Dear American Art students,
This is where you'll write your first blog posts for the class after we have our trip on Thursday, October 6. These posts are due Oct. 11. Please post a link to your blog post on Canvas in the Module 5 assignment so I can enter a grade.
Blog posts should be approximately one or two paragraphs long. You should use one of the questions on the Oct. 6 site visit worksheet as the focus for your post. Good examples to consider using as the main content of your post include your answer to question 4 or question 5. However, you may choose to use one of the other worksheet questions as a jumping off point for your blog post, or write your own reflection or summary of some aspect of the trip that interested and engaged you, or that made you think about public sculpture and public commemorative art in new ways. Posts will be graded on content and expression. Content should reflect knowledge of course materials assigned prior to the Oct. 6 visit and engagement with the worksheet question(s). Please re-read and edit for spelling, typos, grammar, and syntax before you publish your posts.
Please include photographs and tag your posts.
Photos of the Beecher monument in Columbus Park from the Municipal Art Society website showing the statue before and after its most recent conservation in 2016.
Thank you for your post! Should we take this sculpture down? If we don't take it down, what can be done to draw attention to more inclusive and accurate histories? New monuments? In your map, you can link this monument (if you choose to include it at all) with works of public art that tell a more inclusive story.
Why would he get worship like a god?
From different POVs, this sculpture of Beecher may seem innocent to some, while others may say otherwise upon further inspection. Two children are seen placing a wreath on the pedestal- without background information, I had no idea what was happening in the picture. At first glance, I noticed a white man with no expression on his face, standing above a black woman and two little children, which I presumed was a gesture to show his power and authority. I had a wrong impression of him, but after researching the statue, I have learned that the wreath the children place on the pedestal symbolizes Beecher's love for children.
Based on the readings and…