atnightithinkthemost

[atnightithinkthemost]

more from a small interview from a local artist alex tejada, she also attends csusb and enjoys art classes there.

[atnightithinkthemost]

The art of it

So! I’ve gotten into contact with artist in the community, which are mostly all my homies that I appreciate. I am asking them all the same questions. Which are: 

1. what are some pieces you did when feeling down, and how did they make you feel after? 

2. why is art important and impactful on mental health. 

This was my favorite response yet. I loved asking thee questions because it helped them think about themselves a little deeper, along with their craft. Their responses were so beautiful it made me happy that they feel so passionate about their work, and how it has helped them mentally conquer obstacles. 

These are his photos he has taken, the post was edited and designed by me!

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It’s Happening...

Our little community mental health instagram kicked off so well. We started off with a challenge which got over 20 replies from different people. We explained the different forms of art and how one of them is music, we then proposed the challenge of “ what music or song do you listen to to relax and distress”. I was honestly shocked at how many people enjoyed participating.

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It’s going so well

Our project is gathering a lot of the community together and everyone is sharing their experiences with us through our page. We love to see it. We post consistent mental health challenges in between our post about art and along with that we are getting active with other artist in the community to share their work and their work’s impact on their mental health. I can not wait to post more about it! 

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We got it together

After venting to Sabrina about how I felt about this project we decided to team up, which was perfect. She has the brains and I have the eyes. We both spew out ideas, but I am the one graphically designing everything and doing most of the art aspect of this project. Which is awesome. I love it and I am having fun with it. It’s been de-stressing me. Which is perfect with our project being based on mental health. The idea is to share experiences, art and have the community join in this big mental health diary via Instagram. Where we propose challenges, share artist’s work and how mental health has helped that, while making some arts ourselves. I’m here for it & how it is going to go. 

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I’ve proposed my idea and...

I have proposed my idea on zoom and well I felt like I finally had it down but I missed the art aspect of the project and instead proposed a philanthropy idea. Which I completely understood and now we just have to try some more. I have gotten into contact with my classmate Sabrina about her project, who could potentially be my partner in the future if I can’t get it together. 

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ART project, where are we?

For this project we are to find a social issue that is important to us and turn it into a social art project. There are so many social issues in this world that effect us daily and that I’m passionate about. For example, the decriminalization of drugs, abolishing ice, climate change, mental health awareness, police brutality and defunding the police. There are so many more. My personal social issue that hits home for me is defunding the police and putting these funds into the community. I love Pépon Osario’s work and I have read all the articles on about  Prison to School Pipeline. However, I’m finding it so difficult to come up with an effective way to illustrate this issue myself. What I find even more frustrating is that I am an artist myself. So these ideas should just be overflowing out of my brain right? UGH. 

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Here is my favorite artist as of today. IG: writingsfrommichael

I have a few pieces myself, I am literally wearing art! I love what this man stands for and how genuine and amazing his work is. Needed to post this. 

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Can art be a form of resistance?

usinArtusand pe

MwUahahAHA! Yes! Of course art can be a force of resistance. Art is anything you want it to be. Now more than ever are people using art as a way to voice their opinions and views all whilst performing acts of resistance. Artist everywhere are increasingly using their work to explore questions of political issues, social issues, race, ethnicity, justice and so much more. As mentioned before, Pepón Osario created large installation art as his voice to spread awareness on social issues such as toxic masculinity and budget cuts in schools. All through out the years many artist such as Yoko Ono (my fav), fought for peace through film making and dancing. Up to today, one of my personal favorite artist is a man who expressed his art through painting on clothes with such amazing quotes. His name is writingsfrommichael. I will post some pics in the next post! 

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What is the function of art?

Ideally, a person can look at a piece of art and guess the mediums, maybe a medium, when it was made, etc. One might even wonder “what was the artist thinking of when they made this piece?”. Well, according to google there are few functions of art that can be defined: Social & physical. However, the word “art” is so vague. I love that though. I believe there are more functions. One being emotional. Art can definitely make one feel something. Overall determining the function of art should essentially feel like a journey. The functions of art apply not only to the artist that created a piece but to you as the viewer. Your whole experience and understanding of a piece should contribute to the function you assign it, as well as everything you know about its context

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First picture: “En La Barberia No Se Llora” an installation by Osario representing the masculinity he was boxed in with while getting his haircut as a young boy. 

Second picture: “La Cama” an installation by Osario where he pays homage to mother and nanny, by covering the bed in recuerdos and cultural items

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#PepónOsario The Artist I chose to write about for my socially engaged art research essay. When I saw the list of names given to use by the professor, something just told me to research this man and this man only. I am glad I did. I love that I was able to relate to him on so many levels. For example: Osario is a Hispanic/Latino man, and he also studied social work with a focus on children (like me)

Pepón Osorio is known best for his large art installations. Osorio is also respected for his exploration across diverse cultures and for his commitment to his artistic process focused on social justice. He made sure to give a voice to those without one in countless communities. Born in Santruce, Puerto Rico and later residing in the Brox, he created countless pieces of art that would later turn into a movement.

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What is Socially Engaged Art?

Art is a very broad term and possibly one of its best virtues is its lack of precision, which means that it can mean basically anything. A lot of people are still arguing over what art actually is. There is also the debate if art should or should not have purpose, or make social changes. However, in this class we are focused on how art has implemented change, created visions and created voices. 

Socially engaged practice can be associated with activism because it often deals with political issues. Artists who work within this field will often spend much time integrating into the specific community which they wish to help, educate or simply share with. 

The artists’ aim could be to help this community work towards a common goal, raise awareness and encourage conversation around issues, or perhaps to improve their physical or psychological conditions.