Art Speak

Hey guys! Very sorry for posting so late, my internet has been down. Despite that, I must say I had a great time touring the exhibit and learned a great deal of new info from Amber. My favorite parts were the tombstones and slabs with ancient Arabic written on them. It surprised me how similar the script looked to Greek and that the two countries even had interaction with each other. While we were advised to take everything with a grain of salt and some descriptions were obviously propaganda, I still couldn't help but be amazed at what the government's archaeologists managed to excavate. I feel so lucky to have been able to see the exhibit before the general public and plan to see all of it in the next coming months.

Here's an example of a tombstone that would be found in al-Ma'la (north of Mecca) and the ancient southern Arabian Arabic alphabet. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pics of the slabs on display but this should give you an idea of what the written language looked like.

ART ROCKS

From the time when rock arts were first discovered to now, the views on these arts imprinted on rocks have changed dramatically. It was first believed to irrelevant and nonessential compared to the inscriptions done on the rocks by 19th century westerners. However, this viewpoint changed and rock arts are now viewed to be evidence of the past and a way to visualize what life was like during those time periods.There are two places in Saudi Arabia that catches our attention: Jubbah and Shuwaymas. Some of the art depicted on the rocks in Jubbah indicated "...domesticated dogs and long-horned cattle, and others that suggest a transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural communities. The abundant images of camels raise the intriguing possibility that the camel was first domesticated in northern Arabia, not southern..." (27) Talking about camels, the camel figures inscribed in Jubbah are most likely the oldest among the Arabian Peninsula. Compared to Jubbah on the other hand, Shuwaymas is not as well known due to its late discovery but it most certainly have its own merits especially when it comes to telling us more about early domestication of animals. So in a way, it adds onto the findings in Jubbah.

In Jubbah:

In Shuwaymas:

Images are from: http://saudi-archaeology.com/

Walking through the exhibition with Amber was great especially since she added a bit of humor into the explanation on the history of each piece of art work to us. For example, she said that the early human form stone statues all had the look of being very nauseated. I though that was quite funny. On top of that, I loved how we ended our walk through at the golden door. I did not know anything about that door before the walk through, well I didn't know much about Saudi Arabia in general, and it's history of "people only being able to see it once in their lifetime". Overall, it was great having Amber talking about each piece of art work as we walked through the exhibition because the experience weren't be the same if I were to walk through the exhibition myself and I most definitely learned a lot more about Saudi Arabia. 

-Dayna

I felt so special when we were allowed to go into the galleries of Roads of Arabia before it was officially opened. I really loved the dim lighting in the galleries because it really accentuated the pieces. Amber, our guide, was so amazing and funny. She didn't just explain about the pieces, but added humor as well. The large, possibly horse-shaped, piece was what I was reading about in the booklet that I received about a week before, and I was really excited to see it in person. Amber said that it isn't really known whether it is a depiction of a horse or something else, but I think it's a horse or a donkey. I felt that the mouth and the shape of the head was the defining part, but since the whole piece wasn't there, we will never know for sure. But if it really was a horse, it could mean that people were domesticating horses way before people thought they were. At the same time, in the booklet, there was a little part about the differences between domesticating and taming. Maybe the horse made of stone was just tamed, not domesticated. It's a total mystery, but it is fun and interesting to think about.

I loved the incense because I've only ever known about the incense sticks that are used in praying and rituals in Asian countries. It was interesting to find out that incense were not only used in spiritual/ religious practices, but also in just freshening the air with better scents. I can't wait to go back into the galleries and looks at the pieces more closely.

- Queena

The new exhibition, Roads of Arabia has opened! I was lucky enough to tour part of it. The lovely person who showed us around was Amber. She was amazing at explaining the different sculptures and artwork to us. She was very friendly and funny too! I enjoyed the preview of the exhibit and I also learned a few new things. 

I learned that incense played a role in people's lives back then since some people lived with their goats and the stench of the animals were really strong. Incense has a soothing but pungent scent that could cover the smell of a dead animal. It can also make someone feel relaxed and calm. While walking through the exhibit, I thought about potential art activities that we could develop that incorporates the theme or things from Roads of Arabia. As I saw this large and detailed door which was very amazing due to it's size. I thought maybe I could use this door an create a fun activity out of it. My idea is still in progress though. I also thought maybe we could have a jewelry activity after seeing some cool stone and pearl jewelry in the exhibit. I am extremely excited about Roads of Arabia and I can't wait to go check it out again!

-Ivy

Hello! Remember the Spiritual Boatist I mentioned a few weeks back? Well, I got to meet her this Sunday and we made boats together! It was amazing and super fun. I made a larger vessel with a sail. I was inspired from the smaller boats Jennifer made. Also, I loved spacious spaces and rowboats. I wanted to create something that would carry a lot of things. I value freedom and my boat represented that. I love making these boats because it's environmental friendly and fun! Using recycled items is so green because we are reusing the materials and creating something cool out of it.

-Ivy

Today was such a great day for continuing to work on improving my creative thoughts and processes. I loved the idea of putting things I want to achieve in a boat or even maintain. The concentration and effort I put into this project, is something I'd like to continue in everything I do. I wish I could keep that same degree of focus at school! I decided on a raft because I feel as I'm leading up to my first year of college, I need some kind of support or a safe place where I can relax and dump my worries. A raft isn't intimidating, but comforting. I also decided to cut out the sketches I did of pieces in east Asian galleries for decoration. I also tied a wood blanket to the bottom with gold coil for decoration as well. Overall, I think it was successful and turned just how I envisioned it. Regarding the local artist project, I'm interested as to what artist Sophia and I will choose to research on.. or agree on. 

It was great to have Jennifer Ewing with us last Sunday introducing us and guiding us through the process of making what she known to be spirit boats. The process of making these boats was very similar to the vessels we made the previous week for the Filipino American Day, except the fact that one uses a different covering for its exterior looks and the concept behind these two projects. 

The spirit boat that I made sticks to the theme of "home". I like adventure, but I also like the feeling of home. It is in a home that I feel protected, sheltered, and loved. So I would like to bring along these feelings with me to my future ahead. During the process of creating my boat, Jennifer Ewing suggested that I make the home shaped house on my boat out of these two rectangular shaped plastic containers. It was great that she made such suggestion because that was exactly where I was heading. However, I didn't exactly like the top of the house just a flat surface or edgy, so I added another piece of plastic to the top to create that circular top, round look. Last detail to the house was I added the two door openings (front and back) and used pieces of raffia to cover or shield the openings. (The kind of gives it the feeling of a hut right?) Everything else was just covering the plastic with the special paper the Jennifer brought in. It was fun to use the papers. Plus it had a great scent to it!

Hey guys! I have been working on a project in art class, inspired by an American artist named Joseph Cornell. He was known for surrealism and assemblage, the artistic process of creating pieces with preformed natural materials or manufactured materials, objects, or fragments that were not intended for art materials.

I created a box of wonders. My peers have given it different names such as Wonderland, No Game No Life, and Crackhead Lumberjack. And guess what name I liked the most? 

I named it "Crackhead Fantasy". The decision for the name was mainly due to the syringes and pill bottles. They looked out of place, so I decided to make them the main part. 

There's many subtle things and you have to look carefully to spot. The best part, I think, is the golden horse in the spoon. So, how would you interpret the piece? 

It was a great experience working with Jennifer Ewing and learning about her process of making the spirit boats. You could make them with just about anything, but Jennifer uses mostly bottles because of their shape and their original purpose, which was to hold liquids. There was a lot of symbolism with the materials, the shape of a boat, and the process/ journey of how it was made.

What was really fun was finding an art piece in the museum that "spoke" to us. I knew exactly which piece I wanted to observe more closely, which was the porcelain cups, plates, bowls, and teapots piece in the korean exhibit. I loved it at first glance, but i never really looked at it. The reason I loved it was because it represented my life so much and just life in general. My perception of it was that life is never a forward and straight path. At the bottom are the broken pieces, representing your past regrets and bad memories. Then, going up the piece, you see the porcelain stacked upon one another and it's leaning, representing the curves in life. Lastly, looking at the piece all together, it is still standing, representing the present and the person you are now after all that has happened in your life so far. That's how I saw the piece.

After that, we made our boats! This time, Jennifer suggested wrapping the boats in paper to hide the look of the underlying materials. I thought that it actually looked nicer and more natural. She also told me to think about the kind of shadows the boat would cast when tying the strings. 

I felt that this project was more spiritual than the bangka vessels, but I loved them both. Here's my boat, the Weaver. 

Last Sunday the ArtSpeak inters and I had an amazing time making spirit boats with Jennifer Ewing! We spent the day finding intentions for, designing, and creating out boats and they came out really amazing! Everyone came up with inspiring and individual boats that I think really shows us how different we can be and how beneficial that is. IN preparation for the boat making we explored the museum, looking for art that inspired us after discussing the four elements and how they correlate to things like direction weather and the cycles of life. In reference to the cycles of life I choose a statue of Vishnu, who is the maintainer of our world according to hinduism. Vishnu, one part of a three part god that consist of the creator(Brahma) and the destroyer(Shiva) as well, really touched on the idea of birth, death, and rebirth, and how we ourselves travel through life with the same soul, regardless of external chances and influences. So, for my boat i decided to take the concept of the boats "Skin" (the outer layer of stained paper that adds to the plastic bottle frame) to heart and added a human head to my boat adorned with long flowing hair. The head of course was to illustrate the idea that we travel through our own lives and that really thats all we can claim to de, it has to be a personal experience that you must do yourself, and the addition of the long hair was to acknowledge that even though our "souls" may go unchanged, they are influenced but the past that we carry with us, whether good or bad. overall I'm extremely happy with how my boat turned out and extremely impressed with everyone else's. Even though this workshop was done after we made boats for our target sunday, it seemed like the perfect way to close a topic that we've all been very excited to learn about and experience.(Special thanks to Jennifer for the amazing experience!)

-Sophia