Underwater Basket-weaving Class

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Underwater Basket-weaving Class

 Interactive Project

Brainstorming, Experimentation, & Arrangement

This project was birthed after I took the photos off of my time project and the black paper hanging from the dowel was left. I didn't really feel like taking it down, so I threw a few globs of yellow paint on it. After Robbie volunteered to splatter some more on it, I decided to make it my interactive project for all who felt like it to do whatever they wanted with it. Previously, my yellow notecard read "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH ARTWORK." I crossed out the NOT for this project- I found it charming. With the help of the Art I classes, my project took on a life of its own. 

Presentation

I would take a picture every couple days of the project as a whole, as well as some close-ups, which was a nice exercise of my photography skills. The many layers created by the vast amount of participants helped to create a beautiful piece of art that had great color balance as well as creative materials- some ribbon was used as well as tissue paper, magazine cut-outs, spray paint, and marker, as well as paint. I took a huge risk in asking people to do this- there was a great possibility I would end up with something inappropriate drawn or written, effectively ruining the project. Luckily, nothing like that happened. Really, the only non-abstract doodles were perhaps an elephant, some shapes, and a smiley face, and the things written were names, and a brilliant reference to underwater basket-weaving, which was made even more brilliant because I went through two years of marching band with Mr. Rowe making jokes about that non-existent class.

Dec, 10, 2013

War

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War

 Model: Denise. I loved the natural color balance to her paint splatters! Pretty happy with these four photos, though I may have liked a bit more back light to the third one and more balance to the fourth. Cropping might help the fourth, actually.

 Model: Nova. As a dancer, she had a grace about her that just made me want to photograph her. Unfortunately, I could only get these two pics to look even kinda close to what I was going for.

August 24, 2013. Paint wars and photography: light focus. Last two photos- long story. Let's just say I have no fantasy of being arrested and therefore was more than happy to stay behind the camera.

Evening

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Evening

July 2013. Walking back from Governor's School convocation one evening when I saw this and couldn't resist pulling out my camera. Not the best photography I've done, but it was a great moment.

Chris=Turtle

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Chris=Turtle

June 2013. I'M SORRY I ONLY HAVE PAINT TO WORK WITH OKAY

Here Again

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Here Again

Text as an Element: Culture

Brainstorming

I considered many different meanings of "culture". The first comes to mind quite easily: "the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively," or a "a refined understanding or appreciation/awareness." I thought of language, first- easy to include text as an element. Mythology, fairy tales, and the concept of home holds interest with me. Out of those ideas, I chose to depict a thumbnail of a crowd holding obnoxious signs and flyers for all sorts of religions in all sorts of languages. I could have done a painting of this easily- I love to draw people. But Mr. Sands mentioned the risk factor- and there wouldn't be much of one if I drew people. So I changed my angle entirely. Culture can also mean "the cultivation of bacteria, tissue cells, etc., in an artificial medium containing nutrients." This was far more original, and didn't lead me into people or painting. Petri dishes came to mind, and I first imagined seven petri dishes in a row, with wooden vertical letters spelling out "CULTURE", with newspaper cuttings "growing" out of the dishes. This changed after I dug around in my craft drawer. I disliked the only letters we had, and I thought such an installation would be flat and too obvious.

Experimentation

Experimentation with petri dishes (borrowed from a science teacher) and my camera led me to believe I needed more. I couldn't just cut out the wooden letters- it looked too empty. I played around a lot with light sources and arranging the cut newspaper to reveal certain things about culture, while being "culture".

Arrangement

I found a large marble in a drawer and liked that it could perhaps represent a world figure. Feeling like I had to add something about the culture play on words, I added the beads from my jewelry-making drawer. I continued to play around with different angles and shadows in my photography. Decided last minute to place little beads in each of the petri dishes. The yellow and blue ridged beads reminded me of an African beaded necklace, and the painted beads in another dish reminded me of Native American culture. So although I decided to hit the "Culture" theme at a different angle with science, I did end up including the other definitions.

Presentation

 For the presentation on "Feel Good Friday," I didn't arrange anything in the dishes, so they remained slightly shaken up from the ride to school. Part of that was lack of time to fix it. But I think the effect was not diminished. After deciding not to include the beads spelling out culture, I ripped out the notebook paper and used that instead. While it may not have been as crafty, I felt its presentation and photogenic qualities were better over all. The project didn't challenge my skills at all, but I've never made an installation before, and I think I conveyed a successful and clever message through my project. So. A bit risky. I enjoyed the experience. /besides breaking two of the dishes  

The title "Here Again" is featured most prominently in the picture below left. Culture is a thing that has stayed with us for as far back as history dates. So, it's here. Again.

September 14, 2013