Tyree Guyton's 'Heidelberg Project' and Iconic Realism (Click this title to view more information)

Tyree Guyton, photo from Google Images

Soles of Detroit photo from Google Images

A while ago, I was channel surfing and happened upon a series of shows on the Green Planet channel entitled, "Detroit in Overdrive." Well, having been born and raised through my 14th year of life in the fine Metro Detroit area, I just had to watch these shows. And they brought tears to my eyes. One particular story, which focused on Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project, immediately struck me, for it was a perfect demonstration of iconic realism. Thank you, Tyree! 

Mr. Guyton has assembled a collection of iconic items that many people had discarded, including houses in his neighborhood. He applied his artistic talent to breathe life into the objects while simultaneously illustrated to those blessed with viewing this project with an awareness of possibility. He has turned blight into right! His juxtaposition of trash turned into art, in the midst of a forgotten and neglected neighborhood, demonstrates the cultural renaissance that is taking place in Detroit through the creative perseverance of dedicated individuals. 

Another fascinating aspect of this project centers on shoes. Mr. Guyton has collected shoes of all shapes and sizes, restored and newly painted by the members of the community. He has arranged those works of art in the middle of a street, providing his audience with an awareness of Detroit's restored soles as a visual testimony of the soulful restoration that occurs when dedication to the creativity and energy of a community transforms that community's heart and vitality. God bless you, Tyree Guyton! Onward!

National Tales and Iconic Realism: Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan) and James Joyce

 

Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan) and James Joyce (photos from DuckDuckGo Images)

The Abstract for my paper, presented at the American Conference for Irish Studies, Boston, MA:  

Both Sydney Owenson and James Joyce illustrate my semiotic theory of iconic realism in their depictions of the strength of women from 1819 to 2026. Sydney Owenson’s unique methodology of creating romance out of stagnation in her national tales educates other women in their struggle for autonomy by bringing awareness of cultural disparity in the mid-nineteenth century. She motivates her readers to consider an innovative approach to the nineteenth century male and female dynamic by using specific rhetorical configurations to create discourse between her characters. 

Likewise, James Joyce illustrates parochial dissonance by means of Victorian feminine perceptions throughout Molly Bloom’s soliloquy in the final chapter of his epic tale, Ulysses. Using stream of consciousness, Joyce leads his audience to the entrance of the sphere of Molly’s mind, taking the reader to every crevice of her feminine consciousness, defying the social stigma of women during this era through Molly Bloom’s expression of unique feminine defiance of human weakness. 

Thus, Owenson’s national characters and Joyce’s Molly Bloom could be analogous to a linguistic duet that resonates with the harmonics of psychological and cultural discovery through the experience of historical dissonance. They place their iconic characterizations in situations that may have seemed outrageous to their first readers, ah, but not to the twenty-first century’s enlightened consciousness. 

Iconic realism in Music

Click the image above to hear ambient music with nature sounds

From my book, p. 77: 

A community will associate specific meaning with a sound, connecting interpretation with cultural significance. Continued and consistent associations with sound sources create iconic structures within the musical compositions of the community. These structures originate from musical instruments including the human voice, sounds of the environment, or synthesized sound sources, each source signifying a specific aspect of a community’s culture. 

A composer incorporates the semiotic theory of iconic realism through placement of the established iconic structure in a new, realistic setting, not traditional for such an iconic structure. The created dissonance alerts the listening audience to a new association, bringing awareness to a cultural dilemma represented by this innovative musical construct.  

Since music is an aural art form, the structure which music contains depends on two parameters: time and space. Sound waves travel through space within a specific time frame. Musical composition consists of metrical patterns, rhythm, arrangement of pitch variations conveyed through instrumentation and notation of musical dynamics changing the speed and intensity of those pitches. A composer determines the amount of time and space needed to express her/his art within these parameters. The semiotic component of music is most present in the genre of opera, in which music aligns with narration aurally and kinesthetically. 

The listener is an active participant in the musical flow, assimilating the sensory stimuli received from the sound source with the tonal information of the musical composition as well as the visual stimulation of the stage presentation. In this sense, the composers, the musicians and the audience collaborate albeit in an autonomous manner, forming an interpretation. 

Iconic realism in music involves the sounds of nature, outer space or any object not associated with a musical instrument, that has been synthesized with traditional musical instruments of an orchestra, jazz group, or contemporary musical group. The juxtaposition of the natural or tech sounds with the orchestral music illustrates an aspect of cultural reform, as established by the composer of the musical piece. 

We hear this kind of musical juxtaposition in many of the spa-like pieces that incorporate the sounds of wolves, birds, frogs with ambient, meditation music. Click the image above to hear an example from YouTube. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! 

I've posted this poem on both of my sites. This doesn't have anything to do with iconic realism, but realism, yes. It's a verse that, hopefully, illustrates the flowing bond of memory and emotions between Mother and Daughter. 

Sleeping Mother with Child  by Christian Krohg, 1883\

Breath 

Behind her sleeping eyes,

a youthful face remains within

the gentle embrace of her heart,

impish blue eyes, trying her patience,

the quiet soft puffs of sleeping breath.

She smiles, wondering

what this wee one dreamt,

so small, so peaceful.

Sixteen years later... erupting passion

and the sighing relief in its passing,

growing, knowing that surely

there will return a forgiving kiss.

Eyes closed, she remains

in cherished supplication,

while quiet breaths 

waft through the dreams

of the one who calls her Mom.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

"Dixit Dominus" (With gratitude to Mozart) and Iconic Realism

Cochlea from Medical Dictionary- The Free Dictionary

When I was in high school, I was blessed to attend a two week music workshop at the University of Georgia. I began by playing oboe in the orchestra, but switched to sing in the advanced choir. It was much more rewarding to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed singing Alto to Mozart's Dixit Dominus as one of the classical pieces we sang for the cumulative concert. 

 

In the poem below, I demonstrate my semiotic theory of iconic realism by writing a description of the hearing process, but one aspect of that process is unexpected: the cochlea is dormant. This human ear is deaf. Thus, this perfect individual will never hear as the hearing public does...Dixit Dominus. (It is God's Word.) The Word will have to come to that individual through alternative means. I have placed the iconic representation of hearing with an iconic composition, Dixit Dominus, to bring awareness of the beauty in all of humanity, particularly in those individuals who cannot hear with their ears. They must experience the heavenly Word in their unique way. 

Dixit Dominus 

The chorus swells; waves rush in,

their flow controlled 

by the canal's turbid banks. 

Membrane pulsates - 

Malleus, Incus, Stapes

vibrate

through a liquid universe.  

Electrical impulses meander

in and out and around 

minuscule hair cells within.

Majestic cochlea sits on its throne,

dormant. 

Eighth nerve to the brain reaches out.

Mozart sheds a heavenly tear. 

This perfect one will never hear ~

Dixit Dominus.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear Mozart's Vesperae solennes de Confessore, Dixit Dominus, click onto this link: 

https://youtu.be/H7QbViCuGfU

Click onto the link below to see an animation of sound felt along the basilar membrane in the cochlea:

https://youtu.be/dyenMluFaUw