Tails from a Semi-colorblind Aggie

      William Wegman has created many wonderful and memorable pieces of art during his career. It is said the turning point of Wegman's popularity in the art world was when he started using his dogs as subjects in his photographs. Now his countless photos and videos are easily recognizable and well received by many. I am one such person as I remember Wegman's dogs on Sesame Street since they were some of my favorite clips in the show. One thing to consider, though, is what made him so successful and why people enjoy his work so much.     There are two main elements to William Wegman's work: his subjects and Wegman himself. It's likely that this artist's success comes from one of these aspects of his art. Personally, I believe it is a combination of the artist and his subjects that makes his work so enjoyable to see. The dogs and Wegman's ideas and personality combine to create a unique way of viewing the world. The mixture of humor, simplicity, animal and h...

Image Source: Pixabay.com Write       As I've talked about before, I wasn't actually planning on taking this class. Or, rather, I wasn't planning to take a class with this particular topic. All semester long my friends and family have been teasing me (in a loving way) about how I somehow accidentally signed up for a class about dogs. And that it's me, the animal-loving dog whisperer of the family, that is taking this course. It seems to be a never ending source of entertainment for them. But I have noticed that the more I share about what I've learned, the more interested they all become.     I think one thing this course has really taught me so f ar is that you can, and often will, relate to different art pieces in the most bizarre ways. I had never thought that reading an article about dog eulogies would teach me anything about the world or myself. And yet, here we are. Not only can I relate to all these unique ideas, but my understanding o...

    The film My Dog Tulip  was a fascinating tale that introduced a very unique perspective on the dog-human relationship. I found the pair's day-to-day interactions relatable since they were depicting real life experiences. It was honestly kind of refreshing how open the film was. In our society it is almost expected for everyone to censor their stories to fit a brighter, more idealistic life rather than a realistic one. My Dog Tulip  grabbed this expectation by the throat, gave it a good shaking, then threw it out the window of a bullet train. It was wonderfully beastly with a slight coating of dry humor.     I enjoyed this film partly because it relates to my own interests and my research project, that is, exploring what the dog(s) say about the people who own them and vice versa. This film made it easy to see this connection. Both dog and man were very blunt. They made their intentions and voices known. Both struggled a bit with communication but still ...

No updates for now, still just working on finding relatable academic sources and studying fictional literature. I did put my abstract at the end of this post. Annotated Bibliography: (note: I'm still working on finding appropriate academic journals so this list is solely fictional lit) Rowling, J. K.  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . Scholastic Press, 1999.     This is a fictional book based in a world where wizards hide among non-magical people. The main character, Harry Potter, is attending his third year at the wizarding school Hogwarts. While there, Harry must confront the wizard responsible for his parent's deaths as he is being haunted by the large black dog know as the Grimm- symbol of death and misfortune. Rowling, J. K.  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix . Scholastic Inc, 2003.     This is a fictional  book based in a world where wizards hide among  non-magical people. The main character, Harry Potter, is attending ...

     Stephen H. Webb's  A Theology for the Dogs  provided a lot of interesting points on our relationships with dogs. He talked a lot about how dogs relate to God and even more about animal rights. Personally, I think one of the most interesting topics Webb talked about was what we need to talk about without talking about it. Super confusing, but basically not using human language to express important concepts.     One of the minor aspects of this is our very approach to research about dogs. Obviously many humans have strong feelings towards these animals. These emotions have a large range, but you can not deny deny that they exist. Or that they play an important role in how we see and think about dogs. However, we also make it a standard to leave out our emotions when participating in research. It is often seen as something that can 'get in the way' of something serious and yet also something that we need to include in research due to its importance b...

Outline:      For my research project I will be exploring the representative relationship between major characters in fictional chapter books and the minor/supporting dogs from the story. After I study each chosen book, I will be focusing on defining and exploring those connections using the text provided by the stories as well as concepts of character representation described in academic studies. I plan to study how the dog(s) represents the character, how the character is reflected by the dog, how their interaction (or lack thereof) affects the story and their development, and what parallels are common in the real world. Annotated Bibliography: (note: I'm still working on finding appropriate academic journals so this list is solely fictional lit) Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban . Scholastic Press, 1999.     This is a fictional book based in a world where wizards hide among non-magical people. The main character, Harry Potter, is at...

      Every country around the world has its own unique art style. Even if you don't have a degree in painting style recognition or something of the like, it is clear to see that paintings differ from one place to the next. It was truly interesting to shift the focus to specifically Holland art. Both articles brought up many interesting points and highlighted the beauty of this country's style. Although there are many points I could address, I plan to mainly talk about the way dogs were drawn in Holland rather than the dogs themselves. Source Image: Wikimedia Commons Holland     Rembrandt van Rijn, in particular, provides an excellent perspective on art. Rembrandt used dogs to enhance his paintings of biblical events. However, it wasn't the dogs themselves that truly brought an understanding to the art's meaning, but rather the way Rembrandt portrayed them. In this course, we have viewed many different images of dogs. Although some of them seem more basic than o...