Spam midterm

For our midterm in Art 108 we were told to carve a bar of soap of a piece of spam and bring it in for judging. The whole thing was a pass/fail assignment, but if you did really good and won the contest you got prizes. I decided to go against my normal self and carved a piece of spam. It was really rather gross. My hands smelt awful! I had to wash them like five times!! My creation ended up being a very overweight looking fish. It didn't turn out the way that I wanted, but that didn't really surprise me. I have never done any sculpting before and I am not a natural. Anyways, these are some pictures of what it looked like...

Grandma&Grandpa Worthington

I love my Grandparents. My grandma and grandpa Worthington are great people. When I was a little girl I used to be scared of Grandpa Worthington. He used to threaten to twist our ears til blood ran if we got on his haystacks. He was terrifying. As I have gotten older I think he has softened up...or maybe I just understand him better. He is a big tease, but also a huge softy. All he wants is a "I love you" and a big kiss. Grandma Worthington is always doing. She is so funny. I love sitting next to her and holding her hand. She has the softest hands I have ever felt in my life!! Family is such a wonderful thing.

Addiction

Addiction is human nature I think. I don't only mean the kind of addiction that you instantly think of like that of cocaine, alcohol, and meth. I mean all kinds of addiction from drugs to Facebook, porn to video games. Obviously drugs are a big deal, but I think that many people are overlooking the harmful effects of excessive anything. Children these days are so glued to the TV, computer, cell phone, x-box (the list goes on) that they don't even know what it means to be outside or to use their imagination and be creative. I am not saying that all of these innovations in electronics are evil, but moderation and self control need to be exercised. I am sure that most people struggle with some kind of addiction. I used to thrive on facebook and I could go more that 15 minutes with a computer in front of me without checking it. I am also addicted to gum. I am constantly chewing gum even though my doctor has told me that I need to stop or my jaw will get worse. I don't know what exactly...these are just random thoughts...

I found this clip on youtube from "So You Think You Can Dance" that is about addiction. The song is called Gravity by Sara Bareilles. The song is great and so is the dancing.

Video

Autumn Slumber

I was listening to Pandora at work today and this song came on by this guy named Fariborz Lachini. The album was called Golden Autumn and the song was called Autumn Slumber. I am a huge fan of piano music and I really liked this song. I'm not sure what it was about it that drew me in, but after I heard it the first time I found it on youtube and listened to it again 3 or 4 more times. It has this almost longing sound to it. I loved it. I have a link to it if you are interested in hearing it too.

Fariborz Lachini

Portraits

For my next photography assignment we are to do a self-portrait and then portraits of at least 2 other people. I have some ideas:

reflection in water or sunglasses
Close up of half the face
feet
ear
shot from above them onto their heads
eyes peeking through the blinds

I like the idea of shooting a part of the body instead of the whole body or the face straight on.

I have a feeling that this is going to be a harder assignment then the last two...

awesome!!!

I randomly came across this clip on youtube one day and it is amazing!! This guy can move in ways that I didn't know were possible. It is so cool and kinda comical.

Video

the rights of the molotov man article

This was a very interesting article about the de-contextualizing of art and copy right. The article focused on these two images. The first is a photo by Susan Meiselas and the second is a painting of the photo by Joy Garnett. Susan wanted to keep the content of her photograph in tact and so she sent her lawyer on Joy. But Joy didn't feel that she was truly infringing on the copy right. So the question is does the idea and goal of the original artist hold sway with the copy right. Copy right laws are so confusing and I don't understand it some times. I think that Joys version was taken out of context enough to keep her out of trouble. The other interesting thing about this article is the use of this image in so many different ways and on so many different things. It has become an image embodying revolution.

hair

I was just thinking the other day as I walked to my car after class that hair is such a weird thing to be attached to. It grows back and yet some people can't even stand thinking about cutting their hair more than an inch. I just don't understand why hair is such a big deal and why people get so attached to it...

artist...maybe not

As a rule I am usually pretty self confident, but I have found myself getting down on myself when it comes to my idea of myself as an artist. I have never seen myself as very creative which I probably part of my issue. Everyone else seems to be much better at this art thing then I am. So, I guess my question is who can be considered an artist and am I an artist or just some girl trying to make it through something that is beyond my grasp. I am not abstract in my thinking and all of these teachers what me to be. I don't know if I will ever be comfortable calling myself an artist, so for now I am just an aspiring artist/photographer.

I love this time of year!!

I love this time of the year!! I love that when you walk outside you can smell everything growing. The city is becoming green again and the birds are waking me up in the mornings. The trees are budding and flowers are blooming. This world is such a beautiful place to live! These photos are some that I took for a humanities assignment last fall. They are all shot around campus.

Adornment for the hand

For my Metals class our next assignment is to make an adornment for the hand. I have decided to go the very traditional route and make a ring and set it with one of the pearls from my pearl earrings that I never wear because my ears aren't pierced. Above are some of the pictures that I found that I liked. I really like the second and third ones and am leaning toward doing something similar. I just hope that I can actually do this a have it turn out decent...

Dancing

I am a big fan of dancing! hip hop and all of the popular dances now isn't what I love though. I am talking ballroom and salsa. My second semester at BSU I took a social dance class...I loved it! The next semester I took the second social dance class and it was even better! I think that more people should learn these dances. We learned cha cha, tango, waltz, swing, two step, quick step, salsa...I don't think that I could pick a favorite of all of them. Dancing is such a beautiful way to express yourself. I would definitely say that dancing is a form of art. Here are some examples of these dances if you are interested

quick step waltz west coast swing

Irving Penn

Irving Penn is another one of those fashion photographers like Avedon who do amazing work that transcends typical fashion photography. Irving's photos are intimate and interesting. I especially like the girl with the freckles. She seems to be hiding something sad inside, something that is hard to deal with. The picture with the bottle in the forefront is also great. I love the distortion that is created by the glass. I really enjoy Irving's stuff.

Japanese Student Library Exibit

I went to the Exhibit in the library. The name of this artist is Takeda Hiroki. He was my favorite of all of the artists on display. He used a combination of water color and color pencils. All of these are portraits of his family. I love these. His use of color is great. The detail is also great.

Richard Avedon

I am not usually a big fan of fashion photography, but there are a couple classic photographers that do amazing work and Avedon is one of them. One of the reasons I was attracted to these photos was because in my photography class we were assigned to do portraits. I didn't want to do the same school looking portrait. I love that Avedon's portraits tell you something about the person, who they are, and not just what they look like. Another reason that I am drawn in by his work is the fact that they are black and white. There is just something so classic and classy about black and white photography. If you would like to see more here is a link....

Avedon

Iscra

This artist is another one of those random finds. Since I am wanting to do some wedding photography it is nice to get ideas from others. I really like how personal a lot of her shots are. They look like people acting normally instead of posing, which is a big deal for me. I think it is really hard to get those "real" photos of people, especially if they know you are taking their picture. There is a link to more of her photos at the bottom of this post if you are interested.

http://picasaweb.google.com/photoiscra