Culture and Art Report

1. The civilisation of the Celtic peoples from Europe is one that has been around for approximately 28,000 years and is a culture that has not disappeared or been broken since c.1000-700 BCE. This was mainly due to the fact that their customs and culture were shared and established orally and were never recorded (written). Because of this, Celtic art is still seen today in tattoos, jewellery and artworks. Another part of Celtic culture that is still very prominent today is the worldwide celebration of St. Patrick’s Day.
People that have a Celtic background, such as the Irish, Welsh or Scots, may have tattoos, which include the Celtic knot (used as illuminations for the handwritten Christian Gospels), Celtic cross (a symbol of eternity, emphasising God’s endless love as shown through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross), Celtic spiral (eternal life; life, death and rebirth), patterns or letters, to show their link to/pride in their heritage. Celtic jewellery follows the same symbols and patterns of the tattoos.
One example of Celtic jewellery includes the Claddagh Ring, which has two hands holding on to a heart, which usually has a crown atop it. The hands symbolise friendship, the heart, love, and the crown, loyalty. There are varying ways in which the ring can be worn, and with these ways, there are varying meanings. Traditionally, if one is wearing the ring on the right hand with the heart pointing outward, away from the body, the wearer isn’t attached and may be looking for a relationship. If the wearer has the ring on with the heart pointing inward, it indicates that somebody has “captured their heart”, thus in a relationship. If the wearer has the ring on the left hand, heart pointing inwards, they are married. Rings the same and similar to the Claddagh Ring are still worn today.
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide every year on 17th March, the day it’s supposed that St. Patrick died in 460 CE. St. Patrick is a patronised saint, and one of the most renowned figures in all of Modern Christianity. For twenty years he travelled and established monasteries, schools and churches across Ireland. He was also the creator of the Celtic cross.

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2. Art is a form of expression where colour, shapes and patterns are used instead of words to communicate what the artist is feeling, thinking or seeing.
Art isn't only made just to look nice hung in a frame on somebody's wall - it can be made to tell a story and send a message to its viewers.
Art within a specific cultural group can be reflective of their customs, their beliefs and their everyday life. It may not mean a lot to an outsider, to somebody who has no understanding of that specific culture, but it may be very important to people within that culture. However, even to somebody who has no previous idea of that culture, they may be able to create their own meaning from the artwork.
Within Aboriginal art, there are many symbols that communicate specific things such as sites and people and their art can give a visual explanation to their beliefs of the dreamtime. A few symbols used include curved lines that represent flowing water or rain, small “U” shaped figures that represent people and concentric circles that show significant places, campsites or waterholes. Because of the different tribes from all around Australia, these symbols can be varied in different artworks, depending on which region the artwork came from.
Aboriginal art carries on the traditions and the stories from the past, and it can teach modern-day Australians about the culture of the people who lived here many years before the country was colonized.

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3. Most designers and lay people are highly impressed by M.C. Escher's work because of its attention to detail and depth. He used a variety of medium, and created 448 lithographs, over 2000 drawings and sketches, wood cuts and engravings. There's a piece of himself in every one of his creations; presenting his thoughts through his images.
When you look at Escher's work, you can see the dedication and the effort that has gone into every single piece to make it captivating and/or realistic, such as the wood carving Oude Kerk Delft 1939 where each brick has been carved to make it look like stone and the stained glass windows look as though they would be bright and brilliant if you saw them in colour.

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4, 5. What’s so interesting about art and culture of the past is that it gives the people today an insight into the lives of people and the world around them in the past. With art of the past, you can see the progression of technique, method, style and meaning.
The earliest art included pictures or symbols on the ground, on rock and on cave walls, sending out messages such as warnings of danger. The most modern forms of art include art movements such as surrealism and cubism, also digital compositions such as 3D animation, the boundaries being pushed further and further as technology and the world around us changes.
Culture from the past is also interesting because through studying it, you can see what’s different to society today and what’s the same. From exploring cultures of the past, you can find out about art, music, language and food, and how they have similarities and differences from the modern world.
We look backwards to our history when trying to engage in design solutions for modern society because art from the past can provide modern day artists and designers with inspiration and trends. From these, we can develop something new, exciting and ground-breaking.

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6. Ancient art has affected my life by inspiring the art that I create. Ancient art varies from both intricate and simple, and it’s always helpful to look at some examples to get colour schemes and ideas for patterns. One of my favourite things is to create tattoo-like designs which are inspired by Celtic art. Ancient Chinese and Japanese artworks also inspire these designs because of the way they used ink to create lines and shapes.

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7. Cultural influences that have occurred in my life are all around me, such as the places I visit when my family goes on holiday, the people I grew up with and the artwork that I studied in Visual Arts in school. Going to cities such as Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, there are many different cultures within them which can be seen by restaurants which serve food from different countries (India and Japan, for example) and stalls that sell bits and pieces of art such as ceramics and jewelry. Two of my friends were Jewish and Sri-Lankan when I was growing up, so I got to learn about Jewish customs and the Sri-Lankan culture such as fashion and food. Studying Visual Arts in high school gave me an insight into art from all around the world and what it represented and the context from which the art was created.