Essay #3

Kari Forinash

Dwayne

Digital

April 3, 2012

Visiting Artists Lecture Rahema Barber

Rahema Barber is a teacher at Memphis College of Art. Barber didn’t mention any specifics about her besides the fact that she is a manga fan and just came back from Japan. I wish that she did spend more time talking about more of her interest, and why exactly she went to Japan and what her interests are here as a teacher. Barber based her lecture over her trip to Japan and how the contemporary art movement in Japan inspired her and what she took from that coming back to America. The lecture was interesting for me because I did learn a few things about the art culture in Japan.

Unfortunately I didn’t find too much that could help me in class. I don’t find manga in range with my personal interest but it’s relieving to learn about something that I don’t know a lot about. I was surprised to learn there is a museum that only has manga art in Japan.  Barber told the audience about manga and the museum, showing us pictures of manga and talking about the cultural references and types of manga she saw. At the end of her manga part of the lecture, she continued to tell us how manga is an art for everybody. I found myself disagreeing with this statement. She told us a lot about Japanese culture, such as names of current time periods or groups I was confused when she brought these up because the names are so foreign and she never really explained what some names or ways of doing things meant. She really didn’t tell to much about the artworks either. I think that she read a lot from references on her laptop. This left me uninvolved in the lecture. I found my mind wandering because she kept stumbling over the words she was reading. I also wish she gave more insight of the artworks she showed, a lot of her descriptive words were “cool” and “I liked it” I think if she explained more of what the work was about and not about how popular or “cool” the artists was, I would have taken more away from the lecture instead of leaving a little bored. I did find how a Japanese museum was built was interesting, she told us about how they built in circular and out of glass to convey a sense of community for the people inside the museum. Another interest I had in the lecture was when she mentioned the artists YoYo Kasama. Although I wish she had the names on the screen so I could know what she was saying or how the artist’s name was spelled, I learned about an artist that did interest me.  Barber explained how Kasama uses circular sculptures and patterns to relay a topic of how infinity can be controlled.

Over all I found the lecture to be a little lack luster. I know I am not a lecture critic but I wish I could have learned more from the artists in aspects about learning about her as an artists and learning more about her topic of contemporary Japanese art. I wish she came more prepared with her presentation and lecturing. But inpite of the fact that I disagree with her opinion of anime and manga, I appreciated the chance at learning something new and out of my comfort zone.