assignment 3 c.

Knowledge is power, this I know for sure. Matthew McDonald gives a clear example of this in his assignment 1 b. He tells the story of Freire teaching sugarcane workers to read and write. Matthew goes on to explain that literacy was imperative to giving this group a political voice (literacy was a requirement to vote.) Freire gave workers, other wise powerless, and the ability to change their lives.

With the upcoming elections right around the corner, I have been thinking a lot about human rights and freedom. Not too surprisingly, the content of the next work was helpful in my current political reflection. I chose to read Katherine M Duartes’s assignment 1 b, I like the way her name sounds: important… Katherine quotes Freire’s book, “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”:

“Freedom is acquired by conquest, not a gift. It must be pursued constantly and responsibly…”

This is amazing, because many people are still unaware of it. It is mostly inspiring. I love that I believe this! I love that I get to teach this philosophy to my daughter. It is a perfect time meditate on this idea and share it with your community.

To pull it back in to the class material, I think that Latin America has a long history of cultural and political evolution. I think that this region in particular is a fantastic example of a peoples move to change. The Caribbean and Latin American people have an impressive record of adaptability.

http.//mattymcd11.blogspot.com/2008/06/assignment-1b.html

http://katyintdis.blogspot.com/2008/08/assignment-1b.html

assignment 3 b.

MAKING A CANOE

From what I have gathered the Carib people were hunters, fisherman and warriors. Not known for arts and crafts. At first I thought I would look to the Arwak tribe, where most of the female population had originated, they were tremendous basket weavers. I imagined looking at collections of baskets…then I thought that I could just pick another group that was know for there strong artistic culture. I went back over my findings and it dawned on me- canoe making is an art form! The Carib made canoes, beautiful, magnificent canoes and this will be my topic. (Please note that I have tried to remove this messy bit below and have failed, sorry.)

http://www.avirtualdominica.com/gligli/index.html

http://www.aragornsstudio.com/CaribCanoeProj.htm

http://www.geocities.com/caribcanoe/

OBSERVATION:

What do you see in the artwork?

I think that many times a natural medium can be distorted so much that the natural beauty is gone, sometimes so much so that the end product can be ugly (i.e.: tract homes) I like that the canoe still honors the tree that it came from. It is functional, thoughtful and beautiful. It demands a group effort, up to 40 people to carry the tree from the forest.

What is the subject of the work? What is the work made of?

These particular canoes are made from a single gommier tree. Grommier trees are indigenous to the Caribbean rain forests; they are very large and remind me of the redwood, growing to massive heights.

What techniques does the artist use?

The canoes making process starts with the selection of one close to perfect gommier tree. Then several men chop the tree down using hand axes. Some forty people drag the tree to where they will carve out, then soak burn and stretch the wood until it finally resembles a canoe. This process take a few weeks. The photo I selected shows the stretching process when to canoes is filled with large rock to force the sides to expand over time.

INTERPRETATION:

What is the artwork about?

Well in this case it is quite literal, it functions as a canoe. But it is about survival, transportation, and a way of life. These people depended on the canoes to hunt and trade and war with other tribes.

JUDGEMENT:

What made you chose this piece? What do you think of/feel about this piece? Why?

As I mentioned above, I chose this piece because I wasn’t done with the Carib people and because they are not know for crafting…canoes it was. I love this piece, I love function and beauty together and the canoe exemplifies this.

QUESTIONING:

What would you like to know about this work?

I would like to know if traditionally the women had anything to do with this process. Pessimistically I could answer it myself by guess that the men and women spoke a different dialect so it is highly unlikely. A girl can dream, right?

Assignment 3a.

"Pre-Columbian" refers to the American indigenous cultures until they were conquered/influenced by Europeans. This term still applies even if this happened after Columbus' initial landing.

Carbi:

At the time of the Spanish invasion, the Caribbean people lived in Lesser Antilles and parts of the neighboring South American coast. The Island Carib were warlike immigrants from the mainland. They were expert navigators, who made distant raids in large dugout canoes. Internal conflict was common in their society. They lived in small villages and haunted animals by arrow or bow. Their culture was typical of a tribe of the tropical forest.

The Caribbean Sea as well as the English word cannibal are results of the Arawakan equivalent of Carib. Today the term Cariban is used to designate a linguistic group that includes not only the language of the Antillean Carib, but also many related Indian languages spoken in South America. In traditional Caribbean society, Men spoke the Caribe language and women used Arawark. This was due to the Carib raids on the Arawark people.

The religion that the Carib practiced was a type of polytheists. Columbus thought that they were pagan, but later discovered they were not. There was always the belief that the Caribs were cannibals because of bone collections found in their dwellings. This was disproved later, finding that they kept the bones of relatives for good luck.

I choose the Carib people to research because some day, hopefully soon, I will go to Barbados and meet them. So why not do a little brushing up for the trip…I used Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica as my two references. They are reliable and well organized. I looked on YouTube for a great little video and found one; it doesn’t have much to do with the Pre-Columbian Carib people. It is a fantastic example of what you might find in this Post-Columbian time; Festival Afrique-Carib!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carib

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/95780/Carib

Just for some fun…bonus video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPoQFaTH8mA

assignment 2 c.

I had to wait a while to complete this assignment as you may have read in my last entry…

I chose questions from fellow classmates David and Hannah. One thing that I realized while looking over the different links is that there is a new director listed on the MoLAA website, Gregorio Luke has been replaced! Perhaps he joined an acting troop???

Davids questions:

1. What kinds of Educational Programs Does MoLAA offer?
http://www.molaa.com/

MoLAA offers two types of educational programs; there are school field trips for K-12 as well as docent tours for more mature audiences.

2. How many visiting exhibits does MoLAA host a year (approximately)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcj6ld0gKck

There are 2-4 visiting exhibits each year.

3. On what day is admission to MoLAA free?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu5geLH1Q9A

Fridays at the MoLAA are free! I love free! This was one of my questions too!

Hannahs questions:

1. What percentage of Latin American affiliates themselves with the Roman Catholic Church?

http://www.molaa.com/

According to the MoLAA website 80% of the Latin American population affiliates themselves with the Roman Catholic Church.

2. Name one artist that has done an exhibit at the museum.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcj6ld0gKck

Francisco Toledo is one of the many artists to do an exhibit at the museum.

3. How many square feet is the sculpture garden

http://www.molaa.com/

The sculpture garden at MoLAA is 15,000 square feet.