Mongolian Nomads

May Tviet, our professor in Materials and Processes, recently traveled to Mongolia for an art exhibition called Rapid/Transit, along with two other artists.  During this trip, she was interested in how nomadic and consumer culture intersected.  She without a doubt had an amazing experience, and even had her work presented in the Mongolian National Modern Art Gallery.  While she was there, she stayed with a nomadic family in a yurt.  A yurt is basically a home for nomads that can be taken down and put up like a tent.  The primary structure of a yurt is a wooden frame.  The frame is made up of wall sections, a doorframe, roof poles, and a crown, which is a structure in the middle that holds the roof poles.  The frame is then wrapped and covered in a number of materials for insulation.  First, felt and wool are laid on top of the frame.  Then they add a layer of canvas as a waterproofing system, and another layer to protect from the sun.  All of these materials are held together with straps that wrap around the whole yurt.  Yurts are made to be comfortable and warm, but also allow air circulation from the crown at the top.  May Tviet showed the class photographs of her helping another family assemble their yurt.  This allowed us to see the process of building this structure in action.