Jessica's Story

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5-3 Blank Empty Assignment

When I attended my foundations course while I enrolled at the School of Visual Arts, we had all sorts of fun computer illustration assignments. The course was called Visual Computing, and it was sort of like this course except it was geared more toward homework that allowed us to express our aesthetics as artists coming from various majors. We had this fun assignment using text to make a photo of someone or something, and I remember making Obama as my inspiration. I would love it if our class did this as an assignment one day and see how all of our work varies.

HW 5-2 Sigmar Polke -Artist that uses scanography.

The artist that I decided to use for my scenography piece is Sigma Polke, because I cannot get his MOMA retrospective show out of my head, once I hear scanography.
Sigmar Polke is a German painter and photographer born on February 13th 1941, he experimented with all types of subject matter including references of Auswitz, as well as materials (he used fabrics to paint, to resin and to photocopy prints). When I attended his show at the MoMa, every thing intrigued me but what I had never seen an artist do before is use photocopy scans or errors from a printer as a use for an art form, which is why I am really excited to talk about him for this topic.

He experimented with images collected from textbooks from the 1970s, and used the photocopier as a method to extend and distort the nature of new images in order to create in abstraction. These images look hallucinatory and subliminal, and I love how innovative that his thought process was.

"New York- Sigmar Polke: Photokopierarbeiten" at Fergus Mccafffey

"Untitled"

 (Circa 2000)

"Der junge Akrobat" (2000)

 "Der junge Akrobat" (detail) (2000)

Retrieved from 

http://artobserved.com/2014/12/new-york-sigmar-polke-photocopierarbeiten-at-fergus-mccaffrey-through-december-20th-2014/

HW 5- 1 two series of scanographs (4 each)

OA#9: Think about digital photography as a medium

Ever since I owned a camera while I was an adolescent, I would take it to my travels to other countries. I once volunteered at a camp in Canada, where many youngsters loved to play with my camera. I saw that many of them came from different backgrounds but one particular girl from Iran, stood out to me and she loved to take my picture. She loved to take photos of others and myself. Another child loved to take landscape photos of people eating or people enjoying activities in the park. I think that youngsters love colorful images of their surroundings, and they also love to take photos of people because it allows them to gain a closer look at the features that they probably wouldn't have noticed before. Lastly every one loves nature, nature is all around you, and nature has so many creativities on it own because it is not man-made! I would just explore my surroundings with children with the camera, and see where it goes from there.

Session 4- HW 8 Research a photographer

The photographer that I chose to research is named Fabiola Jean Louis, who is from my native country Haiti. I have been following her work for many years and I thought it was the perfect fit for this assignment. Fabiola attended Fashion Industries High school then moved on to college at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, where she majored in Illustration and several other fields. She discovered photography along her journey throughout her education and decided to pursue it further.
Her work has aspects of a fantasy world mixed with realities of the real world. She tells stories in all of her photographs and it has even allowed her to manifest sic-fi, space time and costume designs in  her work. Her work has been shown in several album covers, AfroPunk, Bierds, Artinsomniac, and she also has commissioned for books as well. She is an inspiration for my art practice, because I too love to tell stories through images!!

"Passing" 2016

"Madame Leroy (Le-wah)" 2016 

Retrieved from 

http://www.fabiolajeanlouis.com/rewriting-history/

Session 4 HW 7- Lankshear &Knobel reading

I love how the author starts out the article by defining the meaning of remix, and how it is found in music but not typically in art. He then defines different genres of music such as pop, rhythm and blues and heavy metal. After wards, he gives two definitions of remixes, one as a condition for a robust and democratic culture and a status as a new form of writing.
The "Read Only" culture talks of the consumption of professionally produced artifacts. The "Read Write" culture is those who read resources of culture that they have accumulated around them. He then uses Sousa, an American conductor and composer, as an example for why we need a "Read Write" culture in music. Sousa fears that his audience would be less connected to the music if it was not recreated to be cohesive with a democratic culture. The article then goes on to talk about remixes in media relating to the web, as well as music history to current music albums, and how the internet benefits meme culture and photoshop, which can also be seen as a form of remix.

Session 4 HW 6 Exploring Digital Photography III

For the social media aspect of sharing this piece of art work, I chose Facebook as a place to post my work. I have an app called Framatic, and I put two different pictures on two different photos for this image. I also added a cool frame, that being a pink streamer, which I thought brought out the right photo's effects more. I love how brown can turn into pink in this instance. 

This image was also added to Facebook, but I added a filter through instagram. I wanted to see what my social media followers preferred more, or in this instance who commented more.

I'll find out by the end of the week. 

Session 4- HW 4 picture

I notice that my metal sculpture has a lot of rust and cool textures like bubbles from the welding machine. I also notice some holes in the base form, and the leaves are dangerous because they are so sharp. 

What led me to take the photo was the contrast of colors from the floor and the sculpture. The rusting from the leaves are more profound in color , so it really brings out the color and shape of the floor. The lines interesting with the form, brings out the form more. The leaves are an art form itself because I made them to shape a curve. The leaves are giving me an effect of various curvy lines, and I think that it is so interesting that after all this time, the shine still shows through in the leaves. If you look closely, you can see the white peering through when trying to find some of the shine in the sculpture. 

Session 3- HW 4 Social Media Artist- Joan Cornella

The social media artist that I decided to choose was Joan Cornella. I love his work, I have been following him on Facebook for about five years now, and he is really clever. Joan was born on January 11 th, 1981, in Barcelona Spain. He is a Spanish cartoonist and and illustrate very famous for his surreal and dark humor. He uses this unsettling humor in a comic strip form with no text, whatsoever. He has had numerous publications and has illustrated for The New York Times, among many more! His page on Facebook has to be the most successful part of his career, because overtime that you see a new post by him, you know that it might be something disgusting or disturbing, or something funny.


his Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/joancornella/?fref=ts

Some of his comic strips ...

Retrieved from 

http://joancornella.bigcartel.com/

Session 3- HW 3 Research a digital drawing/painting artist -Richard Davies

Richard Davies is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator who is based in Wales, United Kingdom.
For ten years, he has worked mostly with branding projects, and has had great clients from Rolling Stones, Alliance Films, and NBC Universal. He has exhibited in Vienna and New York, and has also had his work published in design books. What really gravitated me to research this artist further, was the theme in his work. He makes digital paintings of pop culture characters mainly related to action films and sci- fi films such as Star Wars, Inglorious Bastards, and many more. He has a category in his website named "Kick-ass women" which includes actresses playing the role of detectives or superheroes. I love his whole vibe and concept, and i appreciate how he puts his colors and brushstrokes together.

Image retrieved from 

http://www.turksworks.co.uk/15198/8144069/showcase/kick-ass-women

Session 3 -HW 2 Create a digital collage ( not yet finished)

Session 3- HW1 Pick three selected quotes

For my three selected quotes I chose :

I chose this as a screenshot, because I agree with this deeply. At times, when using salutations with women, it is hard to know whether she is married or not, so I feel uneasy until the female responds back that they refer to themselves as Ms. or Mrs. 

I agree to copy and paste other's names when sending emails, due to the many misspelled emails of my last name, Jean-Baptiste. Most people either spell it wrong or they mistake them for a middle and last name combined. 

I definitely agree with this quote because at times I send emails, but I ask my teachers or co-workers to acknowledged receipts of emails, otherwise they say that they have not received them or forgotten them. This is a smart way of knowing if someone has received your emails or not. 

2/4 My piece of technology-Gameboy

For class last week, I brought my purple Gameboy Advanced as my piece of technology to bring to class. An interesting way that I would let students explore this piece of art in class would be, to let them play the Mario Bros. adventure games for about fifteen minutes, one at a time. These Mario Bros. levels, have a different setting and characters trying to achieve something. The goals include to save the people jumping out of a fire building and getting them to safety in the ambulance close by, or  to be the money running to grab the key to save the princess from the cage, all while trying to avoid the flying bombs and dangerous mushroom characters. I would have the students pick their own scenario for a game level, with their own characters and a type of setting whether it be in a forest or an underwater adventure. I would tell students to think outside of the box and make up creatures that signify something in your life that you remember as child. I would use the student's experiences as fuel for creativity to make their own game. I would then ask them what is the goal in the game level, and what is your main character's tasks in goals to beat the level. Who is the character trying to escape from? Why did you pick that setting? What kind of music would be playing in the background? Why did you choose that creature/character to save? What do all those elements in your game signify, in relation to your own life experience? This will give me an insight on my student's imagination, in an emotional sense, whether it be a positive or negative experience. I would kindly ask the students to share things that only they simply want to share. I would choose sixth graders as my age level for this lesson, only because they have a better sense of space at this age, and they can get more in tune with their emotions in aspects of art. 

Image retrieved from

http://www.themillions.com/2012/10/salman-rushdie-meets-super-mario.html

2/3 Documentation of my food

Wednesday after class, I cooked salmon, brussel sprouts, and mashed potatoes.

The next morning, Thursday, I went to get a bagel with scallion cream cheese, and salmon lox.

I had a chai latte, with a banana midday (sometimes i forget to document things that i got really hungry to eat )

That night I made salmon again, with a salad this time, and mashed potatoes again

I think i have a salmon obsession, now that I am viewing this.

I believe that I ate this white chocolate candy bar, the next day. 

That friday, I made a healthy chicken burrito bowl, yum!!

This night, I was studying, and at the last minute I forgot to document my chai tea with bread( I believe)

The next day, I made sweet potatoes, with surprise salmon again!!

Then I documented the mushroom egg sandwich that I made for my boyfriend, because I had already finished mine! hahaha

For breakfast, the next day, surprise!! I had smoked salmon again with scallions that I cut myself and onion and chives cream cheese.

I had another meal for lunch that I forgot to document :( but I remembered to document my snack for the day, which as a nut bar and pure coconut water yumm

The next day, I wanted no protein, so I made a red lentil soup, that my friend taught me how to make, during a trip to Germany. 

Chai!!

Green apple with water on monday february 1st, and I ate my mozzarella, arugula and tomato veggie sandwich. Too goo to post. :)

\

Monday night was chicken with string beans (yummy and i researched that it helped balance serotonin levels in your body) with mashed potatoes, and a spicy twist to the brussel sprouts (i added red pepper flakes)

Tuesday morning, Oatmeal for two with golden raisins, and bananas yay!!

Salmon and avocado for lunch in class!!

took a visit to my uncle's house where he made me an amazing salad, with some fried pork! 

2/2Documentation of my ON/OFF experience

Throughout my on/off experiment, I decided to take various photos of my lunch/breakfast/dinner each day with my digital camera. It has been a fun experience so far to take photos and to notice more of the foods that I eat. I am at a stage where I want to change my diet, to a healthier, so I knew that I wanted to do this challenge as the prompt was given. The experience was helpful for me, because it makes me more conscious of what I am putting inside of my body. Now that I see visual images of the courses that I had the previous day, I know now what I want to buy at the grocery store and what foods that I want to stay away from. At times, I started to look up the benefits of different foods that I remember eating, and I get happy when I have learned new information about a certain type of vegetable or fruit.
Instead of a journal diary, which I have never good at keeping up, I have created a visual scrapbook of my meals. This has helped me remembered my goals to lose the weight that I have been wanting to lose for about a year now. The camera has helped me become more excited about cooking, and shopping for groceries, because I know that I will be sharing the photos with my classmates, and people for the future. Before documenting my meals, I would have a hard time remembering what I ate the night before, and remembering whether it was unhealthy or healthy for me. Now I feel that it has become easier to eat healthy meal day after day, and I feel proud of myself!!.

HW 2/1 Class discussion on Technology

In our conversation last class that we had about technology, I realized that a lot of my classmates had great observations about all forms of technology. Some were negative and some were positive, so it made me think about making a Pros and Cons technology chart. As I was making the chart, I slowly started to realize that I can make a endless list of positives and negatives all day long, but it would still not fix the fact that society has made it a necessity even in schools and the workplace, to be used.  You now look professional when you type your documents and emails, and when you know how to use certain softwares. Whether we like it or not, technology is here to stay, because it is now a significance as a person's level of professionalism, knowledge and sometimes status.Technology has no direction but to move forward at this point. There are no ends to technology, because it is going to keep improving, for the benefit of science, communication with people, education and consumerism.
 I have a negative outlook on technology when it comes to consumerism. I feel that technology is another chance to feed on the capitalist society that we live in, in America. Every commercial is about three different phone carriers competing against each other and bashing each other, explaining the one carries more data than another. Celebrities are feeding on the social media craze and use that to get more fans to follow their careers. I also feel that Mac or apple products are not built to last for a long time for a purpose, as we briefly discussed in class. It is not only to get the consumer to feel up to date with either their coworkers, classmates, or friends, but to also feel that they have to buy a new laptop or phone because they do not last very long. I still own my white macbook 13 in. computer that I received from my mother for undergraduate school in 2010, but every time that I went to the apple store to get it fixed, they told me that it is an old model, and that I have to deal with the slowness of it. It is very upsetting because I am a person that likes to preserve things because things  have sentimental value to me, but I cannot do that when these items are not built to last. In another sense, technology is teaching us, that the real things that are meant to last, like relationships with our families, are deteriorating because of our obsessions with our phones/tvs/computers/social media/game consoles. Technology is killing us while helping us, but it is how you decide to take charge of your life that will ultimately help you live a healthy life.

HW 1/3 School Institution Research

The institution that I decided to research was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology because I feel that I have been reading more interesting articles about their wonderful facilities and their new innovative technologies. I just did some research and looked up some youtube videos, and they have this program called the "InFORM" which is  remote collaborator with a kinetic camera.  It is a surface of flattened pins that acts as various  three-dimensional shapes and the pins raise in response to  your movements with the help of the sensors of a hacked Microsoft Kinect. 

Source retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvtfD_rJ2hE

As an artist, I wanted to research another form of technology that was more art based from MIT. I stumbled across the technology review website, and they mentioned that they have created a 3-D  heat resistant ceramic parts printer. Researchers have now made it easy to print ceramics for components of rockets, airplane parts, and the military industry. The ceramic parts can be made in complex shapes while still remaining durable. It is located at HRL labs, and they have made it easy to use the machine with materials such as resin liquid polymer to also build complex 3-D structures such as lattice. I would love to use this type of technology, especially after seeing the success of Frank Stella's "Retrospective" show. The artist uses hard materials such as resin and metal to turn them into sculptural paintings. 

Article retrieved from http://www.technologyreview.com/news/545086/heat-resistant-ceramic-parts-are-now-3-d-printable/

HW 1/2 Artist research - Justin Bower

        I wanted to reference Justin Bower who  is an abstract expressionist artist, as part of my artist that references technology as part of his work, but he doesn't do it so literally. I stumbled upon his solo show years ago, called "Internal Dialectic", located at the Unix gallery in Downtown Chelsea area. His paintings portray giant faces of humans in a fractured manner, in order to demonstrate the problems that we have in this virtual age. He is trying to suggest that we have started to lost our identity, and he does that by deconstructing the faces of these images. He adds multiple eyes, melting mouths, sliced noses, and brushstrokes in a whiplash motion in this collection. You can clearly see the Francis Bacon influence in this piece of artwork, because of his reference to broken faces that Bacon has also done in the past. He uses pattern that resemble codes, reminding me of elements from the Matrix movie. He explains that he wants his viewers to "feel the instability that the subjects reflect".

Retrieved from  

http://www.justinbower.com/Images.php