For Kate..

STEAMPUNK RINGO

Thank you, Kate, for all of your encouragement and enthusiasm!

The Final Project

My piece is titled..

Ringo, My Good Friend...(the love that can save us)

For my final work I chose to use my little puppy, Ringo , as the subject. It is representative

to me of many things. It is often said that our pets love us unconditionally. I find that very

refreshing  and  must admit the joy that brings to me personally, coming from a place where

with so many people to "please", I  take great pleasure in  his warm (always!), and gentle

 companionship. It amazes me the boost to our self esteem our beloved pets can bring us 

simply by jumping on our laps to sit , or following us from room to room as we go through

our mundane tasks of the day. When the enivitable dark days show up in our lives it is always

reassuring to feel the look of encouragement and love that comes from their enthusiastic presence.

For these images, I used photographs that I shot myself and some Google images that I believe are fairly appropriated due to their manipulation in a way that has changed their appearance.

Final Project WIP

This is just part of what will be a larger story... Still working on the "Big Picture"

Final Assignment Proposal

For my Final Assignment I have been working on an idea of using an assortment of

 animal photographs that I will shoot and digitally work them into a variety of  time-traveling scenes with a heavy accent on Steam punk . I may then collect some appropriate metal gears and such and construct some interesting framework to display these images in.

I also am very drawn to the idea of collaging a Psychological Self Portrait , though. We'll see where this leads....

Assignment 5

Technology 

and it's effect on our world

 I chose to use images of my dog combined with appropriated images from a google search of "steam punk" style.  Steam punk is (in one instance) defined as a sub-genre of science fiction and fantasy featuring advanced machines and other technology based on steam power of the 19th century and taking place in a recognizable historical period or a fantasy world.

  I find this style to very artistically interesting and visually appealing! I worked on a few different pieces but kept being drawn back to the mood and effect of this one as it evolved. In the end I feel that this is representing the story of the fresh, younger generation all revved up and ready to go for a new adventure while still being aware of this older "Father Time"companion's voice of reason. It also reminded me of one of my favorite cartoons growing up- The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle. There was a particular segment of the show called " Mr. Peabody and (his boy) Sherman". Peabody was a dog of genius level and together they time-traveled in something they called the "Way Back Machine".  Awesome vintage cartoon!

I feel the images that I did appropriate were altered enough that they should not be a problem with copyright law.

Assignment 5 - Work in Progress

Technology's Effect on Today, Tomorrow and Beyond...


















I have just begun to create this but am very excited..

Digital Nation

After watching the documentary " Digital Nation" in class, I found the film to be very thought
provoking. I have been spending increasing amounts of time online recently and have noticed how easy it is to let many hours pass while mindlessly roaming from one site to the next and almost being physically and mentally unable to stop, get up and do something else.
I know for a fact that this has caused a very obvious increase in the stiffness in my neck and shoulders and increasing numbness in my arms and fingers. I can't help but wonder what more ominous illnesses may come about down the road for us that we are not aware of now.
I just recently read (online, while clicking on a new subject of interest!) that studies have shown that several types of cancers have been shown to have a greater risk for people who sit for long periods of time without getting up and moving around for even a few minutes.


When I think about the possible effects on the way technology will change the way we experience art, I think that it mostly expands the wonderful world of all the various art forms in the way that  we are able to view it so readily now. It is very inspiring to me to be able to google anything in the subject of art and be instantly given a wealth of images right at my fingertips. While it is not quite equal to the experience of seeing the art in person, it has a very instant therapeutic effect on my brain. I think that with this technology it could inspire many "would be" artists to have the confidence to pursue their dreams knowing how many others are out in the world successfully doing just that.

Assignment 5 Proposal

I have a few ideas in mind. One image that comes to mind is how many times a day we see people using their cellphones simultaneously with just about everything else that they are doing. Family scenes also come to mind in which everyone is out for a very nice, elegant dinner and everyone has placed their phone on the table in front of them, constantly glancing down , as if they were doctors on call or something. Also have thought about collaging a portrait of my head with all the things I have been googling spilling out.

What are some ways to communicate these ideas visually?

I will most likely photograph some scenes myself around different candid locations and see where that takes the project creatively. Then I hope to use photoshop to create a montage that is visually interesting and a little more abstract in nature than just a single photograph, per se'.

      

Assignment 4- Muybridge Animation

 I chose to update this piece with a flashy scene from Times Square in New York City, on the
night that it's most famous for-New Years Eve! After separating the horse and rider from the original back round , I then added a borrowed photo of Times Square,  separated the "Happy New Year" lights to layer them to flash, and also "cut out" the existing spot light lines of the picture, repositioned them, took out their color and staggered their movement.  I hope that it doesn't induce a seizure, but I think it's kinda cool.

Adobe Illustrator 4 Seasons

Assignment 3

Visual Mapping

After many racing thoughts and ideas on this project I finished this.
I combined all the grade school photographs of myself and then copied
them as a reverse . Stacked them on top of each other, changed their opacity
over and over, moved them around in order and still not really sure I like it
at all. I've always been interested in faces of children and the way they change
as they age, but somehow stay the same , so that's why I chose this particular
concept of mapping.  I kept the original 70's era color because I feel it best
represents the time period.

Old News Assignment

On October 1, 2012 , I had the pleasure of attending the opening of photographer Jeff Sprang's exhibit titled "Old News". This collection was

on display in the OSU-Mansfield Pearl Conard Art Gallery.The photographs

were framed black and white silver gelatin prints that Mr. Sprang shot from

1970-1997 while employed with the Mansfield News Journal, The Lantern, 

and the Associated Press.

A few days later during the Artists Lecture, Mr. Sprang described in vivid

detail, some very interesting stories behind each of the 34 pieces. Although

the subjects varied greatly, the photographs all shared a strong ability to

draw the viewer into the scene and visualize the moment in time as if you

were there. This is something I think is a lost art in today's modern world

where newspaper photos are shot much more hastily, with a lot less attention

given to the artistic value.

Although I would have a hard time finding any of the photographs uninteresting,  I must say I was very taken in by #29-Fire in Galion, shot 

March 22, 1986. The photo itself was so visually griping with the smoke

billowing out of the collapsing structure as a fireman races towards the building.

It gave such an immediate sense of urgency to the viewer as if you were wondering how much time is left before it all collapses. I believe this shot captured the perfect moment and what is so amazing is that it was done

with a manual film camera without any light metering used. 

I found this exhibit to be much more interesting than I think one

would imagine at first. It is refreshing to go back and enjoy the feel of ,

in some ways, a simpler time.  It is a great testament to Mr. Sprang that even 

though he has a great eye for the composition as well as a gift for recalling verbally the scenes he has captured, the images themselves can stand alone as

beautiful pieces of art.

This is a photo of Mr. Sprang from the Spring 2012 Quarter.

I had the privilege of his instruction in Black and White Film 

Photography. We had a wonderful time learning from him

the lost art of darkroom film developing and printing!

Assignment 3 Visual Mapping

Assignment 3  Visual Mapping

For this assignment I have been working on two ideas.
One that I feel is more within my technical bounds , and
one that I really relate to and hope to be able to create .

I first started to use all 13 of my grade school photographs
and lay them over each other in a way that might create
something interesting. I then got the idea to use our most
recent family photo and do everyone in the picture the
same way. Haven't done much on the second one but
scan a ton of older photos.

Here are couple of examples of the idea...First one is pretty freaky!

What I would really like to do is a Mind Map using images of trees I have taken
recently and draw with text of the many branches to illustrate my crazy , manic,

thoughts. I hope to be able to achieve this in a way that is artistically pleasing.

Assignment 2 ~ Social Commentary/Critique

Speak No Evil- Pedophile Priests-
 ( and the people who cover for them. )

I chose this subject for many reasons, but mainly because it is a news story that

just doesn't ever go away. I am continually shocked and appalled at the ability

for these atrocities to be carried out against the most innocent among us... our 

children. Even more shocking is how much of it is "swept under the rug".

  In researching this on the web and gathering images to use I was confronted
 with a tidal wave of disturbing accounts of abuse on children and adolescents

 at the hands of the very persons that they are taught to believe are their ultimate

"protectors"; ones they should go to in times of trouble or to confess their sins.  

Although I used the strong image of the Pope in this piece, it in no way fully 

represents the full scope in regards to the Catholic church being the only guilt 

party. There are accounts of abuse in many other religions and also a very wide

spread and well known pedophile epidemic that has been reported on for years

in the Boy Scouts of America organization.

I believe that the images that I used from the internet fell under the fair use

ruling because most were either modified in a way that totally changed their

appearance or were used to convey a new message.

                   

visualcomplexity.com | I Wish...

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• Visual Complexity
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• I found the project titled "I Wish...." by Trina Brady very interesting. In it she invited people to reflect and then answer this question: What do you wish for in your life? Is it realistic , and is it achievable? The final artistic rendering below, I  am simply awestruck by. Not only for it visual beautiful but also the  very relevant question that the author said speaks to our current condition of spending more and more time in our work pursuits and less time on our "dreams" .
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I Wish... Author(s): Trina Brady Institution: Royal College of Art Year: 2007 URL: http://tinyurl.com/38un55

DEADLINE FAIL

Assignment 2- Social Commentary/Critique

I chose to do my assignment on the subject of pedaphile priests in the Catholic Church.
I have gathered seemingly hundreds of images and have spent many, many hours in
an attempt to compose this in a way that I can very vividly see in my mind.

I have not been able to complete this as of yet. I am very technically challenged it
seems. I am very disappointed and  will continue on ....

So far this are two of the works in progress..


The top is very rough , just threw in the altar boys because I couldn't figure out how

to put them into the shape  next to them.. So sad,,, to be continued.

Assignment #2

                   

    Assignment 2 - Social Commentary/ Critique



                                      Work in Progress


                                 I'm all finished, isn't it great!!!!  
  
     Ok, yes it's great, just not mine.

        
                 
     This is the work of the great German artist Hannah Hoch (1889-1978). She, along with Raoul Hausemann and John Heartfield are credited with creating the first photo montages. I will use them as my "inspiration artist".


I have decided to base my project on pedophile priests. Although I had many different and interesting ideas for subject matter, this one just kept coming back to the front of my mind.

Ok, so to update my true progress , here goes:

I have selected approx 40 images from the web search and have attempted to 
edit them down in Photoshop. Very time consuming for someone who must continue switching screens to the tutorials on the web! I had hoped to have more completed work to post today but many, many hours have not produced much real progress in regards to the finished piece. Here are a few of the images I will incorporate....

  Here is one of the very unfinished edits I have worked on.... It's gonna take a lot of trial and error for me , as this software is somehow really difficult for me to retain .  Having fun in the process, though. Can't wait to be good at this!

    

Assignment # 2 -Social Commentary

  Social Commentary, Critique, Parody

So many ideas.... not sure which way to go.

 Possible options.

1. Mom, there's nothing to eat in this house (taken from my everyday experience)

Giant fridge loaded with food, just either too "healthy" or needing to be prepared in some way.

Compared together with some very impoverished setting with child truly starving.

2. The White Picket Fence (American Dream)

reality of what lies behind the closed doors of our homes and the way we would be shocked

 to know the real story.

3. Woman running on Treadmill while smoking

4. School Bullying

Very passionate about this subject 

5. Vacation Paradise

Throngs of rich people sunning themselves in a decadent tropical setting juxtaposed with

very impoverished natives waiting on them. 

I am artistically attracted to the work of Andy Warhol and other Pop Artists also, so I would 

 like to come up with something along that line, really.

My plan is to just surf around and start pulling ideas together and hope the flow will start 

to take flight. 

In addressing the copyright law question, I envision probably manipulating borrowed

material in such a way that it won't recognizable to it's original form. 

  

Fair Use -Manny Garcia and the A.P. vs Shepard Fairy

The question raised is:
 Should Artist Shepard Fairy have been able to use the likeness of photographer Manny Garcia's photo of President Barack Obama to create his own piece of work titled "HOPE". Mr. Fairy's lawyers argued that this fell under the copyright laws section entitled "fair use".

Being a photographer myself , my first reaction to the photo vs artist print was to say "Heck yeah , that is not fair, this is obviously too close to   the photographers copyrighted picture. However , after reading the actual Stanford article I must conclude that it falls under the Commentary and Criticism category the laws speaks of a requirement is to transform the work with the extent of enlightenment.
This could be argued successfully with the fact that the artist used the word HOPE on the piece as a way to enlighten the public with this image.

Materializing New Space

While I was unfortunately unable to attend the Artists Reception and Lecture on opening day of this exhibit "Materializing New Space" by artists Jaime Kennedy and Kelly Urquhart, I recently toured the gallery and viewed these works on my own. The art exhibited was a collaboration by the artists using drawings, sculpture, digital film photography, and in some instances hand crafted ink.

Upon first glance the collection did nothing to spark any feeling of real interest in me other than, honestly, the need to somehow gather information to use in my class assigned critique. I rarely have found myself this ambivalent toward the artwork that I have seen hung here in the Pearl Conard Gallery. While I am usually quite drawn to the simple starkness and contrast of black and white
art, this collection took some time to "grow on me".

I guess I was mostly drawn to the "Hung, Drawn and Quartered Series", and in particular the "Nesting" series. These images were very interesting visually, and I appreciated them for their artistic value.

In the Artist Statement I found some very useful information that helped me to look beyond my original
confusion and to appreciate the great thought and idea process that went into this work. Not to mention the fact that so many steps had been used in completing each of these composites where I had quickly
assumed they were probably created mostly in Photoshop. This made me stop and really view the pieces in a more enlightened frame of mind . Suddenly they came to life and I started to understand
some of what I think the artists were trying to provoke in thought. Very interesting that the artists were
hoping to show "the dichotomy that exists between the natural systems that function within the world against the human systems, which attempt to modify, control , and improve upon these natural systems of order.

Perhaps my favorite of the collection was #17, "Steal a March". Being the largest print in the exhibit, I think it anchored it quite nicely. It had a rather "dark" vibe to it like a Grimes Fairy Tale, or something of the such from my childhood. Many things caught the eye as one tried to put the "story" together. The most surreal being the bird in the giant flying apparatus. This , I think, gave the piece it's overall ominous tone.

All in all , I believe with all of the very tedious work these two artists put into these pieces that they
have succeeded in their quest. The work in the end pulled me in long enough to examine their idea.

Assignment 1- Psychological Self-Portrait

Assignment 1- Psychological Self-Portrait

Well, project 1 is completed.. for now. I would loved to have

created a piece that portrayed all the ideas and images that have

danced through my head as I imagined this work in progress.

Unfortunately, my technical skills are just beginning.

I chose the basic mood of the piece as being an urban setting

that I feel most alive and invigorated in. The photograph was 

taken in NYC. I love the way the the tall buildings are accentuated

by the curve of the fish-eye lens. The clock in the scene is what I 

feel the eye is most drawn to and so I feel this also greatly represents

my current state of mind , TIME, and the utter amazement of how fast 

it moves in life! There's just never enough of it!

After using a quick selection mask, inverted, I cut out the plain looking 

skyline and hoped to fill it in with possibly a very "contrast-y" scan.

I played around with many different background (skyline) effects to try

 and highlight the overall mood and had a hard time choosing, but selected

 as the final one a gradient black and white that I manipulated on the

layer until it was placed in the most appealing way.

While I feel over-all this is a piece that may represent my personality

in some way and I do like the way it looks for now, I can't help but

wish I could have created more.

 Staying optimistic and working on the basics until that can be achieved!

  

Assignment 1 work in progress

This is not actually a work in progress yet, just a picture to represent the beginning plan.

OptimissmPessimism

Christiane Paul Digital Art, Chapter 1

In  my review of the first chapter of Christiane Paul's book "Digital Art", I was struck by  a few notions of my own in relation to her writing.

 I think the first thing that came to mind was that maybe we sometimes forget that long before the inception of digital imaging, or "Photoshop" , as it is now referred,  most art could arguably have been altered in some way to represent what the artist themselves wanted the viewer to see, and not necessarily what was the original scene,  true image or object as it existed. Also, I was reminded that until now I had not really considered how vast the influence of the "Digital Age" had on such a broad scale. With photography being my main artistic concentration, it has been of little interest to me in the past to take much time in consideration of other art forms beyond their initial impact visually. 

For example, I was immediately drawn to and interested in the work of Nancy Burson titled "Beauty Composites" from 1982. In her morphing several images of older day film stars faces in comparison to the same with several more (then) modern day stars it was interesting in a few ways. First, how upon looking at the two composites side by side, one could immediately identify the time period from which  either had taken place in regards to the evolution of modern day facial features. Also, very interesting to me is the fact that while every one of the women's faces were very unique and also familiar in my mind, together neither one of the composites resembled strongly any of the faces the artist used.

Another artist, Lillian Schwartz, in her 1987 work, Mona/Leo, merged the image of the MonaLisa's face with the face of it's original artist, Leonardo DaVinci's. Instantly it was clear to me how very similar these two subjects were in appearance. Before glimpsing this work, I am quite sure I would have not made that connection.

The work of the group called KIDing , titled" I love Calpe 5", from 1999, satirizes the idea that in our modern day advertising ventures many times the true point of interest  is "blurred" out or overshadowed by the larger than life images of it's advertisers or sponsors. The expression of the sponsors identity itself then almost becomes more of the accent than the actual thing they were, in fact, supporting.

Lastly, artist Charles Cohen in his use of abstraction through erasure, takes pornographic scenes and shows us only the solid whited out images of the person(s) outline leaving much more to our imagination and thus, in my opinion, making the images more apt to be examined and pondered over than what the graphic "true" image would have provoked.