For Week 14, we were originally going to do graffiti art, but with the coronavirus and stay at home orders, we changed it to a simple bubble letters art.

    I wrote my initials, and then painted them. The experience was pretty simple, but also short. It wasn’t too hard to learn how to write bubble letters, and then painting them wasn’t that difficult either, as I had sketched the outlines first. I had fun with this short activity, though if I had more time I feel like I could have done better.  While I feel I could have done better, I don’t know if it was worth it, as I am stressed from finals week approaching. The short relaxation of an art activity was fun, but any longer and It wouldn’t have lost its charm. I feel like small art activities are a good tool to relax, I often paint miniatures in my free time and can use it to unwind and de-stress, but if I paint too long, I start getting distracted and worrying about my other work that I need to take care of. Overall though the experience was fun and simple.

Artist Information

Artist: Micol Hebron 

Website: http://micolhebron.com

Gallery: The Situation Room

About the Artist

    Micol Hebron is an art professor at Chapman University. She is deeply involved in creating and supporting art, especially around the focus of feminism and counteracting the inherent sexism in both art and the world as a whole. She made the Gallery Tally, and The Situation Room, and has had her art displayed in many exhibitions. 

Formal Analysis

    Much of Hebron’s work focused on gender inequality issues, and so a main piece she often incorporates or uses is a male nipple pasty. Many social media sites and public sites may censor female nipples, yet the male nipple is uncensored. Hebron used the idea of pasting a male nipple over the female nipple to make it “acceptable as a way of bypassing the unequal censorship. Many more have taken up this idea and it can be seen many places online, where it has been updated and a format, like the one shown above was created.

Content Analysis    The main purpose of this paste is not just to bypass the censorship, but to make a statement. It speaks about how with no visual difference, a male nipple is socially acceptable but a female one isn’t. Hebron uses this idea to highlight the inequality that is rampant in art and

This week, we did sustainable art. The goal was to make a piece of art that had a sustainability/earth day message, and to use “found” materials; not go and buy any new materials for it. Use waste, recycling, or leaves on the sidewalk. Below is my piece:

I wanted to embrace the classic phrase: reduce reuse recycle. I created This piece using old notes from previous semesters, as I like to collect these to have references if ever needed. The idea of keeping old schoolwork and papers as useful study material embraces the idea of not wasting. If I have something stored away, maybe I can avoid taking notes or doing extra problems on new pages, and in the end save some paper and notebooks.

    I think the piece expressed the idea, as in it is clear on what it is saying, but not very effective. My choice of materials was due to needing something found, and my room has papers everywhere. I thought it would be interesting to use something that I have so much of to make some art.

    How long a work of art should last is dependent on the experience the creator wants. Some art can be created to last forever, and this could enhance the feel of the piece, knowing that this will be around for years to come. Yet there are some pieces that gain value from their short liveness, making you pull in the experience, as you wont get another chance. These pieces of art can also allow you to think upon how not everything is permanent, and you should take each experience as its own.

    The length in which something lasts does change how we perceive it. We comment on lives well lived for older people who pass away, and that is a reflection on how we value time, someone who has lived long has experienced more of what the world has to give. Of course it is important that the world and resources in it are sustainable, if the quality of life drops then there may be less to enjoy in life.

    It takes a group effort to make change, especially for big issues like climate change, but that doesn’t mean the individual is unimportant. One person can’t make a difference, but that mindset is not held by just one person. If everyone who thought they couldn’t make a change acted instead of stayed back in defeat, there would be enough for a movement, so I think it is very important for people to fight for what they believe in, no matter how small they may seem.

My Gallery: Aesthetics Independent of Gameplay

    While for many, video games are a way to compete and play with others, showing their skill in matches against others. Even in single player games, there is a goal to complete, and the objective is to reach that goal. Even with this, many games released these days have extra cosmetics, items or outfits that have no intrinsic value. These items add no power to your character, they don’t progress you towards your goal, yet people spend money, sometimes hundreds of dollars to buy skins and accessories for their characters. This gallery will go over three games I play in which the cosmetics have no effect on the gameplay, yet people put effort and sometimes money, into creating a look.

Heroes of the Storm

    Our first game, heroes of the storm is a Battle arena game designed by Blizzard. When my friends and I play, we make sure to coordinate our outfit colors. Each hero has a different ability set, yet these characters also have a wide selection of aesthetic options to choose from. We often joke that a color coordinated team wins more games, but in the end, these choices have no effect on how we play.

Grim Dawn

    Grim Dawn is an action RPG played from a top down perspective. You collect items to fight monsters, and as you kill monsters you collect more loot and items to power up your character. As you collect these items, you are given the option to “transmogrify” these items to look like any others you may have found earlier in the game. Of course, you items stats and abilities are still based on the original gear you chose to wear, but you can choose to make it look like any other item you have found. Below is a character from Grim dawn, with items transmogrified to fit the theme of thunder, as most of this character’s abilities are lightning based. With blue and white as the main colors for his attacks, the outfit matches with the attacks themes. 

Dungeons and Dragons

    While not solely a virtual game, dungeons and dragons is a game where storytelling and aesthetic is just as important, if not more important. Many of the game’s rules involve the rolling of dice, but the game itself is abstracted by the players and by using their imaginations, they can visualize how the world unfolds about them. With the coronavirus lockdown, many gaming groups have moved online, using sites like roll20 to help them create a game that is able to follow the system, but again, aesthetics that have no inherent gameplay ability are just as important. Below is a world map created from a campaign I am running. The map is not necessary, as locations could be described to the players, but using maps gives it a more real feel to everyone at the (virtual) table.

For this week, we did a video blog, and I just did a short talk about my easter and how I’m adjusting to online classes. I wanted to just give another perspective, and show everyone how a fellow student is holding up. I felt like I slightly accomplished my goal, I did go over how I was doing in regards to coronavirus, but I wasn’t very interested, and I was bad at filming. I would probably do some reshoots and better angles, the angle I held the camera was not very flattering to my face. To be honest, I’m not interested in vlogging, so I probably won’t do it again. 

My favorite youtuber currently is MattColville. He is a Dungeons and Dragons youtuber, and a nerd in the similar way that I am, so all his videos make sense and are entertaining to me. If i could take something from his videos, it would probably be his presentability. He always is clear, and sound and lighting are very important to him, if the video quality is not to his standard, he wont post it. 

Authenticity is about being genuine, and not faking yourself. If you are authentic, you are real, and not merely putting on an alternate you to impress people. A performance is the act of performing; delivering something to an audience. Sports players perform on the field, dancers on the stage, actors in the theatre. These two ideas are not opposites, you can perform authenticity, if it is the real you. Of course there are some things done to enhance the viewers experience, but these ideas are not opposite. 

The two clips shown are both performances in my opinion. I doubt that Jennifer Aniston just went to her camera and decided to do the interview how she was. There is definitely thought put into her look. There are less producers and makeup artists, but i feel like stars are currently trying to be relatable. Whether they truly believe they are, and are being authentic, or if they think they can perform and gain some sway over their fans, either way it is hard to imagine a television interview that is not performed and unauthentic, even in these extreme circumstances.

Artist Information

Artist: Mahsa Soroudi

Website: http://www.mahsasoroudi.com

Project: Nature’s Cadence

About the Artist

Mahsa Sorouri is an Iranian born artist who moved to the United States. She has two projects, Nature’s Cadence and 7,500 Miles. Nature’s Cadence is a project based around the regrowth of plants, mainly succulents, after they have been moved from their original location. She watches and photographs these succulents as they go through their various stages and speeds of regrowth.

Formal Analysis

The formal Analysis of Nature’s Cadence involves the particular succulents she used and how she used them. As shown in the first picture, each succulent leaf was placed in its own section and how they grew was catalogued. Not all the succulents grew at the same speed, and some were blooming while others struggled to find roots. Overall each succulent had a different rate and type of growth, in which the leaves had found their own flow and pattern.

Content Analysis

The succulents are removed from their original plant and given need soil and ground to attempt to grow into. She uses this to relate to her life as she moved from Tehran, and attempted to settle in America. Where the plants eventually do grow, the struggle is a reminder of herself as she went through the times where she struggled through her move. In the end, as the succulents eventually found footholds and bloomed, so did Soroudi find her own place in America.

Synthesis / My Experience

I thought Nature’s Cadence was a great project and it really was interesting to hear Soroudi talk about how her life related to that project during the interview. The interview format we did for this artist conversation, while detracts from the physical process of going to a gallery, having someone more skilled in the process of getting insightful artist questions during the interview helped me understand the project more than I think I would have otherwise.

The automatic drawing was quite interesting for me, I always thought I had a good idea of the campus as I went through it, but as I started drawing, I realized I had no sense of scale. I kept running into issues where I had missed the scale of a building, misaligning it Later. I also ran out of room, even though I thought I would have enough room for areas like liberal arts and engineering.

The automatic drawing was difficult for me, I did not have someone to work with (Gotta keep that social distance!) So for me to do the activity solo, I just held the top of my marker, and spaced out. As I spaced out and sat there, my hands wandered and drifted a bit, I only corrected to keep the marker on the page. Overall it was an interesting activity, even if I wasnt able to reach its full potential.

For this weeks activity, a short Romantic song was to be written:

Writing a song is harder than I thought

From concept to lyrics to rhythm to song

Mathematical skill is about all I got

But the writing of song must come along

At first the lyrics were hard to come by

But as the song grew in length, freedom came too

My thoughts aligned and began to unify

Into a work of song, to be listened through

Not very confident in my work

But as they say, “practice makes perfect”

Lay down a strong framework

Maybe down the line, it will have an effect…

My song focused on the individualism of actually writing the song. I thought that it would be apt to write about my experience the moment I was going through it.

    The process was mainly just throwing words and sentences onto a page as I came up with them, and seeing what worked. Rearranging the lines and adding rhymes to create a more songlike feel, while still focusing on the idea of creating the song.

    It was very hard for me to write a song. I don’t listen to much music, and even the creative outlets that I do have tend to be very different from songwriting and the processes involved.

    I honestly think the song is not successful. I tried to make something I liked, but I couldn’t ever come up with ideas or rhythms that satisfies me. It is definitely not easy to make a song, and not something someone inexperienced with songwriting can do effectively in a week.

    I dont think ill ever attempt to write another song. I tend to think more straightforwardly, but it seems songwriting needs a sort of ability to adjust language in a way to make a statement, while keeping a rhythm.

    If I did write another song, i’m not sure what it would be about. I assume it would be driven by my life at the time, so it may end up being personal and expres my internal thoughts.

Artist Information

Artist: Sienna Browne

Website: http://www.siennabrowneart.com

Instagram: @siennabrowne

About the Artist

Sienna Browne is a student in the Drawing and Painting BFA program at CSULB. Sienna came into our Art 110 class to talk about her art, and also speak on her solo exhibition, Product of the Palette. Sienna uses her art to work through and speak on issues she was experiencing, which were eating disorders and body dysmorphia.

Formal Analysis

Browne’s art is varied in its form. The early works from pre college were stylized, but were not quite as abstract as later pieces would get. These works includes series such as food-on-head portraits, which contained food stacked on heads with comedic puns as titles, such as “sushi rolls”. Her later work becomes more abstract, and focuses on colors. One series of ultraviolet paintings is made, which uses glow in the dark paint to create a different experience.

Content Analysis

Browne explains that many, if not all, of her paintings were used to help her through her eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Even the early food focused paintings were a subconscious exploration of these ideas, even before she formally decided on her work direction. In her solo exhibition, she plans on laying out her art in chronological order, where she can relay the experience she felt creating the art onto the viewer, and have them walk along the path of her disorders through the art.

Synthesis / My Experience

The experience was quite enlightening. Before this presentation i hadn’t really thought of how art could be used not just as an expressive outlet, but could be harnessed as a therapeutic one also. By creating art that helped her work through her experiences, her art took on more than just expression. With the varied works, the art exhibition she plans to set up seems like it should be a great time, and have something for everyone. The exhibition, Product of the Palette, opens on friday, MArch 27 at the Black Umbrella Tattoo and Art Gallery.

Exhibition Information

Artist: Sara Pennington

Exhibition: Group exhibition, Sculpture

Media: Metal, clay, wax

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West and East

About the Artist

Sara Pennington is currently a student in the school of art at CSULB. Part of a group exhibition, Sara’s sculptures are part of the Afterburn exhibition. Described in the exhibition’s statement, afterburn is a sensation the body feels after excess stress strain or trauma. Sara had two pieces, as shown above.

Formal Analysis

The first piece is a large metalwork structure. It is composed of a base ring, and then welded to the rind are iron bars, creating a circle that could almost resemble a cage. This piece also has a top piece similar to the base welded on. The bars creating the sculpture are not straight; they create an uneven profile, asymmetric as you look at the piece. The second piece was a trio of parts, similar in structure, made of wax and clay rings, with two pieces looking like parts to a whole These “broken pieces have metal nails driven through them, and all three parts are hanging from strings on the wall.

Content Analysis

These pieces, along with the rest of the exhibition, were put in the show with “afterburn” in mind. These pieces were meant to exhibit a sense of unease and in some ways, trauma. Along with the atmosphere of the whole exhibition, these metal pieces add to a sense of unrest and trauma, which can be achieved by the way the structure and pieces are arranged. The jagged nails on the arced disks of the second piece give off a strange sensation, which when considering the whole room, adds to the feeling of afterburn sought after.

Synthesis / My Experience

This experience was different from what I expected. The overall gallery was filled with strange pieces that were quite unexpected and different than what I typically think of when I think of an art gallery. Yet even with the strangeness of the exhibition, I thought the pieces displayed were interesting, and in the end the whole experience was enjoyable. Sara’s pieces added in quite a unique way to the exhibition, and the strong rigid structures of her pieces were interesting to consider.