Fruit Crate Label

Fruit Crate Label <<– My work

My inspiration

Art Event #7 – Museum of Man

I went to the Museum of Man in Balboa on December 14, 2011. I was only able to look around the first floor which has a photography exhibit, Maya: Heart of Sky, Heart of Earth exhibit, and a Modern Day Mummy exhibit. The photography exhibit was called “Adventures in Photography: A Century of Images in Archaeology & Anthropology”. There is an area where they displayed the different kinds of camera from 1890’s to 1990’s. There are photos from North America, Asia, Pacific, Mediterranean, Mesoamena, Near East, and South America. A lot of the photos are in black and white and of people from those areas. In the middle towards the back of the museum, there are boulders for the Maya exhibit and demonstrations of how the people carved the boulders and the tools they used and made.

I really enjoyed the mummy exhibit. There are actual mummies in the exhibit. I learned how the people back then shrunk the heads people. I thought that this was a myth, but it is actually true and they had three on display. The thing I was reading in the museum says that the people would remove the head by cutting it off a little below the neck. Then hey would pull the skull out and turn the skin inside out and clean it completely. Stitch the mouth closed, then I believe they steamed the heads to make them shrink.

I do like the patterns on the boulders of the Maya exhibit. They looked really pretty and intricate. I did not feel like there are any flaws in any of the exhibits.They are all very interesting and I learned a lot. I did not know that people give mummies a certain smell. The exhibit had information on what mummies smell like. Mummies smell like palm oil, frankincense, natron salt, lotus oil, and cedar oil. I feel respect for all the different artists whose work I looked at.

Art Event #6 – Museum of Photographic Arts

I went to the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa on December 14, 2011. The exhibition is called “Infinite Balance – Artists and the Environment”. This exhibit has different photographers ‘ photographs about their work involving the environment. The exhibit was divided into four different areas; Earth, Growth, Water, and Student work.

I really liked the Earth photographs, especially the work done by Yao Lu. The photograph that I was looking at and that really grabs my attention is “Dwelling in the Mount Fuchun”. It is chromgenic print and was taken in either 2007 or 2008. From a good distance away, it looks like the photograph is of some strange green color mountains, but still looks very nice to the eye. When you get closer, it looks like it is a piece of blanket laid across some dirt. Then I read the discription of the photograph and it said that Lu took photos of the land waste in China and the government just covered it up with a green blanket-like object. So from afar it may deceive you, but it is actually something completely different. I am interested in photography and I am still in the process of learning more about it so this exhibition really helped me look at composition of photographs and how photographers can basically take photos of almost anything and make it look so pretty no matter how bad the actual truth is behind it. I cannot pick out anything from the exhibit that had any flaws in them. They are professional photographers and I am just someone who looks at their work. I did not learn anything new. I feel respect for what the artist did taking photos like that. It really puts into perspective what is happening in the world.

Art Event #5 – CSUSM Vocal Ensemble Concert

I attended the “CSUSM Vocal Ensemble Concert” on December 12, 2011. This was an end of the semester concert to show family and friends what they have been learning about this past semester. The director is Lisa Friedrichs, the accompanist is Dr. Ching-Ming Cheng, and there are the students. They sung nine songs such as “Let the Whole Earth Stand in Awe”, “Media Vita”, “Yesterday”, etc. There was four different students that had solos and one student who played the drums for some pieces.

What I will remember most about this concert is the last song, “Tshotsholoza” (which means Go Forward). I will remember this piece because the students were spread throughout the room doing choreography and everyone was smiling and really into it. The beat of the song was very nice too. This song is a South African Freedom song that is adapted by Jeffery Ames. If I remember correctly, this song is about Africans saying that the train is coming over from the mountains to take them away from their homes. I did not feel that there was anything in the concert that would influence my work. I did find more appreciation for the different kinds of songs they sang. I thought all of them were very beautiful.  They sang songs from the Middle Age, Renaissance, Shakespeare, and even the Beatles. I do not feel like there is anything to  criticize about this concert. I felt that the students, Professor Friedrichs and Dr. Cheng did great jobs organizing the concert; as well as their performances.

Art Event #4 – CSUSM Comedy Improv Show

I attended the “CSUSM Comedy Improv Show” on December 9, 2011. This is the first time I have ever been to an improv show on campus and I did not even know that we had an improv team. I was super excited to go because I love watching improv. The theme for this show was “Ugly Christmas Sweaters”. They also have two different shows; one family friendly and the other is for adults.

I had a great time watching the show. The improv team and the audience were all having a good time and enjoying the show. I loved the part of the show where the four comedians left the room so the audience could give the host phrases, names of people, actions, etc. The comedians were given a scene to act out, but they had to use the lines the audience gave them an incorporate it with their scene. It was just hilarious. I feel like watching this show, I want to be “going with the flow” with my work. Don’t think too much about it, just take one step at a time. I felt the only flaw foe the was that they were a bit unorganized with their time between their different “scenes”. I felt they all did a great job because they made me laugh throughout their show.

Art Event #3 – A Multidisciplinary Art Event – Silence & Noise

I attended “Silence & Noise” on December 9, 2011 at CSUSM. This was an exhibition of the students who took the multi-disciplinary art course offered on campus. The arts building was filled with the work of thirty three art students. There was food and mausic playing on the third floor, art work displayed on the first floor, and there was student’s videos playing in a classroom.

I think it was very nice to see the different studies of art the students explored. The type of art they decided to work on for the class shows their talent in that area. It allows other students, faculty, family, and friends to see the creative process of the students at the school and all their hard work that they endured during the semester. It is nice to have a student’s art work displayed on campus for others to enjoy, as well as other students enjoying the work of one. There was a lot of great art work that I saw. I think what influenced me about all the art work I saw is to explore myself through other media; even to mix medias together. I find some media to be difficult to work with, but I feel that if you take the time to work with it, you can create something so beautiful. There was absolutely nothing wrong with anyone’s art work, they were all very nice. I did not know what this course (multidisciplinary) was about. I have to take this course still and now I have an idea of what to expect and am looking forward to the class. I have respect for all the artists that was at the exhibition.

Rolling Mesh with Rays/Bubbles

Rolling Mesh << — PDF file

Art Event #2 – Composing the Instant – Dance Performance

I attended “Composing the Instant” on December 5, 2011 at CSUSM. The event was a performance by three different dance courses offered at the school. The students wanted to show what they have learned this past fall semester in class. The three classes are Dance 201, 311, and 324.

Dance 311 is an improvisation dance class. I found this to be very interesting to me because I have never heard of improv for dance. This class did three performances and helped another dance class with one project. Dance 324 is Dance and Visual Media. They shared with the audience videos they worked on that included dance with people and objects. Dance 201 is a contemporary Technique class. They performed once and it was beautiful.

I was really intrigued by Dance 311 because (at the end of the performance) they said they made up the whole dance that night. The only thing they said that they rehearsed is the transitions. The students moved beautifully and sometimes you were able to tell they were completely going with the flow and other moments I forgot they were. I think something that could influence my work is just to “go with the flow”. Let ideas come to me and inspire me to do more; just like the dancers dancing to the music however they felt like dancing. I feel the only part of the event that I felt could have been better was the editing for the Dance and Visual Media. They played the same video over again, in two different points of their presentation. I do not know if it was suppose to be like that, but it felt like it wasn’t. Also, the editing of one of their stop motion video just cut off at the end. Again, I do not know if it was suppose to just cut like that, but maybe the students could have edited so it could nicely cut out. I did not know that the school offered an improv dance class. I think that would be a wonderful class to take and learn from. I have respect for all the students and their work. I felt they all did a wonderful job and their end result was successful.

Art Event #1 – New Play Festival – Telling Stories

I attended a CSUSM art event entitled “Telling Stories: Giving Voice to Foster Youth” on December 3, 2011. CSUSM theater students collaborated with Arts and Lectures and the Playwrights Project for this play. “Telling Stories” consists of four original short plays by  four different foster youths who share their stories about their lives growing up as foster children. They share their challenging moments and positive moments that help create their lives and where they are now. The four plays I watched are “Warrior Spirits”, “A Bad Kid”, “K is for Key”, and “Puddles”. Each story was different and touched my heart in ways I did not expect it to.

I enjoyed the “Warrior Spirits” play. It is about a 14 year old girl whose mother is addicted to drugs and does not care to take care of her children. The daughter (main character) hates what her mother is doing to their family, but still loves her mother and wants to take care of her. She decides to sell drugs and have sex. She gets pregnant while on drugs and decides to keep the baby. Time flashes forward to when she has had her child (in the scene looks like the child is no older than 10 years old) and is telling her daughter that she can go to college to take care of them.

The plays made me feel so sorry for the people who had to live through all those hardships. It made me appreciate everything I have in life. I wish nobody had to go through things like them and I know stories like these are still happening to other children. I never knew how foster children felt and that they go through things like that. I do not think that there was something specific in the plays that would affect or influence my work. I felt there was not any flaws in the plays. I think all the performers, lighting, music, etc. all went smoothly. The performers did an amazing job. They really got into character and someone people said they even cried after the play. I feel respect for everyone involved with this event.

Genre Gig Poster

Genre Gig Poster <<— PDF file

I chose to pick the singer Katy Perry because I love her music. I chose to resemble pop art. I know it does not look like pop art and might not come to mind so quick, but I tried my hardest to make everything instead of using things off the internet. This poster is to represent her latest album “Teenage Dream”. I downloaded the font I used for “Katy Perry”, it is called “Candy” and I feel it looks so much like the font she uses for her albums. For all the other fonts, I used “Noteworthy Light” because it is not cursive, but curvy enough for what I was looking for. I used the pencil tool to draw the candies’ wrapper and for the pick background. For the background, I wanted it to be pink to resemble cotton candy like her “Teenage Dream” album cover/theme. I do not think I did a bad job making the poster look like what Katy Perry might use, but I know I could have maybe made it look more like pop art. Maybe I could have divided the candies into different background colors like pop art, but I would have to be careful with the font colors as well and I do not know if it would still look like cotton candy.

Here are some pictures of pop art by Andy Warhol: