Art Speak

I thought today was simply lovely. We started out with a presentation by Mylene about Balik sa Dagat Bangka Journey (Return to the Sea) which was so inspiring. One of my mom's friends is a professor of Native Studies and she's actually been on the Swinomish canoe trip a few times. She wrote me a letter a few months ago about the experience and how amazing it was that the tribe had this entire movement to reclaim traditions. So I think it's incredible that Balik sa Dagat seems to have so much momentum and spirit behind it. I really hope that in the future, we'll see more movements like it.

The second part of the day was the actual canoe crafting session. I decided to use the sushi container and some of those wooden strips and some tissue paper. It turned out pretty well (at least it was like what I had envisioned). The only tricky part was the wheat paste because it was made the tissue paper pretty soggy but it all worked out in the end! I didn't experiment with actually cutting the plastic container up but the other canoes that people made looked really good. I think it's a good art project for the FilAm Celebration because it allows a lot of room for interpretation and personalization. 

-Natalie

Based on my research for this topic, sustainable art practices is known to be the new and innovated way of art making. In other words, the "green" or environmental way of creating art. It is also a type of contemporary art practice that compose of using scraps and disposable materials to create something beautiful and magnificent. One of the main goals of sustainable art practices is to bring attention to people that disposable materials is not just garbage and to encourage or inspire more and more people to join the act of sustainable art practices. If you think about it, we are reversing the process of landfill too through sustainable art practices!

-Dayna

This last Thursday we had the amazing pleasure of meeting Sally,who worked in the education department at the museum. As someone very Intrested in either teaching art or working in a museum it was really a treat to beable to sit down and basically interview such an interstig artist and professional. From Sally, we hears about all the future events we would be doing projects at and which ones we would be developing projects for! At the moment we are specifically working on works hopping some spirit boats! I really can't wait and am so excited to get started today!

-Sophia 

Hey guys! I recently did some research on a local artist named Jennifer Ewing, also known as the "spirit boatist".

Jennifer Ewing started with illustrations, painted, and graphic designs. She drew from real life, or what she called the "external world". Then when her father passed away, she was inspired to make spirit boats. Then the series grew after hurricane Katrina and the death of her mother. 

She uses many materials from nature and recyclables such as plastic water bottles, plastic bags, cardboard, paper, etc. The spirit boats symbolize people's desires and emotions. When someone makes a boat, it is like they are shaping and molding their desires and emotions into an object. Then, when they release it into the water or just imagine letting it go, it symbolizes moving towards what is desired, like the boat is guiding their futures.

I really love the symbolization of the spirit boats and the fact that Jennifer Ewing uses reusable materials. Pretty much anything can be used in art and sculpting anyways right?

- Queena

Hello! I recently did research on Jennifer Ewing's artwork and I want to share it with you all. 

Jennifer Ewing is a Spiritual Boatist who creates beautiful 3D boats. The boat itself is a symbol of passage. Boats takes us to places and brings us back home. Life boats carries people to safety. Her work began as paintings but then she discovered using recycled items like water bottles and paper bags to create sculptural pieces. She also uses materials from nature such as bird feathers and tree bark. She is an amazing artist and I love her boats. Each boat she creates has unique features to them. Some are wide with oars while others are narrow and pointy. One of my favorite boat by Jennifer Ewing is "Hanging Story". A book was hung on the boat and I thought it looked so cool and unique. 

I totally recommend you to check out her artwork!

-Ivy

I did my research tidbit on a local artist named Samuel Levi Jones. He moved out to the Bay Area from Indiana to receive a MFA from Mills College, graduating in 2012. He was recently an artist in residence at Recology SF showcasing a very special and unique piece as displayed above. The idea behind this piece was "deconstructing used encyclopedias as a means of creating a medium that communicates a feeling of being on the outside, as well as providing a possible resolution to the search for a place of inclusion and identity as an outsider." While this is an interesting concept to bring to art, it's not his first time. Many of his other works involve some form of "framing of power and struggles between exclusion and equality by desecrating historical material, then reimagining new works." He also likes to manipulate the new and the old to create a sense of rejecting the norm.

Apart from the fact that this Family Fun Day wasn't a Target Sunday, there were still many differences between the two. For example, it was a constant wave of people coming and going during Target Sunday whereas for a regular Family Fun Day, the waves of people coming and going was kind of on and off. Not only that, the museum was a lot quieter and we had a lot of time to ourselves. But when engaging with the families that came by, there was more interaction with them and how they felt about our presence was a lot more obvious. 

In making the capes with the little children, I've encountered many different types of kids: quiet, super friendly, and even those who are quite demanding. One of the participants that I remember the most was a little girl who wanted to make a pony on her cape. In the beginning, she sort of avoided me and stuck to her grandmother. But as the process of making her cape went on, she began to interact with me more. I noticed that she LOVED pink, she wants everything pink, if it's not pink then it's a no for her. I had some difficulties in beginning with making out what she was trying to draw, so I just asked her directly and she told me it was a pony  I didn't quite see it but I didn't question her. When I was helping her with cutting out the outline of what she drew I figured out what it was: the hooves of a pony. I was dumbstruck for a second and laughed at myself for not noticing it. How fun.

-Dayna

My second Sunday at the museum was extremely slow but taught me some valuable lessons. One being, use this time to get to know your co-workers! The lack of kids to work with brought us together by allowing us all to share things about ourselves with each other and dare I say even become more than acquaintances? Friends? Somewhere between that borderline. I enjoyed seeing all the museum visitors come up with ideas based on their favorite animals and incorporating it in their cape, whether they worked on it alone or with the help of family. I had a preconceived notion that visual art is always created by one individual but this activity showed me that it's possible to produce it as a group as well. Overall, working at the museum is strengthening my communication skills both when I'm at work and now even at school. I'm excited to see the positive change this internship is bringing to my life. Until next Sunday!

Hello, again! So, yesterday, I (along with Aliya) went to a meeting at the Contemporary Jewish Museum to start planning the VIP Museum Mixer that's happening on November 25th. Just to give a bit of background, the Mixer is an annual two-part party at the CJM. The first part is the VIP Mixer itself–only teens who work at museums can come and it's a nice way to interact with/meet people through fun activities. The second part (which the CJM interns are in charge of planning) is a larger party that's open to all teens who want to come and it's centered around the current exhibition that's going on at the CJM. During the party, the exhibition will be Arnold Newman: Masterclass which is black and white photography.

When we first got there, we had to go through this crazy security process. Thankfully we all survived and made it into the building where we sat down at a conference table with a bunch of other museum teens. There were representatives from the CJM, YBCA, the DeYoung, and the AAM (of course). We started out with some introductions and then we played Exquisite Corpse as an icebreaker. 

The main purpose of the meeting was to just start laying out goals and ideas for the party. Goals were brainstormed from the questions, "Why are we planning this event? Why should people come?" Some of the goals we generated were: to meet other teens with similar interests, to have fun, to step out of your comfort zone, to show some museum pride, to learn more about other museums. Some activity ideas were: taking photos with polaroids, dancing, competitions (karaoke, relay races, photography), scavenger hunts, and making zines. 

We got a lot of ideas brainstormed as a small group but during the meeting, we decided that we wanted to hear from the Art Speak Interns as well! What do you think we should aim to achieve during the party?

I'll be back at the museum on Sunday to talk more about the meeting. See you then!

-Natalie

^ Aliya looking cute during the meeting.