I SPY

I made this sculpture (called "I Spy") while I was home for fall break.  I did it by putting lots of things that I've found onto one platform.  I wanted to take objects people normally wouldn't see as beautiful and make something amazing from them.  This is the end result.

While I was making the sculpture I took a picture every time something changed.  With those pictures I created a stop motion video.  Here is the end result of the video.  Be sure to check it out on my youtube page as well!

Architecture Photographs

I took this photograph in Paris, France.  I wanted to show the european architecture with the vines growing along the sides.  My goal was for people to be able to know the building is from Europe without me telling them.  Did it work?

Happy Accidents

You know what's really great?  When you make some sort of mistake and realize it ended up making your work even better.  This photograph wasn't exactly that, but basically.  I took the photo of a cool building lit up at night.  However, the photo was really boring.  After loading it on my computer, I realized someone was running alongside the fountain.  I thought it was perfect, so I cropped it to focus just on the person.  After some editing, this was the final result.

This photograph was taken in New York City.  I think it looks very european, which is interesting.

Art Event # 4: "Living as an Artist in NYC" Opening

            The exhibition called “Sense of Place:  Living as an Artist in NYC,” was unlike any other opening I’d ever been to.  These artists were so creative in so many different ways.  It was interesting to have pieces that interacted with sounds.  It made the exhibition experience a lot more interactive and fun. 

            One of the most interesting pieces to me was the water bucket in the middle of the gallery. Inspired by performance art, the piece encouraged interaction by having lots of rocks next to it.  When a person threw a rock into the bucket the piece would make sounds (there was an underwater microphone in the bottom).  There were small rocks and larger ones, and when thrown in the bucket the sound would be loud or soft depending on the impact.  The artist also said it attempts to measure the pitch of the stones.  This piece was basically a virtual simulation of a rainstorm.  The storm would start off quietly, then get louder with thunder, then slowly soften again as it passed.  It was really peaceful, almost like hearing rain right above you on a tin roof.  

            There were lots of other pieces in the show that weren’t interactive.  One of my favorite was by an artist names Peter Schroth.  His pieces were very colorful and abstract, similar to my artistic style.  The pieces I enjoyed the most of his were a triptych inspired by dead flower bouquets.  The piece called Orange + Gray almost seemed 3-dimensional to me at times.  The longer I stood in front of it, it seemed like the whole piece was moving.  The piece was very abstract.  I couldn’t see the inspiration of a flower bouquet until after I read the artist statement.  I liked Orange + Gray a lot because the color seemed to pop out.  Outlining his orange abstract parts with blue was a really great idea.  Using complimentary colors helped both of them to stand out better and really pop out at the viewer.

            This exhibition was absolutely amazing.  It really inspired me.  It was nice to see some interactive pieces in Foreman because I’ve never seen any there before.  I loved the whole modern feel to exhibit.  It really made you think.

New York City Twist

Last weekend I went on a trip to New York City.  It was really fun just looking around with the perspective of an artist.  Although I think cities are really exciting, I'm from a small town and I can often see them as chaotic and stressful.  I decided to play around with one of the photographs that I took and try to make the viewer see the city through my eyes.

Spot Toning

After going around and taking some pictures of the foliage this fall, I really wanted to find a way to make the colors pop, so I decided to spot tone this photo.  I didn't play with the colors at all.  I just made the background black and white and left the vines their original color.  I think this made the color look a lot brighter and made the picture more exciting.

Photos Everywhere!

I took this photo at an antique barn.  It really surprises me how many places there are that can have a great photo waiting to be taken.  It seems like I need to take my camera with me everywhere I go.  If I don't, I usually end up regretting it.

Drawing: Shattered Image

Here's a drawing I did using only pencils.  I translated my passion for soccer into my  piece of work.  I really enjoy the almost 3-dimensional aspect of the hidden soccer cleat in the middle.

Commercial Photography

I've been playing around with the idea of commercial photography.  I think it's interesting to take artistic pictures of foods and make them seem really appealing.  Here's some of my photos so far...

Changing Heads Project

For a project we had to change two peoples head's together and morph them into each other.  Here is my final result.  Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman make one interesting person.

ART EVENT # 3: Guerrilla Girl, Jane Kaufman

On October 6^th, 2011 Hartwick College was privileged to have Guerrilla Girl, Jane Kaufman come and speak.  Kaufman was an original member of the Guerilla Girls.  Starting in 1985, the group was formed by a bunch of passionate women in the hopes of getting more women artists the recognition they deserved.  During this time period there were very few women artists, and they strived for there to be more.

            The Guerilla Girls took place in New York City.  The group of about 15 would get together to come up with ideas for posters.  These posters would express important messages using humor.  Once everyone agreed on every word in the poster, they would be created and put up all over the city during the night.  Two Guerilla Girl members would go out with a shopping cart, posters, and glue.  One person would put up the posters as the other looked out for policemen.  It was important they didn’t get caught, some of the things they put up they could have been sued for.  Once the morning arrived, there were posters with these messages covering the whole city for everyone to see.

            My favorite poster showed a traditional woman holding a fan with a gorilla mask on.  The woman was nude and the poster said, “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met. Museum?”  This was the humor of the piece.  However, they followed it up with a shocking fact.  “Less than 3% of the artists in the Modern Art sections are women, but 83% of the nudes are female.”  Combining factual information and humor, the Guerilla Girls created posters like these to inform people on the sexism of the art world.  They really made people think, causing this issue to rise in museums such as the Met.

            Jane Kaufman showed us a lot of the work the Guerilla Girls created.  She would explain the posters and answer questions we had about them.  After the Guerilla Girls work was shown, she showed us her individual artwork.  This woman was extremely funny.  She loves to show her sense of humor in her work.  It was truly entertaining to be able to see her pieces and ask her questions about her life as a Guerilla Girl.

            Going to this event really helped me understand and respect the Guerilla Girls as a group.  I think it’s incredible what they were able to do.  Remaining anonymous until just last year, this group really changed the art world for the better.  Who knows where the art world would have been today without them. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to pursue my passion as an art major.  They deserve a huge thank you for putting themselves out there for the future of art.

Abstract Line Painting

I did this painting last year in response to watching a performance by Maureen Fleming.  I used a lot of masking tape to help me create the lines with all the different colors.  It was a lot of fun to create and I loved the end result.

Burn and Dodge

Using a photograph I took of an old truck, I wanted to see what the dodge and burn tools could really do.  I converted the picture to black and white and made the darks darker using the burn tool and the whites lighter by using the dodge tool.  This is the result that I got...

As you can see, the photo on the top is a fairly nice black and white photograph.  (Although there are a lot of gray tones.)  However, the one on the bottom has a much better contrast.  The contrast adds a great artistic quality to the photo, making it a lot more interesting to look at.