Story Revision

After having my story read and discussed, my group decided I shouldn't revise it because my story is strong as it is. I created a sense of tention by not informing the reader of what is going to happen and in that sense I also create negative space by not telling the reader what cause the near death. Movement and continuance because I go from talking about being on my death bed to being alive and able to use my hand.

Music Mark Making

Lines for the mark making were made to the sound of 50s Dean Martin song "Ain't that a kick in the head." And the song "Devil's Dance Floor." By Flogging Molly. The first arced line is from Dean Martin and the x mark are from Flogging Molly.

Modular Madness Critique

Suggestions to help strengthen my modular madness piece were to place lights inside the bottle rather than just behind them, and possibly burn the matches to help portray my fire and water contradiction. Points that were strong with the piece were the gravity defying display, it helps add to the spirituality of the native american cultural influences behind the piece. The bathroom display and the lights behind the base of the piece really made it pop.

Mapping Influences

I have not yet finalized my ideas for my mapping but have the concept I wish to portray. I am going to display what it is that influences my art which is history and culture. Ancient history and learning about different civilizations has always been a large interest in my life and I portray that in my art as well. I have decided to use an empty liquor bottle to create my map onto and I have created the Pyramids of Giza out of rocks I found outside and around the lip of the bottle I have created my rendition of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon using match sticks with the head cut off to create a platform and glued plants and berries to create the gardens.

Modular Madness Instalation; Presentation Topics

Materials
1. The overall form of this piece responds, in a contrasting way, to the matches. The form illudes to the form of water being poured from bottles and splashing to the floor, the likeness of water with materials that create and sustain fire responds with the material through contrast.
2. The piece could be made from virtually any object, whether on a larger or smaller scale, however the use of fire making materials resembling water adds an element that other materials could not give to the piece.
3. The matches provided an interesting challenge, since we could not break the materials or change them in any way i had to play with bonding adjents and different ways to place the matches together so the the solid lines could resemble the free flowing forms of water. Using the glue in abundance and in seemingly careless fashion rather than the nice, clean, and pristine (no glue showing) normalities, the piece took on the forms of water with the clear hot glue even looking like water frozen in time with the piece.
4. Bonding materials dont have to be cleanly places, sometimes just drizzling the glue on there makes the piece work better than if no glue could be seen.

Process/Ambitiousness
1. My piece may not be 6ft tall, or hanging from the ceiling to the floor, but in placing it upside down in a gravity defying manner rather than using the floor as a security blanket, the piece's scale or lack of large scale becomes irrelevant. Using a grand total 6500 matches to complete this piece, that small scale matches are a more ambitious material than some might think. Meticulously gluing thousands of matches together, despite its rough (yet intentional) nature still took quite some time, and getting the piece to hang upside down mearly using thumbtacks was a challenging effort all its own.
2. My initial thoughts for the piece involved several more bottles and multiple, but smaller streams of flowwing matches changes to only two bottles connecting to one stream splashing into a pool of matches, all while hanging upside down.
3. The initial idea had more streams and bottles, however the final piece was more ambitious due to its gravity defiance in hanging upside down, its placement in the bathroom for a unique feel, and the lighting used behind the piece, which had never been in my initial ideas for the project.

Craftsmanship
1. In the 3D dot structures  intentially used rough gluing to add to the tattered newspaper collaging, however the intention was not seen by my fellow classmate critiquers. In this piece I used much much more glue and it is even more obvious to the eye, however it is not distracting. Hot glue looks like water, my piece is supposed to resemble flowing water...lets make the connection people. No person in their right mind would use as much glue, as obviously as I did without it being intentional, so if any students end up critiquing, think please, its quite obviously intentional.

Form
1. Line, shape, and texture are the major formal elements in my piece, these elements are important in the way that the view is aided by them to help understand (if needed) just what it is the piece is ressembling. Line and shape both contribute to showing the relationship with flowing water. The texture element also helps in this aspect. The abundance of glue on the piece makes it look and feel like water.
2. Contrast and gravity are the dominating principles in my piece. The contrast in the piece is how fire making materials are used to create the shape and feel of flowing water, strengthening and providing depth to the piece rather than just "yeah I thought it would look cool." Gravity in the piece takes your perception of how water should be flowing and what direction it should be falling and flips it on its ass. The change in gravity causes the view to think and makes the piece much more interesting than just sitting one the floor.

Concept
1. The piece provides a contradiction to the objects purpose and function.
2. I took an object that is normally lit on fire, and used to start fires and I took the form of fire's polar opposite in nature; water, and i combined the two creating an intersting contrast.
3. The look and feel of flowing water along with the gravity defying display allows the viewer to look at and question the normal boundaries of a seemingly understood object.
Presentation
1. I placed my piece in the bathroom to continue with my idea of flowing water but also add a sense of discomfort in being in a bathroom to view the piece.
2. The work mimics the space around it. In the bathroom you have sinks, toilets, urinals, showers, all of which use flowing water. My piece imitates the flowing water and blends with the space around it.
3. The bathroom elements surrounding the piece help the viewers understanding but also brings forth a sense of discomfort helping them to view the piece for what it is and what its supposed to be.
4. The piece responds to the surroundings by mimicing water flow which is used in multiple aspects within the bathroom.

Crossing the Line Between Life and Death

Dear diary, 2000

Im just waking up now, I've been out for three days and im scared. The last thing I remember was being in the hospital and hearing the machine next to my bed turn from multiple beeps into one solid beep and one long consistent line. Now im awake and feel weak, its hard for me to breath without pain and I can't sit up. The doctor says I have a long road of recovery ahead of me and the use of my hand may never be the same.

Dear diary, 2011

After all these years the scars remain, a lost memory plagues my mind and persistent hand tremors are a constant physical reminder of the death that could have been.

Human Dot Composition and Critique

Rouge, edgey, raw, unique, the thought process behind our groups human dot composition clearly differs from other groups but it is in that sense that they succeed. The norms of these gestalt dot compositions starting out as pristine and clean work was just what we decided to avoid. The spotty painted hands and faces along with my decision to paint my butt and show some nudity added to the rough edgey concept behind our composition and added a less than subtle sense of humanity in the project. Initially our group was a bit unorganized but once we started working we kept it rolling until the time came for me to paint my butt and the discomfort began, but humility overcame the discomfort and we all began having fun and laughing (at my butt's expense) and overall became a closer group than the others may have experienced.

Line Photographs

"A Touch of Heaven and Hell"

These are pictures of the first half of a piece I call "A Touch of Heaven and Hell"
This first part represents the devil reaching up for a rose causing the rose to die. The second half of the piece will be placed above the first photo and will represent God reaching down for a rose that is blooming up for his hand.

Negative space

Repetition and Rhythm

Add caption

1000 Matches

1000 matches is going to be difficult making a "my sized" project but the end product of what I plan to do should work well once I figure out how to use the matches in the right way.

Minimalsim, Post Minimalism, Process Art, Arte Povera.

   

Frank Stella Minimalsim Pieces; The pieces catch my eye because of the interesting shape and seemingly different textures in them when the medium may be the same.

  Post Minimalsim artist Rachel Whitehead's pieces Embankment  (above) and Nameless library; 2000 (below) both interested my because of the sheer size of the works.

Process artist Richard Serra's Tilted Spheres and Fulcrum (1987) on the right both interest me because of the great size and the way the bends and movements of the metal draw your eyes around the piece.

Arte Povera artist Ondrej Mares's works Catapillar (top) and Gum Table (bottom) both interested me because it caught my eye.

3D Dot Structure Critique

For my final 3D dot structure I recieved a 3 for craftsmanship, 4 for concept and 4 for ambitiousness, and an overall impression grade of 3. My craftsmanship was pointed out with the amount of glue used to to collage the structure. Also the use of the supports they didint understand and it seemed like a way to cheat and get the 2inches out of it. However the ripped and tattered look was a plus for the critiquers and the use of found objects for the dots.

Larger than life Conch shell critique.

Overall I think for a first time working with carboard it went well, although thanks to Tony I know I have a ways to go. Performance and Object to body relation wise i did pretty well, I recieved a 5 from Kathy and a 4 from Valerie, however with my craftsman ship lacking Tony gave me a 1. My concept was good but craftsmanship wise i excecuted it rather poorly.

Final 3D Dot Structure and Accordian Book

The working process to complete the 3D dot structure, and puting the accordian book together out of all of my dot collage pieces.

Life Sized Cardboard, More.

Above are the photos of my progression of the larger than life conch intrument. First image the keys on the instrument that actually pop back up when pressed down. The last photo has the trumpet attatchment and spikes finally put onto the piece.

Object concept sketches and question answers.

Above are the sketches of my object from two angles, along with concept sketches of how to incorporate my object onto my body. First, used as a giant shell necklace, Second, used as a giant shell mask/hat, and finally a conch instrument; which is what I making. Finally there are the answers to the questions regarding the object and its making.