My Website and Get Lost Project!

Website Link:

Night Wolf Ink

(Get Lost Project) Let's Get Lost in:

Shenandoah National Park

Mikey's SMP!!!

The second art event that I attended was the first SMP show. I decided to see the first show because my friend Michael Bargamian would be presenting his work. I have known Michael since my freshman year and have seen him work in a variety of mediums. I have also taken a sculpture class with Michael and have always been interested in the work that Michael produces. At the show opening, I was able to see his work and I was amazed by his work. It was really interesting because words were a large component of his work.

When first looking at the work, I was unsure what the meanings of the words were. I was confused when looking at the work but remained interested to hear what Michael had to say about it. The day of the presentations, Michael was up first. He was really energetic and positive through out the entire presentation. Michael showed work that he was working on before the SMP and how he worked his way up. I was able to participate and witness the progress of his project that had the business cards. In this project, Michael wrote a statement on business cards and would hand them out to people. The result of the project was that people would react differently after reading the card. Some would laugh and others would look confused. I was really surprised to hear Michael’s statement on his final work. The words weren’t chosen at random, they had a personal meaning to him. I found it surprising because when I had originally looked at the work, I had no idea what to think. I also think that other viewers will think differently about the meaning if they did not hear Michael’s presentation. 

The meaning of the words in Michael’s project will depend on the viewer. They are the ones that will decide what they all mean together. The work itself was abstract but it was aesthetically pleasing. Some of the work had a dark mood to it and I think that added meaning to the words that were included. Overall, I think that Michael did a great job during his presentation. His energy and positive attitude kept my attention the entire time.

44th Annual Student Art Show

The first art event that I attended was the student art show. The art show allowed me to see what other students worked on and their individual styles. It also gave me the opportunity to see work in mediums that I am not used to working with. I have seen the creation and progress of some of the works at the show. There was a difference in the meaning of the work when I was seeing the artist make it and when it was actually hung on the wall.

The work that I was interested in seeing hung in the gallery was the Stephanie Scott’s series of hockey images. The drawings were pencil and paint on paper and were supposed to represent the different aspects of hockey. The red paint was supposed to represent the violence and blood that can often be seen during hockey games. I was able to see when Stephanie was making the work during a class and the meaning was different to when I saw it hanging in the gallery. While talking to Stephanie when she was making the drawings, she said that the drawings are to represent her love for the sport and the action that happens in the sport. Without the artist talking about the work, I just thought that it was supposed to show how violent hockey can be.

The drawing that caught my attention was an ice skate, helmet and there was a lot of red paint splattered on the paper.  I thought that the drawing was simple and showed the message the artist wanted to represent.  It used two objects that are seen in hockey with the blood representing the action that takes place during the game. Overall, the drawing was effective because of its simplicity. The reason that I chose this work was because I had seen it before and because I interpreted the meaning slightly different when I saw it at the gallery.

Web Designer: Fabio Sasso

Fabio Sasso is a Brazilian web designer based in San Francisco, California. He is the founder of the website Abduzeedo and is currently working for Google. Sasso has a degree in graphic design and has been working in web design since 1999. Abduzeedo is a website started in 2006 and has many features. The website includes tutorials for software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Fireworks and many more. The page also has a variety of designs ranging from photography and logos to architecture. The purpose for the designs is that other people can use it as inspiration for their work.

                Fabio Sasso’s personal website is very simple. There is a picture of him and a title next to his picture. The page has two paragraphs of information that describe his work. There are no other pages that can be found within the website. There are only links that lead to his most recent twitter post and a link that leads to his other page Abduzeedo. It is really interesting that he kept his personal page very simple. The reason behind this could be that he wants to promote his blog. His blog is very successful and useful to many people. I think that it would be better if he had more information on his personal life and background so that people can relate more to him instead of knowing him just for the founder of a website.

                Abduzeedo is a website with a lot of features. It is easy to navigate and has a clear, organized layout. There are a lot of things to be viewed on the website and I liked that the website remains clear and organized when it is resized. The only things that I found distracting on the page were the advertisements on the bottom and side of the page. I think that Fabio Sasso was interested more in helping people than making himself famous because of the lack of information about himself. He was still able to gain fame through the creation of the Abduzeedo because he can also promote his own work within the website. Abduzeedo is also a helpful place for other artists because it is possible to submit your own work. While browsing through the page, I found artwork and interviews from other artists. Overall, I think that website is simple yet effective in displaying a lot of information. Sasso is able to help other artists by providing them with tutorials and an opportunity to submit work.

Works Cited: 

http://fabiosasso.com/

http://abduzeedo.com/tags/interview

http://line25.com/articles/an-interview-with-graphic-designer-fabio-sasso

http://zee.com.br/files/tutorials/web_header/header_abduzeedo_tut.png

 

Vito Acconci Reading

Public Space in a Private Time by Vito Acconci was a very interesting reading. What I liked about the reading was the slow transition from the past into modern times. In the reading, Acconci talked about a variety of things such as public and private spaces and types of art. He starts off with talking about how everyone in the past would be able to tell what time it was by walking down a street. It was a public thing because every store had a clock that was visible to the public. Acconci then mentions the use of the watch. People no longer needed the stores to see the time. The watch made time more personal and private. The watch was simple, cheap and affordable and then it had improved with a built in calculator. It was a more fancy and personalized item. Later in the reading, the watch’s place of origin was discussed. The watches were originally made in the United States but as time passed they were made in foreign countries such as Taiwan or Korea because production cost was much cheaper.

There was a lot of discussion as to what is “public” and “private.” Acconci wrote how one thing could be public in some situations but private in other. It was interesting to think about an art piece and the relationship to an audience. For example, a painting in a gallery will be seen by many people and it will be one of many paintings in a gallery. This would be considered to be in a public space. The private space would be in the house of art collector. Only a few people would see the painting and have more time to analyze it. I think that Acconci was trying to accomplish two things. One of them was the evolution of products such as the watch. The other was proving a relationship between public and private things. It was a complex reading that had many other topics such as music and sex that showed some connection with public and private settings. I enjoyed the reading because of the points that Acconci made on changes that have happened over time.

Kenny Chesney Digital Portrait

My completed portrait of Kenny Chesney. I feel that this one looks better than my first attempt.

Vector Image Fail!

My first attempt at making a digital portrait on adobe illustrator. After so many hours into the project, i decided to give up on this one and start a new one.