WK 15- Finger paint Activity

 

This week we had to do the Finger Painting activity. It was a really fun experience, my finger was a bit cold after the whole ordeal but it was fun.I had lost the other large peice of paper, so i had to tape regualr size pieces of paper together. That was a fun way to start the project lol. I think it went pretty well and it was pretty easy. At first I just started with the color orange,I didn’t know what i wanted to do.I gradually began to make a circle and then once i colored half of the paper, I was like “wow, maybe i should do a crescent moon” since i have such a fascination with the moon. The whole experience i would say, was pretty liberating, i didn’t really think, i just did. And I loved the end result.

Though the activity is different from the graffiti writing, they have some similar qualities. They both allow us to feel the paint go on the canvas. We chose the amount of space we want to cover and what shapes we want to do. As well as me using my nickname chely on both lol, Both can also be a bit messy. The two are different because one is more about just doing and you don’t have a clear image of what you want to do, but with graffiti writing, you have an idea of what you want to do on the wall. You come in knowing how you want the end result to be opposed to the finger painting were you dont have a clear idea until you start.

Both finger painting and graffiti writing can be a bit absract. people can input little charaters within both and also the viewer trys to figure out what was going through the artisit mind.

WK 15- EC Feedback

First off I just want to start this post by saying, this class by far has been one of the funnest classes I have had the pleasure in attending. It was such a joy taking a break from a full business class schedule and adding some fun classes. The three activities that i enjoyed doing were the Graffiti writing, Plaster Casting, and Finger Painting; with that being said, the three activities that i least enjoyed doing was Vlogs, and Landscape with a corpse and honestly that’s it there is no 3rd one, the rest of the activities were really fun to do.

As for the hybrid version of class, I personally loved it. I feel that we get to learn at our own pace and sometimes we may learn a bit more because we are more attentive online than in class.

The artist conversations and meeting in the SOA Gallerias were okay, but there was a couple times that the artist were a bit reserved, or stand  offish. Its understandable that they may feel annoyed because they may be getting the same questions over and over but its not our fault that we have to gather that information, so sometimes after they were not being friendly, it made me not want to ask them questions or even spend time writing about them. However, there were some artists were really nice and friendly, one even went through his gallery and went over each of his pieces, and was very engaging and excited about his work that it kind of made me excited about his work to. The classmate conversations were cool too because we got the chance to meet many of the students in class and create new friends which is pretty cool.

Yes, the samples of the weekly blog post are extremely helpful and its kind of a guide as to what we are being graded on

Though many of us have not really made a e porfolio, It definitely is something that is useful. Its useful for HR people who are searching for us when we apply for jobs, and its better than them finding stuff from Facebook or Twitter that may not be professional.

And finally, the art talk videos were pretty cool because at the end we got to ex[lore and search topics that we would not have searched on our own. I think that the way it is is good and should not be modified.

WK 14 – Instagram Activity

I tend to use Instagram daily, though I do not post daily. Going through our Group portrait I saw some things in common. I noticed that many people were posting about doing there school work, or referring back to the college struggle lol I decided to choose these pictures because they caught my eye and and I, as well as many other college students can relate to the meme i posted about Kermit the frog and the little stick figure guy who looks as they are dying while doing there homework. I passed by those mona lisa negatives and oi love how the picture came out and how some of the negatives were revealed. I loved the little kitten because during these stressful last weeks of the semester, a kitten would make many of us happy, even just a picture could kind of brighten up your day.

I have to say that if definitely feels like a community of some type. We can all relate to many of the pictures that where posted by our fellow peers. Its a CSULB college student community, many pictures where taken on campus and looking at the pictures you cant help but think in your head “oh I know where that is”, or “oooh i wonder where that is, it looks familiar”. It was an interesting activity and it was pretty amusing getting messages from friends and family asking why i had the hashtag and explain that this is part of my hw. (I think my cousin was jealous because her coursework this semester is horrible and not fun lol. )

Wk 14 Classmate Conversation- Amy Song

Coming back from fall break can be one of the most difficult things of the semester. It might seem crazy but it’s true, you become accustomed to spending your time freely lol. But coming back to Glens art 110 class did not seem so bad. This week I had the pleasure of meeting Amy Song. Amy is a Sophomore student and is pursing a biology degree. She decided to pursue a Biology degree because she aspires to become a veterinarian, which is amazing. I asked her if she loved every type of animal, (I HATE rats and snakes and pretty much anything that is not a cute little puppy or kitten lol) and she said she didn’t mind rats or mouses or gerbils lol. She did not grow up in Long beach and she mentioned that her commute time, if she would have stayed and lived at home like her mom wanted to, would be around 1 hr to get to campus and 1 hour to get back home, so she decided to rent an apartment near school.  After talking about school and stuff we began to discuss the QTW. We both kind of agreed that the college experience in 2036 might be similar to ours, though there will be more technology involved. We think that it will not be as different because we have seen how people from back in the day thought that by now we would be flying in floating cars and things of that nature lol. Also maybe more younger people will begin college much sooner than the 17-18 year range. 

I’ve met so many people that are pursing a biology degree this year. Having a co-worker whom is also pursing a biology degree I’ve heard the struggles that bio majors go through. I wish Amy lots of luck in her academic career. It will definitely be worth it at the end of the road :). 

If you want to know a bit more about Amy Song, the future veterinarian, check out her website at: https://amysongblog.wordpress.com 

 

 

 

 

 

WK 13- Classmate Conversation- Jacqueline Sanchez

This week I met Jacqueline. She is a sophomore in CSULB. She is still undeclared but she is leaning toward pursing a degree in psychology even though she feels that people look down a bit on psychology majors because they feel that its harder to get a job with a psychology degree. Talking to her we discovered that we grew up pretty close to each other, I grew up in North Long Beach and went to Jordan High School, Jackie grew up in Compton California and she went to Compton High.We talked about our high school experience and she mentioned wanting to give back to the community she grew up in. She wants to be a high school counselor, she wants to encourage kids from our communities to purse a college education and let the know about the opportunities that they have at their disposal. It was nice to talk to someone who knows what it was like going to a school where there was a low rate of  kids going to a four-year college. I know she’ll make a difference in our younger generation and its inspiring to see someone who wants to help others, that the most amazing thing someone could do. 🙂 

If you want to get to know Jackie a little more you can look at her website: jackiesart110.wordpress.com

 

Wk 11- Classmate Conversation- Melissa Rios

This week I met Melissa Rios. I met her in Kyle Kruse’s Exhibition. As we looked at the exhibition, we began to talk for our classmate conversation.   Melissa is a second year Biology student. She decided to get into Biology because she finds the study of living organisms to be extremely intriguing and has always found the subject to be one of her favorites. Biology is a tough major, so having downtime and being able to have some time to herself is essential. When she gets a break from her studies, Melissa likes to read, spend time with friends and family, and like to visit the happiest place on earth, Disney Land. She also is not afraid to do new and interesting things and is looking forward to what the rest of college has in store for her.

 

QTW-

Speaking with Melissa about the Demi Lovato fan art issue, Melissa thought that the way that Demi react was not appropriate. She feels that Demi should have been more grateful of the fan art, and though the figure was not an accurate representation of Demi, art is meant to to be inaccurate and unrealistic.  On the other hand, i feel that she was not being rude, maybe it would have not hurt for her to show some love for the art work, but she dug deeper than the prettiness of the drawing. It is known that Demi has struggled with eating disorders and her body image, so to her the drawing was more than just something pretty, but something deeper than that.

You can find Melissa on her Blog: melissariosblog.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wk 11- Artist Conversation- Kyle Kruse

Artist: Kyle Kruse

Exhibition: Janus Maxim 

Media: Wood, Video, Various Objects

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Marilyn Werby Gallery

Website: Kylekruseart.com

Instagram: @Kyle.Kruse

 

About the artist

Each week the School of Art galleries showcase student’s exhibitions. This week Kyle Kruse was showcasing his thesis exhibition Janus Maxim. It happens to be Kyle’s last semester of his undergraduate degree, He walked in the Spring Commencement ceremonies and is expected to complete his degree requirements in the Fall of 2016. After the fall semester is done, Kyle will be a School of Arts graduate, he will have attained a BFA degree in the Printmaking program from California State University, Long Beach. Kyle is from Northern California and has been in Long Beach for 6 years. He hopes to be able to travel to New York and the UK. In his future, Kyle wants to further his education and pursue a MFA in Visual anthropology in the UK. On his downtime, Kylie enjoys rock-climbing, though he mentioned that even when he is rock-climbing his artistic mind never rests.

Formal Analysis

Walking in the exhibition your notice 3 masks that are set on top of podiums. On the walls behind the masks there are wooden carved frames. The room is dark. The floor is cover with dirt. As you walk you hear the crushing of dirt clumps under your shoes. You also hear the noises that are coming from the three televisions that are set up towards the back of the room. The televisions are playing videos that have the 3 masks incorporated in them. 

Content Analysis

The exhibition had a lot of different myths incorporated in it. The artist, Kyle Kruse, mentioned how so much research goes into his art work.His art inspirations come from the research he does.  Though only the Greek Myths were mentioned, there were other, not as known myths from Scandinavia and Egyptian myths that had a great influence in the work. In the exhibition everything has been stripped from the figures in the film. All that is left is the five senses. The dirt on the floor also was an element to enhance the audience’s senses, as well as the sound that was coming from the videos. The exhibition aims to discover what the void after death entails. The thought of the unknown is what is intriguing, it dictates the way people act and think. For example, when I walked in I felt scared. It has been instilled in me from a young age that the darkness and those figures are associated with evil, yet they could have other symbolic meanings.

 

My Experience/ Synthesis

I walked into the exhibition with my mind blank and not expecting anything but amazing art work. When I stepped into the dim lit room, I felt genuinely scared. Maybe it was the masks that reminded me of something out of a horror film, the noises that were coming from the videos played on the televisions, or the dirt on the floor. The dirt on the floor threw me off because it was something that I was not expecting to be inside a room. But I have to say that the exhibition was one of the best ones that I have seen. Though at first I felt scared, I loved that an exhibition can make me feel scared. Every detail of the exhibition was perfectly done for the audience to capture the artist’s intent. Also each piece had amazing detail, the wood carving had to be my favorite pieces. There is no question that Kyle is a very talented artist and will amount to create things.

 

WK 10 – Artist Conversation- Tony Nguyen

Artist: Tony Nguyen

Exhibition: Neoteny

Media: Metal, Various Objects

Gallery: Dr. Maxine Merlino Gallery

Website: http://Eltigresite.wordpress.com

Facebook: facebook.com/Robotictony

About the Artist

After 5 and a half years, Tony Nguyen, is finally about to become a school of art graduate. He walked in the Commencement ceremony in the Spring  but has returned for the Fall semester  to complete the last bit of the  requirements for his degree. It seemed a bit odd to  his parents that he could walk in the ceremony but would not receive a degree and would have to go back for the following semester. In Tony’s own words “they thought that I had flunked or something”. Soon enough his parents will see his degree hung up on a wall. 

Starting out his art career and education, Tony began as a drawing and painting student. After a while he moved on to Illustration. It was during a conversation with one of his illustration professors that told him he would have to do hundreds of drawings that Tony decided he did not want to just draw. He wanted to do something more than just drawing. As a child he  loved the idea of being an inventor. Tony was in luck because not only did he fulfill his dreams of becoming an inventor  but he got the chance to  create amazing art pieces. 

Family has always been driving force for young Tony. Growing up he mentioned how his father was his first friend and how he always looked up to his father. His father worked as a Handyman which inspired Tony to pursue a career where he could use his hands to create and build things. When he took his first metal sculpture class, he mentioned how he felt that it was love at first cut. It was then when he knew he wanted to pursue a degree in metal sculpture. Tony received a lot of support from his father; however, there was a bit of resistance on his mother’s side. She wanted Tony to pursue a different path/career. .

Tony is currently in his last semester of the Metal Sculpture program in the School of Art in CSULB. After graduation, Tony plans to take some time off and explore what life has to offer. Later in life Tony wants to apply for graduate school, the main school on his mind is San Diego State. This is his number one school of choice because he wants a school where he is close to his  family. As for his dream career, Tony  aspires to work on Hollywood sets doing  pops for movies.  I that dream does not happen the last career choice he would want is to become a professor. On his spare time, Tony likes to write cheesy detective novels, surf the web to learn new things, and loves to play with his Legos. 

Formal Analysis

Walking into the exhibition you see several breathtaking pieces. Each piece has a golden number which is part of the scavenger hunt. The pieces are made out of metal. They are all hand-made pieces with intricate details.  There is a mixture of jewelry and sculptures pieces. The piece titled “My family bridge” has 5 bridges. Each bridge has the name of each family member in the back of the bridge. They are all connected. It is a necklace and is a bronzed color. 

Content Analysis 

Though following your dreams is the goal for young college students, there are times where we seem to forget the people who made it all possible. One piece that reminded the audience of that exact thing is the bridge piece titled “My family bridge”. The amount of detail in each small bridge of the necklace, along with the beautiful story that accompanied it made the piece shine 1000 times brighter. The bridge represented the struggles that his family endured in the past. The story that lead Tony to create the piece was his mother’s story of crossing a bridge in Vietnam during the Vietnam war. She hesitated to cross and to leave her world behind, but just as she made the decision to cross and got across the bridge safely the bridge was blown up. If she had waited a split second more she, along with her family would not be where they are today. It shows how important family is to Tony and how they not only influence his life, but also his art. Each bridge represents a member of his family and the bridge was a made from each person’s toe print. The dark bridge is Tony’s bridge. Since he is the only person in his family that is an artist and is different from the rest of the family. The bridge also has the names of the family member who it represents on the back of the toe print. The piece overall is unique and carries a tremendous family story behind the beauty it holds. There were figurines that surrounded a beautiful bridge. The figurines were mini figures of himself. They showed the different sides of Tony. There was a fancy Tony that had a tie and a vest and there was also a famous Hollywood Tony; he is aiming for the stars. They were pretty cool to look at and it’s amazing that he’s doing something that he loves. He mentioned that he got into art because he wanted to learn how to make toys, and how he would love to be able to work on movie sets creating the props for the scenes.

My Experience/ Synthesis

The pieces in the exhibition captured the audience eyes; however, the story behind a couple of the pieces captured the audience’s hearts. There were pieces in the show that were fun to look at and showed the artist’s juvenile tendencies. It shows how no matter how old you are you still hold onto your child self. I felt that the bridge piece was such a beautiful and well done piece. The story behind it is what made it one of my favorite pieces up to date. Many times we forget that our parents have gone through so many struggles in order for us to be where we are today. We also forget that while we are growing up and finding ourselves, our parents are growing older and are not going to be here forever. I felt that I could definitely relate to that. I grew up in a tight knitted family and people think I’m so boring because on my free days or my free time I love to surround myself with my family and do not do the typical young adult thing. Family is family and it’s important to cherish that.  

Not only did I find the exhibition to be one of my favorites, but I loved how open Tony seemed to be. He was friendly, approachable, and walked us throughout his exhibition. He answered each question in great detail and after he was done answering the audience’s questions he had a couple of questions for the audiences too. His charisma added a special flair to the exhibition. It’s true what people say, adults are just overgrown kids.

WK 10 – Fiber Art Social Network activity

This week we had to go to Prof. Glens office and do the Social Network activity. It was pretty fun I didn’t even notice how long it took to put the picture up and connect all the strings LOL But overall it was fun. At home I made a simple social network. The people in the little bubble map looking thing were my immediate family, some cousins ( I’m Mexican so i have like 100+; I know stereotypical huh LOL), my nieces, my two best friends (who i consider family), and my beautiful god daughter.

I feel that the term “social network” describes more of my online life. My inner circle of friends know that I’m a private person so if they do not hear from me for days it is normal. Social media for me is just a place where I could keep in touch with friends from HS and stuff like that; but I don’t use it to post about my person life struggles.

I feel that to a certain extent I agree that we can only have 150 meaningful relationships; but not in a life time. There have been several people that i have met along the way that have made such an impact on the person i am today, and though we may have fell off at one point in time, there is still meaning to that relationship. However, I am a paranoid person and do not trust many people so 150 seems like a pretty big number LOL.

For the people that have thousands of friends on Facebook i feel that its more about just having the number. The people following you, a large majority, do not mean anything other than another subscriber.

Nothing really surprised my when I made my own social network at home because i knew that i wanted to do more of a family one. Growing up i was raised more with my mothers side of the family than my fathers. So the cousins i put up are from my mothers side of the family. My little god daughter is my cousins daughter. And I put my brothers puppy up b/c that’s his child LOL. Though my social network did not surprise me, the one we did as a class did LOL. It was huge and there was so many strings all over. It was a pretty cool activity. 🙂

Hmm I have never really thought about what the number of close relationships i would like to have. If i had to choose i would say 21, only because that’s my favorite number and it seems that it’s a small number.

I have way more friends on social media. The number isn’t ridiculously high its only at around 200 or so. The people on there are HS friends, or distant family and friends. I feel that its a great way to keep in touch. I say this all the time, HS was awesome, you were always so connected to the people there and then after HS people just drifted apart and life happen. It sucks but that’s how life goes. Mostly I use social media to keep in touch with life events, everyone’s having babies and getting married or moving LOL so its nice to be updated once in a while.

 

 

WK 9 Artist Conversation -Dalia Banuelos and Daniel Bonilla-Vera

Artist: Dalia Banuelos and Daniel Bonilla-Vera

Exhibition: Infraction 

Media: Photography, Various Objects

Gallery: Dr. Maxine Merlino Gallery

Website: N/A, dbvphotography.com

Instagram: @Deliaeffect, @dbvqp

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

About the Artist

Following dreams is what life’s all about. There may obstacles that may arise, but the key to success is to continue to strive for a better day. That is exactly what these two up and coming CSULB art students did. After Dalia Banuelos was rejected from the photography program for the second time she felt the urge to make a statement. After the second rejection from an art program you are no longer able to reapply to the program unless you switch to a different university. Dalia knew she had to express the way she felt. She tried recruiting fellow art students who she knew had also received rejection letters from the photography program. Though many who she tried to recruit did not want to participate in her project, she finally found someone who did; her good friend Daniel Bonilla-Vera. Daniel had been rejected once from the photography program and is currently awaiting the response of his second submission.  

Getting an exhibition space was not easy; first they had to write a proposal and get a faculty to sponsor them. Then they had to wait, since they are not BFA or MFA students their chance of getting an exhibition space was slim. Both are currently Studio Art majors and are pursuing a Bachelors of Arts degree. If Daniel gets into the photography program she will be pursuing his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the School of Art.

When Dalia is not photographing she enjoys her martial arts classes. After graduating she plans to work, and maybe in the future further her art education but is scared of getting into debt.

As for Daniel, he enjoys anything that has to do with art. He like to do carvings and other art stuff. In the future he plans to take some time off and then go to graduate school.

Formal Analysis 

Walking into the exhibition you see the walls covered in photography prints. In the middle of the floor there is figure that resembles the human form in a striped sweater, and in the corner there is another human form in a purple sweater. There is string that is hung all around the exhibition. The ball of yarn, which the string is coming from, is placed in a gold plated trash bin that is full of prints. 

Content Analysis

The photographs that are hung in the exhibition are prints that both artist had submitted to the photography department and that had the program had rejected. The artist wanted to showcase how they felt the moment they received the rejection letters. Not only were they rejected, but they received no explanation as to why that was. They felt confused and distraught because they did not know what they did wrong or why their art work was not up to par. They began to question other people’s art. There were people who they believed had amazing art pieces, but who were also rejected from the program; and other people who had questionable pieces  that had been admitted into the program.

The human forms on the floor of the exhibition was meant to capture both artists. The forms had clothing that belonged to each artist. For those people who previously knew the artist, they knew which form represents each artist. The one with the purple sweater is meant to be Daniel, he loves that purple sweater and is known for wearing it; as to the other figure, Dalia is known for her striped clothing, she loves anything with stripes. The human forms have strings that are coming out of them and the strings have photographs attached. The strings are meant to represent multiple things. First, the strings are used as an alternative way to show photography. The second thing is that everything in the exhibition is connected by that one string. If something were to happen to that string, everything would come down. And the last thing the string represents is the process of the print and how the end point for some prints is inevitably the trash bin.      

Synthesis/ My Experience

Hearing the two art students discuss their rejection experience was heartbreaking. They both had traveled to come to CSULB to pursue their photography career. They explained how not many schools offer a BFA in photography because it is a small field and a dying field at that. It is costly and the advances in technology has made traditional photography obsolete.  I personally love photography and have looked into taking a class on campus where I could develop my own film and make prints and play with the filters. It’s a heartbreaking story because dreams have become shattered and they have begun to question their art work. If it is good enough, or if they need to look at a different route. It was pretty mind-blowing that the photography program does not give any explanations as to why they rejected the artists. Since art is abstract and there are many different opinions it’s hard to understand why some people are accepted and others are rejected.  I loved the idea of the exhibition and their determination to continue to pursue what they love to do.

 

 

Wk 8 – Sketching @ the Japanese Garden

If you cannot tell by now, I am not very artistic.Though I love art and I can appreciate it, I just do not seem to understand how to draw or shade or highlight or anything lol. I tried my best this week and though they are not very good, especially compared to other people in the art class (I may have glimpsed at people’s work when i walked by) I tried my best lol. Above are some of the drawings I did. The first one is the 10, 30 second drawings. I may have cheated and spent more than 30 seconds on each, but its because I didn’t notice the time because i was really into the exercise.  The second  and third drawing are the hand and japanese garden drawing blind contour. The blind hand contours were kind of hard because I would keep messing up when I got to the thumb. The third picture is also a blind hand contour but after drawing without looking at the page, I added the detail of the finger nails and the wrinkles.

After class I went back to work and I showed my co-workers my art drawings. They made fun of them lol. (Of course they were joking with me lol). One that they found especially funny was of my duck sleeping. They said that it looked like a cell, then they said it looked like an amoeba, which it kind of did. The next day me and my coworkers went to the Japanese Garden during lunch to draw some more. I drew a koi fish and a duck. they came out okay looking lol. It was just fun going with my co workers and being able to have fun and make fun of their drawings as well.

 

WK 8 – Classmate Conversation -Patricia Avendano

 

This week I met Patricia Avendano. When I got to the Japanese garden everyone was already paired off and doing their classmate convo. At first I was just looking around seeing who might need a partner and then Patricia walked by and I asked her if she wanted to do the classmate convo with me. We talked about our childhood, our current schooling and we also discussed the posted questions of the week. We also did the drawing activity together and had a pretty good time. 

Patricia moved from the Philippines in 2007. She finally got the chance to go back after 8 years. She went back in January 2015 and stayed there for 5 weeks. When she went back she described feeling a reverse culture shock. She said that she missed the food over there and also missed being around family. I definitely could relate because I used to go to Mexico every year after school was out, but work and school now keep me busy. I finally went back to visit family and I didn’t realize how much I missed them, as well as the food there. 🙂 

When her and her family moved to the USA, they lived in  Pasadena. She lived in Pasadena, then moved to Long Beach. Currently she is living with roommates in Long beach so she could be closer to school and family. She wanted to be close enough to visit family, but also be independent and on her own. Patricia is a second year business student and wants to major in Marketing. I am also  a Business student in CSULB. I gave her some advice on some professors that she should avoid and on professors that she should take, as well as classes that she can take in a Community College that can be transferred over. 

QTW

For the first question, Patricia said that the piece of art that she would like to share would be a video called “Medicine”. Medicine is a dance film by Zack Benitez. The reason she would want everyone to see this video is because it shows what dance is all about. Dance tells a story through movements and communicating thoughts and feelings. She feels that people should see it because it addresses an important social issue which people can relate to. 

For the second question she said that if her child was pursuing an art career she would be supportive. She said that she would be supportive as long as they put all their heart and commitment into the art career. She wants her future children to be successful adn is a firm believer that commitment is a major key in being successful. 

And for the last question, we looked at each others home screen on our phones. Patricia’s home screen has the basic apps that would appear on it. She has the clock app, notes, settings, mail, calendar, weather, maps, and other apps that are pre-installed. I also noticed that she only had 25 unread emails. I kind of chuckled because I have around 7 thousand unread emails so seeing someone have only 25 unread emails is weird lol.( maybe I should start deleting some spam mail). 🙂 

Website: https://patriciaarienne.wordpress.com