OREGON DISTRICT

This weekend I went to the Oregon District for the first time and experienced the true art side of Dayton that I had never experienced before. The University of Dayton itself shows a great appreciation for the arts through many programs and events that happen during the weekends and on Art Street. When I left campus with a group of friends, I realized how artistic Dayton itself is.
Before I left campus, I went to the Battle of the Bands concert and was amazed with how many people here are involved in bands here. Some people sang by themselves and others were in actual bands. I voted for Bridgette Egan because she performed at the first Thursday Night Live and I really enjoyed her music.
We weren’t able to leave for the Oregon District until around 7 at night but when we arrived, I was amazed by my surroundings. There were little shops everywhere and each shop had different things that I had never seen before. There were cute little restaurants and then there were the stores that sold different artistic things. The main reason why we went to the Oregon District was because the group of friends I went with planned to get tattoos and I wanted to tag along to watch the artists. When we arrived at the tattoo parlor I was immediately amazed with the different drawings that each artist had on the walls. They had cartoons posted around the walls as well as different art and tattoo designs all over the place. When you first see the place, you think it’s kind of freaky because it’s dark inside and the pictures that are on the walls are far from what you would usually see every day.
Before the girls got their tattoos they would tell their artists what they wanted and draw out as a sketch what the girls wanted. I found it cool that all of the artists could just come up with the coolest designs right away and even make the designs look cooler than they had before. One man was drawing a music set completely free hand without anything to look at and I thought his designs were really cool. Being at the tattoo parlor made me realize how some of the most talented artists are actually tattoo artists. The way they make up cool designs and make them their own makes their jobs really cool and it kind of gives you a respect for the artists themselves. Each person that gets a tattoo by these artists is showing the artist’s true talent in a way. It’s almost as if the customers are walking advertisements in my opinion because they are showing true art done by someone.
After going to the tattoo parlor we went to a German restaurant and I thought the food there was amazing. Again, this made me realize how artistic Dayton is as a city. The food was completely different and the arrangement of the place was unique. In one room separate from the rest of the restaurant, there was a bar and in the other rooms there was the actual restaurant. There are many places that have set ups the same way as the German restaurant does but this place showed different art pieces in the other rooms.
I would definitely say that I enjoyed my experience at the Oregon District. Even when we were on our way to the restaurant we were able to see people, randomly playing music and dancing on the side walk. It was almost as if none of the people knew each other but they gathered around the music and danced and had a great time. They were even able to gather a crowd to watch them. My experience at the Oregon District was a truly amazing one. Yes, it was nice getting off campus but it was even better experiencing something that that I have never experienced before. I would definitely go back to the Oregon District for another artistic experience.

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Steinway L1037

Yesterday, I went to Sears Hall to watch Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037. I wasn’t really excited to see the movie because the subject of it didn’t seem all that interesting to me. In my opinion, watching a movie about the making of a piano sounded awfully boring. I always found the piano as an amazing instrument but I never really thought about how a piano was actually made.
This movie showed the artistry in making a piano and showed how every person who is involved with the production of the Steinway L1037 is a true artist. The movie showed everything from choosing the perfect wood at a lumber yard to stringing the chords and creating the perfect tunes. Like I said before, every person who was involved in making this piano is a true artist. Most of them you would never think of as artists. They just looked like carpenters or construction workers but throughout the document, they showed how important they all were during the production of the Steinway. I found it interesting how 5 or 6 men worked for hours just to shape the wood so it could form the shape of the piano and then would leave it in a conditioning room for a couple of weeks so it could settle and cool. When each worker was interviewed, they seemed to take great pride in what they were doing. The worker who caught my attention most was the one who put the strings together on the pianos. He told a story about how he was at a concert one time and he heard the piano. He told the people that he made that piano and they said his name was nowhere on the piano. He simply said he could hear his tuning and he knew it was his. I found his story to be interesting as well as many others.
The pianists themselves were interviewed and I found their stories interesting as well. One of the pianists, Harry Connick Jr., said a piano relates to a painting. His analogy of a piano relating to a painting made me realize how the production of a piano truly is like making a piece of amazing art. A lot of hard work goes into it and in comparison to a painting, you can actually play the piano as many times as you would like. The other famous pianists felt the same way. A majority of them said the piano almost speaks to them and that is how they know that the piano is for them. Every piano made is very unique. I thought they all sound the same but after watching the documentary, I found that every piano supplies different sounds and tones. Some are deeper and some play softer keys. Some of the pianists preferred the pianos that played deep sounds and made powerful sounds. Others preferred the ones that offered a calming tone. The way each pianist explained the piano made me think of how different each piano is. It is almost as if no one piano is similar in keys. They all play different tones and give off different powerful sounds.
The wood workers, stringers, tuners, and painters all contributed to the making of the Steinway L1037. The wood workers made sure the pieces were perfectly shaped and used their own talent to make the best shaped piano. The stringers made sure the piano was stringed well and made the perfect sounds. The tuners made sure everything was in synch and the painters made the piano look exquisite. Every one of those workers made what I believe is to be a truly beautiful piano.
Before I watched the movie, I thought making pianos was just a job for people. After I watched it, I realized people truly love what they are doing when they make the pianos. They take great pride in what they have created and consider themselves as true artists.

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Caricatures

During Family Weekend I was worried that I would not be able to find something artistic to write about for my blog. Lucky enough, while walking around downtown Newport, I saw a man doing caricature drawings of customers. I was unable to get a drawing myself because there were other people who wanted to get their caricatures drawn and I prefer watching rather than sitting and being stared at.
My first impression of the artist was not a flattering one. He was poorly dressed and at the corner of a building drawing people who paid for his drawings. Then after a while I realized that artists come from all different areas. The greatest artists don’t always come from the best art school. They could simply be found on the side of the street. I have had many caricatures drawn for myself but this artist, named Jocko, had a truly amazing talent. He included great details that I would never consider including in a caricature that I was drawing. For example, he drew almost all of the details of the Hawaiian style t-shirt that the man was wearing. Usually artists would just do quick and simple drawings for the details of a caricature. I could tell he was putting a lot of effort in his drawing. He obviously wanted to give the couple their money’s worth.
I didn’t stay long to watch the Jocko draw everyone who was waiting but I did stay to watch him draw the couple and little kids. When Jocko was drawing the two pictures, I noticed the shift in attitude and style of drawing. For the couple, they were more patient and willing to sit there and wait for their drawing to be finished. Jocko’s style was more of an elegant caricature that showed more detail and the scenery behind the couple.
When Jocko started drawing the picture of the children, his style and attitude changed drastically. The children were more impatient with their drawing. They constantly stood up and walked over to see what was being draw and they kept kicking their legs. The style of this photo did not have more elegance but it had a playful feeling to it. The children obviously contributed to the playful tone of the drawing but the details that were drawn also contributed to this town. He made the heads way bigger for the children than he did for the previous couple. The scenery of the drawing was not of the river like it was for the previous couple, but it was of toys and a castle. It looked almost as if it was a drawing of Disneyland.
Jocko’s style really makes him a unique artist. He knows how to flatter different kinds of people and has a great sense of detail in all of his caricature drawings. I would have never thought that Newport was an artistic place but he shows that art can be found anywhere. The greatest artists are anywhere and everywhere.

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