Author: Sara Olds

Last night I took some of my own advise and went to one of the many interesting lectures this campus offers. It was called The Social Museum: online community-building and the future of museums, hosted by Matthew Fisher, the founder and President of Night Kitchen Interactive. His discussion was in the plush UMMA auditorium where I found myself comfortably intrigued. I must say I had other motives for attending this event. First off, I have to attend three out of class events this semester for one of my museums classes and secondly the discussion pertained to my current internship at UMMA.

His work deals with forward thinking in museums and calls it a push towards a ‘social museum.’ UMMA was attracted to Fisher and his forward thinking and hired him to work on the project that turned into the Dialog Table as the final project. The Dialog Table is an interactive technological device located on the museum’s first floor. The hand gesture activated system allows you to open up any image in the museum’s collection to learn more about its location in the museum, how it was accessioned and a blurb about its meaning. There are also movies you can watch and links that can be made from one object to another.

The brains at UMMA behind this project are Lisa Borgsdorf and Ruth Slavin, my two lovely, smart, and intelligent supervisors. It is because of their collaborative work with Fisher that the museum has one of four Dialog Tables in the U.S. We are fortunate to have such a gem at our University. The basis for the table is to learn about art through a new, interactive, entertaining medium. The museum hopes people play with the table and strike a dialog with their family or other visitors to the museum. People can learn from each other and share an experience that is not found in many museums.

The table is located in an open area where people can move freely and speak as loudly as they want. The desire is for people to socialize through this technological device. Museums are in transition. They are changing from quiet environments to more social and upbeat settings where complete strangers can meet and interact. The experience is truly unique. Go to the museum and take a look for yourself!

Have a great weekend!

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks!

“Sharing is Caring!”

“Spread the News!”

“Extra, Extra, Read All About it!”

A theme that I often find myself circling is spreading the word.  Sharing thoughts and ideas and then reading all about them.  Word of mouth travels faster than anything it seems.  Its also usually occurs during casual conversations at events, parties, and dates.

Recently one of my friends has been sending me some amazing music that I have come to love.  I am a person who loves music, but has always been a little technologically challenged and thus never explored.  Now, I feel like the sacred Japanese Torri gates have allowed me to enter into a pure, relaxing, and unknown world.  Now, I actually know the name of the bands, their songs, and words!  Eureka!  Who knew Pandora’s box wasn’t so foreign as I thought?!

So, this artistic transformation into the music world inspired me to introduce 10 artists who work in a variety of mediums to you, in hopes that it will enlighten and rebirth your soul.  I chose to provide you with an amalgamation and not my top 10, because I’m flexible and benevolent.

Salvidor Dali

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Bankay

Keith Haring

Judy Chicago

Takashi Murakami

Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Frida Khalo

Andy Goldsworthy

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Hope you enjoy!

Sara Majors in Art History and Enjoys long Walks.

This ‘Winter’ Break, often incorrectly uttered Spring Break by many Michiganders, I decided to go home.  I wanted a break.  A break from the hustle and bustle of college life, from my life in Ann Arbor.  I wanted to go somewhere comfortable, new, refreshing.  College is great, but it sure is difficult.  Our generation seemed to be programmed to multi-task from the womb.  With cell phones and computers we are always connected, always seen.  I often idealize the time when dorm rooms had one telephone, one mode of communication, of connection from you to the outside world.  I imagine girls sitting by the phones for hours waiting for Mr. Right to call, or boys with their sweaty palms jumping at the sound of each methodical ring waiting for the sonorous voice of their beauty on the other end.

Ah, yes, the simple life, the easy life.

As I was discussing my life with my Father this past week, he commented how draining it must be to be so involved in x, y, and z and still expect to have a riveting social life.  I dramatized my congruency with his opinion, feeling the pressure release as I found I was not alone.  Society, parents, and even ourselves put pressure on us to have the resume with the most depth showing how active we are and what we are capable of.  We must prove ourselves to the world.

Life is all about balance, I suppose.  I dare to believe that in all that we do, we still find the time to relax, to enjoy the world around us.  To smile at those who pass us, or to even be daring and strike up a conversation with them instead of walking to the beat of our own drum blaring in our ears by our ipods.  To take in the chill of the winter breeze as it stings our nose or to stop, close your eyes, and imagine the sun rose that morning to be your spot lot, to follow you and to warm you.  Allow yourself to feel special.

Remember that we are exquisite beings who are capable of completing many tasks at any given moment, but that doesn’t mean that a moment spent on one task is wasted.  No, let it be those moments where you are so invested, so absorbed in one thing where you can find freedom, relaxation and peace.

Continue to be involved, because as much as these activities wear on us, they also shape us and provide pride for who we are.  Just remember that it does not take an official school break to actually allow you to take a break.  Partake in some unpretentious, brainless act a day to release the pressure.  Do something that feels like home to you.  Take Dorthoy’s word for it, “There’s no place like home.”

Enjoy the rest of your ‘break’! ; )

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks.

It seems only natural to write about the events in my life and to share that information with all of my viewers out there, Mom, Dad, and one best friend.  I believe this is how knowledge is spread and today I will act as the knife and start spreading!

This past week I went to an electrifying talk put on by the LSA 2009-10 Theme Year, “Meaningful Objects: Museums in the Academy,” titled Growing Cultural Knowledge With Museum Collections. The speaker was Sven Haakanson, Jr. from the Alutiiq Museum in Alaska.

He was asked to come speak on behalf of his work towards recognizing the Alutiiq culture as an attempt to revitalize their ancestry, traditions and history.  In the first moments of his speech, I instantly realized he is one of the people I described last week who has found their passion and is completing work that they find important and necessary.  He was truly inspirational.

Not only did he grab and hold my attention for the 90-minute discussion, but he spoke about topics of colonization, discrimination, what it is like to be Native, and how all of these topics relate to museums and their mission.  He focused part of his lecture on the relationships he has made and has worked hard to maintain over the years with European museums that are not covered by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, better known as NAGPRA.  He said the ways in which museums learn from each other and share knowledge is through these close relationships based on trust.

Once, when he was visiting a museum in Germany, he found a mask in their collection that had its origins in the Alutiiq culture.  As his relationships with these international institutions grew, Haakanson was able to request that the objects be studied for educational purposes to which the museum complied.

His work and overarching goal is to alter perceptions.  He wants Natives to think differently about themselves and he wants Non-Natives to find themselves more in tune with the current events of Native people.

He wants to provide the youth of his people with a sense of identity, tradition, and hope.  Through learning about the works their people have created and displaying them in museums, he feels like he is giving the tools the Native children need in order to stand on their own feet with a sense of dignity.

This lecture emoted great energy because people were passionate and interested in learning more.  Communication is the learning device that will mobilize a greater change.  Continue to share with others your knowledge and be open to hear theirs as well.

Have a great weekend!

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks.

Is graffiti an art or a nuance?

For this discourse, I’d like to focus on the illegal aspect of graffiti on public property.  Commissioned work is equally as beautiful, but I’m interested in opinions towards individual expressionism.

Graffiti entails a personal freedom separate from other artwork, due to its illegal rush.  Not speaking from personal experience, but being a participant in illegal activities such as jay-walking, riding your bike on the wrong side of the road, or driving barefoot (clearly my motor skills are limited by the law), I can empathize with the rush one gets from participation in illegal activities.

So what is the general consensus towards graffiti?

Is it a public indecency or a contribution to society?

Frankly, I’d side with the criminals out there, and say that the majority of their markings are beautiful.  Walking around the Ann Arbor area, you can see a wide array of graffiti on walls, signs, and electrical boxes.  Graffiti liberates the individual and the city.  Plain concrete was meant to be painted.  They scream for the attention.  It only seems natural to paint the world and make it as colorful as possible.

Have a great weekend!!

Sara majors in Art History and enjoys long walks.

I don’t mean to come off in a tone that parallels your parents’ underlying message of the “get involved” slogan, but I am writing to advocate for your immersion into the world around you.

As students or community members to the Ann Arbor society, we have a ridiculous amount of lectures, meetings, activities, and performances at our exposure.

I feel as if this message hits a nerve within people that forces them to act.  An acting society is a better society.  The achievements that have occurred on this campus and around the area are effects from individual actions.  The hardest part of doing is finding what interests you so that you feel good about your contributions to society and are not simply going through the motions.  People spend their entire lives searching for their passion(s).  Kudos to those who have searched and rescued them.

For those of you out there still searching, no worries!  You’re a blank canvas, who still has the liberty to decorate your clean slate however you prefer.  So what must you do to find your passion?  How are you going to fit into this world, community and pod?

The answer lies in the resources that surround you.

You are walking in a nourishing environment with people who have found what they love and are acting upon it.  They are restaurant owners, Professors, Jazz artists, stay at home Mom’s and Dad’s, who are ordinary citizens just like your.  They have found their niche, have tending to it, and through their independent actions have subsequently affected societies fluidity.

I challenge you to follow their example by going to talks on campus or making yourself trek through the snow to an event that intrigues you.  You never know what opportunity might come of it, and maybe you’ll even find your calling.

Have a good weekend!

Sara Majors in Art History and enjoys long walks