Art and Intimacy

Art and Intimacy PDF Author: Ellen Dissanayake
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029599746X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
To Ellen Dissanayake, the arts are biologically evolved propensities of human nature: their fundamental features helped early humans adapt to their environment and reproduce themselves successfully over generations. In Art and Intimacy she argues for the joint evolutionary origin of art and intimacy, what we commonly call love. It all begins with the human trait of birthing immature and helpless infants. To ensure that mothers find their demanding babies worth caring for, humans evolved to be lovable and to attune themselves to others from the moment of birth. The ways in which mother and infant respond to each other are rhythmically patterned vocalizations and exaggerated face and body movements that Dissanayake calls rhythms and sensory modes. Rhythms and modes also give rise to the arts. Because humans are born predisposed to respond to and use rhythmic-modal signals, societies everywhere have elaborated them further as music, mime, dance, and display, in rituals which instill and reinforce valued cultural beliefs. Just as rhythms and modes coordinate and unify the mother-infant pair, in ceremonies they coordinate and unify members of a group. Today we humans live in environments very different from those of our ancestors. They used ceremonies (the arts) to address matters of serious concern, such as health, prosperity, and fecundity, that affected their survival. Now we tend to dismiss the arts, to see them as superfluous, only for an elite. But if we are biologically predisposed to participate in artlike behavior, then we actually need the arts. Even -- or perhaps especially -- in our fast-paced, sophisticated modern lives, the arts encourage us to show that we care about important things.

Art and Intimacy

Art and Intimacy PDF Author: Ellen Dissanayake
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 029599746X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 284

Get Book Here

Book Description
To Ellen Dissanayake, the arts are biologically evolved propensities of human nature: their fundamental features helped early humans adapt to their environment and reproduce themselves successfully over generations. In Art and Intimacy she argues for the joint evolutionary origin of art and intimacy, what we commonly call love. It all begins with the human trait of birthing immature and helpless infants. To ensure that mothers find their demanding babies worth caring for, humans evolved to be lovable and to attune themselves to others from the moment of birth. The ways in which mother and infant respond to each other are rhythmically patterned vocalizations and exaggerated face and body movements that Dissanayake calls rhythms and sensory modes. Rhythms and modes also give rise to the arts. Because humans are born predisposed to respond to and use rhythmic-modal signals, societies everywhere have elaborated them further as music, mime, dance, and display, in rituals which instill and reinforce valued cultural beliefs. Just as rhythms and modes coordinate and unify the mother-infant pair, in ceremonies they coordinate and unify members of a group. Today we humans live in environments very different from those of our ancestors. They used ceremonies (the arts) to address matters of serious concern, such as health, prosperity, and fecundity, that affected their survival. Now we tend to dismiss the arts, to see them as superfluous, only for an elite. But if we are biologically predisposed to participate in artlike behavior, then we actually need the arts. Even -- or perhaps especially -- in our fast-paced, sophisticated modern lives, the arts encourage us to show that we care about important things.

The Art of Intimacy

The Art of Intimacy PDF Author: Patrick T. Malone
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 9780671761523
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Discusses the nature of intimacy, describes how we interact with our spouses, children, and friends, and gives practical advice on how to improve personal relationships

Pop Song

Pop Song PDF Author: Larissa Pham
Publisher: Catapult
ISBN: 1646221257
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
"A warm and expansive portrait of a woman’s mind that feels at once singular and universal," this collection of essays interweaves commentary on modern life, feminism, art, and sex with the author's own experiences of obsession, heartbreak, and vulnerability (BuzzFeed). Like a song that feels written just for you, Larissa Pham's debut work of nonfiction captures the imagination and refuses to let go. Pop Song is a book about love and about falling in love—with a place, or a painting, or a person—and the joy and terror inherent in the experience of that love. Plumbing the well of culture for clues and patterns about love and loss—from Agnes Martin's abstract paintings to James Turrell's transcendent light works, and Anne Carson's Eros the Bittersweet to Frank Ocean's Blonde—Pham writes of her youthful attempts to find meaning in travel, sex, drugs, and art, before sensing that she might need to turn her gaze upon herself. Pop Song is also a book about distances, near and far. As she travels from Taos, New Mexico, to Shanghai, China and beyond, Pham meditates on the miles we are willing to cover to get away from ourselves, or those who hurt us, and the impossible gaps that can exist between two people sharing a bed. Pop Song is a book about all the routes by which we might escape our own needs before finally finding a way home. There is heartache in these pages, but Pham's electric ways of seeing create a perfectly fractured portrait of modern intimacy that is triumphant in both its vulnerability and restlessness.

What Is Art For?

What Is Art For? PDF Author: Ellen Dissanayake
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295998385
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Every human society displays some form of behavior that can be called “art,” and in most societies other than our own the arts play an integral part in social life. Those who wish to understand art in its broadest sense, as a universal human endowment, need to go beyond modern Western elitist notions that disregard other cultures and ignore the human species’ four-million-year evolutionary history. This book offers a new and unprecedentedly comprehensive theory of the evolutionary significance of art. Art, meaning not only visual art, but music, poetic language, dance, and performance, is for the first time regarded from a biobehavioral or ethical viewpoint. It is shown to be a biological necessity in human existence and fundamental characteristic of the human species. In this provocative study, Ellen Dissanayake examines art along with play and ritual as human behaviors that “make special,” and proposes that making special is an inherited tendency as intrinsic to the human species as speech and toolmaking. She claims that the arts evolved as means of making socially important activities memorable and pleasurable, and thus have been essential to human survival. Avoiding simplism and reductionism, this original synthetic approach permits a fresh look at old questions about the origins, nature, purpose, and value of art. It crosses disciplinary boundaries and integrates a number of divers fields: human ethology; evolutionary biology; the psychology and philosophy of art; physical and cultural anthropology; “primitive” and prehistoric art; Western cultural history; and children’s art. The final chapter, “From Tradition to Aestheticism,” explores some of the ways in which modern Western society has diverged from other societies--particularly the type of society in which human beings evolved--and considers the effects of the aberrance on our art and our attitudes toward art. This book is addressed to readers who have a concerned interest in the arts or in human nature and the state of modern society.

Forever and Always

Forever and Always PDF Author: Celestia G. Tracy
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1498273122
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
This book reflects a multi disciplinary, integrative approach to the theology and practice of relational intimacy. It combines biblical data on sexuality and relationships with marriage and bonding research. The reader is then guided in applying the research to his or her relationships. In essence, this is a handbook for understanding and deepening the stages involved in bonding or attaching closely to another human being. Marriage, the most intimate of all human relationships, is described in Scripture as a "one-flesh mystery" (Eph 5:31-32). This mystery of human bonding is as beautiful as it is complex, particularly in a post-Eden world. Many of us are woefully aware of our relational deficits, yet lack vibrant marriages around us to emulate. Those of us who have not experienced relationships of health, safety, and security particularly find we need roadmaps along the way. Our desire is that in the pages of this book readers will find personal encouragement and direction that is both biblically precise and practical for their relational journeys. Our intimacy model is built upon God's bold promises to heal and redeem. His pathways bring life; he is the one true lover of our souls. Our intimacy with him is foundational to all other relationships.

Zen and the Art of Intimacy

Zen and the Art of Intimacy PDF Author: Arthur Samuels
Publisher: HarperElement
ISBN: 9780007176885
Category : Intimacy (Psychology)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Helps readers experience intimacy and commitment in a way that is liberating, fulfilling and deeply gratifying.

The Art of Intimate Marriage

The Art of Intimate Marriage PDF Author: Tim and Dr. Jennifer Konzen
Publisher: Elm Hill
ISBN: 1595541543
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
From a two-time nationally award winning sexuality researcher - The Art of Intimate Marriage. God's plan for sexual intimacy in marriage is the work of a Master artist and genuine intimacy is like a beautiful masterpiece. Your marriage is going well but you want to make your sex life better and you’re looking for help on how to do that. You want to know what God has to say about how to build a fulfilling sexual intimacy in your marriage. Your sexual relationship has been full of pain, discouragement, and frustration and you need some answers. You have some medical issues that are making sex difficult and you would like to rekindle experiencing mutually pleasurable sex. For these issues and more, The Art of Intimate Marriage provides direction and guidance on how to get there. Creating that masterpiece may mean learning God’s view of sex, gaining life-giving intimacy skills, and figuring out how to work through conflict in a way that creates deeper connection. It may also mean overcoming things in your background, healing things in your marriage, or dealing with those medical challenges. We have the opportunity to have a deeper understanding of God’s loving heart through being deeply known and erotically bonded with our spouse. The Art of Intimate Marriage gives us a road map to experience growth toward a more rewarding, spiritual sexual relationship.

The Seven Levels of Intimacy

The Seven Levels of Intimacy PDF Author: Matthew Kelly
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743265114
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
We All Crave An Authentic Experience Of Intimacy. Though our hearts crave intimacy, though our minds understand our deep need for it, the self-revelation it requires is often too daunting a task. Complete and unrestrained sharing of self exposes the deepest human fear of being rejected for being ourselves. InThe Seven Levels of Intimacy,Matthew Kelly both acknowledges and calms our fears, while teaching us how to move beyond them to experience the power of true intimacy.Matthew reveals that each relationship is built upon a pattern of interaction. In the beginning stages, we rely on casual interactions, gaining familiarity by focusing on superficialities and facts. We grow closer and begin to share our opinions, learning to accept each other and embrace the growing relationship despite the difference in our experiences and viewpoints. Once our differences and opinions are shared and accepted, we feel safe enough to reveal our hopes, dreams, and feelings, developing trust. With this trust, we open ourselves and are able to share our legitimate needs, becoming liberated from carrying the burden of our real needs alone. At last, we are deeply intimate and both willing and able to reveal our deepest fears. We are beyond judgment and feel trust and acceptance. By moving through and building upon each level of intimacy, we find comfort and gain trust in our partners and ourselves until, by developing and deepening our intimacy within each level, we are able to fully open ourselves, finally opening to the possibility of truly being loved. It is through mastering the seven levels of intimacy that we will break through to fully experiencing love, commitment, trust, and happiness.The Seven Levels of Intimacyis a brilliant and practical guide to creating and sustaining intimacy, whether you are looking for a deeper sense of connection with your spouse, looking for more fulfillment in your relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend, trying to improve your relationships with your children, or simply wondering what you should be looking for in a partner.With profound insight and the use of powerful, everyday examples, Matthew Kelly explains how we can nurture the intimacy in our relationships.The Seven Levels of Intimacyredefines how we view our interactions with others. This new understanding leads us to successfully create the strong connections, deep joy, and lasting bonds that we all long for.

Images of Familial Intimacy in Eastern and Western Art

Images of Familial Intimacy in Eastern and Western Art PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900426194X
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
Images of Familial Intimacy in Eastern and Western Art offers a comparative art and socio-historical analysis of selected images of familial intimacy in Asia and Europe from the pre-modern era to the present day based on an examination of the value systems and expectations existing at the time in the regions in which the works were created. A wide variety of images are discussed ranging from family portraits and depictions of the home in seventeenth-century Dutch genre paintings, ukiyoe prints and fusuma sliding wall panels of the Edo period, to familial images made after the Korean War of 1950-53, providing the reader with a rare insight into the evolution East and West of the cultural norms and customs impacting on the family and personal space.

The Arts of Intimacy

The Arts of Intimacy PDF Author: Jerrilynn Denise Dodds
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300106091
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
"In this way the culture of medieval Spain is relevant to our own world both enriched and anguished by its diversity. The Arts of Intimacy is a vital book, dedicated to telling the story of the complexity of interactions between the three monotheistic religions in medieval Spain - yielding lessons that can be drawn through to our experience today. The volume serves as a souvenir of Spanish history and culture, and an invitation to examine how a complex culture is deeply shaped by both receptivity and conflict."--BOOK JACKET.