Final- paper sculpture project notes

The idea of making a flat and plain material into something three-dimensional and interesting is an amazing result. I wanted to experience this amazement so I decided to work with only printer paper and see how this plain material that we use every day to print our documents can turn itself into something artistic and beautiful.  As for the design, I went on the internet and looked for interesting shapes that you can make out of paper (origami-like) and so I found this diamond/ spiral shaped design. After I made 10 copies of the design, I decided to work a little bit with it and see what I can make. The result was the design below.

If I have another chance to make this again, I would make it bigger than life-size and hung from the ceiling almost like a chandelier.  I like pieces that are hung; it gives this elegant feeling especially to my piece. I really liked how my piece turned out. The photo that really shows illusion and shows another side of my project is the last one. I made my piece spin and took photos and as you can see that was really effective.



                                             

Harvey B. Grantt Center 4/28

Harvey B. Grantt Center for African-American Arts+Culture.

Woman Washing Clothes by Charles H. Alston, oil on pastel on paper, 30.5"x20.5" ca. 1970.

In this drawing, I was surprised to find bold black outlines. Most artists try to avoid even thin black outlines to let objects in the drawings or paintings become three-dimensional. However, in this drawing, Alston did not have a problem making the woman and the pot three-dimensional. The black bold lines also made the subjects pop from the background. The pop effect worked well, because the woman's skin color is the same as the background.

My Mother Told Me I am Chinese; painting lesson, Maria Magdalena, polaroid prints.

I think this artwork grabbed every viewer's attention. First of all, it was bigger than life-size, and second of all, it was realistic looking, which makes you want to relate to the subject in the work. The artwork also gave me the feeling of unity between two ethnicities/races: African-American and Chinese. I also love the meaning behind the white pigment that is spread all over the African-American girl's skin. It gives the viewer a message that the girl is trying to be convinced that she is Chinese because her mother told her so.

Political poster project notes

I chose this theme because I am a Palestinian, its in my blood. Palestine is still a political issue till this day--Palestinians still struggle to live in peace in Palestine. I also wanted to express my nationality in a different way this time. First, I tried it with a T-shirt with a Kuffiya pattern and now I expressed Palestine by using a famous icon--Hanzala. I really liked the idea of alternating a famous icon to get my point across.

Like you said I should tell the viewers what is Hanzala waiting for. I should add this message on the poster "Waiting for peace..." in Palestine which is shown by the colors of the flag I should not add the word "Palestine". I should figure out a way to make my viewers familiarized with this icon without me describing what is this icon, or how famous it is, which will be a little difficult but I will try.

                                                     

Student Union DIGITALLY INCLINED2 4/19

The compass by Karen Pierce
 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/catch-rosie/5137735929/

I liked this photograph very much. There is an illusion of the girl as if she is lifted by the balloons, but I think if the quantity of the balloons were a little more it would’ve reinforced this idea. May be even change the color of the balloons to white to match the background of the picture, which is the sky. I know that it is not a critique and that it is already displayed in a gallery to be judged, but I just want to write about what I think about this image. My drawing teacher used to say: "never draw the subject of your drawing in the center of your paper because your drawing will be too fixed and rigid". She always advised us to draw a still life from a different angle. In this image the subject, the girl, is in the center. I think that if she took the photo while the girl is on the edge of the picture frame it would've been more interesting to look at.

BFA Show in Rowe Arts 4/14



http://nsgarris.blogspot.com/2010/09/taking-out-last-nights-sorrow.html



The work that was most interesting in style was Nicholas Garris' Those Modern Evangelicals. His style is different in the way he draws, applies his colors and how he works with the texture and composition of his work. Also, his titles for the works are most interesting. There was a work for him that I saw in the last visit in Rowe arts where he drew a man throwing trash in the garbage bin in daylight and the title was "Taking out last night’s sorrow". Who knew that you can also be artistic in the way you title your work. The title also could change the viewer's preconceived thought of the painting. I plainly thought he was throwing trash in the garbage bin. That is what he is realistically doing, but there is a symbolic meaning behind it.

Project notes/ brainstorm

This is my topic (finally) the domino effect / revolution in the Middle East. I will do a video of the domino effect that we all know, where the domino pieces one after the other. I will make the dots of the domino pieces match the colors of the tunisian, libyan, egyptian, syrian,... flags. (The rest of the countries who are protesting for their soon-to-be democratic nation. I will make some dominoe pieces resistant to the push that begins the fall of the dominoes because some nations have not achieved what they wanted from the government. Its going to be on video.

CHANGED THE WHOLE IDEA ( MY NEW PROJECT NOTES IS MADE ON 4/26)

Daniel Joseph Martinez and Wenda Gu 4/14

Text notes

Daniel Joseph Martinez

- What is the work about? His work is mostly about exposing political, economical and social issues in the world of today. He wants people to express their suppressed feeling about such issues.

- How does he provoke the viewers? By exposing issues that affect people today.  That helps people relate to what he is trying to help them expose.

- What does he expose? People’s feelings about social, economical and social issues.

- Has his work inspired change? Social, political, economical change? I don’t think so, but however there was one positive outcome which was an anniversary for the artwork that the minority students held.

Wenda Gu

- What is attractive or repulsive about his work? The repulsive part about his work is the medium he used for the Oedipus Refound series. However, the medium he used for the United Nations-China Movement: Temple of Heaven (1998) was a genius move. Hair as a symbol of unity. This artwork was not like any other work I have ever seen. It makes you feel (even though I just read about it) the aesthetics of unity by making the viewers from different ethnicities feel the same feeling of frustration when they see the work because the writings are pseudo-scripts of the languages included.

- Is it political? Why? Yes because his work is reflecting on unification between different ethnicities by using the human body as a solution.

- What is his goal through his art? His goal is to show viewers that we are all one. (In short, Unity between different nationalities).

-Has he gone too far? Yes. For the sake of accomplish his goal he is willing to impregnate one woman from each continent is a bit too much. There will be no unification between people anyway. Symbolically yes. Having kids that are multiracial, but in reality people will still discriminate against people who look different including his "multiracial kids" (not yet).

James Nachtwey 4/12

 

http://viiphoto.ning.com/profiles/blogs/james-nachtwey

Daily class notes

Nacktwey captures the bitter truth. We often forget and ignore people who face such tragedies every day. I mean today when I was watching a morning show, they invited an interior designer and she was talking about which colors are right for today's modern homes, I said to myself some people don’t even have homes to start with. I am not disrespecting the interior designing field, but it was just my thought during that moment. His pictures really reminded me of what is happening around me and made me realize the bitter truth. I don’t know how he does it, but all of his pictures have an interesting composition. There is not one picture that has the same composition as the last one. Photography is really not an easy field like I once thought. You have to capture a picture without any alteration of the truth, which is pretty hard to do when the subjects know that there is a lens watching and capturing images of their feelings and actions.

Art of the 21st Century 4/7

Dialy class notes

The artist that really grabbed my attention in the 21st century video was Cai Gyo Quang. Usually the art making is a quiet process but his art making process has lots of action. I sort of amazed at how he approached the process of art making. Due to my curiosity I decided to look him up on Google and what amazing works I found. These images that I posted are my favorite. His work has this unique taste. He perceives things differently. Like animals that are 4-legged and live on land are seen tumbling and flying into thin air. His work also gives the essence of nature and wildlife. The viewer who sees this kind of work makes him or her feel as if they are in the wild while noticing the strangest incidents.

 

http://leighgillam.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/cai-guoqiang/

http://www.artspeakchina.org/mediawiki/index.php/Cai_Guo-Qiang_%E8%94%A1%E5%9B%BD%E5%BC%BA

Guillermo Gómez-Peña/ Brainstorm 4/5

I liked that he used humor in his work to deliver a message. I think that humor is effective in the matter of delivering and receiving messages of an artwork. I also figured out that political issues are very hard to approach due to the controversy that might be triggered from such issues. You can't please everyone if you approach a political issue. That's normal due to the different points of view. So let me brainstorm here: what is the point of making political artwork, to prove the assumptions of the artist, to shine the light on a political issue, to convince people of the artist’s view. So what was Gómez-Peña's assumptions regarding the reaction of the audience and what was the reaction of the audience that have seen his performance? I think that my project (still don't know what it is going to be) should take these brainstorming questions and goals into consideration.

Rowe Arts Galleries visit 3/22



http://amberdwatts.blogspot.com/

I liked Amber D. Watts’ “New object infrastructure". Her piece looked so real and the composition was very interesting. Due to the 3-dimensionality of the objects that are placed in the piece, it made me want to touch it and see if it operates. Artists who place an object that looks like it can be opened, pushed, spinned makes the viewer want to touch it. This it is a success I think, that is if it was the artist's goal. Another thing that grabbed my attention was that the piece looked as if it was cut from an old house and then placed in a modern gallery. Love the old and new contrast in this piece.

_________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.pinestreetartworks.com/artists/

The second piece that I really liked was "Graphology" by Carol Golemboski. I got to comment her on finding a way of making two completely different subjects (math and art) harmonious in her piece. It is like she's showing us the exact calculations and notes of drawing. I admire her approach so much because in all the student galleries that I visited I never seen such contrast. The use of white colored media on a black panel makes me think of a mathematician sketching his calculations on how to position a hand while drawing.

Art of 21st Century: Ecology

Robert Adams, Mark Dion, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, and Ursula von Rydingsvard.

The artist that most spoke to me is Mark Dion. To be specific- the tree log that is in the Seattle Art Museum. The log is showing even though the tree is dead it still serves an ecosystem for many creatures and plants. I also admired nature even more when I watched this video. In the room there was an irrigation system, windows that controlled the light, machines that controlled the temperature and other equipment to maintain the stability that is supposedly innate in nature. Nature does all of these environmental necessities by itself. And also when Mark Dion mentioned that even with the most high tech equipment of today it takes a lot of time to cut an old tree and it might be even impossible to do so. As if the tree is fighting for its life.

Photo: http://eyelevel.si.edu/2008/09/mark-dion-wins.html

Environment Project Notes

I chose to work with gumballs because they are all over my back yard and I always thought their pattern to be very interesting. But I got to say that it was very hard working with them due to their spiky texture. That's why I always say whenever you use a medium for the first time, you always have to do a trial or a model of what you are trying to do before you build the big scale piece. Before I presented my project today, I knew that the pictures where the piece looks like a little girl wearing a hat and leaning on the tree would grab attention and it did. So if I had another chance to take a photo of it, I would place "the little girl" on a branch. The little girl would look as if she just finished climbing the tree.This would be very symbolic because the gumballs original location are on the gumball tree.  I noticed that my project also took the form (the swirls) of the creatures that I found in the gumballs. I found a little spider, green worm and other creatures.

Michael Betz McColl artist lecture 3/17/11

The lecture was very interesting and unique. Or in other words, Betz's work was interesting and unique. How he perceives space and how he manipulates it. I never thought of the idea of how we get controlled by the space that is around us. For example, if the table is round we are supposed to sit in a circle. However, he changed the traditional way we perceive space. Like the dining table or the sketch of the circular table with a family sitting inside of it. I also liked the work with the molds of feet. It is amazing how he did the radial perspective of the feet. It is amazing how his mind works. I thought of him as a unique artist when I saw the belly button and the ear plastered on the buildings. When I saw the ear on the building it conveyed a lot of meaning to me even though he only said "I just walked up to the building and got some plaster and made an ear". It reminded me of the saying"even walls have ears". It is like a sign that the building can hear what the residents there are thinking and saying every time they pass it.

Skip Schuckmann and Betsy Damon Reading

Skip Schuckmann

1. How does he interact with his "clients"? He makes sure that they get the delight he experiences when he makes his artworks. It is mentioned in the book that he encourages his clients to mess with stuff so that they can have the same delight (Page 38, 1st p).

2. Does he have a larger audience? Other than his client, I don’t think so. If there was a big audience he would talk to the audience one person at a time to clarify and translate what is going on in his artwork.

3. How does he survive as an artist? He gets paid by the day (the diurnal cycle of the sun) not by the hour. A day's job is determined by the client's disposition and the temperature, light, moisture and wind outside.

Betsy Damon

4.Why did she stop painting? Because she wanted to be an activist. She did not seek interest in the characteristics that make up a successful artist such as income and other material gains. She did not want to spend most of her day alone in a studio. She wanted to interact with people and make a difference in people's lives. 

5.How is Damon’s work similar to Mel Chin's (art 21)? They both work at specific places that are affected by environmental or social problems. 

6.Why make work in China? Because China originally depended on nature for well being. Water is also an important aspect in the Chinese culture, art, philosophy and other fields. China has a deep history concerning water. People there do not have to be convinced about how water is important for the quality of human life and that nature has a natural way of recovering itself from harmful substances. So it was easier for her to implement the project there.

7.What is the living water park? It is a place where visitors meditate, interact with the environment, and learn about the environment. It is also a refuge for wildlife and plants. However, the main star of this park is the water. The water takes a journey around the park to get cleansed and revitalized.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude video on 2/3

Daily class notes

Christo and Jeane-Claude are very confident and persistent when it comes to their work. I was impressed at how they were not affected by the many complaints that some of the residents were saying about their artwork. "Not affected" meaning that they continued fighting for their project's completion even through the obstacles that they faced on the way. The simple media  that they used for the Running Fence was more beautiful than if they painted ornate patterns on the fabric. Both artists were trying to let the viewer understand and figure out the beauty of the work by themselves with no help from known patterns and figures. I admired the rancher that enjoyed what he was seeing. It is rare to see people who don't have a preconceived idea of art appreciate what they see.  I looked on the internet for more of their works and I noticed that their work is simple yet vey innovative, creative, and enormous in scale. One of the works that I loved was the one I posted here. The work looks very elegant and serene. It also looks like a mansion that is located in heaven or any other far away dimension.

Andy Goldsworthy video/ Dale Chihuly

Daily Class notes

The video was very interesting. The way the artist uses media that was found in nature and nothing else. Even when he wanted to connect two objects together, he did not use an already-made cohesive substance like glue. I was amazed at how his artwork work so well with nature. I also admire his perseverance in making his artwork-( he repeated the stone piece four times). I wanted to know one thing when I was watching the video is how does he come up with these unique patterns and shapes? I also noticed that most of the work we saw in the video had that nest-like pattern, including the image that I posted here. I loved this piece. It almost looks like its hanging in the air. It reminds me of a spider's web only this one is man made.

Artists like Andy Goldsworthy use media from nature to make an artwork fit in with the environment, but Dale Chihuly is a different story.

One of my favorite artists who placed a lot of his work (glass blown) outside is Dale Chihuly. I love how his  artwork fit in with the environment even though the media that is used is not from nature. Here are some of his work. Also, we saw one of his chandeliers in the entrance of the mint museum.

Image 1: http://degine.blogspot.com/2007/12/world-of-andy-goldsworthy.html

Image 2: http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Sothebys_sculpture_Chatsworth.html

Image 3: http://www.elementsvillage.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=10230

Image 4: http://www.baekdal.com/design/dale-chihuly

Image 5: http://balancedcrafts.com/blog/2009/01/dale-chihuly-artist-spotlight/

Image 6: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/grandrapids/index.ssf/2010/04/frederik_meijer_gardens_and_sc.html

Consumption Project Notes

In my sketchbook I started to list the things that we consume on a daily basis and a list of wearable things. Then I would match the consumed goods that go with a specific wearable thing. I matched the hat with the bulb because it symbolizes me getting an idea. Then, I used a cable cord that was cut to show the insides of the cord. The cable cord symbolized my brain. The  circuits were painted yellow to show that the brain is connected to the bulb but not physically. I hope that the viewer made that assumption before I talked about my project. 


This is an explanation for my project that I  presented in the critique. At home I decided to work on it a little more because I was not pleased with the result. I think that there was too much going on so I decided to concentrate on one object (which is the bulb) and reinforce it with the use of repetition. 


Explanation for my final result (shown in the pictures in my post)


My final piece criticizes, in a humorous way, how we waste energy (light) today. 


-We only need one bulb when we get an idea yet we still have other lighted bulbs that are not in use. 

Edward Burtynsky and Annie Leibovitz

Daily class notes

Edward Burtynsky

Edward's China pictures, I think, spoke to every person in the class. I think he was trying to show how industries enslave those workers. They have a dorm and wear uniforms to even heighten the idea. It made me want to go there and ask them how they feel every morning when they walk into the factory doing the same job every day. The pictures also show how much we rely on goods that are mostly made in China. In China, there are many factories full of equipments that fill rooms to make goods that would suffice most of humanity.

Yes, his other photographs were horrid and disturbing, but he still captured reality without any manipulation of the contents in his photographs, which I find amazing. He finds art in what he sees and takes photos. I think that Edward has the creative eye. I call people who approach art in a different and unexpected way as having the "creative eye"—his eyes see the beauty of what most of us would find repulsive.

Annie Leibovitz

Annie's unmanipulated pictures such as the photos of Mick Jagger's concert had a flowing composition, which I find hard to do if the subjects and objects were not arranged by me. She automatically knows which picture is going to be the perfect picture. The qualities of the pictures are also very high and beautiful. In her photos you see movement, emotion, innovation, and creativeness. I am looking forward to adopting some of her amazing talent of approaching the world in a creative way.

Mint museum visit on 2/17

Daily class notes

The museum was great. So great that I told my family to go visit it. Some works made me see a new side in making art. Preston Singlefary, for example, made a hand blown glass plate that was engraved with a lizard and other shapes and the shadow of that piece had the exact image that was engraved on the glass. So he made use of the shadow that was casted by his piece. Danny Lane's piece was also amazing. It made me think of a rainbow where its colors were made from colorful objects rather than just plain colors. In my opinion the best piece was by Nicholas Arroyave, the "Slashed Piece". It was a piece of clay that was covered with fabric. The fabric was actually slashed with the piece of clay. You can see the inside of the clay piece. It was a clay piece with an unusual and unexpected texture. I like to see common objects approached in an unusual way and that's why his piece grabbed my attention. The material of the fabric also helped show depth of the shapes that are made on the piece.

Nicholas Arroyave- portela, Slashed Piece

Photograph: http://www.jra.org/Get%20Involved/Trips.htm

Thomas Kinkade and Vanessa Beecroft text notes/ Project notes

Project notes/ proposal

In my sketchbook I started to list the things that we consume on a daily basis and a list of wearable things. Then I would match the consumed goods that go with a specific wearable thing. For example, my first idea was to put a light bulb on a hat to symbolize me getting an idea for this project. My fake proposal is similar to this idea. My work is going to be done on sunglasses. The lenses are going to have scenes of what we see daily on television like war, violence, protests and etc. The frames of the lenses are going to have the shape of a television. The scenes are going to be either on the front or back of the lenses. The scenes are going to be arranged next to each other like a collage.

Text Notes

Thomas Kinkade

1. Why did the artist choose these common or popular themes as subjects for his paintings?

2. Which audience is he targeting when making these paintings?

3. Why do the descriptions for both paintings mention “dimensions variable"?

It was interesting to read about an artist who pleases the public with his artworks rather than pleasing himself. Most of the time artists do their best to express themselves in their artworks. However, Kinkade broke that status-quo and followed another status-quo: painting traditional themes such as cottages, garden, waterfalls, bridges, and mountains. These themes or subjects appeal to the majority, because they don't have to think about the meaning of the paintings and just enjoy the beautiful scenery. I also wanted to say that he gained popularity and money in a little amount of time. I think this is the difference between some artists and Kinkade. Some artists and Kinkade have the same goals (popularity and money) but they achieve them in different speeds.

Answers for the three questions

1. Because the artist wants to get the attention of of the majority that appreciate the popular themes of art.

2. People who appreciate common themes of art.

3. Because there are multiples of Thomas Kinkade's works and these multiples come in various sizes or dimensions.

Three questions that prove my critical and creative thinking

1. What was his goal? Fast and convenient way of gaining popularity and money?

2. Who sees the works as coveted (mentioned in the reading)? The artist or the consumer? Coveted enough to make the artist place his own highlight? 

3. Is he planning on expressing himself in an artwork?

Vanessa Beecroft

1. What is the point of the artwork?

2. Is she reinforcing the idea of women being objectified?

3. What is the viewer supposed to gain from this artwork?

At first I was trying to convince myself with the idea that she made this performance art to symbolize her confusion with the surrounding search of herself. Then I shifted to the idea that she constructed this artwork to show the media-constructed standards that women measure themselves daily and I think that she was reinforcing that idea. The female audience will not change the way they judge themselves due to this artwork. The reading mentioned information about her work, display, audience expectations, how she chose the audience for her artwork. In the last paragraph, the author was trying to show how unbalanced she was and that she did not have a final, stable and convincing answer to why she chose this media for an artwork. I like the idea that she did a series of her work in different countries. She matched the theme of each group of models with the setting they were in. But what is she trying to convey with all of this. I want to know her point of view. To me, I think that she placed these models to show how hard most women work on their appearances to get to that perfect media-constructed look.

Answers for the three questions

1. I think that the artwork's point was to show how hard women work on themselves to get to that "perfect" state and that the number of models reinforced that idea.

2. I think yes.

3. For me, media affects our appearance, daily lives and actions.

Three questions that prove my critical and creative thinking

1. Is she planning to make artworks that show the negative effects of plastic surgery (when plastic surgery is not necessary)? I think this would be a great idea for her next work.

2. If she lessened the number of models would her work be as strong?

3. If she added a woman who doesn’t look as "perfect" as the models in the composition what would that add to her artwork? It could be a psychological experiment where the audience can become the participant of the experiment and Beecroft can record the results and place them next to the artwork.

Rowe Building: Students' Artworks 2/10/11

Daily class notes

My least favorite artwork was the "yes you can" graphic design/ digital print. The overflow of objects in the artwork made it look crammed and the color scheme was not well chosen. The gridded background didn't add anything to the piece. I think that he could have made the gridded background useful by making
 it smaller as it goes farther from view to give dimension to the piece.


My favorite artwork or artworks were by Sara Catapand (I hope I got her last name right): "Functionally/ Non-functional Clay" and the "Inverted Series". The viewer automatically gets the "wow" expression. The 1st artwork was beautiful and very attention grabbing. The texture of the clay piece was unexpected. You expect to see a smooth textured clay vessel. Yet, her piece had this spikiness that makes you not want to touch it, but admire the technique that was used. The colors (turquoise and golden yellow) were very elegant together. The way the colors were applied to the piece was genius. The turquoise was on the ends of the spikes while the golden yellow was at the roots. Then at the bottom of the clay piece, as the spikes got smaller, the golden yellow was plainly used to signify that something was happening at the bottom. The inverted series were also unique in style: a detailed spiked texture but from the inside. However,  I would rather have her works displayed next to each other rather than separating them.

Project #2: Consumption

List of consumables for one hour:
Water, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, towel, lotion, light, clothes, tea, cereal, gas, car, cell phone, TV, and i-pod.

List of consumables for a day:
Water, soap, light, toothbrush, toothpaste, clothes, lotion, cereal, (food), tea. music, deodorant, furniture, perfume, roller skates, cell phone, shampoo, conditioner, washing machine, drying machine, i-pod, TV, computer, car, gas, heat and air conditioning.

These products come from many factories and industries from around the world. We need these products for entertainment, transportation, communication, hygiene and survival.

-Entertainment products can cost up to 700 dollars.
-A car can cost up to 15,000 dollars.
-Communication devices can cost up to 500 dollars.
-Hygiene products cost 40 dollars total (minimum). (Washing and drying machine can cost up to 600 dollars).
-Food, energy,water, light, and heat can cost up to 1000 dollars (minimum).

Identity Project Notes

Whenever there is a chance to represent myself in a project, I always choose the Palestinian theme. Maybe it is a bad thing to stick to one theme, but I don’t see it that way. Because the composition, medium and content changes in each artwork. For example, in drawing two we had to do a diorama of any theme and then draw what we see using color pencils. My theme was about the process of making the Palestinian traditional clothing. May be the work about my Palestinian culture can become a series of some sort. I also wanted to say that I chose my nationality as a theme, because I like to share information about my culture and traditions.

I loved how my identity project turned out. I got the idea of combining the flag with a section from the Palestinian traditional clothing in class when we were watching the "Art of the 21st Century". I remembered my drawing teacher when she used to tell us to sketch anything that comes to our minds while we are watching the art of the 21st century. So while I was watching art of the 21st century in Concept Studio, I started to sketch ideas for my identity project. Then, I found the perfect idea. At home, I sketched how my piece should look, implemented details, and chose the medium. I was going to buy different colored fabric and yarn to make the details, but then I thought why not use something that represents Palestine (keffiyeh) instead of using yarn for my details. This way it will make my piece more harmonious and coherent with my theme. Finally, I got the final look on my sketch book and started to make my identity project. Here is the result.

My sketches

As I worked on my project my design kept on changing to a more simpler version .

I took the section at the top as a base for my shirt's design

The Light Factory: Suspicious Minds 1/27/2011

Daily class notes

On January the 27th, we went to the Light Factory to see the work of Malena Bergmann, Tom Chambers, Robert and Shana Parkeharrison, Jerry Uelsmann and Joel Whitaker. My favorite photograph was the Winter Arm by Robert and Shana Parkeharrison. I think it was the most harmonious photograph in the gallery. The person's face and arm shown in the composition was a genius move, because the viewer can actually tell what is the mood and meaning of the photo. My interpretation of the photo was that the mysterious person had lost hope, but by the mysterious person's observing state he almost looks like he is waiting for his winter arm to turn into spring. He knew that there is hope coming and so he is waiting for that life changing event. I also like the background of the photograph, because it supports the mood of the picture. The background has this rainy effect which gives off the sad and hopeless mood. In general, it was the most attention grabbing piece in the gallery.

Photograph URL: http://kautzer.wordpress.com/page/2/

William Kentridge and Nan Goldin text notes

Daily class notes

I liked Do Hu Suh's work especially the Korean houses. He did an exact replica of his house in Korea that was built by his father. When I heard him say that he sometimes wishes he could carry his home in Korea on his back like a snail, I immediately knew how he felt. I always feel homesick and Suh's work really gives me an idea on how to diminish that feeling. I also liked the mini figures that were next to each other. When he explained the figures' symbol (it symbolized the crowded life in Seoul city), I knew that most of his work is going to be about his culture. I admire artists who express their culture to the world in beautiful ways. Hopefully, for my first work in Concept Studio I would express my Palestinian culture in the same way.

Project notes / proposal

I made two sketches for my Identity project. I will hopefully scan it and post it by this week. My work is going to be a combination of the Palestinian flag and a section from Palestine's traditional clothing. It’s going to be a detailed piece (that is the section that I chose from Palestine's traditional clothing) that is encoded with the Palestine's flag colors. It is going to be made from fabric and yarn and it is going to be hung on the class wall. The size of my identity project is going to be between one and two inches.

Text notes

William Kentridge

1. What is the message for both drawings?

2. What is the medium for both drawings?

3. Do both drawings compose a series of some sort?

At first I kind of lost interest as I read maybe because I couldn't relate to what he is trying to express, but at the end I was interested in how the medium, charcoal, was used to convey a message. The residues of charcoal erasures could bother everyone including me, but he transformed this disadvantage into an advantage in his work-- History of the Main Complaint (1996). The residues of charcoal erasures mirrored the past events that have an effect on the current event. I also related to Kentridge when he mentioned that "drawing does not arrive like a photo". Sometimes before I start a drawing I get anxious about how it's going to look like at the end? I want it to be perfect in a blink of an eye. I am always going to remember this Kentridge saying-- "What ends in clarity does not begin that way".

Answers for the three questions

1. Both pictures, which are part of an animated film, are expressing how bad memories of the South Africans during the 1900s affected their daily lives.

2. Charcoal.

3. Both drawings are made on the same drawing paper and they are a part of an animated film.

Three questions that prove my critical and creative thinking

1. How long would it take to make an animated cartoon, today, using Kentridge's technique? Less or more time?

2. What other mediums can be used instead of charcoal for filmmaking with Kentridge's idea of filmmaking?

3.Where and with what device did Kentridge present his film?

Nan Goldin

             

1. What is the message behind these photographs?

2. What or who triggered her interest in photography?

3. Do the subjects in the photographs relate to the artist?

The photographs that were taken by this artist made me wonder what environment was she surrounded with. As I read, I knew that she grew up in a bad environment. She ran away from home when she was eleven, because of her older sister's suicide. She lived in many foster homes and then she was expelled from all of them. Then she settled in a commune. The people who were in the commune also lived and were part of the bad environment that surrounded Goldin. Goldin shared her friends' lifestyle byproducts: drugs, diseases, detox therapies, and heroin relapses. I also noticed that there are no happy or joyful pictures that were captured by Goldin. She mentioned that she did take a picture of a beautiful sky and underneath it there was her friend who committed suicide. Most of the pictures that I have seen and read about in the text start with a happy beginning and then end with a tragedy.

Answers for the three questions

1. Goldin tried to capture daily life's events as it occurs (no alterations).

2. Goldin mentioned that she started taking pictures after her sister's suicide.

3. They were her friends from the commune.

Three questions that prove my critical and creative thinking

1. Was the artist criticized for her exploitive photographs?

2. Did her friends doubt their friendship with Golden after they have seen their pictures in the museum?

3. Did the photographs of her friends leave any impression on her? If so, what impressions?