Response to Visual Symposium #1

        On August 30th, the freshman students were able to attend a VS detailing the phenomenon of childish, colorful art found within Japan. Although unfortunately, I was unable to attend, I have read some of my fellow classmates' responses to the VS to get a general idea of the topic matter. I am truly intrigued by what I have read and am astonished that I had not realized the correlation between the tragedies of WWII and the art of Japan today. As a huge fan and follow of Japanese pop culture, I had never realized that the extremely colorful, stylized works of Japanese art would be used as a coping mechanism against the horror the country previously experienced. This creates a whole new depth to the Japanese arts that I greatly admire. As a fan of Japanese art, anime, and manga since I was a young child, the VS really puts things into a historical context for me.

        The second part of the discussion covered the debate of whether or not crafts were considered "art." This made me realize that I had never mused upon this debate before, and that I had no real line of what I considered arts or merely "crafts." The debate caused me to reflect upon my previous definitions of art and how this could adversely affect my interpretations of people and their efforts.