Dia Beacon

Dia Beacon Reactions
I enjoyed going to the Dia Beacon. Many things seemed very interesting. One that stand out in my mind is the Warhol piece when you first walk in the building. It was different from his other pieces although it was easy for me to relate the piece to other works of his. Another thing that i found interesting was the piece in the back. The big circles in squares in the ground. It was bothering me that you could see the inside from all angles. However if you walk to the one side you could see inside of the square which had another square and you could see the bottom of that one, however since you can see the bottom of the other i wanted that piece to keep going. However i wish we could have spend more time in the museum. I didn't really understand why we drove for so long for such a short period of time, however i really liked the experience.

final project

• what did you attempt to emphasize in your visualization of the poem?
After reading Maya Angelou’s poem, “Phenomenal Woman” I felt a personal connection because I felt the deeper meaning of the poem was to be context with who you are. I am a very self-conscious person and reading this poem made me realize that you can be beautiful as you are as long as you are confident in yourself. I want to emphasize that fact that woman can be beautiful no matter what their size was.

• why did you chose the specific book structure —how does it relate to your interpretation/visualization of the poem?
I went with a typical handmade book because making the book look hand made symbolizes that you make whom you are. You choose your clothing hairstyle and size. You can make yourself who ever you want to be. I decided to go with a square rather than a rectangle because I wanted everything to be very balanced and visually appealing. Creating the book hand made was very complicated, however after much precision I think I came close to a book that could be sold.

• what processes did you use in creating the imagery and type for the book? for ex: made drawings, scanned them, worked them in PS, placed in ILL, did type in ILL, printed on the Phaser.
To create my images I first found images off the Internet of larger women who seemed to have someone happy expressions. I then used the magic lasso tool to crop the image off of the background and place them into a new Photoshop document. I then placed with different filters to create a playful look of the images. I create the background myself my rendering the clouds effect. I chose colors that correlated with the outfits of the women. I then put the images into illustrator to play with different fonts for the poem. I then took them to Staples to be printed on glossy paper.

• how did you construct the actual book? for ex: bought a binder and recovered it or made my own cover and hand bound it by sewing the binding, etc.
For the actual construction of the book I cut out each image don’t in Photoshop and Illustrator then pasted it on Bristol board. I cut the Bristol board out by hand and attempted to bend the edges to create a crease to be able to glue all the pages together. Although the book looks childish that was the way I was going in my ideas. There is not much that can be done when not having enough money to purchase the items I wanted, so I think the book came out well for the materials I had at hand. I decided to place a ribbon around the binding to give it an elegant look.

• list of typeface(s) used
Myriad pro
Lucida Handwriting Italic
Papyrus
Harrington

Poem

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/phenomenal-woman/

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Maya Angelou Poem

Project #2

word visualization

word visualization

Project #2 continued...

Okay time for a new idea. I think it would be interesting to crop different parts of my body, to be more detailed, my face and create this piece that is visually interesting. To create a work that makes a viewer think about it. Almost as if it is abstract. I need to now go back and take more photos of my face, with different expressions in different lighting to make the piece more interesting. Since this project is a triptych project, I was thinking along the lines of creating three different pieces. Each piece will be similar, but hopefully they will give off different moods, since I have many different personalities.

Project #2 (concept)

For the self portrait project I tried to take three different project, but in a way that they all relate. I have many different personalities, but the are all very complicated to capture through a picture. For the first picture I decided to wear my hair curly and have a surprised, excited look on my face. I usually wear sweatpants or dresses; I hate jeans so in each of my photos I wore different outfits to show my personality through the clothing. The first photo I am wearing mostly black and sweatpants. In the second photo I decided to wear a dress. I love to dance, so I wore an attire to try to capture that mood. In the second photo I straightened my hair and wore make up as if I was going out. My third photo was taken while I was shopping. I love to shop so it makes that much more sense for my self-portrait. The hat adds to show the outgoing personality that I usually have. Overall, I am not exactly sure of how all three photos are going to look placed next to each other for a triptych effect. But I hope after learning more about the assignment it will be easier to understand for next time.

Project#1 Illustrator

Photoshop Project #1 Final

Cindy Sherman,Cui Xiuwen, Frida Kahlo

Cindy Sherman was discussed previously throughout the class, although when compared to the other two artists her works seem to not be so stand-out-ish. Like the other artists, she is the subject for majority of her works. Sherman works in series. Sherman does not consider her work feminist, many of her works are playing off of stereotypes of women. Many critics seem to be either disturbing or funny. Its almost as if Sherman is not trying to capture herself in the photos, but she dresses in certain ways so that it becomes more anonymous, and just becomes a subject rather than a person.
Frida Kahlo is the most distinct compared to the other artists that we are learning about. When trying to recognize what artist goes with what piece, Kahlo's works are the most ethnic so that the artist is obvious. kahlo is a mexican artist. She uses vibrant colors which is influenced by the Mexican culture. She was very influenced by Realism, Symbolism, and Surrealism. I found it really interesting that Kahlo was self taught. Majority of her works are paintings, while Sherman's are photographs.Cui Xiuwen is another female artist. She graduated form the Fine Arts Department of the Northeast Normal University in 1990. Her Angel serious is an expression of her experiences as a young single women in contemporary China. Xiuwen also is a painter, although her works seem to give off expressions of being distraught. Overall all three artists are women have create works using themselves as the main subject.

kaitie project.. continued

Exersise

Changed Photo

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer and film director.  She is mostly known for her conceptual portraits.  Sherman has many albums, one of which contains only black and white photographs.  I believe there 69 photos in this specific group.  It was interesting how she uses herself as the main focus in all of her works.  She creates this environment and dresses herself up to portray a certain idea.  Some of my favorites are the photos where she is dressed up as a man, or a clown, it does not look at her at all.  It is great.  

Gregory Crewsdon

Gregory Crewsdonis a photographer who is best known for elaborately staged, surreal scenes of American homes and neighborhoods.  In his career he has worked on many different pieces all of which had different themes.   Most of his photographs are brightly lit and look very surreal. There is always a main focus in each of his pieces, but there is always something more detailed in the background which makes your eyes move throughout each and everyone one of his works.  His photos seem to have a certain commercial quality to them, making them all seem somewhat movie-like. 

Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall is a contemporary artist.  Apparently he has become well-known for his transparencies mounted on light boxes. He is a popular artist has as exhibits all around the world.  Since wall is a writer it helps to describe his works in an interesting manner since his works are so hard to group.  Like Teun Hocks Wall's focus in each of his pieces are usually people, or one person.  Majority of his pieces seem as though they are freezes.  Meaning movement seems to be occurring in the photograph.   

Teun Hocks

Teun Hawks is a commercial artist.  He is the main focus in the majority of his works.  His pieces are very dependent on a certain mood.  It is very interesting that he begins with black and white photos, then adds color to them to create a more interesting element.   It is also interesting how he is usually the only one in each piece, it creates a tone which is very lonely.  Almost as if it has something to do with failure.  For example, this piece is of Teun Hocks laying out in the middle of no where in a cardboard box, as if he is homeless.  It is ironic though because he does not appear to be poor, he is wearing a nice suit.  It is like he belongs in the city in the background.  The content seems to be that he would rather be homeless that have to deal with the usual that occurs everyday in the city.  Overall the main elements to his pieces are irony, scale, and a limited pallet.  

Inspiration

I have always been inspired by the art of dance.  Dance has been a part of my life for the past sixteen years. I also love the effect that shadows can add to a photo.  I took a photography class in high school and was very interested.