Vanya Rashev
Philosophers believed that there are connections between individual human life and large collective events and processes. There was an intellectual framework for analyzing and interpreting meaningful human expressions, such as poetry, actions, thoughts, and motives. These frameworks were extended later on during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by Hermeneutics philosophers to understand large historical events and processes in similar terms. To understand History, we need to understand events, movements, and techniques in the same way we look at art and all created in a specific historical era. All events, individuals, and as a whole in human History are connected.
I am interested in History since I was little. It is a hobby of mine. For this class, I explored History and art interconnect, how History influenced art and vice versa. Art is used in many ways to understand History; through artworks, historians today develop more in-depth knowledge of the past, what makes those people create, what bothered and amused them, and kept them up late at night?
Art 3D and data visualization are widely used to give shape, color, and depth to historical figures, events, places, etc. Art as a tool helps to understand History, to improve and live in a better future. Aristotle says that "Happiness is the ultimate end and purpose of human existence." Happiness is the ultimate value of your life, which will measure how well you lived up to your full potential as a human being. Throughout History, Happiness holds a different meaning for each individual, such as love, power, wealth, world domination, science, exploration, etc.
In these challenging times, to keep going, one can look up to History for inspiration. I decided to explore my heritage; I am a proud one hundred percent Slavic descendant of a nation with more than two thousand years of History. Bulgaria is not rich in economic opportunities but rich in Nature and History.
In Project 1, I decided to challenge Maya, which resulted in disastrous failure. The program required more time than I had in my hands. I used Blender to try to recreate the male head, according to a description I found, of the first Bulgarian ruler Khan Asparuh. It was my first time modeling the human head, not very successful, as you can see.
Project 2 I tackle the data visualization challenge. I decided to go with one of Bulgarian History's darkest times, the Five Hundred Years of Slavery. During this time, on one particular day in the village of 5000 people. Ottomans went berserk and slaughtered most horrifically all the people from the town. They burned alive 200 mothers and children hiding in a church while their male relatives were lined up outside by the soldiers and made them watch. Human cruelty has no color, gender, or religion. Plato says living virtuous life brings greater pleasure than living an unvirtuous life. I decided to challenge other fear, Photoshop; this program gives me nightmares and cost me extra working hours to save money and buy a laptop that could run all the beautiful features it has. With some tutorials, I was able to create the peace called "Fire." Then I incorporated it into an HTML page that represented a memorial of the victims and a reminder of that horrific event back in time.
Project 3 I decided to enjoy more what I learned in Photoshop. It is called "Forest Legends." I used Adobe Photoshop and incorporated multiple tutorials to execute my idea. It represents a myth from Slavic Culture. It is a magical creature called Samodiva, a forest spirit of women, beautiful and deadly. I decided to add on a wolf, as to why not. I also enhanced and touched up the forest background to give it a more dreamlike scene. I enjoyed working on that project because, through the process, I overcame my anxiety with this program and learned to enjoy using it. History is not just facts; some figures become legends and myths, hence my vision of Samodiva in the forest.
Life is hard enough today; by learning how to go day by day, tomorrow we will look back and remember the past hard months and smile to a brighter future.
"Fire"
"Khan Asparuh"
References:
Inspirational artists:
Kaloyan Stoyanov , Bulgarian Digital Artist.
Link to Page.
Vanessa Rivera Digital Artist
Link to Page.
Aleksei Goferman Art Director, Digital Artist, High-End Retouching, UI / UX Visio
Link to Page.
Dylan Bolívar VISUAL ARTIST: Photography | Retouch | Graphic Design | Illustration | Animation | Video Editing
Link to page.
Eric Rodenbeck Founder & Creative Director
Link to Page.
Batak Massacre, historic source:
Link to Page.
Myths and Legends The Samodiva:
Link to Page.
Brief History of Bulgaria
Link to Page.