Never Settled- Abstracting Place Assignment

 For this project I couldn't let myself commit to one specific place even though that was part of the assignment. I filmed the city of Athens (Ohio University) and also the city Mansfield (OSU). So I guess I could say my focus was Ohio if I wanted to list one place. The reason why I couldn't just pick one place is because I don't feel settled in one place. I travel every weekend; I visit my friends at other colleges, spend the weekends in OSU Columbus, or I go back home. My weeks are spent here in Mansfield. Who I am is not in one place, not even my room because half of my belongings are back home and at other friends dorms. It just made sense for me to tape more than one setting.

I was very attracted to the outdoors and everything it entails because it reminds me of traveling, which is what I am constantly doing. Nature is beauty within itself so I didn't manipulate the footage much at all. Besides brightness and contrast all I did was change the opacity, which I believe worked out quite well. Keeping it's natural feel allowed the final piece to be relatable to others since it is more realistic. The overall tone of this piece was more sad than happy. I really liked that it turned out that way; it was mainly due to the way the weather has been lately, but it adds to what I am trying to get across. The sounds also add that iridescent feeling that comes along with the visual. Without the sound I think this piece could have a much different feel to it.

Travel can carry many things along with it. It has its losses and gains, which can end up being good and also bad. Connections are made, they are lost. Friends are made, they are lost. Every time you end up in a new place the only person you know is yourself. The start is always hard and so is the end. It's not one of those things that gets easier the more times you do it; that never happens. Yet, there is always that excitement of "what's going to happen next." I think this piece conveys that pretty well.  

Artistic Mapping Proposal

I plan on mapping out music. I want to map out either one song or multiple songs to compare them. For one song, I plan on marking the duration a note is sang with a line (the length of the line will depend on the duration) and then depending what words are sang there will be a different color to represent that word. (I want to do something with rhyming words).  I'm not sure about the shape or layout of the overall piece, but I think I want to take an abstract approach towards it. For multiple songs, I was thinking about comparing the beats of each song. A different color for each song and then I would just mark the beats of each song accordingly.

I am really interested in this visual map of music because I think it would be satisfying to see the music I listen to daily visually right in front of me. I love music and to see a song(s) as an image would be a new and different representation. I'm looking forward to it!

Visual Map

http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project_details.cfm?id=704&index=62&domain=Art

This visual map above is called OneDotZero Identity which is a moving festival. I found it very interesting that this is a map of all the coding it took to create posters and trailers to promote the upcoming festival. What first drew my attention to it was the colors that were over a black background. It reminded me of a kid drawing colored chalk on a blackboard. When I clicked on the image to make it bigger I then realized all the chalk drawings were actually words and URLs, which was really eye catching and amazing to see. I just could stop staring at it to see what I would find/ see next.

Social Commentary "When is it Enough?"

I began this project by thinking of what things bother me in society. A large issue that I have caught myself being part of is the distraction of  technology. Yes, technology has helped our world grow and develop to find many solutions to our problems, but it has also taken us away from what is actually going on around us in the physical world. That is how I came to this idea. Two girls sitting on a bench in the park, not speaking to one another verbally but over a tweet; they are bored out of their mind and don't know what to do, but stair at their handheld devices. Little do they know that a bunch of famous celebrities decided to take a stroll through the park on the same day they are sitting there. They are oblivious to their surroundings. Personally, that part scares me. I have been involved and witnessed incidents where two or more people would be sitting around each other only to be glued to their phones; there was no interaction between them whatsoever. Like said before, I have had fallen as a victim of that several times, but I catch myself doing it and then I try to interact with those around me. A few years from now what will the definition of socializing be? Not talking to someone unless they can text? Tweet? Facebook? When will there be enough social networking sites? When will we be satisfied with having enough technology? When is it enough?

All the appropriated material in this piece did not violate copyright law because I took all of these images out of their original context and they were used to create a parody to enforce a message to society.

My piece conveys, as I mentioned before, that technology is taking away our every day-to-day physical social interaction. It is taking it away to the point of which we become oblivious to the physical world around us. My piece shows this visually by having the two girls talking to each other over twitter about being bored even though they are right next to each other; on top of that there are a bunch of celebrities practically in front of their faces and the two girls don't notice a single thing.  

From Here On Out Interpretation

Chris Dacre's installation consisted of playful, felt cartoon figures. They wore armor and gas masks and carried guns. They filed out of trucks and drove tanks. He displayed 2-D, stop animations, and 3-D work. In his sculptures there were cartoon-like figures who were homeless and missing limbs while holding signs reading the truths of postwar effects. When you first walked into the gallery there were parachutes that the viewers had to sort of interact with in order to get into the rest of the space and explore what other pieces existed. He also made 3-D planes with little figures in them all hanging to look like they were flying downward to either land or crash. Not only did he portray people as cartoon-like creatures, but they were also all different colors as well. His set up of the artwork really made one forced to explore the gallery space instead of just looking straight at it.

Listening to the artist speak about his artwork was extremely interesting. He liked the space had to work with and depending on the space in which he is currently living in determines the size of the artwork that he can create. What also is a factor is the size of his car; since it is small he has to figure how to be smart on space and think of creative ways of collapsing big installations in order for them to all fit in his car. All of his ideas began with the small felt guys and expanded from there. If it wasn't for his life choices he made his artwork would have ended up differently. Coming back to an area where he grew up affected his decision of which pieces to bring; he wanted to show a more light-hearted side or the "game" side of war instead of being all grim and upsetting. I think he did a really good job of that. His motivations came from his experiences from his eight years on the Air Force and then his schooling afterward. He also gets much motivation from the area that he is living in. He travels a lot for the fun of it and for work and that influences what he creates as well. I really enjoyed what he had to say about his work and also his experiences.

As much as he wanted to create a more playful side to the war aspect, it didn't get that vibe fully. In some of his works I understood what he was talking about, but overall it actually felt even more grim making people look more cartoon-like. I felt as if he wanted to show that when the soldiers come back from war they feel demoralized, empty, and alone; they don't/ will never feel like themselves again and that they feel like they are not in their own bodies. I was really fascinated by his installation and how much it moved me. I really felt that empty feeling you get when you know that situation like this goes on, but you don't confront it until it gets put in front you. I don't think I have any unanswered questions, but more so unmentioned comments.

Social Commentary/Critique Assignment

My idea for this project is to show how technology has taken us away from what is going on in the physical world around us. Technology can be both our friend and our enemy; its all about how we the consumers decide to use it.

This really interests me because when the smart phones first started coming out my friends got one way before I did and they would always be on it. I could be in the middle of talking to my friend and they would be on their phone the whole entire time. When I would finish talking they would say "what?" I would get so angry to the point where I wouldn't hang out with them as often. Now that I have a smart phone I see how easy it is to get distracted, but I still respect a person enough to put my phone down when they are talking to me. It just amazes me how something so little can distract you from something so big(the world).

Visually, I want to show a human figure walking while she is on her iPhone. She is so focused on her phone that she doesn't even realize that she is about to walk into a building that is currently burning to the ground or some sort of harmful event. I was also thinking of having this ordinary girl on her iPhone walking down the street and not even noticing that she is surrounded by celebrities just walking past her.

I plan on using preexisting imagery to make a parody in order to not violate copyright law. The iPhone (smartphones) are supposed to be there to be the most helpful and convenient inventions of technology, yet this girl is about to get herself killed because she is on it. Smartphones are suppose to keep you up to date on the latest news of what's going on virtually anywhere, yet this girl is passing every celebrity she knows and loves while she is looking up what they are currently doing on twitter.

I have been greatly inspired by Martha Rosler. First, I really love her work overall. It really interests me! Her idea of representing what is going on in the current world around us and also the idea of what is expected out of us in today's society (including looks) is great material to create artwork around. This made me think of how it is expected of us to have most technology that is out on the market right now. You are expected to have a computer, laptop, cell phone, t.v. and so on. Not only are we expected to have a cell phone, but now a smartphone. Expectations are continuing to grow and, at least with technology, the more we are expected to have, the more we will become separated from the real world.

Sound Project "I Don't Know"

Creating this piece was quite a challenge, but I had fun doing it! I was really attracted to sounds that normally annoy people such as finger tapping, crinkling of water bottles, teeth chattering, and pencil tapping. For some odd reason I had an urge to record these noises even though they annoy me as well. I think their repetition quality was something I liked. During the process of actually manipulating the sounds was where I had the most fun. I enjoyed making the high pitched noises I recorded sound real low. It was a way to challenge myself to make the sound not sound like the sound at all! A challenge as well as a mouthful! I didn't do that to all the sounds though, I did create a repetitiveness throughout; sometimes more prominent than others. Some sounds just stuck out to me more than others and that's how I decided what needs to go where. I can't describe it anymore than that!

My piece conveys an almost frustrated and calm mood at the same time. When I listen to the sound, it   automatically creates an image in my mind for me. I picture someone sitting by the water trying to relax, but then there are all these obstacles and annoyances that come in and out of hearing range that need to just go away. This happens to me because I hear that comforting noise of water in the background and then slowly other noises come into the picture in a very subtle manner.

A message that this piece seems to convey to me is that even in the most serene places, one can have issues that they can't avoid.

Copyright Violation Court Case

In this particular case I believe that Shepard Ferry did not violate Copyright Law. The manipulation that he did to the image would allow it to be put under "Fair Use". He used the previous image to create something new; he added text, a symbol, and changed the way we perceived  the image by adding the patriotic colors throughout the entire piece. A viewer would read this new image in a completely different manner than the original one because Shepard Ferry brought meaning to his new creation and it was used all over the United States to Promote Obama's campaign. The original meant none of that sort whatsoever, and I would say technically the new image was used for news reporting when talking about Obama's campaign, which would also put it into Fair Use. Overall, these facts cause me to believe Ferry was in the right and broke no laws pertaining to his action.  

Self Portrait

For this Self Portrait project I honestly wasn't sure where I was going with it at all. I took my pictures like I was supposed to, but nothing was inspiring me to form a composition. I knew what pictures I wanted and which ones I didn't, so that helped. Once I started opening up the images in Photoshop all I did was mess around with the different tools to see if something stuck out to me. Then I got an idea to form a composition that had an overall hazy, dreamy, thinking effect, which also helps explain myself in a way.

I would definitely consider myself a thinker; more so, an over thinker. I over think anything and everything possible. Sometimes it benefits me, but most times it is my enemy. In this piece, I wanted to get the viewer thinking about what's going on. I was pretty literal with the thinking bubble, but I also added a dream catcher. I am fascinated with dream catchers and its presence shows that I'm not only a thinker but a dreamer. I think about the people, things, and ideas I have and love; I dream about the things I hope and are willing to obtain. In a general view, my message is to never forget who you are or where you come from, but always look into the future with an open mind to do what you love.

The way I went about creating this technically was by creating multiple layers and each layer needed something different to make it fit into my idea. Once the thought was in my head I worked to make it happen, but I also changed my thoughts as I went on to make it appealing to the visual eye. Some tools that I found really helpful were the transforming tool, the opacity bar, the filter gallery, and the smart object converter just to name a few. Luckily, the process went smoothly and I didn't run into many issues like I was expecting because I didn't know what direction my composition was headed.

Sound Preview