What a week it has been! And the fact that there are only 2 more weeks left before midterm is shocking. Rome trip was outtasight--I was the kid in a candy store (so to speak) in catacomb Priscilla--I loved the frisson of getting a bit creeped-out; this reminds me of my love of horror movies and ghost stories from childhood. You see, nothing really changes.
Last week we reviewed the"Bodies on Film" project--I was so pleased to see the jumps happening everywhere! I was especially thrilled by the links from our "Subjective" drawings to the new pieces--this process of the evolution of ideas, forms and sensibilities is the crux of an art practice, student or professional. It is very satisfying to be a witness to this!
This week we will be charging ahead on our "Collections" pieces--plus writing a mid-term paper on our work, and compiling a digital scrapbook that goes hand-in-hand with our papers. Ken Wood will be joining us for our last critique, which is wonderful. It's a good chance to smooth the cross-over (and to eat and drink together).
Ciao for now,
Julia
Saturday, February 23, 2008
vassallo
ciao ciao everyone.
so on thursday our project was due for julia, and i made my gelato-land. i think it came out pretty well, it was more or less what i was envisioning. (i took a million pictures so look at them if you need a reference). the one thing that someone suggested in class was to use some kind of patterned fabric more often, in addition to the royal blue plaid i used. i actually would have loved to do that, and tried to, but money just became somewhat of an issue. why does crappy cotton fabric cost 13 euros per meter in italy? i do not know. but anyways, i think that the gelatoland came out more like i had hoped. and i was glad everyone noticed the points and shapes of the various pillowlike structures, of gelato... cause that was the hardest part of making it. i wanted to be sure that the gelato would really have a specific form, not just be a random blob all over my desk. and one thing i was also happy about were the buttons. i decided to use the buttons as almost a replacement for not having more patterend fabric. i only put the buttons on the light blue fabric, like almost like it was a specific flavor or something, and luckily no one found that too (to use my favorite word,) cheeky.
so now im mentally moving on past the gelato and diving into this whole collection idea. im at a loss currently. the only thing that keeps popping into my head is related to food- i love food, obviously. im thinking about pasta, more gelato, or something along those lines. i dont really know what the hell im going to do with this yet, but im slowly but surely working on it.
and a sidenote, rome yesturday was somewhat fantastical. the catacombs we went into, although i was freakishly claustrophobic at certain points, was deffinetely interesting. its wild how these people made these things, and all underground too. and that cript thing with the cappucine monks was absolutely wild. john witty (who knows absolutely everything) said that that place consists of the bones from 4000 human bodies- thats insane. it was slightly disturbing to watch, but also very interesting. its very much like the new assignment- collection. i dontthink julia would recommend using a collection of human bones though, but who knows. and we drove by the colluseum, which got me very excited becuase im going back to rome with my parents in two weeks, wohoo!
ok thats all i have,
peace out all
so on thursday our project was due for julia, and i made my gelato-land. i think it came out pretty well, it was more or less what i was envisioning. (i took a million pictures so look at them if you need a reference). the one thing that someone suggested in class was to use some kind of patterned fabric more often, in addition to the royal blue plaid i used. i actually would have loved to do that, and tried to, but money just became somewhat of an issue. why does crappy cotton fabric cost 13 euros per meter in italy? i do not know. but anyways, i think that the gelatoland came out more like i had hoped. and i was glad everyone noticed the points and shapes of the various pillowlike structures, of gelato... cause that was the hardest part of making it. i wanted to be sure that the gelato would really have a specific form, not just be a random blob all over my desk. and one thing i was also happy about were the buttons. i decided to use the buttons as almost a replacement for not having more patterend fabric. i only put the buttons on the light blue fabric, like almost like it was a specific flavor or something, and luckily no one found that too (to use my favorite word,) cheeky.
so now im mentally moving on past the gelato and diving into this whole collection idea. im at a loss currently. the only thing that keeps popping into my head is related to food- i love food, obviously. im thinking about pasta, more gelato, or something along those lines. i dont really know what the hell im going to do with this yet, but im slowly but surely working on it.
and a sidenote, rome yesturday was somewhat fantastical. the catacombs we went into, although i was freakishly claustrophobic at certain points, was deffinetely interesting. its wild how these people made these things, and all underground too. and that cript thing with the cappucine monks was absolutely wild. john witty (who knows absolutely everything) said that that place consists of the bones from 4000 human bodies- thats insane. it was slightly disturbing to watch, but also very interesting. its very much like the new assignment- collection. i dontthink julia would recommend using a collection of human bones though, but who knows. and we drove by the colluseum, which got me very excited becuase im going back to rome with my parents in two weeks, wohoo!
ok thats all i have,
peace out all
Monday, February 18, 2008
Tyler Crain
Now that the internet finally funciona, I can write my blog. I tried to do it at school yesterday but it wasn't really working out and everyone else was using the other ethernet connections so I went home to do it but the internet was down. Anyways, I have my video that I made last class addressing the unintended use of architecture and I have been trying to build off of that video and idea. I have posted a couple of still frames from it on flickr. I considered such possibilities as taping on walls, making another video, and using a projector for a video. After thinking about it for a while, I have decided to use sort of a slideshow/video with sound. I believe the sound played during the screening will be Sysyphus: Part III from Pink Floyd's Ummagumma. It is not really recognizable as any certain musician/band's "sound", it is more of just a cacophony of various sounds that in my opinion sound like "architecture". More importantly, the slides will project drawings and sketches of a chosen building in Montecatini, which are meant to represent the architects plans, drawings, and ideas. These will include rough, first-draft sketches as well as more refined trace drawings. Next will come a photo I have made of the building, but instead of the final product as it should be, the building will have evidence of graffiti, blurred figures climbing it, etc. This part will involve a lot of photoshop. It is meant to show the difference between the architect's plan/vision of the structure and how the structure will actually be used once it is built. People oftentimes find creative new uses for the structures around them. I will post some of my sketches/notes on flickr, as well as the development of my alternative photo process, which I'll admit, I have spent most of the weekend working on.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
(vidya) buccie d'arancie
..but now am found
Today the pieces of the puzzle kind of fell together. I decided on Thursday that I was going to head down the orange peel path, but worried that they wouldn't dry in time. However, not only have they begun to dry sufficiently, but they have complied to my manipulation. With wire as my holding material, I have been rolling/wrapping/bending/folding them and then removing the wire once they're dry (see photos). In addition, I discovered the perfect spot for my little orange space. There's a window in front of my desk. On the other side is a little alcove with a ledge about 3 feet higher in front of a pretty iron grate in the shape of a lunette overlooking a wonderful field with brambles and grass and a shed and a clothesline. I love it.
I also met my new Italian friend today, an old man named Rosario who loves the arts. He walked around the Uffizi with me and took me to a violin concert, where I finally made real my concept for Regan's drawing project, which will be some combination of sound recordings and drawings as postcards. The music moved me and just altogether it was bellissimo.
Oh, I should probably mention my two starting points. From my subjective drawing I will draw the idea of using different visual languages side by side (this came initially with the inclusion of wire with my orange peels, but I may abandon it completely. From my film, "La Finestra Del Fronte", in which a woman fantasizes about the man (and life) she sees through the window at her kitchen sink, I extract the concept of seeing through one space into another. I find all sorts of these natural framing devices everywhere here in the city and it's like the architecture is trying to show us little bits of the world beyond.
Today the pieces of the puzzle kind of fell together. I decided on Thursday that I was going to head down the orange peel path, but worried that they wouldn't dry in time. However, not only have they begun to dry sufficiently, but they have complied to my manipulation. With wire as my holding material, I have been rolling/wrapping/bending/folding them and then removing the wire once they're dry (see photos). In addition, I discovered the perfect spot for my little orange space. There's a window in front of my desk. On the other side is a little alcove with a ledge about 3 feet higher in front of a pretty iron grate in the shape of a lunette overlooking a wonderful field with brambles and grass and a shed and a clothesline. I love it.
I also met my new Italian friend today, an old man named Rosario who loves the arts. He walked around the Uffizi with me and took me to a violin concert, where I finally made real my concept for Regan's drawing project, which will be some combination of sound recordings and drawings as postcards. The music moved me and just altogether it was bellissimo.
Oh, I should probably mention my two starting points. From my subjective drawing I will draw the idea of using different visual languages side by side (this came initially with the inclusion of wire with my orange peels, but I may abandon it completely. From my film, "La Finestra Del Fronte", in which a woman fantasizes about the man (and life) she sees through the window at her kitchen sink, I extract the concept of seeing through one space into another. I find all sorts of these natural framing devices everywhere here in the city and it's like the architecture is trying to show us little bits of the world beyond.
Laura Mart
So last week I was incredibly sick. So sick that I couldn't really think, and that's a problem when you're trying to do concept-based artwork. So the only thing I had really thought about for my project was open spaces, from which I went to the bridges of the Arno, and then I was lost. I was originally going to make a film, but when we watched the clip from ART:21 on Wednesday about Andrea Zimmerman (or Zimmer, or something beginning with a Z) I decided that I really wanted to crochet something. There's something about creating one cohesive thing out of string that really gets me. But I also wanted to combine the sort of incoherent-narrative bubble elements from my last project, and the ink drawings. So I decided that I was going to make a web of desires, make a bunch of images of elements of my surroundings here and and back at home, and weave them together. It's going to be a textured indication of the things I think about as I walk over the Arno on my way to well, whatever's on the other side of the Arno. So there's a nutria, and the duomo, and the university's harp, et cetera. I've also made a point of adding in text, because I really love text combined with image.
Also on the Flickr image set is my project from last time, as well as images of the things I made during the art pARTy. I want to do that again. I really liked the thing with the square of fake grass.
Also on the Flickr image set is my project from last time, as well as images of the things I made during the art pARTy. I want to do that again. I really liked the thing with the square of fake grass.
JessWett (Body and Space) cool
For our latest project, I've decided to use movie form in considering body in space. Since we were to take an aspect from our last project and combine it with a bit of flavor from a film, I decided to let my imagination roam and to look at "Un chien andalou" which I mentioned was a surreal film, at times abstract and very cool (and short, check it out on utube.) I took the abstract element from this film to work into my own
...and so...
I was at first very interested in working with a clip I had filmed of distortion and imagination with glass. The video was a medium shot of liz taking a wine glass filled with water and holding it up to her eyes and lips, looking this way and that. At moments I zoomed in, and in those moments, when you could no longer tell that it was liz's eyes that were those abstract shapes behind the glass, were the most interesting.
So, in filming, I have decided to work with glass in space and its properties, exploring the distortion and therefor abstraction it can make. In working with my last piece, I used the contrast of color and sepia as well as a barrier (aka the web) to relate my tone. I am planning on working these aspects into my project by using a transparent barrier of clouded glass (see pictures) and then showing the colorful world of glasses behind it. I haven't yet nailed out all the details, but suffice it to say there will be some abstraction and exploration of body in the space of glass distortions.
...and so...
I was at first very interested in working with a clip I had filmed of distortion and imagination with glass. The video was a medium shot of liz taking a wine glass filled with water and holding it up to her eyes and lips, looking this way and that. At moments I zoomed in, and in those moments, when you could no longer tell that it was liz's eyes that were those abstract shapes behind the glass, were the most interesting.
So, in filming, I have decided to work with glass in space and its properties, exploring the distortion and therefor abstraction it can make. In working with my last piece, I used the contrast of color and sepia as well as a barrier (aka the web) to relate my tone. I am planning on working these aspects into my project by using a transparent barrier of clouded glass (see pictures) and then showing the colorful world of glasses behind it. I haven't yet nailed out all the details, but suffice it to say there will be some abstraction and exploration of body in the space of glass distortions.
Christy Nigh - week 4
This week was a little less conceptual (at least as less conceptual as I am capable of) and far more making oriented. I originally started out my piece in reaction to a specific scene in "Roma Citta Aperta". After picking the angle of the scene, and the concept of cramped tunnel-like spaces as aspects to focus on, I arrived fairly quickly at what I wanted to make in reaction to that. My plan was originally to take the viewer through layers of space in the form of drawings that represented the space in different ways. What I actually ended up creating was a drawing that still takes the viewer through a space, but in a more literal way. By using a time lapse drawing technique (meaning I made a drawing, then slowly transformed it by making changes to it, while taking a picture at each step). Then I strung the pictures together to create a movie-like presentation, which I added a soundtrack to.
I am pretty excited to see the reviews it gets. This project has been an exploration of a different way of using a familiar media, so I although I learned a lot from the process itself, I expect to learn a lot from how effectively it communicates the ideas that I started with.
I am pretty excited to see the reviews it gets. This project has been an exploration of a different way of using a familiar media, so I although I learned a lot from the process itself, I expect to learn a lot from how effectively it communicates the ideas that I started with.
Stefania Ford
After shooting footage of a lone woman in a very voyeuristic manner and brainstorming and mind mapping I decided to focus on a sense of longing. The way in which I investigated space had a sort of sad, creeping quality. I also focused on slow panning and spiraling. As I ascended the steps of the leaning town of Pisa this weekend I thought about the build op of expectation, and what comes in-between longing and an end… in this case the photos I took of the steps kept the idea of spiraling and trying to get somewhere, though the viewer is still unaware. A few days ago, as I sat watching my laundry swirl in the machine at the laundry mat I began to write. Laundry is a pretty private thing, and watching your own private life circle round and round in a public place is a very strange sensation. You are on the outside looking in, a rather voyeuristic view of your own life… at least it gets you thinking about your life in a rather voyeuristic way… Laundry swirling ties to the spiraling I started in my film, connects in a personal manner, and contains an odd sad longing in itself. I hope to combine these three different types of footage in a successful way, the disconnect coming through voiced over sound…
Repetition, longing, spiraling, a woman’s life, interior emotions through only voice, not shown in film, only longing seen in film…
Repetition, longing, spiraling, a woman’s life, interior emotions through only voice, not shown in film, only longing seen in film…
C E S 2/17
I spent the week hashing out my ideas for the "body and architecture and film" project. I realized that my ideas were a bit too literal. I decided to continue my playtime while using the space of the studio. What resulted is a wire, yarn, and steel wool structure that is growing out of a wall. I had to figure out a way to unscrew a shelf from a metal support, i am mcgeiver!!!!
no, but really, I am pretty pumped about the sculpture/creature. I will continue to work on it for Tuesday's critique...by that time it should grow pretty big and hopefully command a presence in the room. Wire may turn out to be a favorite medium, who knows.
side note: beware of steel wool, it gets in your clothes and eyes
ps no good photos this week...next week more to come
no, but really, I am pretty pumped about the sculpture/creature. I will continue to work on it for Tuesday's critique...by that time it should grow pretty big and hopefully command a presence in the room. Wire may turn out to be a favorite medium, who knows.
side note: beware of steel wool, it gets in your clothes and eyes
ps no good photos this week...next week more to come
vassallo
CIAO CIAO...
how is everyone. this week was quite lovely, as usual. in reference to my newest weirdo project, i decided to turn to willy wonka and the chocolate factory to take inspiration from (in light of the fact that my project focuses on gelato). i needed something lighthearted but colorful and wild, and preferably about sweet food and candy. willy wonka was exactly what i needed.
and to create this wonderworld of gelato that im aiming for, im using fabric and trying to fill it. like pillows almost. but im finally using COLOR, its pretty crucial when your looking at gelato, probably second most important to the lovely texture and form that the gelato makes. so thats what im going for, colorful textured delectible, though ambiguous, gelato.
thats all i can think of for now, and there are a couple pics of the gelato land as of now... ENJOY
how is everyone. this week was quite lovely, as usual. in reference to my newest weirdo project, i decided to turn to willy wonka and the chocolate factory to take inspiration from (in light of the fact that my project focuses on gelato). i needed something lighthearted but colorful and wild, and preferably about sweet food and candy. willy wonka was exactly what i needed.
and to create this wonderworld of gelato that im aiming for, im using fabric and trying to fill it. like pillows almost. but im finally using COLOR, its pretty crucial when your looking at gelato, probably second most important to the lovely texture and form that the gelato makes. so thats what im going for, colorful textured delectible, though ambiguous, gelato.
thats all i can think of for now, and there are a couple pics of the gelato land as of now... ENJOY
Kate Owens 2/17
For both Reagan and Julia’s class, I’ve started making sketches having to do with scale shifts. These include such things as turning my living room lamp into the Duomo along with manipulating buildings in the front yard of my apartment so that they appear as items lying within my apartment like sinks and TVs. I’ve been having a lot of fun sketching down these ideas but I’ve been having trouble deciding where to take them. At first, I thought it might be interesting to redraw them as bigger more finished drawings… but after talking to Reagan it was proposed that instead of drawing them, I could physically produce them in 3d materials.
I took this idea in mind when I began thinking about what I might do for Julia’s next project. I decided to use the scene from the film “Miracolo in Milano” where all the people huddle up under a small ray of sunlight coming down from the sky. This ray of light reminded me of my depiction of light in my subjective drawing so I thought it might be interesting to see how I could get the same effect using different methods in my current project.
So with all this in mind… I was sitting in my apartment living room one night (which is always freezing) and staring at my lamp and wishing that it could just be this giant heat lamp that I could sit under just like the ray of sunlight in Miracle in Milano. I began to think of ways in which I could illustrate this concept. There was the idea that I could actually create a giant sized lamp... but this wasn’t exactly practical so instead I decided to create a miniature diorama of my living room and use the already existing lamp.
As I’ve begun to start creating this diorama, I’ve been focusing less on this lamp idea and more on the specific creation of my living room furniture. I decided to create this furniture out of random objects and materials found within my living room. For example, I dripped candle wax to into a circular mold to form this modern blue and white Ikea table and I spent 3 hours of my Saturday night building futons out of linguini noodles.
As of right now, I’m not sure how I plan to present this project… it might end up taking the form of photography or an in class installation or maybe a combination of both. I also plan on playing with the furniture by placing it into different contexts and it might happen that my lamp idea might not be the main concept of the project in the end.
I took this idea in mind when I began thinking about what I might do for Julia’s next project. I decided to use the scene from the film “Miracolo in Milano” where all the people huddle up under a small ray of sunlight coming down from the sky. This ray of light reminded me of my depiction of light in my subjective drawing so I thought it might be interesting to see how I could get the same effect using different methods in my current project.
So with all this in mind… I was sitting in my apartment living room one night (which is always freezing) and staring at my lamp and wishing that it could just be this giant heat lamp that I could sit under just like the ray of sunlight in Miracle in Milano. I began to think of ways in which I could illustrate this concept. There was the idea that I could actually create a giant sized lamp... but this wasn’t exactly practical so instead I decided to create a miniature diorama of my living room and use the already existing lamp.
As I’ve begun to start creating this diorama, I’ve been focusing less on this lamp idea and more on the specific creation of my living room furniture. I decided to create this furniture out of random objects and materials found within my living room. For example, I dripped candle wax to into a circular mold to form this modern blue and white Ikea table and I spent 3 hours of my Saturday night building futons out of linguini noodles.
As of right now, I’m not sure how I plan to present this project… it might end up taking the form of photography or an in class installation or maybe a combination of both. I also plan on playing with the furniture by placing it into different contexts and it might happen that my lamp idea might not be the main concept of the project in the end.
continuing with the second project.(mary)
my second project deals with the actions that take place in dooorways and the manipulation of space. i have been observing people and photographing and videotaping them going through doors. i am constucting my own door which i plan to set in up different places and photograph or videotape peoples responses to my manipulation of space. are they comfortable entering into my space?? i think it will be interesting for me personally to compare the two different reactions. Do they spend more or less time in my space than they would in a normal doorway? Do they get aggitated because i have put another barrier in their path??? i think the reactions will vary depending on where i put the doorway, so i can compare between my different instalation locations.
Liz Walworth
For the movie project, I was interested in the layering of images, both drawing and video, to create a loose narrative. I introduce the scene with a drawing, and then it fades into a video of the actual space. I film the character doing mundane things over and over again, and the images fade in and out, layering over each other. Then the character is shown writing something down. Soon after, a drawing appears that develops in a somewhat animated way. The flickr photos show some of the scenes, as well as some stills of the drawing progression.
I’m trying to allude to the idea of a thought within a thought. I draw a space in the beginning, then it comes to life, then the character draws an image…and maybe it will come to life? Okay, just kidding, I totally was not thinking that as I was making it. It just kind of happened. Art is full of surprises.
I’m trying to allude to the idea of a thought within a thought. I draw a space in the beginning, then it comes to life, then the character draws an image…and maybe it will come to life? Okay, just kidding, I totally was not thinking that as I was making it. It just kind of happened. Art is full of surprises.
alex feb 17th
i had alot of thoughts for my project after we watched the movies together, and i chose to work with themes from both my past project/space and those from the Shawshank Redemption. in my last work, i was most drawn to the way color became a large part of the composition and the forms/direction my pipes and lines took. when i thought about this project based on filim, i had a vision for something keeping words such as Tension/pipes/wires/tunnel v. structured cells and architecture/ energy/movement in my head (just to give you an idea from where i was coming).
ultimately, it seemed that the most effective way to give the impression of tunneling through space was through an installation piece which completely scared the SH&T out of me because im not much of a 3d worker. however, considering the ideas i was working with (am working with) i went right for the little hallway with the sink in studio (sorry guys, i know its a huge pain to get to the sink! but i know you all secretly love to suffer in the name of art anyways...)
i decided to make the viewer feel the tightness of the space that andy feels when he is tunneling out of the prison, as well as communicate the idea of "busting out" (like when he "busts" out of jail? yea? i dunno...). this is not entirely my focus because it seems too explicit and obvious to me, so i married this concept of tunneling and working through space with the imagery from the very orderly prison cells. Then i called to mind the aspects of color and weaving pipes from my last project, and tried to put all of these notions into dialogue with one another. what interested me most about this project was the idea of communicating space as something we work through, and live within. we work around space and space works around us, etc.
So in the nature of "blind tunneling" i just went right to work and blindly tunneled through the hallway, hoping that solutions would arise as i worked. of cours,e i had a vision, but that said, no direct plan or requirements to stick to. i just went at the space, making the walls and everything within all white, planning to add colored cells and bursting wires from those "cells" to give the effect of movement coming from the sink area. i wanted the viewer to feel movement in the space of color and form, to feel energy of color, and tension/thrust in the wire majigs i installed.
however, as usual, i ran into some pretty irritating problems. supplies were short to make everything all white, and i found myself having to buy alot of sheets/ unexpected supplies. that said, i still felt that the matierals i wanted were not going to be possible due to budget and time restraints, and im not sure that the aesthetic of my final piece does justice to the idea of the "tunnel" and architecture as well as i wanted it to. what i mean to say is, im not sure i didn't bite off more than i could chew. the hallway is definitely bigger than i thought and i felt kind of hopeless at a point when i felt that there was no "thrust" or movement in my wires/cells/organic colorful structures, and wanted to cry looking at the big pile of wet, soggy white blobs surrounding me (i.e. paint meets boxes meets toilet paper meets water and glue meets paper...eww).
fortunatey,i worked on it more today and feel alot better about it, because a little lighting and tweaks seemed to provide some answers. though i guess you guys will let me know better on tuesday if this is in fact the case... i posted mid-process pics, but not as far as i have worked today because im saving that for crit!
whoo.
ultimately, it seemed that the most effective way to give the impression of tunneling through space was through an installation piece which completely scared the SH&T out of me because im not much of a 3d worker. however, considering the ideas i was working with (am working with) i went right for the little hallway with the sink in studio (sorry guys, i know its a huge pain to get to the sink! but i know you all secretly love to suffer in the name of art anyways...)
i decided to make the viewer feel the tightness of the space that andy feels when he is tunneling out of the prison, as well as communicate the idea of "busting out" (like when he "busts" out of jail? yea? i dunno...). this is not entirely my focus because it seems too explicit and obvious to me, so i married this concept of tunneling and working through space with the imagery from the very orderly prison cells. Then i called to mind the aspects of color and weaving pipes from my last project, and tried to put all of these notions into dialogue with one another. what interested me most about this project was the idea of communicating space as something we work through, and live within. we work around space and space works around us, etc.
So in the nature of "blind tunneling" i just went right to work and blindly tunneled through the hallway, hoping that solutions would arise as i worked. of cours,e i had a vision, but that said, no direct plan or requirements to stick to. i just went at the space, making the walls and everything within all white, planning to add colored cells and bursting wires from those "cells" to give the effect of movement coming from the sink area. i wanted the viewer to feel movement in the space of color and form, to feel energy of color, and tension/thrust in the wire majigs i installed.
however, as usual, i ran into some pretty irritating problems. supplies were short to make everything all white, and i found myself having to buy alot of sheets/ unexpected supplies. that said, i still felt that the matierals i wanted were not going to be possible due to budget and time restraints, and im not sure that the aesthetic of my final piece does justice to the idea of the "tunnel" and architecture as well as i wanted it to. what i mean to say is, im not sure i didn't bite off more than i could chew. the hallway is definitely bigger than i thought and i felt kind of hopeless at a point when i felt that there was no "thrust" or movement in my wires/cells/organic colorful structures, and wanted to cry looking at the big pile of wet, soggy white blobs surrounding me (i.e. paint meets boxes meets toilet paper meets water and glue meets paper...eww).
fortunatey,i worked on it more today and feel alot better about it, because a little lighting and tweaks seemed to provide some answers. though i guess you guys will let me know better on tuesday if this is in fact the case... i posted mid-process pics, but not as far as i have worked today because im saving that for crit!
whoo.
Emily
This past week I finished walking down all the streets in my mapping area. Even though it wasn't necessary to walk down every side street to get a sense of the area, I enjoyed pushing myself to go places where I wouldn't normally walk. Along the way I discovered so many sites of interest, many to which I would love to return. In fact, this act of exploring was so satisfying that I am going to push myself to explore as many of the streets of Florence as I can before I leave. I want to blow up my map (in separate pieces so it's not enormous) and mark my own monuments. I would love to have this personal record of Florence forever. From this exploration I will be working on my group's collaborative drawing.
In terms of the Body and Film project, I've decided to definitely go the direction incorporating the objects in the kitchen. One element from Miracolo a Milano that I'm using for influence is the "popping in" of objects that occurs when Toto acquires his magic dove and can make things come out of nowhere. During the movie-sketching time in class I had Taryn make a mess of our apartment's kitchen by covering the floors and the sink with food/pots/towels/etc. while I filmed from different points of view as experimentation. The most satisfying footage came from scanning the objects at a close range as if I were traversing a landscape and making the objects abstract. For my project I'm planning on making a stop-motion movie of the kitchen becoming overgrown with these objects. As the objects accumulate, the kitchen will throw open its pantry doors and spit out more dishes which will creep out into the rest of the house. The characters will be implied due to the pile-up, but no bodies will make an appearance. Basically, I need to make another mess of our kitchen.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23219926@N02/
In terms of the Body and Film project, I've decided to definitely go the direction incorporating the objects in the kitchen. One element from Miracolo a Milano that I'm using for influence is the "popping in" of objects that occurs when Toto acquires his magic dove and can make things come out of nowhere. During the movie-sketching time in class I had Taryn make a mess of our apartment's kitchen by covering the floors and the sink with food/pots/towels/etc. while I filmed from different points of view as experimentation. The most satisfying footage came from scanning the objects at a close range as if I were traversing a landscape and making the objects abstract. For my project I'm planning on making a stop-motion movie of the kitchen becoming overgrown with these objects. As the objects accumulate, the kitchen will throw open its pantry doors and spit out more dishes which will creep out into the rest of the house. The characters will be implied due to the pile-up, but no bodies will make an appearance. Basically, I need to make another mess of our kitchen.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23219926@N02/
Allegra
After rewatching parts of the film Ashes and Diamonds I had a lot of ideas about space and movement in space and film but not a clear idea of how I would turn any of my ideas into a project. At first I had thought about creating a drawing but in class last week I started to play around with something time-based.
During most of Ashes and Diamonds Maciek is waiting in a bar and in one scene he slides a few shot glasses down the bar towards his companion. The moment is entertaining but also very tense and slightly violent. Using this as a starting point I filmed jars of food slide across a table in the school kitchen. When I showed the film to Julia she immediately responded to the undertones of domestic tension and violence. In fact, this was a subject I had been thinking about a lot recently as I live with a host family here and although my family is great, their very traditional domestic roles often make me uncomfortable. Relationships between men and women and between families is something that is touched on in Ashes and Diamonds as well--especially when families are broken apart. From here I started to work on a video project that primarly focuses on my feelings of discomfort around more traditional gender roles. The video is not quite finished but I had linked a few still images. I would also like to thank Jonathan for his help with the filming.
During most of Ashes and Diamonds Maciek is waiting in a bar and in one scene he slides a few shot glasses down the bar towards his companion. The moment is entertaining but also very tense and slightly violent. Using this as a starting point I filmed jars of food slide across a table in the school kitchen. When I showed the film to Julia she immediately responded to the undertones of domestic tension and violence. In fact, this was a subject I had been thinking about a lot recently as I live with a host family here and although my family is great, their very traditional domestic roles often make me uncomfortable. Relationships between men and women and between families is something that is touched on in Ashes and Diamonds as well--especially when families are broken apart. From here I started to work on a video project that primarly focuses on my feelings of discomfort around more traditional gender roles. The video is not quite finished but I had linked a few still images. I would also like to thank Jonathan for his help with the filming.
amyt 2/17/08
ciao well this has been an interesting week. not feeling very artistically inclined lately. i think the honeymoon period of being in florence is over now! sad. not that IM sad, but its just getting to the monotony point. somethings gotta revive me. eventually. maybe itll be the florentines my mapping group and i met down by the river way east of here. that was fun and refreshing.
anyway, regarding the project for tuesday... the movie im getting the main idea from is the graduate. i also thought of using Amarcord which is an italian film....but the idea i wanted to use from both of them is the same. it's about barriers that keep love interests from each other. i know love stories in movies can be lame, but these two are definitely not. in amarcord its more about lust really. theres a beautiful scene/image of huge piles/walls of snow from winter blocking the sexy woman in red from the teen boy who keeps looking for her. the graduate scene im thinking about is the end at the wedding when ben comes to find elaine before she gets married...and yells and bangs on the glass at the church. though the barrier doesnt keep ben from getting away with his lovah, it still makes for a more emotional scene/ending. i feel that in a lot of movies a curtain/barrier/wall plays an important part in telling stories (another idea i had was from the film belle du jour, a curtain divides the man from the catherine deneuve...its quite beautiful, and interesting to see what happens on both sides of the curtain).
my project involves a window...originally just a studio window, but i found a sweet window to use near my house... portable! and i just have to clean it now...
im going to have a drawing behind it and then have a sound element of hands squeaking on glass and pounding. blargh. we'll see how it goes. im not really sure yet. and the reference photos i have are of myself and not a dude, and i wanted a guy (aka dustin hoffman) to be in it, but im having trouble finding enough images...plus i dont have my own camera to use! bah. i am working on that though, i ordered my battery charger the other day. its hard to keep borrowing cameras... anyway. thats it really. i would like to make some films on my own, but i havent been able to yet. ok. yep. see ya laterrrr.
anyway, regarding the project for tuesday... the movie im getting the main idea from is the graduate. i also thought of using Amarcord which is an italian film....but the idea i wanted to use from both of them is the same. it's about barriers that keep love interests from each other. i know love stories in movies can be lame, but these two are definitely not. in amarcord its more about lust really. theres a beautiful scene/image of huge piles/walls of snow from winter blocking the sexy woman in red from the teen boy who keeps looking for her. the graduate scene im thinking about is the end at the wedding when ben comes to find elaine before she gets married...and yells and bangs on the glass at the church. though the barrier doesnt keep ben from getting away with his lovah, it still makes for a more emotional scene/ending. i feel that in a lot of movies a curtain/barrier/wall plays an important part in telling stories (another idea i had was from the film belle du jour, a curtain divides the man from the catherine deneuve...its quite beautiful, and interesting to see what happens on both sides of the curtain).
my project involves a window...originally just a studio window, but i found a sweet window to use near my house... portable! and i just have to clean it now...
im going to have a drawing behind it and then have a sound element of hands squeaking on glass and pounding. blargh. we'll see how it goes. im not really sure yet. and the reference photos i have are of myself and not a dude, and i wanted a guy (aka dustin hoffman) to be in it, but im having trouble finding enough images...plus i dont have my own camera to use! bah. i am working on that though, i ordered my battery charger the other day. its hard to keep borrowing cameras... anyway. thats it really. i would like to make some films on my own, but i havent been able to yet. ok. yep. see ya laterrrr.
andrea n
Hey,
So today I sat at the train station in my box. It was quite an interesting/amazing experience, but also one that I would prefer to never have again. It took a while to actually get myself to do it, but once I did it was worth it. It was quite hilarious, actually, to watch people move around me and respond to my stationary box shelter. I got a number of different responses, all of which I recorded in a documentary film. The film is a little bit long, but I think its important to get a good sense of the subtle interactions that went on around/with my box. The box is actually kind of cool- I enjoy that I can walk in it without having to hold it up and that I can sit in it and be sheltered without any trouble. Many people laughed or looked confused, and it was weird because after I left the station, whenever I would hear someone laugh I thought they were laughing at me... even when I wasn't in my box. This project is something that I never in my life would have thought I would actually do, and it's really awesome that I got to do it in Florence.
I attached two pictures of this experience... I didn't want to attach too many since it's all in the semi-long film (about 10 minutes).
So today I sat at the train station in my box. It was quite an interesting/amazing experience, but also one that I would prefer to never have again. It took a while to actually get myself to do it, but once I did it was worth it. It was quite hilarious, actually, to watch people move around me and respond to my stationary box shelter. I got a number of different responses, all of which I recorded in a documentary film. The film is a little bit long, but I think its important to get a good sense of the subtle interactions that went on around/with my box. The box is actually kind of cool- I enjoy that I can walk in it without having to hold it up and that I can sit in it and be sheltered without any trouble. Many people laughed or looked confused, and it was weird because after I left the station, whenever I would hear someone laugh I thought they were laughing at me... even when I wasn't in my box. This project is something that I never in my life would have thought I would actually do, and it's really awesome that I got to do it in Florence.
I attached two pictures of this experience... I didn't want to attach too many since it's all in the semi-long film (about 10 minutes).
Michelle Israel 2.17.08
Hey again! So this week was really rough for me. Normally after I get an assignment, I sit down, brainstorm, decide what I'm going to do, make a deadline for myself, and then just do it. But after my first idea failed, I was completely at a loss of what to do and where to go next. In my original film, I wanted to show different emotions through the way I cut each clip. I juxtaposed closed and open spaces together. Each clip started out at a slow pace, and then they gradually sped up. I realized that this way of film editing was too jarring, and Julia pointed out that the clips towards the end went by too fast. Problem. So I decided to step outside of my "art comfort zone" and not have a clear direction of where I am going with a project for the very first time in my college career. Scary. I took a bunch of "garbage clips" and played around with them until I accidentally found transitions and camera angles that I liked. Score! I completely chucked all of my old footage and started fresh. Now, my video is more about building tension through light, shadow, and the compositional elements of the staircase clips. I want to dub different sounds over this video to make 3 videos: each video will have the same visual with a different sound attached to it. I will first play a silent video so the viewers can make their own assumptions about it. My second video (as of right now) will have the sound of running footsteps attached to it, and the third video will have the sound of heavy breathing attached to it. I found a sweet song that kind of works with the video, so maybe I'll use that one, too. Not sure yet, though. Anyway, at the end, I'm thinking about playing the silent video one more time to see how the viewers' perceptions have changed since first watching it because of the different sounds they heard in the other 2 (or 3) videos in between. Confusing? I hope not. I don't think I am the greatest person at explaining my art projects online yet.
Anyway, that's all for now. Until next week-- Viva Italia!!
Michelle
Anyway, that's all for now. Until next week-- Viva Italia!!
Michelle
Alison 2.18.08
For this next project we had to combine two aspects: the thing that we liked best from our subjective drawings, and something about body and architecture from a movie. I decided to take the idea of capturing the passage of time, from my graffiti wall project, and I choose to focus on The Italian Job and how there are a lot of shots that focus only on the hands to communicate an important event.
My idea for this next project is to take these two ideas and create two large-scale watercolor paintings. The subject matter would be based off of shadows of my hands forming the ALS (American Sign Language) signs for two words: choices and abilities. I have taken pictures of my hands in attempts to capture these movements and having them recognizable and abstracted at the same time. I would not paint them in the realistic colors of the photographs, but color schemes that I feel support and emphasis the words.
Sign language is a universal language that is not based on any one language and therefore I felt that it would work well to use it so that it is not limited to any one groups of people. Because of studying in Florence and being thrust into a country where I don’t understand a large portion of what is being said, I’ve come to greatly appreciate the ability to use hand gestures to get my point across.
The two words that I chose have been chosen from my favorite quote: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities,” by Dumbledore in Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets. I was trying to figure out a way to incorporate the quote into the piece because I feel that without it, it is not clear enough why these two words were chosen. I was struggling as to how to incorporate it because if I were to just write it somewhere in the piece itself, I felt it would become cheesy. Therefore I’ve come with an idea of adding sound to the piece as a means of incorporating it. Going along with this idea of universality, I’m going to have the sound piece being the quote spoken over and over, in different languages, English, Italian, Spanish, French, ect.
Until next week, arrivederci!!
My idea for this next project is to take these two ideas and create two large-scale watercolor paintings. The subject matter would be based off of shadows of my hands forming the ALS (American Sign Language) signs for two words: choices and abilities. I have taken pictures of my hands in attempts to capture these movements and having them recognizable and abstracted at the same time. I would not paint them in the realistic colors of the photographs, but color schemes that I feel support and emphasis the words.
Sign language is a universal language that is not based on any one language and therefore I felt that it would work well to use it so that it is not limited to any one groups of people. Because of studying in Florence and being thrust into a country where I don’t understand a large portion of what is being said, I’ve come to greatly appreciate the ability to use hand gestures to get my point across.
The two words that I chose have been chosen from my favorite quote: “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities,” by Dumbledore in Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets. I was trying to figure out a way to incorporate the quote into the piece because I feel that without it, it is not clear enough why these two words were chosen. I was struggling as to how to incorporate it because if I were to just write it somewhere in the piece itself, I felt it would become cheesy. Therefore I’ve come with an idea of adding sound to the piece as a means of incorporating it. Going along with this idea of universality, I’m going to have the sound piece being the quote spoken over and over, in different languages, English, Italian, Spanish, French, ect.
Until next week, arrivederci!!
Sarah Q. 2.17
hello!
so these computers are not working very fast... i hope this thing doesnt shut down on me or something while im writing. ohhhh technology..
Anyways, last class was pretty eye opening. I made a kind of music video which was very fun, mixing videos of motion (people and cars and stuff) in piazza goldoni. And everything in black and white. Things I still have to think about with that are: HOW to organize, and how SOUND plays a role in how the video feels - ie) maybe use a song that doesnt have words, hint at a tone.. I should also consider: moments of transition...
Although the movie was very fun to experiment with, I am thinking of doing an installation piece inspired by my space, positive aspects of the last project (my map/grid of the joshua tree), and a movie (fear and loathing in las vegas)! I wanted to do a tape art installation maybe (one of my faaaaaaavorite mediums!) but Julia suggested thinking farther into it rather than just doing a sort of wall-deco. I needed something more substantial and possibly a different medium; it had to commit and be convincing.
The whole idea I came up with was to create something and change a space by making it be unbelievable, yet somewhat convincing, like how in F&LiLV when Duke gets to the hotel tripping on acid and sees the pattern on the carpet begin to climb the walls. I was pondering using long grass and maybe weaving it together and connecting it from pipes from the outside and going into the studio. The whole idea was to talk about the inside vs outside, natural vs manmade. I came up with a list of "what ifs" and began to realize that the actual medium I used didn't have to be actually from nature, but it should seem organic just the same. And still be convincing.
I am now contemplating using a sheet and tearing one end and messing around with different earth tones and die it (stronger color near the end) and have it draping down the wall and in a kind of puddle on the floor. Maybe even actually getting it soaked on the morning of so it clings to the wall... that would be hella cool. So excited to make it!!
so these computers are not working very fast... i hope this thing doesnt shut down on me or something while im writing. ohhhh technology..
Anyways, last class was pretty eye opening. I made a kind of music video which was very fun, mixing videos of motion (people and cars and stuff) in piazza goldoni. And everything in black and white. Things I still have to think about with that are: HOW to organize, and how SOUND plays a role in how the video feels - ie) maybe use a song that doesnt have words, hint at a tone.. I should also consider: moments of transition...
Although the movie was very fun to experiment with, I am thinking of doing an installation piece inspired by my space, positive aspects of the last project (my map/grid of the joshua tree), and a movie (fear and loathing in las vegas)! I wanted to do a tape art installation maybe (one of my faaaaaaavorite mediums!) but Julia suggested thinking farther into it rather than just doing a sort of wall-deco. I needed something more substantial and possibly a different medium; it had to commit and be convincing.
The whole idea I came up with was to create something and change a space by making it be unbelievable, yet somewhat convincing, like how in F&LiLV when Duke gets to the hotel tripping on acid and sees the pattern on the carpet begin to climb the walls. I was pondering using long grass and maybe weaving it together and connecting it from pipes from the outside and going into the studio. The whole idea was to talk about the inside vs outside, natural vs manmade. I came up with a list of "what ifs" and began to realize that the actual medium I used didn't have to be actually from nature, but it should seem organic just the same. And still be convincing.
I am now contemplating using a sheet and tearing one end and messing around with different earth tones and die it (stronger color near the end) and have it draping down the wall and in a kind of puddle on the floor. Maybe even actually getting it soaked on the morning of so it clings to the wall... that would be hella cool. So excited to make it!!
Taryn Riyiyiley
So i have to start off by saying that i kind of want to cry right now. I worked all day and all night Friday and then all day yesterday on my "torture chamber" - (using that term loosely) - for Julia's class and then walked in this morning to find an entire wall of it had fallen down (i.e. one day's work.) But there's nothing i can do now except remake it i guess and part of the whole idea of my space is dirtyness and compression and making people feel cramped and uncomfortable and and suffocated so it could be worse. merh.
Most of my pictures are a sporadic time line of my building that space (which im not even close to being halfway done with) but then one is of an awesome spot on the arno i found with my mapping group . we went down to explore it despite some members of the group having reservations and we ended up talking with the people sunbathing down there and having a jolly old time soaking up the sun in an authentic florentinian (word?) way.
Not much else to say for now, except that I really need to go fix my crumbling chamber.
i love you all
turn
Most of my pictures are a sporadic time line of my building that space (which im not even close to being halfway done with) but then one is of an awesome spot on the arno i found with my mapping group . we went down to explore it despite some members of the group having reservations and we ended up talking with the people sunbathing down there and having a jolly old time soaking up the sun in an authentic florentinian (word?) way.
Not much else to say for now, except that I really need to go fix my crumbling chamber.
i love you all
turn
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