Collective Aesthetic
6/1/11
I was very impressed with the overall effort and performance of the students at this year’s art show. Every installation really showcased the artwork and displayed the artist’s personality. Of course among the Honors work there the familiar imagery of Still Life characters and skeletal bones, but the similarities end there. From the simple backgrounds (or even lack there of) to the individual art works, each installation became a seamless artistic identity for this past year. Many times the use of color was unintentional, yet perfectly complementary. As you walked down the aisles, each panel or group of panels spoke for the artist and in a glimpse showed the viewer who the artist truly was. Portfolio students were the same way. The installations became a representation for the artist, of the artist. Even without reading their artist statement, a veiwer could get a solid image of the work just from looking at it. This is what a successful installation is, and our classes certainly succeeded!
Still Life Comedy & Tragedy
Stripey The Clowner wanted more than anything to be left alone. Because of his big nose and goofy glasses, everyone thought he was supposed to be funny. However, Stripey wasn’t funny in the least. He tried when he was younger, wanting to please the other Still Life kids, but this only resulted in further humiliation. Stripey just couldn’t understand why everyone insisted on him telling them a joke whenever they saw him, especially after they learned that he wasn’t funny. Maybe they thought that because he looked funny, he would become funny if enough time went by, but that never happened.
Then one day Stripey was moping in his usual corner when someone he didn’t recognize came over to him. Oh great, thought Stripey, they’re going to ask me to tell a joke. As he prepared himself to inform the stranger of his complete lack of humor, the stranger did something different. They smiled at Stripey and introduced themselves. “Hello, my name is Stone Face! I hear you need some cheering up,” the stranger said. Upon closer examination, Stripey saw that Stone Face was very sad looking. Why did they seem so happy if they looked so sad? After a long conversation, Stripey began to realize something. “Hey! I look funny but I’m sad, and you look sad but you’re happy!” exclaimed Stripey. “Finally, you get it!” laughed Stone Face. The two of them soon became best of friends. Stripey learned some jokes and Stone Face taught everyone that you shouldn’t judge others by their appearance, because you never know what they’re like underneath.
Sven had been on top of the Still Life for as long as he could remember. It was just the way things were. There was never a moment where he decided he was the leader, or when others elected him to be. Sven thought that he was a pretty fair leader, and that everyone was comfortable and happy under his rule. Imagine his surprise when one day, there was a strange unsettlement throughout the Still Life. Everyone was unusually quiet and unkind to Sven. He could tell there was something going on, but decided to ignore it. Maybe he was just imagining things.
A week later, the Still Lifers were continuing to ignore Sven. He knew that this could not go on much longer without someone telling him what was happening, so he made a proclamation. Instead of a simple answer resulting in rounds of cheer and good feelings, a riot took place. The Still Lifers wanted a new leader!
Sven was incredibly hurt by this outbreak. What had he ever done to displease them? Why didn’t they just ask him to change? Sven decided to step down peacefully. In his place, the Still Lifers elected for two new leaders instead of one. Stripey the Clowner and Stone Face, two old friends, took Sven’s place. Betrayed, Sven left the Still Life forever.
—————————-Fall Semester 2010-2011————————————–
Haiku Box Poems
-Celine-
A hidden message
Awaits the contained children
A face lies within
-Steve-
An epic battle
Trying not to collide as
Darth Vader escapes
-Hailey-
Memories revealed
Their patchwork souls remaining
From distant eras
-LeAnn-
The all-seeing eye
Opens to the dream world if
You play your cards right
-Lexi-
Simplicity is
The burned ashes and remains
At the end of life
Bottletar Heroic Story
Once again, the camera captures the perfect moment… Just In Time!
Movement, passing, busy, blurred, must… be… slowed… down. The lens observes and inhales these. Twists the nonsense into sense. Makes the invisible, visible. What the eye does not have the chance to see, the lens does see. Everyday actions and expressions are constantly missed by the eye… but not by the lens.
The lens is not the master, though. It is only the visual piece. The lens is the translator to the camera. The camera is the brain, which receives all of the input. It corrects and computes. It can move, edit and delete. The change that leads to the finality of the photograph is created in the camera. Therefore, it is the camera that saves the day.
The perfect moment occurs during the bustle of daily life; a mother rushing her dawdling child along the street, a businessman monotonously shuffling through his routine. When these two pass each other, for the briefest moment there is an exchange. The two worlds collide and interact. This is the kind of moment that the lens sees and the camera captures, which would otherwise be disregarded. Time slows down. The shutter opens, and then closes.
After the moment is captured, the camera’s job is done. Time is allowed to once again function normally. The passersby continue as if nothing has happened, because their eyes have not seen as the lens sees. The camera slips silently away with the whoosh of his cape.
_______Fall & Spring Semesters 2009-2010_______
Collective Identity
As you look around the art show, or even just the art room, the immense creativity, talent, and hard work of Wissahickon’s art students is obvious. The kids in art are serious and dedicated, and it shows. Those qualities are great, but I don’t think they are completely defining of us, either. Walking through the rows of panels, there is definitely a visible connection between each person’s work. The projects assigned to us could (in most cases) be picked out from panel to panel by someone paying attention, even without the required labels. Yes, the still life is a pretty easy one, but also the abstract and game language pieces, and of course the cards. Yet, each student also adds their own style and flavor to each assignment, which sets us apart as much as they bring us together. These assignments work both ways, because they give the students a common ground to work from, but the grow up, down, out, sideways, whatever way with it to give it our own flair. This can be seen in every person’s work, intentionally or not, and I think that’s exactly how it shoud be.
Conceptual Project
For my conceptual use of the school’s surveillance cameras, I want the footage to be untainted, as in I would not do anything to change what the footage is other than the normal goings-on that it would survey. My piece would be an installation; inspired by some I’ve seen in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a museum in Germany. It involves taking a week’s worth of footage from each camera (ALL 56!) and displaying the footage on 56 individual televisions. The televisions will not be like the latest High Definition, flat-screened televisions. They should be black 18-inch plasma televisions that display in only black and white. It is also preferable if they are kind of messed up, like they get grainy and fuzzy and have those lines, maybe even a testing pattern every once in a while. The televisions will be displayed in its own little room of wherever they are being hosted. They will be evenly stacked on top of each other against a single wall. The walls can be either black or white. The lights should be off.
Where the surveillance footage comes in is that each camera’s footage (a school week’s worth is good) will be displayed on an aforementioned television. The footage will first be played normally, then backwards, then forwards sped up, then backwards sped up, then all mixed up and manipulated. They should be constantly playing for as long as is allowed by the host.
Class Surveillance Logs
Surveillance Log #1: Monday 4/19/10
The girl with the accent. Talking the whole class, friendly with everyone, open. Smiles and laughs. Some days a large sweatshirt, others, a flower skirt. Drawing other with charcoal, sketching. Talking of people, friends, family, experiences, home.
Surveillance Log #2: Tuesday 4/20/10
The boy with a million paintings. He never stops, he’s a machine. Funky characters, cartoons, house paint. Abstraction. Paint splattered jeans, weathered boots. Old school bands. Hair was short but not lately. Pensively sitting when not vigorously working.
Surveillance Log #3: Wednesday 4/21/10
The girl is giggly, happy and entertaining. Everybody’s friend. Jokes, funny sayings, words. Repeated. Sharing her opinion freely. Sometimes confused. Contagious laughter. Curious. Smiling. Sharing. How can you not like her?
Surveillance Log #4: Thursday 4/22/10
A girl, silent and talented. Kind, smiling. Drawing people realistically. Favorite bands and Harry Potter. Reference from a camera or photo, printed. Incorporates objects as well. Three dimensional. Several small parts, to become one?
Surveillance Log #5: Friday 4/23/10
Two girls in the corner, chatting quietly. Contributing to overall conversation sometimes. Getting work done. One hates culture. The rest, in the back, on iMacs. Chatting together, laughing. Working? Maybe. Just kidding. I don’t see Facebook.
What are the ethical differences (if any) between the surveillance of objects/property and living subjects?
I think there is a great difference between the surveilling of objects and the surveilling of people. People are much more sensitive and offensive about being surveilled by strangers or people in power (government, mostly). I think people get the most defensive when surveillance occurs to one of their children, especially young children. For instance, on the street photography field trip, there was a group of little school children walking by and naturally most of us wanted to take photos of them. However, the teachers leading the kids were very upset and demeaning towards the students who did, saying that it wasn’t right (though technically it is legal). This is definitely an issue of ethics, whether or not you think it’s right to take photos of strangers.
Objects, property or not, are a bit different. An inanimate object cannot object to anything being done to it. Some objects even have to be surveilled, like in museums or banks or safes. When it comes to the ethics of surveilling personal property, I think the right and wrong are very circumstantial. Take cars for example. They are very valuable personal property that have a lot of importance, insurance, and money behind them. Generally, however, because they are so public, no one would even know or care if their car was surveilled, and in fact want it to be surveilled because of its value. I think people start having issues with property surveillance when it becomes extra personal, like anything with money, documents, or some meaningful memorabilia. Most of these take some form of sneaking to obtain if you are going to survey them, and then you get into legal issues, so I think that of course that is ethically wrong. Otherwise, it is simply up to the owner and what limits they put on their property.
Surveillance Log #5: Friday 2/26/10
Now that the mission was complete, Batman decided there was only one thing left to do: recue his twin brother. The Greens had informed him that he was spotted on the opposite side of this strange island. He was missing legs as well, which proved to be a predicament. The Power Ranger also had a brother in the area and agreed to help Batman with the mission. However, there was still the main issue of Batman not having any legs. Sure, he has arm strength, but could he do it? The tales of treachery and hardship from the Greens made Batman doubtful he could go at all. What he did not count on was the fact that he could easily climb the vines with his arms and then fly over the tip of the mountain right to his brother. Batman, it seems, forgot he was Batman. The Power Ranger had a bit more trouble, seeing as he has never really had to fight any serious enemies, but they made it. Reunion, celebration, more pizza, and Ninja Turtles ensued.
Surveillance Log #4: Thursday 2/25/10
It took them three days and several more losses still, but the National Green’s best lived up to their name and delivered. Oh, did they deliver! When they finally reached the top, they found that not only had Batman already been freed, but he was sharing a pizza with a Power Ranger! The men were too hungry to be angry, and they all ate their fill and continued to kick bad guy butt for the rest of their lives.
Surveillance Log #3: Wednesday 2/24/10
After weeks of toil, the National Greens are down to their last men, but luckily they’re also the best. They stop in an interesting valley of head-like rock formations to rest for the night. When they woke at dawn, the men noticed that some of the formations resembled their wives back home, but with interesting facial hair. Continuing on their journey, the men had one last feat to overcome; a giant frame and then a stretch of deadly vines until they finally reached Batman.
Surveillance Log #2: Tuesday 2/23/10
Holy hole in a Batman! He’s really in a jam now! No legs and his hands are tied up in a pair of schnazzy frames. What’s a hero to do? The National Greens are moving in, but they’re taking heavy casualties. The unforgiving landscape shows them no mercy as they traverse through exploding birdhouses and over slippery guitars. Shimmying up the vines, some fall to their doom. The leaves have minds of their own, and decide to hit the breeze hard and knock off an unlucky brave. Will they make it in time, or will Batman become Lieutenant Dan’s new roommate?
Surveillance Log #1: Monday 2/22/10
What’s with all the mustaches? Not that I don’t mind. I love mustaches, as a novelty thing. If I could grow one, (and I was male) I totally would! Mustaches just make everything so much… cooler. I spend good amounts of time looking at mustache merchandise, though because I’m perpetually broke I can never actually get any of it. So I’m pretty jealous of that blue-eyed, tough hatted, mustachio-ed lady over there. A nice silvery mustache, though I’d probably go Dali. Or Handlebar. Or that guy who works for the school and pops in classes sometimes. I guess I’d just mix it up. There are people who get mustache tattoos on the sides of their fingers so they can hold it up to their upper lip, you get the picture. Pretty fun!
Surveillance Prompt
I believe there is truth/fact in surveillance because most people generally know they are being surveyed. In every public place from the grocery store to the mall to the school, we know we have security cameras watching us. In places like Wawa or the grocery store, you can even see yourself on a screen walking into the store. Sometimes spontaneous surveillance occurs, but that is usually for an important reason. This type of surveillance is meant to protect us and the places we are going. If someone stole our car in the parking lot, the store can look at the security camera and get an idea of who took it. I do not think there is any harm or annoyance in this kind of surveillance.
There is also surveillance over the internet. People put all of their personal information out for the world to know. For instance, on Facebook there are profiles and if you’re friends with someone, they can look at all of your activity, photos, and information whenever they want. People know that this is happening and they willingly submit to this surveillance. I think that it is generally accepted and an integrated part of our society. Surveillance is not always a bad thing, and I really think it is rarely negative at all; only when it is being abused, and then the truth is gone from it. Otherwise, surveillance is reality, it is the world we live in, and that makes it a safer, better place to be.
Text Diptych Reflection
With this project, I had some ambitious ideas. My two games were The Sims 2 and photography. For some reason, as soon as I decided this, images popped in my head of what I wanted to do, and I pretty much was able to do them (after several trips to Home Depot). This is one of the first projects where my original ideas were pretty accurately transferred into reality.
For my Sims part, I specifically wanted to use the colors of dark blue and bright green because they are on the logo for the game. I painted these on a large board and across a nifty mirror I thrifted. On the mirror, I had the idea to leave a space with a question mark. Imagine standing in front and your face fitting into that space. This is because in the Sims, you create people and control them to be whoever you want to. I wish I could have done more layers of text, but the only colors that showed up well on the green were dark blue and orange. Getting the mirror to hang from the board proved to be the biggest setback, aside from the board’s large size.
For my photography part, I wanted windows. I often relate windows to photography, because lenses are very similar to windows. On two windows I wrote photography terms, artists, thoughts, websites, etc in black Sharpie. On the other side I cut my scrap photos from Photo I last year into strips and put them together. Getting them to stay flat against the glass required some construction, but it was fairly simple and very successful. I really like the outcome of this project for me, and I may add some hanging light bulbs (representing flash) to the windows before the art show, if I see it fitting.
Text Painting Proposal
The biggest “game” in my life is more of a hobby; photography. Photography has an entire language of its own, and even two languages if you consider that film and digital have separate sets of terms. I know most of this language from reading photography magazines, since I am mostly a “self-taught” photographer. The magazine articles use a combination of technical and basic photography lingo, while even making up some words! The variety of equipment, brands, styles, and concepts in photography present an entirely unique language that I hope to represent in this project.
The second subject I want to focus on is The Sims, a PC game that had sadly consumed many hours of my life years ago and is starting to pop up again when I am lacking in homework. The basis of the game is to create people (Sims), build them houses, buy them stuff, and control their lives. Kill them, torture them, make them billionaires, what have you. The strange thing about Sims is that they do talk, but in their own language which was created specifically for the game. It is a mixture of everything; sometimes I swear I hear English or German words, and other times it is just gibberish! Since this language is made up, icons are used for communication to the player so that they know what is going on in their Sims’ lives. This is a very interesting concept, which will be a bit of a challenge to represent in text.
Reflection Paper: ID Cards
Overall I am pretty pleased with how my cards came out. As they progressed, I got closer to accomplishing what I really wanted to do with them. My first set of cards, cultural, is definitely my least favorite. I wanted to do something creative with them, but I didn’t have a good idea until I was nearly finished. I tried to go into them with some kind of set plan, but it ended up failing. If I could go back and re-do a set, I would definitely choose cultural.
Next was familial, which I had some difficulty with, but came up with some fairly interesting ideas last-minute. I wasn’t as happy with them at the time, but as I look back on them I think I actually like my familial cards. Then the stereotypical cards, where I started to get more experimental. Some of my favorite cards are from this set. I just played around and tried ideas and they came out pretty well.
The last two sets of card, “other” and heroic, are by far my favorite. I used collage techniques on both of them, which is probably my favorite medium. I knew from the very beginning the theme I was going to use for my “other” cards, because it is a very evident feeling in my life. My absolute favorite cards were my heroic cards, because I went into them entirely experimentally, and I really like how they turned out.
I feel that from this project I learned to not try and plan everything out ahead of time and to just play around with things. I prefer the outcome much more and I think it is more sincere and better-looking artistically. I wish I had done something more creative on the backs of my cards, instead of having it be the same for all of them, but other than that I pretty much like my cards as a whole.
What defines a hero and what is heroic about you currently, or what heroic qualities would you hope to develop as you age?
To me a hero is anyone whom you look up to and admire. I do not consider myself a hero, though I have quite a few heroes. They are all people who possess qualities that I hope to some day emanate in my own way. These qualities range from talents, looks, style, personality, outlook on life, faith, position, lifestyle, creativity, parent, etc. The list is never-ending.
Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed and overshadowed by all of the amazing people in this world; if you look around, or on the internet, within your friends and family, there are always tons of people to compare yourself to. I easily become trapped in this state of mind, and then start to feel down about myself. Heroes are not always positive influences.
The main qualities I aspire to develop as I age are my talent/future study/hopeful career (photography) and being a parent some day. Photography is a passion of mine, something I am constantly thinking and dreaming about. I spend hours every day admiring and drooling over other artist’s work. Also, I have loved little kids my whole life and I am hopeful to be a parent later in my life. I believe that having kids will be one of the greatest joys in my life, and I will be photographing them non-stop!
In what ways or situations do I find myself treated as an “Other”?
My “other” identity
I actually find myself as an other very often because I used to be very shy when I was younger and I still am in many situations. I feel awkward around people I don’t know and I keep to myself. I also prefer working independently and I’m not good at making close friends with new people.
The place where I most often feel othered is in school. The past two years I have had little to no classes with any of my few close friends. When teachers say we can pick seats or partners for projects, they think they are being nice but it is usually my worst nightmare. I’m always that leftover person in the odd people group. I feel like I already know everyone so there’s not much opportunity for new friends or getting to know people.
I’m also othered in my youth group at church because there are only like three high schoolers and they don’t go to my school. Everyone is around my brother’s age, middle school, and they are so immature and annoying to me.
I want to make each of my cards represent a school subject: science, math, English, history, etc. I’ll also have one or so for my youth group and then something for art, because art is the only place I ever feel totally comfortable and un-othered.
What is your perception of how you are perceived by others?
My stereotypical identity
This is probably the hardest group of cards for me to answer, because this is not something I really think about. The few times I have wondered how others perceive me, I usually get the response that I am “uncategorizeable” or “unsterotypical” which do not help me in this situation!
I suppose the most common thing I have heard from other people is “nice” which is good since I try to be nice to everyone. Also, to people who don’t know me well I can seem quiet. Most people know that I am into art or that I am an artistic person, whether from how I dress or hearing things or because I often have paint on my hands.
Some people who know me better will say that I am really weird, strange, and silly. Also, I can be really childish sometimes, in the sense that I love childish things and I can even act like a child sometimes, like when I’m really sleepy. At the same time, I know my family perceives me as really responsible, smart, and accomplished. This ties into the family thing, because I’m the oldest I have the most responsibility and I’m the first to go to high school, learn to drive, I get almost all A’s in school, etc. Looking back on this, I must be perceived as bipolar because there’s pretty much everything on here except mean. I really hope I’m not perceived as that by anyone.
How are you positioned within your family dynamic and how does that influence your identity?
My familial identity
In my family, I am the oldest of my generation. (I am also one of the shortest!) Over the years, I have found that being the oldest has many positives and negatives. I received lots of attention when I was younger, being the first child/grandchild/niece/etc. As I have gotten older, the realization has crept onto me that I have many expectations from my whole family. I am the first to be a teenager, the first in high school, the first to drive, the first to go to college. It is a daunting amount of pressure, but I am praised for my achievements, and I am very lucky to be pretty successful in what I do and to have such a supportive, loving family.
I think that because I am the eldest, I have gotten very close with my family. We do tons of things together all the time. For instance, we have tons of parties. Birthdays, holidays, or just random days, we have family get-togethers and dinners. We eat my grandmother’s delicious cooking, play games, and tell funny stories. We all have our own unique personalities and interests, but we also have many things that we share which make us unique as a family. These unique family qualities are what I want to focus on in my cards; the quirky influences that my family has given me since I was born and that have shaped me as I have grown.
How do you define culture and how does culture define you?
My cultural identity
The past years in high school, my language arts classes have focused a lot on culture, so the question is nothing new to me. However, approaching it in an artistic sense is not something I have done yet, and poses to be more difficult than writing a 3-page essay or a quick “do now”. How do I display my culture on a bunch of little cards?
I started with the most basic, obvious aspect of my culture; the majority of my family’s background is German. I spent a month there this past summer, so I have first-hand experience and knowledge of the culture. Also, my current culture is (obviously) American, and more specifically, suburban Philadelphian. I want to do more than just a bunch of flags and food and whatever. I want to do something creative, different, and meaningful to me to represent my culture.
I recalled a funny moment from my visit to Germany this past summer. A bunch of us, Americans and Germans, were having dinner and hanging out. Someone brought up the slang word “jawn”, which is only known to us silly Philly people. My German host partner inquired, “Wait, isn’t that a name?” I found this interesting, because I had never even considered that “jawn” and “John” were really the same word, sound-wise. I then realized that, due to the German language’s pronunciation of the letters “j” and “w”, if they were to phonetically say the word “jawn”, they would pronounce it somewhat like ”yah-vin”. This unique clashing of my two cultures inspired me, so my 10 cards on culture will be playing around with this idea!
