Ben Volta Lecture October 26th

I really enjoyed listening to Ben Volta speak, because the projects he does are all around inspiring, really. He worked with kids recently to make a humongous building mural. That alone is intriguing, but the way him and his group of kids went about creating the mural is what got my attention. Ben wanted to display multiple different rooms that a home would have, such as kitchen, bathroom, dining room, bedroom, even a library which he admitted wasn't very common but the knowledge and plentiful books that go along with libraries meshed so well with his project. The kids looked at lots and lots of photos (starting from Google Images) of things that would be inside each room. From that they drew them, and created these patterns that were so thoroughly designed that they were hardly recognizable. I loved the end result.

Composite Photo

The goal was to make a composite image uses our own photos, but push against the walls of fair image use. Here I used the renowned "Bliss" image as my background, known for being the popular Windows Desktop Background.

H. John Thompson Lecture October 19

H. John Thompson's lecture was not one that really intrigued me. He told us how his studio is in the basement of his grandfather's bakery, which I am willing to admit is pretty precious and a little detail that makes me happy. I love the idea of keeping your family involved with your work, and bringing where you came from into your career. The work however that John did show us didn't appeal to me. But he did make some good points that a group of worn out art students could stand to keep in mind. The one thing that he spoke about though that remains prominent in my mind though is that a studio is where you can be yourself. No matter what, that is your space and people aren't going to judge your decisions so go for it. John also spoke about how he photographs his entire process, just so he can refer back to and explain where each piece came from/what he was thinking while he did it. John concluded with the importance of just continuing to work. How you may find yourself in a creative rut but it's important to just keep moving and exercising your artistic mind and skills. This is something I'm going to remember.

French Firecrackers

The assignment was to change the meaning of a news photo. Here, these people in France were running from clouds of tear gas. I altered the photo to make it seem as though they were actually running from firecrackers and their massive clouds of smoke. A happier nature now.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2026431,00.html

A Scanner Facely

Scanned my face and illustrated it much like the style of rotoscoping, which is used in A Scanner Darkly.

Ted Talks -- Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity

View the Talk

Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of the "freakishly successful" novel, Eat Pray Love, spoke back in February of 2009 about the surprising potential origins of creative inspiration. She mentioned how back in Ancient Greece and Rome the artistic success was all thanks to your "daemon" or "genius" -- or as she put it, genie. Basically it was believed that some other entity, a "fairy" of some sort, took a moment to light up your work and you didn't really have anything to do with how good it was. She also mentioned how creative working people has such a rep for being "alcoholic manic depressives" and are often troubled buy their one success in their life that is sure to overshadow any work following it. This is something all creative people face, and Elizabeth knows firsthand with her huge novel that millions of people have read.

Then she goes into the possibility that maybe one shouldn't get down about how they'll never have a work as successful as that one was, rather feel honored that the invisible creative muse stopped by to see them and in turn lit up their life some. Putting that space between yourself and your work allows for some comfort to be salvaged if the piece happens to be disappointing and just plainly awful.

I completely identify with this presentation and feel like viewing it would truly be helpful for anyone who makes things in their life. There is a certain amount of comfort offered in the notion of separating oneself from the work when it is likely to be criticized by others. For instance, as a first year student at art school, critiques are a huge part of the learning process but that doesn't take away from the fact that they easily change confidence in a work into a pile of negativity. Thinking of the creative aspect as something that is loaned to you on occasion to assist you in creating something that will blow minds is a safe way to go about working creatively, but not necessary the best option for people who are just starting out on the voyage of their artistic growth.

Warning Label

This is pretty self explanatory. Often times people tell me I was giving them a nasty glance when I had no intention to do so.