Blog #2

The prompt for this week's blog is to connect something that we read to our everyday lives. I was able to make small personal connections within the chapter that I thought were interesting. When I was in the seventh grade, I actually did a report on Jan van Eyck, so I was somewhat excited to see him in this chapter. It helped that I already knew something about him and the era so that the material was not as foreign to me. It also helped that in my history class we were just talking about the 15th century in Europe therefore some of the names were familiar and backgrounds were as well.

I was not sure if we were supposed to make a connection to our everyday lives personally or more as a general everyday life so I did a brief synopsis on both. In a personal sense, I can relate to the struggle for women to be heard and recognized in their chosen society. In the 15th century it was the battle for women to join the artistic world. There are some aspects in my life where I am sometimes stereotyped for being a woman and find that occasionally I am not being heard. It is entirely frustrating and I can not imagine what those women in the past had to suffer through to accomplish what they did. Where as in a general sense, the religious aspects come to play. The 15th century art revolved around Christ and the church extensively even though the Catholic church at that point in time was under much scrutiny. In today's society, our art is not necessarily based upon our religious values, but life is. Unlike the 15th century, there are so many different religions that are practiced everyday and they are not shunned as they once were. Overall, the world has made dramatic changes but kept some distinct similarities, like the specific way to express oneself via "art." :)