Welcome! Welcome!

Welcome! Welcome!

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 for Root)

Visual Hint/Connection

木 Tree/Wood

林 Grove

森 Forest

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

Level 1— 杉 松 枫 橡 shān sōng 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 JuxtapositionPulitzer-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?

Montagein 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 & Analysissummative/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 TextContextual/Historical

The Creation of Adam is a section of Michelangelo's fresco Sistine Chapel ceiling painted circa 1511. It illustrates the Biblical story from the 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 be completed.

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/JuxtapositionAppositional/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/ConsequenceNothing 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 KissFeng Zikai

（ 1898.11.9 － 1975.9.15 ）

Mother vs. baby

Textual details (patches)

Impersonal touch in adoption/ orphanage business

Double-Column NotebookWhile A to B is like this, C to D is like that

Mother Dog vs. Puppies

The second frame functions as commentary on the first frame

Appositional

The Block Method: discuss one work in its entirety before taking up the other one;

The Block Structure (360)vs. the Alternating Structure (361)

The Alternating Approach: moving back and forth between two works; offer point-to-point analysis

Constructing an ArgumentBased 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

IntegrationHistorical/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 ）

Dr. Weizhi Gao04/19/23 26

The Steerage by Alfred Stieglitz published in 291 in 1915/Internal Framing

Two worlds separated by a gangway bridge

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.

Dr. Weizhi Gao04/19/23 27

Upper Deck vs. Lower Decktwo worlds separated by

a gangway bridge

Contextual/historical Biographical Compositional/

technical analysis Interpretation Drawing your

claim/conclusion Google Alfred

Stieglitz

Juxtaposition/apposition/connection

Sequence and consequence

Cultural knowledge: better view

Critical/cutting edge Authorial intention

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 Switchhttp://mathworld.wolfram.com/YoungGirl-

OldWomanIllusion.html

Dr. Weizhi Gao04/19/23 30

Navigating class website http://uwch-

4.humanities.washington.edu/~WG/~134/134%20Workbook/

Save your homework online

Use Catalyst via MyUW Two copies required: Hard copy Electronic copy

Essay Format http://uwch-4.humanities.washingt

on.edu/~WG/~134/MLA%20Sample%20Paper.pdf