For this project, I (once again) worked with Gigi and Jádé to create a piece inspired by opal gemstones. As a group, we spent a while choosing which colors of acrylic we would use to create our work, then set about determining how to approach the idea.
Using digital layering and paper visuals, we were able to work out a plan for what our cuts would look like.
While our childhood development classes warn against over-emphasizing technical skills, I believe there are still merits to bringing 2D design into the classroom without placing to much focus on the specific principles of design.
2D design gives us a means to teach students about things like implied line and figure/ground, which I feel would serve as additions to their arsenal rather than stifling rules about what art "should" look like.
I recall learning about implied line at age 14 and becoming much looser in my art as a result, something that greatly benefited my artistic growth in the long wrong.
Additionally, children are exposed to brand logos and other kinds of 2D design virtually every day, and helping them to dissect what they're seeing can certainly be a boon for them. On a broader note, it helps students understand that the designs around them were made by human beings with a goal in mind, typically to be as appealing as possible. This in turn makes them more aware of the world and how they interact with it (or, in this case, how it interacts with them).
For this project, I chose to create 3 sticker designs relevant to myself, all with a similar look! The main idea here is a simple one: I wanted to create designs that appealed to my own tastes and captured the sense of whimsy I try to bring into everything I do. Thus: these friendly little blobs! The first is a sort of logo for myself, which inspired the direction of the other two. I wanted the other designs to feel like they could be used as personal assets in some way, which is how I wound up making them into corner decals. They both feel like something that could be used to accent a webpage or the like!
Though the shapes are simple and amorphous, I did want them to feel intentional. I deliberately ensured the arms were wider where they connected to the rest of the body, hoping the taper would help create a sense of movement in the figures.
For colors, I wanted something that felt cute and happy. something alive! My favorite color is lavender, but when buying objects I tend to gravitate towards pink, and much of my wardrobe is green. I think the colors I landed on evoke the feeling of spring!
While this may read like a bit of a cop-out, I'm being completely genuine when I say one of main inspirations in approaching this project was my own work on Scratch from when I was in middle school. In fact, I initially thought I might like to do a full recreation of that game, cleaned up more now that I'm an adult. I also remembered a game I would frequently get on Scratch to play at that age (which was easy to find by searching "ninja") which utilized the WASD keys for movement. I became determined to do the same, and as I experimented with ways to move a sprite around, I grew more interested with creating something new.
Keeping with the elements of my original smash hit "Puppy Game!" I knew I wanted the main focus of my game to be interacting with an object to see how it might respond. Thus: A strange little creature that dances for you!
My main takeaway from the readings was an expansion on a belief I already held. That being: one of the main benefits of teaching art is that children learn through play, which creative expression is undoubtedly a form of. In the case of stop motion, students are able to play in a very literal sense.
The tangibility of stop motion offers students a way of interacting with their art very directly, manipulating objects and giving them room to experiment with how they can influence their own art.
Stop motion seems an ideal medium to explore if the goal is allowing students to flex their creative muscles without being bogged down by technicalities. Stop motion is, by nature, incredibly forgiving. Much like live theatre, audiences understand that imperfections will be present, and they are often more willing to overlook them than they may be with other mediums.
Stop motion does not require perfectly smooth movements to sell the illusion of life. We see objects moving without visible intervention, and we accept the reality we are being sold. Additionally, because stop motion is typically done with straight-ahead animation rather than keyframes and in-betweens, students are met with one of the more straightforward approaches to animation that we have.
I really enjoyed working with stop motion, especially having a background in animation. Figuring out how to translate my skills from the digital world to the physical one was an exciting challenge!
I decided to let that challenge inform the theme of my work. Recently, I've been making an effort to reconnect with traditional art after spending most of my undergrad working digitally, and it's reminded me of why I fell in love with art in the first place. For this project, I wanted to capture the idea that my art is my own across all mediums, and the skills I learn in one help me in another.
I think the "transformation" prompt comes through quite well!
My set-up for capturing images was a bit janky, with my phone propped at an angle inside a vase and pointed down at my "set." For the final stop-motion shot, I turned the vase over and set my phone on top of it, using a water bottle to keep it at the correct angle. Unfortunately, that set-up was less stable than the first, and you can see in the final product that my phone fell off more than once. I did my best to line things back up, but it gets a bit jumpy towards the end.
I feel inclined to embrace the imperfections, though. The entire point of this piece was emphasizing art in all its forms. Whether things get nudged or I accidentally cast a shadow on a frame, it's all part of the process. It's all part of learning a new medium.
The fish itself had several different double-sided body shapes, which I swapped out to animate its movement!
Of all the media we've looked at thus far, the idea of pursuing sound as an art form is one of the most interesting to me. Beyond its merit as a medium in and of itself, sound can greatly enhance visual mediums by turning work into a multi-sensory experience or establishing clarity within a piece. The students I taught while working as an animation instructor always enjoyed adding sound effects to their films, and doing so often helped them sell the illusion of life that they sought to create.
Of course, sound is not merely a supplemental tool. I believe students can benefit greatly from being encouraged to create auditory art. Not all students are visual people, be that due to artistic inclinations or accessibility needs, and sound allows an avenue for different types of thinking to manifest in student art. Additionally, I believe there are some stories that cannot be fully conveyed through visuals, much like my own submission for our project on sound.
My two scanography collections follow the themes of "Personality" and "Utility," using objects from my backpack (and my backpack itself) to highlight the ways I have made my belongings feel like me, vs the things that I keep for their use. In some cases, this may be a phone case vs a phone, my choice of wallet vs the contents inside, or the bag charms I keep vs the backpack they hang on.
I suffer from a rare autoimmune condition called Myasthenia Gravis, which causes my body to attack its own neuromuscular junctions. This causes muscle weakness throughout the body, with the muscles of the face often being affected most severely.
I was diagnosed with MG in early 2021, by a neurologist who told me there is no treatment for my condition.
This is not true.
When I finally got in with a specialized neurologist in summer of 2023, she informed me that treatment exists, and my damage was repairable. I will never forget my first appointment with this doctor, bursting into tears when she told me they could get my smile back.
The symptom that affected me most, however, was the weakening of muscles related to speech, causing slurred words and a nasally voice. I cannot describe how isolating and identity-altering it feels to hear your voice being replaced by a stranger's. I spent a long time thinking I needed to come to turns with losing my voice, a core part of myself, with never being able to sing again.
Treatment was a miracle for me.
And I happened to have much of the timeline already audibly documented.
Sound is a medium I have little personal interest in utilizing, despite my love of music, but in creating this piece, I did come to realize that there are some stories that cannot be told visually. I have made plenty of poems and artworks inspired by my journey with MG, but none that felt quite as raw as this one.
I know from my experience teaching animation that it's actually not to hard to let students start working with sound, and I used the same software I taught, iMovie, to compile my clips for this work.
Not all students are visual people, and not all students have visual stories. Allowing them more options will give them more tools to express themselves and more interest in doing so.
My personal learning objectives for this class are as follows:
1) I want to make weird art.
This was a goal I stated last semester in intermediate painting, and while I feel I accomplished it there, there's always more room for weirdness. I want my art to be less cut and dry, more open to interpretation, more thought-provoking and all around odd. I want it to feel like something only I can make, not because of my visual style, but because I'm the only one with my brain.
2) I want to focus on process over product.
A new medium every week means there won't be much time to make every work a masterpiece. I want to explore new materials and learn from the process, rather than fixating on an end result.
3) I want to explore what makes my art feel like mine.
Trying out new mediums, I'm going to be making work that doesn't have the usual trademarks of my visual art style, and I want to unpack my artistic identity outside of those.
While these learning objectives have more to do with my own growth as an artist than anything else, I feel as though that's the main thing this class offers. By becoming more well-rounded and introspective as artists, we'll become better art educators, and that's what I'm aiming to do.
I'm quite late to uploading this week's assignment thanks to the stomach flu and some other factors, but I was too excited about the prompt to skip it outright. For a while, I struggled with where to begin, not sure where to start collecting the images for my landscape. I knew that I wanted to use the medium to "make things out of other things" for lack of a more sophisticated phrase, but I was having trouble narrowing that thought into something actionable.
In the end, I realized the ocean was my golden goose. I've always felt that the ocean was a home to me, and that everything under the water felt so mystical and alien. As such, I decided to use marine objects and creatures to build my landscape.
The only objects and textures that break the mold are the water, made from fabric and beads, and the sun, which is an orange slice!
PT 1
Last week, I chose to step away from the computer in favor of board games, less as a response to the assignment and moreso thanks to my wonderful partner, who has told me that they want to become "the board game guy" this year.
As it turns out, shutting off devices becomes a lot easier when it involves spending quality time with the person you love. We've been playing games together every night, laughing and enjoying one another's company for hours at a time.
I am someone who is rarely without my phone, and there was a period of time where my screentime metrics were showing an average of 8 hours a day. It's easy to assume I'm dependent on technology, but I think the truth is more complex than that. My phone is where my friends are. Many of them live in different states, some in different countries, and my entire social life feels reliant on the internet. The aforementioned 8 hours (sometimes more)? Those were the metrics from before I moved to New York, when my partner and I were long-distance. That was halved when I moved here, and now, spending more time with them than ever, it's been halved again.
Something I have also noticed is that there is a big difference between mindless consumption online and active engagement. Scrolling endlessly on social media can feel like a black hole, eating time and wasting a day. But that's not all there is! One day last week, when my partner had plans, I logged on to a remastered version of Toontown, a game from my childhood. That day, I met a stranger who had progressed further than me in the game and dedicated the rest of their evening to playing with me and helping me complete quests. We chatted and played together for hours, never knowing each other's names or any personal details, and I felt so fulfilled by the experience. The time flew by, but I also felt engaged for every second of it.
In essence, what I've found is this: technology can be soul-sucking, but the reason it is able to get its claws in us is because we live in a lonely world. Leaving tech behind is impossible in the present day, there's no denying that, but engaging with technology mindfully may be the key to making the most of our time with it.
PT 2
For my artistic representation of this experiment, I've created a d
igital drawing that aims to capture the feelings these experiences evoked in me. It is meant to be warm, inviting, and playful, yet simple in design.
