The snake is recognized as a symbol of humanity as a whole. In Mexican mythology, the snake is a symbol of veneration, worship and honour often a symbol of great power, rebirth and resurrection and a powerful emblem of renewal and transition also. The artefact is painted reddish-brown with patches of off-white, baked with high-temperature firing and beautifully finished and polished. This pot with handle and spout in the of a cat evidences a certain extent of evolution in the art of clay modelling which blended an art any naturalistic of an animal and human being with a utility article. The white-spotted deep brown cat, with its legs, gathered completely under its fur, upwards turned face, ears raised as to when extra vigilant and closed mouth as when fixed at the target, is poised fully to charge at its prey the moment it detected its slightest movement.Īs almost all early culture reveal, conceiving articles of day-to-day use, especially pottery, in personalized s or the s of familiar animals, domestic or others, was a common practice of potters all over, and this spouted pot is one of its examples. This elongated figure of a cat-like animal with eyes fixed on its prey is a novel of a serving pot- a kettle with a spout and a handle. Curiously, all these were intended as a drinking vessel for the living and the dead.
The portrait head shows their face painted. These ceramic heads were cast in moulds and more or less show the same features. Most probably these were certain highly regarded personalities, whose heads were thought to possess beneficial powers and ed the ancient Peruvians to place them in graves. Large numbers of portrait heads have been found in the graves. They are thought to represent secular and religious dignitaries. The naturalistic representations of human faces are unique to the Moche culture of Peru. The face has a painted pattern in the centre. Hardly betraying any signs of being a vessel, the artefact, vividly conceived and so close to reality, looks like a replica of a human head. The other is co-founding Local Theater Company with Pesha.This Vessel is in the shape of a human head, almost half of the natural size of an actual head. Gates one of the things I am most proud of in life. What are you most looking forward to for Living Room Local with Professor Gates this Sunday?īeing a student of Prof. After graduation, Pesha and I kept self-producing plays and Local Theater was born. It was this experience that showed me the power of live theater. We sold out every night and attracted new audiences. Although the theater wouldn’t include it in the main season, I got a grant from the African-American Studies department and self-produced. For my senior project, I directed FOR COLORED GRILS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF (by Ntozake Shange). Gates’ department was both rigorous and allowed a lot of freedom. Was there anything in your time at Harvard that inspired this move? George Wolfe’s brilliant script is both hilarious and heartbreaking.Īfter your time at Harvard, you went on to co-found Local. Furthermore, the differences and similarity between the characters’ lives and mine helped me get to know myself in a way I would never have otherwise.
And second, this was a problem for American storytelling.
First, it never occurred to me that I had never seen an all-Black cast, and may not again. Seeing the first production of THE COLORED MUSEUM by George Wolfe in middle school-when Pesha’s (Pesha Rudnick, Local Theater Company Co-Founder) mom courageously took 20 7th graders-rocked my world because I had never seen an all-Black cast before. Do you have a vision on how we can use theater to do this? On Sunday, Professor Gates will be speaking about the importance of storytelling and understanding our personal histories. It was then I decided to major in African-American studies under Prof. My eighteen year old mind was blown away. Gates talked about media literacy and gave words to something I didn’t have language for but needed.
Henry Louis Gates Jr.Ĭan you share a memory you have from Professor Gates' class or your time with Professor Gates?Īs a Harvard freshman sitting in his class in the 1992, I had just experienced firsthand the LA uprising as an eye witness and a TV viewer. Local Theater Company’s Marketing Associate Erika Haase sat down with Local’s Co-Founder Megan Mathews for a conversation about Mathews time studying with Chair of the African and African American Studies Department at Harvard (and January, ‘21 Living Room Local guest) Dr.