Passion Project: Cultural Art
Can art show the culture of an artist through its image? I believe that it can show much more; therefore, for my passion project, I have decided to visit different art pieces wherever I travel to learn more about a new culture. Since I live in SF, I’m surrounded by a diverse group of people, but the understanding I have of those cultures is far too little than I would like. Because of my love for photography and traveling, I wanted to be able to learn more about different cultures while doing the two other things that I love. After each trip, I will post to my Instagram account to spread the awe that these artworks bring. Not only does this allow me to travel to new places, but it also lets me and other people understand the many cultures that can be shown through art. I hope to help the community gain new knowledge and appreciation for different lifestyles, something that is very much needed in our current time. Also, I hope to inspire others to go out and look at these pieces of hard work. For my project, I will be setting goals and posting weekly to maintain my progress until my final product. This project will last 6 weeks and by the final week, I hope to have a successful Instagram account and understanding of my purpose for this project. By doing this project, I hope I can make a change, even if it’s by one post at a time.
Do you usually see beyond the paint of a piece of art? Most of the time I don’t, and I usually don’t care for art or sculptures. But this week, I learned to see the cultures that are represented in different types of art. I researched some artworks around the San Francisco area and made a calendar of when I will visit these places. While planning transportation, time, and everything about my travels, I learned the importance of research and planning.
First off, researching is extremely important because it allows you to understand exactly what you’re doing. My first step was to find hidden gems around the city that displayed culture in their works. By researching, I was able to know the background of the art piece and decide whether it was relevant to my project. The research aspect of my project was the main reason why I stayed with this topic. Reading and learning about the complex history of each of these paintings never failed to bore me and it made me stay curious throughout the process.
Similarly, planning is also important when you want to accomplish great things. Because I want to visit these places and they aren’t within walking distances, I have to plan out the amount of time and how I would get there. Knowing the transportation time and what I need to do, it would allow me to have a little flexibility with everything else. Since it took me 15 minutes from my house, I could figure out how long I wanted to stay there and when I would arrive/leave. I usually don’t plan a lot of my trips because I like doing things on a whim and going wherever catches my eye. But stopping and planning my steps out made me realize that it’s necessary if I wanted to get a particular job done. If I went on with this step without planning, I probably wouldn’t know my boundaries and end up without the result I wanted.
I feel calmer knowing that I have a clear plan for each of my visits and I know why I’m doing these steps. So far, I feel empowered to continue this project and reach out to a bigger audience. I’m amazed at how the research and planning steps made me curious and interested as I am right now.
MAY 6
This past week, I struggled with executing my plan of visiting murals within the bay area. I had planned to visit art pieces in the Mission area of San Francisco and Chinatown; however, I had pre-planned events that made me unavailable to follow through. I was out of the state every weekend in April which did not leave me any room to see these artworks. It was frustrating because I was falling behind in my project and there wasn’t much time left to get to my goals. Though my schedule was extremely busy, I managed to find time after volleyball practice on one Sunday. I was already in the downtown area, which was close to two spots I have discovered in the research process. I chose to visit Balmy Alley in the Mission District.
When I arrived, there was a small festival taking place in the alleyway. There were people lingering on the sidewalks, dancing to music, and enjoying the Hispanic entertainment that was taking place. I was taken back by how beautiful everything was. The live music and cultural dances made the artworks come to life. Due to time restrictions, I only managed to see half of the alley but still enough to understand the influence of the paintings. Although I was able to see the great paintings, I didn’t feel fulfilled in the fact that I wasn’t able to see the whole street. It definitely showed the importance of time and scheduling in this type of project. From my experience, I gained new learning of diversity in San Francisco and pictures for my final product.
MAY 13
Over the weekend, I had a volleyball tournament in Reno, Nevada. My family planned to drive up on Friday morning, giving me time to see the murals I had planned to visit. We got to Reno around noon and we immediately went out to see the town. When we go to Reno or any other place for a tournament, our life is based around volleyball and we rarely get to see any part of the culture. This time was truly exciting because we went to the heart of Reno, a place that was rich with murals and cultures and so much more.
Just a short fifteen-minute drive from our hotel, Midtown District Reno was littered with hidden paintings and stores. The best paintings were found in small alleys, hidden from the public eye. It was amazing to see how many walls were covered in art and that there was little to none blank spaces. My family and I drove around the area, often stopping for me to take pictures for my media. It was really interesting to see the variety of artworks and how each one of them had their own storyline.
One issue I had was taking clear pictures of the places I had visited. I didn’t plan how to take the pictures or how I wanted them to look after I visited them. Looking back on the photos I took, I’m disappointed in how they turned out and they weren’t something I was proud of. Some were cut off because of how big the painting was, some were shown weird because of the lighting, and much more confounding variables that I had looked passed. I am not completely upset with the content I have, but I am certainly not 100% happy with I have either. In addition, I had planned to see more murals on Saturday, May 11, but our schedule had us from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm. There were no times in between for me to even leave the convention center so my adventures were cut short. Although I had many rough times, the places I’ve been to and seen were worth the struggles.
May 19
This weekend, I planned to visit the Mission because of an alley I had heard of. I was really excited about seeing these murals and I was happy that I could find such a place. However, my family made plans without me knowing and I wasn’t able to go. But I was able to go to the Haight as another option. I didn’t plan the events going on that day, which caused a lot of problems. Bay to Breakers was taking place just that morning and it caused everyone to flood the streets after the race. Chloe Directo, Malia Yu, and I walked through the streets and found really interesting paintings and murals on some of the side streets. All the murals were so interesting to see and I was happy that I chose to visit the Haight rather than just not going at all.
Some issues during the trip were traveling through the area and taking pictures of the art. Since there were so many people from the race, they spent their time celebrating and lingering around the streets. The crowded area made it hard to get good pictures or move through the streets to get to where we wanted to get to. In addition, we felt uncomfortable by some of the people there because it was a day where a lot of adults and people were doing things that are age-restricted. Taking pictures was extremely difficult because of the immense group of people walking on the sidewalks and our inability to capture the whole
May 29
Culture. What is culture to you? Culture is the practices and behaviors of a particular group of people. It can often be displayed through foods, languages, and much more. We have the ability to experience a variety of culture because the U.S. is like a salad bowl, all different but come together to make a whole. However, we take advantage of this cultural diversity in our current times. Due to this issue, I wanted to learn more about the growing collection of cultures in the U.S. I created a project that was to visit different cultural murals at the many places I travel to. From this project, I learned the importance cultural awareness and appreciation for other people.
Acknowledging and appreciating diversity of culture can lead to a better future. For my passion project, I decided to choose specifically cultural arts because I want to show off the diversity of cultures that we have in our area. Also, I wanted to gain knowledge and new appreciations for cultures that are far from my own. I felt as if understanding another’s roots or just learning is an important step in achieving a happier life in the future. In the research stages of my projects, I found that having cultural awareness or knowledge can lead to an increase in creativity, improved innovation drive, and so much more. Being more culturally intelligent allows children and adults to produce quality choices that are considerate of another’s culture and roots. I didn’t know the variety of cultures in my own area until after the project. I gained a new appreciation for living in the U.S., specifically San Francisco, due to its freedom and projection of so many cultures.
At the end of my project, I went through the visits and thought of my feelings of the project. In the beginning, I thought “Wow this is going to be such a boring project, I don’t want to do this.” But by the end of the six weeks, I learned to love and appreciate the art I’m surrounded with. The art being depicted on the walls of buildings are stories that are created by unique people to withhold and spread who they are. Throughout its history, art has a great influence in bringing people together no matter their differences. By erasing the boundaries that separate us as humans, we are able to increase our understanding of each other and bring equality to different groups. The cultural arts that are conveyed throughout the world each have its story to tell. By looking at its real meaning, we have the ability to understand and appreciate the diversity we have around us.
I believe that our world needs more understand and patience between its borders. I hope you understand the significance and impact of cultural awareness on the minds of our people. If we all understand each other the way we want others to understand, we can live in a nicer world without misconceptions about who we are. Closing with the words of Deborah Cater, “You cannot understand a culture until you taste it.”
