Week 7 American Indian

The discovery of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada began one of the darkest times of sexual assault and mass murder against the native people of California.
In one year 100,000 prospectors descended upon the natives of California with catastrophic results.With the state filled with these newcomers officials were overpowered by the flood of immigrants into the state and all measures of authority were lost and chaos ensued. Killings and mass violence against Indians who resisted Minors developed into mass murder. Vigilante groups such as the Humbolt Home Guard, Eel River Minutemen and the Placer Blades terrorized Indians. Within the first 2 years 100,000 Indians were killed by individual minors resulting in a population loss of 2/3 the population. There is nothing in American Indian history that can be compared to a loss this large of an entire population that when it was almost over left approximately 70,000 surviving Indians and almost total annihilation. By the turn of the century the remaining Native American in California were forced to leave their ancestral lands. Some lived on New California reservations.

Before the Gold Rush the Yahi tribe numbered approximately 400. After a massacre in 1865, only 30 Yahi survived. The remaining Yahi escaped and went into hiding for the next 40 years until cattlemen killed all but Ishi, the last survivor of the Yahi tribe.

Ishi was found by local towns people and taken into custody for his own protection. This last known Indian "wild man" brought curiosity to the civilized white people. So they moved him to the University of California, Berkeley's Anthropology Museum. He lived in an old Law school building where he lived out the remainder of his life. Except for a summer in 1915 he resided with anthropologist Thomas Talbot Waterman and his family until he passed from Tuberculosis in 1916.

Ishi taught as much of his culture to the new people as he could as his remaining people were dying not only from the white man but the progression and spread of disease brought to the land as well. If not Indians would naturally die out or become part of the civilized "white Culture" The Indian language, technology and art would all be lost.

Today Native Americans are fighting to get back cultural artifacts and human remains. Over the years they have been stolen or owned by museums. In 1916 when Ishi died his brain was sold to the Smithsonian In Washington. In 1997 California Indians demanded to have Ishi's remains turned over so they could give him a proper burial in his ancestral lands. The Smithsonian denied for 3 years they were in possession of his brain but after a long battle the released his brain in August 2000.

I chose Ishi because his story of survival captivated my heart. I could never imagine having all my people and family killed and being the only one to survive. And after surviving this horror not having anyone I could relate to or understand me. What fascinated me even more he chose to give back to the people he caused him such great pain and loss.

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

http://history.library.ucsf.edu/ishi.html

http://www.jedriffefilms.com/jedriffe-oldsite/flvplayer/ishi.html

1. Wes chose the National Civil War Museum because : "It was perhaps one of the most important historical events in American history."

2. Roxanne chose: The National Museum of Dance because because she "longed to become a dancer of some sort."

3. Robert picked:The Metropolitan Museum of Art he was drawn to the museum because "they have some very impressive pieces from the Renaissance era, which is an era that has always captured my imagination and definitely includes some of the most widely renowned art, and is my personal favorite."

4. Michelle chose Monticello because she went there as a child.

5.Mary picked Smithsonian Museum of American History and was interested in the FOOD exhibit because I am in the culinary program at the j.c

6.Lori picked Guggenheim Museum because she had previously made a trip to NY and ran out of time and was not able to visit.

7. Karen chose the The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum because this was not something we can ignore.

8. Jacob chose choose the Museum of Contemporary Photography because "photography has interested me for many, many years."

9. Eric chose The Nationla Civil War Museum because he believes that "of the many wars America has been involved in, the Civil War was one of the most culturally influential."

10. Brooke picked The Academy of Natural Sciences because she has a degree in Natural Sciences "so I thought this was right up my alley."

Week 5 MoMa

I picked the Museum of Modern Art MoMA. Located in New York. The collection is Modern and Contemporary Art. The collection contains many different forms of Art, from paintings, drawings, poetry, Media, performance art, film and photography. My mother is an artist and our home was always filled with contemporary art and it is something I have always enjoyed. I would love to take a trip with her to the museum as she is great at teaching me the artists point of view. This is not always easy for me to see from my own eye.

1. MoMA was developed by Abby Rockefeller (John Rockefeller's wife) and 2 of her business partners Lillie Bliss and Mary Sullivan. The became known as "the ladies"

2.It is said MoMA houses the the best Modern Western masterpieces in the World. It holds approximately 150,000 pieces of art, and 22,000 films.

3.Opened November 7, 1929 a few days after the Wall Street crash. It was remodeled from 2002-2004 and an additional 630,00 square feet were added to the museum. Previous to the remodel MoMA had on average 1.5 million visitors per year before the remodel and now has an average of 2.5 million yearly visitors.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces at MoMA- (all shown above)

De Chirico's Love Song

Van Gogh The Olive Trees

Matisse The Dance

I viewed the following sites:

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

http://www.moma.org/explore/collection/index

http://www.youtube.com/user/momavideos?blend=3&ob=4

1. Wes picked the Exploratorium as it has as exhibits in Biology and Kinetics.

2. Veronika chose Legion of Honor Museum because it was the first museum she visited here.

3. Robert chose The de Young Museum because he has fond memories here.

4.Rachelle picked the exploratorium because of the hands on learning.

5. Nichole picked San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as she has always been interested in going.

6. Garin picked Aircraft Carrier USS Hornet Museum because he enjoys history.

7. Angie picked MOLAA (Museum of Latin American Art) because she has an interest in Latin art.

8. Amanda chose Hearst Castle as the architecture & designs caught her eye.

9. Brooke chose Museum of Latin American Art as she has visited before and enjoyed her visit.

10. Eric chose the Us Hornet Museum as he was impressed by the history.

Week 4 Getty Villa

I chose the Getty Villa located in Pacific Palisades, 1 mile outside of Malibu. It is a museum dedicated to art and cultures of Ancient Greece and Rome.

I was drawn to this Museum because of the beautiful Gardens.

I gathered most of my information off the following sites:

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/videoDetails?cat=4&segid=3729http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahqwbe_0_k0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahqwbe_0_k0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty_Villa

What I have learned about this museum:

Oil tycoon J. Paul Getty had originally opened a smaller gallery next to his home but he quickly ran out of room. He decided to open a second museum which was finished and opened in 1974. His home and first museum are still located on the property. He based the design off of a recreation of the Villa of Papyri at Herculaneum ( a villa said to be owned by Julius Caesar’s father-in-law.) In 1997 the villa was closed for renovations. It was reopened in 2006.

The most interesting thing I learned about this museum is that there has been a great deal of controversy surrounding the Villa as it is claimed that many items within the collection are looted items. The former curator Marion True was on trial in Italy for her role in what the Italians claim were stolen items. In 2006 four items were returned to Greece and they agreed to return 40 items back to Italy.

It was also surprising how colorful the Villa is. We often think of Ancient Greece and Rome as being colorless, whitewashed in a sense. But in fact it was vibrant. Statues were not always colorless, they were often painted. They used bright vibrant colors not only on the statues, but tiles, paintings and other art. This use of color is shown in the design at the Villa.

One piece you will find on display at the Villa is the statue of Victorious Youth. (a picture above)A statue of a naked male in his youth standing on his right leg. He is crowned with an Olive wreath as this was the prize for a victory in the Olympic Games. This is one of the very few rare Greek bronze statues that is life sized that has survived.

What I have learned from my classmates last week:

1. Angie says he had an important impact on the world of literacy.

2. Katie says his childhood shaped his future beliefs tremendously.

3. Elizabeth says :His work encouraged equal opportunity education and denounced the "authoritarian" educator as nothing more than a tool for control and dehumanization.

4. Jacob found most fascinating about Paulo Freire was his successful experiment known as the “Bare feet can also learn to read” campaign.

5. Jeff says he was an incredible man to have devoted that majority of his life to teaching others.

6. Justin says: Freire maintains the need for societies to ratify this situation through educational reform and individual desire to be “more fully human.”

7. Lori believes what was his important work was his concern with conscientization.

8. Mary says : Paulo Freire was one of the most influential educational philosophers of the 20th century.

9. Nichole says: She enjoyed researching his works and gained a great deal of useful knowledge after reading about Freire's life.

10. Wendy says: His teachings are still very popular globally.