the forcast for today was; classroom summary with periods of ranting.

What we did in class (straight out of the note book)
-media and social change/influence
-told the story about the monk who wrote "Call Me By My True Names". Story was about a girl who threw herself over the side of the boat after being raped by pirates. Could not blame the pirate because of the conditions he knew. Personally I think this is BS. It assumes that we are all victims of our circumstances and avoids the notion of universal truths or inherent "Right" and "Wrong".
-This got me thinking about psychological and sociological differences between someone who succumbs to the circumstances they were born into, and those who rise to the occasion and find a way to "fight" as it were. (this is assuming that the circumstances are of negative influence, though it could be applied in reverse).

-We then talked about right-brain communication which reminded me of this TED talk I once saw about a woman who experienced a stroke from a golf-ball sized clot on the left side of her brain, effectively shutting it down. Her experience living almost exclusively in her right hemisphere was astounding. (video posted below)



Following this we put out our masks along side the photos we had created and did a walk-around looking at them. This was great for saving time, but I would have like to have discussed this project. More than the other things we have done in class, this one angered a lot of people in the way that it was executed. It would have been good to hear how this delivery method of the assignment altered their creative process and resulted in the images that they made. I know in my own process it did not alter much as I always use visual research methods in developing my ideas and images, and one project more often than not, evolves into another project. What I did not like about this project was the short-notice for the additional requirements. As the email provided to the university for school related things is NOT my primary email address, I do not check it every day, expecting that if there are to be changes to an assignment, notification will be given several days before the assignment is due. Because of this I did not have the opportunity to complete all of the requirements for the written paper at the end. This was in part due to the fact that we were first told in class that there would be no written portion to this assignment, then in an email were told to do a brief rational as to why we chose to take the photo of our mask in the location that we did, and then in yet another email, were asked to add explanation of our process, symbolism, an added requirement of juxtaposition was thrown in the mix, etc. This was a terrible delivery method. All requirements of the assignment should have been made available to us from the beginning, or at least delivered in two parts, not several pieces strung together through a series of unclear email's.

After the all to brief gander at the masks around the room, we watched a video about Ben Shahn "Paintings for Social Activism". I could not find this video, but I did find another one about the artist and his art (posted below)



we also watched a video on "Park(ing) day" in SF. Many video's about park(ing) day can be found on youtube or with a simple google search.

-These lead to a discussion about Random Acts of Kindness and then into our group projects. It did not take long for our group to come up with a concept for our engage art project, outline what we were going to do, and develop a schedule. We have decided to do a project promoting positive body image called "You Are Beautiful" involving photographing of the public both on campus and down town, as well as setting up a gallery web site were people can view the photos and be provided with links to resources about positive body image. There are still some details to be worked out, but that will all come when next the group gets together.
The website is youarebeautiful.x10.mx
Shooting days are scheduled for the 16th (campus) and the 17th (inner harbor).
The group currently consists of myself, David, Andrea, and Marcie. We may be absorbing two other classmates who were absent at the time groups were formed.

The last thing done in class this day was to be assigned another paper. the requirements outlined are as follows:
-1500ww.
-12pt font
-dbl spaced
-due Mar 9th
-APA citation style
-the goal is to demonstrate an understanding of engaged art and knowledge of contemporary engage artists. It is to include both theory and personal inquiry. questions posed in class were: What is engage art? What is social art activism? What are examples of artists and projects? Provide an analysis of "that" work and your point of view (when asked what "that" work was, if it was a particular piece or a body of work, the answer was that it was up to us. This leaves it open and extremely broad and makes me wonder what the grading criteria will be).  Give your point of view on the art (whatever that may be), provide alternatives. What are future implications (im assuming this is in relation to future teaching and classroom application as well as for the aspect of society the project was intended to influence or change), Personal connections and professional connections.

Journal; "Endless hours" edition

It (or they) is finished! Finally. This was a very time-consuming project. I took this mask photo assignment and ran with it. There were scheduling issues, technical difficulties, weather related problems, etc. But, after 4 days of "let's try this again tomorrow" I finally got what I needed and very nearly abandoned it all.

I got the photos I need for the assignment and worked for a day in Photoshop getting it all together in a way that was working for me. I think I am still going to call the finished piece "Icarus" because it still feels like it belongs to me, and it adds another level of contemplation to the piece.

 I am pleased with the final piece, but still wanted to experiment with the idea of combining photographic with illustrated elements for a different kind of image. My original idea was to incorporate cartoon-like drawn elements into the above image, but after some trials I abandoned the idea. What ended up happening was that I did a digital painting and then added the mask in as the face. The painting was inspired by a child sitting on the grass in a park near where I was shooting the portrait for the above image. I took out my sketchbook while waiting for the model to arrive and did some figure drawings of the child that I later used. This image is more literal when it comes to the Icarus myth. The child sitting on the ground with his wings falling apart around him.  Also the "i" on his shirt with the dot as a simple sun.

There are a lot of things about this image that I like, but I liked it more without the photo of the mask incorporated. Because of the time invested in getting it to this stage, I will likely work with it more, adding texture to the background, and completing the face of the child with the mask off. I may also change the feathers to gray-scale and add some melting wax dripping off into puddles in a luminescent golden-yellow... or rainbow :)

Journal; the "Brocade, Lace, and Feathers" edition.

 So by the time I got the email about the photo and all that jazz, I had already completed my mask. I decided to do a photo-shoot with a model instead of just placing the mask in a setting and photographing it. Because of the steampunk/pirate/arts and crafts look to the mask, I am drawing inspiration from Victorian/Edwardian costuming, Steampunk & Pirate cosplay, Greek myth, and Cartooning. I began with some sketches, image and materials collection  and I think I have a concept that synthesizes the themes into a coherent aesthetic. Tomorrow I have arranged with my hair and makeup artists and the model to meet me at the locations that I went and scouted out today. Hopefully I'll be able to get the shots I need and the weather cooperates. In addition to amalgamating the different styles and aesthetics of the various areas into a single image, I am going to play with gender roles in this piece. Because of the combined costuming from several areas, it naturally became a bit androgynous, and having a female model wearing the male mask will hopefully bring to binary into sharper focus. I am excited to do this piece, I just hope that I have enough time to get it all worked together the way that I want it. The digital work is going to be extremely time consuming :S

 So it's a female Icarus in a steam-driven Victorian age, with corsets, brocade, lace, ruffles, blimps and boilers. Likely over-exposed and finished in desaturated sepia tones. It plays on male/female, youth/aged, and bringing together elements of different time periods. Im not sure if I have a message that I want it to convey, but it is going to be a whole lot of fun and fantasy... if I can make it work in the time that we have.

*the sketches are just some ideas for posturing and some detail work, nothing solid; simply idea generation for the development of this image.

In class:
Had a sub today, spent time looking at the concept of socially engaged art; or art that engages people in social issues. Condé and Beveridge were used as a study. Their work is photo-collaged and surreal. The subject often deals with social issues.

This image deals with the privatization of water.

After looking at images we came up with some social issues that are relevant to us or are current in our culture. Some of the key ones are:
- the removal of all bunnies from UVic
- Rising cost of tuition without equal raises in funding for students
- issues related to the recent renovations on campus (lack of sprinkler systems in Mac, continuing classes while asbestos removal was occurring)
- The slaughtering of 100 dogs in Whistler.

Following the class discussion we divided into groups and make collages related to the dog issue using images taken from materials in the magazine/paper bins in the class. The result was three different, but effective socially engaged art collages.
This class was extremely helpful in defining what engaged art is and looking at some of the devices used to create an engaged experience for the viewer. The exercise creating the collages of the dogs in groups was good as well. We were able to develop an image as a group that had more punch than would likely have developed if a single individual had developed it.

The Mask We Wear

So there it is, The plaster mask after a couple days of play and experimentation. Even though I dont enjoy the feeling of the plaster covering my face and I ended up building a rather featureless face-shape from a news-print built form, I had a lot of fun with this project. Once the plaster was dry, I brought it home to put on some finishing touches and decided that I didn't like any of the sketches I had done. Instead I decided to take the opportunity to dig through my various boxes of collected odds n' ends and have some fun. I started by painting the base with a lot of different colours in a mid-value range and then gave it some form by sinking in the eye sockets and cheeks with some very deep purples and greens. After dug through the boxes and selected some bits I thought could work for this. Some National Geographic images of predator animals on the hunt, some watch gears, bits of foam, etc. I am extremely pleased with the way that it turned out in the end. If I were to change anything it would be to put more hair on the top of the head and to carve the sponge that makes the mustache more or use a different material. Something I like a lot is the mono-goggle/eye-piece thing. The ear pad from a broken set of head phones found in my neighbors recycling was perfect for this. I had used it to make some marks on a painting last year and the dried paint on it really adds to the playfulness of the whole thing.

Feb 2nd Class recap... or something like that

First up was putting our juxtaposition/transformation/distortion pieces along with our statements on the display boards in the hall. Not knowing how many pieces and sizes of pieces were going to have to fit on the boards, we haphazardly posted. We were then asked to look at the boards, and re-arrange the pieces so that they were more cohesive in overall appearance. We then briefly told about our piece, one thing we would change, and one thing we like. The thing I would change is to add more detailed pen work, and what I liked was the composition and the form of the octopus/pigeon beast. The feedback I received was:
"I really love this piece - it shows the concept well and is beautiful to look at :) "
"I really dig your picture! It reminds me of the old school tattoo style. I love the combination of a pigeon and octopus."

In class we did a value exercise that involved creating a gradient on the page in some way and then drawing a landscape into it afterward.

I created the gradient with charcoal from one side of the page across to the other. Other people created gradients in a thin band down the center of the page, from the outside edge inward, from the center out, or from corner to corner. I chose to make my landscape fictitious and the forms are very "Tim Burton" inspired.

When the exercise was complete we engaged in a class discussion about which ones stood out and why. Overall I think it was the ones with the highest range of value and high contrast that people like most.

Following this we brainstormed around the concept of "Enduring Ideas". Some of the ideas we came up with were:
Change, Existence, Empowerment, Family, Courage, Love, Growth, Peace, Emotions, Freedom, Knowledge, Understanding, Happiness, Music, Communication, Respect, Empathy, Loyalty, Friendship, Companionship, Art, Expression, Creativity, Story, History or Lineage.
These ideas manifest in all kinds of ways; in the people around us, in our actions and reactions, in records or logs, in physical objects, in our art, etc. There may be different types or ways that they can be divided. Some categories they might be divided into are: Values, How we relate to one another, and how we identify with ourselves (self awareness).

The second project was to create a piece that utilized either Juxtaposition, Transformation, or Distortion. I decided to focus mine on Transformation. I looked around the internet at some other works done on transformation, and tried to come up with two or more things that I could transform. Animal transformation and metamorphosis draw my interest so I decided to merge two animals into a single creature. After some thought I decided to do a bird and a sea creature. Initially I thought I was going to do a rooster and an octopus, but after some initial sketches I decided that I didn't like the rooster because the colours were not working for what I was trying to do. I looked around some more and settled on a Pigeon. This also lead to the idea of exaggerating the size and having this Pigeon/octopus creatures size and having it attack a sea-side city. At first I had the head positioned upright on the body of the octopus, but it was loosing some of it's awkwardness and was far too rigid. I decided to maintain the soft, malleable fleshy feel of the octopus up into the neck of the pigeon which made the head tilt back. I further emphasized the uneasiness of the creature by adding back in the eye of the rooster as well as an altered version of the neck warble. This made it somewhat phallic, but I decided to leave it as it works well with the rest of the image. After the image was painted and inked in the way I had planned, it felt as though something was still missing, so I went back in with a fine tip and added more sketch/scratch marks around some of the areas like the clouds and hatching in the rocks. The addition of some black splatter relates back to the ink defenses of the octopus portion of the creature and creates some interest and contrast to the soft watercolor.