a odd question for the design of people in art in Egypt because it seemed as if the only importance was demonstrating the features of the face and hands but the explanation of the ability to repeat the images with the grid made it more clear they were focused not as much in the importance but the accuracy of the pieces. This was evident that art returned back to the focus of whats important to the society in Greece where the art showed the overly athletic build of people.
The second video I watched showed the focus of the way of life of the Greeks in the design of there art and even there architecture, They had examples of there Gods in front of the buildings they designed. This shows the similar result of the demonstration of the body of Greeks because it shows what was important to the culture at the time.
3. The videos both related to the reading by being able to show the examples of the most prominent cultures of the past and most influential cultures on today's society. They showed how the ideas of these cultures hasn't deviated much from one group to another. Those of Mesopotamia were similar to the ideas of those from Egypt or even that of the ancient civilizations that lived in the Egyptian area prior to it becoming a desert area.
4, The videos are extremely helpful in expanding the understanding of what people found to be important to them in there society. For something to be important enough to be a common theme in all art of a time period or location in the world, that demonstrates the importance of learning the values and reasoning associated along with the art. The demonstration of the over exaggerated body of women in ancient society showed the importance of fertility that meant they were heavily focused in the survival of there culture to pass it on. This is still true today which is why the mother figure is so important in our society today.