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Art & Imagery |
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The arts are always powerful means of symbolic communication, conveying knowledge and provoking interpretations and emotions that have both individual and cultural dimensions...Much of the power of the arts comes from their symbolic nature...An artistic product or performance may convey a basic cultural theme, or it may combine several themes...The power of the arts to convey cultural themes is related to one of its most important functions: cultural and social integration...Participation in the arts, whether as performers or audiences, can foster the unity and harmony of a community or a society in a way that is intensely felt by its members...The arts make dominant cultural themes visible, tangible, and thus more real. (in Cultural Anthropology, 6th Edition, Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1998, 306-308).
And so it is for members of the many communities of dog owners and enthusiasts. The photographs, paintings, posters, sculptures, postcards, and other images of dogs and their owners help to support individuals in their interest in dogs generally, in their love for a particular dog, and in their membership in groups that have formed around an interest in a particular breed, activity, or share interest.
While some of these are commercial images that people buy, others are the result of their own artistic endeavors. Typically, the commercial images are offered for sale in the marketplace, while the other images are simply posted on their own Web sites or submitted to other Web sites that post submissions from dog owners and enthusiasts.
Following is a sampling of these different forms of dog art and images. I have focused here on the visual imagery, but there are also other art forms which express and contribute to the dogs community, such as songs about dogs and theatrical performances about dogs. (For example, the creator of the Dogs and Bikes Website featured in the section on Community wrote his own songs about his dog Houdini on his Biker Dog CD and you can download a sample track and hear it on his site.
In addition, you can go to many different sources for art and photography images. Just put in the type of image you are looking for, such as "dogs" or specify a certain breed of dog, and then you'll see the images available to purchase from that organization. For instance, some of these sources of images include these from these companies -- and if you click on the images, you can go to these sites, too.:
Some samples from Picture Quest.
- Corbis
And here are some examples of some images from Corbis.
Such images contribute to the fun, friendly images of dogs that contribute to their appeal to both dog owners and those who simply like dogs. Like greeting cards and postcards, they provide a way of expressing feelings and asserting one's identity. One may not be able to personally create the image, but one can purchase it and put it in one's home or send it to others to express their solidarity, support, and/or identity with that image. Also, professionals who want to use these images in publishing, advertising, for company reports, and for other purposes can purchase these images, too. The images are marked with the company's name to permit viewing of the image while you decide if you want to buy it.
These images are widely available all over the Internet -- on personal Web sites and also on the various search engines and portals, such as Lycos, Altavista, and Yahoo, that enable searching for images. In fact, I have discovered images from my own site have turned up in these search engines with a link from my image to the site where I posted the image (since it's an infringement of copyright for the search engine to repost my image on their own site).
Here's a sampling of sites with personal imagery. They include individual family sites that feature the owners dogs, sites with collections of pictures of dogs and their owners, and sites by artists who are mostly painting or photographing dogs for their own enjoyment. For instance, here is a sampling of work from two of these sites.
These are from Linda O'Neill of Digital Images, who says: "I love painting dogs! Every dog has a unique and wonderful personality and they always inspire me to try and capture their amazing spirits." She does commissioned paintings for people with dogs, too.
Here's an example of a cartoonist at Cone Dogs, who specializes in the "pointless" and "absurd," such as this cartoon.
Or to meet the "Dog of the Day," here's another fun site that features photos of dogs which dog owners send in, such as this one of Jade from Connecticut, the current Dog of the Day at Dog of the Day.Com, and Casey from Canada, a previous Dog of the Day.
And to see over 300 people from the around the world who think they look like their dog -- well you can go visit Do You Look Like Your Dog. Here are just a few of the photos people have sent in to be part of this online community based on images of people who look like their dog:
Finally, there are other sites that feature art work on dogs by commercial artists and photographers. While these may be offered as commercial and/or personal images, they are also presented as art work by artists who are part of a community of artists.
Here's one from an artist, Susan Calvert, at Good Girl Designs, who paints images of dogs for exhibit, greeting cards, and postcards:
And here's another art site created by Kris Kile at Dog-Dogs.com, who creates dog breed picture gift cards, note pads, lithographs, and original watercolors, as well as provides other information on dog breeds and training.
There are literally thousands of these sites offering dog art by itself or with other items to purchase. And the owners of these sites are eager to swap links with others, just as these artists did in writing to me because of my Do You Look Like Your Dog.com Web site.
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