Hello, my name is Lee Crabtree. I am a sophomore at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where I am majoring in Applied Management. I am a painter with a passion for fine arts. I am interested in the conjunction of the arts with politics and history. My most favorite topics are Soviet art and 20th century American art. I work with digital and traditional media. I would like to work in Art Administration in Europe in the future. One of my hobbies is language learning, and I am learning German and Russian.
Artwork Examples:
I also enjoy photography and travel. My partner lives in Bulgaria and I have photographs of when we visited Plovdiv last winter. Plovdiv is an important cultural city in Bulgaria with many historical sites, museums, galleries and beautiful murals. My favorite place we visited was an excavated Roman Theatre from the 1st century. It is amazing how beautiful and well-preserved it was!
Artwork I like:
And finally, here are some web resources I enjoy:
http://artyx.ru/ is an archive of art history books in the Russian language. There are a variety of topics, but what is unique about this site are archives of books from the USSR. There are very niche topics that can be found seldom elsewhere. Unique traditional dress of former soviet states. While the site is in Russian, I find that even using google translate can be used to navigate the site effectively.
Google Arts and Culture https://artsandculture.google.com/ is a great resource for finding and sourcing artworks. There is also usually a bit of information about a piece or an artist. When looking at a topic, the site suggests similar artists too, based on things such as movement, piece, or style. it can help familiarize certain styles or movements. Additionally, I also have a web extension for Chrome that displays a random artwork everyday on my search background. it helps me find a new piece of art everyday to see! And it links back to the pages on Arts and Culture.
Thanks for sharing your travels and personal artwork. Traveling to Eastern Europe is on my bucket list.
ReplyDeleteHi, Lee! Thank you for sharing such beautiful images. You seem like such a thoughtful and introspective person. I'm interested in your passion for language learning if you're interested in sharing. Do you have any specific reasons for exploring the languages you've chosen? I was also wondering if your passion for history and art extends to poetry. I love looking at how poetry has changed throughout time. I used to study Latin, so I'm especially drawn to Classical poetry.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, I'm very flattered haha. I do like poetry, but probably read more prose than anything else. I have written some but it's pretty freeform, to me its more natural if it's less structured.
DeleteAs for the languages I want to learn a whole bunch but I need to take it slower so I'm prioritizing German and Russian. I'm actually Korean-American so I was exposed to both English and Korean as a kid, so its not as weird for me to hear two languages (plus Delta Junction where I grew up has a lot of Ukrainians). I'm learning primarily at the moment German because it's closer to English, my best friend currently lives in Germany and I'm planning on moving there eventually. I'm learning Russian because of my interest in Soviet history, and I have multiple friends who are native Russian speakers/fellow learners. Also I like Russian Literature. Actually related to poetry, the Russian language is very unique when it comes to it. Unlike English, there are no articles, instead you change the endings of words to denote their relationship to other words. This means that it's able to write much more succinct poetry, and its easier to rhyme words with the same case endings!
Hello Lee! Wow, we got a brief introduction into who you are, but I feel you live a fascinating life! The pictures are absolutely amazing and reminded me of my love to travel. One day I dream to travel outside of North America, and Plovdiv may have to be added to the list of dream destinations. Your connection of art with history really displays this deep understanding that you have of art all around you. It is truly admiring!
ReplyDeleteOlivia, I'm surprised by your comment bc I tend to think of myself as quite boring LOL. When I told my mom I'm going to Europe by myself she thought I was crazy. It was pretty scary at first being alone but once I met up with my partner (who is Bulgarian) we had a great time. I stayed mostly at the capital, Sofia which has amazing architecture. And then we took a day trip to Plovdiv. If you decide to go, the thing I recommend most is the food. So many fresh pastries, breads and cheeses, and barbequed meats. I could honestly go on about the food forever because its THAT GOOD. If you have a sweet tooth, Baklava is amazing. Definitely look it up.
DeleteWonderful post! That Chrome extension with the random art everyday sounds awesome, what's its name?
ReplyDeleteIt's the Google Arts & Culture extension! https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-arts-culture/akimgimeeoiognljlfchpbkpfbmeapkh?authuser=1
DeleteIt won’t let me change to my account for some reason but this is Jade.
ReplyDeleteI love the photos you used and it’s so amazing that you have the opportunity to travel. I would love to travel too but I don’t know where I would want to go. If you could pick a third place where would you go?
Hello Lee,
ReplyDeleteWhat a interesting post, I felt that I got to know you more. I really enjoyed the picture, there was a lot of different varieties throughout your post. Your connection to art is truly showing through this post, the illustrator for advertising was a great piece. I do enjoy the sharp crisp edges and elegant poses as well. Great job!