Project 3 Recap

3.1 Reimagined Reality

For my object, I started with a cotton candy-colored bear. I have named her Leab and I decided to let chance take over when I started to take her apart. I wanted to keep the essence of the bear while replacing elements of its body with objects. I took off her ears and replaced them with fake plants that you would find in fish tanks, I placed a beater in her head, I sewed plastic flowers to her feet, and I took the earrings I found in her ears and put one in her forehead as an adornment and one as a nose ring. I also took out her eyes and I replaced them with eyes from a lobster. Chance was a very large part of this activity when I was taking her apart and trading with other people because I never knew what I would get from others. This also relates to the library activities because we did not know what to expect. There was a great amount of chance with the three books that we would each pick, similar to the three objects we had to choose when creating our character. We also had to work with the others in our group when creating the sentences and the short play, similar to working together to create the idea for our video that the characters be imaginary friends and have them be interviewed. The process of creating my character relates to chance because there were no guidelines for creating the object and no one knew what to expect or what the final product would look like.

3.2 Surrealist Short Process

For our video, Lydia, Shannon and I decided that we would have the characters we made be imaginary friends and that we would interview them. We created names and personalities for these characters that would have the freedom to be surreal and not make sense. We asked each imaginary friend the same set of questions in the interview and staggered when each of them talked when we were constructing the video. These included: Tell me about your kid, what is the hardest part of your job, what is most rewarding about what you do, what do you like to do in your free time, do you enjoy being an imaginary friend, and do you like your kid?
We decided to have one imaginary friend, my character Leab, not make any sense when asked the same questions as the other imaginary friends. For her answers, we incorporated the answers that we came up with at the library. This is how we incorporated the surrealism qualities. We also were very aware of surrealism when constructing the video because we structured it in a way that did not make complete sense because it was not linear. We also had a segment for all of the characters of a close up of them saying or doing something that did not make sense with the theme of the interview.
For Betty and Oswald, we created the answers when we were recording because we thought that it would bring another element of chance as well as be more collaborative if we all created the answers together. We also incorporated change because when we were recording we did not know exactly what we were going to say, which made it more entertaining because it was natural. It was a lot of fun coming up with the answers and the personalities of the characters when we were filming because there was complete freedom, there was no right or wrong way for the characters to be. We were all able to have a good time and be playful and trust each other. We also came up with the accents and voices for the characters when we were filming to go along with their personalities.
Parts of the process were scary, mainly in the beginning and when we were figuring out what to do for the video and how we would be able to fill 4-5 minutes. It was also slightly scary in the beginning because we did not know what to expect or how it would turn out. It is also something that we are all very unfamiliar with, so it was a learning experience for us all.

3.3 Surrealist Short Film

3.3 Outcome

For our surrealist video, we created an interview with three imaginary friends and we took the viewer through their lives. The three characters are Leab, Betty and her Body, as well as Oswald. Each have their own unique personality belonging to a different child that fits their personality. To incorporate elements of surrealism, we had one character, Leab, not make any sense when she answered the questions from the interviewer. We also organized the video in a way that was very choppy, similar to a dream where you jump from one thought or one element of a dream to another. Also, throughout the video we added elements from each of the characters that did not make sense with the overall story. We did this to add to the surrealism of the video and have the story not be linear. The three of us incorporated chance into the video by not planning the answers to the set of questions that each of our characters were asked in order to have the ability to feed off of each other and create nonsensical, yet humorous answers. Chance, in a way, was able to lead to surrealism because we were all very open to creativity and anything that could help us make a successful video. Having an open mind about creativity and not going into filming with any expectations allowed all of us to be open to any ideas. Through this I have learned the connection between chance and surrealism because surrealism relies on chance and the artist’s ability to be open to various types of creativity. This can be difficult because chance is unknown, and it is difficult to be open to all creative possibilities, yet I believe that we were all able to trust each other and trust the process that had been set up for us in order to make a successful surrealist video.
Success can be defined in many ways, especially with surrealism, yet for Lydia, Shannon, and I, we were able to be successful because we enjoyed the process of making the video and it communicates to the viewer that we were open to creativity and to the various directions that the video could go in. Our final video incorporates the choppiness and confusion that can occur in dreams, which helped us achieve the surrealist qualities that we were striving for. Also, the environments that the characters were in made sense for their personalities, yet not in general, which replicates the feeling in a dream where an event makes sense when you are dreaming, yet not when you wake up. Another quality of surrealism that we were able to utilize is through the characters, having their bodies not have all of the regular features of their base animal or person. Through the activities that we did in the library and the deconstructing and constructing of our characters, we were able to see how we could incorporate chance and surrealism into the elements in our video.

Response to Art & Fear: Fears about Yourself

This text pulls out the important elements in the process of art and how artists put too much pressure on themselves sometimes to come up with good work, that can sometimes lead to them just not creating anymore or hitting a block in their creativity.  When we act out of fear, our fears come true.  This fact in the text is very important and very true because in our own work as artists, we fear not making good work or failing and when we act out of that fear, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Our fears about art making fall into the two categories of fears about ourselves, which prevent us from doing our best work, and fears about your reception by others, which prevent us from doing our own work.  Through these fears, artists become to question their own art making abilities and can begin to believe that they are just faking their art making.  I can definitely see this in my art because sometimes I do not believe that I am good enough to be with all of these wonderful art students and extraordinary professors, yet I have to realize that I am supposed to be learning, and that is what the text says; that you learn by making lots of work that isn’t very good and then begin to pick out the parts that are good and get rid of the parts that are not as good.  This fear prevents all artists and people from utilizing their key art-making tool, which is their own humanity.  We are all human so we make mistakes, and that is what art is all about; error.  Talent is not as wonderful as it seems because it is nothing without hard work and the desire to develop it further and continue learning.  Great artists with initial talent need to hone and utilize their talent to the best of their ability while learning, experimenting, and working hard.  Sometimes, it is more beneficial for an artist to not have a great talent in a particular area because it teaches them to care about what they do and not to care about whether it came easily or not to them.

The text talks about an experiment that was done, which analyzes a section of students who were graded on the quantity of their work and another section that was graded on the quality of their work.  The result was that the students tasked with creating a large quantity of work created better work because they were creating bodies of work over and over, learning from their mistakes, while the quality group was stuck theorizing about their project and making it great instead of just going for it.  Sometimes the majority of learning in art making is done in the doing instead of the thinking because you need to learn from the materials and how they all work together.  Art is human and error is human, so art is error and it is critical for learning and making good art because before you make good art, you need to make bad art.  Our art will be flawed, but it is important for the learning process and these imperfections are a critical part of art and the process.  Trying to be perfect, especially during the first time you do something is unrealistic and will not produce good work.  Everyone needs to be willing to fail and learn instead of aiming for perfection because it is impossible.  Perfection prevents everyone from making work and denies them what is most important in work, which is humanity.

This reading is telling all artists that art is hard work and it is a process of learning from your mistakes, experimenting, and energy and joy that must be put into the work.  If artists fear annihilation or believe in magic, they will not be as capable of art making as others and they will be more afraid to fail.  This text is teaching the readers and artists that we learn about our materials through using them and we learn about the process of art making when we are in it.  This inspires artists to try and put fear on the back burner and realize that failure and mistakes are an essential and important part of art and can be what lead to happy accidents and the beautiful end product.

Chance Collage – Project 3

For my project 4 collage about chance, I decided to not do what I normally do, which is plan how each of the pieces that I was picking out of the magazines would work together and I just picked images that I liked, colors that I enjoy, and people that were very interesting to me.  This makes the collage not completely make sense or even have a theme, besides the theme that they are all random items or people put together.  When I was going through the magazines, I just ripped out pieces that were interesting to me, and strange objects that do not normally go together.  I also took the items out of the magazine rather quickly because I went based on first instinct and tried to not plan as much as I could.  I also repeated this process when I was pasting these items on the paper.  I normally plan out all of the items and place them where they need to go on the paper, yet with this chance collage I decided to just paste them where it felt right.  This created the opportunity for happy and fun accidents, such as some of the heads with glowing eyes to be upside down.  I would not have originally placed them that way, yet I took a chance with not planning out the collage and it increased the diversity and amusement that people can get out of it.  I cannot help but smile at how strange elements of it looks with all of the heads with glowing eyes and how they are arranged in the coffee, next to the walruses, and by the other people.  There is a large contrast with the items in the collage, I believe because there was no planned theme.  Items range from lemons, to people, to sticky notes, to walruses.  Looking at the pieces I chose, I can now see that I am drawn to nature, animals, colorful items, coffee, and humorous items such as the heads.  I know that this is what I am initially drawn to because I did not think about what I was picking and just went with if I liked it.

I do not regularly take many chances in my work or in life without thinking about them, yet this was very liberating and enjoyable because there was not the pressure to do well or to succeed and make good work.  With this type of chance, we are not sure when we succeed or fail, which makes the process even more enjoyable.  Without the pressure of succeeding, art work and work in general can become much more enjoyable and free process.  The process of chance can be more risky and there is fear involved, especially for someone like me who plans everything out, yet can sometimes produce more fruitful and interesting results.

Project 2 Recap

For project 2, we explored objects and their objective and subjective qualities.  We explored the idea of objects by first reading The Silver Pin by Susan Rubin Suleiman and realizing that objects can have very strong subjective qualities that give them personalities, remind us of places, people, events, and can change over time, just as a relationship with a person can change.  We then described that objects can have objective qualities with the removal of bias or personal experience or subjective qualities with the use of our opinion, bias, emotional and personal experience.  Objects can have both of these qualities and we realized that when we create objects, we can make them subjective and give them a new meaning.  To explore the idea of an object, we created our friend’s favorite childhood object.

2.1 Childhood Object

The object that I created is Shannon’s twin sister’s favorite stuffed animal that she had when she was a child. Shannon remembers this pig, named Bean Bag, as being very important to her and always being with her. Shannon described the pig as a small shaped pig with most of its stuffing in the bottom portion of its body because it was always held around its neck. It has black eyes with a pink snout, tiny ears, and a curly tail. She described the color as a pink-grey on its body and its tail. I sewed white fabric together to create the body, tail, and ears, adding stuffing to the bottom part of the body before I finished sewing. I then sewed the eyes and snout to the body and colored the white fabric pink.

2.2 Original Object

The original object that I started with is a mini accordion album that I have had for years that contains very important memories in the form of photographs and letters. This album contains pictures of my animals, my mom, my sister, and I throughout the years of my life, as well as letters from people who are very important to me such as my mom, sister, mentor, teacher, and best friends. This album also serves as an important reminder of the large suitcase of letters I have stashed at home as well as the years of photo albums with stories that my mom wrote for me since I was born until I was about fifteen years old. These albums contain all of the stories and pictures of my life that are important to me and that have shaped me to be the person I am. These albums and letters contain all of the very important people in my life who I care about very deeply. This mini album serves as a small stream leading to the vast oceans of memories that the large amounts of letters and photo albums that I have at home. The object has a soft frame on the outside with symbols of travel and in the center is a photograph of my sister, my mom, and I. The back is similar to the front except with no photo. The strap that holds it together is falling off, yet if you remove the Velcro you can see the other side of the photo album.

2.2 Object Proposal

For my object, I plan to create an accordion album about 1-2 feet by 1-2 feet in size out of materials that emphasize the important contents of the album. I will create the base of the accordion album out of chip board to show its sturdy structure and how it is a safe place for my memories to live.  I will create a worn effect on the edges and both the front and back cover of the album to show its old age and that it has been a part of my life for a long time. I will create a strap that is falling apart to reinforce the use over the years. To share with the viewers that this album has traveled with me and it contains some pictures of my travels, I will paste stickers of traveling around the world on the front and back covers of the album. For the frame, containing a picture on the front cover, it will be made out of the binding of books and then painted over to symbolize the age and importance of some books and reinforce the concept of the album being a sturdy and secure place for my memories. For the photographs, I will be combining different colors to combine a painting collage of warm, comforting, and nostalgic colors. I will also include symbols of family, specifically my own, including pieces of a necklace that forms a heart when all of the pieces my family members have come together. I have many photographs of my animals and they will be represented by the sensation of touch because I will have inside the album many pieces of cotton balls to symbolize their fur. It will be busting at the seams to symbolize all of the memories, photographs, and letters that are inside it, including the reminder of the many more photographs and letters that I have in my home.

2.3 Final Object

For my final object, I created it out of many materials that were more representative and served as symbols for the feelings that I receive when I open and look at my mini album. The front and back are made from cardboard and the center parts that are the accordion pages are made from a very thin chip board. I wanted the covers and the pages to be sturdy, yet have the pages not feel as hard and structured as the cover. The covers are wrapped in fabric that reminds me of my home furniture as well as a very soft pink faux fur. These textures and patterns are meant to be nostalgic and comforting and invite people to touch and open the album. The front cover has something similar to a frame made of a belt. The belt is continued into the strap that connects the front and back cover when the album is not being used and it is sewn in a way that looks like it has been sewn back together many times because of how much it has been used. In the album, which is 12×8 inches, contains 17 pages to represent the past 17 years of my life because I am now 18. Each page is painted a color that I associate with that number because of my synesthesia. This is to represent the passage of time and how this album and the others that it references show the years of my life. I covered the pages in letters that I had created from an old and new book and I put the old letters at the beginning of the book and then about half-way through I started adding the new letters to show that I have kept the letters from throughout my life and some are very old. I also took pictures and pages from old children’s books including Franklin and added them into the book to represent my family and my childhood. Another sensory element I introduced included candles, with the scents of Buttercream and Gingerbread Vanilla and I kept some fake leaves and flowers in the candle jars in order for them to soak up the scent and then I added them to the album. Some of the pictures from the children’s books had cakes and bakery items and so I spread the scented wax on them in order for them to smell nice and like a bakery because that reminds me of my home and baking with my family. I also represented travel in the album through maps and a pair of glasses to magnify some travel destinations because my original object includes some of the travels I have gone on with my family. Overall, I am very pleased with my object because of the representational elements I used and how they engage several senses in order to represent the very important people in my life and the wonderful memories I have because of them.

I believe that through this project I was able to explore the subjective and objective qualities of objects, especially my own.  Through the critique, I was able to hear how the scents that I added to the album as well as the fabrics reminded people of their homes, specifically baking and they had warm memories, similar to mine of my family baking in the kitchen.  I enjoyed exploring my memories and attaching materials to my feelings that I had as a child and the memories that I remember because of my original object.  I was able to represent my friends, mentor, teacher, sister, and mom and the memories I associate with them through various materials while representing my mini album.

Adventure to the Antique Mall

On Wednesday February 28th, we took a trip to the antique mall to study the concept of objects and how they can contain a vast amount of meaning, despite the object looking quite unimportant or having a small monetary value.  After reading “The Silver Pin” by Susan Rubin Suleiman, we learned about the complex emotions and meanings that small objects can have, they can represent a person, place, or particular set of emotions that are subject to change.  When at the Antique Mall, we were able to explore all of the large and small objects that were previously owned by many different people.  There were several pieces that I found that I felt really have a story inside them because of the wear, tare, and love being evident.

This object looks like a toy tractor made solely from bottle tops and metal pieces.  It looks like a very handmade and used piece.  I envision an older brother or father that possibly didn’t have a lot of money for toys for their child or sibling, yet has done some metal work and decided to make the toy themselves.  I can see this toy being very special to the older brother or father that made it because they shaped, bent, and formed it just for their younger sibling or child.  I can picture them searching for metal scraps and collecting old bottle tops specifically for this tractor.  When you have an idea to create an art work for someone you care about, it takes a lot of planning.  The joy of creating can be found especially when you make items for people you care about.  I have made many art pieces and gifts for my family and the process of making them and planning makes them even more special.  Also, when you get to give the gift to them, their reaction is the best part of it.  I can imagine the creator of this tractor working very hard on this, collecting all of the pieces and then welding it all together, and then finally being able to give the gift to their younger sibling or child.  I can see the little child playing with the tractor for many years, loving that it was made specifically for them and how durable it is so that it could go outdoors, in the grass and in the mud.  I can see the child treasuring it and always having fond memories of this thoughtful gift.

This is a vintage Autographic Kodak Eastman Camera from the 1910s or 1920s.  Cameras have always fascinated me and I love looking at all of the different kinds of them and with each camera, I can picture different people traveling with their camera taking pictures of their family.  With this camera I see a professional photographer being hired to take pictures of famous people and those that can afford family photographs.  I also see the photographer enjoying themselves and taking random photographs of people they find everyday, their own family members, and wonderful people they find.  I can see this photographer working their whole life to perfect their photography process, learning all of the different changes they can make with aperture and shutter speed in order to create the perfect balance, and taking photographs of their family as they learn.

This nut chopper is so interesting to me because the story I see with this cooking material is a mother with her children living on a farm chopping nuts and other foods for their baking.  I can see this family using this being on a farm because of the colors of the top of the nut chopper, they are light and it is mainly white.  They bake and cook during the day, for their other family members and their community.  I can see this mother then passing most of her cooking and baking materials to her children so that they could continue the baking that they had done when they were kids.  This nut chopper is being sold for another family to continue the wonderful cooking and baking with.

3D Design Project 1 Recap

Part 1

1.1 Planning and Proposal
For this assignment I wanted to utilize my environment to the best of my ability and highlight it because that is part of what a successful installation does. I began brainstorming about space and how every place that I could think of would change the installation I was dreaming of, which caused me to realize that space is extremely important because each space has a specific mood or feeling that is associated with it. With the first ideas that I had, I kept thinking of plaster stairs and how they arrangement of them can change for each space that they are in. I was then playing with the idea about manipulating and changing the plaster while it was setting. I then began looking at the shape I drew and thinking of water, and then about the earth and saving it. I then began to create multiple ideas based around the idea of recycling and creating a physical encasing around the recycling bin in the building. I then began to develop ideas about the feelings that I desired the viewers to feel, and I wanted them to feel like a god steward of the earth, happy, optimistic, and helpful.

1.2 Strategy and Research
I researched Frank Lloyd Wright and I learned about his work as an architect and what he did to make use of the space around him. He always found ways to utilize nature in his pieces, such as with Fallingwater, where he incorporated the beautiful surroundings into the house.

This idea of nature and incorporating it and using the surrounding area as a key component to an installation or building is very interesting. I wanted to achieve something similar to that with my piece because I wanted my installation to incorporate the earth and its surroundings and have that be the basis for my installation.
When we traveled to the library, I found several books about the cycle of water, where water goes, and about recycling. I decided to use some of this information as my inspiration for my installation and I continued to brainstorm how I could incorporate the earth, water, and the surrounding space into my piece.

1.3 Outcome and Final Solution
For my installation, I decided to utilize the recycling bin in the building and I wanted to share with the viewers that they were being helpful to the earth by recycling, yet also they should be aware of the harm that they are doing to the earth by using non-reusable water bottles. I created my installation around the space of the recycling bin because recycling was my main focus. I wanted viewers and users to feel helpful, happy, optimistic, yet at the same time, harmful, and wasteful. This was a difficult combination that I had to develop, and I decided to mainly put the exciting, helpful, and happy elements on the top of the recycling bin, and then have the pieces that made the viewer feel tension on the bottom. On the top I have the motion of recycling with the three water bottles on the wire with balloon pieces in them going into the recycling bin. I also have the band aid on top of the bin, representing the temporary fix and help that recycling is. The bottom section of the installation focuses on what everyone should strive for, which is using reusable water bottles so that there is no wasting or harmful plastic going into the earth. I have represented this by plaster molds that I placed half of a water bottle in when it was setting. I then took it out and used the negative as the focus of the piece. I wanted to symbolize this tension of the harm that humans are doing to the earth, and so I wrapped pieces of balloons around the plaster molds of the absent water bottles. The covering over the front of the recycling bin is a plastic lace, representing the flowers and elements of the earth that are being harmed because of the amount of plastic that all humans use.

Part 2

If I could make a project that uses chance, I would create something that lets the viewer decide how to create the story.  Leaving something up to chance for me means leaving it up to the viewer to decide what they want to do and change the project in a way that suits them.  If it was an installation I would create little elements that the viewer could piece together and create.  I would make different pieces that could create a building.  I would make them building blocks out of plaster that were all different shapes and sizes and I would wrap them in Velcro so that they could all stick to each other.  I would then create a prompt for the viewer and I would ask them to create a cozy hideout for themselves.  They could also pick any color building block that they wanted because I would have many different colors.  This would be a project that was left up to chance because the viewer would be able to decide what color, shape, and design that they would create their small and cozy space.  Besides the limited range of colors that Velcro would come in, this project would be entirely left up to chance for the viewer.  It would be very interesting and wonderful to see how many different designs the viewers and builders would come up with.

Coffee Filter Installations

For this coffee filter installation, Shannon and I wanted to, emphasize the windows of these two doors, share something beautiful with the people walking through the doors everyday, and make people wonder about the purpose of the filter pieces.  We wanted to still make it possible for people to see through them, yet when you look at it from the outside it is very confusing and looks a bit like coral reef.  From the other side where we taped all of the coffee filters, it looks like flowers.  We taped the coffee filters in little pieces around the flowers on the window and near the center of the door so that it could become an interactive installation, so that people had the power to make the pieces flutter when they open the door.  One of our main goals when creating this piece is making it interactive so that people had the power to not only look at the piece but question why it was there and make it move because it is in one of the most traveled places in Fitz Hall.

Erwin Wurm: One-Minute Sculptures

Shelters, Screens, and Tents

We are surrounded by structures, whether you are in the city or a small town, most people have a place to live or at least something to protect them against the elements of the world.  The wind is one of the most powerful sources that work mostly against shelters and that can cause many issues for people and their living spaces.  One of the places that I most frequently inhabit is my dorm room at the University of Dayton.  I used to live in a triple, yet one of my roommates moved out, so I am in a double.  My roommate and I have had the chance to transform our “triple” into a double in some ways, such as moving around our beds and rearranging the desks and other pieces in our room.  We are both very happy with the changes we have made because the room arrangement is much more suitable and enjoyable.  We continue to dream up new ways of organizing elements of our living space, such as different ways we could organize our three beds and three desks with drawers.  Before, we had to have a specific arrangement suitable for three people, yet the possibilities are endless for a double room.  These materials in our living space have made our living easier because we have places to put our books, work on homework, and sleep at night.  Besides the basic elements of the room in a dorm, we have other elements that enhance our living such as a coffee maker, refrigerator, and microwave.  There are necessary pieces in a room and then there are fun elements that make living in the environment even more enjoyable.  In the reading, Shelters, Screens, and Tents, the author speaks about how silly many objects in our living spaces are, many are not necessary and some do not even help protect us against elements such as wind and rain, such as umbrellas.  The development and innovations in architecture needs to include the important elements for living such as a bed, closet, and desk, yet also provide a substantial amount of protection against the intense elements of outside.  Architects have the opportunity to construct structures that work with the wind instead of against it and therefore protect those living inside and be able to stand up and remain secure.  In a way, humans are like the wind in a structure that is spoken about in the reading because the structures need to work with and for the people living in them and not against.  This means that the structure itself and all of the elements inside it need to be suitable for people to live in and need to work for the needs of the people.  The elements inside a structure inform the way I exist in many different ways because I interact with them constantly, I use them to do my work, to sleep, and to enjoy life.  Like the wind, I move through the structures of the world and find ones that suit all my needs and the needs of the people around me because they are all creative places for me to live my life.