The LACMA is the largest art museum in the United states. It houses artwork that dates from ancient times to present, from all cultures around the world. Besides paintings and sculptures, the museum also houses a research library and records, hosts concerts, and records podcasts of special events and art collections. Their mission statement is "To serve the public through the collection, conservation, exhibition, and interpretation of significant works of art from a broad range of cultures and historical periods, and through the translation of these collections into meaningful educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences for the widest array of audiences." http://www.lacma.org/about/AboutLACMA.aspx
How it connects to my study of humanities.
- This art museum contains vast amounts of culture and knowledge, that is easily accessible. There is an amazing amount of content on their website, so even if someone lives far away, they can still take a look around the museum and watch videos of events that have happened there. Art is very powerful and we are all connected by it's impact on our lives and our psyche. It's something that anyone from any culture could share, appreciate, experience and relate to. Art bridges language barriers as well.
A. Observation: What did you choose? What do you see or hear or feel or think of in the choice you made? What is the subject of the work? If you chose a 'thing' what is the work made of and what techniques (colors, lines, shapes, textures)does the creator use? Be specific in your description. If you chose a place, be specific in your description of what you see or hear. Talk to your reader as though they cannot see the item but somehow must draw a painting of what you see or hear.
- I chose LACMA, which is a huge museum with seven buildings. The artwork is divided up by time period and region. I saw many different works of art that spanned nearly all of art
history! Their website is extremely educational, and I looked at several pieces. One piece I looked at was a painting by Wilfred Lam named Tropico. Lam was born in Cuba, and later moved to Paris, where he met and was somewhat influenced by Pablo Picasso. During WWII, he was forced to live in Havana. His style is surrealism mixed with cubism, and is influenced by his interest in Santeria, an Afro-Cuban religion. This piece is interesting because there are lots of sharp angles and limited color (shades of gray, yellow and black, and the surrealistic images give it a quality of a half-remembered dream.
- The LACMA is about making art and culture more accessible to people. They do this by having a physical museum, with works that span lots of time and many cultures, as well as by offering lots of content on their website of artwork, concerts, interviews, and overviews of exhibitions. By doing this, they make sure that even if it's difficult for someone to actually go to the museum in person, they can still learn about a lot of the artwork and artists on their website. Also, by providing such a vast array of artwork from many cultures and time periods, they ensure that visiting them is an education in many cultures, so that a person would be sure to come across something that was outside of their experience, thus enabling people to learn more about each other.
- I chose the LACMA because I read an overview about it, which said that it contained 100,000 pieces of art, from all over the world. I feel that this museum is of huge cultural importance because of the diversity of artwork they have to offer. I saw artwork from Japan, China, Korea, Africa, the Americas, and different parts of Europe. I saw a prehistoric pot that had ibexes drawn into it, beautiful pieces of furniture from the 18th century, musical instruments made in South America that were shaped like animals, masks from African tribes, intiricately carved bowls for medicine men, a gorgeous lamp from the Middle East- just to name a few. All of these tell stories about the people who made them, and give us a cultural perspective about other societies.
D. Questioning: What else would you like to know about this choice? When completing the question section, lead your audience into the question by stating a fact you do know, yet you still have the related question. This way, both your audience and you will have an educational experience.
- I know that the LACMA has some pre-historic art; I am wondering- what is the oldest piece of artwork that they are in possession of?
Using your classmates work from last week, tell us one thing you learned from 1 student. Is this one thing some common experience you share or some experience that is completely different than what you experienced? Is this one thing related to our class theoretical foundation and if so, how? Is that one thing related to historical or cultural context of this country or a different one? Link that persons blog to this entry.
- I read Granville's page about Fort Ross. I learned that at Fort Ross was a trading post in the early 1800s, that was occupied by Russians, Native Alaskans, and Americans who all lived and worked together in harmony. I have been to Fort Ross area once a few years ago, but I didn't go to any historical sites, so although I did know there were Russians at the fort, I didn't realize there was actual diversity there, let alone harmony. This is related our class theoretical foundation because it gives me a better understanding of the cultural and historical context that has shaped how that area was in the past and is today.
http://arsenal-clockendgooner.blogspot.com/2009/02/2a-fort-ross-northern-coastal-sonoma.html
The history of Fort Ross is unique and provides insight into a cultural mix not usually associated with California. I have always enjoyed the mix of cultures found in California, but I was fairly ignorant of the Russian contribution to our areas history. I may be mistaken, but I do not think you will find many places in California that had Russians ,Native Alaskans and Americans working and living together. The surprising thing or pleasant thing is that despite there being few Russians actually living within the fort, the whole of the people seemed to live in relative harmony with one another and inter-marriage was commonplace. That said I am referring to the early 19th century, so I am quite sure that ideal living came along with usual mind sets of the times but in comparison to say early 19th century Georgia I am sure I would have rather been in Fort Ross especially if you are not Caucasian. The history of Fort Ross also provides us with several written records of how the many Native populations were living and working. The Russians used the Natives in the sense that they utilised their knowledge of the land and resources to apply it to their ill-fated Russian-America trading post.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County_Museum_of_Art
http://www.lacma.org/about/AboutLACMA.aspx
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTBxAR2yCx0&feature=related
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=focus;id=161162;type=101
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/MWEB/about/islam_about.asp
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=23848;type=101
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exerequest=link;dtype=i;key=136024;page=801900101
http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/MWEB/about/ancnear_about.asp
http://arsenal-clockendgooner.blogspot.com/2009/02/2a-fort-ross-northern-coastal-sonoma.html
Amazing work, Rhianon! I love your content, your layout, your choice of work analyzed. And, I learned something new -- I didn't know how big LACMA was in terms of buildings. Thank you for your continued role model work!
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