Bowers Museum

The Bower was a fun experience. I went with a couple classmates, Andrew and Bobby. This museum has a lot of culture to show such as the Art of Asia, Art of Africa, Orange County history, and Native American art. I thought the Art of Asia was pretty interesting because they're sculptures were made out of clay and the way they sculpted them were really detailed, life sized, and realistic. The Art of Africa section was kind of confusing to me because their art is kind of all over the place and I didn't know how to appreciate it much. Overall, I wish i could visit museums and be in awe when I look at how amazing these sculptures or paintings are. Very inspiring.

A day without Electricity

One night after work, I fell asleep and I woke up the the next morning on December 3rd around 4p.m. After I woke up, I spent the rest of the day without any electricity. Thank goodness my aunt is very conservative on electricity, so I was able to just sit and talk to her. She talked to me about how she escaped from the mother land and her journey to America. I never knew my family went through so much to get to America. My family actually sailed on a wooden board to Thailand, one by one. Later, my mom came home and joined in on the conversation while my Aunt was making the family food. After spending sometime with my family, I played with a baby that I babysit. His name is Nickson. We just played around the house and we played with his baby toys. Nickson had to go home a couple hours after and it was already 10pm. I just laid in bed and eventually fell asleep. Its crazy when you don't use any electricity because I started to reflect on my life and started to think about how I can become what I want to be and how am I going to get there. I guess I was just thinking about where I was going in life. After this project, I learned that electricity distracts us from the real world. Electricity sparks the TV, laptop, cars, etc. It was good to take time to put it all aside and just think about how I lived my life. Opened my eyes more to reality.

Jacob Lawrence

Jacob Lawrence
 - He called his style "dynamic cubism."
 - At the age of 16, he dropped out of high school.
 - He attended class at the Harlem Art Workshop taught by Charles Alston
 - His migration series in the 1940's made him nationally known.
 - The Harlem community and the struggles of African Americans was his inspiration.

When he first arrived in Harlem in 1930, Lawrence referred to the "endlessly fascinating patterns" of "cast-iron fire escapes and their shadows created across the brick walls." He remarked on the "variegated colors and shapes of pieces of laundry on lines stretched across the back yards…the patterns of letters on the huge billboards and the electric signs." Ordinary everyday tasks, events, and routines sparked Lawrence's imagination. He used what he saw around him to document the people, visual culture, movement, color, sounds, and spirit of the community. 

The Migration Series

September 13, 2011

Last week in class, Glen planned a potluck for the class to have. Lots of people brought a variety of delicious food and drinks. The plan was to get a video blog done and post it on our blog. It seemed like most of us didn't want to do it cause a lot of people were camera shy or they felt weird talking to a camera. My friends and I tried a couple of times but we felt like none of the videos were good enough to post up. The videos were about non sense and most of it was just staring at the camera. I don't think I saw that many people trying to make a video. Sorry the videos didn't work out Glen, but it was good a try. :)