A Few of My Favorite things

A few of my favorite things include,  my car keys which represent my car which helped me drive across the country from Potland, Oregon, one of the few pictures I have of my grandfather and I before he died when I was 3, my cat Mariah's collar, candy which I could not live without, my kindle for reading when I'm not busy reading for classes, music note and guitar earrings representing my love for music, and finally, one of my tv remotes, which represent my tv, which is my number one go-to to relax and forget about the stresses of life.

3D to 2D

For this assignment I chose to take one of the photos from the Human Body Required assignment, concentrating on the geometric shape of the skirt I duplicate the portion of the picture then rotated and pasted them together, with that pattern I pixilated the image and inverted the colors to produce the final image.
Original image:

 

In Process

In Process

Final image

In process

These Shoes Are Not Made For Walking

The reading by Daine Ackerman, called Touch discusses the importance of our sense of touch within our life experiences as humans, touch is an important way to communicate and show affection and love between humans, this affection beginings from the moment we are born and are first held and touch by our mother. "touch seems to be as essentiual as sunlight" Touch can be important in being able to truly know and understand an object we come across that we do not know, through touch we can gain a greater understanding of what an object is and how it is made up.

In process

In process

In process

This assignment was very difficult for me and even the final product I was not completely happy with, but I used as mant tools as I could in order to replicate the textures of the original shoes, including a sewing roller, the grip of my exacto knife and a hole punch.
Final photos not taken, because they have not been graded yet

Drawings of final shoes

Drawings of final shoes

Drawings of final shoes

Human Body Required

Listening to the episode Switcheroo, from This American Life, about Cindy Sherman and knowing somewhat about her and her work, I believe she was lying about the woman they met, I believe she was that woman. Because I think she enjoys being able to camouflage her true identity, that is what most of her work is about. Being able to change yourself and people's perceptions of you is definitely an interesting concept. But I think it can cause people to lose sight of their true selves. In the case of Cindy Sherman the question than becomes who is she really, and I think, even she, after spending decades disguising herself, cannot truly know.

The Chrysler Building in New York city has always intrigued and inspired me and I love the art deco style it represents. Especially the geometric shapes and curved lines of that era.

Another love of mine is classic cars, despite the fact that I know nothing about cars my dream car is a hot pink '57 Chevy. I love the fins and chrome and the "futuristic" look of them.

Finally one of my favorite songs that has always been what I call one of my happy songs because it always puts a smile on my face. Is a song by a Jewish musician named Matisyahu called Sunshine

"Sunshine"

[Verse 1:]
Keep on moving to the first rays of dawn
Keeping it on 'til the day stays strong
Runnin 'til the night time blazes on
All along I keep singing my song
I said, this phase is always
Sometimes I get so crazed
But just know that I'll always stay
'Cause you're my light through the haze

[Chorus:]
It's time for a champion
Soothe the soul of the land
Mend the heart from the sea and the sand
'Til the sun comes up again
[2x]

Reach for the sky
Keep your eye on the prize
Forever in my mind
Be my golden sunshine
It's raining in your mind
So push them clouds aside
Forever by my side
You're my golden sunshine

[Verse 2:]
When the sun set I let myself down
Found the ground beneath my feet gone
No more words were there to speak
On that day my song was born
Never meant to leave you all alone
Said I'd be your 
shelter from the storm

Now your clothes have all been torn
Kingdom sacked attacked and dethroned

[Chorus]

Reach for the sky
Keep your eye on the prize
Forever in my mind
Be my golden sunshine
It's raining in your mind
So push them clouds aside
Forever by my side
You're my golden sunshine

It's the way of the world
You're on your own
Time to grow and be a man
Wanna fly high like Peter Pan
No more Never Never Land
So lose your backpack filled with sand
Come along and take my hand
We'll walk together, walk forever

Reach for the sky
Keep your eye on the prize
Forever in my mind
Be my golden sunshine
It's raining in your mind
So push them clouds aside
Forever by my side
You're my golden sunshine

Reach for the sky
Keep your eye on the prize
Forever in my mind
Be my golden sunshine
It's raining in your mind
So push them clouds aside
Forever by my side
You're my golden sunshine

[2x]
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Walk with me now, talk with me now, baby
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Walk with me, momma, talk with me now

I am not sure how I will incorporate all these elements into one piece, but I feel that is enough to work with and even the song lyrics have some good imagery to work with.

In Process

In Process

In Process

In Process

In Process

Although I began with an idea of recreating elements from all three inspirations, my final work morphed into a piece mainly inspired by the geometric patterns evident in the Chrysler building. Using the design principles common in the art deco style of the Chrysler building, I took one repeated shape by folding the craft paper, after cutting it into varying sizes, then connecting all of them to create this final piece to cover the entire body.

 

It's About Time

Going into the blog to view the video about Janine Antoni, honestly I am not a huge fan of performance art and have often questioned its legitimacy as an art form. So I had already decided I wouldn't enjoy her work or the video. I quickly, in fact, almost immediately shifted my opinion upon seeing her first piece, Moor, as she began to describe what materials she had used to create it and what it represented. I have gained a new, more open-minded view on her as a performance artist, and performance art as a whole. I also gained much admiration for her after watching her process and her ability to learn a new skills simply in order to better convey the entirety of the piece, it really speaks volumes to her creativity and artistic talent.

In process 1st carving

In process 1st carving

In process 1st carving

In process 1st carving

In process 1st carving

In Process 2nd carving 

In Process 2nd carving

In Process 2nd carving

In Process 2nd carving

Transformation step 1 (put in freezer)

Transformation step 3 (add wire)

 

Transformation step 2 (smash with a hammer)

Transformation step 4 (heating on the stove)

Transformation step 5 (adding water)

Transformation step 5 (adding water)

 

Transformation step 6 (removing wire)

Transformation step 6 (without wire)

Transformation step 7 (adding violet ink)

Transformation step 7 (violet ink added)

Transformation step 8 (removed from stove and rolled into foil)

Transformation step 9 (put back in freezer)

Transformation step 10 (removed from freezer and foil)

Transformation step 11 (cut into pieces with a knife)

Transformation step 12 ( soap shavings added)

Transformation step 12 ( soap shavings added)

Transformation step 13 (baked in the oven)

Transformation step 13 (after baking in the oven)

Transformation step 14 (removing "skin" layer)

Transformation step 15 (adding scarlet ink)

Transformation step 15 (adding scarlet ink)

Transformation step 16 (rolling out flat)

Transformation step 16 (rolling out flat)

Transformation step 17 (adding cut up paper)

Transformation step 17 (adding cut up paper)

Transformation step 18 (cutting out circles)

Transformation step 18 (cutting out circles)

Transformation step 19 (stringing together with skin and fishing wire)

Final product of manipulated carving

Final product of manipulated carving

Final Carving

Final Carving

Drawing of final carving

Final Carving

Final Carving

Drawing of final carving

Drawing of distorted carving

Final Carving