52 28% 40% 0mph windroseWSW dewpoint 20 bar falls Waxing Crescent of the Snow Moon Ordinary Time
Sheila lectured this morning on divination and origin stories among African nations. The morning felt long. Maybe it was me; maybe it was a conflict I keep having bewteen the art historical approach and the anthropological. In art history the appearance of similarity is often taken as evidence of diffusion, that is, one culture influences another. In fact, diffusion often does not explain similarities. A classic example is pyramid forms in Mayan cities. Early antiquarians felt the pronounced similarities with Egyptian pyramids sealed a relationship. They did not, however, explain how Egyptians got to Central America or the Central Americans got to Egypty. No contact, no diffusion. Even though Thor Heyerdahl showed that trans-oceanic travel could occur given simple technologies, that is not the same as providing evidence that it happened. The anthropological approach demands broader evidence than stylistic simliarity or similarity between one set of stories and another. Why? Because, as humans, we often follow similar paths to problem solving–you might call them AncienTrails.
After, I wandered the galleries, always happy to have the museum to myself. Ran into John, a guard, whose father has some industrial design work on display in the Don Harley exhibition. Since I’m assigned to the Modern Design galleries for a SuperValu event this Wednesday, I’ll show off his Dad’s work which includes a plastic flyswatter, a metal flask and plastic ribbon dispensers. All high concept design.
The other project was a magic of myth tour I’ve got coming up on Sunday. This one wants Roman and Greek mythology. A lot more objects than I’d thought. I wrote them down and will do some research, consider a theme.
The museum speaks to me. When I’m alone there, the art begins to accumulate, put layers on my heart. Later, perhaps days or months later, my heart will work through what I learned.
