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Walking Together/June 2007 with my son Haipeng, MA in Architecture      MFA in English Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) Ph.D. in English (Literature) Chinese Language Cultural Studies Students’ accomplishment

Interdisciplinary Writing 134    Visual Intelligence & Verbal Intelligence Thinking always includes, but not limited to, both visual and verbal dimensions. They are not always explicit and may need to be teased out.

Visual Intelligence & Verbal Intelligence

     Art, visual or verbal, explores issues and ideas that are relevant to us; Ideas (propositions) come from making connections; Connections are made by juxtaposition (apposition) and sequence, between parts & Whole, etc.; Meaning is generated from careful connections/juxtaposition; Sequence entails consequences;

Chinese Radicals (Latin Radix Visual Hint/Connection for Root ) 木 林 森 Tree/Wood Grove Forest

A Character Is not a Box; Instead, It Is a Doorway…

Level 1 —

杉 shān 松 sōng 枫 橡 fēng xiàng Fir Pine Maple Oak

Level 2 —

桃 李 梨 杏 táo lǐ lí xìng Peach Plum Pear Apricot

Level 3---

床 桌 椅 柜 chuáng zhuō yǐ guì Bed Table/Desk Chair Cabinet

Chinese vs. English

    In CHINESE writing, you can SEE the clue on meaning: Example: MU In ENGLISH, you have to VISUALIZE Imagine a TREE , recall what THINGS look like Your Third Eye/Mind's eye: the human ability for visualization, i.e., for the experiencing of visual mental imagery; in other words, one's ability to "see" things with the mind.

Unexpected Juxtaposition Pulitzer-Winning Photograph Kevin Carter, 1993

Approaching Visual Texts Compositional/technical

    Juxtaposition between vulture and baby?

Visible and invisible information/cultural knowledge needed What is the nature of this juxtaposition: harmonious or paradoxical?

Sequence/order: can we switch the position of the vulture and baby?

Montage

in Film Editing

   The juxtaposition of images to create new (additional) meaning not found in either individual shot by itself--1 + 1 = 3 (Russian School) Imagine if the vulture and the baby were shot individually… The unusualness lies in the inherent conflict between the vulture and the baby; to juxtapose them together is paradoxical; to juxtapose the way as Carter has done is even more alarming—Sequence creates consequence; if the sequence is changed, consequence will be different.

Emotional and Intellectual Dimensions in a Visual Text

  “Emotion and intellect are not separate analytical concepts but intertwined strands in the living painting. A painting, like a book or a so’nata, has a life to share with us.” William Kloss So’nata is a composition for one or two instruments, typically in three or four movements in contrasted forms and keys.

Compositional Analysis

      Perspective Foreground/midground/background Proportion and scale Contrast in baby herself: the head vs. the body; Contrast between the vulture and the baby girl Color scheme: complementary or contrastive?

Description & Analysis summative/evaluative

     Description (Ch. 5) Logical sequence in organizing your description Spatial Relationships Five senses Details          Analysis (Ch. 4) Break down Meaning/theme/subject Organization/form/ structure Explanation Reflection Interpretation Evaluation

Approaching a Visual Text Contextual/Historical

  The Creation of Adam story from the be completed.

is a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to Types of information; relevance

Biographical note on the artist

  Velazquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y (1599 1660): One of the greatest Spanish painters and a master of realism. He was the court painter at Madrid and is known for his landscapes, mythological and religious paintings, genre pictures, and portraits, as well as for his brilliant illusionism and unique interpretations of subjects.

Types of information; relevance

Marginalia/Description

        Marginalia: Notes in the margin Samples in Frames of Mind; Types of Notes Diction Syntax Contexual/Historical Crux: something pivotal but perplexing      Description Descriptive paragraphs convey how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes or feels.

Transitional words and phrases mostly clarify spatial relationships. Describe the picture in a logical manner

(Structure) Juxtaposition Creates Meaning

      Isolated, the two images remain

inert

(Alfred North Whitehead,1861-1947, in his book

The Aims of Education,

1929); connected, they come to life; The artistic eye (

Of Human Bondage

by W. Somerset Maugham 1915

)

; What does Carter suggest through the vulture/girl connection/juxtaposition?

What difference does it make if we swap the position between the vulture and the girl?

Narrative quality in visual art; Critical dimension in a visual text;

Structure/Juxtaposition Appositional/Oppositional

 

Juxtaposition,

an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, esp. for comparison or contrast; the state of being close together or side by side.     Harmony Tension Unexpectedness in artistic juxtaposition Defamiliarization— Russian formalism

Sequence/Consequence Nothing is random in art

     Placement CONTROLS ATTENTION. Connections by ELEMENTS Connections by Sameness & Difference Connections by FORM Connections by ASSOCIATION

Description/Larger Purpose Descriptive Language

   Descriptive paragraphs convey how something looks, sounds, smells, tastes or feels. (126) Transitional words and phrases mostly

clarify spatial relationships

.

Spatial order

—establishes the perspective from which readers view details. For example, an object or scene can be viewed from top to bottom or from near to far. Spatial order is central to descriptive paragraphs.

Juxtaposition: The Last Kiss

Feng Zikai （ 1898.11.9

－ 1975.9.15

）

Double-Column Notebook While A to B is like this, C to D is like that    Mother vs. baby Textual details (patches) Impersonal touch in adoption/ orphanage business    Mother Dog vs. Puppies The second frame functions as commentary on the first frame Appositional

The Block Structure (360) vs. the Alternating Structure (361)  The Block Method: discuss one work in its entirety before taking up the other one;  The Alternating Approach: moving back and forth between two works; offer point-to-point analysis

Constructing an Argument Based on textual Evidence

     Steps in collecting data (inductive) Evidence Warrant Claim Juxtaposition generate meaning       Steps in presenting the conclusion (deductive) Claim Evidence Warrant Counterpoint Recap

Integration Historical/Biographical

   Adoption was handled in an impersonal manner in the old days in China; Documenting the sources According to…         Feng Zikai’s bio Google Feng Zikai By author By subject By key words By title By combination Fish the book

Pulitzer-Winning Photograph by Kevin Carter 1993/ The Last Kiss by Feng Zikai （ 1898.11.9

－ 1975.9.15

） 4/23/2020 Dr. Weizhi Gao 26

4/23/2020 The Steerage published in 291 by Alfred Stieglitz in 1915/Internal Framing Two worlds separated by a gangway bridge  Dr. Weizhi Gao

The Steerage

is a photograph taken by Alfred Stieglitz in 1907. It has been hailed as one of the greatest photographs of all time because it captures in a single image both a formative document of its time and one of the first works of artistic modernism.

27

Upper Deck vs. Lower Deck two worlds separated by a gangway bridge      Juxtaposition/apposi tion/connection Sequence and consequence Cultural knowledge: better view Critical/cutting edge Authorial intention       Contextual/historical Biographical Compositional/techni cal analysis Interpretation Drawing your claim/conclusion Google Alfred Stieglitz

Review

          1. Thinking always has verbal & visual elements 2. ALL IDEAS COME FROM CONNECTIONS --by IMAGE ELEMENT (visible appearance) --by CONCEPTS (many things share a concept) --by MOTIF (element that links several things) --by THEME (many things ABOUT same issue) --by STRUCTURE (hierarchy, strategy, shape) --by ASSOCIATION (emotion, events, etc.) 3. All ARGUMENTS depend on SEQUENCE 4. All COMPOSITION depends on a HISTORY.

Young Girl/Old Woman Switch http://mathworld.wolfram.com/YoungGirl OldWomanIllusion.html

4/23/2020 Dr. Weizhi Gao 30

Navigating class website

 http://uwch 4.humanities.washington.edu/~WG/~1 34/134%20Workbook/

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Essay Format

 http://uwch 4.humanities.washington.edu/~WG/~1 34/MLA%20Sample%20Paper.pdf