New Media Artist#11-Stelarc

Stelarc, a performance artist from Australia concentrates his work around "extending the capabilites of the human body" and the art movement Futurism. Stelarc's work focuses around the belief that the human body by itself is obsolete, therefore his performances often consist of intergrating technology with the human body and converging the two. In one particular performance he attaches himself to a device that allows him to be remotely controlled by electronic muscle stimulators connected to the internet. Other performances involve robotic arms and legs and he even had an electronic ear implanted in his forearm. It is hard to say whether or not manipulating your body is art but Stelarc's work is definitely a social commentary that makes one contemplate the power of our own existance. 

Scrapbook Entry#22 Bumper Stickers

Bumper stickers are really just another form of expression to let the whole world know who we are. Bumper stickers allow a person to tell thousands of complete strangers that they will probably never even meet what their favorite sports teams are, what their hobbies are, where they go/went to college, or where their children go/went to college, that their child is an honor student at so and so elementary school, who they supported in the past presidential election, and their views on controversial issues like abortion and global warming, or even the new popular ones with a stick figure representation of each member of your family. Bumper stickers can just be decorative but that is still a form of outward expression and in a way still tells people something about you that they may not have know before. So why do we care if complete strangers know so much detail about our lives as they are riding on our bumpers down the highway? Its not really the fact that we care about what other people think about our bumper stickers but that we want to show the world this is who I am and this is my car and I have a right to say whatever I want. In all actuality its a form of free advertisement for each and every one of us, a chance to tell everyone this is what I believe this is what I care about. Some people may have one small bumper sticker while others may use it as a way to change the appearance of their care, give it personality, but every bumper sticker serves the same purpose. No, I do not believe that bumper stickers are art, although they can make your car look cooler, but I do believe that they are used to demand attention. Most of us could probably care less if the person driving the Escalade in front of us has an honor student at such and such middle school but still we find ourselves still reading it. Bumper stickers intrigue us, they allow to see a little piece of a person's life with out actually ever seeing them face to face. Although bumper stickers may not deserve our attention I do feel that they do a good job at demanding it.

Scrapbook Entry#21 Seashells

Similar to my rocks scrapbook entry my family and I always collect seashells whenever we go to the beach. The beach has always been the place where we all finally stop doing what work we have going on to come together and relax for the summer. Since as long as I can remember I would take mile long walks on the beach with my mom and sister to find the best shell. I would always look for shells with holes in them so that I could take them back and make jewelry. My mom's goal was always to find a whole conch shell or sand dollar but they were hard to come across. Another favorite find was always sea glass. My mom, my sister, and I would then bring home all of our treasures, wash them off, and admire what each other had found. Sometimes my mom would teach me how to make an angel ornament out of the different shells using an oyster shell for the body, a clam shell for the head, and smaller skinnier shells for the wings. Although a shell might not be considered art sea shells have always been a meaningful part of my summer, providing me with endless hours of trying to find a better shell than my sister's and countless family memories.

New Media Artist#10-Erwin Wurm

Erwin Wurm's invention of the One Minute Sculpture has brought a new aspect to the definiton of sculpture art. Wurm's series revolves around himself and his models posing in relationship with everyday objects. Wurm states that he "seeks to use the shortest path in creating a sculpture-a clear and fast, sometimes humorous, form of expression." I was drawn to the temporary nature of Wurm's work, how one minute it is there and the next it is gone. I also like how Wurm is interested in what surrounds him, the objects he sees everyday and how they can be considered art if looked at from a different light.  I think that Wurm is successful in expanding our definitions of art an showing that something we may come in contact with everyday can also be made into art if we forget about our preconceived notions of what that object is or does. 

Scrapbook Entry#20-Rocks

When I was little I always used to collect rocks wherever I went. There's a stream at the bottom of my street and everyday during the summer on my walk back from the pool I would go down to the stream and look for the coolest rocks I could find. I had a pile in the corner of my room of all the rocks I had found. They were all different shapes and sizes, colors, and textures. Some sparkled and some had cool designs. No rock was exactly the same, each rock had its own story. Some had smooth surfaces from being tumbled by the water, while others had jagged broken edges from being broken or thrown. Sometimes I would use them to write my name on the sidewalk, other times I would take them back and use my sister's jewelry tumbler to make them shiny. Once my dad even brought me back a geode from a business trip with sparkling crystals and a deep amethyst color. Although I never considered these rocks to be art they still grabbed my attention. The amount of variety in something so simple intrigued me. How there were so many of them but they were all different. I found this rock at a beach in Historic Saint Mary's. Not only does it have a cool jade like color and incredibly smooth surface it now also carries the memories from that nice summer day at the beginning of the semester with my friends.

Scrapbook Entry#19- CDs

I have always thought the back of a CD was awesome. How in one light it can just look silver yet in another there can be a multitude of rainbow colors. I found this CD when I was cleaning out my desk and it seemed like a great idea for a scrapbook entry. I remember in elementary school one craft that we made was a suncatcher out of a CD and some fishing wire. When we hung the CDs from the window they reflected patterns of colored light around the room. Although I do not think that a CD itself is art I do feel that it can be used to create art or to inspire art therefore it deserves our attention. For example, an artist could use the concept of how something can be transmitted from one thing to something else in an installation, or the idea of projecting light or color could also be used for an installation.

Response to Digital Potrait: Subjective versus Objective

After completing the Digital Portrait assignment and observing the thought process behind each person's own portrait I discovered that the line that differentiates between subjectivity and objectivity is very blurred. It was interesting to see how each person approached this problem of subjectivity versus objectivity differently and what one individual read as subjective could be seen as objective to someone else. This is also interesting because in the end no matter how objective an image is each person carries with them their own subjectivity, therefore the same image can look very different to one person based on their own subjective beliefs compared to another outside viewer and then even more different then how the artist's hand intended it to be read.

Response to Robert Frank Exhibition and the National Gallery

Visiting the Robert Frank exhibition at the National Gallery was truly an enlightening experience. It felt so personal to be able to see his work and thought process up close. The amount of planning and thinking that went into organizing the sequencing, the amount of editing and care that went into each photograph, and the amount of decision making that was involved in producing The Americans shows the love and devotion that Robert Frank has for his work and his discipline. It was great to see each of the photographs blown up individually to draw attention to how each one can stand alone as well as in series. It was also really interesting to be able to see images and thinking from earlier projects that he had worked on prior to the completion of The Americans. I was able to see how everything that Robert Frank had done had helped him to create The Americans as well as how he had grown as a photographer. Seeing his thought process from his contact sheets was also incredible. It was so cool to see how he selected some images over others, how he cropped images, and burned and dodged to make the image better. In the end it was an amazing experience to see work that I have been so familiar with from learning about Robert Frank so up close and personal that it made the images new again to me.

New Media Artist#9 Sarah Lucas

Sarah Lucas a member of the Young British Artists is best known for her work that uses furniture as a substitute for the human body with such works as Bitch and Pauline Bunny. Her provocative work uses "humour, visual puns and sexual metaphor to discuss sex, death, Englishness and gender." I was drawn to Lucas' creative use of material and edgy message. How she uses objects that I would have never even crossed my mind when thinking about art. One such example is her work Is Suicide Genetic? (1996) in which Lucas photographed the inside of a rusted toilet on which she had written "Is suicide genetic?" on the inside of the bowl. Similar to Tracey Emin, it is obvious that Lucas has a message she wants to show the world and she doesn't care who it offends. Lucas is also well known for her self-portrait photography such as Self Portrait with Fried Eggs, Self Portrait with Mug of Tea, and Eating a Banana. Lucas describes that in each of these portraits she uses her masculine appearance and 'machoness' to her advantage in order to comment on gender, sexuality, and defiant femininity. Lucas' explains that she is interested in the concepts of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and his theory of drives such as a sex drive and a death drive. Lucas incorporates these ideas successfully into her own work and explores them through her own media. I admire Sarah Lucas because her work is not about being pretty or even ascetically pleasing but rather it is a means to ask a question to make the audience think. 

New Media Artist#8 Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst an English artist and member of the Young British Artists is most well known for his work featuring a series of dead animals preserved in formaldehyde. One in particular titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living displays a 14 foot tiger shark encased in a glass case of formaldehyde. For the installation Hirst commissioned a fisherman to catch a shark of the coast of Australia stating he wanted something "big enough to eat you." Being a psychology major I was intrigued by this installation because although you know that the shark is dead and there is no way that it can in any way harm you I imagine that seeing the exhibition that up close and personal must still give many viewers that jitters. It plays with your mind and reality. You are conditioned to feel fear when you find yourself starring head on into the dark beady eyes of a shark but this shark can not hurt you so you are not really sure what to think. Hirst's exhibitions also include other animals such as a sheep and a cow. However not all other artists find Hirst's work so fascination. The Stuckist art group created in 1999 opened a Stuckism gallery under the name A Dead Shark Isn't Art. They argued that Hirst was the downfall of contemporary art proving that "financial value was now the only meaning that remained for art." 

Scrapbook Entry#17 Footprints

Everyone's fingerprint is unique. The pattern of lines and circles on your thumb is not the same as anyone else's. However, similar to fingerprints, footprints are unique to the individual who made them as well. The size, the width, the height of the arch, and the force at which it was made are all aspects that tell us something about the individual. In my opinion footprints tell us more about an individual then a fingerprint. A fingerprint is only useful if there is already information linked to that fingerprint, the fingerprint must already be on file. A footprint on the other hand can tell us something about a person based solely on the information we have in front of us. For example, based on the size and width we can tell roughly about the person's height and build. We can tell if the print was made by a young child or a grown man. If there are multiple prints we can reenact the person's stride. We may be able to tell if the person is pigeon-toed or possible has a limp. Yet, unlike fingerprints footprints do not go on file and are usually not forever. The temporariness of a footprint in the sand before the water washes it away or in the mud before a rainstorm causes us to make sure we give our attention to the footprint before it is lost forever or until another person walks down that same path. A footprint is not art but it deserves our attention nonetheless because it is a representation of something that was there before. It shows the path of something that has already gone ahead and although we may be able to see it now it may not be there when we go looking for it again. 

Scrapbook Entry#18 The House

When driving down a new neighborhood in the suburbs you often see a repetition of the same cookie cutter house, sometimes slightly modified, but still the same backbone. Yet, although the same from the outside, each of these houses are very different on the inside. The people who live in them, the lives that take place in them, are each their own. It is interesting to me that something so similar can also be so unique. That the same place can mean something to one person and something completely different to another. In this way the house is representative of the human being. On the outside we are all the same, there are obviously variations just like houses we may be painted different colors but our backbone is still the same, we are all human. However, clearly no person is the same. Even identical twins are not ever the same. We each have our own personality, our own voice, our own name, our own history, our own experiences. These things shape the inside of our house, they are what make us different from the person sitting next to us. Most of us would not look at a normal everyday house as a piece of art but the larger picture still deserves our attention. Many people criticize suburban sprawl but we must recognize that these homes are providing families with a home although it may not be aesthetically pleasing or express creativity from the outside the lives that happen with inside these homes makes them interesting. 

Scrapbook Entry#16 Fruit and Vegetables

When growing up and learning about how to draw and how to paint the first step was always the still life. It often featured a bowl with fruit and vegetables placed strategically inside and then carefully placed on a slightly folded cloth hanging of the edge of a table. Although I at first hated doing still lifes, thinking that they were so boring and posed, I began to become intrigued by the variety of colors the fruit and vegetables had to offer. The vibrancy of an orange against a ripe red pepper or a bright green apple next to the yellow of a banana. I enjoyed working with such vibrant paints and mixing colors to create the exact color of each object. I found the variety of textures to also be fascinating. The dimples in the orange contrasted against the waxiness of an apple, the seeds of a strawberry compared to the hairiness of a kiwi. I am not only intrigued by fruits and vegetables in the context of a painting but in food as well. The variety of flavors, the different way each is encased in a peel or not, the contrast of the inside and outside. It is interesting to me how such natural things can be so bizarre and unique. In conclusion it is not the fruit and vegetables in a still life that is the art, but rather the way the painter's hand interprets these objects. However I believe that the evolution of such a painting starts with the objects themselves therefore the fruit and vegetables deserve our attention. 

Scrapbook Entry#15 Driftwood

I found this piece of driftwood on the beach in Ocean City. The contast of the dark wood against the bright white sand caught my eye immediately. After picking up the wood I noticed the weathered quality it had. This was most likely from being tossed around out at sea or at the shoreline. Its texture had been smoothed out from the waves and sand and it was now very light and buoyant, almost like cork. The unknown story of this driftwood intrigued me. Such as how did it end up here? Where was it originally? How long was it out at sea? These unanswered questions increased my attention towards this lone piece of driftwood as I searched for a hint to its story. My dad has one very large piece of driftwood from a hurricane that ripped through the Ocean City boardwalk. The fact that this piece of wood has such a historical story attached to it gives it an almost majestic quality to it. No longer is it thought of as just an old water rot piece of wood but it is rather personified by its journey. My dad also collects large pieces of driftwood and uses them as materials to make something else like a sculpture. He is currently working on making a sailboat. He has collected one piece from where my sister lives in East Hampton, NY and another from where we live in the summer in Bethany Beach, DE. In this one sailboat sculpture two worlds converge. Each piece of wood tells its own story of where it was found as well as its own unknown journey. Who knows maybe these two pieces of wood who were found so far away from one another could have at one point crossed paths or even started off as one. In the end although yes driftwood is just an old piece of water rot wood it's story and its ability to become something else deserves our attention.

New Media Artist#7 Tracey Emin

I first discovered Tracey Emin from a magazine article about up and coming young artists. Emin is of Turkish Cypriot descent but currently lives in England. She is a member of the Young British Artists and known for her sometimes risqué and very taboo work. Emin's very message driven and opinionated work and outspoken personality tends to  make some people extremely uncomfortable. Emin's artwork ranges from installation and sculpture, to photography and painting, and more. One piece that she is well known for is her installation Everyone I Have Ever Slept With. Emin appliqued the 102 names of everyone she had ever slept with, but not necessarily in a sexual sense, to a tent. The floor of the tent read "With myself, always myself, never forgetting." Another one of Emin's infamous exhibitions is entitled My Bed, which features her unmade  bed with everything from old cigarette packs and dirty underwear. The bed is a comment on how it was when she had stayed in due to suicidal feelings from relationship problems.  The installation that I was first drawn to when researching Tracey Emin was her neon light sculptures. These sculptures feature colorful neon lights bended to form different words and phrases such as "You Forgot To Kiss My Soul" and "I Promise To Love You." I am attracted to Emin's work because it is so personal and she is not afraid to show the world what she feels and what she has gone through. She makes the art she wants to make and doesn't care if it is uncomfortable to other people or inappropriate. I admire her courage and would like to be able to use her as a role model to make what I feel not what I think others will like. 

Scrapbook Entry#14- Snapshots

When taking a quick picture of your friends or family you don't necessairly think you are making art but I still believe that snapshots deserve our attention. They capture us in the moment and supply us with a memory of a moment that was special to us whether we realize it then or not. A candid or goofy picture can capture who we really are when we are with the people we feel comfortable around and are able to let go of our inhibitions. A posed picture may show how we want to be seen. The ability to be able to look through pictures from our childhood allows us to remember more than we probably would be able to without them. In 20 years we will still be able to look back out ourselves in the pictures we are taking now. Pictures serve as a historical documentary of our lives. Especially with new technologies like scanning, photoshop, and Facebook we can have these images for the rest of our lives and even pass them onto our children. 

Scapbook Entry#13 Under Lock and Key

Since many of us use keys everyday, usually even multiple times a day, we do not pay much attention to them. Whether we are using a key to open our car door or to get back inside the house it is rare to take the time and think about the key in your hand. Although a key may not be considered art because of their commonality they still do deserve our attention. When looking closely at my car key or house key as if it is the first time I have ever seen or used a key the intricate cutout takes on a sculptural aspect. The uniqueness of every key is intriguing in that each key preforms the same task yet can vary so greatly in appearance. The importance they hold and the fact that such a small object can have such great impact on our lives and our protection is fascinating. The symbolism of behind the key, in that its job is to open something that was previously locked to us, also is something that should be contemplated. Also the idea that without a key or if we were to lose our key how much of our world would suddenly be cutoff from us is overwhelming. In the end, although most of us don't think twice when turning a key in a lock the actual complexity of a key should not be overlooked even though it is so ordinary to us.

Scrapbook Entry#12 Movie Ticket Stubs

I was reaching in my pocket yesterday and found a ticket stub from a movie I had seen this summer. Immediately I began to laugh to myself remembering not only the movie itself, but who I went with, what happened after, and what happened before. I remember I went with two of my best friends, Kristina and Liz, and Kristina's younger brother. We were all living an working at the beach over the summer and we were a little bit late because we had to wait for one us to finish our shift. It was late in the summer so a lot of people had already left to get ready to go back to school, so it was only us and one other group of people in the theater. The movie was a comedy, Pineapple Express to be exact, and I remember laughing a lot at both the movie and various jokes that were made. Afterwards, we decided instead of going home right away to drive down Coastal Highway. Since the summer was quickly coming to an end we would soon have to all go back to our separate schools and most likely not all be together again until Christmas. Since we have all been best friends since we were in Elementary School it is always hard to say goodbye but also easy because we know we will always be friends. This movie ticket stub is not art but for me it holds great meaning and brings back memories not just from that movie but about my friends in general.

Scrapbook Entry#11 Post-Its

My desk is literally littered with Post-Its. Post-Its about what homework I have to do that week, what exams I have to study for, people I have to call, stuff I need to buy, and important dates I have to remember. I do not consider Post-Its to be art (although some of them do come in wacky shapes and colors) but I use them specifically as a device to grab and focus my attention. Post-Its are a memory tool for me. Everyday when I sit down at my desk I look at the Post-It and remember what I need to do that day. Simply the act of writing something down helps me to organize my thoughts. I often will write something on a Post-It note before I go to bed so I remember it in the morning. Then when I have completed a task I check it off and move on down the list. This is a very helpful way to organize my sometimes hectic life and by placing them in somewhere that I know I will see I make sure that the Post-It demands my attention.

Scrapbook Entry#8 Doors, Windows, and Power Lines

I took this picture my first year taking a photography course my sophomore year of high school. I did not consider the door to be art but actually only took the picture for fun because I thought the bumper sticker on the door that says "I Love Asphalt" was funny. Yet, after looking at the composition as a whole and how I framed the space I saw the image more as a photograph than just a snapshot. I was drawn in by the repetition of line and shape carried through the image, such as the repeated rectangles. The power lines also work as a guide drawing your eye throughout the composition. I still do not consider doors, or windows, or power lines to be art, but when composed in such a way they work together to grab your attention. 

Scrapbook Entry#10 Letters From Afar

Each of my close friends from high school went to the a different college. Some went as far south as Tennessee, while others went out west to Colorado. Since we don't get to see each other as often as we used to we like to keep in touch by talking on the phone or on Facebook, but sometimes we also write letters to each other. To me a letter has always had a more personal quality to it than other forms of communication, especially Facebook. You know that that person took the time to sit down and write something specifically for you to read. A letter is also more personal because it is written in the person's handwriting rather than the universal font of something typed on a computer screen. The value of a letter again is more substantial because it takes time to get to its destination. Rather than instantaneously flying through cyber space, a letter travels the distance. It physically touches the hands of the writer, then the hands of the people who sort the mail, then those of the people who deliver the mail, and then finally your own. A letter is not art but every letter has a message that has a shared importance to both the individual receiving it and the person that wrote it.

Scrapbook Entry#9 Notes

When I take notes in class I do not try to make them look pretty but rather I concentrate solely on getting the right information down and making sure it is at least legible to me. Other people may look at my notes and think that they are somewhat of a mess, but I find it easier to comprehend something if it is in my own handwriting. Often teachers may say that you don't have to take notes because the information will be posted on BlackBoard however, I feel that the act of writing something down in my own handwriting helps me to understand the information more clearly. I also sometimes find myself doodling in the margins and these doodles also help me to remember the information better. I do not think that my notes are art but they help me to concentrate my attention to the information that is being discussed and help me better remember that information in the future.

Scrapbook Entry #6 Magazine Ads

When flipping through a magazine I would not consider the advertisements to be art, yet I often find that they do grab and hold my attention. I have recently noticed a trend that magazine ads are no longer about showing off a skinny model or simply showing the product, but actually develop a composition. The vibrant colors of pretty clothes and jewelry or make-up attract the eye of the person reading the magazine at first, but the evidence of careful thought and planning allow the viewer to really appreciate the image for more than just an magazine ad.

Scrapbook Entry#7 Chip Bags and Candy Wrappers

I would not typically call a chip bag art or frame a candy wrapper. Instead I usually just toss the wrapper in the trash after eating whatever was inside. Yet isn't it the job of the wrapper to draw your attention to the product? The brightly repeated primary colors, bold text, and shinny material act together to make you want to by that item. I recently looked at the vending machine and noticed that I was drawn in by certain packaging causing me to want that product even if I was more in the mood for something else. Although I do not believe that chip bags or candy wrappers should be hung up on gallery walls or even considered to be art for that matter I do believe that there is an artistic science evident in them. The producers of these products demand our attention because they understand what makes the consumer want something. For example, I noticed a strong use of the colors red and blue. Many packages also had a large scale image of the food inside with letters boldly outlined so that they pop out from the background. All of these elements work subconsciously on our brains to grab our attention and affect the choice of which junk food we will spend our 50 cents on when standing in front of the vending machine.

New Media Artist#6 Lynn Hershman

New Media Artist Lynn Hershman has worked in a wide variety of different media ranging from photography to video to interactive installations. Hershman's newest video released in 2002 is titled Agent Ruby's EDream Portal. This interactive video allows the viewer to communicate directly with the computer as if they were holding a conversation with an actual human being. The computer or Agent Ruby tries to learn more about the person by asking questions such as "What are your likes and dislikes?" "What is your occupation?" or "What is your favorite movie?" However, I found that for many of my responses the computer could not comprehend what I was saying and a disclaimer would appear stating that "The remark was either too complex or too simple for me" and then just jumped to another question. After awhile questions also started to repeat and re-filter through. Also at times Agent Ruby's response did not correlate with what I had said. I think that the idea behind Agent Ruby is very intriguing in that a computer can be personified to be able to hold a conversation with a human. However, I do not think that the quality of the conversation and understanding could ever compare to a conversation between two people, nor should it because people are by nature interactive and should interact with each other not with a computer. 

Agent Ruby

New Media Artist #5 Fab Lab

The ARS Electronica Center in Austria features the newest trends, focusing on what the future has in store for art and technology . One new exhibition entitled Fab Lab has redefined the meaning of on-line shopping. No longer will you have to wait days or weeks for your order to be shipped to you but rather you can have everything instantly. Simply print out what you want, wear it, and then recycle it! The creators of Fab Lab have engineered a 3D printer that uses a computer model to generate an actual object, while a computer-controlled laser cutter does the high-precision shaping of any chosen material. From gym shoes to clothing to even pieces of furniture FabLab can make it. However, although FabLab seems like the greatest invention since on-line shopping, one may consider the repercussions of such technology on our already struggling consumer-driven economy and industry. Could inventions like this lead us closer and closer to a job market ran solely by computers and machines? 

FabLab

Reflection on Digital Pictionary Project

I enjoyed working on the Digital Pictionary project. Although I did have a lot of trouble initially trying to come up with images that represented sarcasm, once I really concentrated on what sarcasm connoted to me I was more easily able to think of how to create a collage of images that related to my meaning. I also really enjoyed working with Photoshop and would like to continue to learn how to use it in the future and experiment more with the different tools. It was interesting to see how other people in the class interpreted their words. I thought it was fascinating how some people expressed not only the literal meaning of their word, but also how it can be expressed though formal elements. For example, with the word balance an image of a scale could be used, but also by just making a balanced composition the same meaning can be expressed. Same is true for the word abstract. One could show the literal meaning of the word abstract by showing an abstract painting or they could also cause an everyday object to be abstracted. 

Scapbook Entry#5 Receipts

Whenever I go shopping for groceries or clothes I always end up throwing out the receipt at the bottom of the bag. I do not think that a receipt is art but it has a kind of narrative quality to it. A receipt tells a lot about the person to which it belongs. For example a grocery receipt may tell someone what you are having for dinner that night, whether you are buying for a lot of people or just yourself, maybe you are buying ingredients to bake a cake for a birthday party. A receipt tells someone what you choose to spend your money on and where. It almost even acts as a tracking device that shows where you have been and what you did.

Analysis Writing of Jacqueline's Digital Pictionary Images

For our Digital Pictionary project every member of the class was assigned a different word at random. We were each instructed to use our word to create three separate collaged images that displayed our interpretation of the word's meaning. 

Jacqueline's Digital Pictionary images are each very eye-catching due to their use of vibrant colors, patterns, and a variety of textures. Each image also includes an element of nature and earth such as the ocean, the sun, or the sky. One image even has a series of pictures of butterflies, drawing the viewers attention to the intricate and repeated patterns of their delicate wings. While another gives a close-up view of what looks to be a shell or sea urchin, displaying the repeated textures and bumps. 

The first two images have a central focus point to which the whole image is drawn to. The audience's eye is involuntarily forced to the center of the picture by the illusion of depth created by the repetition of line pointed inward. The first image depicts a sun setting over the horizon line of an ocean. The rays of the sun bend and curl into elaborate spirals at the edges of the image. The second image gives off the feeling of a piercing blue eye starring intently back at the viewer. The pupil like form is located again at the center with the blue/green iris swirling around it. This image also creates the illusion of movement as the blue forms seem to be growing out of the middle. The movement of these forms also reminds of the very hot center of a flame on a stove top when the burner is turned on, the intense heat radiating out to the edges of the frame.

The last two images of the Earth-like figure and butterflies again have a strong element of line and pattern. Again the same theme of a central focal point is expressed by the body of each butterfly being the center from which its wings expand outward from. The center of the sea urchin and other aquatic creatures again create a focal point for the viewer. Color is also a very evident aspect of the butterfly image. The vibrant blues, greens, and oranges of the wings contrast nicely against their black middle and the white background. The last two images also have a very strong feeling of being science-minded. The butterfly image seems to resemble a person's butterfly collection where the butterflies are pinned to the background. The image of the Earth-like figure also has an image of some type of atomic compound and again has the feeling of a scientific study of nature. 

In conclusion, I am not sure of the exact word from which these images originated from but I feel that each is related through a strong sense of pattern, line, and texture; specifically those found in nature and science

Digital Pictionary

Collage

Film Response-"After Life"

The film After Life revolves around the idea that after you die, you must chose only one memory from your entire life to remember, for the rest of eternity. The film is set in a secluded building cut off from the rest of the world, where even the view of moon through the window is an illusion. A team of counselors, who also turn out to be dead, work to help each person to pick their memory. The counselors even show one man a series of videotapes  documenting his entire life in order to help him choose. After each person decides, the team of counselors works to recreate their memory exactly as it happened in order to make it feel as if they are reliving that moment. This idea of recreating a moment in time so exactly that it feels as if it is actually happening again is very intriguing. The counselors use fans to recreate the breeze felt by a passenger riding on a train, they spray mist to make it feel humid like a hot summer day, and play sounds of car horns and people to describe the feeling of a city. This way of recreating an event or scene could be very interesting if applied to real life. No longer would the feeling of the crisp winter day air be a faint memory during the hot and sticky summer, but rather it could be recreated. Although it would be nice to relive our fondest memories, even with all the technology and capabilities of cinematography these days I feel that the emotionality of a such a strong and important memory can not ever fully be recaptured. The recreated memory will always only ever be exactly that, a memory of a memory. 

20 Lines Response

For class on Tuesday, February 17th, we completed our 20 lines project. For this project we were each asked to use Photoshop to create an image of 20 individual lines, each on a separate layer. For each line we hid all the other layers, so that only the line we were currently drawing was visible. Finally, when we were finished with all 20 layers we had a single image of all of our lines overlapping and intertwining with one another. Our objective was to contemplate the meaning of lines and the expressive potential they possess. For example, is it possible to give a line a particular emotion or state of mind? Can you make a line that is happy? depressed? frenzied? or relaxed? Different moods can be achieved depending on the method by which the line is drawn. Is the line thick and heavy, or thin and light? Is the line static or does it create movement? Is the line choppy and abrupt or long and flowing? Is the line rough or smooth? A line can possess all of these different characteristics and more. 

I agree with Kendall Buster and Paula Crawford's point in their article On Form and Content, that "Line is considered by many artists to embody the direct channel between the brain and the hand, a means itself of thought." Line is a very important aspect in the world of art because it is the artist's mark in it's rawest form. Line is the building block of everything, it is where everything starts. Line such as an artist's brushstroke allows the viewer to see the artist's hand, the looseness or tightness of their grip. Line can even be used as a tool to help communicate emotion and gesture both in a work of art and in the artist himself. "Line is content." 

On Form and Content

New Media Artist Blog #4-M. River and T. Whid

M. River and T. Whid are two new media artists that use short films to create a commentary about the  world around them. In particular, one series of short videos focuses on repetitive gestures and everyday actions, known as Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing. MTAA (M. River and T. Whid Art Associates) explains that by "using aspects of conceptual art, popular culture and real-time performance" they  seek to develop "a new manner of dialogue between artist and audience." 

Five Small Videos About Interruption and Disappearing

MTAA has completed several other short video productions including YES & NO and (LOVE + HATE) x 100. Both of these forms of video artwork concentrate on parallel opposites. In each video the screen is split equally down the middle with one level of the issue on one side and the opposite on the side next to it. Confusion is another aspect built into each of these videos and plays a key role in the audience's perception of meaning. 

MTAA

Scrapbook Entry #4-Billboards

Driving down the highway I can't help myself but to look at all the billboards. These towering images of tv broadcasting, beer ads, Geico rate quotes, and even controversial statements seem to have a presence that can't be ignored. But can these images be considered art? Although not all seem to answer yes to this question, these larger-than-life advertisements grab your attention even if for just a fleeting second. It has always amazed me how the mind can comprehend all of these images even when  you only concentrate on them for sometimes less than a second as you speed by. 

The billboards in Time Square, New York City create an atmospheric presence that administer the feeling of being so small surrounded by a huge city of people and images, neon lights and colors. I remember when we would travel to South Carolina for Spring Break in mi

ddle school all through North Carolina billboards for South of the Border littered the side of the road, counting down the miles. I would get excited whenever I could see the next billboard emerging in the distance, growing bigger and bigger as we drove closer.

 These billboards have such a presence that they have even become famous. 

On-line I came across one image of a billboard that took on aspects of a three-dimensional sculpture rather than just an ad, possessing a pres

ence much more closely related to art. Although most billboards may not be viewed as a form of art, I feel that often times they demand as much attention from their audience as a painting or a sculpture. 

Scrapbook Entry #3-Graffiti Art or Vandalism?

Driving down the Jone's Falls Expressway to downtown Baltimore City the walls of graffiti always catch my eye. Growing up in Baltimore and making this trip very often I became accustomed to what tags were where and I would notice when a new one appeared or another vanished. I thought the bright colors and the block letters, so squished together that they were sometimes indecipherable, were intriguing. However, I never really thought of graffiti as a form of art because I still always percieved it as vandalism. Recently though in my painting class we were asked to paint graffiti for the set of the upcoming play entitled "Polaroid Stories." This was a new experience for me and I found it very liberating being able to paint directly on the wall of the theater, especially something of such large-scale. Professor Leon Wiebers also introduced us to a famous graffiti artist whose work demands the attention of passerby. Banksy is a British street artist whose work ranges from political statements to comedic images. Being exposed to a graffiti artist like Banksy allowed me to see graffiti more and more as an art form than as vandalism or something that should be viewed as criminal. No longer was graffiti a form of destruction of a surface, but rather something that brought your attention to that surface, even made you stop and think. 

Banksy

Video Response-Growing Up Online

Frontline's video Growing Up Online offers a documentary view into the world of the Internet and social networking. Such online programs as Youtube, Myspace, Facebook, and Live Journal allow adolescents to freely roam the Internet away from their parents range of

vision. Teenagers are able to connect with thousands of individuals, many of whom they have never even met.

1)Due to the growing popularity of the Internet and many individuals reliance on it today, it is hard to envision what the world used to be like. Before Facebook or Myspace social networking was merely hanging out with your friends at school or over the weekend at a close friend's house. It would have never been imaginable to be able to communicate with millions of people across the country and even consider each other close "friends." Although in elementary school we had pen pals from another school, even sometimes another state, online social networking has gone way beyond this. No longer is it just another method of communication, but rather a way to pretend to be someone else, to take on a new identity.

2) a. If I were to describe Facebook, Myspace, or any other social networking service to a friend who was unfamiliar with it I would explain that it gives an in depth glimpse into someone else's life or sometimes rather the life they'd prefer to lead. It is a place where people can post pictures, communicate with each other, and share various aspects of themselves such as favorite music and interests. People from college networks, high schools, and different areas can all use Facebook to connect with one another.

b. I would describe Facebook to my parents by describing it as a place where friends and classmates can connect and communicate with each other online.

c. I would describe Facebook to my grandparents in the same way I would describe it to my parents, however I may have to explain more about the technical aspects and how it is possible to communicate over the Internet.

d. I would describe Facebook to a teenager living in 1950 as a worldwide yearbook. Each person has their own profile that others can visit and learn about the person.

3) A person's Facebook page reveals various aspects about their life such as their interests, activities they are involved in, their favorite music and movies, and even who they are friends with. Facebook pages may sometimes allow strangers to place the person in a stereotype or draw false inferences about them. Design and content techniques that grab my attention are if the person has posted a lot of pictures or has a lot of wall posts. I usually only add a person as a friend if I have actually met them in person, however I may be more likely to add a person as a friend if we share similar interests, share common friends, or are in the same network such as college or high school. Something I would want to know about someone that is not on their Facebook would be more about their personality such as if they were nice, outgoing, or funny.

4) I think Facebook reinforces stereotypes and allows people to assume things that may not be true of the person.

5) Marshall McLuhan's statement "The medium is the message" applies to Facebook in that a person's Facebook is read differently depending on how the information is presented. For example, a person with a lot of friends may be thought of as popular, however a person with an incredible amount of friends may show that this person has a lot of acquaintances but not very many close friends. A person may also draw inferences about a person based on their pictures, wall posts, albums, and so on. How the person acts in real daily life may be different from these inferences, however people may still believe their inaccurate inferences from a Facebook page over their actual experience with that person.

Scrapbook Entry #2-Telescope images

The Hubble Space Telescope completes one orbit around the Earth every 96 minutes at approximately 5 miles per second. Hubble has revolutionized the world of astronomy by providing detailed clear views of the Universe, ranging from our own solar system to extremely remote galaxies that were formed not long after the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago. Not only has the Hubble Space Telescope allowed us to receive an outstandingly greater amount of insight and understanding into our world it has also provided us with numerous vibrant images of what is out there. Hubble was first launched in 1990 and has been capturing extraordinary images all along the way, interconnecting science to photography. 

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