Strengthening Cultural Values and Preserving Heritage through Sculptural Art - Report Example

Strengthening Cultural Values and Preserving Heritage through Sculptural Art Sculptural art involves shaping figures of people, structure or animals form wood, metal or using clay. A sculpture can represent anything depending on the creativity of the designer or the purpose it is intended to serve. In this case, the main focus will be on the ways that sculptural art can be used to strengthen cultural values and preserve the already existing heritage. The heritage of any group of people, may it be tribe or a society, is the legacy that those before them valued and left inform of physical artifacts (Soule, 2013). On the other hand, cultural values encompass the concepts that a group of people may refer to as true, false, acceptable, unacceptable, possible, or impossible. Considering that these values and heritage are passed from one generation to the other, the existing generation has to come up with ways to communicate them to the future generation. Sculptural art is one of the ways cultural values can be communicated to the coming generations, as well as, preserving them. The principal focus of this paper is determining sculptural art can strengthen cultural values, as well as, preserving the already existing heritage. People pursue art and creativity in different ways, but in all these dissimilar ways these be it formal, informal, tangible, intangible, or professional, art is a cultural asset. Therefore, a strong culture can be considered to be the one expressed in as many artistic outlets as possible. Building sculpture as a way of expressing culture values is relative a better way of strengthening culture and preserving heritage (APA, 2013). This is because Sculptures are more permanent and physical thus more effective. For example, the Moai sculptures on the islands of Southeastern Pacific Ocean. Moai are monolithic carvings of a compressed volcanic rock know as tuff. There are 887 statues that have been discovered so far all at the shoreline of the island. They are characterized by their large heads, smaller body with protruding lips and an average height of 4 meters. They are thought to be ancestors of a certain community from which they were discovered, 22 from trachyte, 13 from basalt and 17 from scoria. How they end up on the Island and erected remains a mystery to date. There are different ways that sculptural art can contribute in strengthening cultural values. First, sculptures help reveal community’s identity, uniqueness, values and character. In as much a sculpture can initiate context that build cultural values, it also establishing community identity. Community character is not a thing that can just be applied like makeup. It is something that a community has built over time. It involves the whole community, graphics, language, public places, ceremonial buildings, markets places food, and personalities that define the community culture (Soule, 2013). This is usually revealed when making the key decisions about the sculpture to construct. This is because the sculpture’s designer and planners have to consider communities interests, cultural records, community visioning as well as design and location. The integration of culture and art, recognizing and balancing the inbuilt conflicting nature of the past and the present defines the identity of a community. For example, sculptures by Igor Mitoraj are mostly rooted on traditional cultures of different but mostly the Latin American culture. However, he has recently done created a sculpture of john the Baptist in basilica, Rome that upholds Christianity identity. Considering most communities have their cultural values base on Christianity. Another example of a sculpture that contributes to Christianity identity is David’s sculpture by Michelangelo (Lad, 2012). It came into existence in 1504 after 3 years of planning, designing, and curving. It is 5.17-meter tall, a strong statue made of marble. Although, it’s a nude sculpture it represents the biblical idol, David. David’s statue was, initially, supposed to be positioned at the Florence Cathedral and not at Palazzo della Signoria, its current location. Referred by many as Michelangelos giant, it is said to be the most open way of presenting the spirit among the people of the Florentine Republic through which they drove the Medici out of their land in 1494. Originally, the sculpture had gold and gilt garland on David’s head but with time, these ornaments were lost. Secondly, sculpture contribute to cultural values is by helping a communities understand their history, cultural, economic activates, and social practices. Understanding ones culture is an essential foundation in strengthening and developing cultural values (Chapuis, 2009, pp. 10-15). This involves acknowledging community characteristics such as population, demography, and language, physical and natural resources, climatic conditions, customs, and landscape features. Planning process plays a significant role in assisting community members understand their culture. This is because it gives them a chance to explore their community context. Therefore, planning process of any sculpture provides a founding mechanism that ensures wealth of information about a community is revealed, improved, and maintained over time. This allows the cultural values in a community to materialize and thrive. Artistic inventories such as sculpture art offer a community an opportunity to assess its historic, economic, social and cultural context which in turn helps them in issues such as community mapping and identification cultural resources. Sculptures also give a community an opportunity to put into practice their cultural values through collaborations with all stakeholders involved (Grimmer, 1995, p.15-20). Additionally, residents from all parts of the community interact in developing future for their community. The sculpture of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, generally known to many as Nike of Samothrace, is a good example. This because, it symbolizes victory of a Greek goddess over her sea battles, thus it gives an opportunity to learn more about the sea battles. It was curved approximately in 200 BC, out of Parian marble. The original sculpture was a head and arms but today a ceramic right wing is the only remain of the statue that stands. The rest of the sculpture such as the head, her thumb and ring finger were recovered and restored. Thirdly presence of a sculptural art leads to creation and implementation of a framework that are geared to preserving cultural heritage. Preserving and enhancing cultural identity requires coming up with polices and regulations that support community identity. This polices and regulations in turn provides a framework in decision making, planning process and in coming up with new ideas. Fourthly, the community is engaged is a process of building association amongst its member with the aim of encouraging both learning and action that expresses their opinions about their cultural values. Engaging the community in higher level of community cultural expression such as a sculpture shows a committed community. They engage in activates such as choosing tools, suggesting surveys, developing asset-based plans, holding meetings and hearings. Lastly, sculptural art contribute highly to cultural values by elevating its quality of life, through improving its ability to attract economic activity, and creating a conducive environment for innovation to prosper. They also help portray the connection between the art activities and the community economy activates. Presence of a sculpture within the community can increase the attention of as many visitors as possible. More visitors increase the chances of earning more, attracting investors, as well as, increasing the chances of development. A good example of a sculpture that attracts a significant number of people and in return impacts on economy is the Statue of Liberty in the US. It was a gift to the US by the republic of France designed by Frederic Auguste (Lad, 2012). It is a sculpture of a roman goddess of freedom lifting a torch, in a tabula ansata, and broken chains lying on her feet. It used as a welcoming gesture to immigrants and visitors from foreign countries coming into America. The sculpture was given to government of US in 1886 in the 28th of October. It was inscribed the same day as Americas Independence Day. It was constructed in France, shipped to US and inscribing financed by France. Another, sculpture that has monetary value is the Apollo and Daphne. It is curved from a marble sculpture by an artist know as Gian Lorenzo Bernini. He was inspired by the tale of Apollo and Daphne as portrayed in Ovids narrative poem. The sculpture was also motivated by commission that Borghese family provided for such works. It is 2.5 meters tall, worked on for three years, since 1622 to1625. This masterpiece gave cognation to Bernini as one of the highly respected sculptors. This is because of his design of 360° display of the Apollo and Daphne sculpture. Despite the significance of culture and heritage in our lives, communities are barely dedicated and neither do they allocate sufficient resources in preserving places, objects, stories, that facilitate and define cultural practices. Today, there are many policies, rules, and regulations that put in place to protect, acknowledge, and preserve heritage. However, a significant number of tangible and intangible cultural heritage go unprotected and only considered when under threat. In efforts of using Sculptural art to strengthen cultural values and preserving heritage it is important to consider the following aspect (Chapuis, 2009, pp. 17-19). The first one is to acknowledge that preservation is a demanding act that requires commitment, time and resources. For instance, there may be disagreements among community members on what legacy to be given preference over the others and preserved as a Sculpture which will take time to be agreed upon. In most cases, communities have their history covering different experiences influenced by different people. In representing history and culture values, it is important to capture diverse voices and experiences. However, this is somewhat compiling and difficult, when it involves covering the history, heritage and political events in a sculpture (Turkey, 2014, p.4). For instance, a community whose diversity is characterized by racism, fears, discrimination, and fight over resources cannot be expressed in a sculpture. However, by incorporating sculptural arts and culture activities, planners can assist the community share their stories and experiences, participate in learning processes, improve their understanding on cultural values and heritage, establish or reestablish a good relationship among different groups of people as well as celebrating their identity. The second aspect is the involvement of valued community based groups such as ethnic organizations, churches, art centers, and schools. This is because the communities trust this groups and their involvement would greatly impact on the advances to preserve culture heritage. Therefore, any planner that desire to contribute in the understanding of the culture and heritage of a community need to consider involving the church in his endeavors. Community based associations are often closely attached to the people in the community they serve and they have an intimate understanding to cultural values (Witcomb et al, 2012, p. 8). The third aspect is putting into consideration views of outsiders on the intended heritage to be preserved. This is because sometimes it takes the views of an outsider to identify the aspects that residents in the community might assume less important. Outsider perspectives are vital especially in expressing historical cultural believes of a community. Although, it may seem unnecessary for an outsider to contribute in important aspect of a community their views are considerably genuine. This is because, the residents, even with the necessary information tend to take some aspects for granted. To prove the Urban Institute on culture conducted a research around the country with the aim of investigating how different people from the same community define their cultural. The target group, in this case was mostly the elderly in the community. They also asked the same questions to people from different community. After the research and careful scrutinizing what the community had to say. It was evident that, when the focus group of residents was asked to discuss their cultural assets, they had a hard time identifying the assets. However, when outsiders shared their thoughts, their views made the participating residents reevaluate the things they had said and include things they had taken for granted (Amelia, 2012, pp. 7-9). The last aspect to consider is the venues that will be most appropriate to construct the Sculpture and how the venue can strategically impact cultural values. In most cases, Sculpture are either in parks, public streets or open places that many people go to now and then. Such places area considered effective since there our everyday life experience. It is also the responsibility of the planners to incite and sustain these venues vibrant and accessible to children, their parents, and the youths, regardless their genders, races, level of income and ethnic group. For example, the Meridian Hill Park for more than 40 years has been a site for drums circles every week. People bring their own drums, others come to watch and enjoy the drumming, yoga, and music of African rhythms. The people in the park are usually from different ethnicities and age but they are brought together by an African cultural heritage. In conclusion, it is arguably right to consider the use of sculptural art in strengthening cultural values and preserving heritage. This is because; sculptures are visible, tangible and self explanatory, thus more vivid and easy to remember. They are also strategically positioned in places where large groups of people can spot them making then part of our everyday life. Their presence triggers curiosity about the sculpture’s cultural value which in turn develops appreciation and familiarization of heritage. Moreover, the construction process of a sculptural art right from planning, decision making, designing and polishing plays a huge role in strengthening cultural values. Involving the community in making vital decisions concerning a sculpture, allows them to learn more, as well as, understand their heritage especially in the future. Despite the effects of artistic by climatic degradation, it is possible to preserve the sculptural art by utilization of advanced technology in order to protect them for the future generations. Therefore, the use of sculptural art can enable preservation of a community’s the heritage for a long period of time. Bibliography Chapuis, M. 2009. Preserving our heritage, improving our environment. General for Research Environment, 1, pp. 2-36. [Pdf]. Available at [Accessed 20 April 2014]. Grimmer. E. A. 1995. With Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring & Reconstructing Historic Buildings. U.S. Department of the Interior. Pp. 2- 22. [Pdf]. Available at [Accessed 20 April 2014]. American Planning Association (APA). 2013. The role of the arts and culture in planning practices. Arts and culture briefing paper 01. Pp. 1-8. [Pdf]. Available at [Accessed 20 April 2014]. Soule, J. 2013. How Arts and Cultural Strategies Create, Reinforce, and Enhance Sense of Place. American Planning Association. [Online]. Available at [Accessed 20 April 2014]. Lad, K. 2012. Famous Sculptures. [Online]. Available at [Accessed 20 April 2014]. Amelia, S. 2012. Heritage Promotion & Preservation Strategy. Town of Antigonis. Pp. 2-15 [Pdf]. Available at [Accessed 20 April 2014]. Turkey, I. 2014. Preserving culture and heritage through generation. Pp. 1-6. [Pdf]. Available at Witcomb, A., Albert, M. Richon, M. J., and Vinals . 2012. Community Development through World Heritage. World Heritage paper, 31. 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