ICONS and SYMBOLS a Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate and Professional Studies in Education California State Unive
ICONS AND SYMBOLS
A Thesis
Presented to the faculty of the Graduate and Professional Studies in Education
California State University, Sacramento
Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in
Education
(Curriculum and Instruction)
by
Corrine Kelly
FALL 2013 ICONS AND SYMBOLS
A Thesis
by
Corrine Kelly
Approved by:
______, Committee Chair Lorie Hammond, Ph.D.
______, Second Reader Allison Atas, M.A.
______Date
ii
Student: Corrine Kelly
I certify that this student has met the requirements for format contained in the
University format manual, and that this thesis is suitable for shelving in the Library and credit is to be awarded for the thesis.
, Department Chair Susan Heredia, Ph.D. Date
Graduate and Professional Studies in Education
iii
Abstract
of
ICONS AND SYMBOLS
by
Corrine Kelly
Through the study of such historically significant artists as Fridha Kahlo,
Salvador Dahli, and Marc Chagal and the understood symbols and icons, I taught students how to execute their own compositions of personal and societal known icons and symbols understood by just themselves or easily interpreted by the viewers
(society) of their art pieces. Self expression is a relevant common denominator in and throughout the study of these historically significant artists, my personal artwork, and my students’ artwork. Something all artists are working on coming to an understanding of.
, Committee Chair Lorie Hammond, Ph.D.
______Date iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
List of Figures ...... vi
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION ...... 1
Goals and Objectives ...... 1
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 9
Frida Kahlo ...... 9
Marc Chagall ...... 16
Salvador Dali ...... 18
Conclusion ...... 20
3. TEACHER AS ARTIST: MY OWN ART WORK ...... 22
Biography ...... 22
Artist ...... 23
Art Shows ...... 23
Current Artwork ...... 24
References ...... 30
v
LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page
1. Yolo Continuation High School Art Show – Fall 2008 ...... 2
2. Jose and Frank – Symbols and Icons Student Art Show ...... 3
3. Ricky – Icons and Symbols ...... 4
4. Robby – Symbols and Icons ...... 5
5. Alysia – Symbols and Icons ...... 6
6. Mattie – Symbols and Icons ...... 7
7. Frank – Symbols and Icons ...... 8
8. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait on the Border Line between Mexico
and the United States ...... 15
9. Chagall Illustration – No Title ...... 17
10. Dali – Persistence of Memory ...... 20
11. Cori Kelly – The Crystal Vase ...... 26
12. Cori Kelly – Not Everything is Apples and Oranges ...... 27
13. Cori Kelly – In the Middle ...... 28
14. Cori Kelly – A Place Called Home ...... 29
vi
1
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
The rationale behind this thesis is to create a deeper awareness of the symbols and iconography in the body in the artwork presented for the Pathway I thesis project and in the author’s students’ artwork as well. The body of artwork completed for
Pathway I, which emphasizes the role of teacher as artist, was done in conjunction with research on universal symbols and iconography, and on symbols taken from art history and biographical information on various artists.
Goals and Objectives
My professional goal is to be able to easily interpret the truth and symbols seen in at-risk high school student artwork. To deepen my understanding of student work, I executed a body of my own artwork that enabled me to develop a greater understanding of the study of symbology, iconography and art history through both in- depth research and the refinement of my fine art skills.
With the combination of the in-depth research that was completed on symbology, iconography and art history and the enhancement of my fine art skills, a more conclusive body of artwork was completed. Therefore there was a more introspective aspect and understanding of the body of artwork being presented. In addition as an art educator, a greater awareness of what is being communicated by my students through their artwork will take place.
During the summer of 2008 the theme and a large section of this body of artwork was completed. The research assisted in the thematic study and focus of the
2 body of art. The majority of the students’ artwork was completed by December 2008 the bulk of the on research of symbology, iconography, and art history was completed then as well.
The body of my artwork was displayed with other Pathway I Masters class participants in a culminating art show in the Library Gallery on the Sacramento States
Campus during Summer 2009.
My focus is on understanding the subconscious and conscious messages being communicated through artwork. A greater understanding of universal symbols assisted me in the interpretative aspect needed in the evaluation of artwork.
Figure 1. Yolo Continuation High School Art Show – Fall 2008.
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Figure 2. Jose and Frank – Symbols and Icons Student Art Show.
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Figure 3. Ricky – Icons and Symbols.
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Figure 4. Robby – Symbols and Icons.
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Figure 5. Alysia – Symbols and Icons.
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Figure 6. Mattie – Symbols and Icons.
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Figure 7. Frank – Symbols and Icons.
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Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Where a person derives the essentials of their symbolic, social, cultural and linguistic persona provides the foundation of influences over their creativity. The region of the world which they call “home” shapes, creates and designs the patterns of their creative outpourings. This place and or region, representational of these artist's youth are the base of their artistic expression and symbolic forms and the foundation of their identity. For Fridha Kahlo, Marc Chagall and Salvador Dali, artwork reflects their nationality, and their strong ties to country and region.
In this chapter, the author will describe the life and work of several painters who have influenced her work and who use individual and collective symbology and iconography throughout their art work. The artists described are Frida Kahlo, Diego
Rivera, Marc Chagall, and Salvador Dali.
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo is a powerful painter who used vibrant colors to express her life in a very truthful and authentic manner. Her strong ties of love and pride for her country and region of origin are clearly demonstrated in the contextual representation of her self-portraits. Kahlo's strong love of her family and her husband Diego Rivera are also clearly seen in her artwork as well. Her husband Diego Rivera was a renowned
Mexican muralist, and her artwork did not come out internationally from under his wings to win international strength and merits on its own until the 1970s (Frida Kahlo, n.d.)
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Kahlo's self-portraits started as a cathartic component to her healing from a nearly fatal trolley car accident on the way to Coyoaca'n from Mexico City. On
September 17, 1925 a trolley car hit the bus she was in and her life took an irreversible turn for the worst. (Herrera, 1983, p. 47). A handrail from the accident went through her abdomen and out her vagina. Kahlo had a broken pelvis in three places, her third and fourth ribs, collarbone and her right foot and leg seriously fractured. Her spine was fractured in three different places. (Herrera, 1983, p. 49). The fracturing of her spine and the pain of enduring her many operations can be seen in her Self Portrait -
Broken Column. (Herrera, 1983, Illus. XXVIII). It was Kahlo's sheer devotion to God, to her family and to her life that drove her to heal into a woman who could speak her own mind and take care of herself in the long run.
What pained Kahlo the most was the dramatic way her accident affected her family. Her mother cried for three days straight and wouldn't speak for a month and her father became ill as well. (Herrera, 1983, p. 50). Frida's boyfriend Alejandro Arias
Gomez was also in the accident but walked away from the accident without any serious injuries. In a letter to Alex she said, “I was in grave condition. I have suffered a lot morally since you know how sick my mother was, and my father too, and to have to have given this blow hurt me more than forty wounds” (Herrera, 1983, p. 50).
While convalescing in her family home in Coyoaca'n her mother brought her a paint set to take her mind off of her pain and heal her boredom. That is what started her life's work.
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Such artists as Madonna and Selma Hayek are collectors of Kahlo’s artwork.
In addition, Hayek worked with the formation of and production of the biographic movie called Frida.
After her marriage to Diego Rivera she painted Self-Portrait the Borderline
Between Mexico and the United States 1932 (Herrera, 1983, illus. 28) This Self-
Portrait was created in rebellion to Diego Rivera, her husband's, strong ties and interest to the industrialized United States. For Kahlo, Mexico has always been her
“home” and her strong ties and pride in her nationality are powerfully seen as a large component in her Self-Portrait the Bode Line between Mexico and the United States
1932 and in her life's body of artwork.
In Self-Portrait the Border Line between Mexico and the United States 1932,
Kahlo visually expresses her longing for Mexico and her point of view toward the differences between the two countries. This Self-Portrait was started while she was living in Detroit, Michigan with Rivera, while he worked on a commissioned mural based on modern industry at the Detroit Institute of Art, mural which is about “the great Saga about the machine and of steel” (Herrera, 1983, p. 133).
While Kahlo's husband worked long hours, her only companion was her friend
Lucienne. With strong ties to her country, socialism, and artwork which Kahlo developed after she had her accident, she didn't really fit into polite Detroit society.
She longed for the companionship of her husband, her country and her large extended family in Mexico. This can be seen through the visual symbols in her Self-Potrait mentioned previously. Kahlo connection to modern industry can also be seen in
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Rivera's Mural at the California School of Fine Arts. If you look at Kahlo's painting in depth you'll see her representing her ambivalance to modern industry and how it has a strong hold on Rivera's attention and focus. This of course took his attention away from Kahlo.
While living in Detroit she experienced some of her greatest experiences of deep dark grief. The first was the loss of her child in a miscarriage on July 4, 1932 at the Henry Ford Hospital. The second was her mother’s terminal diagnosis of breast cancer.
The heart is considered to be the center of the human body and the spiritual self the heart of this Self Portrait is Kahlo. In the painting she exudes the elegance and the softness of her heart by wearing an outfit typical of a “Grosse Point” refined evening with a long flowing pink dress and matching demure lace gloves. In Kahlo's left hand she gently hold a cigarette defying the traditional elegancy of a Grosse Point evening (Herrera, 1983, p. 152). It could easily have been hidden by holding it sheepishly behind her back. The painting is saying at heart she is always elegant and refined with a streak of self knowingness that defied traditional society and cultural norms.
Diego Rivera's first “experience” with Kahlo was while he was painting a mural called “Creation” at the National Preparatory where his friend was a principal.
After becoming involved with Frida later on in life he remembered his friend talking of a student who was a thorn in his side and it turned out to be Frida. While painting
13 the mural he would hear a student calling out to him in the amphitheater “Hey, Fatso” and it turned out to his future wife.
In the Self-Portrait the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States 1932 she holds her head high and strong, something not always seen in women in Modern
Mexican culture of the early 1930s. As a strong woman who contradicted the current tradition of what a “true lady” represents, Frida's heart was still most comfortable in
Mexico. This is clearly expressed by the way she painted her head leaning on the side of the painting for which she calls her home, Mexico. Hers was a home where her father placed a lot of emphasis on family and education. Without a son of his own, he infused his favorite child, Frida, with a thirst for knowledge, politics and creativity.
Mr. Kahlo, a professional photographer, but not a man of established means, invested in sending his daughter to the National Preparatory in Mexico City. This is where the best and the brightest scholars, minds and creative thinkers brought their ideas to the promising elite among Mexico's youth. A s a member of a mostly a male student body, this is where she derived some of her attitude and perseverance to knowing and becoming one of Mexico's brightest intellects and creative individuals. This
Preparatoria is where Frida thrived on being involved in student literary and political groups. The group she was most active in was the Cachuchas which was known for their intelligence and their mischievousness.
With its agrarian culture and Aztec gods, Frida's visual symbols in the Self-
Portrait the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States 1932 convey her strong ties to her Mexico. The side of the painting that exhibits any form of growth and
14 interest in future ideas demonstrates a repetitive machine like feel through the continuity of the smoke stacks lines. The only product they produce is smoke, the end product of any form of life. This portrait can also be compared to what brought Kahlo her life and what brought her death. Modern industry directed her husband to the capitals of Industry in the U.S., but it tore her away from her nation, culture and family. It was also the elimination of any opportunity she would have in having a family of her own with Diego. She would lose her child prematurely without the support of her large extended family at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, a hospital that was named after a modern industry leader. Shortly afterwards she would receive news that her mother had cancer and this time she would not recover.
In Detroit, while on breaks from working with the mural, Rivera’s assistants would enjoy sharing their personal stories with Kahlo. Rivera's assistants felt she had a greater capacity for understanding human feelings while his assistants felt he had a more distant (abstract) interest in human kind (Herrera, 1983, p. 149). This is evident in the great depth she goes to understanding and cathartically processing her life story through her self portraits and the iconical images.
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Figure 8. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait on the Border Line between Mexico and the United States. (from Herrera, 1983, p. 146)
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Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall was born July 7, 1887 in Belarusian, Russia. He was raised in a large extended family that lived in a poverty stricken community of people of Jewish descent and culture. Holidays and large events always took place around Jewish
Holidays and customs (Marc Chagall, n.d.).
Even though it was rough for Chagall growing up during World War I as a Jew in Russia, his artwork and his life he focused on the light and positive aspects of the situation. Critics criticized him for taking serious situations and life events and bringing light and positive symbols and references to them (Marc Chagall, n.d.). His folk art style simply veiled the truth of his use of the symbols in his art work. In his drawing Grandfathers House (Chagall, 1994, p. 15), it shows his grandfather sitting on top of the roof holding a pot of what looks like money. It looks as if it is really his grandmother’s house as she opens the door and welcomes her husband in from the roof.
Chagall created an avenue of self-expression that in a lot of his art pieces showed him as the outsider looking into to the colorful menagerie he visually expressed as the world. In addition, his style was on the fringe of many art movements such as Cubism and Fauvism (Marc Chagall, n.d.). This association came from his participation in the Paris Avante Garde (an innovative group in the arts). His style of art and use of specific symbols mostly derived from his childhood were uniquely his own.
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Figure 9. Chagall Illustration – No Title.
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Salvador Dali
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènechf was born in the town of
Figueres, Catalonia, Spain on May 11, 1904 (Salvador Dali, Wikipedia, n.d.). His father was a local notary and lawyer named Salvador Dali Cusi and his mother was
Felipa Domenech Ferrés, a homemaker. He had a sister named Ana Marie that was three years younger. What was unusual about his family and upbringing was that he had a deceased brother named Salvador too. Dali was born nine months after his brother's death. His parents raised him as if he was the same person with the same likes, dislikes and habits. When he was five years old they took him to his brother's grave and said he was the reincarnation of his older brother Salvador (Salvador Dali,
Wikipedia, n.d.). The question is how this experience affected his ability to question and think for his own self. Some people surmise that this laid the foundation for his intuitive awareness of surrealism and directed him to be the shining star of the
Surrealist art movement.
Dali was encouraged creatively by his mother who exuded the tender love and encouragement he needed throughout his life. When she succumbed to breast cancer,
Dali left to study at the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid. That is where he found his footing in expressing his need for entertainment and for entertaining others. This is also where he found the bearings for his eccentric needs, desires, and talents to flourish. The beginning of the styling of his unique persona brought him to stand out among his peers. While Dali wore neck scarfs his classmates wore ties as well as his long hair and sideburns drew attention not only to himself, but to his work which was
19 then cubist in style. At the end of his tenure at the Academia, he was expelled for saying his professors were ill-equipped to evaluate his work.
Even though he was known more for his personality and exploits, Dali was a very skilled painter. His artwork after the Academia was influenced stylistically by well known Spainish painters Miro and Picasso. The year he was expelled from school he met with Picasso in France. It was not until he moved to the artist section of Paris, called the Montparnasse, did he really come to focus on the true depths of his own personal style -- Surrealism.
Surrealism uses images from the subconscious mind to make art that does not necessitate visual logic. It is heavily influenced by Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud and their psychoanalytic work, and it borrows ideas from the Symbolist movement of the late 19th century. In turn, Surrealism influenced art forms such as music, pop art and film.
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Figure 10. Dali – Persistence of Memory.
Conclusion
To see and understand the similarities in context and ideas between my art work and internationally known artists is truly helpful. It is helpful in understanding and interpreting what my artworks consciously and subconsciously communicating to me and to my viewers. When I understanding at a deeper level what my soul is expressing to myself and others, it brings me to a greater understanding of myself as individual, artist, creator, family member and educator. If a person understands who
21 they are subconsciously or consciously, they are able to be more productive in the world as an educator and person.
When I truly understand what my soul is saying visually through the symbols,
I draw without reservation or hesitation (editing or manipulating them). I understand myself as person, as an artist and as an educator. I can then approach my students and teaching with a better perspective of who I am as an individual as well as an educator.
When I understand my strengths, talents and weaknesses as an educator, I am able to be a more “well rounded teacher.”
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Chapter 3
TEACHER AS ARTIST: MY OWN ART WORK
Biography
It is important to know a person and where they come from to better understand who they are as an person and, in my case, as an artist and educator. My name is Cori Kelly, that is what I go by, but my full name is Corrine Leona Kelly. My middle name is my paternal grandmother’s and Cori is what most people call me. It is more down to earth and it rhymes with my last name Kelly. I am part of a large extended Irish and Italian family.
I was born in the Davis area of California. My parents moved to Davis from the San Francisco so my father could go to graduate school at the University of
California at Davis. My father ended his academic career with three masters and a
PhD in math and science. My mother was a home economics teacher when she first married my father and now she stages houses for a living (a form of interior decorating). When I was three we moved to Livermore, California, with my two year old sister, Jeannie. That is where I was raised, with many frequent trips to San
Francisco to visit our large extended family. When I was eight years old, a boy was born to my family and named Brian. Brian was the light of my young life and in many cases of my heart growing up.
As a teenager most of my friends were individualists, kids not afraid to be genuinely themselves. During High School as a Junior I took my first art class.
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Artist
My first strong remembrance of being a creative individual was waking my mom up early on Saturday mornings to make me a quick abstract drawing to color in.
My mother was one of the strongest influences on me creatively. She guided me as well as my sister through the many different projects, from drawing quietly, cake decorating projects, Lego towers, needle point, knitting, sewing our own clothes, attending quilt shows as well as playing with a huge dress up trunk filled with beautiful prom dresses with hoop skirts and heels from the 1950s. My young life was filled with the style of art called Pattern Decoration. Pattern Decoration is primarily female based functional art.
This carried over into my Bachelors Degree at Chico State. I constructed various projects that were based on Pattern Decoration themes but had stronger underlying messages, such as a quilted canvas that quietly expressed my disdain towards the discrimination and ill treatment of immigrants.
Art Shows
The first art show I entered was in high school, and I won Best of Show and
Best of Class at the Alameda County Fair both in 1986 and 1987. These were the top awards for the art show. Shortly after entering college I entered into quite a few juried exhibitions. I also had joint exhibitions at well known art establishments.
In Sacramento, I have exhibited group shows, solo shows and I have exhibited at such Museums as La Rasa Posada and the Crocker Art Museum. I have been on the
Gunda Turene Radio show, a local cable TV show segment on Artist/Educators in
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Sacramento and I have also been artist in the “Love Documentary.” It is a documentary on local regional artist, poets, musicians and notable experts who have made art about or have studied the subject of love.
After painting Angels for the Angel Ministry, a non-profit organization that gives Angel paintings to serious ill children and adults. I started receiving commission work to paint Angels. When I showed my Angel Paintings to Andy Lakey, an internationally known artist who paints Angels, he invited me to his Beverly Hills art show. He “recognized” my artwork and said it was very good. He wanted me to meet with people with in the “Angel” community. His art show was a great event, attended by Angel collectors, healers, people connected to Andy as well as celebrities (Ed
Asner and Kelsey Grammer for example). His art show so was so well publicized after
I left, I saw it live on the nationally syndicated news station CNN.
Current Artwork
The meditative aspect of making a flat 2-D painting appeals to my need for simplicity in creating artwork that contains strong underlying themes pertaining to people in my community, work experiences, and a cathartic need to take that experience and turn it into something positive.
“Life is Not Always Apples and Oranges” deals with subject of which direction to take in life and how one direction is not always equally loving and kind as the other.
“His Crystal Vase” is a piece based on a neighbor who after becoming seriously ill started sprinkling things of beauty in his life. I feel we should always have
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“crystal vases” in our lives. We need to surround ourselves with special opportunities for beauty. That I hope in our own individual way we surround ourselves with what we think is beautiful and joy throughout our existence on this earth.
Self-expression drives artists to express themselves using their personally sculpted icons and symbols that induce the healing/cathartic quality of their artwork.
In addition these artists had an interest to be seen, visually heard and to a certain degree understood. They also had an exceptionally strong desire to “need to be known.” For as Georgia O'Keeffe wrote to Sherwood Anderson, “Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant--- There is no such thing----Making your unknown known is the important thing” (Rohlifsen-Udall, 2000, p. 288).
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Figure 11. Cori Kelly – The Crystal Vase.
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Figure 12. Cori Kelly – Not Everything is Apples and Oranges.
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Figure 13. Cori Kelly – In the Middle.
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Figure 14. Cori Kelly – A Place Called Home.
I have been showing my art work since I was 17 years when I won my first
Award at the Alameda County Fair. The main body of my personal art work is compositions of icons and symbolic imagery. After studying and reading the interpretation of the three famous artists that utilized icons and symbols incorporated into my thesis it assisted in my interpretation of the personal meaning and depth of my students’ art work. Seemingly simple compositions were deep and personal, like pages of their diaries posted on the wall in their group exhibition. At the school’s Art Galley opening, a binder of written descriptions of their artwork was as if it was a binder of pages that they chose to share with visitors from their personal diaries.
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REFERENCES
Chagall, M. (1994). My life. New York: DA CAPO Press.
Dewey, J. (1934). Arts as experience. New York: The Berkeley Publishing Group,
Penguin Group.
Frida Kahlo. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 11, 2008, from wikipedia.org
Gaillemin, J.-L. (2002). Dali - Master of fantasies. New York: Harry N. Abrahams,
Inc., Publishers.
Herrera, H. (1983). Frida. New York: Harper Collins Publishers Inc.
Jung, C. G. (1953). Dreams. New York: Bollingen Foundation.
Marc Chagall. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 15, 2008, from wikipedia.org
Masters, C. (1995). Dali. New York: Phaidon Press Inc.
Max Ernst. (n.d.). Surrealism.org. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from surrealism.org
Rene Magritte. (n.d.). Surrealism.org. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from surrealism.org
Rohlifsen-Udall, S. (2000). Carr, O'Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of their own. New Haven,
CT: Yale University Press.
Salvador Dali. (n.d.). Surrealism.org. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from surrealism.org
Salvador Dali. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 12, 2008, from wikipedia.org
Surreal art. (n.d.). Surrealism.org. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from surrealism.org
Surrealism. (n.d.). Surrealism.org. Retrieved March 16, 2008, from surrealism.org