Sunday, April 29, 2012

Tell a Secret!

Here is my secret:

When I was a little girl...I used to believe in fairies. I seriously thought they were alive. Like little bugs or something that would fly around. Silly, I know. But when I was a kid, I had the biggest imagination! A lot of it came from the Disney movie, Fantasia. I would watch it at least once a week. And of course the fairy part was my favorite! :)


Monday, April 23, 2012

CLASS 4-23-12

I had fun in class today. Even though we were making stuff out of trash, it was nice to be able to take my mind off of everything else and just be creative. (My group made a sad face out of the trash because we were to show "just say no to happiness" which is kind of a weird phrase...I've never heard of anyone to say something like that.) What stood out most to me was when Beth talked about recycling your thoughts and ideas. Just like we recycle our trash, we recycle our ideas in the New Media field. It was very interesting to sit and think about how these two things are related...especially after watching "Waste Land" in class. Which by the way, I highly recommend watching. It is a very inspirational movie.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Fear Part 3

1. The presentation that I reacted most strongly to was Sarah's. She talked about her fear of not being able to communicate with people because she is deaf. I believe it was also a fear of hers to sit in front of the class and talk about her experiences as a "handicapped" person.
2. The reason I responded so strongly to hers was because I felt the hurt and pain vibrations she was giving off about having to deal with something like that in life. I felt how sad she was and I wished that the human race was not so misunderstanding of people who are "different". I sat there and wondered why she had to go through that in life, but others didn't. I wondered how hard it would be to live in this world today, being deaf. She just really got me thinking about how we should treat everyone the same, and that it would really make a difference if we would step out of our comfort zones and make an effort to communicate with people who have trouble communicating like Sarah does. I also thought about how BIG of a person she was for sharing that with the class. God bless her. With the personality that I saw that girl give off in class, she will do nothing but go far in her life. What an amazing person.
3. This impacted the way I saw my project by making me think that I am ridiculous for having the fear that I do. It made me feel like there are so much worse things in life that could happen and that I should be worrying about bigger things.

Fear Part 2

For this assignment, I decided to make a video about myself and let the class watch it. In my last blog post I talked about having the fear of not being able to make people happy or make people like me. I talked about not being able to fully express myself to strangers. This had a lot to do with the fear of being judged. So the video I made about myself helped me to overcome a bit of this fear because I had to show a bunch of "strangers" in the class something that nearly fully expressed the person that I am, what I'm interested in, and what I'm all about. I had to take that chance and get up in front of the class, knowing that I was going to be judged after letting people see that video. It scared the crap out of me...but I think the more I do things like this, the easier it gets for me to deal with the fact of being judged by people. I am starting to come to the realization that this is just something that all humans do. There is no denying it, it's just something that we all do even if we aren't trying to judge someone.
Here is the link to my video: http://promoshq.wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/189641/voteable_entries/47740767

For the most part, I think that the class reacted to my presentation as I had thought they would. I did get a couple of head nods throughout the video and I even had a couple of comments. I didn't think that I would have any comments. I don't think people in the class thought my video was as weird as I had first thought. Someone mentioned the fact that it was "weird" that I don't like to talk about myself, but I am an artist and this is what art is all about...expressing yourself. It really got me thinking. It is a little weird, but I think the whole reason for me being an artist is because it gives me the satisfaction of being able to express myself through different mediums, not just words. Words are so cheap and over-used...and I think that is why I hate talking about myself. It's easier for me to tell people who I am through art.

If I could go back and do this project again, I would probably still show the video, but try to engage the class in conversation about myself. Maybe I could have asked them if they had any questions about me, or my life. Or maybe I could have asked them if anyone felt the same about this fear I have and what they all have done to help overcome it. I think my project could've been more successful if I had the class talking.



Sunday, March 25, 2012

Fear Part 1

I think the number one thing that makes me fearful is not being able to make someone happy. In my head I tell myself over and over again that, "I don't care what others think of me. I don't care if that person doesn't like me." but in reality I know it's just a cover-up to try and make myself appear more powerful. I will admit that it does work sometimes when I'm in public, but at the end of the day I am sitting at home wondering whether or not "that person" likes me or thinks I'm cool. If I can't make everyone happy/like me, I feel like a failure...even though I know this is hardly possible.
This fear keeps me from being confident and in control of myself because I am always trying to please other people. It also keeps me from expressing myself and showing others who I really am. I have always been told that I am a very hard person "to get to know". This affects my life when it comes to making friends and also affects my creativity as an artist. I really hope that one day I will be able to completely break out of my shell...even to strangers.
So for me, fear is something in my life that keeps me from being able to fully express myself as an individual being.

I think my classmates might think I'm a little weird after I show them what I have made for this fear assignment. I don't think I will get much of a reaction...maybe some blank stares or a couple of head nods. I doubt anyone will even have a comment.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

What Has Stuck Sideways?

1.  Three things that I remember from this class thus far include the following:
  • Beth showing us the beautiful rocks underneath the fluorescent light. I remember it making me think deeper about seeing "ugly" things in a beautiful way.
  • I remember the day Beth brought in all the different, interesting instruments. I couldn't believe how such a simple thing (like the bowl and masher) could make such a loud, appealing sound.
  • I remember the girl who showed her project about the light bulb with water in it to the class. I loved the way she connected that project with the recent tornado that happened in southern Indiana. I recall my senses to feel sorry for her and all of the people in her hometown. 
2.   Experiences that I have had in this class are way different than others because it is more personable. I feel like I learn life lessons weekly rather than just learning a "daily lesson" from a textbook. I also like the fact that everyone in the class shares what they have created. I find it to be very inspirational.

3.  What I would like to get out of the rest of this class is to continue learning about myself and what is best for me. It's amazing what you can learn about yourself if you just take the time to do it. I've never been given a chance like in this class to do something like that.

Monday, March 5, 2012

CLASS 3-5-12

What I remember most about class today was watching the pottery video. I found it to be very refreshing on seeing a different approach and view towards artistic creations. I also never knew you could make wine out of dandelions. Pretty cool! Oh...and I absolutely loved seeing Beth's pottery of her own that she made. The tea-pot was just beautiful. I wonder if Beth would consider selling it?!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Unexpected Improv

The reason I brought in my blanket as my totem last class was because it is a source of comfort for me. So for this assignment I started thinking about what is comforting to the human race. I made a short list:
-being loved
-having shelter
-good food
-great friends
-having a means of transportation

It was a short list, but after looking through them once they were written down I automatically thought about the fact that some of these things weren't possible in having without having money. So in a way (even though I hate to admit it) money is a very comforting thing to have.

This is how I thought about making a wallet out of duck tape for this assignment. I had seen them before, but I wanted to learn how to make one for myself.




I'm excited to use it!

Monday, February 27, 2012

CLASS 2-27-12

Today's class made me realize how much I am able to take for granted. We, as human beings, take things for granted such as our senses; including hearing and seeing. After watching the YouTube video of the orchestra, it felt like I needed to sit there for a moment to think about what had just happened. At first I was confused as to why I couldn't hear any music. Once I realized this silence was intentional, I started to think about the smaller sounds that were being made in the background. It was a really inspiring to see this video and think about sound/music in a different way. I also loved the part of class when all the different, crazy instruments were shown/played.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

CLASS 2-20-12

Soooo....I definitely forgot about writing this blog after class, but I will still write it anyway. What stood out to me in class was when Beth showed us the cool rocks she had found. At first they didn't seem like much, just another everyday rock. But the second that she turned on the lights that made the minerals on the rocks glow, I was surprised by how beautiful they were. They were all so different too. It got me thinking about underlying beauty of all the nature we pass by every day without acknowledging it. Everyone is always so worried about the hustle and bustle of their tightly knit schedules that must be followed and we sometimes forget to "stop and smell the roses."
As far as this helping me better understand my take on the creative process, it made me realize that even though something might seem uninteresting at first, it is most definitely interesting once you analyze it more and give it a second chance. I believe that everything in the world can have a creative interest to it if you just dig deeper. Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that and I get very discouraged at times when doing projects. Maybe now, when I feel that way, I can think back to the underlying beauty of the rocks I once saw in my Seeing Sidways class. :))

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Tyger Tyger Burning Bright

For this assignment, the first thing I did was research about tigers. I then started to think about wanting to make something dealing with a tiger's eye. I started looking around the house for materials I could use for this and remembered that I had recently bought some sculpey clay for my capstone project. I have never worked with this kind of clay, so I thought it would be good to practice before it came time to work with for my capstone. I mixed some colors together to make similar colors to the tiger's eye gemstone and made a bead out of it. Below are some pictures of the final product.



QUESTIONS:
1. What if I used different colors for this bead?
2. What if I flattened the bead?
3. What if I threw the bead on the floor?
4. What if I broke the bead in half, then glued it back together?
5. What if a tiger's eye really looked like this bead?
6. What if I let my dog chew up the bead?
7. What if I put the bead on a necklace?
8. What if I used this as something else than a bead?
9. What if a famous artist had created something like this?
10. What if I didn't cook the clay long enough in the oven?
11. What if I wrapped the tin foil around the bead?
12. What if I didn't have the rolling pin to help me?
13. What if I put the bead in water?
14. What if I threw it in the sky?
15. What if I ran over it with my car?
16. What if the bead was smaller?
17. What if I scanned the bead?
18. What if I mixed the bead in hydrochloric acid?
19. What if I ate the bead?
20. What if the bead tasted good?
21. What if this bead was used as a fake eye?
22. What if the bead was part of a treasure?
23. What if I wore the bead in my hair?
24. What if I made an earring out of the bead?
25. What if I set the bead on fire?
26. What if I threw the bead away?
27. What if I read about it in a book?
28. What if there was a movie based on it?
29. What if my human eye looked like this?
30. What if I saw the bead on T.V.?
31. What if it became a robot?
32. What if the bead could talk?
33. What if it could walk?
34. What if someone pierced it to their nose?
35. What if when you wore it as a necklace, it would give you magical powers?
36. What if I glued the bead to my shoe?
37. What if the bead was alive?
38. What if the bead was my friend?
39. What if it was my boyfriend?
40. What if my boyfriend played the guitar with it?
41. What if I gave it to my boyfriend as a present?
42. What if I shoved it up my nose?
43. What if I put it on a spaceship?
44. What if I buried it at the bottom of the ocean?
45. What if it learned karate?
46. What if the bead grew from a tree?
47. What if it was a forbidden fruit on a tree?
48. What if it could tell me jokes?
49. What if it was a candle?
50. What if it smelled good?

Monday, February 13, 2012

CLASS 2-13-12

What stood out most to me today in class was when the topic about time came up. While we were talking about "what is real time" I started to think about how sad this world really is when it comes to how we spend most of our time. We think it's normal to spend all our days working in order to make money, so that we are able to survive. If you think about it...it's really just all revolved around money. We spend our time going to school so that we have an education in order to get a job in the future so that we can make money. We need that money so that we can have food in our bellies and a roof over our heads. And after thinking about this, you can't help but begin to ponder the "what if" question that was brought up in class today. What if we didn't have to spend five years going to college to further our education to get a good job? What would we do with all of that time? What if we didn't have to worry about money and paying bills? Would the world be a better place? I wonder about this very often, but I find myself going in a revolving cycle over and over again. This all ends up leading me to question my life, how I choose to live it, and what I choose to do with my time on this earth.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Book v2.0

What makes a book a book, is the writing within it. The story that is being told. The information that is being shared so that others may have better knowledge and more reference. If anything was possible for a book, I would envision them as pieces of writing on any material imaginable. Books could really be interesting to look at and read if they weren't all made with the same material and all written on the same piece of boring paper on every single page. I think it would be interesting to see an everyday book held together with something other than glue, and it's pages to be something other than paper. Maybe the writings would be on something visual that could help further explain the story or emotion that should be given off. Maybe what holds the book together goes along with the story and helps give you something to feel that emotion and connection with the book.
I made a mock-up of what I thought would be a cool book. The story would be about something on a beach or in the ocean and the shells that hold it together would be the source of power to help give off the feeling of the book and the emotions that are within it. Anytime you would want to have a better feeling of what is going on in the story, all you would have to do is hold open the book with your fingers on the shells and almost feel as though you were a character in the story, experiencing all the emotions that they were.

Monday, February 6, 2012

How to "Read" a Book

1.  The thing that stands out to me are the bright colors on the spine of the book. This stood out to me because there are no other books in my collection with bright colors to catch my eye upon.

2.  The sentence that I landed my finger on stated, "but then again you might not." Her voice was creaky, like a hinge that wants oiling. The letter p shows up twice in this paragraph. The specific spot that my finger landed on was the space below the word "again". The white space is surrounding a whole bunch of words. I can imagine the words being like islands in water, but it is a little odd being that I have always read words in a certain way in order to understand.

3.  The paper in this book feels old and thin, which is really weird because this is a newer book that I have recently been given. The cover feels smooth and raised on the parts where the title is written. I can barely feel the ink of the words when I close my eyes. Different colors do feel different with my eyes closed. Everything seems to be in black and white. I can tell that this book has not been read or opened yet because of the way the paper looks. The cover has a picture of farm animals on it. There is also a pattern of flowers in the background that you can only see if you look closely.

4.  This particular book seems to be glued, not stitched. There is some cloth on this book. It's in the spine. It is hardback and does not have signatures. The glue at the end of the spine looks dark gray. There also seems to be a couple of spaces where the book would open up to when the front and back covers are held in the air.

5.  There is no writing in this book other than the printing. To know that I am the first person to think about this makes me feel like I have the chance to make my imprint first on the pages if I wanted to. It also makes me feel as though I shouldn't write in it at the same time in order to keep it looking "new."

6.  I do not see any stains or fingerprints in the book considering that it is new, but there is a small piece of paper that has been ripped to use as a bookmark on page 6.

7.  The color of the pages are an off-white color. They look more or less cream-colored. The color looks more warm than cold, and more dull than bright. One thing I have noticed about the back of the book is that it includes a historical note, resources, recipes from the land between the lakes, and also a glossary. I found this to be a little odd being that this book is considered a blend of fact and fiction. I also noticed that some of the typography they have chosen to use is there to make it look old.

8.  The only evidence of the book being handled by someone is the paper bookmark. The edges of the paper feel a little rough and uneven. They do feel as though I could get a paper cut if I rub my finger against it too hard. I think that if anyone has read this book, they felt bored by it. I don't think that anyone has done anything with this book like I am doing now...but I could be wrong!

9.  I do hear the sounds when flipping through the pages. When flipping through the pages quickly it almost sounds like a hummingbird flapping its wing's in the wind. When I flipped through them slowly it could be compared to the sound of a helicopter flying in slow motion, like in the movies. I can hear the breeze. I can move the ashes of my incense with the breeze created by the book. I could most definitely use this technique to win a game that is based off of being able to give off wind power.

10.  I experienced the rumbling of the floor and the loud noise it made. Yes, I sensed the vibrations the book made in my feet. There is a weird difference when I take off my shoes and drop the book to the floor. For some reason, I don't seem to feel as many vibrations in my feet compared to when I had my shoes on.

11.  The book does feel cold at first and I can feel the temperature change where my hands were on the cover. I have been aware of this sensation before when reading a book. I noticed it because I used to work in a library that was kept very cold during a hot summer.

12.  When smelling the book, all I think of is old papers stored in files that haven't been looked at in years.

13.  The title of this book is, "The Tale of Hawthorn House." Based on reading the first page, I would guess that it is all about a haunted house and the stories that go with it.

14.  Now that I have experienced this book differently, it sort of makes me want to open it up and start reading it more. Books do still seem a little boring to me, but I have never been much of a reader. I will say that there is a lot of time and effort that goes into making books. I took a class once where I had to make one and I really enjoyed it.

16.  I feel like having this experience with a book makes me feel like I should explore other objects in the same way or maybe even people. Seeing things and using things in a different way than they should sounds very intriguing to me. I think that the point of this exercise is exactly that, to examine things in a different way than you ever have before. From this exercise I can take away the exploration part and use it towards my next project. I will try to see it from different views in order to make it seem more interesting.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

What Enslaves You? Part 2

The limitation that I picked to create something with is Time. I chose this one because I feel that this is a limitation I deal with every day of my life. All of my projects seem to come down to how much time there is to complete them. Being that I am very bad at dealing with procrastination I felt that I needed to make something that would show my frustration with my ability of being the worst procrastinator in the world. Every time I have a project to complete I wait until the last second to do it. I almost feel a sense of entrapment from this because I can't figure out a way to defeat it. It's just part of who I am, so I've learned to deal with it. Below is what I have made in Photoshop to help show how I feel.

What Enslaves You?

1.  A project that I have done in the past that was very exciting for me was when I painted a mural on my boyfriend's living-room wall. What happened was I had made a painting for him for Christmas that year and it was the first time he realized that I had some artistic talent. After I gave it to him, he asked me if I could paint that same painting on his wall at home. I was definitely up for the challenge and I had never done anything like that before so this is why it seemed so exciting to me. I love trying new things and being able to have an entire wall of my own as an untouched canvas was AWESOME.

2.  When I first started the mural, I thought that it was going to look exactly the same as the painting I had given my boyfriend for Christmas. It turned out that a lot of the details I had put into the painting, didn't show up on the wall. It still looked really neat, but by the end of painting for two weeks I decided it "looked good enough" so I left some of the details out. Plus, we had people coming over all the time to hangout and everyone said it looked "done" anyway.

3.  Limitations that forced my project to change:
     - Money. Being that I did not have a paid job the summer that I painted the mural, I couldn't spend a lot of money on paint, brushes, and things that might have made the mural look better.
     - Size. The size of the wall was a bit different than the canvas I had painted the original painting on. I had to distort the painting a little so that it would fill out the whole wall.
     - Time. Spending two weeks doing nothing but painting the same thing really made me feel burnt out, thus resulting in not caring enough to add certain details.

4.  With the bead, limitations that immediately popped into my head were to not do anything that seemed too easy and making sure that whatever I did with it was a safe thing to do. The first idea I had for the bead was to make a movie about it venturing around town, rolling down hills and stuff. But because I am a procrastinator, I waited too long and it ended up snowing a lot outside so this wouldn't have been possible anymore, therefore the weather became a limitation for me. Another thing that set a limitation for me with the bead was that I felt I had so many possibilities, so I couldn't decide what would be sufficient or accepted as a project.

Monday, January 23, 2012

CLASS 1-23-12

What stood out most to me from class today was talking about expectations. People were talking about having high or low expectations verses realistic expectations. In order for me to experience something to the fullest, I try to not have any expectations at all. By doing this, I find it easier to make judgements about things after I have experienced them and it also helps in order to not feel "let down" all the time. I feel that having high or low expectations on something is almost judgmental in a way. By having these expectations, you are assuming that something is going to happen or be a certain way. I like to look at life as having experiences and then rating those experiences after they have happened...not trying to rate them before they even exist.

Group Role

I was in group one today and we decided to have group two write down their favorite quotes from movies and then put them together to make a cohesive story. At first we talked about not making them do anything, then we mentioned just making them do whatever they were going to make us do. After discussing it, we decided we wanted the people in the class to be more interactive so this is how the movie quotes idea came about. Once we went back into the classroom and told group two our idea, they didn't seem too happy about it so we decided to do the activity all together as one whole group. We ended up passing a paper around the room and had every person write their favorite quote. After this, we passed the paper back around and each person read off a different quote than what they had written down. I feel as though this activity did get the room talking a bit more.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

"I have a bead on you..."

When we were first given this assignment, I had no idea what to do with the bead that we got in class. I started thinking about things that I would like to do and it came to me that I wanted to make a painting. I hadn't dug into my paints in a really long time and painting is something I absolutely adore. So...I decided to paint a canvas with the bead. I went with an abstract painting and I ended up having the bead stuck to the canvas after it was all finished. It took about 2 hours to complete the painting, but it was worth the time and I enjoyed breaking out the paints again. Below are some images of the final product!





Monday, January 9, 2012

CLASS 1-9-12

After having our first class today, I learned that this is going to be an experience. This class will be my opportunity to learn more about myself and what I am, or am not capable of. It will only be what I make of it. I am excited to begin because I think this will be my time to break out of my comfort zone and not have to act like a zombie in class all the time. I love the idea of what this class has to offer, and I believe there should be more like it. I also highly believe in Beth's grading system...being that points shouldn't matter, but only the effort and personal growth is what matters. Breaking away from the fear of having to earn "points" gives me a wonderful, refreshing feeling after being in college for nearly 5 years now. After having class today I feel as though this will be more of an adventure, rather than a task.