shiannercpsarts-blog

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Pentathlon: Theatre/Dance

Tonight I attended Sketchup’s improv show in Hoff Theatre at Stamp. It was my first time seeing sketch comedy in real life, and it was definitely a unique experience! I found I’m not the biggest fan of sketch comedy, but it’s always cool to check out an unfamiliar art form and learn something new about what kind of art I’m into!

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Pentathlon: Fine Art

Today I visited the Midpoint Gallery in Stamp. I really loved the various pieces created by Jessica van Brakle, as she did a lot of subtle collaging in her pieces. This reminded me of the collaging I did in my capstone project, though it is wildly different and much simpler. I don’t always like how black & white is used in art, but it is used beautifully in her pieces. 

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Advising Meeting 2

Name: Shianne Richardson

Adviser: Jess Krenek

Meeting Date and Time: April 12, 2017 at 6pm

1. Jess and I discussed many aspects of my project, including how I will be presenting my project at ArtsFest. We discussed setting up an interactive surrealist collaging type of thing for everyone who comes to see the art, which I think is a really fun idea.

2. My next step is to keep working. Just as everyone is, I am a bit overwhelmed by all of the work I have to do in addition to my ArtsFest projects. I am trying to just power through my work so that it can be complete in time for set-up on Friday (because it probably will not be ready before then...).

3. I do not have any concerns at this time.

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CPSA Process/Progress

In working in these small groups, I found so many different ways in which each student has drawn inspiration. It is fascinating to see how each of us are working toward the common goal of doing a research project, but our projects are all so wildly different, and our creative process is drawn from so many sources and experiences. My group mates asked me a lot of thought-provoking questions that have allowed me to think about small details of my project I would have initially never paid attention to. For example, one of my group mates asked if my collages will tell a story or be completely spontaneous. I had always planned to make them pretty randomly, and though that has not changed, I never quite thought to have my collages tell some sort of story. Having this fresh perspective is very useful. For this reason, I can say that pretty much each question my group mates asked has been considered very useful feedback.

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First of all, this looks delicious. It’s super exciting to see that your project is focused on things that I love so dearly - food and art! Which idea came to you first, to do a project based on a place, or a project based on food? How many different locations do you plan to work with in your project?

I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

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These are so good! I love the way you chose to draw your characters. I really admire your talent. I see you noted in one of your posts that you plan to paint these drawings. What type of paint do you plan to use? Do you intend to paint your drawing using a particular color scheme (warm colors, cool colors, pastels, etc.)? You seem well acquainted with drawing -- are you also already familiar with painting, or is it a less familiar medium for you?

IT’S 4AM but this marks like? 2.5/4 done w sketches? I’m really happy w how Robin turned out :) definitely still need to tweak some things w/ Raven though…something is off and I’m not sure what. but for now time to sleeeep

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These are really cool! I particularly like the second one in the top row. I’d love to go and see these up close and in person. Roughly how big are they? Did you note any particularly interesting meanings connected to one of the weights? Furthermore, how do you plan to use this piece in your project? What about it stuck out to you that made you want to incorporate it in your own work?

This is a piece from the African Art museum that I plan to add to my collections of pieces from Ghana. These are weights from the Akan tribe of the country Ghana. They were for measuring gold dust, and they were once traded throughout all of present day Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Some weight forms were selected just for their beauty or to display the owner’s status. Many of the weights evoke Akan proverbs, meanings varying with time and place.

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When I began doing research for my project, I knew I was interested in surrealism, but I was not exactly sure what my end project would look like. I originally planned to present a painting and a poem. Through doing my research, I found that the form of surrealist art that most interested me was the art of collaging. This article was one of the first I read when I decided I wanted to focus on the art of collaging in particular. Though it only lists ten artists, each of these artists has such a unique style of crafting their collages. Just scrolling through the article alone, one can see how each artist listed has a very distinctive style. Getting a look at so many distinctive styles has given me a huge, beautiful pool of inspiration to draw from. Additionally, this article allowed me to find one of the two particular collage artists I have recently drawn the most inspiration from. 

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This collage, as well as the rest of this particular artist’s collages, are a huge source of inspiration for my capstone project. The artist does an excellent job of juxtaposing so many strange, contrasting pieces to make an incredible collage. The use of ink and paint is a great way to fill up white space that I have not yet tried in practicing creating my own collages. 

Collage, Ink, and Paint on 11" x 14" Wood Panel

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Capstone Process: Reflection

I’m still mostly in the process of researching surrealism, specifically different famous surrealist collage artists, such as Man Ray and Jesse Treece. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to get a ton of practice in with creating my own collages, as I have yet to get a bunch of magazines to practice with. It’s kind of surprising how expensive magazines are. However, I’ve recently found a Scientology magazine with some interesting images in it that I am excited to try collaging with! I’ve only gotten to practice with National Geographic magazines, so I’d really like to try collaging with magazines all covering topics very different from one another (e.g., People, Time, Vogue, Rolling Stone, etc.)

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Pentathlon: Music

I got to see The Flaming Lips play at the 9:30 Club two nights in a row. Actually, it was around my sixteenth/seventeenth time seeing them. It was so incredible, and I got to bring my boyfriend to his first Flaming Lips show! I love this band. 

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Pentathlon Two for One: Concert in Close Quarters featuring Ahamefule Oluo and Soulchilde

This past Wednesday, I went to the CCC to see Ahamefule Oluo and Soulchilde perform a very up-close and intimate set. The music was incredible and the experience overall was a lot of fun. I enjoyed that we were able to sit and casually ask questions -- it felt very personal. Their Radiohead cover was super cool!

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Presentation (and fashion show!)

Last Thursday, I went to Busboys and Poets in Takoma to attend a World AIDS day presentation and fashion show, put together by The Women’s Collective. The presentation focused on the prevalence of AIDS among women, and how the stigma of AIDS being the “gay men’s disease” made it so women with HIV/AIDS often went ignored and unsupported. It further discussed ways to prevent spread of the disease, as well as other important information regarding women’s health.

I found this photo to be particularly great - it is from the fashion show part of the presentation, and each of the women pictured are wearing dresses and skirts made out of condoms!

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Theatre/Dance

Last week, I attended the Nine Dollar Bill Theatre Company’s show, Tarot: A Queer Burlesque. It was the first burlesque show I had ever attended, and I had a great time!

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Music

My friends and I took a bit of a drive and went to see Brand New, The Front Bottoms, and Modern Baseball. Traffic got us there late, causing us to miss Modern Baseball, unfortunately. The rest of the show was incredible, though!

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Fine/Studio Arts

I recently visited the East Building of the National Gallery of Art, as it reopened relatively recently. I absolutely love the NGA, so it was great to get to take in so much new art.

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Music Last week, I saw my lord and savior, Kanye West, in the flesh. It was amazing. I am forever changed.