selfie

I am a senior this year. In the high school, I am involved in mini-Thon, Key Club, NHS, eagle buddies, photojournalism, and the diving team. At first I tend to be quiet, but once I get to know someone I act much different. 

My expectations for the year are to produce better pieces that I am more personally connected to.

I am better at digital art and I think I am stronger in that area. However, I like to draw and even though I'm not the best at it I think it would be interesting to include something other than photography in my pieces. 

Some themes I am considering working with for my concentration are:

-conforming to society

-effects of society on teens 

Valedictory

For my valedictory project I wanted to take pictures of people blending in or camouflaging with their surroundings. I originally wanted to dress my models up in outfits that matched a background and have them pose in different ways. However, I found it difficult to find outfits that worked for each of the backgrounds and although I took some full body shots, I liked the close up shots a lot better. I liked the way the models eyes and facial expressions looked and I tried to focus on the eyes in several of the photos.
Although the way I set up my photos was different than I anticipated, my general concentration stayed the same. I wanted to focus on the idea of people trying to "fit in" socially. I think that, in school especially, it's hard for many people to be themselves. Most people find it easier to blend in rather than stand out in a crowd. I tried to represent this feeling of needing to fit in and trying to be like everybody else in my photos. I framed my photos in a way that made the models background surround them and cover them up. Similarly, in a social setting, someone might let the people around them "cover them up" or make it so they disappear. While taking my photos, I told my models to keep a straight face and not to smile. I did this because I wanted the photos to show that when you try to fit in rather than be yourself, you will not be happy or smiling-at least on the inside. I think the message I want to come across from my photos would be to be confident and be yourself and you will find that you will become a much happier person.
In the end, I think my photos represented what I wanted them to. I really like the way they turned out and I think it would be easy for me to continue with this concentration. 

Valedictory Contact Sheet

Surrealism Finals

I chose to white out my face in this photo to symbolize how I present my outer self. I tend to be very quiet and try to blend in or disappear when I am with big groups of people. My facial expression in the photo hinted at this but I thought it would be more interesting and representative of myself if I whited out my expression entirely. Although I am quiet and shy with people I don't know, I tend to be very loud and excited after I get to know a person. I used the vibrant pinks and floral patterns to represent this "inner" side of me. I think that this piece turned out really well and I think the meaning behind it is very accurate to who I am. 

The black and white portion of Rachel shows her outward personality. She in quiet and keeps to herself but on the inside she is very imaginative and colorful. This photo is meant to show how Rachel's thoughts and dreams are much more than what someone would think they appear to be on the outside. I think this is my favorite of Rachel because it shows that she has many different dimensions to herself. 

This photo is, again, meant to represent Rachel's quiet and shy outer self. The building seems to surround her which is to show how she surrounds herself with the things she loves. She is fiddling with fabric which is to represent her love for fashion and the building is to represent her love for travel. These are things that someone wouldn't know from just looking at her.

In this photo, the pose is meant to represent my outer self which is quiet and reserved. The second photo was taken while I was hiking with my friends. This photo shows what I like to do outside of school which is something someone wouldn't guess by just looking at me. This photo is not my favorite because I liked it a lot better in color- it looked much more vibrant and interesting. I wish I was able to keep this photo in color because I think it would better represent me that way.

I really liked the surrealism unit. I think the photos that I came out with represent Rachel and I really well. The photos are really interesting and I was able to put deeper meaning in each photo which I liked about the unit. Overall, I think this has been one of my favorite units of the year.

Photos of me

Photographs that abstractly represent me

Examples From Artists That Inspire Me

Surrealism

1.     What is surrealism?

Surrealists develop their ideas from the strange things that happen in dreams. They juxtapose unrelated objects, placing them side-by-side.

2.     What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant?

The man wearing the bowler hat, it is significant because many people believe Magritte was representing himself when he used this motif.

3.     In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat?  How does it add depth to the work?
Magritte used a lot of repetition in the piece, however when looked at more closely there are small variations between each business man. These subtle differences encourage viewers to look more closely and makes the painting more interesting.

4.     Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art?
Surreal artists often are inspired by dreams and the unconscious. Many of these strange worlds are based off their dreams.

5.     Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism. 
They found that juxtaposing ordinary but unrelated objects could be as disorientating and powerful as waking up from a strange dream. Altered scale and language are also ways that artists portrayed the fact that dreams can not always be explained.

6.     What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects?
When he was 12 years old, his mother drowned in a river and when she was pulled out her face was covered with her gown.

7.     Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings?
Magritte believed realism allows viewers to focus on the subject of a work instead of the techniques used to paint it.

8.     Google more of Magritte’s work and include 2 images that interest you.

o   Explain the technique(s) used to enhance the work

Negative space creates mystery in a piece. Having a focal point makes a certain object stand out. Variation in a photo or painting can make it more interesting and dynamic.

Dada final

This project was very different to what I am used to. We did not plan out of what we were doing and we made our final pieces entirely by chance. Although I thought creating the pieces this way was fun, I don't think I would prefer it to the projects we've done in the past. I think some of my pieces turned out good, but I wish some had turned out differently. I really like the piece of Rachel because I think it looks interesting and different. This piece is also the one that I thought the least about. I did everything completely randomly, and I think its one of the best photos. Overall, I enjoyed this project but I don't think it's a style of photography that I want to further in.

Outward vs. Inward

Outward:
-good spirited
-quiet
-happy
-nice
-tired
-creative

Inward:
-diving
-talkative
-loud
-water
-excited

Examples of poses:

exquisite corpse

Surrealism in art is unnerving, illogical scenes, that are created from strange creatures from everyday objects. This relates to the exquisite corpse because each person's different, unique ideas came together to create one. 

Dada studio experimentation

MoMA & Dada

Dada art emerged after World War 1. It is called anti-art because artists were outraged about the war and mocked everything that contributed to the war. 

Marcel Duchamp was a pioneer of Dada art. Duchamp began presenting everyday objects as art. The readymade defied the notion that art must be beautiful.  This changed my expectations of what art can be because it made me think about all of the creativity and thought that goes into making everyday objects- similar to the creativity and thought that might go into a painting or sculpture. 

Dada artists embraced the idea that anything can be art. They wanted to create anti-art to mock the war and created things by chance rather than planning their pieces out in advance.

Dadaists believed that the value of art lay not in the work produced, but in the act of making and collaborating with others to create new visions of the world.


Dadaists wanted to undermine the structure of their society which largely included the language. By symbolically cutting up the language so that someone could recognize the letters but no the meaning, they were able to represent their feelings on society.

Questions About Art

1.     What is a work of art?  Describe qualities found in artworks.

A work of art is  a creative product. Some qualities found in artwork are emotion, expression, craftsmanship, aesthetic, and creativity. 

2.     What should an artwork provide to both the maker and the viewer?

Artwork should provide a viewer with some type of emotion or reaction that comes from the artwork and the artist with a way to express something. 

3.     Why do people make art?

People make art for many reasons. Some of them may be; to seek personal enjoyment, to express thoughts and feelings, to communicate, to provide an emotional reaction, or to tell a story.

4.     Where does one encounter art?

Art can be found almost anywhere. Not only is art in museums and galleries, but it is also seen in a persons everyday life. Advertisements and media are new forms of art that are seen by people almost every minute of their days. Some people would even argue that tools, technology, and generally anything that someone had to create can be considered as art. This would make it so that everywhere a person goes they are encountering some form of art.

5.     What is the role of the artist?

The role of the artist is to create something that displays their idea, invokes a reaction, feeling, or use to a viewer.

Dada Chance Poem

Don't look for happiness, create it

Create it happiness for don't look

Social Issue Advertisement

I chose to advertise the social issue of body image. I feel that the media portrays unrealistic body standards for young girls to achieve. With technology advances, much younger girls see these magazines and commercials and are more effected by these standards than ever before. I chose this topic because I know many girls that struggle with their image and compare themselves to women in the media. I hope that from my ads, a reader would realize how much media standards effect girls and how body image is increasingly effecting girls at younger ages. My target audience would be parents and people in the media. My ad shows parents how much their children are effected by what they see in the media and shows that body image issues stem from what their children see everyday. My slogan or tagline was "Girls don't just simply decide to hate their bodies, we teach them to." 

I like the end result of my advertisements and I think that the ads portray the issue well. I think the ads relate to each other and are consistent with the message. Some advice  I would give to someone else doing this assignment would be to make the ads simple but also interesting and creative. The most challenging part of the project for me was the billboard. This is because I didn't have a room to shoot in and I had to create the walls and shadows. The background wall was also very tedious and look a long time to photoshop. I think I did well with taking two different photos and making them portray the same message.