Event #5, International Surfing Museum

Yesterday, I went to the International Surfing Museum. It was a rather small space by Huntington Beach, but still very cozy and warm. I had expected the area to be larger, but it already seemed to be the right size for all its exhibits ("International Surfing Museum"). Stepping into the little museum, I could already see everything that had to be seen:

The International Surfing Museum

Initially, I had thought that surfing was just a sport. But after looking through all the exhibits in the museum, I strongly believe that it is not just a sport but also an art form (Leary). In the museum, I noticed a small exhibit of how surfboards were made.

Display of a prototype trophy for the 2003 US Open of Surfing. It was created by Dave Reynolds (Llyod). It was designed to look like a mini surfboard.

In class, we learned how cultures can combine to create a new culture. In the museum, there was a wall that was dedicated to the Global Tribe of bodysurfers. Bodysurfers come from all around the world (“Bodysurfing 101”). It is now a global sport, with surfers coming from the UK, France, Brazil, Morocco, and the United States. Bodysurfing has become a culture that can bring people from different countries together (Maman). I believe that they have created a new culture.

The Global Tribe - Bodysurfing is a culture!

There was a shelf with many bottles of sand. When I went closer to it, I noticed that the sand were from different beaches. I thought it was interesting how they collected sand from different beaches of the world, not all of them were yellow; there were some red, some white, and some black.

Bottles with sand from beaches around the world

Lastly, here is a receipt of my ticket into the museum. It costs only $2. If you enjoy surfing and want to know more about the history of surfing, I strongly suggest you visit this museum!

Me inside the museum! :)

Me and my receipt!

Works Cited

"International Surfing Museum." International Surfing Museum. Web. 7 June 2015. http://www.surfingmuseum.org/

Leary, Catie. "For Native Hawaiians, Surfing Is More than a Hobby - It's a Way of Life." Mother Nature Network. 2 Feb. 2015. Web. 7 June 2015.

Llyod, Lauren. "Why The Work Of Surf Artist Dave C. Reynolds Will Live On Forever." RSS. 30 Nov. 2013. Web. 7 June 2015.

Maman, Teia. "Bodysurfing: Art and Culture." 123ocean. Web. 7 June 2015.

"Bodysurfing 101: The Beginners Guide." Slyde Handboards. Web. 7 June 2015.

Event #4, The Museum of Jurassic Technology

The most interesting and unique museum that I have been to this quarter (or probably in my life!) is the Museum of Jurassic Technology. No, it is nothing related to the Jurassic Park! The museum is located at the side of the road, at a rather unusual space (Rothstein). The exhibits were strange and consisted of random oddities ("The Museum Of Jurassic Technology"). Unfortunately, guests are not allowed to take photographs inside the museum.

Thus, here is one of the two pictures I took: my receipt

And the second picture I took, stairs leading up to what I thought was the tea room:

But to my happy surprise it actually led to more exhibits! :D

In class, during our most recent lecture on Space + Art, we learned about Laika. Laika was the first dog that was sent to outer space (Stallard). One of the most interesting spaces in the museum was the portrait gallery of the Soviet Space Dogs ("The Lives of Perfect Creatures"). How pleasantly ridiculous is it to have a portrait gallery of Soviet Space Dogs! The more I think about it, the more ridiculous it gets. Initially, when I stepped into the portrait gallery, it felt perfectly normal, probably because everything else in the museum was just as odd.

This portrait of Laika was one of the portraits hung at the gallery of Soviet Space Dogs in the museum.

http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/74/f5/74f5c130-e9d3-4b52-a492-4a04d7abee23/portrait_of_laika_from_the_exhibit_lives_of_perfect_creatures_-_dogs_of_the_soviet_space_program_-_credit_jennifer_bastian-web.jpg__1072x0_q85_upscale.jpg

There was also a section in the museum that was entirely dedicated to superstitions and ancient cures, such as mice on toast as a cure for bed-wetting (Blitz). The display had two stuffed mice on a piece of toast. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs, but I believe the image of the mice on the toast will always stick with me. I have never heard of such strange ancient cures.

There was also a section dedicated to Cat’s Cradle (“Cat’s Cradle”). I believe that this can be related to what Professor Vesna taught us in the Math+Art lecture. They had strings for us to work with to create different patterns of cat’s cradle. When I was younger, I used to be able to be good at making different patterns using elastic bands.

Cat's Cradle

http://kasatka.com/gallery/albums/album143/kyle_catscradle.sized.jpg

I cannot wait to go back to the Museum of Jurassic Technology!! This time I will be bringing my friends. Despite the small size of the museum, I felt that there were still so many things waiting to be discovered.

(On a side note, I have decided to buy the book Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology.)

Works Cited

Blitz, Matt. "Inside Los Angeles' Strangest Museum." Smithsonian.com. 31 Mar. 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.

“Cat’s Cradle, Apache Door.” Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 9 Jul. 2009. Web. 5 June 2015.

Rothstein, Edward. "Where Outlandish Meets Landish." The New York Times. The New York Times, 9 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 June 2015.

Stallard, Brian. "Remembering Laika, the "Muttnik" Space Dog." Nature World News. 4 Nov. 2014. Web. 5 June 2015.

"The Lives of Perfect Creatures." MJT.org. Web. 5 June 2015.

"The Museum Of Jurassic Technology." MJT.org. Web. 5 June 2015. http://www.mjt.org/

Event #3, Hammer Museum

Recently, I went to the Hammer Museum. The museum itself was much bigger than I expected, I loved the architecture of the space and its interior design, especially the museum’s courtyard (“Hammer Museum”).

A beautiful sight of the museum's courtyard from the second floor

On the second floor of the museum, there is a bridge called the John V. Tunney Bridge. The bridge commemorates Tunney’s commitment and dedication to furthering the Hammer Museum’s goals and mission. The design of the bridge is simple yet unique. The bridge shows how math and physics can influence art.

The John V. Tunney Bridge

Also on the second floor of the museum, the Armand Hammer Collection boasts a selection of paintings and artworks from Western art history to the early twentieth century in the U.S. We learned in class how neuroscience could influence art. In my Neuroscience+Art blog post, I talked about how Vincent van Gogh, a highly celebrated artist with a neurological disorder, could produce such beautiful artworks (Bhattacharyya and Saurabh). His paintings at the Collection include a vivid depiction of the garden of the asylum where he spent the last few months of his life. There were a total three of his paintings on display at the Armand Hammer Collection, but my favorite is by far the painting called The Sower ("Sower, The").

Vincent van Gogh, The Sower, ca. 1888.

In class, we delved into hybrids. Another exhibition at the museum, one by Mary Reid Kelley, also included some aspects that could be related to what we learned in lecture (Rees). Kelley’s exhibition is a black-and-white video that tells a narrative story ("Mary Reid Kelley"). In the story, there are hybrid creatures such as the Minotaur, a cow-woman hybrid who is the product of her mother, a Queen, and her father, a bull. Another hybrid in the story is Priapus, a man-fish hybrid (Cahill).

The story was interesting but I found it quite odd and unusual.

All in all, I had a good time at the museum but I had wished that there were more exhibits. I learnt a lot at this museum, that sometimes we have to appreciate not just the exhibits but also the architecture and the structure of the museum itself.        

Me and my Hammer sticker!

Works Cited

Bhattacharyya, Kalyan, and Saurabh Rai. "The Neuropsychiatric Ailment of Vincent Van Gogh." Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.

Cahill, James. "A Wandering Will: Mary Reid Kelley Discusses Swinburne’s "Pasiphae"" The Los Angeles Review of Books. 25 May 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.

"Hammer Museum." The Hammer Museum. Web. 5 June 2015. http://hammer.ucla.edu/

"Mary Reid Kelley." Mary Reid Kelley. Web. 5 June 2015.

Rees, Allyson. "Mary Reid Kelley Reimagines Mythology from a Woman's POV." Los Angeles Confidential. Web. 5 June 2015.

"Sower, The." Vincent Van Gogh Gallery. Web. 5 June 2015.

Event #2, Bowers Museum

When I stepped into the Bowers Museum, the interior was definitely not what I had expected to be seeing. I have been to many museums in all over the world, but never have I been to a museum that included so many Eastern cultural paintings and artifacts (“Bowers Museum”).

Me with the cute little museum sticker

The first art piece that caught my eye was the giant Temple Drum from China, hanging on the wall by the ticket booth. The drum bears symbols of the Eight Immortals, fan, castanets, sword, flower basket, double-gourd, flute, lotus, and bamboo and rods (“The Eight Immortals”). It is said that when they all come together, they signify happiness. In class, we learnt from our first lecture regarding Two Cultures, that when two different cultures come together, they can create a third culture. I believe that the fact that this Eastern art piece is displayed in Western city brings out a new and fresh culture.

Temple Drum from China, made of wood, leather, paint, and metal.

Another example of how two cultures can interconnect is the exhibition of artist Qi Baishi’s paintings (“Qi Baishi Paintings”). Qi Baishi’s legacy in China is starting to gain recognition and appreciation outside of China, and that exhibition marks the first occasion that this collection of Qi Baishi’s paintings has been exhibited within the United States (“Exhibition of Chinese Master”)!

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Qi Bai Shi's Exhibition

At museum’s souvenir store sold many quirky and interesting things, varying from one culture to the next. For example, one the Buddha Kwan Yin figurines were placed next to a Wild Wild West cowboy Figurine. I found that oddly pleasant to see. Also, they had a shelf full of origami materials, such as books to teach readers on how to make different origami. Recalling back to previous lectures, Professor Vesna mentioned in our Math + Art lecture that one of the ways in which math has influenced art is through origami (“Mathematics and Art: Origami”).

I was very tempted to buy one of those books… The paper cranes were exceptionally pretty!

As a Chinese, I felt proud and happy that the works of my ancestors were displayed a rather Western city, and that there were so many Westerners at the museum so closely analyzing and trying to understand their artworks. The Bowers museum sure does enrich the cultural life of Orange County (Douglas).

"See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" little fat Buddha figurines; a rather cute scene I noticed at the museum store.

Works Cited

"Bowers Museum." Bowers.org. Web. 5 June 2015. http://www.bowers.org/

Douglas, Cathy. "Santa Ana’s Bowers Museum Enriches Downtown’s Cultural Life." The Orange County Register. 6 Mar. 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.

"Exhibition of Chinese Master Qi Baishi Opens in California." WantChinaTimes.com. 13 Apr. 2015. Web. 5 June 2015.

"Mathematics and Art: Origami." American Mathematical Society. Web. 5 June 2015.

"The Eight Immortals." CultureInCart. 6 July 2013. Web. 5 June 2015.

"Qi Baishi Paintings." China Online Museum. Web. 5 June 2015.