Group Aesthetic Paper
After wrapping up my second in the community called Honor Art, I still have no idea what’s going on. Basically I’m clueless. No, I lied. From my experiences, our aesthetic, or philosophy is process based more then result based. As a class, we are constantly bouncing ideas and new techniques off each other. We help each other expand our artistic horizons. And in the end, it doesn’t matter what we came up with because we learned along the way.
I also found that the vast majority of us make art for personal gain over commercial gain or fame and fortune. That is what I found the most rewarding. When you are making for yourself, you get 100% of what you put into it. That makes making art even more rewarding and the group aesthetic supports that. It is said that the journey is half the trip, but for art, it is all of the trip.
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3/18/11
Still Life Tragedy
It was a normal day for the Hairspray family. They were relaxing in the pond enjoying the midday sun. Little Joey Hairspray wandered off again, as he did on most days, to the far side of the pond. He always loved the leaves that grew on the trees in that part of the pond, and they had the best worms and such.
As he indulged himself in a root that caught his eye, Little Joey Hairspray was being watched himself. He was being watched by Slavotore Pinkertino the blob-ster. You see, the Hairspray family had so debt to the Pinkertinos and to send a message, Slavotore was sent to kidnap Little Joey. As Slavotore approached Little Joey, he knew he had to act fast. He only had on chance. He grabbed Little Joey by the wing and duct taped his bill shut. Then jumped in the get-away boat without a trace.
Still Life Comedy
Little Joey Hairspray was shivering in the dark damp trunk of the get-away boat. He couldn’t see much in the trunk but he made out the outline of some boxes. After about an hour or so, the boat came to a stop. Slavotore blindfolded him and carried him into what he thought was a house of some kind.
It was quiet in the room and Slavotore slowly took off the blindfold. Little Joey was greeted with a huge “SURPRIZE!!!!!!” He looked around stunned and saw all of the pond animals dressed up in party-attire. In the mist of his kidnapping he forgot about his birthday! A little dazed, he went and got some cake then proceeded to party the night away.
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Haikus Jan. 16. 2011
John O. PacMan is eating/all the different emotions/he isn’t hungry
Stephen L: paper planes zoom!/ Battle Star Galatica/About to collapse.
Annette R: Past, Present, Future/fishies hanging from the sky/memories of old
Piper S: Moths gathered in jars/slowly waking up from sleep/bringing life with them
Celine P: Come into the woods/ see all the little children/playing without cares
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Bottle-tar Story
November 14, 2010
Rupert woke up today like every other. Except today the world was still on fire. It has been like that for the past three days and now it was certain that Bone City was no more.
Had he know the implications of his actions he never would have done what he had. Rupert learned about it from the Internet, the harbinger of all evils. It was a simple plan and all the materials were found in the junkyard around the shack he called a home. It was almost TOO easy to set up all of that potential for disaster. The whole thing was surreal, he did not had to buy anything or fix any of the parts. It was as if the whole world supported him by making it so he just had to follow a list of instructions and not think for himself.
He woke up early the day he set to do it. The sun was still stretching before it decided to rise so he had to drive with the high beams on. There was no traffic or movement what-so-ever on the roads and a ride that takes an hour on a lucky day, took only twenty minutes.
The charges took longer to set then excepted because the job usually called for a team of four or five had to be done alone. Regardless, Rupert still finished before anyone woke up for the day. After taking a moment to reflect on what he’s about to do and contemplate the coming bliss, he pushed to button.
With that click morning came early, and the whole city awoke with a bright flame and an earth-shattering boom. This combined with the backlash knocked Rupert out. He awoke later that day to find that Bone City was in ruins and the deed was done.
He again only took twenty minutes to get to his house. But this time it was not filled with the bliss it had a couple hours ago. His home was in shamble as was the world he just created and it might never get back to the way it was again.
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2009 -2010 School Year
Who are we?
Who are we? That is a question that many people ask not only art students. But that question is not as simple as who asks it. I think the best way to answer this question is to say what we are not. We are not lame, we are not stupid (though we often act that way) and we are not too lazy.
So now that we got that figured out we can narrow down what we are not even more. We are just people that like art. And like expressing ourselves through art. With that said, as a class we feed off of each energy and use each others as support and collaborators.
As a result, I think that it is notable to say that art is a common interest between people with previously uncommon ones. People who have not even talked before can relate to a piece of art without even talking to the artist. So I think that is what we are: relatable.
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Surveillance using cameras
For my conceptual p surcirity iece I would make a movie that takes place in the high school parking lot. In it, there would be a main charactor. The Camera would follow one person around each morning and afternoon. It almost would be like stalking a person. I think it would be interesting if it was for a year or even their whole high school. It could not only show how people mature but also how people act when they are around others. A parking lot can be a social place or an isolated place.
So if this person goes to the parking lot for a certain reason such as because they are upset, or with someone, or doing something. It would all depend on the person. I think that also a natural story line would come up based on that person’s life. They would learn about the drama of that person and a group of high schoolers. So like a reality tv show…..kinda, but more like stalking.
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Log For the week of 4/19-4/23
Monday 4/19: So as I work diligently on my work, I am surrounded by weird face looking at me. Like they are surveilling me or something. Little did they know, that I am surveilling them! Max is procrastinating as usual, and overall distracting me from my duty as an artist. Meanwhile, Phoebe is drawing misinterpretations of me and my noodle-y appendages.
Tuesday 4/20: Nancy has been quite lately. She has not been talking as much as she used to. Which was not much to begin with. But now she seams to be the only one really concentrating on her work. Other people are complaining about future tests that they have and studied for, but are still nervous about.
Wednesday 4/21: Today I brought in a banana for breakfast. It made quite the stir. You see I normally bring in a bagel but I brought into a banana today. It was so cool, I asked Sarah to feel the banana. She agreed, questioning why she should feel it and why it was so cool. I think she is creeped out. True Story.
Thursday 4/22: The other Sara, not banana girl. Started to copy me. You see I have been melting wax, like a boss. Other people see this bossness and they want a some. No I kid. But really a lot of people are melting wax now. You never know how many people do something until you do it and are aware of it.
Friday 4/23: This is the last day of my surveilling while being surveilled. Do you know that there are in computers in this room? Yeah, I do now. Mind Blown. People use these computers a lot. I used it today to post this. Other people also use the computers to do interesting thing like time traveling or going on facebook.
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Human Surveillance V.s. still life surveillance. 4/21/10
To start off, humans are alive. So they do things like eat, sleep, talk, or whatever. Things do not do that. They are kinda lame, they just sit around a wait to be acted on. But, humans are the ones that do the acting. So you have humans acting on things and plants and other humans. And then it gets interesting because once they start interacting with other whatevers they do not stop.
It is like one of those vending machines that are always on, unless the power dies and sometimes they are still on anyway. People are like vending machines except the power does not die they do. But, Humans make surveillance fun because most humans are fun or do fun/interesting things. So I would much rather surveil a human than something kinda lame like a bottle or boot.
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Patrick West
Surveillance Log
2/22/10-2/26/10
Monday 2/22/1953
It was just another day aboard the U.S.S. Awesome. The sails were up, the crew awake and busy and the fresh sea air was filling everyone’s nestles with delight. But there was a sense of boredom as well. The ship was headed for Guam for the sixth day that month. Needless to say they were very unprepared for the rude awakening that awaited them.
Tuesday 2/23/53
Guam was just coming into view but something wasn’t right. Smoke filled the air and soon they were surrounded. When they finally got to the island they were greeted with a boat with a sign in it that read: You have been warned, America is next. Everyone was confused about the strange writing because it was 1953 and Microsoft Word was yet to be invented. But if it was, they would have know that the writing was not some crazy communist script but really only WINGDINGS~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday 2/24/53
The sailors were at a lost for words. Who could have had the heart or lack of for that matter to remove the wonderful island of Guam from the planet? They were stuck. Their radio could not reach the closest island, so they resulted to the only way of communication they new possible: fire signals. But what could they burn? They had limited food a d supply but they did have their cargo. So they decided to burn it all 20 tons of frozen C6760H10447N1743O2010S32, a.k.a Botulinum toxin a.k.a the most toxic substance know to man!!!!!!
Thursday 2/25/53
Little did the poor sailors know that they sealed their fate. All were going to die. All but one man, Andy Smith for he was looking over the side of the boat and dropped his picture of his family. He knew he had to save it so he droved into the water to get it and lucky missed the bond fire of death. When he surfaced he held the photo but when he saw his reflection he was shocked to see his wig had fallen off and his true identity was reveled. Andy Smith was really Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.
Friday 2/26/53
Anastasia quickly got exhausted by the swimming for she has lost sight of the ship and only saw the smoke from the bond fire of doom in the distance. Lucky she found some non-toxic driftwood and passed out. When she awoke, she was in a cave of some sort surrounded by clown fish. They then explained to her that shark boy and lava girl saved her from certain doom and death from the fire. Now that Shark Boy and Anastasia had the majority vote they were able to vote Lava girl out of the cave survivor style and live happy ever after the end.
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Wednesday 2.24.10
Where does truth and/or fact exist in the relationship between the surveillant and the surveilled?
The truth and fact exists only with the surveillant and not the surveilled. They have the ability to interpret what the surveilled is doing. So if they see something, they can record is as what it really is, or what they want it to be. With that being said, a lot of the time the surveillant cannot accurately record what the surveilled is doing.
This only hinders how well the surveillant can record the surveilled actions. But, they surveilled cannot change the truth because if they change their task of what they are doing , the surveillant can record that action as well. Basically, what I’m trying to say is that the surveilled can change their actions as much as they want, but when it comes down to it, it’s the surveillant’s job to distinguish fact from fiction.
Diptyic Reflection
For the diptych, I originally wanted to do two statues. For the first piece, pokemon, I was able to do that. I found an old two horse that I wrote on and I was really happy with the outcome for it. But, I was not able to find another horse. It would have been so cool to have two horse nailed to my wall in my room. But, alas I could not find one. So for my other piece, I just made a piece on paper and with acrylic ink.
What I had to do in the essence of time was start and work on both pieces at once. In the end it helped me a lot because I could connect the two pieces by the color I used and the way I wrote the words on the pieces. I had some trouble with this project because I often do not like using text in my work; I have a habit of covering it up with paint. Often people had to remind me to not cover up the text too much because the major point I was being graded on was text.
Over all I’m very happy with the outcome of my two pieces and I like the whole idea of a diptych. I plan on making more of them in sketchbook. I think it is good to have a loose theme for a group of work. Mostly, I like trying to figure out what I was thinking when I made the pieces, and how I connected them when I made them vs. how I connect the two now.
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Second Project Prompt 11/17/09
What two games have contributed to who I am and what might they “say” to one another?
The two “games” I choose to use in my project are Pokemon and Marching band. I think that these ”games” would not get along at all. I think that they would fight all the time and it just wouldn’t be pretty. I mean just think about it, pokemon is free and idle you can do whatever you want in the game as long as you follow the general direction of the game. Its not just about what pokemon you have its about what you do with them.
But Marching Band is the complete opposite. It is very stict and you have to follow a strict set of rules and regualations. It is excate to what way your feet are facing and if you move your head slightly to the side or not. So i think that what would happen if these two games ever meet would go something like this:
Marching Band: “Pokemon, you have to stop and follow the rules.”
Pokemon: ” Yha.. But I don’t feel like it, maybe tomorrow or something. I feel like just wondering around for a while..”
Marching Band: “But the rule say you HAVE to do this NOW.”
Pokemon: “Alright, I’ll get around to it…”
Then Marching band would ger really angry and walk away. So I think that my diptyic could be very intresting with how different my two games are.
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First Project Review.
Here is a review of my first project, the 50 cards. I’m going to explain my concept behind each set.
Cultural Identity
Prompt: How do you define culture and how does culture define you?
For my culture set, I used very versitial media like wax, and ducktape. I did this because my culture and my views are always changing. Wax and ducktape can be changed and changed over and over agian and still be useable. So I thought that that was an accurate reperization of my culture.
Familial Identity
Prompt: How are you positioned within your family dynamic and how does that influence your identity?
For my family set, i decided to focus on being the middle child. Because im the middle child i get away with a lot, and i have to make sure that everyone doesnt have to kill each other. So i tried to show my role in the family without flatout drawing a family.
Stereotypical Identity
Prompt: What is your perception of how you are perceived by others?
For this set i really had trouble with. I didnt know how people stereotyped me at all. So I asked a few people and they really did not help because they were not honest about it. So i stereotyped myself as being a werid smart kid. I think I pulled it off i guess. But it wasn’t my favorite set.
“Other” Identity
Prompt: In what ways or situations do I find myself treated as an “Other”?
For this one i thought of the emotion of being alone and being helpless. That is one of the worst feelings in the world and i think that is what happens when you become that other. I used watercolor on all of my cards, because i looked at what the other people in my class were doing and none of them used watercolor. I don’t no if everyone just hates watercolor, or if they just didn’t think it would stick to the cards or what, but i based my cards off of watercolor because i felt bad for the water colors that were being left out.
Heroic Identity
Prompt: What defines a hero and what is heroic about you currently, or what heroic qualities would you hope to develop as you age.
For my Heroic I first thought of one of my heros, and then thought of what they do to make them my hero. My hero was my Mom. The reason I choose her was because she is very selfless. She is always doing whats best for others even thought it might not be the best thing for her. That is the number one thing that someone can do to be a hero, is be selfless.
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Heroic Identity
Prompt: What defines a hero and what is heroic about you currently, or what heroic qualities would you hope to develop as you age?
When I think of a hero, I think of someone that is unselfish and puts others before themselves. Heroes act in a way that makes them stand out in what they do. They may not be the best artist or the richest or even good at what they do, but when they are unselfish, they become heroic.
When I think of myself as being heroic, I really don’t think that I am. I don’t think that I do anything that makes me stand out more than anyone else in the world. If I want to be a hero I would have to change my whole life around. The reason being is because I just don’t have the time to go out of the way to help people. But, when I do see someone that needs help I do try to help them.
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“Other” Identity
Prompt: In what ways or situations do I find myself treated as an “Other”?
For the set of the “Other” cards I had to describe myself when I felt like an outsider. One time, I got invited to go to a hunted hayride with all my friends; all three of them. Well that one kid did come but I don’t really like him so he doesn’t count. So I wanted to go really badly but I had to go to marching band. So I didn’t get to enjoy the haunted experience. And then to top it off, they had a great time and put pictures on Facebook. So I felt excluded from my friends. While that was only one time and it wasn’t even that fun because the hayride was lame-o I still felt excluded. The only good part was when the kid I don’t like tried “kill the blonde.”
What I learned from this experience was that even thought I thought that what I was missing was fun. It was not. I realized that many times when I am excluded from something, it is worse then what I am already doing. So you really don’t have to worry about not going to every little get together because someone you don’t like could be there.
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Stereotypical Identity
Prompt: What is your perception of how you are perceived by others?
I find stereotypes to be one of the worst types of judging someone can do. They are harmful and mean and accomplish nothing. I am a lot of times stereotyped that I can’t apply myself to things and that I can not play sports. While I am not star football player, I know how to play sports; I’m just not used to playing them. I never play sports as a kid so I lack the competitive edge that most people my age have. Its not that I hate sports, because I don’t. I just do not apply myself competitively. If that means people think that I am weird or not normal because I don’t care about sports then whatever. I really don’t mind what people say to me because up until now, no one has said anything to me. I think I really am lucky not to have been stereotyped. I don’t have a vivid memory of me being stereotyped so I can not really connect to it. It false to say that I never been stereotyped, but when I had been, I did not know about it.
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Familial Identity
Prompt: How are you positioned within your family dynamic and how does that influence your identity?
My family dynamic has changed a lot in the last few years. I used to have no responsibility at all, but now that all my older siblings are in collage I have a lot more. I have to take care of my little brother and our pets while my parents are working. My parents work a lot. My mom always comes home late because she works as a teacher at Holy Family University and has to stay late for labs. And my dad, well he travels all the time. He goes to Japan and Korea and all over the globe. So, most of the time, he’s in a different country thousands of miles away. Also, when he’s home he usually sleeps because he has trouble sleeping when my moms not with him.
But, it’s not all bad because since he travels so much I can go with him sometimes. Now that I’m not terrible at Japanese, I was able to go to Japan with him, and I am going to go to Korea and Japan again this next summer coming up. Everyone in my family doesn’t have a set role that they do; as long as whatever needs to be done gets done we are fine. Mainly I help out where ever I can, its like I’m that instint seal glue that they sell on infomercials, I don’t fix the problem, just fill in the holes until someone gets around to it.
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Cultural Identity
Prompt: How do you define culture and how does culture define you?
When I think of culture, one word comes to mind; diversity. Culture is a group of people’s way of living. No matter where you live or when you lived, you have a culture. Most of the time people do not even know that they are doing something cultural. For example, we walk around school with our shoes on, but in Austria, it is a custom to take you shoes off in school. When looking at someone’s culture, many key points are taking into account, such as language, where they are from, art, fashion, literature, architecture, and others.
When I think of my culture, I have a typical American culture. I like American sports, food, and celebrate all American holidays. But, I am also very unique, and my family has its own culture. In my family, we celebrate certain day especially, two of those big days, are Easter and Saint Patrick’s Day. Religion is very important to my family, we go to church every Sunday and attend the holiday masses such Christmas, Easter, and Ash Wensday. Also, we have certain foods that are important too. They are Carrot Cake and a dish called Goolash. While this may not seam like a big difference from the main stream American Culture, to me it makes a world of difference and because of that I am who I am and have my views.
