Waru! (Wa-what?) | Stanford Arts Review

By PAULA SALAZAR âš«Â*Paula is spending the summer at Stanford putting together an art exhibit for the Comparative Wests project at the Bill Lane Center for the American West.Â* This column will focus on arts events around the Bay (she has a car this summer!), with the occasional foray into the exhibit-making process.âš« Before last week, I'd only heard about the Thomas Welton <a href="http://aaaajerseys.com"><strong>MLB Hats</strong></a> Art ############## in passing. Â*But thanks to my new, cool job, I got to enter the ##############, located next to the Cummings Art building, for the first time and go behind the scenes as artists put up its latest exhibit, "Waru! Holding Fire in Australia's Western Desert." Coordinated in part by Doug Bird and Brian Codding of the anthropology department, the exhibit showcases art by Martumili Artists, the arts collective of the indigenous Martu people of Western Australia.Â* The exhibit marks the Martu people’s relationships to their foraging economy, ritual arts, landscape, and desert biodiversity. These relationshipsÂ*connect in theÂ*practice of waruÂ*from which the exhibit gets its name. "Waru" means "fire."Â*The different meanings of fire inspired the Martumili artists to name the exhibit after it.Â*They hope to be cultural ambassadors, spreading knowledge of their people and their heritage like fire. An extremely cool and informational touch screen at the exhibit teaches viewers about the Martu people and the practice of waru.Â*The Martu people are literally agents <a href="http://aaaajerseys.com"><strong>wholesale jerseys</strong></a> of fire. They apply it to their country in the course of their daily foraging to help maintain arid grassland biodiversity. The exhibit displays stunning works of art.Â* The large-scale paintings’ bold use of line and color jump out at the viewer.Â* Startlingly reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionist movement, these paintings would be right at home nestled next to a work by Willem de Kooning or Philip Guston. Going into the exhibit,Â*I certainly didn’t <a href="http://aaaajerseys.com"><strong>Soccer Jerseys</strong></a> expect to see these intensely physical, abstract works, which seemed to undulate with movement. The paintings made me feel as if I were slowly swirling toward the center of some sort of rainbow vortex.Â*Psychedelic color seemed to be a common theme: Like the paintings, the bowls on display were bold and bright. Ranging in size and intricacy, these bowls were hand-woven fromÂ*yarn. It was quite amazing to see how something as simple as yarn could be turned into a tough and sturdy bowl with seemingly no other materials. Unfortunately, <a href="http://www.436100.info/view.php?id=10952"><strong>A Review of the Farouk CHI Flat Iron – Is it any good? | Best Flat ...</strong></a> the sculptures were not yet up while I was at the ##############, but you should definitely go take a look. The exhibit opens today, June 28 and runs through July 30.Â* There will be an opening reception on Thursday, June 30, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the ##############. The curators and some of the artists will be on hand to mingle and presumably talk about the art.Â* Snacks, drinks and rainbow vortexes—what more could your Thursday night need? &nbsp; Paula Salazar is a junior majoring in Art History.Â* She is the Senior Editor, Visual Arts of the Review and thinks museums are the next best thing after pomegranates. Tags: abstract expressionism, stanford, Waru