The internet is a great place to express ourselves. There are many platforms of which people use to voice their thoughts and share their talents. However, the internet culture can also open the possibility of being judged. Oftentimes people worry about what others might think of them. Although the internet can cause fear for some, it also brings a sense of freedom to post or share anything we want. I feel that copyright right now is getting stronger and better. It can be improved in order to give credit to the creator and that way others won’t take credit for something that doesn’t belong to them. For my work I chose to use Attribution CC BY because I do not own the pictures and I want the original owner to get credit. I chose to do pictures in the night and in the day to see how they would contrast. I knew I did not want to do a music remix because I was more interested in doing something with images. Overall I think this activity was good.
Kiyomi Fukui is an artist who currently lives in Long Beach, California. She is half Korean and half Japanese. Fukui enjoys using actual participants and people in her art to capture those moments she considers to be art. For her project The Green Thumb Project, she included her mother in it to capture that beautiful moment before her passing.
Kiyomi Fukui’s project The Green Thumb Project began in 2014. It includes nature and gives off peaceful vibes. Kiyomi took the mold of her mother’s thumb using some sort of gooey silicone to mold the shape of her thumb. She then planted some seeds in the mold and let nature grow within the molded thumb. The plants are very green and the plant beds are square shaped and wooden.
The meaning behind her project is meant to be metaphoric. Kiyomi mentions how the mold of her mothers thumb was something she could nurture and take care of even after her mother passed away. She aims to always have that beautiful memory of her mother and finds that growing something made from her mothers thumb will help her in creating a memento of her loss.
Overall, I find Kiyomi Fukui’s artwork and passion for her plants something to admire. I feel that she successfully connected something very important in her life to one of her passions. Her admiration for what she does is evident through her words and artwork.
For this week’s activity I tried to write my name in graffiti/bubbly letters. At first I was worried that it would turn out really bad but I did better than I expected. I first used a pencil to sketch my name and then I went over it with a marker. I used pink and purple paint to fill in the letters because I thought those colors would complement each other on the paper. I enjoyed this activity and I would probably continue to try this writing style just for fun.
My idea was to basically paint some shapes on a canvas in a way that was organized and simple. I decided to ruin the “aesthetic” look by filling in the spaces and get ride of the organized and sharp look. I only used paint and some tape to space out the figures from each other. Overall I think my piece expresses my idea and using paint made the experience easier for me since acrylic paint is something that I’m familiar with. I feel that a kiss should last as long as the individuals who are kissing want it to be. It should not be forced but rather something that happens and if it lasts a while it happens. A great meal should last however long the person eating decides. For some people it’s until the food is finished but it can be less or more. A work of art can last forever in some minds but for others, it can only last a couple seconds or days. It all depends on the artist or even the viewer. A marriage is “typically” meant to last forever but things don’t always go as planned and it can get hard to sustain a relationship for various reasons. The people who are married are the ones to decide when to end their marriage because they know what is best for them. Life in general is unpredictable and deciding when a human life should end is something that is out of our hands. Personally, I believe a human life should end when we are really old and have experienced great things throughout time. I feel like some things are experienced and viewed differently when we know that they won’t last forever like our lives. We learn to appreciate things like that more over things that don’t have as much value. Things like clean water, air, and land should be long lasting because they’re the most important things that keep us alive. I feel that anyone is powerful enough to make a difference in any issue such as climate change.
For the art gallery I arranged, I chose to follow the theme of color. Originally I wanted to have a theme related to life and nature but then I found some digital artists and their art inspired me to create a colorful gallery. I first found Vasjen Katro and his art involves a bunch of abstract pieces where he plays around with the gradients and effects. I also found Paul Fuentes who’s art includes simple yet colorful images. Lastly I chose Tony Futura who creates surreal digital art.
This is one of Vasjen Katro’s art that was posted on instagram @baugasm. I really admire how the different gradients and colors make the whole piece interesting to look at. I’ve always been one who loves colorful things and his art really yells out color.
Another digital artist I found was Paul Fuentes whose instagram is full of his art. His art is minimalistic yet admirable at the same time. His choice of colors is more pastel like which gives off colorful and energetic vibes.
The last artist I found was Tony Futura. His art is more related to pop culture and surrealism. Again, his choice of colors really caught my attention. This adds to my theme of color and overall I enjoyed it.
My goal with this video was to pretty much capture the moment of me trying to paint something festive for easter day. I think I did an okay job of showing that but for next time I would probably slow down the process just because I felt it was too rushed. I think I will vlog again especially with my friends because they make everything better and I feel it would be more authentic having company. I like to watch David Dobrik’s videos because the formatting of his videos makes it interesting to watch. All of his videos are four minutes and twenty seconds long and he basically inserts clips of him and his friends hanging out and going to places. I believe authenticity is something that makes one person valuable and distinct. I think that performance is something people do to entertain. However I believe that one can be authentic and honest while performing at the same time because some people are natural born with that ability.
Mahsa Soroudi is an Iranian born artist who grew up being surrounded with art. Growing up in Tehran, Iran she grew a passion for art and was always involved with art because of her father who is a painter and shares a passion for art. Mahsa has her BFA in Visual Communication and after getting married in Iran, Mahsa and her husband moved out to Malaysia for about a year where they both learned to speak English. They later moved to Southern California where she lives now. She mentioned that she had positive feelings towards her home country but she knows some people who would never go back. Her passion for art is shown through the way she speaks about her plants and the stories she tells behind them.
Nature’s Cadence included various succulent plants. One of the pieces she was showing had various little parts that looked like leaves. Each one was growing a little stem that looked like a succulent. Some were stagnant and weren’t growing anything but some had stems coming out of them. Some were green and some had pink roots growing out. Another piece was a longer succulent that originally had a dead or broken stem. At first Mahsa felt disappointed in seeing that there was no growth in her plant but suddenly it started to bloom. Once it started to grow, the stems made a downward, curved shape which gave the plant a personality.
As she was explaining, Mahsa mentioned how her plants in a way resembled her life as an immigrant. She came to the United States from Iran and started a new life here. Like her succulents, they were planted to grow and adapt to the environment they lived in. In the same way, Mahsa “planted” her life in Newport Beach and eventually became used to the environment. In one of her bigger pieces, the succulent wasn’t growing at first but she noticed that underneath the soil there was growth. This relates to her because even though she started over in a new place, she was still growing artistically and personally even if it didn’t seem like it. She also mentioned how her succulent managed to survive even if she didn’t water it sometimes. Mahsa’s life can connect with her succulent because her succulent overcame the drought overtime just as Mahsa did while settling in California.
Overall, I really enjoyed Mahsa Soroudi’s artwork as she was able to connect her succulents to her personal life. She seemed like a really genuine person who shared a true passion for her art. The interview with her was very interesting to watch and made me feel inspired to do something as meaningful as she did.
When I began to draw CSULB I chose the Go Beach sign as my center point. I started drawing from there until I couldn’t remember anymore buildings. At first it was easy because I remembered the most important buildings like the pyramid and library. But after a while I kept forgetting about places and when I did remember them I had to squeeze them in the picture so it looks out of proportion. I still enjoyed doing this activity because it showed me how much I pay attention to school and how much I don’t. It also made me think a little bit about where everything was located so overall I feel this activity was healthy for my brain.
For this activity I decided to do it with my sister because she came over and I found it convenient for her to participate. At first I thought it was going to be very confusing to actually do it but once we started to draw it became fun and exciting. I chose to use pink at first but then I thought adding blue to it would make the drawing compliment each other nicely. This experience was fun and I would probably do it again just because it’s relaxing and fun to do.
Ashley Anderson is a student at CSULB who is studying to get her BFA. This exhibition was done alongside Sophia Grecco who is also an undergraduate at CSULB. Lucky Places for a Grave is an exhibition based on folktales and the importance of them.
The art in this exhibition is very nature-like and more realistic than other forms of art I have seen. It looks like the artist painted on a canvas paper and then put it on a wooden board afterward. In one of the pieces “Frog Went A Courtin’ “, the watercolor is very evident and the texture of it looks very soothing and realistic. The colors blend well together and gives the piece a relaxing finish to it. Some of the other pieces also include watercolor and other media such as acrylic. In “Pata De Chiva”, a body is depicted with the head of a goat. To me, this was very interesting to look at because it confused me a bit but at the same time it intrigued me so much. The colors in the body look so realistic and the background colors give the character more attention.
All the pieces in this exhibition seemed to have meaning beyond entertainment to them. The ideas behind them touched on the influence of folktales to our lives. I agree with Ashley that folktales can tell us how to live, especially if we truly believe in them. Even if we don’t believe in some folktales, they change our perceptions of reality in a way we can’t explain. I feel this is true because there are times when I don’t believe in something like a myth of folktale, but the doubt of it being true always crosses my mind which effects my views on reality.
The whole idea behind this exhibition was definitely captivating and reasonable. I agree with the artists and the message they are giving off because these ideas have shaped my personal identity.
When I was writing this short song I was thinking about the time when I was going through a rough time with someone I love. I started to think about these moments with this person which helped me begin my writing process. This happened less than a year ago so I can still feel the same feelings I felt from that moment.
Honestly, it wasn’t as hard as I expected it to be because I am someone who never forgets when someone hurts me. Although I can forgive them, the thought will always remain with me so I can’t simply forget it as if nothing happened. I think my song is successful amongst others who can relate to the lyrics and have been through rough times in their relationship. I view it as a successful song because it means something to me more than just a song for my art class.
I think I will write another song in the future because it’s something that helps one express their feelings, like in my case with my song. I know I could have done a better job but I am content with what I have. I think the next song I write could be about anything I feel in the moment. It could be about my feelings, my friends, my life, basically anything.
abbycal 