Alyssa Otis-The Mystery of the Mermaid

Growing up near the ocean has given me an everlasting connection with aquatic creatures. As a little girl I would force my grandma, grandpa, mom, dad, and brother to swim around the ocean impersonating the movie “The Little Mermaid” where of course… I was the Ariel herself! I was infatuated by these beautiful creatures and their majestic blue and sea foam green tails that always seemed to glisten when the sun reflected amongst the water. My mom and I would walk on the beach and any time I would pick up black egg case of a shark or skate that was found lying in the sand, she would tell me they were called “mermaid’s purses. As I grew older I began to understand that this was not always the typical image of a mermaid and the actual little mermaid folktale was quite gruesome where mermaids were mean and scary. I still really enjoyed learning about these “merfolk” creatures that are a combination of a human and fish because it was different and pushed the human mind to new extremes and use nothing but your imagination to figure out questions such as, “how do these creatures breathe under water? Or “Were mermaids created by a human mating with a fish?” You would have to have the birds and the bee’s conversation all over again at a whole new and uncomfortable level to answer this question so its actually better off not to ask this question at all.

Fast-forwarding to years later as a college kid and this fascination still remains just as strong. My best friend and I at Roger Williams spent a full night watching a documentary about a mermaid-like creature found in Florida and as the hour-long episode unraveled I found myself drawn to the television believing every second that these creatures actually exist and scientists found one of these incredible species. At the time I completely believed the mermaids shown in this episode were real because the source was the history channel, which is usually notorious for eliciting credible information. Also, I had read about mermaid findings in the past, specifically mermaids that were even preserved in the American Museum in New York City.

When researching this topic on the website Snopes.com I was quite disappointed to find out that I sat through a full hour of false information. Even more surprising was the fact that in the year of August 2006 the same creature was “found” in Campeche Mexico, Venda of South Africa, Cebu of the Philippines, and Swaziland. The truth is that these pictures were created by an artist named Juan Cabana and offered for sale in a huckster online auction. Furthermore, it was advertised with an elaborate story about the sellers having encountered the “mermaid or sea monster” while exploring desolate areas of Fort Desoto Beach at the southern end of St. Petersburg, Florida. (Snopes, 2015)

According to the Snopes article, the first fictions mermaid creature created was known as the “Fiji Mermaid” and was supposedly photographed by a Japanese fisherman and taken to China. I found it incredibly interesting that this exact “Fiji Mermaid” was the one that I read about years ago that was preserved in the American Museum. Research shows that this “mermaid” was actually pieced together using papier-mâché, fish parts, the body of an infant orangutan, and a monkey head. In more recent years, artists attach bones and various body parts of fish to a desiccated monkey skull to create a deception of a mermaid’s skeleton. The skeletons are then used for exhibit in dime museums, carnivals, traveling circuses, sideshows, and in my case history episodes.

Although I was slightly angry that all of this information ended up being false, I can’t be too angry because that documentary was extremely entertaining and the director did a great job to convince viewers that mermaids actually did exist. Although I have now confirmed that mermaids do not exist, I will still always be infatuated with the idea of them and my fascination for aquatic animals will continue to live on.

Mermaid used in documentary.

Here are some other mermaids created that were referenced to in the Article. The man holding the skeleton of the mermaid is artist, Juan Cabana, the creator of the mermaid used in the documentary.

Article used:

• http://snopes.com/photos/odd/mermaid.asp

Comm. 265 Test Post- Alyssa Otis

Design Query!

Is there a difference between “Art” and “Design”
or are they one and the same?

Art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power. Opposed to this, design is defined as a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made. With this said, there is a difference between the two of them and you need a design in order to create a work of art, so it is important that they both compliment one another when creating a work of art.

 

If they’re not the same, what’s the difference?

The difference is that a design consists of the steps necessary to be taken in order to produce the final work of art. It will start with a sketch or rough draft, and go through a great amount of reconstruction and tweaking before it is no longer considered a design. A design can also be a pattern that is repeated over and over again, and this repetition creates a form of art as well. Art is in the eye of the beholder and also is the last form of the design, it is then finally viewed as perfection and no more changes need to be made before it is set on display.

In your description of the difference, do you ever find yourself using terms such as “self-expression,” “function,” “monetary compensation,” “form,” “commission,” “meaning” or “aesthetics”?

I believe that self-expression was a term that came to mind when thinking about the differences between art and design. This is because something can be considered “art” to one person, which could be considered “trash” to another. Art is all about self-expression and portraying it using a sculpture, painting, and many other versions. Also, in order to graduate from Roger Williams University, it is imperative that students take an Aesthetics course, a course where you learn about “art” from all different time periods. Much of this “art” was not very impressive to some students in the class, while other forms of art was fascinating. It all depends on a person’s taste, and whatever is appealing to their eyes.

If you use any of these terms when defining the difference, are any exclusive to either “Art” or “Design”?

I don’t believe that any of these terms of exclusive to either of the words “art” or “design” because as I said before, both of them work in tandem to create something even more beautiful than if one of the terms were just used alone. For instance, when creating a design, a person usually begins the design because they feel the need to express their selves in an artistic way. They will then work hard to change the design around numerous amounts of times until they are finally happy with the outcome, and then the final work of art will be their final vision of expressionism.

If you wanted a nice picture to hang on a wall in your home, do you think you could produce it yourself after a sufficient amount of art education?

I believe that anything is possible with the proper amount of effort, desire, and education necessary. If I wanted a nice picture to hang on the wall in my home I definitely believe I could create it. I also would be happier to create it because it would save me money, make me proud to look at, and would be a great story to tell visitors that came to the house. I really enjoy quotes and in high school I did not want to spend money and time on sticking a bunch of letters in an even line to create the quote that I wanted to instead I free handed the quote to go across my whole ceiling after watching my grandma free hand paint for numerous years, as well as taking calligraphy as a class in high school. The quote is still there to this day and it makes me so happy to look up at it and know that I painted it myself. To me that is my own form of art.

When you hire someone to do something for you that involve making aesthetic decisions, do you worry about getting your money’s worth?

I would definitely need to trust the person that I hire to help me make aesthetic decisions. These decisions can be very costly and if you don’t do your research then some people could end up cheating you out of your money. Instead, I would look to get suggestions from friends or family members who have hired someone in the past for this same reason, and possibly consider a few people before narrowing it down to the ultimate person that I decide.

If you own an automobile, which is more important: how it looks or how it drives?

I believe that a combination would be the best of both worlds if this were a possibility. It is important to feel good about the car you are driving but I needed to make a choice between one of the other I would definitely chose the reliability of how the car drives. Especially considered the big ice storm that we just had, if I ever needed to get somewhere during a storm like this, I would be much more concerned with questioning if my car had four wheel drive or air bags instead of how the candy paint color glistened in the snow.

Have you ever lived with an object you initially thought was ugly and then changed your mind about it after a period of time? What changed your mind?

My grandma used to have a vintage wallpaper design going up her stairs in her house. As a child I thought it was the most hideous wallpaper ever, especially because in my house at home all the walls are a solid color, and wallpaper was not even in the question when designing our house because my mom did not like it at all. As I grew older vintage became popular and even some of my friends began to deign their bedrooms with a vintage theme. Since it became so socially acceptable I began to change my perception of this ugly wallpaper and realize that it wasn’t so ugly after all. It is when I finally appreciated it as a staple of that time period, and also began to enjoy the repetitive pattern that trickled up the stairs.