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D7 - ARTIST CONVERSATION INSPIRED STORY

Artist: Kristy Still

Media: Photography

Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Dennis W. Dutzi Gallery

Website: N/A

Instagram: @krrr_sty_, @stillsxstill

Lany peered down at the little boy, who seemed to be very interested in what she was doing. He looked about eight, maybe nine years old, and was wearing a light green polo shirt with maroon cargo shorts. “Why are you wearing that,” Lany asked, “Don’t you know maroon doesn’t go with green?” The boy ignored her question and took a few steps closer to where she was sitting on the bleachers. 

“Why are you wearing sneakers with a dress,” he retorted. “I wear what I want,” Lany told him, already knowing what he would respond with. Earlier that morning, she had run out of the house after her dad threw a pan at her mother during another one of their daily arguments. She was used to it, but lately, Lany seemed to have less and less toleration for their antics. She needed to get away. The bleachers were her safe spot and, in many ways, her home away from home. Here, no one could tell her what not to do or throw pans across the room. But this was the first time she had seen anyone else on this side of the park. 

“How did you even find this place,” Lany followed. “How did you find it? I found it the same way you did,” the kid said with a smirk. Lany was very impressed by the boy’s sarcasm and wit. He reminded her of her own vibrant and daring personality. “Let’s be friends,” Lany responded with a chuckle, “I like you.” “But you’re like 30,” the boy joked, “Why would I wanna hang with you?” Lany got down from the bleachers and walked up to him. She knelt down to his height and said,” Trust me when I say you’ll want me around.”

As she left the park and turned the corner to her house, Lany stopped. She knew the last thing she wanted to do at that moment was keep going. So, she turned back around. She didn’t have a clue where she was going, but Lany knew she wanted to go far, far away from this rancid town. “Where are you going,” a voice spoke from behind. Lany turned her head to find that the boy from the park had followed her halfway home. “I’m going away. Wanna come?” “Okay.” And just like that, Crawford County had lost two rangers.

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Art & my Life (Final Paper Reflective)

The various art experiences I have had this semester were very enriching and have given me many new experiences as an artist. I enjoyed most of the projects and art experiences we were assigned this semester, except for a few that were time-consuming and tedious such as the art gallery project and the weekly artist conversations. My previous experiences with art have been very stressful and time-demanding/time-consuming, as I have taken AP Studio 2-D design in high school among other challenging art classes. Whenever there is a deadline for my art, I become very stressed out, and the quality of my artwork suffers as a result. However, in this class, I did not feel very pressured to perform at a certain skill level or meet strict criteria, so I felt like I had more freedom with my artwork.

I enjoyed going to the art galleries and looking at the works of different and unique artists throughout the semester. Although this became a little repetitive over time, my favorite part of these assignments was definitely discovering new artists and learning the reasons behind their unique styles. My understanding of art has definitely evolved a bit over this semester, although not a large amount. I have always known that there are many ways of making and portraying art, such as visually, through dance, architecture, music, film, and other mediums and methods. However, the lack of exams and strict expectations in terms of skill level were very new concepts for me and allowed me the opportunity to create what I wanted and have fun with it at the same time. This class, in many ways, brought back my joy of making art and allowed me to integrate art into my academic life this semester, which I probably wouldn’t have done on my own.

I feel that art can be really useful for my career since I am a psychology major. I love finding creative ways to integrate art into my academics, whether that be through my notes, projects, or coming up with new and innovative ideas. My dream career is to become a cognitive psychologist, working mainly with children and young adults. I plan on integrating art into my career through my communication skills and incorporating each child’s unique personality and learning/response style into my cognitive techniques. 

All in all, I really enjoyed my semester taking this class. Although there were some parts I felt were a bit tedious and repetitive, I did learn many things that can even be utilized for my major and career. I learned that art is so much more than just drawing, and there are endless possibilities and methods of creating art. The activities we completed throughout the semester allowed me to go out of my comfort zone and experiment with new mediums I have never worked with in the past. Creativity is a very important and useful tool to have, especially when you are trying to differentiate and individualize yourself and your material. Overall, I am really glad I decided to take this class, as it allowed me to have a different experience than the rest of my classes, and forced me to go out of my comfort zone and create new things. 

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D7 - ART ACTIVITY - REMIX CULTURE

I think there are many freedoms, fears, risks, and empowerments that come with internet culture. With the internet and the rise of the social media era, we have more freedom to post and look at things than ever before. However, there are some risks and fears that come with this freedom such as taking something from someone without their permission or posting something that derives negative feedback or criticism from others. But in my opinion, having access to the internet is very empowering, as it allows us to have unlimited access to information right at our fingertips. I think Copyright is currently working well, but should be modified in some situations. Often times, people are unable to use or even mention someone’s idea or work even when they give credit. For my work, I have chosen public domain images, since I do not have to worry about Copyright issues and taking an artist’s work without their permission. I really enjoyed making this “bloody mermaid” remix collage digitally on my iPad, as it was a very different and enriching experience. It definitely came out differently than I expected, but I am happy with the outcome nonetheless.

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EC feedback post

Personally, I felt that the format of this art class was realistic and doable, but at times somewhat scattered and confusing. Although most assignments and instructions were clear, I sometimes felt confused about the task at hand or what we were expected to do. I typically found out about these misunderstandings or things I was confused about from my peers. 

I felt that the art gallery project was effective in terms of allowing us to collaborate with our peers and act as curators, which was a new experience for me. I enjoyed getting to know new peers I had never spoken to and blending their ideas with my own. However, to be completely honest, I felt that the presentations in the class were spread out for too long of a duration during the semester since most of our classes consisted solely of watching people present. And while initially, I was interested in learning about new artists, after a while I just could not focus and dreaded coming to class. I would suggest shortening the presentation times or getting rid of the project altogether.

I really enjoyed visiting the art galleries on campus and felt that it was a really enriching experience to look at the works of budding artists that go to the same school as me. I definitely think this activity should be kept, but perhaps it should be changed to once every two weeks instead of every week, as it became very repetitive; I began to do it solely for the points after a certain amount of time.

I truly enjoyed the weekly art activities, as they gave me an opportunity to try new mediums and subjects I have never worked with in the past. I do not think they were excessive since we were assigned something different every week.

I thought the “7 ideas about art” were very enriching and different experiences than I have had in the past. I almost never work with sculptures, spraypaint, and creating online websites, so I really enjoyed trying them out.

Using Tumblr as my blog instead of uploading assignments to BeachBoard was a very new thing for me, and I really enjoyed it. It gave me a unique way to personalize my assignments and the way I posted things.

I thought Wix was an excellent platform for our online website, as it was easy to navigate and collaborate on it. However, only one person could edit the site at once, which made it a little inconvenient to work on it during our meetups.

At first, I found it a little inconvenient that all of our content was on a separate website instead of BeachBoard. But as the semester went by, I got used to how everything was set up and I don’t have a problem with it. 

I really enjoyed not having any exams or quizzes in this class, as it removed the pressure of feeling like I had to memorize everything that was going on in this class. Without this pressure, I was more able to enjoy the activities we did in the class and have fun.

Overall, I enjoyed this class but felt that a few things, mainly the artist conversations and the art gallery presentations, were dragged on for way too long. If these were improved, this would be an even more amazing class. Thank you, Glenn! :D

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D6 - ART ACTIVITY - STORYTELLING (PHOTOGRAPHY)

I chose to do my story on industrialization near the ocean, because I am very fond of the ocean and felt it would be a good idea to portray how it is being taken over by various industries and man-made creations. I think I captured my idea in images relatively well, but I definitely could have taken a larger variety of pre-industrialization images. Image 6(last one) is the individually “best” one in my story, since it is both aesthetically pleasing and shows the most evidence of industrialization near the ocean. I think that image 4 by itself is not the best, but plays a significant role in portraying my message. Next time, I would definitely show a larger variety of images. Other photo stories I would like to tell of in the future include childbirth, abortion, and the effects of child abuse.

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D5 - ARTIST CONVERSATION - DANIELA BARBANI

Artist: Daniela Barbani

Exhibition: Why Did the Cougar Cross the Road?

Media: printmaking, digital projection, etc.

Gallery: LBSU School of Art

Website: danielabarbani.com

Instagram: @artinthemachine

Daniela Barbani is currently a printmaking MFA student in the LBSU School of Art. She graduated from CSU Northridge with her MA. Her gallery “Why Did the Cougar Cross the Road?” was very unique and interesting to me as soon as I walked in, and although I did not get a chance to speak to her, I knew that I had to do my assignment on this gallery.

Barbani typically makes prints of cats, cougars, and other members of the feline family along with other miscellaneous subjects. However, her work also includes digital projection, like the gallery image pictured above. Her style is very bold and dark, with black and blue ink being the main components of many of her pieces. Her pieces can be seen on posters, large wood or cardboard pieces, and even traffic signs.

In her exhibit “Why Did the Cougar Cross the Road?”, Daniela Barbani depicts a cougar with some feathets inside, as a holographic image. Barbani has an interest in mountain lions and other similar creatures and how these animals “invade” cities and urban areas as a result of their homes being taken over. Through her art, she wishes to emphasize awareness of these innocent creatures that struggle to live in our territory because we have destroyed theirs.

I find Daniela Barbani’s artwork and message to be very inspiring and relevant to today’s world. Animal extinction and endangerment is a very prevalent issue in today’s society that we tend to forget about. Barbani’s work does a great job of bringing awareness to the issue, and I personally feel that we should be focusing more on solving it as soon as possible.

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D5 - ART EXPERIENCE - ARCHITECTURE & URBAN PLANNING

The USU Wedge

In my redesign of the famous USU wedge, I removed one of the dark gray pillars and the bench in order to make the wedge larger. If the wedge is larger, more students will be able to pass through, making it more accessible. Although it is possible to walk around the Go Beach sign instead of going through this tiny space, most students (including myself) choose the wedge simply because it seems quicker and more convenient than taking the long route. Therefore, increasing the size by eliminating large objects in the way will allow traffic to flow through more efficiently and reduce wait time. Now, instead of waiting patiently for the people on the other side of the wedge to pass through before you do, all students can pass through the large area at once. A year from now, I believe that students will really like the new access route. Instead of eliminating this favorable “shorcut,” I have simply made it larger. This will mean that CSULB students can still walk through their beloved wedge while not having to wait for traffic or bumping into that unnecessarily large bench.

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D4 - ART EXPERIENCE - FREE SPEECH

For this Free Speech assignment, I decided to create a piece based on the topic of raw femininity. It is a subject that I have always been passionate about. Raw femininity, contrary to how society portrays it, is actually very ambidextrous in the sense that it embodies both “traditional” femininity but also masculinity. We all know femininity to traditionally refer to being soft, gentle, and submissive, among other things. However, I believe that femininity can also have masculine aspects such as strength, rigidity, and power/pride. In this piece, I attempted to portray the two sides of raw femininity. I feel that I accurately represented my ideas. If I were to do this project again, I would definitely experiment with different media such as watercolor, marker, or acrylic, and try to go out of my comfort zone of always using digital media.

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D4 - ARTIST CONVERSATION - YICHIH WANG

Artist: Yichih Wang

Exhibition: “In Between”

Media: wood, metal, mixed media

Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Marilyn Werby Gallery

Instagram: yichih_w

Yichih Wang is currently an undergraduate student at the LBSU School of Art. She is 31 years old and is in her last year. Wang has created this gallery as a requirement for her BFA degree she will earn this year when she graduates. In her gallery “In Between,” Wang focuses on representing her country, Taiwan, and its culture through her art.

Yichih Wang’s art is very minimalistic and simple at first glance. Seen in the images above, “In Between” consisted of pieces that look very clean, crisp, and simple. In this specific gallery, Wang mainly utilized metal and wood in her creations. Since she specializes in metal, most of her works are comprised of these materials. Looking at the metal and wood, mainly the wooden bowls, I felt a very warm and earthy tone that was given off by her pieces.

As mentioned previously, in “In between,” Yichih Wang seeks to portray her Taiwanese culture and the beauty and peacefulness of nature. In her artist statement, she mentions that since she has been living in America for so long, when she goes back to Taiwan, she feels like a stranger. However, she does not feel completely at home when she is in America either. Thus, the name “In Between” for this gallery was born. From her Taiwanese culture and influence, Wang is inspired by natural and organic elements such as herbs and spices, and by strong contrast and shapes from her American culture. She uses her art as a creative outlet and as a way to portray her experiences and moments she has appreciated in her life.

As soon as I walked into Wang’s gallery, I felt very calm and peaceful. I really enjoyed her work and the cultural meaning behind it. Personally, I understand her idea of being “in-between,” as I don’t feel completely at home when I visit India, nor do I feel 100% comfortable when I am here. However, I have grown up in America my whole life, so I feel like I belong more here, but I still think that a lot of my identitiy comes from my Indian culture and background. I think that by incorportating simple but impactful elements into her artwork, Wang has successfully achieved the cultural message she is tryjng to portray.

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D3 - ARTIST CONVERSATION - CHRISTINE HUDSON

Artist: Christine Hudson

Exhibition: Dead Man’s Party

Media: various mixed media (fabric, stone/concrete, yarn, glass, etc.)

Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Gatov E

Website: cjhudson2314.wixsite.com

Email: cjhudson2314@gmail.com

Christine Hudson is currently a student at the LBSU School of art who has a very unique style of portraying her art. This particular exhibit, Dead Man’s Party, was done to bring back the excitement of Halloween to “those who no longer experience it very often.”

Her pieces in this particular exhibit are very unique and detailed. She utilizes assorted non-traditional materials that are often considered household items, such as yarn, glass, fabric, and even concrete to portray her messages. Hudson uses these “random” materials to create often human-like figures that are very much realistic. These pieces, in specific, were intended to be very creepy and hyper-realistic to fit her Halloween theme.

This exhibit, Dead Man’s Party, is an exhibition focused around the theme of Halloween. The unique part of it, though, is that Hudson actually has allowed many artists from different departments of the LBSU School of Art such as Sculpture, Photography, Painting, Printmaking, Metals, and Illustration to collaborate and work together under a common theme. This allowed them to go outside of their comfort zone and work with other artists who work with different mediums. She “encouraged half-formed ideas” instead of fully formed pieces in order to relieve the pressure that comes with creating a large-scale exhibition such as this one.

I personally enjoyed this exhibit very much. I really like all things related to Halloween, and this exhibit very much captured the essence of it. It was a very enjoyable experience just walking through Hudson’s gallery and marveling at her unique creations. The one that stood out to me was a live person wearing a ghost costume who was reading a storybook out loud as part of the exhibit. His/her hat fell off in the process, but they nevertheless kept the show going!

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D3 - ART EXPERIENCE - SPEECH ACTION

Making this pro-choice speech action art piece was a very interesting project for me. I personally do not consider myself to be a very political person, so doing something intense and meaningful like this was a very different opportunity. I decided to do my piece on female body rights (not just abortion, but the rights of females to make any decision regarding their body) since it is a very significant topic in my eyes. As someone with a uterus, I strongly feel that no one should be able to tell me what I can and cannot do to my body. That is solely my decision. I feel very satisfied with this piece, as I feel it accurately depicts the style and vision I had in my mind. If I did this project again, I would definitely try to go out of my comfort zone and try a new medium such as a live speech action, different art mediums, or even a performance.

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D2 - ARTIST CONVERSATION - EVA GRELLO

Artist: Eva Grello

Exhibition: Babyface

Media: Animation and Digital Art

Location: Max L. Gatov Gallery West, LBSU School of Art

Website: https://www.evagrello.com

Instagram: @misteremail

Eva Grello is currently a CSULB art student working towards her MFA. She explores many elements and ideas in her artwork such as stop motion filmmaking, digital art, pattern, and visual complexity. Her piece, Babyface, which was on display in the Max L. Gatov Gallery West, is a 3D dollhouse-like creation featuring many miniature pieces that each have their own story. She even displays a mini stop motion film of the artwork on a television screen next to it.

All of Grello’s pieces feature heavy patterns and are very intricate. It is very obvious, even at first glance, that these pieces are very time-consuming and detailed. In “Babyface,” each one of the individual components of the piece is handcrafted meticulously. They are made from various materials like yarn, felt, clay, and cloth. And as for the video accompanying the 3D piece, Grello’s attention to detail and timing really shine through. She illustrates a story with each and every one of her pieces.

In her statement, she says that “pattern has dual significance” in her art, meaning that it is an element she associates with comfort. Examples of these “comforting” elements in her work include bedding, wallpaper, stationery, and clothing. She also craves comfort since her chronic health problems leave her questioning reality. Grello’s patterns allow her to “restore her sense of well-being.” She loves justice and fairness on a sociological level and believes her pieces give her a break from the harsh reality of our country and the world.

Personally, I am absolutely amazed by and in love with Grello’s work and art style. I too am a lover of all things stationery, cute, comfy, and aesthetic. As soon as I walked into the gallery and saw “Babyface,” I was enchanted. I could not stop watching the video and the longer I stared at the 3D model, the more things I saw! I think that creating this type of art, though seemingly mellow, is very necessary sometimes in today’s cold world. It is very refreshing to watch and look at Grello’s art, as it brings great joy into life.

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D2 - ART EXPERIENCE - ZINE

I decided to do my zine project not on one of my identities, but instead on one of my deep insecurities. All my life, I have always been self-conscious of my body - especially the fact that I am naturally hairier than most girls. With my zine, I aimed to portray the journey I have gone through in my life, from often feeling embarrassed of my body and comparing myself to other girls, to eventually learning to accept myself. I came to realize that I don’t have to let my physical body define me as a person. Overall, I am very satisfied with this project! It turned out very cute and accurately portrays the message I intended. It was very refreshing to work on something I have never done before. I look forward to creating more zines in the future!

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D1 - ART EXPERIENCE - ABSTRACT FINGERPAINTING

I really enjoyed this finger painting project. It was really nice to work with my fingers instead of a brush, as it offered a lot more freedom. I just poured paint onto my paper and went absolutely crazy. It was so fun and exhilarating to see where my fingers would take the paint. I definitely think this was a great experience as it made me create something that was outside of my comfort zone. After I took some pictures my mom asked me if she could join me, and proceeded to make a giant swirl. It ended up looking amazing! I call this one “Emotion,” because it represents how I feel most times - wild, swirly, and all over the place.

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D1 - ARTIST CONVERSATION - JENNY RASK

Exhibit Information:

Artist: Jenny Rask

Exhibition: LIMBO

Media: mixed (sculpture, installation, ceramics, drawing, photography)

Gallery: Dennis W. Dultzi Gallery

Website: www.jennyrask.com

Instagram: jjennyraskk

Jenny Rask is an artist who primarily focuses on materiality and form. She is currently a single mother of three children and also a third-year graduate student at CSULB, in the School of Art. She is involved in the school’s sculpture program. Many of her pieces repurpose common items found in Los Angeles that most people would view as “trash” into interesting and unique pieces of art. She says that these new creations, once completed, give off a new form of “consciousness” - almost as if they are really living beings. Rask also says that these objects “call to her”. She views them as valuable and as building blocks of a new creation rather than worthless waste. Her art looks very unique, and it is very different from what I am used to seeing. 

At first glance, I was appalled and very shocked by Rask’s work. As previously mentioned, it is a very different type of art than the traditional works I am used to making and seeing. It was actually very refreshing and new to browse through all her unique works. Rask’s pieces utilize everyday objects and waste products to create an almost abstract being. All of her pieces are very different from each other in terms of composition but are also similar when you consider the content and message. For example, when you look at the first image displayed above, it is a little unclear as to what you are looking at. However, once you take a deeper look, you can observe that Rask has taken common objects like balloons and yarn/string to create a beautiful and colorful piece. This image is more abstract when you compare it to the second image. This work of art evokes a feeling of consciousness - just like she describes in her vision, the objects in this image seem as if they have a life of their own. This piece is very lively and colorful as well, much like many of her pieces. 

Jenny Rask’s pieces are centered around the theme of rebirth and human impermanence. In other words, by creating pieces that “come alive” using objects that are overlooked and would otherwise be thrown away, she is repurposing them and giving them a “new life.” She hopes that the delicate and temporary nature of her pieces will remind us how fragile life is. We only exist temporarily just like how objects in nature only exist for a short amount of time. This is the message she aims to portray in her work.

Although I was very much taken aback by Rask’s work in the beginning, I eventually grew to love it. Her pieces are very unique and so different from what we are all used to seeing. She changed my whole perspective on what art actually is. I really find her message that life is temporary and fragile very significant and impactful. The fact that even her works are very delicate and have the possibility of breaking apart easily shows just how precious human life is. My favorite part of her work is how every one of the pieces seems imperfect, messy, wild, and unfinished. This is exactly how life is. Nothing and no one can be perfect. The only thing we can do as humans is attempt to create a balanced and colorful life for ourselves, although it may be messy and imperfect.

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This was a very interesting and fun project to make. Although I decided to do it at home and not at the beach, it was a very educating and new way of creating art that I have never done before. I found out very quickly that making graffiti with spraypaint (specifically the fabric kind) is not as easy as it seems. I struggled a lot in the beginning until I figured out how to work the paint. In the end, this was a very rewarding and valuable experience and I am relatively happy with the way it turned out. Oh, and I also realized that spray paint does NOT come off your fingers. 🙁

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This plaster casting activity did not go as I thought it would. I decided to buy plaster from walmart that ended up being a fast drying kids craft version, so it dried up in the bucket before we could even pour it in. My friend and I followed the instructions carefully and mixed the plaster into the water quickly and attempted to pour it - but we were too late. The plaster was almost fully dried as it went into the sand mold, and therefore was not able to fuse into one solid piece. I have never done anything like this before, which is probably why this project ended up the way it did. Although many activities in my life do not require this process, I definitely learned many things from (attempting) to make this plaster foot. Next time I attempt a project like this one, I will make sure I buy the right kinds of materials. Especially when working with plaster, I will remember to be extremely careful and quick. Even though this project didn’t work out the way I thought it would, I am excited to try out similar projects in the future!