Project 5

For my self portrait I wanted to portray societies standards for beauty.  When I think of myself and how I look I'm not satisfied, as most other people feel as well.  I think that as a society, we have standards for beauty that are unattainable for average people and celebrities like the ones I used in this gif embody those standards.  Mostly girls look at these celebrities and feel insecure and yearn to look like them.  I used a photo of myself to show that I feel that way.  By putting the celebrities faces on mine, it shows that I wish my face looked like theirs and that I cover myself because of that insecurity.  But not only does this gif represent how I feel, I think it can describe how a lot of pre-teen to young adult women feel.  I got my inspiration for this project from this photo I saw on the internet:

Project 4

Zines:

 **these are not their actual sizes or quality, I just wanted to present them next to each other so I had to make them smaller for a collage.

For my 3AM thoughts Zines, I wanted to represent how thoughts can go either way.  On the left, I have depression.  Depressions background is static because that's how someone feels when they have so much going on in their mind that upsets them.  The thoughts in depressions brain are jumbled and in disarray, much like how it feels to be depressed.  Depression also has very dark and dreary colors. I drew the tears and scanned them in.  Happiness is on the right and facing away from depression.  Depression is facing toward happiness, like it is longing to be happy and not be depressed. Happiness has a happy, colorful background and an organized, clear mind.  Happiness is thinking happy thoughts and doesn't have as much running through her mind.  I drew the sun for happiness.

Homework 9

     The Copy Rights article and Steal Like An Artist overlap because address the issue of appropriation, copying, and originality.  The article gives examples of appropriation artists and gives opinions of different artists on their views of appropriation.  One aspect that is very much in common is the example about Miranda Lichtenstein; she was accused of appropriating a short film from 1897.  But she claims that her video is a reappropriation from one she saw on Youtube and that the short film itself is an appropriation because it is a copy of a performance and the dancer appropriated popular dance moves of that time.  This ties in with Kleon’s claim in Steal like an Artist that basically everything is copied/appropriated and nothing is 100% original.

      An appropriation artist is an artist who bases all of their work off of reinterpreting another artist’s work.  I think that all artists today are appropriation artists to an extent.  What they create may be their original work and may not look like anything else that has existed, but all of their thoughts and ideas come from their experiences and art they have seen so it is not original to them.

     I think that the artists from the 16th century could have been appropriating, but it is more prevalent now.  Art and ideas can travel much faster and to a wider audience than it could back then.  I’m not saying that they didn’t appropriate, but I think it is more common now.  I do think that appropriating now is different than appropriating then because of the technology available.  Back then ways to express yourself were more limited and now we have more ways to make art and to appropriate other art.

     I found this image that Marcel Duchamp appropriated by putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

     High art is considered a piece of work that has high value because of its meaning or how fine it is.  These are works of art that are in museums or well-known.  Low art is considered low in value because it is more of a craft.  An example is an ad.  I think that the definitions do change when being appropriated because famous works of art are appropriated and reprinted everywhere but they do not hold as much value as the original.

     Appropriation, to me, is taking most or all of the aspects of one piece of work and using them to make your own work/interpretation.  Sampling is taking like one aspect or looking at many works of art and combining them to make your own piece.  Image transfer is taking an image and changing it or adding your own elements to change it and make it your own.

     I think that Kelley’s Black Star Press piece has a deep meaning even though he claims it doesn’t pertain to race.  To me, in combining white, milk, and dark chocolate together, they are representing the coming together of the races since the times of segregation in the photo.  I think his race, being white, adds a layer because whites were known for being the most discriminatory and a white artist showing, what I think, is the coming together of the races, shows how far we have come.  I don’t see a problem with him appropriating the image.

     I do agree that documentaries are appropriation because there are segments in documentaries that aren’t filmed by the director but need to be used to show the history or prove what they are trying to say.  People upload or share videos/pictures taken by other people on social media all the time but add their own comments, which can be reappropriation.

     I chose Cindy Sherman as the artist I wanted to research.  I found her work interesting because there was a lot of nudity… When looking through the google images of her work, it was somewhat creepy.  One of her series that I found was titled “Sex Pictures” which was dolls posed in sexual positions, and it is meant to show the dehumanization of women in our society.  I thought this was an interesting feminist like approach. 

Homework 8

My plan for success as at George Mason is to focus on my studies and to maintain a high GPA.  I want to learn as much as my professors are willing to teach me.  College is too expensive to not try hard and learn as much as possible.  Kleon mentions getting a calendar.  This definitely resembles what I currently do because I have a dry erase calendar on my dorm wall and a planner that I carry with my everywhere.  I have to write down everything on both.  I also have a note in my phone of everything I need to do on each day of the week.  I live for being organized and having multiple calendars.  They keep me sane.  Kleon also mentions taking care of yourself.  I like to think I do this; although I know that isn’t the truth.  It’s hard to take care of yourself in college and I often find myself putting my studies above my own well-being.  I’ve lost a lot of sleep and gone a long time without eating in order to study or get work done.

                I see my plans at GMU translating into my professional career because they will better my future.  If I learn a lot and maintain a high GPA it will help me to secure a good internship and also secure a good job to support myself and my family.  Most of Kleon’s other suggestions I have no adopted yet, but I hope to.  I would like to stay out of debt when I’m older; or should I say, not go into more debt than my student loans I already have.  I also hope to marry well as he suggests.

It is important to me to do my best in my work.  I put my all into everything I do and I don’t like to half-ass things.  I feel very disappointed in myself if I feel like my final product is not what I know I’m capable of.  I choose to leave my opinions out of work.  I try to be objective in my endeavors and thoughts.  My limitations are that I’m not very creative.  I’ve always struggled in art classes where I had to think creatively.  I think that’s why I’m into journalism and writing papers for subjects such as English.  Those require facts and not much creativity.

I chose to go to the library.  I chose this because I love the library and I always have.  In elementary school the library days were my favorite.  After school was over in high school I would go to my county library to check out books or work on homework.  I also hung out at Barnes and Noble a lot.  In college I often rent study rooms or study with friends in the library.  I just love being around books and somewhere so quiet.  The library motivates me to get things done.  But truthfully, I also have a religion paper due soon and I needed to work on that.

Homework 7

      My plan to do good work in my field once I graduate is to be unbiased and thorough.  It is important to be unbiased as a journalist because it is about reporting facts and not reporting my opinion.  Journalists have gotten a bad rep for being biased so I want to steer away from that stereotype and do what journalism really is.  I also want to be thorough when reporting the facts.  I want to do as much research and interviews as possible to be able to give all aspects of the story for readers to form their own opinions.
     I wonder about people most of the time.  I'm a nosy person so I like to people watch and wonder what is going on in their lives.  It's interesting to me that everybody has a different story and different experiences that have made them into the person they are.  When somebody does something I always think about what their motives are, whether they consciously or subconsciously did it, and what might have happened to them in their lives to cause them to act that certain way.  This ties in with psychology which I have considered switching my major too, but I'm sticking with communication.
     I came across a post on Facebook yesterday of a couple that had a photo shoot with a burrito, making fun of couples newborns photo shoots, in a sense.  I think this is really interesting for people in the class to see because it's actually hilarious and I love Chipotle.  Here is one of the photos

     I think that I am in my ideal geographic location for journalism.  That is why I chose Mason.  I want to go into political journalism and Mason was the perfect location.  I grew up in a very small town so I didn't want to go to college/live in the city and be culture shocked.  But I love being able to visit the city whenever I want.  That is why I chose Mason; for the location to DC and for internship opportunities.  I also want to live in this area once I start my career so I am in the perfect location.

     I mostly follow my friends online.  They contribute to my success because they motivate me by studying in Fenwick and the JC with me until the middle of the night.  I also follow Tomi Lahren online, who is a republican journalist.  She inspires me because we share some views and I aspire to be successful like her (I see her pieces on Facebook a lot).  Lastly, I follow my family.  Specifically, my mom and my brother inspire me to be successful.  I want to be successful like my mom and I want to be successful so I inspire my brother.

     I can't think of any examples where I complain about others work within my own.  I guess sometimes I subtweet about people or text my friends/boyfriend/mom to rant about people but that's I don't think I include it in my work.

Project 3 Colored Page

I chose to color this flower because spring just started and I wanted to make it spring colors. 

Homework 6

     Writing what you know can lead to terrible stories because you are only giving your opinion. When you write what only you know, you are writing with information that you have been given and formed your own opinion on/.  Therefore, what you write will reflect your opinion on the information you know.  In order to write objectively, we must think outside of what we know and use information from outside sources or people.
     In my major, it is essential to use outside sources and information when writing.  I am majoring in journalism and journalists are supposed to be objective when writing articles.  In order to be objective, we use facts, interviews, and information from trustworthy sources to write.  Unfortunately, most journalists these days don't write objectively.  The media has gotten a reputation of being biased, on one side or the other, especially when it comes to politics.  Journalists and news outlets have started putting their opinions into stories and sensationalizing stories just to get people to read them.  Journalism needs to get back to what it's purpose is; to inform and write objectively.  I can change this by not writing what I know or how I feel, but instead conducting interviews and finding facts about a story.
     I'm torn when it comes to writing physically versus digitally.  On one hand, writing started physically and I think it should continue that way.  Computers aren't very trustworthy and work can be lost in an instant.  But at the same time, it's much easier to write on a computer.  If you have to write a lot physically, it hurts your hand after while.  And when I type on the computer, I find that I can get my thoughts all down before I forget them because it's much faster.  Sadly, mostly everything has switched to digital writing.  Newspapers and magazines are switching to online because not many people read physical writing anymore.  Most professors will only take typed assignments.  The world has switched to digital writing, and I have to admit that I am guilty of this as well.  I wish that I could physically write, but in this day and age, digital writing is much more practical.  Of course, there are pros and cons to each, but digital writing has won out.  I think the computer takes away from the writing process because it's so easy to get distracted.
     When I procrastinate I usually use my phone, watch Netflix, or hang out with friends.  Occasionally, I will procrastinate an assignment by working on another assignment that isn't due until much later than the assignment I should be doing.  I do this because I see one assignment as easier or less tedious than the other.  My phone, Netflix, and my friends do not tie into what I do/study, so it's not very smart of me to procrastinate with those.  But procrastinating with other work isn't as bad.  I am getting work done, but I should be doing the work that is due soonest.  Procrastinating only causes more stress.