This is a picture of coal miners in Birmingham taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1937, collected under the Farm Security Administration. Robby and I both fell in love with it; it is quite beautiful and thought provoking. He showed it to his thesis class and they loved it too. Berkeley is such an artsy school! His teacher said " The image is very influenced by early modern photography of the Bolshevik Agitprop era. Or is this just an accident? I had not understood Birmingham before as such an important industrial city. This thread alone is very significant, and just one of the rich threads that are coming into hazy focus". I think choosing to go to school at Berkeley has really helped Robby to grow and explore his capabilities. He is such a fine cut person, you know, an inside the lines type. Here, he is really learning about art and exploring his creative side. I think it will help him to be a better architect, I like seeing the things he does and hearing what his teachers say about his projects. It is just fun. One day I think I will frame this picture, infact, I would like to frame a lot of the pictures that the FSA collected of Birmingham. There is so much history there, such an incredible story lies in downtown Birmingham. It is sad to me how downtowns die, they start off so beautiful and full of potential, and then people move furthur and further away. People become scared to go there and won't take their children there anymore. It becomes kind of a ghost town at night, only existing during the day as a place for businessmen to drive and then leave behind. Somewhere along the way you could have just taken downtown Birmingham away and still had this entire outside city that would continue to exist with out the heart of where it began.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Birmingham
This is a picture of coal miners in Birmingham taken by Arthur Rothstein in 1937, collected under the Farm Security Administration. Robby and I both fell in love with it; it is quite beautiful and thought provoking. He showed it to his thesis class and they loved it too. Berkeley is such an artsy school! His teacher said " The image is very influenced by early modern photography of the Bolshevik Agitprop era. Or is this just an accident? I had not understood Birmingham before as such an important industrial city. This thread alone is very significant, and just one of the rich threads that are coming into hazy focus". I think choosing to go to school at Berkeley has really helped Robby to grow and explore his capabilities. He is such a fine cut person, you know, an inside the lines type. Here, he is really learning about art and exploring his creative side. I think it will help him to be a better architect, I like seeing the things he does and hearing what his teachers say about his projects. It is just fun. One day I think I will frame this picture, infact, I would like to frame a lot of the pictures that the FSA collected of Birmingham. There is so much history there, such an incredible story lies in downtown Birmingham. It is sad to me how downtowns die, they start off so beautiful and full of potential, and then people move furthur and further away. People become scared to go there and won't take their children there anymore. It becomes kind of a ghost town at night, only existing during the day as a place for businessmen to drive and then leave behind. Somewhere along the way you could have just taken downtown Birmingham away and still had this entire outside city that would continue to exist with out the heart of where it began.
