Elzbieta Sekula on thu 5 aug 04
I could be wrong, but it has been in observation in my limited travels that
blue seems to be a favorite color mainly among Americans. Eastern Europeans
seem to prefer oranges, red and yellow, although Hungarians use a lot of blue.
Mexicans aren't terribly big on blue, except for turquoise, though that may
only be regional.
None of this is earth shattering, but I found it an interesting observation.
I would love to know what is behind a cultures preference for color.
Elzbieta, musing early in the morning
Christy Pines on thu 5 aug 04
There are definite differences in color preference based on climate. It's all well and good to wear that bright orange and pink and red shirt where the sunlight is bright enough to counterbalance it, like in countries nearer the equator. Wear it on holiday in Ireland, or Vermont and people have to squint to look at you. Hot climate, hot colors. Because of the strength of the sunlight.
So I go to my search engine and type in color preference climate. And get HGTV's article on "The Elements of Color" in which the author writes:
Color has force and weight. Shine a ray of light on a sensitively balanced scale and watch it tip in the direction of the light. The action of color is its vibration; it is also its wavelength. Red has the longest wavelength, blue the shortest. Red produces action in your bloodstream, blue calms the action in your veins.
Red, orange and yellow are heating rays and they do produce heat while blue, violet and green are cooling rays. OK, another experiment for you to try. Place a thermometer in a colored glass of water. Red rays give off the most heat and blue rays the least amount..
Being of a scientific mind myself, I liked that. Doesn't answer "why" Caucasians seem to prefer blue. So the next search takes me this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/directory/Science/Social_Sciences/Psychology/Personality/Tests/Color
all kinds of cool tests you can take related to color. I'm not going to tell you the results of who I am based on the colors that make me feel good. Suffice it to say, the quiz was dead on.
Then, from Rutgers Univ.:
Chattapadhyay, Gorn, and Dark (2000) found more homogeneity in color preference across gender and culture than previously thought, with blue being the best-liked color.
And there's a "Journal of OmniResearch" which has a theory on why the Chinese prefer red and green. I can't attest to the validity of this source, and it's kind of a strange article, relating this preference to yellow, but anyway...
http://igoresha.virtualave.net/OmniResearch/articles/chinesecolors.html
According to one source, people born in the years of the Rat prefer the color: light blue. THose born in Pig year: dark blue. (www.darknoise.net)
and on and on. Of course, preference for a color that is associated with our climate or our culture does not address the question of whether or not we are unsophisticated dolts because we like blue. Just that it is without a doubt a well-liked color.
christy in connecticut
cpines at ix.netcom.com
http://home.netcom.com/~cpines/cpines
Elzbieta Sekula wrote:
None of this is earth shattering, but I found it an interesting observation.
I would love to know what is behind a cultures preference for color.
Bob Masta on fri 6 aug 04
This may not have much to do with European versus US
preferences, but I have an old friend, Angela Brown, who
is a vision researcher. She noticed that languages in
certain tropical islands (New Guinea, I think) don't
distinguish between blue and green. She then did a
comparison of a huge number of languages and linked
this phenomenon to closeness to the equator. The
idea is that the increased UV damages the cornea
and makes it less able to transmit blue wavelengths,
so colors that temperate-dwellers would call blue are
perceived as more greenish. The research has
generated a certain amount of controversy in vision
research circles, but it's something to think about.
Hmmmm, is it possible that certain potters have
spent too much time staring at the peephole and
destroyed their corneas? That might explain why
they hate blue! Non-potter mothers-in-law, of
course, would not have this problem....
Bob Masta
potsATdaqartaDOTcom
Lee Love on fri 6 aug 04
Christy Pines wrote:
>Being of a scientific mind myself, I liked that. Doesn't answer "why" Caucasians seem to prefer blue. So the next search takes me this:
>
Blue is pretty popular in Asia. The West learn cobalt blue and
iron blues from them. Natural indigo is a very popular color. It is
my favorite both for color and the smell..
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan http://mashiko.org
http://www.livejournal.com/users/togeika/ WEB LOG
http://public.fotki.com/togeika/ Photos!
Ivor and Olive Lewis on fri 6 aug 04
<And get HGTV's article on "The Elements of Color" in which the author
writes:....>>
Dear Christy Pines,
Tried that and go nowhere. Can you provide a correct URL address for
the site you entered.
Now I often wonder why I used to turn the blue coded tap for hot water
and the red coded tap for cold water.
By the way, the quotation you gave seems to be what might be called
"Pseudo Science", but the writer leaves out the special evidence of a
little machine called, if my memory serves me correctly, a
Thermoscope. This was like a clear electric light bulb inside of which
was a small wind mill which could spin round. One side of each vane
was painted white, the other side black.The globe is evacuated to
reduce frictional resistance from the air. When this instrument is
place in strong sunlight the wind mill begins to revolve. The reason,
using the "Facts" given by your chosen commentator, would be that
light is pushing the vanes. Is this true?, or could there be another
reason?
I will not give the explanation as to why this happens because I would
like you to think about it and provide an answer.
Best regards,
Ivor Lewis.
Redhill,
S. Australia.
Elzbieta Sekula on fri 6 aug 04
It is great to see that others are as interested in this topic. I especially
appreciate the wonderful insights, links, etc. that Bob and Christy have
shared. Maybe we will eventually get to the bottom of the reasons for color
preference. I would love to hear more musings on the subject. Mel, Joyce, if it seems
to be getting too off topic, I'd be happy to have them forwarded to my
address.
Elzbieta
Steve Slatin on fri 6 aug 04
Deer Mell --
I got 2 tel U U R the greatest man.
I culd not sell 1 pot, becuz of there bean ugli
N heavy N of center. But now I glaze all in Blue N I
sell all I can make. Old ladeez line up at my door
ev ery morning to buy buy buy.
Soon I will B drivin down the road N my new escalade
smokin a cuban N flashing my bling bling.
Thanks man. U R so kewl. I O it all 2 U.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Outside of that, I'd also like to point out that blue
is extremely popular in other cultures, and across
eras and frequently not among the LOL (little old
lady) set.
Consider -- (1) Poland, second half of 20th century.
Boleslawicz pottery, hand-decorated in blue dots or
circles or straight lines or wavy lines, predominantly
in blue on off-white clay. (2) Late 19th century
England, remember Oscar Wilde saying something
like -- I find it harder every day to live up to my blue
and white porcelain -- ? (3) Delft (4) Danish blue
porcelain (5) mid-17th to mid-18th century German
cobalt-tinted porcelain boxes, (6) blue-painted
majolica-ware from the last 500 years.
Come on, people, this is just off the top of my head.
Blue is a major color. BLACK is a hard sell. Bright
yellow may be an acquired taste. Blue is just
flat-out popular, given a pot of reasonable
appropriateness for the shade. If you believe that
it's too easy, and you have to put a glaze that's
not easy to like onto a pot and then make the
pot and the glaze work together so well that it
still becomes compelling and desirable and people
buy it, fine. Treat it like a challenge by Peter
Voulkos. (http://www.queensrow.org/Vclip-glaze.html)
We should all do what we find to be emotionally
rewarding as well as remunerative.
And then we can go to our studios and listen to
lieder and Cancoes (art songs) and opera while we
throw our pots. What's that, you like to listen to
things that are less demanding of you while you
work? Well golly gee, maybe when someone buys
a cup to put on their desk to sip coffee from while
they work they want something easy also.
Irritably yours,
Steve Slatin
(Who listened to Billie Holiday, Dowland lute songs,
Townes Van Zandt and CBC radio 2 while throwing
this week.)
Steve Slatin -- Entry-level potter, journeyman loafer, master obfuscator
Sequim, Washington, USA
48.0937°N, 123.1465°W or thereabouts
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage!
| |
|
