I visited one of the exhibits at Fowler Museum at UCLA, Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives. This exhibit is one of our nation’s most important collections of art from Africa, Asia, the Pacific, and the Americans, according to fowler.ucla.edu. It was my first visit to Fowler museum. It is a beautiful museum and the admission is free to UCLA students. There are multiple exhibits going on so I highly recommend everyone to stop by to be exposed to art and have some quiet time.
This is a shoulder cloth which was produced in South Sumatra, Indonesia in the late 19th century or early 20th century. The bright color caught my eyes and I looked at it closer. The pattern is very complicated and it is beautifully designed. The rectangular trim which looks like a straight line is made with hundreds of small white dots and the oblique lines inside the trim are made with different colored patterns. I can see that these patterns are designed after careful calculation. When I looked even closer, I was able to see that this big cloth is made by patching two cloths together at the middle. The patterns at the joint part is perfectly matched so I first thought that it was one big cloth. Until I take this course, I did not realize how math concept is related to almost every process of creating some type of art.
This is a Priest's Robe made in Kyoto, Japan in the late 18th century. The fabric is made with silk cloth and metallic yawn. This is another example of production by precise calculation. Many small pieces of cloths are patched together to make the robe but the white bird looks perfectly in one piece.
I especially liked this Wedding robe which was made in Japan in late 19th or early 20th century. The embroidered crane looks beautiful on gold silk textile. According to sinology.org, in Japan, cranes is a symbol of a thousand years of happiness and prosperity, which is a perfect symbol for a wedding gown.
These are Indonesian Rod Puppets which were made early to mid-20th century. They are made of curved and painted wood. The puppets has roles such as kings, knights, princesses, and others and a distinct personality of each puppet is expressed by elaborately curving. These puppets reminded me of robotics we learned. These puppets are similar to mechanical dolls called "karakuri dolls" which Tokyo University Professor, Machiko Kusahara, introduced as child friendly dolls which originates Japanese robotics. These puppets tell us that it is human nature to feel the motivation to move the dolls and have them copy what humans do.
I was interested in how these puppets are manipulated. In this video, Professor at UC Santa Cruz, a puppet master, Kathy Foley tells us how. The movement of puppets are much more dynamic than I expected. As explained in the video, the puppet shows are performed for a large audience from dusk to dawn so it makes sense that puppets' movements are dynamic to keep the audience from falling asleep.
What I felt after the visit to this exhibition is that I paid more attention to the details of each exhibit. Before I took this course, the cloth was just a beautiful cloth, but now I imagine the process of making these fabrics and think of the passion of people who made these items.
"Fowler Museum. Fowler Museum at UCLA." Fowler Museum. Fowler Museum at UCLA. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.
"Crane Symbol." Signology.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.
"Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives." The Fowler Museum. 1400 S. 308 Charles E Young Dr N, Los Angeles, CA 90024 .8 May 2015.
"Robotics MachikoKusahara 1." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.
"Indonesian Puppets Wayang Golek." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 26 May 2015.
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