Thinking about the use of light in art.

Light is an eager concept. Light is a noun, light is an adjective, and light is a verb. Tricky tricky. Light is usually portrayed as having a higher meaning, sort of like an angel or heaven shining down the white "light." Light is everywhere, you just have to look for it if it isn't obvious. I mean if you go outside and the sun is shining there is going to be light, but light doesn't have to be as simple as that. Light can be an illusion that makes you truly believe that something is light but really is heavy, or is really dark. Songs that talk about death normally refer to a some sort of light a lot of the time. Light can be misplaced, or it can be found but again, you have to know how to find it. Without the sun, the world would not be able to continue, so in some ways, light is the center of the universe. Without the sun no produce could grow and it is clinically proven that without sunlight people become very depressed. For example places like Alaska where the light never shines, have the highest suicide rates. See the connection between light and life? I do. In musicals, plays, and concerts, lights are used to represent things that are not actually there or to give emphasis or color to certain things that want to be emphasized. I know at concerts there are many bright colorful lights shining on the audience and mainly the artist performing to get you to notice them. In very dramatic scenes in life or in a movie, light shines so that the moment is captured, like a snapshot of a photo; you need just the right amount of light to show what you are trying to tell through the photo. This may sound really corny, but a long time ago I recall watching an episode of a very bad show called, "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide." In this specific episode, Ned's best friend Moze wants a date with the foreign exchange student. So Ned and his friends decide to make the perfect moment for the guy to ask Moze out. They go into a classroom and set it dark except for a backdrop of a tropical island. The chorus is brought in to sing high "aaaaaaaah," like you always hear in movies when someone see's the 'light.' Then there were doves flying around and a wind maker so Moze's hair is blowing in the wind. The last part was a bright light shining down on Moze, singling her out, so when the exchange student walked in he was drawn to her and asked her out. It is not very hard to guess what the light was trying to represent in this situation, that Moze is 'beautiful' and that the guy should ask her out. Light has the potential to do this because it draws you in, its just captivating. Then you have to look at it, especially for people like me because anything shiny holds interest to my eyes.

The Book Project... process and planning

My original plans for the book project were to make a story about a cowboy and his father. They would not know about each other until a mysterious phone call came about. Unfortunately, without words, this message would have been hard to convey especially because I wanted to have the son end up killing the president since the father works for him.. etc it goes on from complicated to more so. I liked my story line very much and so I was devastated when I had to part from it to make it more simple. The most challenging parts of the project have been deciding carefully what to put on the pages to show what story I picture in my head. Some of the things I wanted to depict are a bit more extravagant than what I was capable of doing without words so I had to break it down. Also my pictures didn't give me much to work with besides the people so I scramble to make the white on the page disappear. Some of the things that are going well are my first and last pictures because I really show the emotion I am looking for in these pictures. Something that isn't going well is trying to make the middle pages coherent to the rest of my story.

The Potential of Found Objects

I think that parts of objects have potential to become sculptures all have something in common. This is that they are things that all look like something else when put in many quantities. For example, the claws used in the first picture, I would not think of as a flower if it was just alone, but when put together they make an extraordinary flower. The artists could have just been going about their days as normal, when some object they come across just stands out to them. I know this is how I would find objects that I think have potential. For example, if I saw something shiny and silver sticking out of a recycling bin that didn't look like it belonged there, I might pull it out and examine it because it caught my eye. If I saw a stone that had the shape of an object, that would catch my eye. I am a very visual person, and I am always aware when I am walking of the objects around me. In the second picture, the artist saw a bicycle seat as a large behind and chair parts as arms and legs. You have to look at the world critically not just take it for what it is. You have to look for objects with potential in everything you do, every step you take.

Imagery in the pour

1. A person flying sideways

2. A spiderweb

3. A whale

4. An amoeba

5. A chairlift

6. 2 hands reaching out of a puddle

7. Cartoon character with huge nose

Giving up control: POURS

Describe the process of creating paintings through pouring paint you experienced today. How did it work?

We had to mix paint and water to make a water color-ish base. Then we just kind of let the paint flow down on to the paper and saw what shapes it made. We really had no control over the shapes or colors it would make, only by shifting the place of the paper could we change the shapes. It didn't really work out too well because it was rushed and no one planned anything.
How did it FEEL to give up some control over the shapes you created? Describe any surprises.

It was very odd giving up control of the shapes because we as people are used to having control over what we make but this was just the paint doing its thing. There weren't really any surprises, just that the colors all blended in weird ways.

Collaborative Drawing

Today, we made collaborative drawings. We were given a penguin to cut out and make a picture from. We pasted the penguin on to a blank sheet of paper and went on from there. We as artists started off with our idea and let our inspirations take us away. Then we went and added to a few more of our classmates pictures and also took away and edited. Then we came back to observe our own drawing and what our classmates had added or taken away from it. I was shocked when I saw my original drawing because it was obvious that some people understood the direction in which I was trying to go and others ABSOLUTELY did not. I think having other people work on your drawing adds and takes away from it. With someone adding to it, the picture can loose the original meaning but then you can come back to it and have a whole new fresh idea that takes you some where else, for better or for worse.