Great photos, great work, great sense

News:
Fragile art, fragile environment
http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/fragile-art-fragile-environment-20100818-12f5t.html

Description:
Crystal Stubbs, an artist who has 37 hand-sculpted glass pieces on show in her Human Nature exhibition, hopes her artworks can help people protect our environment.

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/fragile-art-fragile-environment-20100818-12f5t.html

Comment:

When I first open this page, I know I will fall in love with this story, with its eye-catching headline, photos and opening paragraphs.

Fragile art, fragile environment, that’s true. How can it be not fragile when the artwork is making in glass? How can it be not fragile when we have done enough bad things to the environment? When you are seeing an artwork that a big hand is holding an egg, what will you think of it at that time? New life? Yes. Many people will think that too. But Stubbs said I was using that egg shape to represent fragility.

They are two great photos and they explain everything, powerful and simple as well. I did like the two opening paragraphs which the author describes the chess board. It seems that we are watching a real chess game. However, it is not a game with real chess pieces but with symbols: human king and queen, castles, bishops, knights, rats, egg pawns. The author wrote that The piece is Crystal Stubbs’s striking illustration of the losing game our native species are playing against feral pests and mankind in an exhibition that shows both her delight and despair about the environment.

With the description of this outstanding glass piece, it follows the main theme of Stubbs’s artworks and her goal. The author skillfully uses a comparison with election environmental issues such as climate change that Stubbs’s work is more personal than political. I think it indicates that what she does is more practical, direct and right-away.

I understand that. Our planet is too fragile to bear any more damages. Climate change, pollutions, desert, flood, hazard, diversity…… they are far more serious than before. We all know that, and we are discussing, listening to others and fixing it. I’d like to think I design pieces that are just interesting to look at and people can read their own things into them. And she did make it: interesting and make people start thinking. 

Sometimes, excellent quotes matter most

News:
Sound artist Stephen Vitiello recreates 'loud silence' of bush (Ashleigh Wilson)
(http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/sound-artist-stephen-vitiello-recreates-loud-silence-of-bush/story-fn59niix-1225904658097)

Stone the crows, Broome has come to the Brickworks (Joyce Morgan)
(http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/stone-the-crows-broome-has-come-to-the-brickworks-20100819-12rkm.html)

Description:
Stephen Vitiello, a former punk guitarist, is making a new sound artwork called The Sound of Red Earth. In both articles, they introduce the features of the artwork and the process Vitiello makes it.


Comment:
Headline
In The Australian, the headline is Sound artist Stephen Vitiello recreates ‘loud silence’ of bush while the one in SMH is Stone the crows, Broome has come to the Brickworks. From them, we can see the different news angles. In my opinion, although different emphasis, the headline of The Australian uses contrast of loud and silence to attract readers, confusing them that what do you mean by ‘loud silence’? It intrigues us to keep reading. On the other hand, the headline of SMH uses simile technique, Stone the crows to attract readers from the visual side.

Structure
According to the theme and angle, the story will use varied structures. The article of The Australian focuses more on the artist himself and how he makes the artwork. So it uses the profile of Vitiello as opening. The one of SMH concentrates more on the new artwork because it is the first time to the public. It introduces the artist in the middle of the story and simply describes his making process.

Differences of the same thing
Two articles are written in different time (13 August-The Australian / 19 August-SMH). However, based on the same information, the articles in two newspapers display different style and level.

They both describe how Vitiello thinks about the idea and makes the artwork. In The Australian, Ashleigh uses a lot of excellent quotes from Vitiello to let he himself describe the process, while in SMH, Joyce just uses a normal sentence to say it. During his work, there was a crow accompanied him all the time. Ashleigh wrote Vitiello said. "I always felt like he or she was mocking me. It became a kind of interesting sparring partner." while Joyce wrote "It felt like everywhere I'd go, that bird was over my shoulder," says Vitiello. In terms of the descriptions and quotes, I like the one in The Australian more. It make feel like there is an image in my head when I read it. But the latter one feels a little bit boring.

Throughout the whole story, both languages are very vivid. But the one in The Australian is still clear in my mind with the interesting quotes and animated descriptions. It delivered the personality of the artist.

Presentation PPT

Hi, everyone
I just upload my presentation PPT on Slideshare.
http://www.slideshare.net/Yvonnezhang5003/presentation-mdia5003-by-yvonne-zhang-3279272

Welcome to discuss and comment.

Yvonne

I'm curious, what about you?

News: Ageless artist creates a wondrous house
http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/ageless-artist-creates-a-wondrous-house-20100809-11txx.html

Description:
Ken Unsworth, near 80, best known as a sculptor, is working on his new art installation in his studio. For years, he has closely worked with performers including the filmmaker friend Patrick Harding-Irmer. This news story is about what the writer has seen in Unsworth’s studio and some backgrounds and information of his new installation.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/art-and-design/ageless-artist-creates-a-wondrous-house-20100809-11txx.html

Photo: Well-known artwork by Ken Unsworth 1976

http://cs.nga.gov.au/IMAGES/MED/102234.JPG

Comment:
This is my favourite arts news story this week and I would like to introduce it to all of you.

It is a classic color news story, reminding me of its features I learned last semester. “Use a scene to describe the atmosphere first and introduce the 5W”, Matthew said.

In this article, the author writes two short paragraphs to describe what he saw when he walked into Unsworth’s studio and uses some simile technique. For example,
To step into Ken Unsworth's Alexandria studio is like falling down Alice's rabbit hole.
Next, readers know what the news story is about, and why it is written now because Unsworth is preparing his new art installation which will be on show late this month.

The best point that makes it a good piece is the incisive word the author uses and the quotes from Unsworth. For example, when the author asks Unsworth why his new artwork cover nine scenes, he uses an opening like this, The genial Unsworth, who at 79 has a child’s sense of play and wonder, is not about to offer any ready explanations, then the quote comes out like this, Because I don’t like eight. And seven would not be enough. Throughout the whole story, the author successfully depicts the personality of Unsworth, humorous and talented.

In the latter part, it is about a brief introduction of Unsworth and his new artwork. Unsworth has worked with performers for a long time because It is a meeting of weird minds. In his new work, he will reflect some performing technique to make them fresh. In terms of this stage, the author says something else related to this but not exactly the artwork. As a result, the story is ended like this, Curiouser and curiouser. And, it really makes me curiouser.

What's the difference?

News:Steeped in tradition (Christopher Allen)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/steeped-in-tradition/story-e6frg8n6-1225900475736

Description:
This news story is based on the Tea and Zen exhibition in National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne in August. The story has covered several parts. Firstly, it introduces some history of tea and the relationship of coffee, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Zen. Secondly, it covers some information about the exhibition. Last, according to the Chinese and Japanese tea culture in the exhibition, the story clarifies the differences between these two kinds of tea cultures.

Comment:
Catalogued in Arts section, this story is soft news.
Rather than other news stories which follow the principle of “5W” at the beginning or in the middle, the author just uses three bullet points to explain the exhibition first:
    •Tea and Zen
     National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
     Until August 29
Then, it opens with the saying of the author of Chajing to lead to the theme and angle.
WE drink water to quench our thirst, according to Lu Yu, author of the Chinese classic Chajing, wine to banish melancholy and tea to clear the mind.
The writing is mainly about the relationship between human thoughts, the culture and beverage. It quickly uses the term reminds us in the third paragraph to write more than 17 paragraphs to introduce the history of tea next and accordingly relate to coffee, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Zen. In the 20th and 21st paragraph, with the words the relevance of tea, the story backs to the relevant information of the exhibition and introduces two different parts of it, Chinese and Japanese and the story is followed by the tea-making process and the differences of tea and Zen between the two cultures. With all of the information, the author uses compliments (more like similes and novel style) in the end to highlight the unique exhibition without using any words like the exhibition XXX.

It is a special writing piece, at least not familiar to me, with different sequences to write the story. It looks more like an additional introduction of tea knowledge and history (or feature story) than the real meaning of news story because it is hard to distinguish the news values or elements in it. However, it is good about the story angle, searching the deeper meaning of the relationsip between tea and human culture from an exhibition. Besides, the headline Steeped in tradition which goes straightly to the theme of the story: tea, Zen and the long history, is simple but covering all the content, and the beginning paragraph uses a very relevant and great old saying.