Visit of the exhibition:DIAGHILEV and the golden age of the ballets russes 1909-1929

I visited the exhibition after lunch today.

DIAGHILEV and the golden age of the ballets russes 1909-1929

'Diaghilev's dramatic performances transformed dance, reawakening interest in ballet across Europe and America. Celebrating the company's key period of activity, this major exhibition reveals Diaghilev's enduring  influence on 20th-century art, design and fashion and includes more than 300 objects including giant theatre cloths, original costumes, set designs, props and posters by artists and designers including Léon Bakst, Georges Braque and Natalia Goncharova. These tell the story of a company which began in the social and political upheaval of pre-Revolutionary Russia and went on to cause a sensation with exotic performances that had never been seen before.' quoted from V&A official website.

It was huge exhibition. I was bit surprised when I entered the room, because I couldn't expect how bit it was from outside the door. The exhibition was amazing. Especially for me, because I did my foundation in theatre class, it was quite interesting theme. Lots of cloths, costumes, set design models, and props.I really want to see it again before its end.

One of the reason I was amazed the exhibition is the 'Orientalism'.I have images for current russian ballet 'elegance, dignified, and sophisticated'. And it is true. But I was noticed that it was not from the first time. In the exhibition, I felt 'orientalism' because of the color of the costume and the style of the makeup rather than feeling of elegance. They used bright color and bizarre shapes for their costumes and ethnic landscape paints for the back grounds. In addition, people at the time did not look on the company as we know it today for example, elegance and high class entertaiment. I think, it was looked more unwashed-entertaiment.

Visit t V&A Trade between East and West

Today's visit to V&A with Dr. Clare was amazing. First, I have to show respect for her wide knowledge of Art and design history. I wonder if I knew those, it would be much much interesting being in museums!!! Anyway, the visit was about trade between East and West in textile and art works.
There were lots of textile works in the section and some of them had really interesting design. Even almost all of them were made in UK or India, they had lots of oriental elements in the design such as Japanese and Chinese pattern. For me, the design looked bit weird because those were not perfect Japanse or Chinese design, but interesting. It's alway good to mix these two countries senses in one design. It makes completely new pattern. And it was also good to know how the textile trading between india and west countries was growing up.

Natural Dyes from Plants3

Weave using natural color dyed yarn

Cotton dyed by Grapes' skin

Cotton dyed by Grapes' skin

Silk dyed by Rose petal

Silk dyed by Rose petal

Cotton dyed by Avocado's skin

Natural Dyes from Plants2

Rose

1.

Remove petal from the body

2.

Add cooking vinegar and water into a bowl.

Put the petal into a washing net then go into the bowl, and then knead the color pigment from the petal by hand.

3.

Add yarns into the color and simmer it until the temperature gets 50c (do not over 50c)

4.

Remove from the heat and let cool completely.

5.

Wash by water and dry.

Comparison of before and after.



Natural Dye from Plants1

Avocado, Grape, Onion, and Fruits tea

As I am trying to transfer this image into weave, I need to use color gradient yarn.

Natural Dyes from Plants was very good way to make this effect.

The items which were used for dying:

Avocado, Grapes (no photo), onion and fruit tea

Dying Processes

As I need to make color gradation when I weave the yarn,

I put the bobbins into the color directly.

So I can see some dyed parts and non-dyed parts in one bobbin(as you can image, surface of the bobbin is dyed strongly but not inside)

1.

Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20min.

2.

Strain it.

3.

Add yarn to be dyed into the color.

Simmer it for about 15min then remove from the heat and let cool a bit.

4.

Wash by water and dry.

left: onion  middle: avocado skin  right: grapes skin

Accompanied visit to the British Museum

We visited to the British Museum after lecture with Dr Clare Rose.
She mainly introduced us Welcome gallery and African Art section.

                                                                                                    welcome gallery

TASK

In the African art section:
Look at the different ways of artcrafts from African Art shown in the museum. There may be different types of display in the same museum. Each display makes different choice about context, lighting, and information, and these choice give different messages about Africa.
●What are the messages about African culture given by the display in different museum?
One is about African culture and religion. The other is about war  and passing time.
●Are there any relevant topics that are NOT addressed in the displays?
I would like to say yes, but as I'm not familiar with African culture, I can not point exactly what it is.
08022011↓
 Yesterday I found an article from a magazine 'VINE' free magazine for kensington, which shows the present condition of Africa. It picks up a life in slums. The content was slightly shocking for me, even I  knew about the condition before reading. Or, I thought I knew. I can not explain all about the topic now which is too long, but I'm sure there are lots of lifes in this world which are far beyond from my imagination. I felt I need to know more about outside, think about them and do action for and with them.
●Why not?
Actually, I'm not sure whether the topic is in the museum or not. But as I remember, there was no such topics in the section. Why not? I try to guess,,,I think, this topic is more related to the section of post war time rather than African culture which was in the welcome gallery, but the post war exhibition represents the positive side of current Africa, for example, recovery from the damege of war, weapons. So, the negative side of Africa, povety, could not be exhibited together? This is only my guess though.

In the Living and Dying exhibition:
There are artcrafts from all over the world that show how people think about life.
●What would you collect to symbolise how you think about life?
I basically do not have a religion. So I don't have anything to trust, believe or pray religiously...so,,,I would like to say, I collect memories such as pictures, letters from family and etc,,,then these are going to be my emotional support to survive. I think, the qualities of these decide my profundity.
●What would you collect to show the difference between your ideas and these of parents.
I think it's same.