Love Canal imovie

Shimpei Shirafuji

Shimpei came to class the other day to share his photography. He talked about how he shoots from life and that he usually asks permission. There is something about shooting from life that makes the content all the more interesting. If I know something was shot in a studio, I usually dismiss it unless it is extraordinarily remarkable. For example, the photograph of the girl in the vehicle would lose its appeal if it were staged. I like capturing life in a snapshot; the meaning of that one moment taken out of context is different than the entirety of the story. What this one image tells us can be read into and convey a host of information that would be lost if seen along with the rest of the movements. This one picture says that there is something in this moment that should be looked at; there is some significance in this that is worth paying attention to.

Alec Acebedo

Alec is an illustration major who came to visit class the other day. His style was very fantasy based as well as, imaginative. Normally that is not my taste, but I must say that he is very talented and I enjoyed his picture with the fox. Especially with the mask, it reminded me of the visuals in the film, Mirrormask. I love the colors that he uses in this piece and the narrative. This is not his only piece that I enjoy; on his website, moonfoxart.com, he has quality sketches, other illustrations, and some animation. As a fan of fantasy, I have been to exposed to work that is similar to his and I believe that he will fit into this genre nicely.

The Story of My Week

Simply put, the assignment was to collect photographs, ambient sounds, and three songs from a period of one week. Then I had to put them together in a compact way that might be defined as a mash up of a typical week.

When choosing what to include, I decided to capture some of the consistencies and interests of my week. In other words, I took photographs at Bible Study, dinner, and church. I also used pictures from walking to class, studying, and riding a bus to New York City. As objects impact my life, I incorporated images of some objects that I made and a plant that I take care of. Because I spend a lot of time in my room, I took pictures of objects that surround me there such as my homemade sun jar and my paperclip sculpture that I made while fidgeting.

My songs include "Satellite" by Guster since that song is one that I never get sick of. The second song I chose was "Devotion" by Tracy Chapman because her songs have a lot to do with spirituality and God. As being a Christian is something that saturates my thoughts, I was hoping to comment on that by including this background song. The third piece I included was "You Could Make a Killing" by Aimee Mann mostly because this is the song that I put on repeat every time I have to write a paper. I placed this song over the images of me studying so that I could emphasize that.

The sounds include conversations with my friends. This is because I hear their voices a lot. I also hear a lot of other random sounds and don't really pay attention to them, so they are buried in other noise in this piece.

Kat King -Industrial Design

Fourth year Industrial design student, Kat King came and spoke to fellow undergrad students about her major. She answered many questions about what the classes are like, different electives she has taken, and some of the projects she has worked on. Kat brought in a book that contained her portfolio, a combination of industrially design objects and photography. Among her work was an object that was specifically intended to trap memories without the use of photographs. The idea is to capture a the sound of a moment in a rock-like object; only when the object is brought back to the place where the memory took place can the memories be accessed. These objects can be gifted as presents for other people or just kept for a personal trip down memory lane. In all, Kat seemed very excited and informative about what it is like to be an industrial design major.

Vavara Mikushkina - Art Photography

Today Syracuse undergrad, Vavara Mikushkina visited my Time Arts class to talk about her major. As an art photographer, she is able to explore artistic possibilities while being influenced by her family. When talking about her art, Vavara emphasized the importance of following where your art leads you; she explained that dedication is the only way to improve. Part of her presentation consisted of a blog that she keeps up on her own and the other part was some of her portfolio in person. Though she is a photography major, she does not limit herself to just one medium. Vavara urged all of us to seek other media to express our ideas. For example, some of her work includes digital illustration and mixed media murals. The piece that she is holding up in this photograph is an independent project that applied her knowledge from a digital illustration class.

Street Art

For this project, I considered how people interact with buying and throwing things away. While consumers interact with products, I wanted to emphasize the obtaining and dismissal of disposable "junk" food. To accomplish this, I cut out eyes and teeth using the recyclable material often known as paper and taped them to vending machines. This way, the candy came out of the mouth of the vending machine; in this way, consumerism would be barfing on consumers.

Site #1: Lobby of Haven Hall (residential building -frequently visited location)

The eyes and teeth were taken down by the second day of being installed.

Site #2: 2nd Floor of Shaffer Art Building (academic -randomly visited by art students)

As this is an art building, I expected this installation to last a little longer. On the second

day, granted it was a Saturday, I found that only an eye was missing. I still need to document

the third day.

Site #3: H.B. Crouse Hall (academic -waves of people visit this place for various events)

After putting this piece up, I returned to find the teeth and an eye missing. I put the pieces back on and left them there. I am not sure what has become of them just yet.

Site #4: E.S. Bird Library (public -not crowded)

As this location is more secluded within the library cafe in that the vending machine is hidden behind a wall, I did not expect this piece to get taken down. Last I check, it was still there.

Site #5: Starbucks (public and off campus -crowded)

As there are not many vending machines off campus, I chose to alter my project. Rather than emphasize the obtaining of a product, I highlighted its disposal. I cut out sharp-looking teeth and angry eyes, then taped the all the way around the garbage opening in the counter. I hid amongst the customers by sitting at a table to see what would happen. Within five minutes an employee came out and took down my work. While she was doing this she was complaining to the other employees about how stupid people can be. She said people have way too much time on their hands and that she could not believe they taped every single piece. While the employee was both annoyed and un-admittedly amused, the customers who saw me install this commented that they found it to be amusing. They were very supportive. One mother told me that she understood because her daughter is artistic. Even though the workers were upset, the customers seemed to enjoy it. Later, I talked with one of the employees who was not there that day about Starbucks. She said that many people work there who get very upset when anyone puts up fliers without permission.

Water Towers

Hooray Earth

Reaction to documentary, Style Wars

Style Wars is a film from the 80's that explores the world of graffiti. Examples of questions that were answered are, what is graffiti all about? What is the local community's reaction? And who participates in this practice? According to the film, tagging or bombing is a way of getting your name out in the world. Either you adopt your own name, or someone gives you one and then you take it and make something with it. Kids found the need to take their names, personalize and stylize them, and post them where the rest of the world would find and learn these names. The kids who graffitied in the film were all teenagers who appeared to live in low-income areas in New York City. As graffiti is illegal, for some artists it is about being angry with the system for living in poverty; however, the film did not attach this intention with tagging. In fact, the kids were even willing to work with authorities by attempting to legalize graffiti. They wanted to provide the community with art for free. Their offer was rejected.

Today, their is a huge movement for eco art, or the art of engaging and interacting with communities to encourage awareness of the environment. It appears that the graffiti kids from the 80's were a part of this movement whether they were aware of this or not. They worked together to spread art throughout their community, and in a way, represented their generation. These artists interacted with the white collar workers who took the subway to work by showing them another side by New York City. The fact that these artists were writing their names shows that they just wanted to make themselves known to the rest of the world, and become a part of the world. They may not have unified the white and blue collars within the urban community, but these kids did get people with different backgrounds to recognize each other. While graffiti is sometimes done out of anger, this film portrayed it as a way for kids to rebel while still attempting to join the world by getting their names known.

Response to "Father's Day '99" on This American Life

This hour-long dialogue about the father-child relationship talked about various examples in which the father and child attempt to protect the other from occurrences in life. In the first story, a father goes to great lengths to retrace his steps to find his son's beloved bear that was thrown away. The trials this father went through to spare his son from losing his bear demonstrated a father's need to protect their child. The second story was about a father who was losing his memory. The sons attempted to help their father through his illness by quizzing him about their names and professions. This story was more about the turn the father-son relationship might take as time continues on. The third story was an interview with a father and daughter. In an attempt to protect his daughter from discovering that fictional characters are not real, he lied to his daughter. Still, there relationship remained quite close.

While exploring father-child relationships can be touching, I found this third story particularly disturbing. Parents are supposed to teach their children about he world and how to cope with their feelings, not shield them from it. Lying to children does not change the truth, the best thing a parent can do for their child is expose them to the world and prepare them to deal with reality. If most parents adopt the policy of protecting their children rather than helping them face disappointment, then I seriously fear for the future.

I saw...

Stack plates like floors; I enjoy the comparison.

"buy me" or angry mob?

Parks: public spaces as grounds for the cultivation of equality?

^This is a photo of Faythe Levine.

Visiting Artist: Faythe Levine of "Handmade Nation"

On March 8, 2010, Faythe Levine visited Syracuse University to share her experience as an artist with students and the general public. Levine wrote a book called "Handmade Nation" only to later take the initiative of turning her book into an independent film. The film involved revealing the Indie Craft Community through a series of interviews with various people located throughout the United States. Levine ended up traveling to 15 cities to conduct 80 interviews. Though "Handmade Nation" was completely independent, the film took the country by storm. Levine reflected back on some crucial steps she had to take to make her project a success. She emphasized that the craft community is centralized online, so making accounts on different websites played a necessary role in publicizing her work.

Among the interviews in "Handmade Nation" were people who practiced all sorts of crafts and played different roles in the community. Some organizations that were represented were "The Little Friends of Printmaking," "Sublime Stitching," "Super Crafty" and "buyolympia.com." The film captured a culture of people who valued the "Do It Yourself" mentality and freedom through craft. In the film, one person said, don't allow people to "feed you your culture." The Indie Craft Community is very much about finding your own identity through the cultivation of creativity and ideas. The fact that this film was independent only further corresponded with the idea of "D.I.Y." When asked about her next project, Faythe Levine responded that she is currently working on a documentary about sign painting. It is people like Faythe Levine that keep the craft community thriving, and it is our job -as people who have a place in our hearts for such a community- to support our fellow crafters.

Daina Mattis

I apologize that I was unable to rotate this image of a painting however, at least it is up. The artist, Daina Mattis has recently displayed her work in the building of Shaffer at Syracuse University. From looking at this painting it seems that it was done with watercolor and pencil on large sheets of paper. The subjects are of a girl and a guy, the former in pink and the latter in blue. The female figure is seated and only the top half of her is defined with color while the rest of her is outlined in pencil. The male is emphasized by his blue jeans and sneaker -a.k.a. the lower half of his body. The girl is shown in profile, looking up at him as his outlined head looks back down at her. Both figures are placed differently and opposite parts of their bodies are emphasized still, they are each touching their shoes. Perhaps this has some significance about their similarities, what their journey together might entail, and gender roles. Nevertheless, this painting as a sweet emotion running through it, one of kind fascination. That only the figures have color seems to show that the setting is unimportant. Together with the lock gazes and turned heads, the viewer almost feels left out of their emotions. The connection between the two subjects appears to be strong, leaving the rest of the world behind.

Guy Carlo

Guy Carlo is a photographer whose work is currently being displayed in Shaffer at Syracuse University. This piece is of a pink cut-out goat nailed to a wall. While the wood background seems natural, the industrial-looking pink goat seems to mock nature. The nail is put in place of the eye. This could be a metaphor for "pinning" down nature and making it owned by humans. The eye might represent our point of view as people who consume things that are reminiscent of nature. This photograph shows the relationship between the natural and the industrialized realms by connecting the subject to the background with a sharp object. For our mass-produced objects to exist, we must harm nature, the background and foundation of our existence.

Soundscape

-Birds cawing from outside the window (reminder of outside world), comes and goes

-classical music from unknown source (calming), continuous

-irregular noise of car motors revving their engines from outside the window (hectic)

-vacuum cleaner humming from within the room, loud and tense noise for about 2 min.

-occasional vibration of phones receiving text messages

-consistent pen scratching paper with occasional page flipping, calm and focused sound

-random socks rubbing against carpet from within the room

-muffled voices from hallway, occurred for about ten seconds (disruptive? and casual)

-heat turned on

-coughing (tense and occasional)

-doors closing and keys turing in locks (random and common, from hallway, spastic and annoying)

-soft ticking of wall clock, stressful and continuous

Good Copy Bad Copy

The film, Good Copy Bad Copy explored the role of copyright laws in today’s world of streaming and piracy. Through interviews with people of various perspectives, the underlining message of the documentary seemed to encourage the restructuring of copyright laws to be compatible with today’s technology. One question that I believe is worth exploring is, “what is the purpose of copyright?” Dan Glickman, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) acknowledged that creators play an important part in stimulating culture, and their rights should be protected. At the same time, Creative Commons works with artists, allowing them to individually decide which rights they would like to attach to their work. For example, this documentary emphasized the need to share art and be open to new methods of copyright; in other words, it was completely appropriate to have this film be streamed without charge. If the film had been distributed commercially, the creators would have contradicted themselves. While artists should be protected and compensated, there must be a compromise between the producer and consumer. Streaming has become the norm, piracy unstoppable, and corporations disliked by many. This has not always been the reality, but the fact of the matter is that the world has changed and with that the laws must soon follow because the government is meant to reflect the people. Artists should be compensated, but perhaps how they sell their work will have to be restructured.

Fabricated Realities

Thomas Demand (Munich, b. 1964) is a photographer who constructs models of famous settings from mass-media images. He then snaps shots of the models and prints them to be life-size. Such settings tend to be places that have significance that most people can attach themselves to; for example, Demand reconstructed the underpass in Paris where Princess Diana met her end. Of these places, we are encouraged, as viewers to consider the story behind his photographs, yet that the photographs only appear to be real places encourages the viewer to consider the nature of photography. In doing this, Demand makes a statement about the misplaced trust that people put in photographs. Images do not tell the entire story, as they are limited to simply one perspective that can be used to manipulate and twist the truth. When producing his models, Demand often leaves evidence of the fact that the setting is merely a representation of a real place. This evidence can be used to allude to the idea that photographs lack credibility and you cannot always believe everything you see or are told.

Time Arts

This is my first post.