About Vincent Rojas

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.

4 Comments Add yours

  1. VIDAL ESPINA says:

    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.

    1. 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.

  2. Lea Kolesky says:

    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!

  3. Rachel Hicks says:

    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

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