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E. Art & (my) Life

Throughout this semester, I have had a blast in your class compared to others. Whereas in some classes all I want to do is dig myself into a nice, comfy spot on my desk where I can nap my life away, I actually found myself being kept awake by you when you’d teach. However, when it came to the student Art Galleries, due to some people having boring, teleprompter speeches, I found myself falling asleep through them.

In terms of art itself, I can admit that your class got me thinking a little bit. Specifically, when I’d go visit the Art Galleries for the artist conversations. Seeing such contrasting, odd art pieces made me give up on trying to put a label on what I was seeing and just enjoy it. Throughout your class, I learned that although art can have deep meanings, for a lot of people, it is just a form of expression that provides some of the most beautiful eye candy. Things that are just nice to look at, which admittedly a lot of artists do aim for.

Looking back on my career, I have had a strong relationship with art. As a child, I always wanted to be an artist in the sense of being able to draw, but I was always trash at it. Rather than learn, I gave it up, only to later on learn how to create visual effects in high school. I went through 2 years of film and video production and 2 years of Graphic Design, where I learned how to use Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects to make some beautiful art. I thought I was going to be a VFX Artist, and so that’s what I went to college for.

In a twist I never saw coming, I actually ended up switching majors and going into Communication Studies. I think it was partially due to me not having the dedication to learn the complexity of several programs to be able to make what is in my mind without being limited by the software. 

I don’t see this as moving away from my roots as someone who loves art, as in my point of view, what better way to be in tune with art then to major in a field that is meant to enhance your ability to communicate effectively? The better I can learn to communicate and understand those around me, the more art I will be able to admire, and the more things I can teach to others. I don’t know exactly what art is, but my favorite type of thing that I consider “art” is the art that can be shared and understood by others. What is the point in creating something dope if nobody is able to understand it?

That’s just my view on art. Hopefully I didn’t make any grammatical errors because if I did then my beautiful art piece that is this assignment would be completely ruined. Or would it? Actually it would. I am of the personal belief that art is defined by its creator, and whether or not someone can be successfully conveyed the true meaning of it is irrelevant. You cannot change the original meaning of someone else’s art. You can incorrectly say it is supposed to mean something when it really doesn’t mean that, which a lot of people do. This is just my two cents. Maybe my opinions will change in the future. You never know.

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E. EC: Feedback

1.What did you think of the format of the class? 

I thought that the format of the class was very unique and kept me from getting the (what I thought was inevitable) i’d-rather-be-anywhere-else syndrome that students get after about 2 months max into their classes. I will say that as a loner the social events where we had to go to Venice beach and the plastering were pushing on my comfort levels quite a bit.

2. What did you think of making and presenting your Art Gallery?

In regards to my art gallery, I loved the entire process. I had a lot of fun working with strangers who had very different interests from me. Also, my topic was about comic books and I learned quite a lot due to this art gallery. Also, I reaaallly liked the very long amount of time we were given. It completely took away the “presentation” aspect of the Art Gallery and let me get completely comfortable with the project and see it as a fun conversation.

3. What did you think of seeing the SOA Art Galleries?

I thought that the SOA Art Galleries were very interesting and let me witness art that I most likely would never have seen otherwise, as I don’t take the time to visit them on my own. However, I will say that there was a little bit of stress that was involved with the art galleries, as when most of the artists were absent, I’d only be able to gather information from one or two artists at most. This made me favor those galleries over the ones I wanted to cover personally.

4. What did you think of the weekly Art Activities?

I honestly think the weekly Art Activities were the best part of the class for me. The weekly Art Galleries, while fun, were a repetitive weekly assignment in a way, whereas the weekly Art Activities were always different and prevented me from getting too comfortable or bored with the class.

5. What did you think about the “7 Ideas about Art”?

I’m not gonna lie, I did get a little confused with the concept. I was more focused on the creative things I was able to do within the class, and less on digesting the ideas of art that were being taught. I feel like maybe they could be shown off a little bit more, or expanded upon to make them stand out more/be remembered.

6. How did you feel about using Tumblr for your blog?

Using Tumblr for my blog was actually a very smooth and seamless experience. The website is easy to navigate, and making posts didn’t ever seem confusing or leave me wanting anything to be different. I also preferred it over WordPress because WordPress was a bit more complex and quite literally a website that you made from scratch. For blogging purposes, I felt that Tumblr gave me far more bang for my buck, when my buck is representative of how much effort I had to put in to make my blogs better.

7. How did you feel about using Wix for your virtual art gallery?

I felt comfortable using Wix for my virtual art gallery because it was a pretty straightforward website creator. I’ve made websites before, and compared to some programs I’ve used it is far less of a hassle, and still lets you make something that looks pretty good. I wouldn’t be too opposed to using Wix for blogs either, but Tumblr is just so easy to use that I don’t see myself wanting to make the transition back.

8. What did you think of using the class website, glenn.zucman.com/i2va, plus your own websites, instead of BeachBoard?

At first, I didn’t like how the syllabus wasn’t on BeachBoard. I thought well okay you don’t have to put the assignments but at least the syllabus man! But after getting used to using the other websites, I preferred it greatly. Getting timed out of BeachBoard, or constantly having to sign in every time is a bit of a hassle, so the fact that I had to do it for one less class was pretty dope.

9. What did you think about having a class with no tests? I don’t just mean “was it cool to not have to take any,” but students use tests to guide their study and participation in a class. Students tend to learn what’s on the test, and to not learn anything that isn’t. Did not having exams make it harder to focus or find importance and relevance in the class?

I thought that not having any tests was necessary to guarantee your class to be as stress-free as humanly possible. Any stress caused in your class would be due to extreme laziness, or extreme anxiety. Very fun activities, and great memories might be bittersweet if you had some tests, especially if they were tough. It would take away the magic you have in the class, and bring it down to normal, everyday “I wish I was somewhere else” classes people go through.

10. It seemed like it was hard to get very much Class Participation, especially toward the end of the class. Did I talk too much? Ask the wrong questions? Was it too confusing? Not interesting/relevant enough? Any suggestions for more class participation in the future?

In my opinion, a reason you might be getting mixed results in class participation is due to the nature of your class. As you mentioned before, a lot of people just learn what’s on the test, which means that normally when people participate, it’s with set questions that lead students to certain types of answers. In a history class, if a professor asks, “Does anyone know why Hitler killed himself?” someone is much more likely to participate since they know the answer, and the teacher asked the question counting that someone would. In your class, a lot of these types of class participation are extremely open-ended questions, and I think people just aren’t used to giving their ACTUAL opinions in class, as since they are used to the other types of q’s, they feel their answers might just be relevant. “Why should I tell him that I like eating fish on the weekends? Doesn’t really matter.”

11. Any other thoughts?

I sure hope I get at least a B in your class. Would be a bummer if I did this extra credit and somehow the stars aligned to strike me down at a 79%.

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D2 - Zines

I created this zine because I have had very strong feelings about people’s consistently annoying behavior in the library but never had anyone to tell it to. Although I have never confronted someone doing one of these things, I would very much love it if everyone united to call people out on their shit. The library is NOT YOUR HOUSE. Jesus.

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D4 - Student Choice

A poem/song dedicated to my niece born this November. Helena Mia Empiezas cada dia llorando Helena Mia Levantando mi hermana Pobresita Linda Siempre tienes hambre Golonoza Mia Tomando tanta leche Se van a secar los pechos De la Pobresita Linda Esto no puede ser! Te salvare del desierto En paz descanse Linda Usando mis esfuerzas Yo te llevare Adentro de las manos De tu pobre padre Que en el futuro En paz descanse. Couldnt really think of a good poem in my head in spanish so I didnt wanna put this out there but something's better than nothing I guess. Also my Spanish writing is rusty.

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D6 - Storytelling (Photography)

The story I chose to tell within these pictures is that of the work behind the Japanese Garden. Though I am talking specifically about the one on campus, I am also talking about all of them in general. The main thing I want to talk about is the work that is behind maintaining such a garden. To have such a beautiful garden would be impossible without constant, painstaking attention to the entire garden. The image I find the best within the ones I took would be the one of the sand garden as it perfectly depicts the work that people put in to maintain the elegance of the garden, and uphold the tradition that has been held for generations. I feel like I did a decent job in showing the beauty of the garden in the pictures I took, which is the most essential part needed to be able to understand the work put to make it so.

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D5 - Architecture and Urban Planning

In this assignment, my job was to redesign the USU Wedge. I chose to make it even more tedious, but in reality my line of thinking was on the more psychological side. I’ve noticed that it is in human nature to take shortcuts when they are far more efficient than the alternative default route. In some ways, by making the USU Wedge just as annoying to get across but with one more shortcut pathway, I’d be providing the subconscious mind of all students who take the shortcuts with a greater sense of fulfillment than we would have ever thought possible. 

I will go about this redesign by, rather than having one diagonal path that leads you across the pillar, I will add another right next to it.. This will inevitably lead to more people using these shortcuts, and even though the option to go all the way around, which would be the normal thing to do. This will also, in theory, lead to an established consensus between the university students that one path is for people heading to the USU, and the other to those heading in the direction of Brotman Hall. This will fix the problem of the awkwardness associated with going through the USU Wedge, and will also keep the satisfaction people get from taking shortcuts.

The potential tradeoffs associated with my redesign of the USU Wedge could be that some people won’t follow the unspoken traffic rules of the USU Wedge 2.0, and will go down the wrong path. This could lead to potential fights between students, as they could get angry at people who don’t follow the rules.

Overall, I think that in a year from now people will be talking about the changes I made to the USU Wedge as a godsend that made their lives 1000% better. I believe people will be singing ballads about me, the mighty engineer of old, who granted all future LBSU students salvation from the dastardly wedge of old.

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Speech Actions Assignment

The topic for this artwork was on the attack on video games by the news media and POTUS when related to shootings. While completely untrue and with no proof to show for it, several old farts decide to blame video games for atrocities that have nothing to do with them. As someone whose life might as well have been saved by them, I felt the need to show the beautiful side of games that many people don’t know exists. Games are more deep than Super Mario or Pac Man. Nowadays, there are games that rival (if not exceed) the levels of quality of storytelling expressed through books and films. With games such as Red Dead Redemption and The Last of Us, many people first started realizing what could be possible with storytelling in video games. Not just storytelling, but art can be expressed through video games in ways that I personally feel is AT LEAST up to part with the other mediums. I made this artwork to try to prove both of these claims.

I created this piece in a video game called Warframe. In this game, there is a mode where you can set up several scenes and can control the game’s camera and create sfx in order to come up with unique artwork and amazing screenshots. In this artwork, I chose a scene that is up in the snowy mountains of an unknown planet. This scene appears in the story of the game and is actually a monumental moment when it does. I positioned my custom version of the character/class called Wukong to be on the top of a mountain and looking out into the beautiful mountains. I added some filters both in-game before I took the screenshot, and after I took the picture. This art is important to me as it is from my favorite game which has gotten me through many tough times. It is also very relaxing for me, and in some ways surreal. For many art pieces like this, you can almost imagine being in the artwork, which makes it super cool for me because I can literally just boot up the game and go there. I can move around in the environment you see in the picture with the very character that is presented, or with another that you have never seen.

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Artist Conversation # 3 10/27/19

Artist - Chris Suarez

Exhibition: Anaheim to Avalon 

Media: Ceramics

The artist of this gallery is Chris Suarez. Chris is a student here at CSULB who is a senior in the School of Art’s Ceramics BFA program. This piece explores the memories of Chris as he moved throughout several homes in his childhood. As stated, Chris is in the Ceramics program and loves to make his own sculptures, however he also worked with metal parts that he had not made but rather found and chose to include/add upon in his artwork.

This work of art is a very rectangular piece that has a few other shapes within it. To me, it shows a memory of a nice gate that protected a beautiful house a long time ago. It depicts a time when many of us were still young and running around neighborhoods, most likely passing by gates such as these and not bothering to notice them. Now the gate is old and rusty, giving way for a new gate to hold down a new house in it’s place.

When I asked about what ideas were being explored in this piece, I was told that the gallery was inspired by his childhood life, as he would constantly move between neighborhoods growing up. Throughout all these neighborhoods, Chris found an interest in their diverse metal fences and gates. His experiences driving around Long Beach and looking at the neighborhood gates are what inspired his gallery pieces and it shows.

This piece didn’t resonate with me in terms of Chris’ perspective, as I never moved homes and have always lived in the same place. However, I can definitely understand the beauty and sort of mysticism that comes with venturing out to other neighborhoods that aren’t your own. For example, when visiting some uncles and aunts, the stark difference between my little neighborhood and theirs is something that will stick with me to this day. Overall, I liked the vibes that I was getting from this gallery. Nothing artsy fartsy, or trying too hard. Just home.

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C1 - Artist Conversation - Sienna Browne

Exhibition: You Are You’re Your

Media: Canvas Painting

Gallery: CSULB Art Galleries

Website: Siennabrowneart.com

Instagram: @siennabrowne

Sienna Browne is currently in her fourth year of the Drawing and Painting BFA program here at CSULB, and also happens to be a beach lifeguard, a middle school youth leader at Rock Harbor Church and an Instructional Student Assistant for the art department here at Long Beach State. She likes to go over the obstacles in her past in her art as a way to work through them and cement them there. Some of those obstacles included multiple eating disorders and social pressures. Despite this, she manages to put herself through the memories of pain whenever she makes a piece of art that relates to it.

For the first painting, I was able to gather a very human view of it. As there are twisted and deformed people, it almost seemed as if they were curled in a fetal position or twisted by society. Along with the vibrant, almost warm colors I was able to gather that either it was meant to represent the innocence of a child and the warmth of comfort that is associated with innocence, or the effects of society on Browne. It could potentially mean both. 

For the second painting, I got much more of a religious vibe from it. It depicts a god in the background, which to me came across as idea that the happiness and beauty in the world is where God lies, rather than in any objective, physical actions. The paintings both shared a lot of dots, which I don’t really see the point in.

Browne wasn’t there when I visited the art galleries, but had she been I would have loved to ask her about whether or not either painting had any specific ties to past traumas she endured. The paintings seemed to come off to me as very, very personal, so I couldn’t decipher any vague meaning.

This exhibition resonated with me in terms of the personal nature of it all. I couldn’t connect with her paintings, but I could understand that there were emotions and memories of someone else sealed within them. I very much liked the topic of the self that was being covered by the paintings, as it can lead to self-reflection and in a way made me start subconsciously thinking about my own life. Overall, it was a great experience.

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Finger Painting

The experience was a lot more fun than I initially thought it would be. I came into it thinking it would be some childish finger painting project, but it was actually a bit relaxing. The hardest part for me was putting the paint onto the paper in a dose/amount that suited what I wanted for the aesthetic. There’s only so much paint I could gloop onto my fingers. Also my gut instinct just wanted to smear the colors together, my brain was like nah bro that’s gonna look all brown and mushy. I had to restrain myself to make something pretty.

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Photos detailing the process of my super amazing graffiti that rivals the art of god himself. I used white and blue, mainly because white and black were the cheapest colors and because I wasn’t sure if black would be seen in the dark very well. Guess it would’ve worked but oh well.