Cloud Composite & Self Portrait

Along with the magazine cover, the assignment had us create a composite image based off of the tag clouds we created from Flickr images. It also had us take a self portrait and manipulate it with techniques found in Photoshop.

In my composite, I wanted to show the idea of equality and how we are all connected when it comes to the internet/technology. With my cloud composite, I started off with the word INTERCONNECTION. From there, my search went from COMMUNITY to TOGETHERNESS to MARRIAGE, and finally EQUALITY. Seeing these search results, I automatically thought of equality and how that is one of the most important ideas we should have. We are, and should be considered equal in this world. Technology and the internet have granted us that. The internet allows us to help make ourselves and our voices know in this fight. The internet is also something that is for the masses. We all can make ourselves available to it in some way.
In the composite, I added a bunch of the photos that I found on Flickr and put it on a background that speaks of equality. Once I had that together, I placed a computer screen over it and blurred it out so it was only partially seen. By doing this, I've showed how equality is important, but also that through the computer, we have a sense of equality.

I have a great love for horror movies and stories, so with my self portrait, I chose to go in that direction. I took an image of myself and literally turned myself into a zombie. While this is an idea that probably has been done many times with self portraits, but it is unique for me because zombie movies are probably my favorite type of horror stories. To create this effect, I used various tools to morph my face and create the sense of being "undead."

Magazine Cover

With my magazine cover, I chose to work with a subject that I have a great love for...Rome. One of the few places I've been outside this country, Rome (and even Italy in general) is a place that I've always found to be magical and beautiful. In the cover, I wanted to add "articles" with themes and ideas that I found interesting. I think the ideas also play to the minds of "everyday" people. By adding in the ideas based off of famous movies, music, food and literature, hopefully it'll help grab the reader's attention a bit more and want to choose this magazine when planning that great getaway.

'Brainport vision device helps a blind man "see" - Show/Tell Video.

                        

                                                       Eric Weihenmayer

                                                   (Click on name to access his website)

Tag Clouds

David Tammet: The Boy with the Incredible Brain

This video/documentary was assigned in my Art for the Exceptional Child class...For those who haven't taken the class yet, or took it and didn't have to watch this, watch it now! This is an amazing documentary on the power that human brain can have and how certain people with disabilities perceive the world.

                                                    *This video is only part 1 of 5 parts.*

Surrealist Games-Teacher's Models (Part 1)

The images in this post are based off an assignment from my Theory and Practice class. With the assignment, we had to refer back to an article on "Surrealist Games" from blackboard and create 2 teacher models based on 2 of the surrealist games. The 2 I chose were 'Exquisite Corpse' and 'Other Ways of Making Text.' These images are only showing part 1 of the what I want to do with this project. I would love to take the 'E.C.' drawing I have and create an actual 3D model based on the subjects in the picture. This is also what I would like to do with my lesson plan for the assignment..create a 3D model based on a 2D drawing. This assignment will allow for communication between a group of students and will have children work with each others ideas in order to create the final piece(s).

"The Exquisite Corpse"

In this piece, I had a great deal of fun doing this. This drawing is an accumulation based on things that 2 of my friends and I came up with. Seeing how the drawing came out made me quite excited to see how the 3D model would turn out as well...will definitely have a surrealistic quality to it.

"Other Ways of Making Text"

In this piece, I found a magazine ad that caught my attention about witches in the 17th century. I took the book description, a critic's statement and an overview of the novel and cut up the words. I then placed the words in a hat and picked out one at a time. Whatever way they were chosen was the way I rearranged them back onto the page.

Sweeny's "Big Idea"

In the article Lines of Sight in the "Network Society," by Robert Sweeny, the idea of interconnection is mentioned quite often when it comes to the internet. A vast majority of the world's population is in someway connected to each other by the internet. With this idea, it allows the world the potential of creating new relationships and communities all around the world. To us, potential art teachers of America, this big idea is something that should not taken lightly and seriously looked at as we ourselves are greatly apart of these new potential "communities."

When I searched the overall idea of "Art education online communities," I found a great deal of websites that connect art teachers all around the world. Art Education 2.0 is just one of the many that I looked at. This website allows future teachers/current teachers to create accounts and get their ideas/lessons out for other teachers to see. Having this opportunity can greatly help when it comes to finalizing lesson plans. Perhaps there is something that you're not 100% sure about in your lesson and you want to get feedback from fellow teachers. Simply post it and allow for others to put their "2 cents" in on it. Teaching can be an intimidating experience, but having resources like this allow for a much calmer teaching/learning experience which will both benefit the teacher and his/her students.

Another example of how this interconnection can be beneficial to an art room is by having the access to websites and applications such as Skype. For those who aren't completely familiar with Skype, it is a free website (which can be downloaded to any computer) that allows people to have video conversations with people across the globe. Having a resource like Skype in a classroom setting can be quite eye-opening and beneficial to the children's learning experiences. Say for an example, you are teaching the students about a local artist who is pushing the societal boundaries with their artwork. The students want to know more about what sparked these interests in the artist and why they do what they do. With Skype, you can email this artist and see if he/she could possibly video chat and have discussions with the classroom. Now, not only are the children learning about/seeing the artwork but they are also getting a 1st hand opinion on it by the artist themselves.

The possibilities can really be said to be endless when it comes to having the internet as a resource. The teacher just needs to know where to look and where to find websites/applications that will be both beneficial and reliable to the students and their learning. Having access to this great interconnection and tool can also open the door to a lot of scams and unreliable sources.

Exquisite Corpse: A Surrealist Game.

Surrealist games were created to basically go outside the boundaries of what we know as the "norm." The various games are used to help free the participant's imagination by allowing them to lose the control of normal art-making and allow them to tap more into their unconscious. When it comes to the purpose of the games, the majority is split in whether or not the games should just be used as a means of inspiration or if they can really be a starting point for the artist's finished product.

According to the article on surrealist games, one of the most popular/celebrated games is known as "Exquisite Corpse." This game is method that uses collaboration of people's thought to help create/complete the finished product.

As seen here in this example, one way this method can be done is by folding a piece of paper into sections and allow each participant to work in one of the sections. In the end, the product will most likely have a surrealistic feel to it.

I think this method alone would make for quite an interesting lesson plan for any age group of students. Not only are they allowed the freedom to just express themselves through drawing but this will also allow students to work in groups and collaborate to create a finished piece.

This lesson can also move away from the 2D world and move into a 3D type by incorporating the work of artist, Mike Kelley. Kelley is a contemporary artist whose work combines various found objects, drawings, performance..etc. In working with this, students could create smaller sculptures that later could be combined into a product of a small group or the entire class.

I feel that working either with 2D or 3D, this project/lesson would be a great to do early in a school year, especially with younger children, as it allows them to work with other students to complete a project. This will help them get to know fellow peers they might not know that well and start to see people who may have similar thoughts/ideas as they do. The drawings/sculpture could later be displayed in a hallway or display case so that more children around the school can be exposed to this method and in turn, possibly use it themselves.

"Digital Collage" reading response.

I didn't get a chance to read all 5 of the articles assigned in the folder, but I did read the following:
"Interpreting Visual Culture" by Terry Bartlett, " "Big Ideas and Artmaking" by Walker and "Works of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" by Walter Benjamin.

The first 2 readings (Bartlett and Walker) definitely held my attention more because it seems like they focus on the eye of the artist and the ways the artist creates his/her artwork. While the readings talk about how we perceive art based on certain aspects, a majority of the information draws from the choices in which the artist made when creating their pieces.

In "Interpreting Visual Culture," Bartlett brings up the terms Denotation and Connotation and explains how they are "simple, yet powerful means of interpreting images." With these terms, a viewer could possibly sit for hours and find many different meanings behind an image, but really, it all draws back from the artist's choices and how they wanted us to perceive it. While yes, it is important for the artist to have their own "voice" in the image, it is also highly important that we, as fellow artists and viewers, decipher pieces so that we aren't promoting and following ideas that we may not entirely agree with.
The article "Big Ideas and Artmaking" greatly draws on the idea of the artist's voice. As it states in the article, "big ideas can make artwork go from simply crafting a product into a meaning-making endeavor." It helps the artist tap into a deeper level of thinking. Big ideas can assist both the artist, and the viewer, to see more then just an overall theme. It can help set up that theme, subject matter and create meaning to the artwork.
I was only able to briefly read over "Works of Art..Mechanical Reproduction," but from what I did read, I gathered that this article was more centered around originality and authenticity of artwork. We live in a time where basically anything is possible when it comes to creating/reproducing artwork, so with that, what makes a piece art if it is a reproduction of something else? Should we be able to simply call something art because of the "voice" of its artist?



I will admit, one statement that I really enjoyed while reading the articles was from "Big Ideas and Artmaking." Jennifer Bartlett has said, "I've always like rules...I figure out ways of breaking them." I think that is a great line, especially when it comes to the art world.