CROCCO | Digital Arts: Imaging I

FINAL Project 3

2009-12-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

Handmade Book: Poem Visualization FINAL

2009-12-15T08:17:00.001-08:00

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=178942

The poem I chose is Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. I selected this poem because it definitely sends a powerful and meaningful message to its reader. It shows that a woman's most attractive trait is her confidence. When I am feeling down about myself and not happy with the way I look, this poem gives me optimism and courage. I have read this poem countless times in classes and also did a contemporary dance to it in a showcase. This poem gives power to all women, no matter what type, size, shape, or color.

With my book, I wanted to emphasize the beauty of an average shaped woman. As you read through the poem and unfold the book, the reader reveals a woman that is powerful and strong. I chose this specific book structure because it has two meanings. First, unfolding the book to reveal a part of the woman’s body, piece by piece, gives the concept of building a woman as the poem is read. With each stanza of the poem, the reader feels more inspired and by the end, they have built an inner confidence within themselves as they have physically construct/unfolded a confident woman. Also, the structure of the folding book to reveal a woman reminds me of the centre fold of a magazine; however, instead of a fashion model’s size woman inside, there is your average, curvy woman.

My Presentation

2009-12-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

"Constant Repetition Carries Conviction"
Artists: Pascal Dombis and Terry Mulligan

My exhibit features two artists that use repetition in very different ways. Pascal Dombis uses computers and algorithms to produce excessive repetition of simple processes. When rules are input in an excessive process, new and unpredictable forms come forward and generate the unlikely. These forms are unintentional and appear out of the excessive enforcement of autonomous and simple rules. On the other hand, Terry Mulligan's work creates a cohesive, predictable image with obvious, clear shapes and lines. She creates her images through the use of excessive patterns, camouflage, and various other techniques, however, unlike Pascal, she plans out the spacial arrangement, sizes and shapes of her designs.

www.dombis.com
www.terrymulligangallery.com

Class Collaborative Presentations

2009-12-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

"Intolerable Truth"
The artists in this exhibition are Toni Dove and Christopher Jordan. Toni Dove is an interactive video artist and the videos shown in class were her pieces, "Artificial Changeings" and "Spectropia". They were both very conceptual, interesting, and different from what I've seen. It took an extra second to realize what her artwork was all about but after understanding her concept, I found it very enlightening. Christopher Jordan is a digital photographer. I really liked his work that was presented in class. I was new, eye-opening and taught a valuable lesson about consumerism. I especially liked his artwork where he built old, well-known paintings out of the number of products we consume in a day, week, or year.

"Self Confrontation in the Absence of Individualism"
This exhibit includes Jessica Bruah and Graham Harwood. Jessica Bruah's work is very interesting, as well as, disturbing. A lot of her work involves photographs of her subjects not showing their heads and identity. The viewer has to interpret the story in the photograph for themselves and it symbolizes that anyone could be the subject in the photo. Graham Harwood focuses on tales of anonymous people in society. I don't understand the execution of his work because there was no picture or video of his pieces. I know that the viewer doesn't know who the people are that are telling the story so perhaps it is for the viewer to recognize that they can put themselves in the situation also.

"Art Through Systems"
Pascal Dombis and Jeffrey Shaw is featured in this exhibition. I was able to understand Pascal Dombis well because I also did this artist for my presenation. However, for this exhibition, his concepts were used in a different way. This exhibition would focus on technology in society. In the artwork shown for Dombis, I especially like his piece where he used Google Images of colors to construct his artwork. It shows how we are connected to the internet and how Google interprets specific common words. Jeffrey Shaw's work featured his network installation, "Web of Life". In this installation, the viewer interacts and influences their environment with the unique patterns of their hand lines. This gives symbolic and experiential meaning by connecting the viewer to an emergent network of relations. I really like the concept of this interaction and it was especially interesting that every experience was unique to you.

"Interaction Required"
The artists in this exhibit are Rebecca Allen and Usman Haque. I feel that this exhibit would be very popular and appealing because it really involves the viewer and their interaction with the work of the artists. With Rebecca Allen's work, "Fleeting Words, Bush Soul #2, and Sleight of Hand", the viewer enters the virtual world and influences the outcome and interaction through their clothing, movement of eyes and body. In Usman Haque's work, he uses sound to interact with his piece "Evoke". This is a massive projection, generated by the collective sounds of the public that lights up the facade of York Minster. Another massive piece of his is "Burble". Here, participants come together to compose, assemble and control an immense 'wall' of illuminated balloons constructed from a set of modular and configurable components. The videos shown in class demonstrated the pieces in action. They were both very visually attractive.

"Manipulation"
In this exhibit, the artwork of Cory Arcangel and Lillian Shwartz are displayed. Both artists manipulate technology and popular artwork in order to create a new vision and concept. Cory Arcangel uses old video game cartridges to manipulate the picture and make his own movie out of the characters and scenery already created. He especially puts an emphasis on the video game, Super Mario Bros. Lillian Shwartz takes the old and renowned painting, Mona Lisa and a drawing of Leonardo Da Vinci and manipulates it to become one person; to represent that this was a self-portrait of Leonardo. Also, her other work "Pixallatio" and especially, "UFO's-1971" was one of the first technological advances with using digital media to create a video.

"The Development of Digital Art"
John Lasseter and John Knoll will be featured in this exhibit. Out of all the artists presented, I especially felt a connection with John Lasseter; mostly because I am very familiar with his artwork and Pixar movies. It was very interesting to see the history of his life and the development of digital movies. He definitely changed the movie business and changed the digital world drastically with his development of Pixar. John Knoll was also a large influence in the digital movie business with his part in Star Trek. I am not a huge fan of Star Trek so this did not appeal to me as much, however, I know that his creation of Adobe Photoshop is a huge accomplishment.

FINAL Self-Visualization

2009-12-01T09:38:00.001-08:00

Word Visualization

2009-11-17T09:38:00.001-08:00

Poem Visualization & Handmade Book

2009-11-17T05:48:00.000-08:00

The poem I chose is Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. I selected this poem because it is definitely sends a powerful and meaningful message to its reader. It shows that a woman's most attractive trait is her confidence. When I am feeling down about myself and not happy with the way I look, this poem gives me optimism and courage. I have read this poem countless times in classes and also did a contemporary dance to it in my showcase. This poem gives power to all women, no matter what type, size, shape, or color.

My first idea for the handmade book is to create a puzzle. As the reader goes through each puzzle piece, reading the poem, they are constructing the shape/picture of a woman or women. I want to create the concept that this poem builds a confident woman through its words. Especially since it uses physical features and body parts throughout the poem, each piece will be a part of the body corresponding to those words.

Another idea is to use the words of the poem to make out the silhouette of a woman, starting from top to bottom as the book unfolds downward. It will represent a magazine centerfold but instead of this skinny model, there will be the shape of a curvey, confident woman.

My last idea is to use a book in its traditional sense. With each page, there would be a stanza from the poem and the background would be a photograph of the woman's body part described in the words. It would be a very close-up shot so that you just barely understand what it is a picture of.

Observations and Discussion of "Distortions: Contemporary Media Art from Mexico"

2009-11-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Due to another class and work, I was unable to attend the panel discussion at the opening of the Gallery Exhibit. However, we were able to visit the Gallery during class and have a brief tour of the artists' work. All of the art was very intriguing and had a lot of meaning behind the ideas and concepts. My favorite pieces include Marcela Armas, Resistance, and Gilberto Esparza, Urban Parasites.

I like Resistance because Marcela Armas used a different type of material and technology that I have never seen before in order to reflect her idea. The physical appearance and heat generated from the incandescent metal filament not only outlined the border of Mexico and the U.S. but also symbolized the heated tension between the two countries. I would think that "Resistance" refers to the U.S.'s resistance to letting Mexican immigrants in. The heat generated from the filament is the obstacle Mexicans must get through in order to get into the U.S.

Gilberto Esparza's Urban Parasites reflects the media and technology embedded in everyday life. More specifically, the pile of "junk" reflects the recycling of consumer technology. I like this piece because the idea on how to create this concept was very creative. At first, the robotic bugs blended into the pile of technological garbage but as you pass by, you see them starting to work and have a purpose. Also, the flys hanging from the ceiling were very creative and expanded the work to all parts of the exhibit.

Overall, the exhibit compels its audience to consider the integration of technology, politics and the artistic vision of the Mexican artists. Their particular place of creation has a lot to do with the ideas and concepts behind each piece and it is extraordinary that we were able to bring this exhibit to TCNJ to show whats beyond the U.S.

Self-Visualization Concept

2009-11-10T06:07:00.001-08:00

For my self-visualization project, I thought of the concept of using one of my passions, dance, to express my life and emotions. I have two ideas:

1. Feelings are a huge part of who I am. I express them constantly and I definitely go through a wide variety of emotions within a day. I'm up one moment, down the other, and the things I do and have directly influence the way I feel. Since this project is composed of 3 panels or parts, I would pick 3 emotions; happy, depressed and strong. Dance is used to interpret and express emotions and ideas. For each emotion, I would capture myself in a dance pose that expresses that word. I would use that as the central focus and fill in the background or my body itself with images and words that influence that feeling.

2. Dance has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. As soon as I started walking, I would try to dance and I have been taking lessons since the age of three. Dance has been one of the only constants throughout my entire life. In this idea, I would want to show how I have grown throughout my life and what events and people have had a significant influence on who I am today. By using the stages of a dance move, probably a leap or jump, I would go through the different phases of my life. The beginning, preparation of the jump would reflect my childhood, the middle and jump itself would reflect my life now and the end, landing part of the jump would reflect my future and what goals I aspire to accomplish.

The idea that I choose will probably depend on what kind of photos I am able to capture and if it is possible to get my concept across. I may even have to tweak the ideas a bit depending if the photos of my dance poses and moves are clear and easily accessible.

Project 1 in Illustrator

2009-10-20T09:30:00.000-07:00

I used the "cut-out" effect for the scenery of the lake and trees and "graphic pen" effect for Nicholas and Luigi. I also transformed each layer larger and rearranged them.

Self-Portraits/Female Portrayals

2009-10-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

In Cui Xiuwen’s “Angel” series, she portrays a young pregnant woman in different Asian settings and in odd positions. You are able to identify with Ciu Xiuwen’s compassion for woman and related issues like pregnancy and maternity. The same girl in white is duplicated throughout each piece expressing emotions of anxiety and vulnerability. She is the central focus of each piece with her white dress drastically standing out from the lush blue sky and Asian architecture. This white dress symbolizes purity, innocence and angels. This is controversial in the fact that teen pregnancy is frowned upon in most cultures, especially among Asians. Ciu Xiuwen also enhances her work through digital imaging. There is a soft, paint-like quality to her photographs that contributes to the solemn, gentle, and sad quality of her subject.

Cindy Sherman expresses femininity through her subject matter and in the situations the woman poses. These poses capture stereotypical ideas about women in the work place and home, especially through the eyes of men. During her time, these ideas weren’t openly expressed and she broke through barriers by portraying men’s point of view of women. Although, at a first glance, each piece looks like a staged model-like picture, if you look more closely at the expression of the woman, you feel there is more meaning at hand. There is an inner emotion and issue that the woman feels and is dealing with and it leaves you to wonder what she is thinking.

Frida Kahlo’s work renders great emotion and suffering. She expresses her life hardships through her work in radical and captivating situations. Although the background of her pieces change and depict different images, she as the main subject matter remains in the same pose with the same fixated expression of sadness. I feel that she uses her background to show the real emotion that is happening within her rather than physically showing her pain on her face. Her life experiences and cultural heritage is the main concept of all her work, which result in vibrant, expressive paintings.

With all the artists’ works, they are portraying their own views and feelings of woman. Each use a different technique to express their ideas, however, you are still able to understand and interpret each message. Every “portrait” is unique and full of emotion. You are able to take a look into their lives and really understand what their thoughts, values, and beliefs are.

Illustrator ICON Exercise 2

2009-10-06T11:08:00.001-07:00

Here is my second attempt with Illustrator with another icon. I think I did a lot better with this exercise then the female bathroom icon and I was able to get a better handle working with the pen tool.

Illustrator ICON Exercise

2009-10-05T20:22:00.001-07:00

This is my first time using Illustrator. It was a little hard to get the hang of using the pen tool. I feel that I did pretty well tracing the icon. The body looks good, however, the head looks like it needs a little work; I can see that its not a perfect circle.

Final Photo Alteration Project

2009-09-29T11:54:00.000-07:00

Photographs for Project 1

2009-09-11T09:29:00.000-07:00

Exterior: TCNJ Lake

Interior: Inside of a Flower

Interaction: Nicholas and Luigi looking under a rock

Observations and Comments on Artists' Work

2009-09-01T06:10:00.000-07:00

Gregory Crewsdon’s work is very dark and somber. As I looked through his photographs, each gave a deserted and mysterious portrayal. It is obvious that he enhances each photo with lighting and technical manipulation; however, the end result is eye-catching and creates eerie curiosity among its viewers. Gregory uses elaborate lighting, especially with dark-tones and in many of his pieces, there is representation of abandonment, nakedness and reflection. It is hard to figure out the detail meaning of each work but it definitely “conveys an underlying edge of anxiety, of isolation, of fear.”

Teun Hocks photographs and digitally alters himself and his environment to bizarre situations. Whether these are self-portraits or he is portraying himself as another person, the viewer can’t help but imagine themselves in the same circumstance. Some are very humorous, disturbed or even emotionally and politically moving. The man definitely stands out from the digitally enhanced, mostly oil-painted background. I really liked these photos because I have not seen any like them before. The idea and execution of each photograph is very creative.

I feel that with Jeff Wall’s work, the viewer must take a while to examine and decipher the real meaning behind each photograph. At first, I didn’t really understand his work. There was nothing special about each photograph except that I liked some of his large scale photographs and use of color. After doing some research, I found out that he specializes in cinematography. Then it all made sense after I went back through each photograph and learned the underlying meaning. I found a new appreciation for his work.

I loved looking through Cindy Sherman’s conceptual and vintage black and white photograph series. However, it probably was not considered vintage when she actually took each photo since it portrayed life as it was back then. I’m not sure if they are all self-portraits since each woman looks slightly different but I think she photographed herself in some of her pieces. All her work definitely expresses femininity, whether it is a typical housewife photograph or a woman on the streets of a big city, however, all the women seem distraught or confused. I think that each photo is beautiful and the black and white touch is something that I have not observed thus far. This is different from what I normally prefer and like since I love the use of color. Her other works that did involve color were also interesting. Most seemed to portray a mysterious and distrubing portrayal that had a series of its own with the same situation and execution.

What influences myself and my art...

2009-08-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Thessaloniki, Greece

Studying abroad opened my eyes to many different cultures, experiences, sites, history, governments, languages, foods, traditions, religions, and conditions that have given me a new perspective on how I view life, the world, and myself.

Dance

The freedom to articulate emotion and ideas through movement is something that greatly influences how I express myself.

Color

I love to use color in my art and designs. I feel that it brings meaning to a piece and symbolizes more than what the color actually is.

About Me

2009-08-26T11:18:00.000-07:00

I am a senior at The College of New Jersey. I am a Marketing major with a Digital Arts/Graphic Design minor. I love to dance and I am captain of the Synergy Dance Company. I also love to travel and recently spent a semester abroad in Thessaloniki, Greece. It was amazing and the best time of my life. I would consider myself outgoing, creative, determined and always looking to try something new.
With this course, Digital Arts: Imaging I, I hope to learn how to work with Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator and other artistic media proficiently so that I can express and create my own ideas through electronic and print imagery.
I own a PC but recently worked on a Mac this past summer at my internship with Zullo Associates. I have used Adobe PhotoShop in high school but probably do not remember much and I have never worked with Adobe Illustrator.