Confucianism and Daoism - Harmony

We have been reading Trying Not To Try as well as part of The Analect. We also have been discussing on the two main philosophers, Confucius and Laozi, along with theirs philosophies. 

“Confucius compares the process of self-cultivation to a grueling, lifelong journey toward sage-hood; Laozi tell us to stop, turn back, and go home to our primordial roots, to "being an infant" or to "honoring the Mother" (Trying Not To Try, 99)

Often time, when people look at this quote, they claim to be either Confucianist or Daoist. Are you a Confucianist or Daoist? Or are you both? 

There was a question during the discussion that I thought it is worth thinking about. Do you think that the application of both philosophies would be better for our lives than just either one of them? Personally, its' a "yes" for me. Are you wondering how? 

Let me tell you my little story.

By the time my little sister turned 5, we had plenty of arguments and even fights. Since then, those quarrels have turned me into a completely different person, changing my personality and my mood. I would become really aggressive at a drop of a pencil and will start every argument that I could have with my sister. As these quarrels happened more often, my parents didn't seem to care anymore. They simply ignore them.

Thank you to my Asian Literature class for the introduction to the Self Cultivation Project, I had found the solution to put me back into my initial state.

After one week of strictly following rules I had laid out for myself in the beginning, my sister and I were both able to talk to each other in more calm voices; the days of fighting like cat s and dogs were over. Moreover, I used Confucianism, trying to cultivate myself in caring more for my sister. At the same time, I would tell myself to stop and to relax when things escalated as if I had thoroughly understood Daoism.

Related to this context, Cinasthana Today summarizes the true attitude of Chinese intellectuals as - they followed the teaching of Confucius when they were success, but would turn to Daoism when they were frustrated.

I believe that Confucianism and Taoism both have contributed to tradition of holism emphasizing the interpersonal harmony and the interconnection between humans.  

Jiro Ono, Selfish or Love or Both?

"Awarded a prestigious 3 star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollars for a coveted seat"

Kohada

We may all have heard of the fame of Jiro Dreams of Sushi and its 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, which described this film to be "beautiful, thoughtful and engrossing".

Jiro Ono - The Sushi Master

Besides liking this movie as a sushi lover and a success-seeker, I find some aspects of Jiro's life very controversial. 

"He should just keep doing the same thing for the rest of his life", "Now you have no home to come back", "I told him to leave and open this restaurant", "they did not want to do this at first, but I manage to convince them to" 

In the beginning of the movie, his eldest son mentioned that he did not want to do this job; he completely hated it but somehow his dad had "convinced" him to carry on this glamorous career. And now both of his sons are famous sushi chefs too. Is Jiro being selfish, or is this just his love towards his children? Could it be both?

When Jiro got kicked out of his house at the age of 9, he started religiously practiced making Sushi for fifty years at the the same spot in a subway station. Somewhere in the middle of the film, his sons said that they thought there was stranger in their house at night but it turned out to be Jiro. Working from 5 am to 10 pm, his work did not permit him to spend much time at home and as a result, be there for his kids. When his business hiked up the hill, he forced them to followed his path even though his elder son wanted to go into university. He said that he had "convinced" him, but at the same time you would never know what he really told his son. After succeeding to this level, Jiro is reluctant when it comes to leaving this profession.

At the same time, a reason why Jiro forced his sons to carry on his sushi making job, could be that he was protecting them from the harsh realities that he had to face after being thrown out of his house. I am glad that he did not kick his sons out of the house like his parents did because "often the way how you were treated by your parents is a direct reflection of how their parents treated them." Also, what I see here is that Jiro and perhaps the Japanese society value the unity of people and their the family legacy. Many Asians tend to followed their parents’ careers (even today) because that is all they have been exposed to. To carry on the family tradition, perhaps, Jiro compelled his sons to do the same.

To me, Jiro is definitely a loving father however, a complicated one. 

Prawn sushi

But to sum up this movie, DO NOT watch this movie unless you are full!

Last Blog - The Vessel

What is the difference between a vessel and a pot? "$5000"

HOPE, 14 in. (35cm) in height, thrown and hand-built stoneware.
Glazes: Blue Rutile, Shino Brown, Smokey Merlot

To be honest, I did not even know what the meaning of vessel was before taking this class. I realized that how much knowledge I've gain. When I started this project, I had choices between making a teapot or clay connection. Since I had already done a teapot during my own time (Pottery Club), I chose to do the clay connection project, which I have to connect a bunch of pots together to create a form of my own. We had a really short period of time to finish this project, so I decided to throw as many pots with different form and size as possible first only then connect them. Due to the short period of time and my limited throwing skill, I did not really have a theme for my vessel.

Africa | Palm wine or water vessel with
base from the Nupe people of Nigeria |
 Terracotta and pigment | 20th century

This is one of the ceramics vessel from the 20th century I've found which the the idea and form are related to mine. We can clearly see that this vessel is a combination of the different thrown parts: a small pot at the top, a big one at the bottom and a cylinder form in the middle. Connecting pots together not only gives it an interesting form but also creates height just from 3 little pots and parts, instead of throwing a really tall pot from one try. From the caption, this vessel is used to hold wine or water from the people of Nigeria. Not only it looks great with all that surface design but also function great too.

Compare to the vessel of the Nigeria people, I would say that they would appreciate my vessel because I intentionally carve my all of my pot bottoms to give it a function. I cut out all the bottoms because I thought that I could give this to my mom so that she can put flowers in it since she likes them a lot. And I would like to follow their concept and idea of this pot of both form and surface design and coordinate in my further work.

WELL, What is a vessel?
Looking at my vessel and that of the Nigeria people, vessel can be defined as a container with form and shape with the touch of the surface design and also be able to function well. Plus, it also need to pleased viewer's and user's eyes.

Final Alter Ego

Mother Bird

Describe your intentions. Who is your alter ego? What’s the story behind it? Looking back on your first blog about your alter ego, did it change and how? Does the story and personality come thru and why?This bust represents my alter ego. 

My intention is to make this bust look as real as possible. My alter ego is a person that I have always been looking up to.

She is a my role model

She is amazing

She is my aspirin 

She is the best

She is my backbone

She is unsinkable

She is my hero

She is strong

She is my world

She is MAGNIFICENT

She is ... MY MOM.

To me, she is the most beautiful whenever she is happy and whenever she is smiling. She is good at handling stress. Whenever my mom stresses out, she doesn't want me and my sister to know. She just stays calm, put on a big smile and slowly solve the problems. And by putting a smile on the bust will personify her character. 

And yes, this bust is still my mom, but what I did change was the object I wanted to add on. I initially wanted to do a superman cape on her back but the idea of adding on a bird nest sounds better to me. The bird nest here is a symbol of nurturing just like birds do. And there are two eggs, one is me and the other is my sister. She always put us before her. She gave us every best that she could. There isn't enough word to say how awesome my mom is to me. 

Explain a bit of the process used and the challenges you faced.  Did you achieve what you wanted? Is the work what you expected?

HS Art show

The challenge that I faced in the process of making this bust was to make the eyes look real. Eyes are really difficult to get them right as the human eye sockets are much deeper inside and the ratio between the the eyeballs and the face need to be accurately measured. I am really of my bust how it turned out to be. I put a lot of effort into this bust. This is probably the biggest achievement of mine this semester for this class.  

• Did you enjoy and value working with clay for sculptural purposes rather than functional or do you prefer the functional process?

I did enjoy working with clay for sculptural purposes but to be honest I prefer the functional process. I prefer to throw a pot than to hand build it. I am also a type of person who amaze by the smoothness than the roughness and symmetrical things make me happy.

• Take a photo of another student’s clay bust that intrigues you not because it was made by your friend but because it really stands out in your eyes. Explain why it has impact; the form, the story, the expression, the hair, the eyes, the glazes used….React to the work explaining why it has impact.

Kitty's bust

Everytime I walk through the atrium, Kitty's bust probably is the one that I can't take my eyes off. Not because her bust is next to mine, but what really stand out about this bust is the concept that Kitty chose to make hers. She did not do anything like others did. Instead, her bust looks to me is really futuristic, really different and strange in a good way. A story that comes to my mind is that being different doesn't mean that she doesn't have her own voice. I thought that it was very well represented. Her big black eyes from this angle really feel empathy somehow as if she is trying to fit into today chaotic society. And I thought the black parts on her head and on her body are scars left behind from time to time finding her own voice, which represented by the strange language carve on her mouth.

Grendel Chapter 3-4

  What is Grendel’s perspective on the society of men and the history of their wars? what is his opinion of these men?  What attitude toward Hrothgar and his growing empire does Grendel express in chapter 3?  
            Grendel says he doesn't want to be Hrothgar’s enemy, he only wants to take that role because Hrothgar is already so old. Grendel notes how violent human are. He is surprise by how human can be so cruel to each other that even “no wolf was so vicious to other wolves”. Humans are fighting for their honor and justice but Grendel simply thinks they attack each other for gold and other treasure.
           
  Why is Grendel so drawn to the Shaper?  Why is he so afraid of him? How does the Shaper’s story about the wars of the Danes affect Grendel?
            Grendel is drawn to Sharper because Grendel is in love with Sharper’s words. He even says that Sharper built this hall just with his so-convincing words. At the same time, he is afraid of Sharper because he knows that Sharper was lying but the beauty of his words convinces Grendel making him more aware of his difference from the humans.  

  How does Grendel react to the Shaper’s next story - about an ancient feud between two brothers that divides the world between darkness and light?  (a.k.a. The story of Cain and Abel)
            Grendel thought he is somewhat similar to Cain in this story killing people. Grendel believes the some and crys. Sharper’s way of telling story is so powerful that Grendel even convinces himself that he is an evil.


  What is Grendel hoping to accomplish when he carries the murdered corpse he finds to the mead hall? What happens instead, and how does it affect Grendel?
            As we discussed before, Grendel shows such emotions when no one understand him even the human, which is the only race that Grendel could understand their language. Grendel gathers the corpse with the hope that he could be accepted by the human one day.

My Alter Ego

This bust represents my alter ego. My alter ego is a person that I have always been looking up to.

 She is a my role model

She is amazing

She is my aspirin 

She is the best

She is my backbone

She is unsinkable

She is my hero

She is strong

She is my world

She is MAGNIFICENT

She is ... MY MOM.

And yes, this bust is my mom. To me, she is the most beautiful whenever she is happy and whenever she is smiling. She is good at handling stress. Whenever my mom stresses out, she doesn't want me and my sister to know. She just stays calm, put on a big smile and slowly solve the problems. And by putting a smile on the bust will personify her character. 

My biggest challenge right now is to make her eyes look real. It doesn't look right to me right now. It looks rather strange. Getting the ratio of all the components on the face right is difficult too. 

I got a lot more to be done. My plan is to put on her hair and finish with a red cape on her shoulder. The red cape is going to have the "S" like the one Superman has. I choose to put the red cape because my mom is my superhero. 

Wheel-throwing blog

My 6 cylinder in order. (1-6)

 "It took me so long just to get this far"

I really like the glaze effect of this pot. I first used a green slip for the outside and then coated the whole pot with a good layer of Celedon. And, I got the blue-ish strips running around. It stands out from the dark background.

"Yesss. I finally got a 2 inch-"uncentered" cylinder" I dunked it in Dark Green and then dipped the rim with Shino glaze.

"I was playing with the form" The Salt Buff glaze gave the nice effect of a wood fired pot.

This is one of my fav. The rabbit shapes came out perfectly the way I wanted to.  I also really like the Robin Egg glaze color.

"My first bowl shape" 

" ♥ this cup!! I got the LUGs for the inside and glaze pencils and chalks for the vines outside. And it's a lil over 3 inch! :) "

• Does this process have potential to be an expressive art form for you?  Yes, not only that I can choose what form the pot to be, the colors that I glaze them and the designs I put on them do represents something. And this process do have the potential to be my one of the way to express things which are inexpressible.
• Ex: rabbit is a symbol of fertility.

• Are you hooked on it for life, or will you let it go after this class?    I would say that I am really enjoying this class and if I have a chance to work with clay (especially throwing pots) in the future, I definitely will.

• What is the biggest challenge and the most satisfying part of the process so far? My biggest challenge is open the clay without uncenter it. It's real hard to keep it center all the time, to me at least. My most satisfying part of this process is when I realize that I have improved so much compare with when I first start to throw.

• What do you want to do most with this skill? After throwing "countless" pots, I really want to use this skill to throw a really tall vase about 15 inches tall because I really want to make this a present to parents.