Wk 9 — Art Activity — Student Choice, Part 2

The cover of the journal! Matches well with the nature elements in the entry, right?

A journal written partly in Gothic! I tried to add some artistic Gothic elements to help bring out the culture along with the language. The little columns at the bottom come from the Codex Argenteus–a surviving part of the Gothic Bible. The colorful and golden circle is based off of a disc brooch found in the 6th century CE in Spain. It shows the polychrome style of the Goths, and the glass shape matches something common in Gothic glass and smithing. The drawing on the upper right hand corner is based off of a belt buckle found in 7th century CE Spain. It has that common zoomorphic style of griffins, which I like. The energy drink on the left page shows a little snippet of my everyday life. I added a little geometric doodle–a style that seems to come up often in what is left of Gothic art. I’ve also read the Gothic religion–prior to christianity–to be nature-based. Although it could mean other things than plants and trees, I added a huge leaf in the middle to acknowledge it. It could also point out the geographical settings in which they were in before some of the branches moved into the Roman Empire.

I made this picture scan in an Illuminated Style! The first gothic part in the latin alphabet is written as “ Fairgunisdags, Auktobair 22,2020. Godana Maurigan! Mik fraihina hwaiwa dags meins mag. Hrozithadrak drigka. Afar thata, talzeinistunda diginnith.” which translates to “Thursday, October 22, 2020. Good Morning! I wonder how today will go. I am drinking an energy drink. After that, class starts.” The second part says, “Thanuh than swethauh, wulthrais usthrotheins ist!” which translates to, “Nevertheless, exercise is important!” I also signed my name in the futhark alphabet, as it was previously theirs before the unique Gothic alphabet we see now. Probably should have stayed with the gothic alphabet when signing my name.

The original vision of mine was to aim for 100% of the writing to be in Gothic despite declaring last week that it was going to be mixed in with Spanish and English. I imagined a flower and some leaves placed on the edges. The columns are also some things that I envisioned along with the inclusion of their art style! I didn’t imagine a lot of inclusion of it though. I didn’t know what to add.

How that differs from what I actually did was that the plant was placed in the middle. Gothic is mixed in with english (despite it planned last week), and English was the majority of the writing. Other than that, is is much like what I planned!

In adding visuals such as the pattern taken from a brooch and the outline from belt buckle, it was more than a success, and it looked prettier than I have thought. However, the language component was very disappointing. The majority, again, of the writing was in english. I’m not sure what I feel about the plant in the middle. It makes the piece not feel complete, but oddly complements the columns at the bottom. I’d say it wasn’t a success, but close to it.

The project could have been weaker. I needed more time to study the language and formulate more sentences on my own. However, my Microbiology class is always in the way, and usually needs my upmost attention. I gathered what I could. What nearly compensates were the Gothic elements in art, but other than that, this will remain weak until I do something about the plant in the middle, and translate more of the writing into Gothic. However, the English helped as it showed that I was in the process of learning the language. That’s why I mentioned that it “could have” been weaker.

I wanted to explore language, and tried to apply it to everyday life! More specifically, ancient language, because they could be put into use now that we discover how they work! Language also can bring up culture, so it was a reason why I added those art pieces, and tried to modernize it. The piece may have communicated it well, or can be mistaken as a weapon of privacy. People sometimes like to make codes, so others cannot see. I believe people need to know about the existence of these languages to understand what I tried to do. Nevertheless, the unintentional and contradictory English is what may hint that I tried to incorporate the language and culture into my everyday life, so it could have been more or less achieved!

If I did this project again, I would have placed the plant on another area, or used different types! I didn’t have the time to look for a diverse set to work with. Another change I would have done was to take my time in understanding the language in order to effectively and entirely write in it. That way, the art piece could be fully in Gothic. This is what will emphasize my focus on language. However, for this particular piece, it captured that I was in the process of it.