Hello! My name is Vincent Rojas I am an Art History Major with a love for ancient Greek art/culture, Japanese art/culture (Ukiyo-e), pretty much all of art history, hence my college major, but recently I have become interested in what is happening currently in the art world, particularly music. I have been really intrigued by the artistic experiments and current art/music exhibits/festivals A Ship in the Woods has been offering to the public. I was first introduced to A Ship in the Woods in community college, when my sculpture/art professor took us on a field trip to the location of A Ship in the Woods in Escondido. Btw A Ship in the Woods in a non-profit organization where artists, scientists, and more collaborate to produce works of art that are sometimes experimental. As of now I am a senior with the ending of last spring quarter, and I am really excited about that, as it has been quite the journey to get to where I am now. I am from Frankfurt Germany, but not German, my dad was in the army and was stationed there when I was born. I identify myself as a college student most importantly, being that college takes up most of my time, before college I defined myself as a working individual, working full time before I decided to finish my degree as a full time expenditure. As for my free time I have recently started gardening, it is an old past time, when I was a kid I use to love plants I’ve just recently re-discovered this. I also like to go hiking, river fishing when I can, or just relaxing discovering new shows, or movies on Netflix.
As for knowledge of the Pacific, I took a course last quarter vis 21 a African/Polynesian art. We learned about general meanings of Polynesian art as it pertains to the Polynesian people, we also learned a bit about western perspective of Polynesian art. Before the class I had no clue as to what the meaning of Polynesian art was, I just had a western perspective, say, tiki bars, or the Hawaiian Luau. Little did I know these two forms of cultural and artistic forms were for Western tourists/eyes they had nothing to do with Hawaiian culture and art in the past before colonialization. As for Cat 124 I was really interested in expanding my knowledge of the Pacific, mainly away from Polynesia as I have a wide understanding of that region. Papua New Guinea stood out because for one I have no knowledge of this region or culture, other than a short YouTube video where some travelers suggested this place as a cheap travel destination. I also became interested with the class because of the archival aspect, I’m really looking forward to reading the reports by the Kiaps and their initial adventures to a land unknown, I hope to learn more about this initial contact, and perhaps more about the mining of raw materials particularly gold that has taken place in the interior of Papua New Guinea.
My friend proposed an exhibit at Ship in the Woods. I don’t know if she was able to show, I haven’t spoken to her since she told me about it – been too busy with school. Have you shown anything at Ship in the Woods?
Plants are also an interest of mine. As a child, I was both grossed out and fascinated with seaweed and kelp – although they’re not technically plants but algae. But that started my exploration into land plants and gained equal fascination.
I have not submitted anything to Ship in the Woods, the thought never crossed my mind. I was taking a lot of art classes when I was at community college, I loved it, now i’m really honing in on my major, its all reading and writing now, but I hope to start making art after I graduate.
Hi Vincent. I’m also a former full-time worker turned full-time student and going into my senior year. I hope you’re as excited as I am to be almost done! I’m also a huge music fan. Who are your favorite bands or artists? I’m new to San Diego, so is there anything local or maybe affiliated with A Ship in the Woods that you would recommend checking out? I had never even heard of A Ship in the Woods until I saw a flyer for their recent festival, which looked awesome. I love Bill Callahan, Built to Spill, and Shabazz Palaces, but, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it.
I’m looking forward to hearing your perspective in class. I hope we get a chance to talk music and art history!
Hi Vincent, thanks for sharing your experience. It will be interesting to hear what you learned about Polynesian art and how that compares to Melanesian art. Feel free to explore that a little in the cultural blog post next week and bring it up in discussions as it seems appropriate! Best, Rachel