Poem Book Files

Poem Book

For my poem visualization, I picked a poem by a man named Hugh Cook. I found his poem, Blue, online and I really loved it.

Blue

by Hugh Cook

There was a sky, I remember.

There was a sea.

There was turquiose and there was lapiz lazuli

in the markets of Nepal.

There was the actual blue

of the living light of the rainbow.

I remember, writing this now,

writing with the aid of the silent gray,

the gibbering gray soup with serves as my eyesight now.

I got a lot of emotions and a lot of imagery from this poem as soon as I read it, which it why I wanted to do my project on it. First, I created the imagery. I used watercolor strokes on Illustrator to create the texture. The meaning in the poem that I understood was a man remembering how it used to be before he was blind, and I felt a gentle progression from blues to grays. So I used that imagery in my artwork - not only did I make the panels go from blues to grays/purples, I tried to add less and less texture as I went along, adding to the idea that he is even going more and more blind as he writes the poem. I searched for braille typefaces on the internet, but none of them suited me, so I created the alphabet with circles in Illustrator and then created the words when I needed them. After they were printed and mounted, I used paint to create a raised texture on the braille so that you could actually touch it.

Overall, I am very happy with how this project turned out!

Artist Presentations Response

I enjoyed listening and learning about both group's artists for the artist presentation. Both found a theme to unite two artists that would create an interesting exhibition.

SARA & NICOLE: Jessica Bruah and Graham Harwood

I enjoyed Harwood's art more than Bruah's, although both were interesting to me. I have an aunt who has schizophrenia, so I am constantly aware of her disorder every time I see her and am overwhelmed by it, so I can't imagine how it must be to live in her shoes. That's one reason I found Harwood's work particularly interesting. His work was a more aesthetically pleasing to me. Both confronted the viewer and made them rethink their definition of self - I found this particularly evident in Bruah's work. Although I didn't enjoy her work as much, the faceless figures in turmoil set in normal places, often around the home, were interesting to look at and think about. Why were these woman in such distress in places often thought of as calming or at least homey? I can see how she is influenced by Cindy Sherman - turning definitions around and giving the viewer a portrait to think about is something she does very efficiently as well.

VALERIE & JARED: Pascal Dombis and Jeffrey Shaw

Val and Jared did a wonderful job picking out two artists who were both contemporary, interesting and had similar ideas about their art. Their systems were interesting to look at - I especially enjoyed Dombis' work featuring lines all along the wall. I think they would work well in a museum exhibit together as one is more interactive and the other simply displays his artworks. I think the large scale of their works interacts well together as well. Artists who use systems like Dombis and Shaw interest me because they combine two things normally thought of as separate - math and art. Sol LeWitt does art like this too, with systems and lines, and I think his art would also fit in this exhibit, as long as they would be willing to put two digital artists with one more traditional artist. The works that were picked were complementary to each other and worked well, and we incredibly interesting to think about and be involved in.

Self-Visualization Final

Word Association - CAVE

Distortions Gallery response

Distortions: Contemporary Media Art from Mexico was one of the most enjoyable and interesting galleries at TCNJ that I have been to thus far. All of the work was either extremely interesting to me or made me think about art in a much different way than I usually would. My favorite piece was Esparza's Urban Parasites instillation. I immediately imagined what the piece would look like if encountered on the street, all these little robots moving amongst a heap of old electronics. I didn't really understand de la Garza's Trilogy of Money instillation but I'm glad I got to hear his explination during the artist talk about the focus of the aesthetics of money rather than their monetary value because it was an interesting thought. Especially when considered that de la Garza did none of the actual work he was displaying. The buzzing little motors were also fascinating to walk into the gallery and see - I thought they worked well with the parasites on the ground with the technology.

The artist talk was interesting as well. I'm glad we were shown more of Esparza's work because I found it the most interested and I really enjoyed his other works, even if they were just pictures. It was fascinating having Ricardo Miranda Zuniga traslate everything the artists were saying about their work - I didn't expect that. The performance by Ivan Abreu was very fun to walk and very cool - I loved how you could just hear small bits of the song in the ice. The use of ice on top of the record was one of the first pieces to catch my attention in the gallery and I was glad I got to see a live performance of the piece. It was interesting to know that the ice doesn't last as long here in the United States as it does in Mexico. I think the piece which I enjoyed most that wasn't at the gallery but was shown on the slideshow was the work done entirely with confetti, although I'm unsure which artist it was by. I liked the spontaneity of the piece. Overall, I think Distortions was an enjoyable gallery as well as opening to attend.

Self Visualization Write-up

For my self-visualization, I plan to take multiple pictures of my hands/arms in different positions. The first will show my arm in a reaching up position. The second will show my hand in an imaginary gun position. The third will show my hand pointing out at the viewer. After taking pictures of my hands in all three positions, I will load them into Illustrators and draw them with the help of my drawing tablet. I plan to give my hands a sort of pen and ink over watercolors feel when I illustrate them, following a Ralph Steadman-esque technique to illustration. I plan to include writing in my illustration as well. I’m not sure about the sizes of the pictures yet, although I don’t think I want them all to be the same size.

The meaning behind my self-visualization is the way I can use my hands in conjunction to other objects and body parts to express myself. The hand reaching up shows my need for help. The hand in the imaginary gun position illustrates my sometimes-overwhelming stress. The hand pointing will show my constant influences from those around me - including the viewer - as well an accusatory gesture . I will try to make the words that I include especially prevalent in each panel.