Freshman Seminar Spring 2011: F6A

o How does this space make you feel?
– Being inside of the museum was very relaxing. It released calm vibes.

o Does it trigger any new ideas or thoughts?
– I thought about learning more on the cultures i saw.

o Is this a space where you feel comfortable and belong, or do you feel uncomfortable and stressed out?
– i felt extremely comfortable being there.

* What did you learn about yourself from being at the museum?
– I learned that i enjoy seeing different cultures and traditions. i never enjoyed it before.

To be honest, comparing with other mandatory museum’s experience, this one was suprising. When i first came to NYC i did an english course and we went to the MoMA.It was really nice, but we were all the time looking at the watches to knew when we can leave. This is what it usually happend when something is mandatory. People have jobs, families, appointments and they not always enjoy the museums as they should.I thought it was going to be one of those experiences where you look for the first sculture you find to write about and complete the assigment. Instead, it wasn’t the best experience in my life, but it was okay. I really enjoy looking around. I don’t know if it was because de icyed Buddha exhibition or what, but it was crowded. I also liked the idea that there is a caffe inside. It was really nice.
While i was looking around in the floor that was assigned, i found lots of things that i liked. I had to find something to write about in this blog. First i found this elephant-ish, the “Dancing Ganapati”, that is the lord of beginnings and the lord of obstacles. It was amazing how the scultor made every detail, the head of an elephant, the body of a human, his 10 arms, every hand doing a different movement and it was dancing on a mouse.
Then i found this statue, the “Standing Arhat”. According to Buddhism, is a spiritual practitioner that comes to high levels of concentration and has gained a deep understanding about the true nature of existence. Which also has reached the state of being freed from both, the suffering and the cycle of rebirth and therefore, will not be born again. I can’t really explain why, but this statue gave me so much peace. After that, my round was done and i went home.
But before leaving i take a little souvenir, the water of the icying Buddha. So, when i was on the subway coming back home, i was happy because i have a little bottle with water and i have pace.

This was the first time I had been to the museum in New York. It was a great experience for me. I had been to two museums back in my country. One is the National Museum and another is concerned with Drugs Eradication Programs. This museum is a colossal building compare to the ones I had been back in my country.

It is very relaxing for me to smell the aromas of the coffee while starring up the giant spiral staircase. I suddenly remembered my friends who are back in Burma and thought about how great will that be if they can all join me in this place marveling at the architecture and great arts.

The most captivating work of art for me is the ice sculpture of the Buddha which is five-feet tall. As a Buddhist, I am totally surprised to see a Buddha statue in this environment. I can appreciate the dedication and professionalizing of work put in to sculpture Buddha figure in ice. I remembered the various Buddha statue curved in stone and in wood and in different shapes and posture back in my country.

Some of the teachings of the Buddha crept into my mind unconsciously. Although it’s 3000 miles away from my country of birth, my mind suddenly raced back to my younger days.

  When I first stepped into the Rubin Museum, I felt a little bit weird. I didn’t expect it a Buddhism museum; I didn’t expect that a Buddhism museum with a café where people drink; and I didn’t expect that people drink in an environment with that kind of special smell. The feeling was different, however, when I saw the Buddha made of ice. It was really an amazing art work. Looking at it, I felt like the melting process of the ice Buddha is like the process of our own lives. At first, it’s perfectly built and it is brand new as a new born baby. And then it starts melting, just like a baby starts his adventure of the world. The melt water of the ice is like our memory, which will evaporate and disappear eventually. I took a small bottle of the melt water before I left. And it reminded me that it will last if we take a good care of the memory.  And finally, the ice will disappear as our lives will lose at the end. Nothing will leave behind except for the feeling it brings to people.

As soon as I walked in the museum and walked upstairs I sensed and loved the incence scent that was in the air. For some reason incence has a very calming effect on me, thus I felt very calm and comfortable while experiencing the museum, in particular, the 3rd. floor. 

The third floor displayed images and objects of worship and prayer. There was a big red box on top of a pedestal and inside, it had a rotating piece of wood with scriptures. According to Elizabeth, a classmate of mine, the scriptures inside were prayers and when you would pull the handle and then the piece of wood would come to stop, that would be the prayer that you need to make for that day. That , for me was new piece of information about Himallayan Tranditions and Culture that I didn’t know, but that I learned on that day.

What I take with me , from the visit to the museum, is definetely , a better knowledge and understanding about the culture. A great appreciation to their art and their meaning. And the incredible attention to detail that the artists expressed through their art. Even though some of the pieces were done by hand. Simply amazaing.

The Rubin Museum, i can now say was a fascinating trip. The Buddha ice sculpture was captivating from the onset, and was just about the only thing i found interesting till after i toured the whole museum. i really didn’t understand, any of it, the paintings were very colorful, engaged with so much activities, and really seemed too cultural and religious for me to identify with. i spent so much time at each painting, trying to understand just exactly what it was trying to express. i drew blank on each picture, untill i saw the display where they explained several stances and gestures. after looking over the explanations, i ran back to where i had seen many complex sculptures and began trying to interpret the whole setup. things kind of started to make sense – the trantic deities, Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, all of them. Everything when i got to the fourth floor, the first thing that left an impression on me was a quote sayin “form is emptiness and emptiness is form” and it said something else further. i couldn’t disagree more, but it sounded so philosophical and tranquil that i just allowed it to sit around in my head. i started looking at the paintings and eventually came across one that was very blurry. i was caught in a mirage just staring at it. i started stepping back and then it gradually started coming to focus. “form is emptiness” i still don’t know. Then i found this book which was like a mini explanation of all the various works that were on the floor. i started reading and i then i got the whole gist of the “emptiness in form.” the artist of the blurry painting explained how everything solid and tangible that we see will eventually fizzle away and cease from existing thereby creating an emptiness. to prove it, he subjected a tadpole or some creature of the sort to a steady capture on film. after many months, the camera was only capturing a scene in which the tadpole was not present. the tadpole had ceased from existing, it had become emptiness, its very composition is no where to be seen, but amist that emptiness, you can find its form. “form is emptiness, emptiness is form, all is emptiness.”

The museum had many unique and interesting features. One feature that I noticed the most is the elaborate and lively café located at the ground floor. To get to the floors of interesting art work we all passed the elaborate café with its ground of people all in conversation was living art all on its own. One of my favorite pieces of work was on the fourth floor. It was a picture of an Indian town. It was a very dark and simple picture yet it took me a few minutes to figure out what exactly it was. With all the vivid colors I was expecting it to be New York City, or Chicago or Los Angeles but it wasn’t. Of course right on the next wall was a picture of the always beautiful Time Square, but after such concentration on the Indian street Time Square didn’t have much of an affect on me. I think this picture can bring and jaded New Yorker to their senses. The way this museum was set up make me feel as if I wasn’t in a museum but more like I was part of the art, part of the action. The spiral stair case, and spacious floors all made this museum experience so interesting.

All of the reflective writing that i’ve don’t throughout the semester was able to assist my experience at the museum because it enabled me to view things in a more openly, detailed way because if you glance at something,you may think something but when you take another look, you may discover something more. This had actually occurred once my peers and i shared our monologues aloud because you would think you know what someone is thinking, but little did you know that they had something completely different in mind.

Along my journey of identity exploration, my progress has been the same because i know who I am; I’m not confused about anything or any decision of mine. Therefore I have not discovered any new qualities about myself.

From within the museum, I have chosen the Sanford Biggers because at first glance, it made me stop and glare at its beauty. Little had I known about its true significance though. This piece stands for all of the deaths that have occurred in the past, and when you look closer, the petals are made up of people, but not ordinary people. To be exact, African American slaves. So although this piece had caught my attention in the beginning due to its visual beauty, it still is able to captivate my attention with the mere facts of the past, despite the fact that it wasn’t so much of a great past. Even when you look closely to the African Americas, you can almost feel their fear and angst because they look like sad little people all collided together within the petals of the ship they were incarcerated.

Thoughts to Consider for Reflective Writing

Great art and architecture can trigger new and exciting emotions and ideas. While exploring the museum, allow your senses to lead you on a journey of discovery through the art of multiple world cultures and the museum’s peaceful environment. As you immerse yourself in the ambiance of the museum, think about the reflective writing that you’ve been engaged in throughout the semester.  How can these self-discovery exercises assist you in reflecting upon your experience at the museum?  How have you been progressing along on your journey of identity exploration? What new qualities have you been discovering about yourself? Here are some fresh perspectives that will help you strengthen the focus of your reflective writing piece:

• Look up at the roof in the giant spiral staircase, smell the intoxicating aromas from the café, challenge yourself with staring at a work of art for 30 seconds, etc.
  • How does this space make you feel?
  • Does it trigger any new ideas or thoughts?
  • Is this a space where you feel comfortable and belong, or do you feel uncomfortable and stressed out?
• What did you learn about yourself from being at the museum?

The museum has wonderful resources at www.rmanyc.org, a page on iTunes U. ‘Beyond Campus,’ and guides who are on the gallery floors to help you explore and answer questions.