Museum explores science and art in symmetry
December 14, 2015
Theresa Bakker
907-474-6941
Imagine a robe woven from materials found in the place you’ve lived all your life, the place your ancestors also called home. You have learned about this place from their stories passed down over thousands of years but also in the many discoveries made on journeys of your own.
What would you notice first?
Maybe the materials, collected from the spruce and cedar forests and from mountain goats whose wool can be used for a variety of clothing, including this robe. Or it might be the colors, created from the plants and minerals of a Southeast Alaska rainforest.
Or you might notice the patterns, intricate repetitions that at first glance are pleasing but on further reflection tell their own stories.
One particular robe, "Ice Walkers," was made by Teri Rofkar, a Tlingit of the Raven Clan from the Snail House. It is one of many traditional objects on display at the University of Alaska Museum of the North.
Rofkar has been weaving baskets and textiles for decades. She learned from her grandmother the traditional Raven’s Tail freehand technique that dates back more than 6,000 years. She is inspired by a deep connection to her culture and has spent many hours looking through Tlingit collections at museums around the world to investigate baskets and other items carved, sewn and woven by her ancestors. “Those are my mentors,” she said.
That is how she knows, after years of reflection and research, that there was no difference between science and art in the Tlingit culture. Her people were investigating all the time. They had to be in tune with the world in order to survive.
In "Ice Walkers," Rofkar used repeating patterns and modern motifs to represent polar bears. The colors include yellows and whites with a pale blue thread to show the tracks of a bear filling up with ocean water.
“It took me forever to get my colors exactly right. It turns out polar bears are not white! I used off-white and cream for the polar bears and bleached white wool for the ice.”
This month, the programs at the museum use symmetry to explore the intersection of art, math and science. People and most multi-cellular organisms have symmetrical body plans. Symmetry helps connect mathematical concepts to the real world. Noticing patterns is a basic concept of geometry. Symmetry is also appealing, inherently beautiful to the human eye. It is a symbol of balance and harmony.
Museum Educator Gabrielle Vance said Alaska Native masks are a prime example of an art form where symmetry and asymmetry are integral. “The museum is a good place to explore an abstract concept like symmetry because we have so many concrete examples of it, from bilaterally symmetrical butterflies to tessellations on parka trim.
“People can discover symmetry in the museum using a symmetry finder like the one we have in the Family Room. It’s a small straight stick that they can hold up to objects and pictures to check for lines of symmetry.”
If you explore the galleries in this way, you are sure to discover another example of symmetrical traditional weaving, a Chilkat robe. These were worn during ceremonial occasions, such as potlatches, and made from mountain goat wool and shredded cedar bark with a twining technique.
The designs feature a curving line that forms the outline of a subject along with additional lines that represent eyes, noses and mouths, in addition to decorative patterns. The lines are often black and red, and are usually symmetrical.
Formline figures are a familiar pattern found elsewhere in cultures of the people of the Northwest Coast, from totem poles to decorative house panels, baskets to beading. The designs are featured on traditional clothing used for ceremonies and the bentwood boxes used for storage and cooking.
Traditionally, the designs were copied by women weavers from a pattern board, which was painted by a man featuring an intricate array of faces and profiles. The weavers would copy the pattern and then create the inverse, ending up with an entirely symmetrical design which matched completely when folded in half. The Chilkat robe on display in the Southeast Alaska section of the Gallery of Alaska is an example of this Tlingit tradition from the 19th century.
Rofkar said symmetry is a central theme of her work, as both a mathematical term and a reflection of social values. “It’s got metaphors that are appropriate for life and also for retaining the imagery of life. To me, I’m not just recording the past. I’m recording life.”
“With symmetry, art is the fulcrum. It represents the symmetry reflected in both the future and the past. We are the fulcrum.”