"Secrets" Photobook.

In my Photobooks and Installations class, one of the assignments we had was to create a book that dealt with the idea of secrets. Before I heard that we needed this requirement, I was already planning to do something based around this abandoned mental institution/village ('Letchworth Village') down by where I live in Orange county. So after thinking about secrets and the institution, I came up with the perfect idea..abandonment and the secrets it could hold. Here is this large facility where 1000s of people were held with disabilities such as epilepsy and mental retardation, what kind of stories and secrets happened here that are forever locked away within the walls. I went and took various shots from within the facility...both exterior and interior shots. After looking at all the photos I had collected, I decided to create a narrative to make the book that much better. I told the story of a former patient gone mad and went on to do the unthinkable at the facility. I went even further and took the story and created a police "case file" based on the incident. With the help of a few friends, my idea and story came to life.

Here are the images of the project:

(These photos are actual photos from the facility I used to make the story a bit more "real.")

(There are 13 photos that went through similar a "wear/tear" technique to make them look old/destroyed.)

I took every piece of paper and photo I used and soaked them in coffee to give them a damaged, destroyed and antique look. The way them came out was EXACTLY how I planned it to look.

*A second, follow up case file is going to be done for my final project-Photos to come*

This would make for a great, long term lesson plan. It would allow the students who do it to create a narrative from and area or subject that interests them. The project has students moving away from a traditional "2D"idea of writing and creating a story and instead has them creating a tangible, 3D piece. 

Something like this is also very beneficial for those who might want to go into set designing because with this piece, it shows they can create an interesting prop that they have personally created. 

Theory & Practice Presentation Lesson Plans- Idea 2

I've luckily had the opportunity to work with my aunt, who is a fellow art teacher, while coming up with ideas and thoughts of how I can create lesson plans based on the idea of women and the various roles they play in cultures.

Another idea that she brought up to me that I thought would be a fun/informative lesson plan would be to work with the style of Kiki Smith. Smith is often considered a feminist artist herself, but it's more her use of metaphors that interests me. Often times in her work, you will see an object or person which symbolizes something much deeper. I want to use that idea of metaphor and incorporate into one of my lessons. I will have the students bring in an object that they feel is a metaphor for a important woman in their life.


*Still working on this idea, but its a starting point for one of the lessons.*

Video Documentary Projects

With my video documentary project, I chose to work with a topic that is very personal to me...gay rights. I feel like this is a topic is something which is much talked about and is still considered to be quite controversial. This controversy may not be as intense as it was 40-50 years ago, but it is still there.

I want to make my movie almost a time line of events starting from the views/ideas of gay rights in the 1960s to now when gay rights is still hot topic, but the rights are being granted to the gay community. I think I will end my video with the most recent gay right dealt with, gay marriage and New York. Having gay marriage legalized in NY was a great win for the gay community and big step in granting the rights to all.
Throughtout the movie, I would also incorporate video that I took myself dealing with this issue. Going to SUNY New Paltz, I have had the opportunity to immerse myself into a world that is very gay friendly and where one can be completely comfortable who they are. I want to ask various students around campus about the notions and ideas brought up in the video and incorporate them within the found videos. 

Videos that I want to include or draw inspiration on will include:
-Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech (Not about this exact topic, but addresses equal rights)
-1960s "Homosexuality is WRONG" videos
-The TV show The View and their discussion/argument on gay marriage
-Harvey Milk (The first gay elected official in California) and his speech when elected
-News clippings on the win for gay marriage in NY.

I'm not going to use the entire video from each clip, I want to cut/splice them together while playing Lady Gaga's "Born this Way" song in the background. This song has been called an "anthem" for the gay community, so why not incorporate it to show that we are all the same and have been since birth.

Sound Collage Popplet.

Here is a photo of the Popplet© I created for my sound collage-Zombie attack scene. 

Theory & Practice Presentation Lesson Plans- Idea 1

So for the lesson plan that Sarah and I are planning to do, we want to draw inspiration from the work of Wangechi Mutu, an artist we used in our presentations. I've posted works by her on here before, but I want to show more to really capture the nature/type of her work.
Mutu primarily works with collage work and recontextualizing to give the work a new meaning. This is what we want to draw on in our plan. Taking the style of collage, we are going to have the other students in our class work from magazine, newpapers, journals, and other types of materials to have them create an image that deals with women and the roles they plan in their own lives. When asked the question in class, many said those roles were mainly mother..teacher..grandmother..etc. (All dealing in sort of a caregiver, family/friend area)

Here are some more examples of Mutu's work and work by other artists who work with collage.

 

Other artists (More for technique not so much theme):

Richard Hamilton