As you read this powerful poem, do not overthink it. Try reading out loud so you can hear the rhythm, listen to the story as if you sitting across the table from Baca and he was sharing his life with you over a cup of coffee or a drink.
If you dont like poetry it is ok...read and find the story. If English is your second language, try to relax..there is no test over this book, no trick questions.
I do ask you to share one description, one line, one stanza that haunts you.
Scrape the Willow, Part 2 - Response
ReplyDeleteI experienced Julia Parker’s voice (her story conveyed in her own words) one that had garnered wisdom through the process of reflection and openness of heart. When she described her journey—from being uprooted and placed in foster care, to her time in the “Indian school”, to her work in the gift shop, her establishment into another tribe’s culture and process of learning basket weaving—she always focused on the knowledge that she harvested while gracefully acknowledging pain and trauma. Also, I thought that Julia’s recounting of the facets of her journey (particular to her individual experience and her family’s experience) helped me to zoom in on my knowledge of a generalized and diluted history. Furthermore, I recall the author mentioning in the first part that Julia would find meaning through a winding path of story telling. I think that Julia’s choice of words, her emphasis on particular lessons or themes, and her nonlinear narration help to transmit information in such a way that enhances the complexity of memory—perhaps in a more authentic way.
In terms of my own identity, I believe that learning from the past is tremendously significant to the succession of life. Personally, I have relied on written records collected by others (i.e. standard historical documents), oral tradition passed on by my family members, and artifacts passed down from my ancestors to interpret my own identity. I have used all of these things, which have been informed by collective wisdom, to reflect on the trajectory of previous generations all the way to my own existence.
In a documentary of Bas Jan Ader’s life and work, there is a part where the documentarian reflects on the passage of time stating that, “Time is the biggest eraser of them all.” Bas Jan Ader’s father and mother were Calvinists living in Holland, and they harbored Jewish people during the Holocaust. Eventually his father was executed and Bas Jan sailed to California as a young man. I gather that the eradication of peoples’ truths affected him; the vulnerability of human existence to the chaos of reality (whether social or environmental) was a profound theme in his work. Eventually he disappeared at sea in his attempt to sail back to Holland from California in a one-man guppy in his last piece In Search of the Miraculous. Considering Bas Jan’s relinquishing of himself to the chaotic forces of the universe(s), I thought it was interesting how Julia Park remarked that the museum’s collecting of baskets preserved tradition for others to learn from. For me, I think that keeping records is important, but searching for greater complexity in their meaning is essential. Inevitably, facets of experience will be lost during the passage of time, so it is up to me to engage with the past in a meaningful way that is contemplative, flexible, open, and personal.
**I just wanted to specify that I am using the term "authentic" to point to the idiosyncrasy of recounted first-hand experience.
DeleteTruth is always many sided. And stories are more than facts. What is important is where we find our truths and the stories we tell ourselves, tell others.
DeleteScrape the Willow, Part 3 - Response
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I was aware of several important topics discussed in Part Three such as Art with a capital ‘A’—art for art’s sake, gender bias in anthropology, inclusivity/exclusivity, the divide between craft and fine art—high and low art, and the sensual other. Nonetheless, I gained new insights about all of these issues in contemplating them through the lens of basketry. The part that I would like to focus on though is section V. Flexibility. While reading this book, I have been interested in the idea of authenticity as it relates to petrification. In this section, the author writes, “ In truth, traditional arts in general, and basketry in particular, have always been in a state of dynamic flux.” (Pg. 141) Essentially, this statement encompasses the truly fluid manifestation of culture that is perpetually changing and ceaselessly authentic. When I think about emotions attached to expectations of permanency in Western culture in general—such as comfort, reassurance/calmness, and relief, inevitably then uncertainty seems to be connected to disappointment, distress, and suffering. This desire to constrain chance, to predict outcomes, seems to related to the ideologies of advancement/progression as the goal of humanity, but at what cost?
In life, I find myself searching for continuity and permanency in order to cope with a constantly changing and unpredictable reality. In finding my place in the world, I have compared my gestures to those that precede them in hopes of establishing some degree of validity within a larger social/temporal context. However, as stated in the author’s example of declaring authenticity with regard to Mayan huipuils she states, “…I was caught up in a philosophical double negative, and it was only recently that I realized that both huipuils were viable adaptations.” (Pg. 143) I think that recognizing the authenticity of each variation of culture as an adaptive response it compelling. To me, this embraces a sense of agency and deliberateness on the part of the maker who is actively in conversation with a place in various ways that are highly nuanced. In this way, Julia’s contention that “Flexibility…is a necessary component of perseverance” (Pg. 147) spoke volumes to be about relinquishing control while maintaining integrity.
Beautifully said.I believe many books are written about art by those who do not or have not attempted to make art. Judgement is easier when you have not touch the material or dreamed of the image. Or had the opportunity to shift your vision while making especially when at first you think you have made a mistake. Art is a means through which I would out my life issues or document my journey. With time I have accepted that nothing is permanent and attachment is a noose.
ReplyDeleteScrape the Willow - Part Four
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed learning about the entire process of “growing” a basket and about the perseverance that Julia showed in learning and trying different techniques. Actually, I was impressed by the multitude of the techniques and their specificity… “twining, windowpane twining, lattice twining, three-stand twining, three-strand twining, interlocking coiling, non-interlocking coiling, and knotless netting” (173)… these were all new to me; I also found interesting the various interdictions accompanying the creation of a basket, although these were not exactly surprising, since they are somehow similar to some of the interdictions associated with work in the old Romanian folkloric tradition and I am convinced that they are present in other cultures too, in a form or another. I liked Julia’s thoughts about breaking the rules when making a basket and not being afraid to be different, to manifest individualism as an artist, and particularly to innovate. “Well, how do we know it was always done that way?”(178) she keeps asking throughout the book, defending her right to create in accordance to her own individuality and reflecting the idea that collective and personal identity are both fluid, interchanging. And I loved the way she sees the baskets as entities with a life and will of their own (“you have to be kind to your basket (…) we have to learn to listen to them” -191 or “The baskets are alive and they are breathing. They are happy” – 200), and how she grants them imperfection, in the most natural manner. If everything but God is imperfect, then baskets should reflect this imperfection; also, they should be able to communicate with the spirits, and I found the fact that she always places a funny bead in the basket “to let the spirit in and out” absolutely moving. Once again, Julia’s stories show how important is to remain positive, despite personal uncertainties, sufferance, or struggles, and resonate with your work, letting it make you happy and giving that happiness back to the artwork.
I wonder what it would be like to treat our art the same way?
DeleteScrape the Willow Part 4
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to say here that I have not already mentioned. Throughout this book, I have been most impressed with the authors choice to let Julia be the story teller here. She really is amazing at it. It made a book like this much more enjoyable to read coming in the form of a first person story. She reminds me of my own grandmother and the way she tells a story, occasionally surprising you with a gem you've never heard. In this 4th part of the book, it was good to hear her talk about actual technique and process, which I am always in to. This part of the basket making was so important that she studied the precise details of stitching in old baskets with a magnifying glass in order to get it right.
In the very next paragraph, Julia is asked if they weave together. Her response to this cracked me up because it is fitting of my mother in law and her sewing friends. Julia said they only get together to collect. If they weave together, they gossip to much or talk about other things that keep them distracted from working. Janis, my mother in law, gets a lot of work done in her own living room. with her friends, I'm not sure anything gets done. They take a trip every year to the hill country. They hop around from place to place, shopping for fabric, gathering with other sewers. And of course there is the planned winery trip. When they started these trips years ago, it involved about 5-6 sewing stops and 2 wineries. she says now its more like 2 sewing stops and 5 wineries.
Your mother in law is my kind of a group trip taker...what fun to talk art/ life and laugh with friends. Your remarks on Julia's voice is how I feel...as if I was sitting next to her. So glad the author did not try to "fix" the language.
DeleteScrape the Willow, Part 4 - Response
ReplyDeleteAs I read Julia’s words, I ascertained a visceral feeling of the willow, the cool dampness of its fibers, the tension of the weave between my fingers, and even had a sense of responsiveness as I read her description of the process of letting the natural materials be what they want to be; I admire the supreme mindfulness of her practice. Julia’s commitment to learning about plants, natural processes, and the rhizomatic nature of life from her elders is remarkable to me. Her practice of listening made me think about how matter in general has heralded the way for humankind, and how so much knowledge is contained within it all. In the passage on gathering she states, “The most important thing is to feel the willows—to feel how they are alive, you know.” (Pg. 203) I also thought about how according to neuroscience subconscious processes process information far more quickly than the slow and tedious conscious processes, and how Descartes privileged conscious deliberation over the physicality of learning. I have been a maker for a long time, and this while reading about Julia’s practice made me realize that I am intimately connected to matter in a way that is becoming rare. So as I read this book, I noticed the push and pull between intuition and intent, as previously indicated. While reading about Julia’s process I had a vision of a quivering tranquility, wherein her forming of natural materials was a kind of considerate guiding.
This type of engagement with material struck me as remarkably generous, and so her process was a breath of fresh air for me as I’ve been writing lectures on Modern Art recently. On another note, this past week I co-taught Socially Engaged Art in the Summer Art Discovery Program for high school students at TTU. We partnered with the South Plains Food Bank’s Grub Program to collaboratively construct works about what hunger looks like in Texas. At the exhibition opening, several students came up to my colleague and me and mentioned that they were grateful to have realized that art could be something that brings peoples’ expressions, insights, and reflections together. Also, I tried to teach them that putting socially engaged art in a white gallery space could influence how the work speaks. Personally, I have long been weary of the effects of decontextualizing work and placing it in a sterilized environment, and while reading about Julia’s work I was at first skeptical about the baskets being presented photographically with a “neutral” infinity background. However, as I read I realized that it was helpful in focusing on evidences contained within the baskets that the passages described. Overall I thought this was a beautiful book; I loved the use of the quotes to weave together the story. (I make artist’s books, so I couldn’t resist making that comment!)
Thank you...it is odd that an artist will be so open to the touch and smell and movement of materials. So open to the flux in making. It is the part of making we all know but somehow it is forgotten or overlooked in most books..maybe because it is not about that one all important work of art.
DeleteYes, last week I spent some time reflecting on how outcome driven art making can be. I have only been teaching for a short time but I can definitely say that my appreciation for process has, on many levels, deepened. The process of learning, and the process of manifesting forms while in conversation with the world, most notably.
DeleteI really love how critical theory is woven into Valoma’s chapters. Colonization, feminism, otherness, high-brow/low-brow, masculine/feminine polarities, appropriation, indigenous thought, identity politics, craft, authenticity, aesthetics, are a few topics that you could take apart and examine individually. Its half a critical studies book.
ReplyDeleteObjectivity: Chicana feminists like Chela Sandoval and Alicia Gaspar de Alba, talk about how women as the other, especially women of color, cannot be objective, because they cannot separate who they are and detach their “otherness.” I am really simplifying this here. This is what I thought of when reading about David Batchelor’s Chromaphobia regarding otherness and seeing objectively (112).
I had never completely understood “low-brow” until this book, (118).
I understand what was discussed at the annual Californian Indian Basketweavers Association gathering about having to defend against negative experiences of the last five hundred years, but to move away from defensive energy and “bring back spirit and light into our eyes and or hearts.” The same thing happens within Chicana/Chicano and Latina/Latino communities, where people become nationalistic and militant which is more destructive and divisive than any good.
Native peoples and land like Valoma discusses on page 134, is inherent. When I went to the Take Root Conference back in February, in Oklahoma, there were a lot of native peoples present. There was a discussion about Standing Rock, and the forced, (rather tricked), sterilization done to native women. Since the woman is the center of the family, to sterilize the woman is to commit genocide all over again. As you may know the first responders to protect the water at Standing Rock were women because they are the water protectors, and water is the source of life. To them, when you destroy the life source of a people like water you are committing genocide. Water is not only what you drink, but water symbolic of birth. There are indigenous deities that represent water and childbirth in Pre-Columbian MesoAmerican history. Dispossession of land is something that Chicana/o’s share with North American Native Peoples, although distinctive histories.
Back in the Rio Grande Valley, the Lipan Apache tribe there got their eagle feathers used for ceremonial purposes back after a decade from the governing agency that confiscated them. Like the basketweavers gathering materials, those people and those practices have been here long before and should be respected.
To Deepika’s post on Part Three: You wrote about being confused about the term “Indians,” from what I learned in Mexican American Studies is that colonizers landed and were confused about the natives, thinking they were Indian as from India. So the name Indian stuck, but it is considered derogatory to call someone an Indian, I think the more appropriate term is native American. Although in the book they are referred to as first peoples. To me, it is more of a North American reference, because of the recognition of tribes by the U.S. government. There are indigenous peoples throughout the Americas.
To Chase’s post on Part Three: After taking Future’s class on American Craft last semester I have a whole new outlook on craft. I felt there was so much history, and essence of the person in craft. If art is communication, (more like a monologue), craft is a heart to heart conversation. I love how Julia is not focused on the opticality or the physicality, but rather on the humble every day use (159). She allows herself to just be. Putting beads where she wants, slowing down, adding yarns and sequence. I like the freedom of just being. Sometimes it’s the hardest thing to do.
This was Part Three, Part Four is forthcoming.
DeleteScrape the Willow Part Four
ReplyDeleteI did not know that the first beads came with Christopher Columbus. This goes to show that cultures are not static and are not in a vacuum. Julia has been so resilient throughout her life. And to think that she only felt that he had succeeded when she received her honorary doctorate. She grew up as an orphan, and was seemingly the one that took care of everyone. She was in an Indian boarding school, she says wasn’t abusive, but she really doesn’t have anything negative to say about anything, so I don’t think she is saying everything. She learned all kinds of stitches and materials for basketweaving, and she learned to collect the materials. She was accepted into her husband’s tribe and learned all of their traditions. There is no academic program in the world that could have taught her or anyone all she knows. I am so glad she explained how she cooked acorn mash in a basket, because I also imagined placing a basket directly on a fire.
It was very disheartening to hear of her daughter Virginia’s passing. I like how she released her grief by hiking into the forest. Although the grief will never be gone completely, it will grow back kind of like the willows. I also agree that you are never by yourself, as the elders told her (222). I completely agree, I have never felt alone. I found some similarities between the process for picking materials and Curanderismo (traditional healing). Julia explained how they had to give thanks of say a prayer to the plant and never take more than you need. Same is true when you pick plants for healing. We also make “ofrendas,” offerings in many circumstances.
I really loved how appreciative Julia was to Deborah for taking an interest in her work. She gathered all her baskets for the show, and was so surprised yet humble. This kind of reminded me of when I had my mom show me the towels she was working on with crochet figures and beads. She was really in good spirits, and loved that I took interest. I think we all need that acknowledgment and for our stories to be heard.
It is amazing to me how a little kindness can change everything. I think too often in art, especially art within the white washed walls of academia, is based on mean and cruel words hurled and championed. In the very old film of potter Maria Martinez she too speaks of giving thanks to the earth for her clay and never taking more than she needs.
DeleteHealing Earthquakes Book I
ReplyDeleteMy husband recently drove some friends new to the area around our home town in the Rio Grande Valley. They are historians, so they wanted to see specific places. Then they tell him they wanted to see a real barrio. So my husband tells me, "so I took them to your old house." !?! I was shocked, because I never thought of myself as growing up in a "barrio," but it actually is one of the oldest barrios in my home town. So so much hit home for me. In Ten, I just broke down. There is something hard about growing up in a place like that, and yet brimming with special memories. When I think about it, they were the happiest moments, even though we were poor, lived next to drug dealers, and behind people that had constant cock fights. I once found a lady in my front yard washing out with our garden hose an old gun shot wound to her knee. She begged me not to call the cops on her, and what did I do, I gave her a ride home. she showed me her green eyes, and introduced me to her son. I thought I was going to die, but I went home and never forgot her green eyes, or the smell of the infected wound. Anyways. what made me cry was on page 29, never blaming our father or mother for our shortcomings. That is right. I never did, I only blamed myself.
Baca is hard and real and honest and beautiful. There is no one to blame.
DeleteThank you for sharing these poignant experiences, Corina. Reading your recollections in this post was a gift of sobering insight.
DeleteScrape the willow until it sings – Part 3:
ReplyDeleteIn India, different kind of basket weave in different states like in Panjab basket made out of Sarkanda - a wild grass stitched with date-palm leaf with Pulkari pattern. In Kashmir, made basket out of twigs of the willow trees. Uttar Pradesh is known for monsoon grass basket called moonj and Bihar is famous for coiled basket. Specific caste and community does basketry, and only it is the only source for their income. I agree she mentioned about unemployment is rate higher in India, Pakistan and China, where labor is very cheap. (p,119) one big basket completes in entire day and sold is sold for 50 Rupees which means .77 USD only. Which is below poverty line. In this chapter, discussing about line between art and applied art, (p111) how art curator changes the dimension of the way of hanging work in museum and so many artists influenced from Navajo weaving. I learned about few artists in my MFA while working on my thesis, who uses craft/folk art material to make their own art. Sheila Hicks, Claire Zeisler, Barbara Shawcroft, Ted Hallman, and Eve Hesse etc. they used craft material to make their art.
Materials are materials.Each of us as artists have our own intent. Others as in critics, historians try to control how it the finished work is labeled. This is part marketing and part showmanship. For this class just allow the artist to speak to you.
DeleteScrape the willow until it sings – Part 4:
ReplyDeleteI think every art piece is individual work and reflect artist’s identity in it. “We each weave differently because our hands are different. We can do the same kind of a stitch and the same kind of design, but yet that basket is going to be different.” (p177) Bicentennical Basket 1976, remind me of my school days, we also do such kind of work in our summer school project. All kind of craft I learnt from my mother. She teaches me stitching, embroidery, and weaving with reflects in my artwork. That blurred line between art and craft for me. Acron Tray (P,188) is more look like delicate and complete art piece. In this book work of Julia, is really important to be focus in life no matter what, always listen to your heart and spread happiness to others.
I would like to share Indian newspaper link on India’s grasswork and handicraft communities. Apart from baskets, another use of bamboo is mention ecofriendly, sturdy jootis (boots) is unique feature. Khajoor (date palm leaves) grass craft and jewelry from central India, are beautiful neckpieces, basket, chairs, flowers and vases.
http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/india-grassworks-and-craft-community-koodur-khajoor-moonj-sisal-2818440/
thank you for making another connection
DeleteIn book two it was nice reading a love story like it was a timeline, since he was young, then when he meet someone that later became his wife and then he talks about his daughters. Reading his love life in chronological order was good because I felt like it followed a coherent logic, making the reading feel honest. During the first poems I thought he would only talk about him being in love and what his love for Lisana was like but I was wrong.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting how he was certain there will be someone like Lisiana for him and he knew he was going to meet her eventually, so it is like he knew her spiritually but not physically. It's funny because I believe most of us have been in a similar situation, I mean most of us don't write a poem about it but we do hope will find someone to share our life with, so it's pretty similar to what he expresses in his poems.
Something I've noticed is that people that surrounds you can have a big influence in your life and I think this is no exception. By reading a little bit of his background I can tell she had a huge positive impact in his life. She helped him be happier, he went from being lonely to having all he needed. It is interesting how he uses a metaphor of a package that once is open there is no turning back "if you open it, there is no turning back, no return to sender, you must prepare yourself to explore the dark and bright regions". He deals with commitment in a very beautiful way and he himself sets an example when he felt his marriage was falling apart but he did not give up easily. I think this can relate to society today and not only marriage but life itself. We live in a time where quitting becomes an easy exit and of course I know some things are not meant to be but speaking for myself I know there is much more commitment I can incorporate in my life.
The last thing I want to mention is how meaningful some little details end up becoming in our life. I enjoyed reading when he mentions making tamales for his daughters and how that somehow created a story they will carry over and that is completely true. My grandmother cooks tamales for Christmas so it is kind of a tradition and that is definitely something I will remember with joy my entire life.
I also enjoyed the narrative quality of this love story. I wondered though if Baca's anticipation of finding Lisana was as clear at the time or if it was more a product of hindsight.
DeleteYes, it is the details of his story that make it beautiful and familiar.
ReplyDelete