The Cocktail Party Effect

Timken Museum of Art Entrance The Timken Museum of Art greats its guests with the words everyone wants to hear: “It’s free!”   Everyone loves free things, but the relief of not paying is more significant to some than others. Walking through the Timken allowed me to examine some privileges I’ve had in my life and understand just how significant it is to have a museum that is free but extensive. As I strolled through the galleries, I was taken back to my golden college years and was reminded of my art history courses and the trips I took while studying abroad. Luca Carlevarijs’s The Piazzetta at Venice transported me back to St. Mark’s Square when I went with my brother drinking cafés and getting lost in the narrow Venetian roads. These paintings transported me through time and space as my mind traveled from San Diego in 2019 all my European adventures from a variety of previous years. I had been given a free ticket through memory lane! The Piazzetta at ...

Chicano Park The first time I went to Chicano Park was in March of 2015 while on a service project to San Diego with Fordham University’s Global Outreach Program . At the time, the park’s art felt life-changing. However, a lot on this project seemed life-changing, so I am not sure if my perception of Chicano Park is warped by rose-colored glasses. My opportunity to figure out the true impact of Chicano Park came again as I visited a friend in San Diego in August 2019.  The park itself consists of murals pained under the merge between Interstate 5 and the Coronado Bridge entrance. It is hard to miss the bright and colorful images that I have come to associate with Mexican art as I drew nearer to the park. The feeling I got seeing the art on my horizon reminded me of my favorite TV quote, “… [it] made me feel warm inside like glitter was exploding inside me. ” 1  My first mission was to find all the murals that had stuck with me from my list visit. I found this one mur...

Kangaroo (2017) by Michael Cook Admittedly, photography is not my favorite medium, but I wanted to give the Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego a fair chance. I do not hate photography, I just appreciate other mediums (like painting) more. With the ease of a smartphone camera and the abundance of images on social media, photography seems commonplace to me. While I may be indifferent about photography, I have always wanted to go to Australia; luckily for me, the exhibit is called  “Defining Place/Space: Contemporary Photography from Australia.” The exhibit was divided by individual artists who gave a brief summary of what they hoped to achieve in their series of chosen photos. Through this exhibit, I was able to identify what I believe to be the unique strengths of photography. A Moment in Time and Patrick Pound Patrick Pound is a Melbourne-based artist whose presented work is a series of photos that he found making a complication called Air Moving Right . ...