Blog Post # 1: Please respond to the following prompt by 5:00 pm on Friday, September 4

In previous HART classes, I have been very interested in studying manuscripts and how various Islamic manuscripts (such as the Qur'an) have been decorated/painted. I have also enjoyed studying some themes in Western art such as Orientalism. Because my interests mostly lie within the realm of Islamic art, I love studying both the Islamic art itself as well as how the cultures/religion are depicted and interpreted across the world. Doing research is really enjoyable for me, because there were so many Islamic empires in the medieval period that had different ways of creating art and emphasizing its importance. Even if artists from a certain empire made something similar to how someone else had done it a century or two before, they put their own nuanced spin on it and made it recognizable for that time and place. I'm not 100% sure about what I want to write my thesis on yet, but I would like medieval Islamic art to be either my focus or my starting point for narrowing down a topic.