Reflections on Final Project

I enjoyed this final project because it made us think beyond what we could make to get a message across but what we could assemble. Of course it would be great if we had the software to digitally render the Rowe galleries and the works we wanted in them but our imaginations can be enough. But really this project helps you realize that a work of art can be more than just a single piece but rather a collection and how they are displayed all add up to one mega piece. I have more respect for a curators work now and we only dabbled the surface of what it means to curate an exhibit. The use of space and contrasting elements are what I felt to be the most useful, of course you rely on the artist's work to be the drawing point but how they are hung and what they are hung near really gives everything a secondary tone that helps influence what viewers feel and understand from the works.

Pics or it didn't happen

Here are some recap photos or process work from the semester.

Not something I worked on for class but an example of the mini-works the whole process of making a juice for someone can be. I think of them as mini Jackson Polock's in a cup

Project Play, Class made sculpture.

The tools used to make 4 Short Breaths

Costume/Character for Fantasy

Juicer making the green dye

                                           

One of my favorites I took, Park Bench covered in various vegetable juices

Quick Reflection:

In working on this latest project, the PSA poster, I found that many of my class mates wanted to tackle tough issues. I think it's noble and good that they can bring awareness to certain problems in society however I feel that some aimed to high and the scope of a simple PSA poster isn't enough to fully capture some their ideas. The point of the poster is to be something that someone sees and is reminded of something that is important to them or their life. But I think my classmates went for a political topic mostly because we started this project by examining ourselves politically and things in our society that we wish to change. I look forward to what some of them show up with however.

On the topic of my piece:

Before I settled on a simple typographic heavy poster I knew I wanted to do something that I didn't need to necessarily argue to the masses. I toyed with what did I care about politically or at least what was something I wanted people to know or at least be reminded of. I've always believed that art programs didn't get the full support that they should compared to other departments in grade school. But my poster isn't just about arts programs in schools, rather this idea that you should push your child to more "practical" educational vocations. I was fortunate enough that my parents encouraged and supported me when I showed an interest in the fine arts and performing arts when growing up. I believe they were crucial to my development and have helped me solidify my identity and that is something many people struggle with. 

My aim with my PSA poster isn't to offend or cause a discussion but rather affect people on multiple levels, primarily as an imprint that will hopefully stick into peoples heads since it's a loud font and a clear message. When they get a bit closer they can discern the "support the arts" underneath it and that is a vague enough line that it means anything from buying your child a starter painter set all the way to buying local art in your town at an art crawl. And then finally if I've caught a passerby's attention enough that they walk up close there are .gov and .org websites with more information than I could put on any poster. I'm not asking people to change their political beliefs radically, rather see the benefits and don't dismiss art programs (Fine arts, Performing arts, etc.) as superfluous or a waste of money.

Lastly looking back, since I already printed what I intend to present, I toyed with the idea of putting a skyline of Charlotte in the letters that say PAINT. I liked that it drew the point closer to home but I didn't want my message to be that small. I don't just mean support the arts of charlotte but rather support 'the arts' in general because it only enriches our lives and our culture.

Mint Museum Reflections

In the Arts of Africa section I personally enjoyed many of the masks, one that stood out to me as interesting was a "Fantasy Bird Mask". It was somewhat simple yet I enjoyed the turquoise details done for the eyes and patterns on the mask. It was simple wood and paints and possibly some animal hair and hemp. I found some of the Ancient American art a bit more interesting mostly because of the age they had. I was excited to see an actual Khipu up close after studying them in one of my Incan Archaeology classes last semester. There was one that was a bottle  that had incorporated a Drummer Wearing a Fox Mask that I found quite nice and intricate for a sculpture over 1500 years ago. The pottery of some of the Carolinas were particularly interesting, one I really enjoyed was one piece called Bulldog Pottery. The faded blue color and texture were like nothing I've seen on pottery let alone a tea pot. The artist Bruce Gholson lives in NC so I found it interesting too see art produced within my state. 

Fantasy Movement's Project reflections

I think a lot of my classmates did amazing jobs with their costumes and movements. I wish I could of at least gotten with my group a bit before the presentation and been able to discuss what our movements or outfits were so we could better mesh out ideas. I wonder if the project could also be done as a group project that way people would have more time to think of a cohesive idea to enact. I enjoyed the experience, mostly because of the high level of energy it let me have, but I don't know if this art form is one I would choose again. I'm excited to see how the photos came out because the photographer had a great set up and some of the test shots I saw of some people looked really good. What I don't want to see is the recorded video of my scene, I'd rather remember it from my point of view rather than seeing how derpy I may of looked bopping around.

Just some quick photos from the other day when I was making the dye/paint/juice.

 I couldn't take my time in snapping good photos while working but I was able to get a picture while making the green color. The foam which is formed at the top from all the fibers in the vegetables is where the color is best. Unfortunately it's hard to keep the foam in that condition, if I did a similar piece in the future I would try to use the juice as soon as I made it. I had them for a night and by the next day they had settled and the bright foamy parts were about gone.

Ideas for Ecology project

My first Idea involved an excerpt from the transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, because how close to tree hugging can ya get. I thought about utilizing a friend of mines knack at photographing action figures in real life like situations out in nature but instead of action figures I would make beans with arms and legs. If you are familiar with Thoreau you know he loved his beans and what the meant to him.

My second idea which I'm pretty set on at this point is inspired by Andy Goldsworthy. I knew I wanted to go into nature and use that to make a piece somehow but then I thought how could I make it a bit different from his work. Well I enjoy painting but I didn't want to slap acrylic or oil paint on trees because that defeats the purpose of the piece. Rather I got my solution from work, I work at Earthfare in the Juice Bar/Bakery section and I realized how potent the color in certain vegetable juices were. So I'm able to get a solid red color from beets, vivid orange from carrots and with a mix of kale, spinach, and possibly spirulina, I'll be able to have a bright green. I may also utilize some tumeric to make a yellow but I'm not sure yet. My main problem I will have to get around is what I use as a canvas, hopefully certain trees will have light enough bark so you can notice the dye. One of the bakers had a good idea in that I use some flour to actually make a dye-paste so it's easier to manipulate and more noticeable on certain objects like a rock per say.

I intend to post the process shots before presentation and hopefully if I can get away with it at work images of the actual juicing.
  

1. Did you feel like the drawing had a life of its own? Or was that influenced more by the title and my discussion afterwards.

2. Did you find yourself needing to pull out some image of what was being drawn? Regardless of the fact that it is a nonobjective doodle. 

3. Does the doodle have a sense of motion or growth without the animation? Or is it reliant upon that media to give it life?

     The process for drawing and filming the stop animation was relatively easy once I could work out the nuances in switching between drawing and filming the individual frames. The part that was a bit more tedious was after that when I loaded the raw footage into iMovie where I had to analyze and slow down over 65 clips to get a fluid progression. Once that was done those files were condensed and saved as one larger movie clip which I was able to pull into it's own project and it was there that I experimented with how fast the image would develop or revert. It was at this stage that I realized I could of gone further with the drawing instead of relying on a loop that could carry enough weight. Luckily the timing worked out and the drawing had an organic quality that almost made it seem like it was growing or breathing. It was then that I limited it down to repeating itself four times for impact. 

I felt the class did a good job all around when it came to executing this project even with varying levels of proficiency at video editing let alone filming in general. We had viewed works by Kara Walker and William Kentridge so I feel like we felt compelled to try and take on a meatier message in all our works, some may have been more successful at conveying their message. However it gives us all a chance to dig down and try and find a voice for why we make art. When it comes to how our class is operating I find the times we take to open the floor to discuss our concerns or ideas on our works.

I decided to go with a stop motion medium for this project because I figured I could utilize it the best with a simpler medium like ink on paper. The small clip is entitled Four Deep Breaths, or four normal breaths if you time it well, this title came after the initial drawing when I was messing around with the speeds and debating how many times I would show the doodle deconstructing over again. The doodle is mostly nonobjective and the style of doodling I usually do within most times of the day specifically of course when I have a pen or pencil in my hand and a second to spare to daydreaming. 

The doodles I end up drawing tend to always have an organic growth outward that looks like it grew off itself. Something that was somewhat hard to show unless captured and utilized in this fashion. I wish there could of been more time given because I stopped adding to the drawing during the recording phase because I was worried I'd get to much. Retrospectively I could of fit some more details in and push the doodle further and possibly add color to it, which was one of my original intentions.

The doodles themselves are sometimes self-generated patterns I've accumulated over time through observation of real world motif work and can also sometimes be influenced by more sporadic and spontaneous work by artists like Kandinsky or some of Max Weber's abstract work. I will show examples of their work at the end of the powerpoint part of the presentation. 

Legos

At first I was going to glue certain pieces together and maybe create a 3D playable version of Tetris, however with Legos you are unable to fully rotate them around like you can with the different pieces of Tetris. Then I had the idea that maybe I could make a 'sculpture' of sorts and then take it apart in pieces and super glue those chunks together so the viewer was left with only a few large chunks that they could assemble. That idea somewhat made me sad since the point of Legos is their near infinite possibilities in what you could build. So I decided to separate out the primary colors and shades of black so viewers still had a 'limited' palate but still the freedom to build what they want. Hopefully everyone enjoys and doesn't feel limited and together we can make a pretty cool random inspired Lego art piece.

                  Here was a test run a friend and I did, taking turns adding parts to see how it would go. I hope with a full class something big and interesting can be generated.