Foundation Lecture Series: H. John Thompson (week 7)

At this week's lecture H. John Thompson spoke about his life and work as a carpenter and sculpturist.  I found it fascinating when he started talking about his studio with the fact that he subconciously set up his workspace like his grandfather's bakery (which Thompson's studio was in the basement of).  He spoke about his work chronologically, starting with the fact that he graduated from UArts and was a painter, then slowly became a sculptor.  Thompson said that the studio is a place to find out who you are and to think about what you are doing, which I feel is a very general yet very accurate assumption of the studio.  I especially loved the story that he told about how he found a house that had a matching mailbox and when the house differentiated itself from the mailbox with an addition, Thompson made modes of the addition to be attached to the mailbox and gave it to the owner.  I loke the idea of this story and how he shared his art through others willingly.  My favorite pieces of his work were these little models of houses that were light boxes on the wall.  The reason these little sculptures were my favorite was because I found them to be so appealing and elegant.

Composite Image

In this project for foundation computers we had to use our own images, photoshop them together, and create a new image.  All of the pictures are mine except for the "jackson" sign (but I also changed the sign from what it originally looked like).

Photoshop Image for Foundation Computers

For this project we needed to take an image and using photoshop, change the meaning of it.

My Scanned Face

This project is from my foundation computers class.  For this piece I scanned my face then used illustrator to draw and color the image.  I found it interesting that even though everyone in class used the same program and followed the same guidelines, everyone's pieces were interesting because they each had a different style.  Overall, this project was time consuming and challenging, but I am satisfied with the finished results.

Foundation Lecture Series: Doug Bucci (week 6)

In this week's foundation lecture metalsmith and CAD/CAM designer Doug Bucci spoke of all the opportunity that he has taken advantage of and about his work in the studio.  What I found intriguing about this week's lecture was that much like Candy Depew's art talk, Bucci spoke and presented images about his own work and life.  I found meaning in what Bucci said about how "you don't want to ever stop learning" and I liked that he said "being uncomfortable is the best place to be."  Another two things that Bucci spoke about that stood out were that time management in the studio (whether in college or the work world) is the most important thing, and that you should take advantage of presented opportunities.  Overall, I found the images of Bucci's jewelry to be very beautiful, especailly after hearing about what the pieces ment to him and how they represented and were related to his diabetes.

Foundation Lecture Series: Marianne Dages (week 5)

During this week's foundation lecture book artist and maker Marianne Dages spoke of her work in various studios, and about how her experiences have led her to having her very own studio.  What was engaging about this week's lecture was that Dages really stressed the importance of having your own space to work.  Also, I thought it was intelligent when she talked about her background and how after going to school she continued to surround herself with two important things that you get out of community studios: equitment and collaboration.  Although the speech did seem to be slow moving at times, I liked that she gave advice on building a studio.  Dages told us that over the years you should invest in maybe one tool a month so that by the time you are ready to open your own studio, you already have a good start on supplies.

Roz Savage: Why I'm rowing across the Pacific Response

On ted.com I watched a video of forty-two year old Roz Savage spoke about her journey of rowing across the Atlantic ocean and how she is currently working on a three part trip across the Pacific ocean.  The inspiring London-native not only told stories about the trips, but also explained why she was doing it.  If she is to complete the Pacific ocean journey, she will be the first female to have rowed across the Pacific ocean alone.  Savage explained that she had worked in an office job for eleven years until one day deciding to really think about the way her life was going and the legacy she wanted to leave behind abter she is gone.  This is when she got into rowing and deciding to set herself on a real adventure.  According to Savage, the trip across the Atlantic took 103 difficult days.  Not only does she describe how amazing it felt to finish, she also speaks of many problems she ran into from tendonitis and salt water soars to broken oars and many psychological challenges to face.  Also proving to be much difficulty,during her first attempt at crossing the first part of the Pacific in 2007 she was beat up by waves, blogged about it, and was unhappily evacuated from the boat.  Even with all of these problems, Savage continues to persevere within her adventures.  Towards the end of the speech Savage sums up with giving reasons for her rowing trips.  She believes that taking these trips informs people and reminds them that we need to use our right of free will to make choices that will help make the world a more sustainable, healthier, and greener planet to live on.

Personally, this video felt inspiring and entertaining.  I was interested in learning her reasoning behind going on rowing trips across oceans.  I think that the highlight of the video was when the audience got to see images from her trip and of her row boat.  The only thing that I wish Savage would have spoke about is a more detailed background on her relationship with rowing.  What was the training for the trip like?  When did you learn how to row?  Did you row as a child?  Although these questions may have been left unanswered, overall the video was enjoyable and engaging.
Here is a link to the video.  Enjoy!

Volume Model Drawings

Response to the film Persona

Last week in drawing class I was introduced to the 1966 Swedish film Persona.  As the film began I was unsure of what to expect, distracted by the intense contrast of black against white and the task of reading subtitles.  The movie begans with quickly flashing images that do not seem to have any relation to each other at all.  Next the film shows a young boy in a bed reaching out to an image of a blurred woman's face.  After these scences the film finally movies into its storyline.  Overall, I think that director Ingmar Bergman's use of light and dark was beautiful.  Each camera angle and scence composistion was specific and alluring in it's own way.  Rather than watching a movie it was like looking at stunning artistically made images.  Bergman's intentions with his useage of this contrast may have been to ehance the significance of the theme of art within the film.  Not only do the two protagonists talk about art, but also the film is made in an obivously creative and artistic manner.  I think that another reason for his use of dark and light was to stress another constant theme of death throughout the movie.  Both characters Alma and Elisabet struggle with experiencing life's highs and lows (light and dark) and the film displays this underlying tone of death throughout the lives of the two women.

Along with Bergman's play on light and dark conrasts, the film seems to convey a metaphor through an occurence.  The film's purpose was to show these themes of death, the significance of art, and the happiness and sorrow of life in the form of a story between two women, or an occurence.  I think that Bergman presented this in an interesting way that forced the viewer to really stand back, notice details, and really analyze the film, all while watching something that is still entertaining and beautiful.  He does this by taking this ugly theme of death and displaying it in a beautiful way.  I feel that these themes are again reimbedded in the repettition of Bergman's symbols such as hands and cigarettes, which is another interesting use of imagery.  Even though I think that his use of symbolism is important, I'm not entirely sure what everything (from props to Bergman's choice of simple hair styles and makeup and solid black and white outfits) was intended to convey.  Another thing that was interesting about the film was its characters.  Personally, I think that the casting of Alma and Elisabet was wise because each girl did a convincing job of each character's personality and also it was intriguing that both the girls are so similar in appearence.  While Alma's stories and comments gave her character personality it was Elisabet's actions that showed hers.  For instance, when Alma reads Elisbet a letter from her husband and gives her a picture of her son, Elisbet rips the picture in half, showing so much emotion and feeling in a single motion.
Within this movie, Bergman's view of the artist seems to be of respect.  In one sense, Bergman can be seen as an artist because of the way the film was made overall.  Also, Bergman even has the two main characters talk about art.  Alma, a nurse whom takes care of an actress named Elisabet, tells Elisabet that she has so much respect for artists such as her because she believes they dedicate their lives to helping people, especially those with problems.  This scence is ironic because in fact Alma is also someone who helps others in that she is a nurse.

The only thing about the movie that I disliked was that it was so slow moving.  I appreciated the scenes that were almost "paused" because they were so engaging and facinating but the movie did seem to go long periods of time without much happening or purpose.

Overall, I think that Persona was a well done film because it was so beautifully crafted and the concepts and story lines were interesting all while still being entertaining and enjoyable to watch.  Although it was a slow moving film, Bergman's use of value and composition tantailizing to watch.