Cosmic Creations Edition #5 [Inspired By Art History] | Alien Art Hive Contest and (NFT Showroom Tokenized Art)

Hello Alien Art Hive Community members. This is my entry for the AAH community contest #5. I'm happy to participate and bring my interpretation of "an historical piece of art". My approach to this contest was that of a less prominent historical piece of sculptured or painting. I set out to to discover illusive and mysterious art with a rich history.

This month's theme: Inspired By Art History

• Create art related to the above theme
• Make a post about it in Alien Art Hive
• Include the words Cosmic Creations in the title so they are easy to identify in the feed
• Please try to include some process images and discuss the techniques used in your creation
• Drop a link to your entry post the comments below
• The deadline is September 11 Midnight EST
• To participate, visit the contest post: Cosmic Creations Edition #5 is LIVE: Inspired by Art History

My short report related to the historical art find accompanying my themed-project is below:

"HIDDEN GEMS IN THE CRADLE OF LIFE"

Title: Beads
Date: 8th–13th century
Geography: Excavated in Iran, Nishapur
Medium: Glass; drilled
Dimensions: Ht. 7/16 in. (1.1 cm) / W. 1/4 in. (0.7 cm)
Classification: Glass
Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1948
Accession Number: 48.101.90g

At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, there lies a collection of Islamic art ranging in date from the seventh to the twenty-first century.

The diversity and range of the cultural traditions of Islam is reflected in the more than 15,000 objects. These objects encompass works from as far westward as Spain and Morocco and as far eastward as Central Asia and Indonesia. Comprising both sacred and secular objects, the collection reveals the mutual influence of artistic practices such as calligraphy. They also reveal the exchange of motifs such as vegetal ornament (the arabesque) and geometric patterning in both realms.¹

I love artistic glass. Four artifacts of which I found interesting historically after viewing The Metropolitan Museum of Art were titled "Beads", but classified as Glass.

They were tucked away until they were found. They weren't lost. They were just lying beneath the earth with others of their kind. Their secrets of life long past waiting to be discovered and their stories renewed of a people, a place, and a time in world history.

These objects were excavated at Nishapur, a vital city in the early and middle Islamic periods. Nishapur is located along one of the main trajectories that connected Iran and West Asia Islamic lands with Central Asia and China. Those paths are often referred to as "Silk routes". However, these important trade routes were crucial to the movement of constellations of materials and objects, as well as people and ideas.^{2, 3, 4, 5}

Immediately, I was struck by the antiquity of the four pieces I highlight below. In particular, the colors contained in the quartz objects were native to the Islamic region. I love studying ancient history as it relates to civilizations, the origins of their people, and artifacts.

I particularly love the purple color contained in two of the glass beads.

In 1221, after the death of Tuqachar, the husband of Genghis Khan's daughter, the entire city of Nishapur was destroyed by the Mongols over the course of 10 days. After the massacre, a much smaller settlement was established just north of the ancient town, and the once bustling metropolis lay underground. What remains of old Nishapur is a 3500-hectare "Kohandejh (Persian: کهن دژ)" area, south of the current city of Nishapur. The site of Nishapur has been ransacked for half a century since World War II, to feed the international market demand for early Islamic works of art. ⁶

Although the history of the region was rife with chaos, in which many of its people were overrun numerous times throughout their civilizations, the civilization was proud, prosperous, and industrious.

Nishapur lost its political prominence due to a series of earthquakes and invasions that peaked in the thirteenth century. Today, the medieval city is a vast archaeological area, while the relatively small modern city is situated to its north. Instead Mashhad, a major pilgrimage site, emerged as a major prosperous metropolis in the region.

Between 1935 and 1948, the "Persian Expedition" of the Metropolitan Museum of Art excavated at several sites at Nishapur under an agreement with the Iranian authorities.

American archaeologists and hundreds of Iranian workers excavated archaeological areas named Tepe Madrasa, Village Tepe, Sabz Pushan, Qanat Tepe, Tepe Alp Arslan, Vineyard Tepe, among others.

This excavation effort uncovered vast neighborhoods with mostly residential buildings, but also mosques, bathhouses, and possibly a governmental palace. Two main chronological phases were recognized in the sites: the first covers the ninth-tenth centuries and the second covers the eleventh-twelfth centuries.

Thousands of artifacts were also recovered, mostly ceramic, glass, metal, and stone vessels, as well as carved and painted stuccoes and wall paintings, which were divided in half between the two countries, resulting in over four thousand objects in the Met’s collection today.

^{The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2, 3, 4, 5}

The four historical artifacts above are the inspiration for my contest entry, "Hidden Gems in the Cradle of Life". I wanted to create a stunning piece that would resemble an artifact that could possibly be unearthed by future generations.

I have Tokenized this art on NFT Showroom. The details are listed below.

For this month's contest theme, I decided to create an art piece utilizing only pure fractals. The beautiful fractal below in its pure form direct from the render in the advanced fractal rendering program, Apophysis 7X is an amazing array of colors in purple, blue and gold.

I rendered this image on a transparent background as I knew it would blend well with other art pieces. However, on a black background, its beauty is exquisitely illuminated. The particular variations applied to achieve this design were from the Julian type fractal iterations. I titled this fractal "Julian - Purple Flower."

Looking at the naked pure fractal in Apophysis 7X, one would not believe how it could have been transformed into an amazing work of art.

All that was needed was another pure fractal to surround the primary fractal. I knew this fractal should be round in shape to enclosed the Purple Flower. I wanted this design to include various shapes and colors woven throughout the image. Again, transparency is the key to shifting the image to overlay onto the primary fractal.

I have completed these type of overlays numerous times previously, so I knew it would work perfectly. This pure fractal I titled "Veil In Pink". I also include the fractal on a pure black background to show how its true color would work as a frame.

With all images selected, blending them required a design program. The one I use regularly is Canva. I uploaded them to take advantage of the pro features, such as filters, background removal, sizing, and colorizing.

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My completed contest entry. Encasing my primary fractal, Julian - Purple Flowers in the fractal frame worked beautifully I feel.

Below is the NFT Showroom Information:

Title: Hidden Gems In the Cradcle of Life
Tokenized: September 9, 2023
List Price: 10 Swap.Hive
Edition: 3
Link: @justclickindiva's - Hidden Gems In the Cradcle of Life

Thanks for your visit. I hope you liked my fractal art project entry that reflects art in a historical context for Alien Art Hive's Contest No. 5.