Imagini

So, this isn't anything for class, but I thought it was sort of relevant and wanted to post it somewhere people can see. Imagini is a way to find your VisualDNA. It's basically like a personality test, but with images. Here are my results: (except the Junkie Monkey couldn't be more opposite)

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

My First Website!

Here's my very first website!

Oil and the Internet

The work of the website and program of OilStandard quite clearly fits into the article "Short History of the Internet" by Bruce Sterling. Sterling discusses the way that the internet is organized so that anyone and everyone can access space, post basically whatever they want, and allow for free and speedy file transfer. All of these aspects of the internet are utilized by this website and the program itself. Without the real time of the internet constantly sending and receiving information as it's happening, this program would be just short of meaningless. Yes, we might still be able to get the information, but perhaps not as quickly, therefore losing the real time aspect of the changing prices. Not only does this kind of technology hint that it was made so recently, but also the topic of choice. Of course, as politics and the economy are at the present time, they could stay this way for some time, perhaps creating a larger period of time that this topic would be relevant. However, there will probably be new technology to create a new program that would then hint at the later date in time.

Postcard Images

Art SMP Critiques

Attending the art SMPs for the first time was truly a different experience. It's definitely not my typical poster session with everyone asking about the significance of my statistics. The four I attended were Jeannie, Erica, Hilary and Amy. Lisa, Carrie and Colby are the three professors who gave the critiques.

Jeannie's sculptures were made of plaster and other materials that "seeped" or "bursted" out of the plaster based on emotions she feels that she doesn't share and therefore bottle up and eventually come out unwillingly. Compared to last semester's sculptures, these are smaller so that the viewer can become more intimate with the details. They are also more self-portrait-like than the characters of last semester. The professors mentioned playing with the space to display them. Specifically, creating a smaller room within the gallery and adding a white floor so that the brown carpet doesn't play against the white plaster. Also, they urged her to explore vertical space, although Jeannie seemed weary as she wants the viewer to feel overpowering to the sculptures and not the other way around.

Erica's community based art was interesting, however, not easy to appreciate in a large group of people. Only one person could participate at a time because it involved sitting at a desk and following some directions (similar to our class cut-up projects). One piece involved someone signing a box with a pen that was surrounded in gold leafing to create a residue to be left behind on postcards that the participant is asked to read. The other piece involved looking up words in a box, resembling a card cataloging library system, and cutting the cards if the word could fit into two or more categories. Erica wanted the participant to experience past participation, as well as leave their own mark to be experienced by the next participant. The professors all agreed that her concepts were strong enough that she could take away the artificial environment that she creates for her participants and that it actually confuses people (i.e. setting up the cataloging table like a library desk).

Hilary's photography ideas are to point and shoot pictures while taking a walk, as opposed to taking a walk to take pictures. She prefers the square shape of her displays so that she can play with more of the concrete elements of photography, such as the horizon. All three professors agreed that this method really supports the physical aspects of walking and shooting and helps to develop the work as a whole as opposed to trying to take pictures. They also agreed that she should keep her displays professional, simple and consistent and that bringing in the display as a new element would be too much and overpower her photography.

Amy's paintings were my favorite project of the evening. This is probably because of my simple and child-like tendencies, but I really enjoyed looking at her pieces. Her intent is to make a book for children in kindergarten and younger. Each panel consists of three pieces, each with a word that rhymes with the other two in that panel. The panels start with the main character (a bear) in nature and gradually become more industrialized into the man-made world. I love the use of her rich and vivid colors and the not-quite-cartoon-like characters. The professors thought she should tone down the intensity of the dark colors used in the later panels that reference the human world. Amy explained that as it becomes more developed the dark colors are used more and in more intensity to contrast the light and texture in the nature panels. It will be interesting to see the final piece and how this gets resolved.

I'm glad I got to see student work with them there to explain their work. I still think I need practice in viewing art and appreciating it and after a long and frustrating day of my own statistics, the art SMPs were a good break.

Postcards

For my postcard project, I've chosen to create a relationship between Johns Hopkins and Harriet Tubman. To do this, I would like to do both sides of each postcard and have the clear relationship in their written messages to each other. Basically, Tubman is writing in the present time period to the deceased Hopkins for money to rescue poor/exploited children. The pictures are related to their written messages and, therefore relate to each other, however one wold not know this without understanding the written messages.

The actual pictures, as seen in the sketch, are a digital picture of a railroad track (representing Tubman), with 3D scan of linen as the sky background (representing the exploitation of the children), possibly a 2D scan of an exploited child. The other postcard involves a digital picture of money (representing the wealth and generosity of Hopkins), a 3D scan of a book and possibly a 2D scan of the medical symbol caduceus (representing Hopkins' standards for healthcare and education, which relate directly to Tubman's cause). I'd like to mount these postcards in front of a mirror so that a viewer can read the backs to the postcards and experience both postcards in their entirety.

Artist Talk

This morning I listened to Patrick Kelly, a candidate for the digital arts teaching job. He presented a lot of his photography and how he got started with his love for nature and brought in some human aspects of creating the environment. Eventually he started using the web as a showcase and then created some natural looking art with the computer. He is currently interested in using web space not only as a showcase, but as the art itself. For example, he collaborated with a musician to create a labryinth on the computer, much like a video game. He likes the idea of the viewer being able to interact with the art and decide for themself what is real and what has been created. I think he is an excellent candidate for the posistion.

Cut-Up

William Burroughs describes "The Cut-Up Method" by Brion Gysin. This method involves randomly generating prose, either by computer software or literally cutting up paper with words and then randomly putting them together to create poetry. I've said before that I like methods that create themselves, mostly because I'm a very indecisive person, so I like to avoid making decisions about what to create. However, I must admit, I'm turned off by this method, the way it's described. I'm not exactly sure why I'm turned off by it, but perhaps it's too far removed from the artists' own work. Also, I'm not convinced that using this method truly creates meaningful work. For one, the artist really doesn't put in much effort at all, doesn't even necessarily have to have an idea of where it's going, and calls it original art. If they don't have meaning of their own to put into the work, is it really "meaningful" prose? Is it really art?

Mariachi Lion!

This is my supercool Mariachi Lion that I entered in the beginner "Lion Statue" contest in Worth1000! I wanted him to look like those animal statues all over a city that are all different (i.e. the pandas in DC, the herons in St. Mary's County, etc.). The tools I used included the lasso to select the area to make his black suit and cut objects that I added to the lion. I also used the clone stamp to fix a shadow in the red bow. I copied, pasted and transformed each individual botonadura (silver buttons that line the sides of the pants and jacket). Lastly, I copied, pasted, and rotated the sombrero (hat) to the top of the lion.

Gradient FUN!

S-E-X-Oh!

Last Friday night I saw a wonderful production called "S-E-X-Oh!" by Teatro Luna. The show was a compilation of true stories about the Latina women who perform for this group. While most of the stories were funny, others were heart-breaking and upsetting. The movement of the show was very well done as it flowed so seamlessly to bring in very dynamic emotions. Being able to identify with the show, as a Latina, really brought me into the whole experience. I think that this is why the show was so amazing to me and perhaps not to others. Simply being Catholic is not really what the show is about, but more specifically being a Latina (who are stereotypically devout Catholics). I believe that some may have misinterpreted what was being portrayed with these topics on stage. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see these women perform such an amazing show and I hope that I see them in their new show soon.

Dada

I really liked the Dada techniques I read about. I like using a lot of pieces that people wouldn't normally think of and recycling them in a way. For example, using a gum wrapper as part of a collage not only gives it a new use, and therefore is not trash, but also gives it a new meaning and role.

I didn't know which artist I would be most interested in so I chose the first person, Hans (Jean) Arp. His art looked much simpler because it was not as busy as some of the other artists. Specifically I looked at "Forest," which is an example of assemblage in that he used 3D pieces to create an image. I also looked at "Automatic Drawing," which is either an example of abstraction or chance, depending on how the work was created, or could perhaps be both. It seems though, if the markings were intentional, it would be abstract in that it does not represent anything in the natural world. However, if it were created by using some kind of machine or other means of unintentional markings, it could be considered chance. I briefly looked at the other images as well, which seem to be very identical to these two pieces in that they are examples of assemblage or abstraction.

My Scuba Adventure

Here is my audio project highlighting a scuba divers leap into the underwater world. As you listen to the calming background of the underwater bubbling and swishing, you will also hear breathing and the bubbles that are exhaled. Glide along, peacefully in the deep blue sea, but watch out for the passing boat!

Sounds by:
Splash - Dynamicell
Breathing - Me!
Underwater - Suonho
Bubbles - Halion
Boat - Neonaeon

Reynold Bailey: Perception-Guiding Image Editing

Today, Reynold Bailey gave a talk on Perception-Guiding Image Editing. I thought that he was funny and liked the format of his presentation. However, I was not expecting such a huge part of his talk to be an extensive neuroscience background of the work he does. I thought this much detail was unnecessary and could have been summed up much more quickly for the purposes of his talk. Feeling like I was in a review session for all my neuroscience classes really distracted me from what his talk was actually about. I really only saw a few slides that were about his actual work, and am therefore not truly sure what the talk was about. It seems to me that he has studied the interaction between human perception and the way graphics are displayed on the computer and is now finding ways to alter graphics so that humans will perceive them a certain way. For instance, his cinematography example about having a main character in the background of a scene can be colored in a different way (warmer colors) so that humans will more readily perceive and attend to the character as opposed to something else in the scene. Overall, I thought his work was very interesting, just that the talk could have been organized to be more effective.

Janet Cardiff

After listening to her radio piece and her Whitechapel Gallery Project, I'd really love to take one of Janet Cardiff's walks. Even just sitting here, the recordings seemed so intimate and carefully pieced together. The narration made it feel like being in a movie, but that no one else will ever see. It was also very interesting because you could never really tell who the whisper voice was talking to. At first, it seemed as though he knew me personally and that he was sometimes looking out for me and sometimes stalking me. At one point, Janet actually answers him, though he still doesn't lose his ghostly presence.

I really noticed the three-level spatial structure, specifically with the ocean sounds. At first, I didn't even realize they were there because they were in the background. I felt that the voiceover became the middle ground because it was very obvious, however, I wasn't really that concious of it. I heard what she was saying, but I was paying attention to what she was pointing out (i.e. the water flowing from the broken pipe). She was able to create a fluidity of movement between the layers, especially with fading in and out of foreground sounds as we "walk away" from them. I was able to visualize everything around me, and build a map as I went along, but I think that the sense of place in time would be much more powerful if I were actually in that place. It would create a whole new layer of experience to look over at apparitions of the sounds because they are not visually there in the same time and place. I love the way she mixes real and sureal and is so successfully able to blend them together.

Listen to my Sounds

This is the sound project that I made for our first project. It wasn't really planned, I just listened to some different sounds, and eventually came up with a comprehensive flow of the sounds I liked best. Now that I listen to it, it sounds sort of plain, but it was good practice for the big sound project that's due next week as well as working with audacity.

Attributions (The Freesound Project):
Percy Duke - Gravel Crunch
Heigh-hoo - Car Door Closing
dude3966 - Footsteps
partymix - Doorbell

Lance Winn: drawing, robotics, sculpture

Yesterday I attended the art talk with Lance Winn who shared his work with drawing, robotics and sculpture. I missed the beginning, and therefore his discussion on ectoplasm, however, I did hear a lot about some specific pieces. I was fascinated by the way he allowed the work to guide him and make itself. I felt that this spoke to me because I've always held that curiosity about "secret messages" (even if I know they're not really there). I'm also very indecisive and have a lot of trouble planning any art project because I never know where I want it to go when I start. While I really enjoyed hearing his concepts, I wasn't too sure what I thought about the art itself. I liked that he layered his work so that what it started out as may not be what you see when you look at the finished product. I felt that he showed us a lot of the same work over and over again, which I thought to be unnecessary. I think his presentation would have been just as effective if he had chosen a select number of pieces that are mostly dissimilar from each other. I also give him a lot of credit because I don't have his patience to draw/paint all those lines!

The Journey

Planning this project is very difficult for me because I'm really not sure what I want to do yet. I like to listen to a bunch of sounds, pick some I like and then make the project from them. So I really don't have an explicit plan for what kind of journey I'm going to make. However, I would love to somehow incorporate the sound of water. I'd love to record dripping water; I'm not sure I'll get a great recording but I won't know until I try! I'm also not sure if the water will become the journey, or just something along the way. I'm excited to play with the sounds and see what I come out with.

"Consumed" by Melissa Dean

Yesterday I attended "Consumed" by Melissa Dean. It was (I'm sad to say) my first art event in all my time here at St. Mary's. I really enjoyed it, not only because I finally got to attend one and even step foot into Boyden Gallery, but I really enjoyed her talk. I was afraid that, not being an art major, I would have no idea what she was talking about when she discussed her techniques and philosophies behind her work. I was greatly pleased that this was not the case. I think my favorite piece was the painting of all the different items on top of one another, mostly because I felt like I understood it (which is sort of rare for me). I thought her ideas of the consumer vs. organic paradox were very interesting and loved that she wanted the viewer to decide what each piece says. I really like the idea of overlaying simplistic images on top of one another to take away meaning, it sounds fascinating and I'd like to try it sometime.

Sound Project

I listened to the sound project "Radio Radio" by DJ Spooky for this entry. When I first heard the racket coming from my speakers, all I could think was, "what the...?" As I started to pick out individual sounds and how they were put together I was very intrigued. I'm not sure how purposeful it was to put these particular sounds together or in what order, but I noticed various emotions coming to surface. For example, I happened to be listening to the audio alone at night, so when Alfred Hitchcock spoke, I was a little creeped out; when I heard the oh-so-familiar sound of dial-up internet, I started laughing, etc. I love music, especially music that mixes different beats and genres (I particularly enjoyed the clinking sounds mixed with heavier beats because it reminded me of music I used to make when I was little by tapping spoons together); things that you might never think of to put together. I thought this project did just that and it sounded great. An interview with the artist was played periodically throughout the duration of the piece. It was nice to hear some of the artist's theories and philosophies about art, however, the piece was never really discussed as to why he made this the way he did. It also sort of broke up the piece, so I was a little annoyed everytime the interview came on. I think it would have flowed better if they were separated or if less significant parts of the piece were played behind the interview. All-in-all, I enjoyed listening to it, so I'm going to explore more of the audio samples!