Report

1. The Celts did many things that have filtered through to modern society in not only Australia but the world. One aspect of Celtic life that is still around today is Celtic art. Celtic art has been manipulated and used in many modern day artworks and designs. Perhaps Celtic art’s best known and most influential phase is more correctly known as Insular art of Ireland and Great Britain in the Early Middle Ages, which produced the Book of Kells and other masterpieces. Celtic art is ornamental, straight lines are avoided and only occasionally using symmetry, without the imitation of nature, often involving complex symbolism. Celtic art has used a variety of styles and has shown influences from other cultures in their knot work, spirals, key patterns, lettering, zoomorphics, plant forms and human figures. Many painters, calligraphers, and other artists have worked with the themes drawn from ancient or medieval Celtic art, or else inspired by Celtic literary themes. Some of this work has remained very close to the style of La Tène or illuminated manuscript originals, but much of it has a distinctly new feel. Modern Celtic-themed art can be seen today in a wide range of logos, jewellery, crafts, postcards, and so on. Celtic art is just one of the many things that has lasted through the centuries and filtered through the world going from one country to another.
2. Aboriginal art is not only a beautiful piece of art but to the aboriginal people it can be many things. It can be an image of a past event, or even depict different clans and tribal groups of the people. But in many cases it was a way of telling the stories of the dreaming. Dreamtime stories were the aboriginal beliefs of how the world came to be. One very well known dreamtime story is the rainbow serpent. Aboriginal people expressed and displayed their religion in their artworks and for this reason the artwork was just as important to its audiences as well as its artist. All artists in some way express their emotions, religious beliefs or political beliefs at some point in their career. And each artwork is much more than just a visual image to each artist. It is through these artworks that artist’s opinions and beliefs can affect both themselves and other cultural groups.
3. M.C. Escher’s work is held in high regard by most designers and lay people for his overall detail and dedication to his work. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. These feature impossible constructions, explorations of infinity, architecture, and tessellations. His works show impossible amounts of detail and some are not images of anything solid but are instead images from his imagination. Although Escher did not have mathematical training, his understanding of mathematics was largely visual and intuitive. Escher's work had a strong mathematical component, and more than a few of the worlds which he drew are built around impossible objects such as the Necker cube and the Penrose triangle. I myself am also impressed by the amount of dedication he had to his work. The amount of detail he puts into each individual work is extraordinary, and that there is absolutely no mathematical error whatsoever in any of his artworks. He pulls off works that seem simply impossible.
4. Society has always had a great interest about the past and its cultures, but there are several reasons for this. But the main one that connects all the dots is learning about it. We learn about their religions, the way they lived, the way they did their artworks and their designs. We look to past cultures for inspiration. As mentioned before this inspiration could come from religion, life itself or art, for example Celtic art. Their artwork has filtered through society, continuing to evolve and is still used today in modern day design an art. Aboriginal art is also a subject that creates great interest about the past and their cultures, and it is their art that helps us understand this. But as artist we also share a keen interest about past art movements. There are several different art movements and they will all continue to grow. Some art movements that have attracted enormous amounts of interest from the art world include, cubism, surrealism, expressionism, symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau and minimalism.
5. As stated in the last paragraph we look back at the past for inspiration but sometimes even solutions for design to be used in modern society. Whether this would be designs for furniture or architectural designs. But looking to the past for inspiration can greatly benefit a graphic designer. As a designer we must learn ways to communicate ideas to a large variety of audiences. A lot of the time looking back to the past for inspiration can benefit the designers overall results. We can manipulate past ideas to create new ones. Designers extract bits and pieces from past designs and piece them together and create the effect of a new concept. In doing this we are able to attract a bigger variety of viewers.
6. Ancient art honestly hasn’t affected my life all that much. There are certainly aspects of its history that do interest me like the reasoning for such works. But there are only some components of ancient art that I use in my artworks. These are mainly patterns that can be compared to a lot of Celtic art, usually resembling their Celtic knots. But other than that ancient art has had very little effect on my life and the way I see art.
7. Much like the question above I feel as though I have very little cultural influence in my life. But in a way I do what aboriginal people do with their art; I express my views and opinions as well as some religious beliefs. I try to visualise and display my opinions and interpretations through my artworks which is in some ways similar to that of aboriginal art, that they display their beliefs and interpretations through theirs. Another that I’m not sure can really be seen as a culture is music. Music inspires me greatly and is often the focus of my artworks. And as it is I see it as one of the single greatest influences in my life.