Blog 6 Mark Fletcher

I love history and I especially love the history that is illustrated through the many different kinds of art. See all the different paintings, sculptures,  and artifacts truly opened my mind to a whole new world that had yet to be charted by my own eyes.  There was a lot of art that was a little foreign to me in the sense that I had never experienced the sight of certain artifacts that portrayed the mythological creatures that belonged to the fantasy world of Islam.  A few pieces of art were more familiar, for example the Koran.  I had studied Islam a bit in my last history class and we learned a lot concerning that which was contained in this book.  Also I remember a painting that showed a familiar portrayal of Jesus and Mary which I have seen before in other art work.
The Islamic faith is represented in their artwork as a term of dedication to portraying that which is beautiful; for God joys in beauty.  It was very interesting to see some differences in how some Christian faiths portray their religious art.  Typically when I see Christian art it is always revolved around one subject, which is Christ.  Also a lot of times it illustrates his death.  The Islamic art almost didn't have any images of human beings.  Some did, which were very well detailed, but most of the art that didn't, had lots of other images that showed a great deal of symbolism which could be well understood with the proper one to interpret.  For example one sculpture was a mystical creature that not only showed the figure of the animal, but hidden pictures representing something were carved in the legs of it, hinting to the view that there is more than meets the eye.
I learned a lot from this exhibit which has opened my mind to a whole new world full of creatively and wonder. The Islamic faith well portrays their view of God; for they believe God loves beauty and that is very clear in their illustration of that which is beauty.