EC feedback

Overall, I really enjoyed taking this class but to be honest I think it should be a little more difficult. My top 3 favorite activities are plaster casting, graffiti writing and finger painting. I only had one least favorite activity and that would be vlogs. However, my reasoning for not liking it is a personal reason which is that I hate taking pictures and I especially hate recording myself. All the other activities, I think they should be enhanced and made a little more difficult/ have more steps. For example, for the automatic drawing I think that you should have made it a requirement to have enhanced it after doing it. Also, sketching in the garden should have been the first step but I think we should have made it a better drawing and not just a sketching and added color or painted it.

If by hybrid format you mean beach arts, I found it a bit difficult to use beach arts. It’s takes a little time to get used to. When I first read that we had to interview artist I was extremely nervous about that because I thought it was going to be more personal and I was going to be alone with the artist while I asked questions but it wasn’t as bad as I expected. It made it a lot easier for us shy people that at times it was more of a group thing cause a group of us would gather and interview together. I think going to the Galleries was cool because some artist weren’t used to having that many people look at there work so I know they appreciated it. At first I didn’t like the idea of having classmate convos but I thank you for them. It did push me out of my comfort zone to talk and get to know some classmates, otherwise I would have gone the whole semester without talking to anyone. I enjoyed the weekly blog posts but maybe instead of posting them after we do the assignment, you should post before we do the assignment work from previous years so that the student can get an idea of what to do. I know you really wanted us to have an eportfolio and to keep it after but I don’t think many of us will. Overall I really like taking this class I just think you should make it a bit more challenging for students.

Week 15: Activity- Finger Painting

I actually really enjoyed doing this weeks activity. I didn’t think I would have liked it but I did. At first I didn’t know how to start it off or what to do but of course I thought of trees like I always do. I thought it would be cool to just use my finger prints as the leaves and that’s exactly what I did. I painted the trunk of a tree and I just kept pressing my finger down around the tree to make the leaves. Once I did that I thought it looked to boring and I wanted to add some color so I did smaller trees with different colored leaves. I liked those more. I had funny doing this activity because it was okay for the leaves to not actually look like leaves. Finger painting did take way the pressure of having the painting to actually look like an object even though I decided to make mine look like an actual tree but I knew that it was okay for it to not look like a tree. Of course I decided to add more and I added a butterfly however I regretted doing it and k did not like how it turned out. I should have left it the way it was. This by far has been/ was my favorite activity even though I expected not to enjoy it.

Week 15: Artist convo- Krystal Ramirez

Artist: Krystal Ramirez

Media: Metal

Gallery: Dr. Maxine Merlino Gallery

Instagram: @kgrmetalcraft

This week’s artist conversation was different than the others. Usually we walk through galleries and look at artist work that they created to show what they want with the goal of getting their work known with people who view. When they are creating the work they might not think about what the audience wants. However, this week we walked through galleries of artists’ work that they created with the intent of selling it. The gallery that I really enjoyed seeing was the work Krystal Ramirez. Krystal is in the Metals program at CSULB as an undergraduate. Her favorite thing to make is jewelry and that is what the gallery focuses on.

As mentioned Krystal is in the metals program which is what her jewelry was made from. There was also these two plants that had shiny metal pots. The jewelry she had for sell focused on earrings. A pair of earrings that I liked looked like hoop earrings that many girls own, but they were of smaller size and they weren’t a perfect circle. They were silver like the usual hoop earrings. This artwork wasn’t personal, or to the liking of the artist. It was meant to be pleasing to the audience and to be pretty so that people like it and buy it.

When I walked into the gallery, I was really intrigued and I really liked the jewelry. To be honest, I was shocked when I saw the prices. The first thought was that it was overpriced but then I realized that these are unique pieces that no other person will have. They took time to get made and the artist deserve every single penny. I realized that these artist are barely getting started with their artwork and this is the career path that they want to take so it is important to try and make money off of it. The work was great and this is only the beginning for this artist. I can tell there is going to be a lot of success for her in the future.

 

Week 14: Activity- Instagram

So this week we had an Instagram activity and I actually had to create an Instagram because I didn’t have one anymore. I’m not a huge social media fan and this activity forced me to take pictures of wha to was doing throughout the day. When I looked at the hashtag I saw a lot of connections. There were a lot of posts that had pictures of places at school which I saw coming because of course people were at school that day. I also expected to see a lot of people posting about food (including me) because eating is a part of everyone’s day. My Instagram was new because I originally didn’t have one, what surprised me was that a lot of people had new accounts. I’m not sure if it’s because they didn’t have an account or if they made a new one just for this activity. Seeing all the posts it did feel likes community because we were all connected in a way and we were all working for the same goal which was posting pictures throughout our day for our class activity. It felt like I new most of these people when in reality I didn’t but I did feel some type of connection with them. I he’s actually got really sad seeing one of my classmates post. She was attending a funeral on Wednesday and posted pictures of that. Seeing those pictures broke my heart and my prayers go out to her and her family

Week 14: Classmate (sibling) Convo- Magalli Santana

So this week I was unable to make it to class due to a medical emergency. 😦 Therefore I was unable to do a classmate convo so I decided to do it this week with my sister. It said to incorporate this weeks question with our ID card so my sister and I decided to draw a laptop. The laptop to us represents technology which is what we think the college experience is going to be all about in 2036. Today, technology is already a huge part of college. A lot of people traded their notebooks for a laptop and the laptop is the most important item to a college student because it contains everything. As times passes technology is only improving and becoming a bigger part of people’s live. So of course, in 2036 I think more and more people are going to start taking classes online and just start skipping the whole part of actually going to school. People are becoming lazier to actually go and show up to class (I’m becoming one). Therefore, I think that the college experience is going to change. People aren’t going to experience college the same way and actually go interact and make connections with people. No more joining clubs and making new friends in college. We think it’s going to be all about the technology and all about online classes without them actually experiencing the true college experience.

Week 13: Classmate convo- Johnathan Girgis

This week I met Johnathan Girgis. Johnathan is a senior at CSULB who is majoring in film but used to be premed. Going from premed to film is a huge change but it’s grey that he is pursuing a major that he really enjoys. He will be graduating next semester witch is so cool. His favorite movie is called “bicycle thieves”. One of his favorite things to eat is salmon which is so different from my favorite food, chilli cheese fries. Just like I do, he really enjoys hanging out with friends on his free time. To answer the question of the week, we would both choose the red pill. I actually have never seen the matrix so I was a bit confused at first but we both had the same reasoning behind our answer. We are both realistic people and would rather know what is it we are facing than to be ignorant of our own reality. I am a very realistic person and would like to hear the truth no matter what so I would rather see how the world really is than to live in a world that is not what it seems and he agreed with me.

Week 12: Artist Convo- Sage Garver

Artist: Sage Garver

Exhibition: BIO

Media: Foam, Sculpture

Gallery: Dennis W. Dutzi Gallery

Website: N/A

Instagram: N/A

About the Artist

Sage Garner is an undergraduate senior at CSULB and she transferred from El Camino College. She is graduating from the BFA sculpture program. She does not plan on going to graduate school after she graduates. Her plans to move to Hawaii and get a job there while working on her art on the side. Ever since she was younger she has been interested in art but it wasn’t until she took some art classes that she knew that she wanted to major in Art, specifically sculpture. Sage is an outdoor person and some of her hobbies include hiking, swimming and cooking. One of her favorite things to cook is Asian food. However, she had certain illnesses as she was growing up which caused her to not be able to eat anything she wanted.

Formal Analysis

In the middle of the gallery there is a shiny piece made of gold wire wrapped with iridescent film which has a lot of gold chains connected to it. At the bottom of the gold chains there was a gold fork hanging from them. On all the walls there area lot of polyurethane foam sculptures of different shapes and sizes. Some looked smooth, others had some texture with sharp edges and looked ridged while some where circles. Those structures are the same color as the wall and seem to be growing out of it.

Content Analysis

The exhibition BIO was inspired by her life and was symbolic to her body. The white foam structure were meant to represent the cells in her body. She was born with an illness which was a huge part of her life and it basically took over her body. The piece hanging in the middle represents the nucleus of the cell that brings it all together. The fork might be a representation of the fact that because of her illness she was very limited as to what she can and can not eat. She wanted this exhibition to be sort of an auto biography that when people walk in and see it, you do not know immediately what is going on or what it is about.

My experience

I believe that Sage captured what she was trying to capture perfectly. As I walked into the room I immediately thought of being underwater. The structures on the walls reminded me of rocks, bubbles, kelp,seaweed. My eyes were drawn to the walls initially and then I saw the sculpture hanging from the ceiling which confused me a bit but I loved the material she used. What really through me off was the fork hanging from the chains. I could not make the correlation. Once I read artist statement it started to make more sense and I realized that the exhibition had to do with an illness, the artists own illness. I loved the fact that she made this whole exhibition about her illness and the fact that we did not immediately know that.

 

 

Week 11: Artist Convo- Kyle Kruse

Artist: Kyle Kruse

Exhibition: Janus Maxim

Media: Sculpture, film, print making

Gallery: Marilyn Werby Gallery

Website: Kylekruseart.com

Instagram: @kyle.kruse

About the Artist:

Kyle is a senior at CSULB in the Print Making BFA program and this art show was his senior project. It took him 10 months to complete and he had already graduated but came back for this exhibition. He plans on going to grad school and has a couple schools in mind like Yale and Visual Art of New York. Kyle is from a family of immigrants and has been moving from place to place his whole life. Long Beach is the first city where he has lived for longer than a year but hopes to move soon. Some of his hobbies include rock climbing and capturing photos in the wilderness, which I think is awesome.

Formal Analysis:

I didn’t know what to expect when I walked into this exhibition because of the black curtains covering the entrance making it dark. There was also dirt scattered all over the floor which was something I have not seen before. There were three screens that were playing videos and also three masks that that were on top of podiums. There were also three wood craving that were extremely detailed. This exhibit gives you an uneasy feeling and you don’t know what to focus on but that is one of the reason why I liked it so much.

Content Analysis:

Kyles work comes from inspiration of research he has done. He chose to have this exhibition relate to Greek mythology. There were three sets of everything, films,sculptures and woodblock cravings which represented the Roman myths of Prometheus, Janus and Sisyphus. He didn’t target a specific audience he wanted this exhibition to be for everyone and wanted everyone to feel some type of way while walking through it. I think he definitely accomplished that. The dirt on the floor was placed there to appeal to the audience senses. these different factors is what was so intriguing about it because you do not know exactly what to feel or think.

My experience/ Synthesis

This exhibition has been one of my favorite. I feel like the artist captured exactly what he was going for. Walking into the room I felt a little creeped out and I just didn’t know what to think. The dirt, the sound of the videos, the dark room, the masks, everything played a role in the uncertainness I felt. I felt like this exhibit had a lot of meaning to it and I love how his work is based off of research. The detail on the masks was amazing and it makes me understand why this exhibit took 10 months to finish.

 

 

 

 

Week 11:Classmate Convo- Yonathan Sahle

So I actually met Yonathan at the Japanse Garden the week that we were sketching. Yonathan is in his senior year at calstate long beach and he is majoring as a mechanical engineering. I originally decided to major as an engineer but it just wasn’t for me and it’s a very difficult major, so props to him for finishing through with that. He really enjoys taking this class because it’s something different than the classes that he has to take as an engineer. He gets to clear his mind and relax for once instead of being so stressed. He likes the fact that there aren’t many rules when it comes to art and he gets to just do his own thing. To answer the questions of the week, Yonathan thinks that it’s okay for artists to draw people people with their free expression because it is there work so they should have it the way they want it and it shouldn’t depend on how people want it. Yonathan also thinks that it should be an open ended thing, however he thinks their should be a limits to it so that no one gets offended. I agre with him cause I also think that artists should draw what they want but also I don’t think it’s okay for any artist to make a work of art that will purposely hurt someone or offend someone.

Week 10: Social Network

This weeks activity made you think about connections between people and it showed how everyone is somehow connected in one way or another. I think Dunbar’s number does make sense to me and I agree with the fact that we only have around 150 truly meaningful relationships throughout our life and that the rest will be in more casual ways. I think that it takes time to create a meaningful relationship with someone and that not everyone is worth your time so I completely agree with it. I think its funny when people are proud to have thousands of “friends” on Facebook because in reality only a couple hundred or even less are people that you actually know and have met and have some sort of relationship with them. To me, that number doesn’t mean anything. I think that my personal number will be less than a 100. It takes a lot for me to get close to people and allow them in my life. So I know that I will not have too many meaningful relationships because I sometimes don’t allow myself to even get to that point. I don’t use social media anymore but even when I did, the people I was “friends” with were only people that I actually knew and had met in person before making them my “friend” on social media so I would say the number would be pretty accurate for me.