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.

Project 3 Blank Page

I chose an owl because when I was looking at coloring pages online there were a lot of owls that inspired me.  It seemed like something that was moderately simple to make, but not too simple that it didn't challenge me.

Homework 5

•      I think something is worth stealing when it inspires me.  It isn’t fair to take someone’s work completely without giving it a new meaning or changing it enough so it should inspire you enough to give it a new meaning.
• ·         I think this text relates to postmodernism because it addresses many modern examples.  But it also has quotes and examples from people before then so I think it applies to every era.
• ·         When we first learned about it in class it was kind of depressing.  But I think the author of Steal Like An Artist really puts it into a good perspective and makes is more freeing. 
• ·         I think creative hoarding is taking ideas but not doing anything with them.  I think collecting is taking things that inspire you and putting them all together to hopefully create something of your own.
• ·         He means that art is too big of a concept to grasp.  We should focus on individual artists because they’re all different and there’s no way to understand all art. 
• ·         Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe wrote a book about two kids wanting to be artists.  These friends moved to New York to pursue this dream and became artists by pretending to be artists.  They went to a park and dressed up as artists.  This made people think they were actually artists.  It did work for them because an old woman thought they were artists but her husband didn’t.
• ·         Plagiarism is copying something word for word, exactly how it is.  It is trying to pass someone else’s work as your own.  Practice is copying people so that you learn how they thought and seeing like them.
• ·         Imitation is copying someone.  Emulation is when you copy someone but turn it into your own thing.

Because I am a writer, I don’t know very many artists at all so I chose an author as my creative thinker hero. It was really hard for me to choose just one.  But the author I chose is F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I love his work.  It’s hard for me to find who inspired him, but I think his daughter and wife really inspired him because he wrote very nice letters to them and seemed to influence his writing.  But what inspired him the most wasn’t people, it was the culture.  He wrote a lot about the roaring 20’s and social issues going on in that era.

My major is communications, concentrating in journalism.  I love to write.  With creative writing, Kleon’s thoughts are very true.  Most ideas have been done and it’s hard to find a book with a very original, never been done before plot.  As far as journalism, the subjects are new because we write about current events.  But a lot of news sources report the same events so it isn’t original.  When it comes to writing, we’ve all been taught by many different people and teachers so how we write and our writing style is just a combination of all of them.

Project 2

For my photoshop project I wanted to make it literal and figurative.  For my background I used a simple, but not too boring black and white pattern.  I didn't want my background to take away from the colors and letters but I also didn't want it to be boring.  I took letters from the logos of my favorite apps, restaurants, brands, movies, and tv shows to spell out favorite.  There are two letters for each letter in the word favorite.  

Homework 4

     I think that appropriation is taking someone else's art or idea to make your own, different art or idea.  When creating art, it's hard to think of something that hasn't already been done.  When appropriating something you can make a deeper meaning or create an entirely different meaning of someone else's art.  Fair Use is a part of copyright that states that one can copy another's work for use of criticism, news, reporting, teaching, and research.  I think that appropriation and fair use are enemies because they mean entirely two different things.  Appropriation can be used for criticism or one of the other things listed, but mostly isn't.  It is usually used for one's own artistic purposes and to expand upon the original piece.  But that is against fair use; so therefore, they are enemies.
     After reading the articles on the Cariou and Prince case, I'm not sure that appropriation really has one definition.  I know that appropriation is changing someones work enough that it has a new meaning or can stand on its own, but who can decide that?  Everyone is going to have a different opinion on whether or not something has been changed enough to be appropriated.  This case was a perfect example of that.  I thought for awhile about who they could use to determine whether the photos were changed enough, but I couldn't think of someone.  If they use art experts, those experts all have heir own opinion on appropriation and will all give a different view on these photos.  They will give their opinion on the photos based on their prior opinion on appropriation and that isn't fair. After that I thought about using people who have no knowledge of art or appropriation, but then they wouldn't know enough to give a valid opinion.  That makes appropriation such a fuzzy, grey area.
There's no definitive way of saying whether something is appropriated or not and that is tough for art and artists.  I think that in cases such as this one, the artists that appropriated work should have a solid, in depth explanation of what their appropriation means.  I think that is what hurt Prince, is that he couldn't give an explanation.  Personally, that makes him seem guilty of copyright infringement to me.
    Personally, I am not on Prince's side.  I don't think it is fair for him to create his entire career on appropriation.  Furthermore, it doesn't seem like he has an explanation for how he appropriated the work and changed it.  It seems that he is winning there legal battles and getting away with his lack of appropriation because of his fame and money.  It seems as if he can get away with using anyone's work without changing it.  I mean, just printing out peoples Instagram posts?  Anyone can do that and I'm not sure how he appropriated them in any way.  Sure he changed the captions; but the captions seem offensive and sexist.  It seems to me he just stole their images and made money.  He needs to be held accountable and give explanations as to how he is appropriating these works.
   

Homework 3

Our generation definitely does view events through a screen rather than watching the actual event.  When people go to concerts, they would rather film the show on their phone and watch it through there rather than put their phone away and just enjoy the show.  I love going to concerts and I am guilty of this too.  I think we do this because we have the capability and we want to be able to watch it again.  The problem with this is that we don’t really appreciate or soak in the event we are watching.  It’s nice to be able to watch it again, but maybe we wouldn’t have to watch it again if we really focused on the event while it happened.  Another example is snapchat.  When we’re with friends we record and take pictures on snapchat to put on our snapchat stories.  We do this so that other people see them and see that we’re having fun.  Instead we should just be enjoying these moments with our friends, not filming them.

The author of this article made some good points.  The first I want to address is her point on “Nothing exists if it is not recorded digitally.”  This is very true to our generation.  That is why sites like Instagram and snapchat have become so popular.  We have to document everything that happens to us and post it.  A saying that has become popular today is “pics or it didn’t happen” which is why people are constantly uploading things that happen to them onto social media. 

Another point I liked was her point about how our eyes have become used to stimulating material, things that move and have bright colors.  She points out that we are bored by paintings because they aren’t moving like the phones we constantly have in our hands.  This is very true.  For example, black and white films.  Our generation does not like older films where they’re black and white because we have to have color.  We think no color is boring.  Our eyes have become so used to visually stimulating material.

Project 1

About a year ago my mom and I found ourselves in a traumatic situation.  We have been working on recovering since then and in that time I have been building strength.  Through researching strength I found that waves are the strongest force on Earth, even stronger than gravity.  Since then waves have represented strength to me and that's why I wanted to do a gif of waves.  The sunrise represents that there's always a new day and that things can get better. 

Homework 2

            The three articles on the history of the GIF by Paddy Johnson were very interesting.  I made a Tumblr about 4 years ago and that is where I first experienced gifs.  Gifs are everywhere on Tumblr and I assumed that they had been created there considering how prominent they were and how most people first saw them on Tumblr.  It was cool to learn about the history of the gif and how it started way before Tumblr.  One of the artists/group blogs that I was drawn to was Sprit Surfers.  I thought the gif that was like a creepy ghoul was interesting so I clicked on the blog.  But once I was on it I was very surprised and my interest vanished.  It was mostly nude people, and once I got to the gif of all the monkeys and sperm, I left the page.  I’m more into the type of gif’s that are on Tumblr.

            Again, I was surprised by the age of the gif when I read The History of Gif’s on Mashable.  The said that the gif is 25 years old which is crazy to me because it seems like something that just came about in the past 5-10 years.  I definitely think that the gif is a uniquely millennial thing because it was really brought into mainstream by teenagers.  Teenagers and young adults used Tumblr to really make the gif skyrocket and after that is when the gif came to be well known.  A lot of adults today still don’t know the meaning of gif; I have had to explain it to my mom many times.  But almost every millennial knows what the gif is.  Although they are very millennial, they are still used by those outside the age bracket. 

            As said in the Mashable article, gif’s became successful because videos are so long and take a while to buffer.  I think gif’s have become popular because you can get meaning from them, despite how short they are.  They can be funny or serious and get a message across quickly.  We live in such a fast paced world that people don’t have time to sit down and watch long videos.  Personally, if a video on Facebook or YouTube is over 2-3 minutes, I won’t watch it.  But everyone has time to watch a short gif.  The gif has kept up with and adapted with our fast paced world.  With that being said, I think it’s ridiculous for gif’s to be sold for $16,000.  They are a form of art, but I personally don’t think they’re worth as much as paintings, etc.  I think that it takes skill to be able to create animations and gif’s and those are worth money.  But if someone is just ripping a video from the internet and making a gif, I don’t think that takes much skill and should not cost anything.  Being able to rip videos and make gifs so easily has democratized art because that is so easy if one has the programs for that.  A gif becomes art when it is one of a kind and the creator creates every aspect of it (animations). 

Homework 1

     I really enjoyed the first podcast.  It opened my mind to an idea of art that I had never thought of before.  I think that having “an aesthetic force” be what makes society call for action makes sense.  I’ve never thought of art in that way, but it is true that seeing something or hearing something that appeals to the emotions causes people to raise awareness.  It’s easy to tell people something is a problem, but to actually see it or experience it, makes people more aware and makes them want to help.  For example, the commercials for the SPCA with that sad song and showing all the animals looking so sad really affects people.  It makes people want to donate their time and money to the SPCA.  Art (pictures, videos, songs, etc.) really can influence society. Sarah Lewis’ argument is the multiple examples she uses that show that art has had more of an impact on our biggest social movement, not rational argument. 

     
     Another thing that was discussed in the podcast was how art interpretation has changed.  Art used to be about what it meant and how it made people feel, but the speakers in the podcast suggest that art is now about commerce.  By commerce they mean money, fame, and “likes.”  This is true in a sense; our society has become more about tangible things such as money and likes, instead of the raw appeal of what the art is supposed to mean.  The speakers suggest that to mediate subjectivity one needs to be relaxed and ready to interpret art, not stressed out and doing daily things.

     
     A work that stood out to me in the Smithsonian American Art Museum Exhibit was Flower.  Flower is a video made so that the person viewing the art is the wind.  The video makes the viewer feel like they are floating with the wind, touching the surroundings, and blowing things around.  I think this art supports both points made by the speakers above.  The description of Flower says that it was made in response to rural and urban space and to be interpreted as an emotional arc.  The artist was trying to make people feel something and be aware of an issue, like Sarah Lewis was discussing.  I also think this piece ties into the point about how to mediate subjectivity.  They suggested that someone needs to go into art relaxed and ready to interpret, and that it true with this piece.  If one isn’t relaxed and truly thinking, they wouldn’t pick up on Flower’s meaning.

     The introduction to New Media in Late 20^th Century Art talks about how art used to be canvas and painting but has rapidly changed to new media forms such as digital art.  It is a good thing that art has evolved and changed but I think art shifting to technology clashes with points made by the speakers in the podcast.  Because it has shifted to technology, that is why people are more focused on getting likes and recognition.  It’s harder for people to relax and focus on the art when they have phones and the internet at their fingertips.  But I do think that art shifting to technology helps with Lewis’ point because technology and the internet makes it easier to get art into the world.  When an artist can easily get their art and messages out to people, the easier it is to start a social revolution.