A different approach entirely

This is what I did on the Tuesday before break:

Practiced transfer onto wood, thinking that the majority of my project would be creating a giant transfer on wood and then hollowing for a tree and some young sprouts.

After a detailed conversation with my uncle about alternative process and pinhole cameras over break, I have changed my project to something entirely different.

Yesterday, I made some lumen prints. I took black and white photography paper and put it in the sun for approximately 4 hours with organic matter, such as straw leaves and flowers, making patterns on top. My paper was a dark blue before I put it in the fixer.

 And turned a golden tawny tan color after the fixer.

 I am not sure whether it is supposed to be that color but I have a feeling that the brand and age of the paper might have something to do with it.  I have scanned them into photoshop and inverted the colors. I thought that the inverted colors would look great on the metal, but wanted to give myself multiple options, so I will be experimenting with both colors on the metal.

After I practice transferring them to the metal, want to bend the metal and make a pinhole camera. I might shoot from the upper deck of the ship, or I may try to focus on organic matter, much like the kinds that created the patterns in the lumen prints. Another option I have, is focusing on metal objects that look organic in shape. I decided to do this instead of the other idea I had because my original idea seemed to dead end rather quickly. I take photos, print them  large and then transfer onto wood, then hollowing out eyes or mouths and put a plant through it. I feel like this project follows along more with the theme of the class, simply because I can push it in so many different directions.




11-29 Practice Transfer to metal; Set up more lumen prints, procure some plexis for easier setup; Build pinhole models out of paper; determine whether I want to make a square camera or a circular one. 

Making it... I measured in increments of one inch. Each surface is an inch long, with half inch extensions that will overlap so I can pop rivet them together.

Finished box...

Pieces of the box. Having it laid out like this will help significantly when bending the metal. 4.5 inches long with two 1in flaps to overlap and bend in. A cap 1x1 for the end

Cylindrical model

If I try to make an end out of metal, it will probably end up having gaps  and such. So,  what I was thinking was I could create an end out of a circle of wood, slightly larger then the end of the tube. I could notch it so that the sheet metal cylinder fits inside. It would be lighttight and than I could transfer onto the wood and use some of the matte medium skills I learned before break.

Determined: I will be making a cylindrical pinhole. Have to figure out dimensions, but my model is 4 in across and the base is approx 1in.


Supersauce transfers!!!

The sauce went on and looked cracked...

12-1 Build the camera; Pop rivet, caulk the overlapping seams and paint the inside black. Hit the dark room and cut several photo papers the right size to fit in the back of the camera


**Shoot over the weekend (Or finish making the camera, depending which is more relevant) **


12-6 Shoot/ develop the photos
12-8 Make improvements and continue to work on final prints and presentation for final critique


The point is that the camera and its pieces will both be art.There is an artist (whose name I forget) who make pinhole cameras out of objects and then photographed related objects with his... It was continuous circles of art...

http://jerryburchfield.com/techniques.htm
http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/Pinhole_Camera.htm

Ideas for Project 3

1. Grow stuff, carve wood holder, transfer image onto it, sand and dig into wood to mess with image.
2. Make a cube, hang strips of fabric from the inside, images on the inner ones, projects onto the outer ones. spinable. http://eyebeam.org/projects/lumarca

3. Document stories, edit out parts of the face, project on building or tree
4. Imagistic representation of the pain from child molestation. http://eyebeam.org/projects/ruins-carcinomas
5. Free association experiment and documentation (for inspiration?)
6. Film lights, light writing, on mirror or blocks of glass, black light underneath


http://eyebeam.org/people/mary-mattingly

Reflection of Reflections.

Pictures to be posted later!

This project was interesting for several reasons. I think that most of the time in art classes, there is an expectation to be working under loose guidelines, mostly given free reign as far as how a project plays out. We are given an abstract idea and asked to make it concrete or to further the abstraction but add some sort of visual elements. As was stated in the prompt for this piece of writing, this project was utilitarian. We were working under strict guidelines and expectations from a team of programmers who had little to no experience with art or the process behind providing them with figures and pieces for their game. However, they were extremely respectful of Elizabeth and I, allowing us to give them input and suggest things. In a way, this may have worked against us, as I think some of the suggestions that we made prompted them to think of other elements that they wanted us to make.

I think that working within a team is always an interesting experience. I know that oftentimes, it puts a lot more stress on the group and that sometimes the lines of communication close, but I feel that, at least in this instance, it worked well. We did not run into any large problems. They did give us a number of elements to make very close to our deadlines, but at least they remained open to dialogue throughout the entire process and supportive of the time and feedback we needed to continue. I greatly enjoyed working with our computer science group. While I think that they gave us a little too much to do right before our deadlines, I found that they were entertaining to talk to, delightful to receive feedback from and very supportive in how they gave suggestions and vice versa.

Obviously, there were a number of personal complications that arose throughout this process. With the mold move out and missing the mid-project review of progress, I was set back mildly. I would choose to change this about the experience. However, even with those minor complications, I felt that this was a great learning experience and opportunity. I think that it would be interesting to all work in one area – both the programmers and the designers, so that there was a constant dialogue. I think, had we interacted more throughout the process, or perhaps outside of it, that we could have developed a closer relationship (not that it was not close, as is) and perhaps received more feedback and felt more able to voice our entire opinion. Not many people are willing to speak up to people that they do not know very well and ask for something to be done differently or better. On the programmers’ side, Kate was the most outspoken, but I think that oftentimes she felt limited by her group mates’ quietness.

On a smaller scale, splitting this project into pieces was necessary because of the volume or work but working with another artist was interesting. I think that at the beginning of the project, when we really weren’t sure what sprites were (and were daunted by the list of them that we received) we divided up the work based on the number of things we needed to make. However, since the sprites only needed to move one or two body parts and their motion was not complex, I think that the amount of work needed for the sprites turned out to be much less than we expected. On a few occasions she was able to give me some feedback on my drawings that was helpful – especially since it is one of her specialties and a weakness of mine.

It is interesting to think about this process and experience in relation to the “real” world. Obviously, the challenges and rewards of such a process will differ with each situation, but I found it exciting to work outside of the box. I was interesting working within an art group and then that group collaborating with another group. Out of Elizabeth and I, I was the most connected to the computer science students. Ariel (one of compsci peeps) and I ended up forming a sort of friendship by the end of this process. She was often the only person out of their group who could meet and so, she and I met up a few times one on one to discuss progress and different stylistic choices. I would then bring this feedback back to Elizabeth and the two of us would collaborate.

There was a lot of collaboration on this project, throughout the entire process. I think this is what made it so interesting to think about. While working in a group tends to slow down the process, and may involve a lot of backtracking, it is more intense in some ways. We were all bouncing ideas off of each other the entire time. I cannot imagine what sort of dynamic a large team of programmers and artists would have. Would they work closely as one big group? Would they have a head for each section that would meet, make decisions and dictate those decisions to the various groups? Has there ever been a game developed by artists? In this instance, the programmers came to us with a plot and characters and an idea in mind and we had to conform to what they wanted. I wonder how it would be the other way around. What if the artists developed a concept and story and then went to programmers and requested that they make it? I think that it may change the process entirely and I really wonder what impact it would have on the artists’ creativity. They would have no stylistic limits anymore, except for those they placed on themselves.

That being said, maybe it would be a different and new way to approach the project next year. I do not know whether programmers are always in charge, but it would be interesting to rearrange it so that it was the other way around and the designers also played a part in the structuring and storyline of the actual game. I think that this would also help the designers feel more a part of the game and might work in keeping the entire group accountable.

Overall, I think that this was a valuable experience. I know that at the beginning there was a lot of stress and questioning, but I feel that on most accounts, that sprung from an uneasiness of being presented with something new and unexpected. Once we settled into the level of production that was needed, we were able to reach a sort of rhythm. Starting is always the hardest part, particularly if you are unfamiliar with a concept. I know that I personally had to do a lot of research on videogames and elements, etc. as I was unfamiliar with what was really expected of me. And I think that as the process continued, we each grew to understand and accept our programmers. By the end of this process, I feel that people felt that they had done the best that they could with particular relation to the communicative and artistic efforts. All in all, an interesting growing and learning experience that certainly shed some light on what realistic career-like environment might be like. Very cool!

Art Talk: Saah

I went to Saah's talk on his media work.

Saah started his talk with a brief background. He graduated SMCM with a degree in Philosophy and English, though he had an interest in film and he took photography. After graduating, he worked for a commercial company and started shooting at night. He had not shot in approximately five years. He tried to combine an Old Hollywood feel and new corporate by mixing light. He looked at space as psychological closure, experimenting with light and vantage point to obtain a cinematic quality. He discovered that the feel was mostly due to light temperature. 

From this point, he worked on learning how to color the frame in the selected environment using projection lights to change the hue of the subject he was shooting. Along this line of thought, Saah expressed that he was interesting in looking at how the limited color palettes changed the dynamic of the space and how it was described. He used filters when shooting to bring the colors closer together.  He later expressed an admiration for the plasticity of painting, how one could split perspective and essentially build a landscape. He also admired the old cinema/photograph look of rounded corners. 

Saah gained a lot of inspiration from film. His photos are taken without looking through the lens and they are hybrid - pieces taken from many different shots. His work, now, is sampled and constructed, put together with a kind of frenetic energy. He finds details in different shots that he finds beautiful and combines the beauty from the different photos into the same, fitting the different elements together to form an entirely different composition. This is something I did not pick up on right away, while he was talking. I had been admiring the images and was, indeed, too wrapped up in the colors, etc. that I did not notice that he had said they were false. At first, since I had been operating under the understanding that they had been shot, felt betrayed. As he continued, I found that is methodology interesting. Though I think that it takes away the randomness and eccentricity and recognition of this fact from the nature of photography. It is a constructed beautiful but also speaks to how well the artist understands the nature of reality, as none of the images were shockingly too perfect.