Shower is Running

The shower turned out the way I wanted it too. The spot I used was perfect for size and lighting. It was dark, just like the ones in the girls bathroom. The critique went all right. Some people rather had seen it where I put my thoughts all over the walls to get the full effect, which I guess is a good idea. As John would say, "this can be take one step further." If I were to come back to this in the future, I would definitely look into covering the walls with the thougths. But I purposely didn't do that in this piece because i wanted my thoughts only on the things i touch or spend time on, such as the majority of my thoughts were on the shampoo, conditioner, and soap bottles because I spend a decent amount of time washing my hair, conditioning, and so on. I was also very happy with the sound effects of the shower playing in the back ground. Thank God for Garage Band. I only wish that I could have found a voice recorder for cheap so the sound would continuosly play throughout the day, but they are all just too expensive.
Well, one thing I learned for sure in this class is that nothing is ever finished. There is always more you can do, things to add. You don't really realize it until you have someone looking at it from an outside perspective to give you ideas or ways they would have liked to see it presented. Once I master being able to look at it as an outsider myself, I feel that I will be able to produce mor completed work.

YAY! Adhesive Paper

Awesome, I thought I would have to buy individual lables, but I found some whole sheets of adhesive paper. Michael's has it along with double sided sticky patches that I need to attach the plastic sheets to the wall. YAY!

shower installation on its way?

So my idea is working. I have decided to use my train of thought in the shower to replace the labels of my shower products and to put on the wall and shower curtian. I haven't printed off the lables yet, but they are looking great! It is really weird to read them because they are still in the same typography and formating as the original lable, only everyone is now able to get inside my head. I bought some plastic sheets made to look like tile for the back wall just to add the effect, along with a shower head, soap dish, shower curtian and rod.
I was having trouble figuring out how to set up the installation in the room we have class in because I would have to hang the shower curtian some how from a really high cealing... which could turn out either really good, or really bad. :( So I want to set the installation up somewhere else, preferably this sapce (nook) in the hallway of the slusser gallery. It is the perfect size and height for setting everything up, and the rod will fit perfectly between the two walls. My only problem now is geting it approved, which as of right now is not looking to good....
UHG!

place mapping

So, I'm not exactly sure where to start with this project. The idea is to map the physical and conceptual relationship of a place. I plan on doing the shower (mainly the one that is in the girls community bathroom in my dorm hall). I want to cover the aspects of the routine in showering, the thought process I go through, and the feelings I have while taking one. This has led me to ask the questions: why do we shower? How do I shower and why this way? I also want to explore the idea of privacy. I am in this private stall where I clean and ready myself in private, and think in private. This has lead to the second questioning of: why in private? And where do these thoughts and feelings go once I am finished? Do they get washed down the drain with the dirt from my body?
I am not sure how I exactly want to execute these ideas. I was thinking that I would recreate a shower through an installation. From there I would integrate my thoughts and feelings maybe in cutouts of type. Then I would use a string to attach to each item or word in order of how I take my shower. I would use a clear curtain to cover the whole piece to embody the idea of privacy. Also, I want to incorporate sound by tape-recording myself showering and play it during the presentation.

The American Dream

For the Ginsberg Poster contest, "the American Dream," we made proto-type collage versions of our ideals for the contest. I love the fact that we are doing something in class that contributes to the outside world. I think its important we start getting experience with communicating to society now as freshman, much like the idea of having the blog (which i have begun to think further about). John has a good point, and Peter proved that through his when he was contacted for work.
Anywayyyy, these we made on 8.5 x 11 rather than the required 11 x 17 size. Considering only half the class actually brought something to show, the criquite wasn't very helpfull. But I guess that's alright since I plan to change most of my ideas but one. :) I'm planning on basing it off of conservation for the environment.
Unfortunately our class is the first to print so our final is due next week. Hopefully all goes well!

The presentation went all right. Some people felt that there was something missing with such a flat background, and most thought there could be more contrast in the figure. I agree with both. On the other hand, they liked the composition with such a large space left open and the position of the figure.

process

The picture displayed is the one I chose to work with to make my painting from. At first I began to paint the figure directly in the middle of the canvas, but as I began to work on it, it became clear that not only the composition, but the expression was not giving the intended meaning and appeal I wanted to portray. Therefore it was back to the drawing board. Working with John, we realized that leaving excessive space in the composition and moving the figure more to the right allowed for the true meaning to become apparent. This you can see in the picture of the progression where I had painted over the original face and began to repaint. This time though, in order to get the human proportions right (which were pretty off before) I used the photo and added guidelines, then replicated these guidelines onto the canvas. This helped tremendously!!!!
Overall this process was a lot to learn from. I had never dove right into a painting before, and have learned there are many aspects to cover in order to begin to reach perfection. It was definitely stressful, but a good experience.

Text Sketch

The project I am now working on consists of translating text into image. The text I received explained an oil painting of a man with a stern, cold look on his face. He is half naked, and constructed with a limited color pallet. I have decided to recreate this piece in an acrylic painting.
To start off, I looked through many photos online of men so I could study their poses and facial features. Realizing the best way to create my own meaning, I then used a male model to pose for me (i.e. my boyfriend). I took many pictures of him in attempt to capture the essence of the painting. I feel the pictures turned out well, but I am still sketching to try to portray exactly what I want. I seem to be having trouble finding the meaning to "gloomy" which I wish to express in the eyes; hopefully, it will come to mind soon.

attempt #2: success

Having started over, I decided to make myself into a human carnival game. To do this I used water bottles as the target for the ball (or bottle caps in this case) to be tossed into. I cut the bottles in three different sizes and spray painted them accordingly. Then I arranged them around my waste in correspondence to level of difficulty. I gave a backboard to help the player, and then stated the rules on a board, which hung on my back. For the prizes I used different amounts of goldfish, playing off the idea of winning a live goldfish at the carnival.
The point of the extension was to make not necessarily a physical extension, but to also be an extension of my ability to interact with others around me. It was funny to watch my classmates play to interact with my project, but winning the actual game was harder then I had anticipated. Overall, the appearance of my project turned out successful and presentable.

attempt #1

We are doing this project where we have to make something completely out of waste, which adheres to our body. My first thought was to make myself appear pregnate with waste. For this I was going to use three sets of clear, plastic bags to make up my stomach and boobs. They would each be filled with different types of waste. Then for the presentation I would layer these on in three stages, like trimesters. And he end, the key would be: we consume so much waste in our lives, what is left for our children then to be made of waste.
Now... this message appears to be slighty ill mannered and the visual elements look to have more than one meaning. So I am changing my idea.

Now, I am making myself into a walking carnival game, but I'll get to more of that later.
For now, here is my first prototype for my original idea.

Previous Work

Here are a few things that I have worked on throughout my freshman year so far.