numba 3

Nick Corona
Tyrras Warren
Art 101
28 January 2011
                Numba 3
    This week our presenters name was Sara Rabinowitz, she is a master of fibers. First we had to actually fathom fibers though. My first thought as to what fibers are was connected with the internet. I took a class on the physics of the internet and we learned a bit about fiber optics. What happens is physicists get rods of glass and super heat them, then they extract very thin rods from this original rod and transmit light through them which in turn makes signals that gets your information around super fast. So at first, I thought that she was going to bust out some crazy glass.
    But she didn’t. Instead she showed us some fibers of cloth that were used to form intricate patterns and designs. At first I was pretty bored, but then I saw something that was familiar to me. The way the fabric was used to cover figures and that bus she showed us was something that I was very used to. I used to go to Mexico at least 2-3 times a year because of my family there. We don’t go so much anymore because my dad pays for my sister and I to go to school, but I still remember a lot of it clearly. I love the bright colors that just embody Mexico to me.
    People always say that Mexico is corrupt, and poor, and all that garbage. Yet I have never seen a culture so bright and centered. Their family values are far superior to ours and I believe that this gives them an amazing edge in moral and ethical values that people think they lack. I can agree that people in Mexico are poor economically and thus they might be corrupt in their lines of work, but they only do it to help their families. The problem is this cycle gets continuous and thus harder to break, they dig themselves into deeper depressions of labor and corruption. Yet, despite all the calamity, they maintain their bright atmospheres and always try to teach their children better family values and try to support each other as much as possible.
    The readings were about Ann Hamilton. She works with textile design, fabric and sculptures. The biggest thing about these readings for me was that it was hard to distinguish the arts from the crafts. Although I don’t truly believe that there is a distinct difference, I am sure there has to be or else there wouldn’t be a difference in name. In one reading, “the malediction”, Ann shows the importance of making. In the streets of New York she sets down rags that were soaked in wine and then watered out, making a damp and pungent odor. This makes the person viewing think of a urban area, and the distinct smell that cities have. This made sense for me because one thing that I notice when I go back home from out of the country, or even from Eugene, I can instantly tell that I am home from the smell. It is actually quite comforting.
    Ann also makes use of “the making” by using hair and light to focus the attention of the piece towards a person at a small metal desk. She also had placed a “creepy” audio track that made the audience perplexed at the dull sense of depression that the studious environments sometimes entail. In the “tropos” (above piece with hair and light) the student at the desk is burning the words of a book after reading them, and the mixture in the smell of the hair combined with the burning words makes a similarly disgusting edge that provides the viewer with an environment to see the smoke combined with the hair. Supposedly the viewer is supposed to “traverses the space, while metaphorically wading through language” (Hamilton, tropos).
    The last essay, “Kaph” was about a work of hers that was a wall that wrapped around a perimeter that actually was two walls connected. The walls were soaked in bourbon and distilled water that made a weeping impression on the viewer. The smell, which comes up in a lot of her work, also makes the impression of a seemingly icy glacier. The curving walls impress upon the viewer an icon of human suffering and remembrance; walking, breathing and working. “Kaph” in Sanskrit  literally means hand, which just impresses more the ideal of the working image. All these pieces represent the making of which the author is the supreme owner. I believe that the making of a piece is very important for the artist to actually impress his or her ideas on the viewer.
    This piece of sand sculpture was made on a beach in Puerto Vallarta, a place that I have been many times. I have seen works like this before many times and I have seen people create them, its actually astonishing how fast they can created these massive structures and the intricacy that they can put into them. This sculpture was created entirely by the hands and I believe that it is a good piece of work.   

bigger image : http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/jmrobledo/jmrobledo0806/jmrobledo080600044/3168753.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.123rf.com/photo_3168753.html&usg=__A7Si9s5s0k6xRT8FQkOxPIogML0=&h=1200&w=801&sz=142&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5ddulAatuEU0qM:&tbnh=165&tbnw=109&ei=z3BCTZKlAoyosAOF-sWWCg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfigures%2Bcreated%2Bout%2Bof%2Bsand%2B%252B%2Bmexican%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3DgH4%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D638%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=132&vpy=52&dur=1096&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=108&ty=151&oei=z3BCTZKlAoyosAOF-sWWCg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=17&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0