Aldi gets in on some electronic sun too

Even Aldi has solar panels and the display board that indicates how much energy its solar panels are producing.

Electric sun

Germany is moving away from nuclear power to greener forms of energy. I think part of the reason is that the country is trying to show that it is possible for a strong industrial nation to survive without nuclear energy.

Wind turbines and solar panels are reasonably common here as a result. Throughout Kaiserslautern, there are buildings with plaques that note how much energy is generated through the solar panels. I saw the panel below in the Kreissparkasse.

Roadside candy machines: Ramstein-Miesenbach

Some blurry jewelry, watermelon gum, that creepy sticky hammer that keeps showing up in candy machines around the Pfalz, and Meerestiere, or sea animals, fill this roadside candy machine by Löwen Apotheke in Ramstein-Miesenbach.

The Christmas markets are gearing up!

A magical time is almost upon us: Christmas market time in Germany! If you haven't experienced the Christmas markets before, it's a must-see. There's something so magical about browsing the small wooden huts,drinking some hot spiced wine, called glühwein, and enjoying the festive atmosphere.

Kaiserslautern is preparing for the Christmas market. Last weekend, I saw trucks bringing in the wooden huts. In the Schillerplatz, workers were assembling a ride. There is even a giant Christmas pyramid that has a fast food stand below it.

The next few weeks will bring many visits to Christmas markets for me. I can't wait!

Some More Art Learnin': Vassily Kandinsky, German Experessionist Painter

Here's more of my Art History writing. The Museum Pfalzgalerie in Kaiserslautern has some paintings by Kandinsky. They spell his first name as Wassily (it's pronounced like "v"). I also included some information about Franz von Stuck because I like his works (which are also in the MPK) and was excited to learn about his influence on Kandinsky's career).

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Vassily Kandinsky, Russian by birth, became a famous painter in the German Expressionist style. He was born in 1866 in Moscow, Russia; as an adult, he practiced law in Russia (Wassily Kandinsky). However, at 30 years old he decided to become an artist and moved to Munich in Germany. Prior to his move, he saw works by Impressionists, including those of Claude Monet. Monet’s primacy of color over subject influenced Kandinsky greatly (Wassily Kandinsky).

In Munich, Kandinsky studied under Franz von Stuck, a Symbolist painter and a member of the Munich Secession. This tutorship had a lifelong effect on Kandinsky; during his education, Kandinksy was made to abandon color and work in black and white to create better forms. Following this, Kandinsky spent the rest of his life studying positive and negative space, which became an important advancement in art (Makela 112). 

In 1911, he founded Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a German Expressionist group, with Franz Marc, naming the group after their interest in horses and the color blue (Kleiner 841). Their paintings depicted their feelings in pictorial form while “eliciting intense visceral responses from viewers” (Kleiner 841).

Science, in addition to Kandinsky’s artistic and humanities training, influenced his works. Studies in atomic make up “convinced Kandinsky that material objects had no real substance;” after this, he lost “faith in a world of tangible things” (Kleiner 841). Instead, artists would need to show their deepest feelings by “orchestrating color, form, line, and space” (Kleiner 841). 

Works Cited

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: a Global History. Vol. 2. 14^th ed. [Australia]: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. 

Makela, Maria. The Munich Secession: art and artists in turn-of-the-century Munich. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990.

"Wassily Kandinsky." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Biography In Context. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.

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Also, here is my disclaimer: the following is copyright 2013 by Around the Wherever. Do not reproduce in any way (especially if you're writing a paper for a class; don't be academically dishonest and copy this in any form). 

 

Some Art Learnin': Frido Kahlo, Mexican Painter

I didn't name this blog Around the Wherever for a lack of a reason. I'm interested in many different things that can be summed up into two basic areas: education and travel. However, the way these things manifest themselves are myriad, as are the subjects covered in this blog. 

Below is a biography I wrote about Kahlo for my Art History class. Since I spent two months of my life doing homework on my breaks at work and during pretty much every spare moment, I may as well share the fruits of my labor. It'll probably get very fruity up in here indeed as I share more of the work.

Also, here is my disclaimer: the following is copyright 2013 by Around the Wherever. Do not reproduce in any way (especially if you're writing a paper for a class; don't be academically dishonest and copy this in any form).

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Frida Kahlo, the daughter of a Mexican mother and a German mother, was a Mexican artist famous for painting “the painful details of her life as powerful symbols for the psychological pain of human existence,” according to Fred S. Kleiner (893). 

Born in 1907, Kahlo suffered from polio and mostly recovered but then was injured in a bus accident and faced a lengthy recovery time where she was bedridden. To pass the time, she began painting, which turned into her career though she never received formal training (Frida Kahlo).

As a 22 year old, Frida married the internationally famous mural painter, Diego Rivera. Their marriage was a tumultuous one with the couple separating, divorcing, and even marrying again (Frida Kahlo). Kahlo’s paintings were heavily influenced by events both within her life as well as events at the time in Mexico. When she was three, the Mexican Revolution occurred, which changed the country politically and culturally with a sense of nationalism becoming strong. As a result of the nationalism, a “renaissance of cultural renewal glorifying Mexico's native roots took place” and mural painting became an important way to express pride in Mexico (Frida Kahlo).

In addition to nationalism influencing Kahlo and her paintings, painful events in her own life also shaped her painting. She faced constant pain from the car accident, even losing a leg to gangrene later in life (Frida Kahlo). Her marriage was turbulent as well. Through these trials and tribulations, Kahlo turned to painting for solace, pouring out her pain in the paintings.

Kahlo was labeled by André Benton as a Natural Surrealist but Kahlo did not agree; “she firmly rejected the surrealist label, contending that her work dissolved the distinctions between reality and fantasy” (Frida Kahlo). The majority of her paintings were self-portraits. 

At 47 years old and after a life of pain, Kahlo died July 13, 1954 (Frida Kahlo).

Works Cited

"Frida Kahlo." Dictionary of Hispanic Biography. Gale, 1996. Biography In Context. Web. 9 Oct. 2013.

Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: a Global History. Vol. 2. 14^th ed. [Australia]: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013.