Wk 14 – Art Experience – Sketching in the Garden

I found this week’s art experience to be rather a calming yet out of the box task. Instead of being in the normal university theater or SOA galleries, we went to the Japanese garden which i thought was a nice change. Sitting out in the garden make me more comfortable in drawing, i felt more relaxed when drawing things I saw. Looking through out the garden there were things that were easy to draw such as the ducks or koi fish and plants, while some were more complex: the water fall, details of every flower, and just the whole garden to name a few. At first i was confused by the abstract and representational art work that we had to do but slowly it made sense. For my abstract art I drew shapes and lines to represent what i saw in the garden, so the ducks, fish, and shadows of the branches. For my representational I tried my best to draw a koi fish, duck, and a water fountain. For the abstract photos, I took a picture of a bush, flower, and the scales of a koi fish. For the representational I took more pictures of fish ( I just think that koi fish are so pretty and cool looking) and a monument to the Japanese culture, and then I also took a picture of the garden itself. In my opinion I thought that this was the best experience so far, it was different and a great way to connect with the outdoors!

Wk13 – Art Experience – Art Care Package

For this week’s art experience, I found it to be fun and different. The ACP is different than snapchat because it is something you can physically hold and grab, you can see every detail of what ever you receive and it doesn’t disappear after 10 seconds. Yet it is similar because you’re sending a form of art to someone whether it be a drawing or a photo. The time between sending something and receiving it on snapchat and the ACP does matter. When it is sent over a long period time instead of seconds, in my opinion I think it has more meaning behind it, instead of it being something you just came up with. The ACP is my opinion can be made with love rather than making a snap with love lol. An ACP can contain things that you like or things that the receiver likes. It can personal and intimate, or cool and fun, it all depends on what you want to do with it. This art experience taught me that its ok to express your opinion of what is art and what isn’t, by sending the person I picked what i thought was art meant that I am not afraid to express what is art to me and not what is art to society. 

Wk13 – Artist Conversation – Nick Bamford

Artist: Nick Bamford

Exhibition: Process and Form

Media: Ceramics and mixed media

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery East

Website: NA

Instagram: nickbamf4d

For this week’s artist conversation I had the pleasure of meeting Nick Bamford. Nick is a fourth year at CSULB, graduating with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Ceramics. He is originally from Huntington Beach but decided to go to CSULB to pursue not only a degree in art but also a career. Nick is the only one from his family to pick art as a career choice. His hobbies include painting, sculpting, and working on any of his current projects. Nick’s interests also revolve around most of his art work and hobbies.

Nick’s work is different from all the other art work I’ve viewed the semester. His artwork contains carmaics and lights, also random toys and trinkets adding individuality to his work. The sculptures’ scale are bigger than most art work I’ve seen, it is taller than the average human. The use of the backlights and glow sticks create and eerie yet exciting effect. His work is a combination of being jagged, undulating, sinuous and staccato. All the elements of his work come together to form something beautiful.

When I asked Nick why he chose to make this artwork, he stated that he liked the challenge of using different techniques of art and combining them into one. He wanted to bring different aspects and dimensions to his art work so it can stand out and not be like the rest of the artists at school. He explained that all of the things he made are not really random, that each of them have a specific purpose, place, and meaning to his art. “It was not coincidental or an accident, but more of a purpose”.

When I look at Nick’s art it gives me flash backs to an arcade and my childhood. The use of glow sticks and different toys/objects makes me feel like I’m 12 again, playing laser tag or winning arcade toys. His artwork stands out because he has so much going on, combined into one. The black light, glow sticks, skulls, and metal/chains also reminds me of halloween giving off a eerie/spooky, yet exhilarating/beautiful feeling.

Wk12 – Artist Conversation – Jennifer Chen

Artist: Jennifer Chen

Exhibition: Succession

Media: Silk screen, google maps, photography, photoshop, printmaking

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery East

Website: NA

Instagram: NA

Jennifer Chen is on her last year at CSULB. She is an undergrad for biology and is completing her master of fine arts for print and digital making. She is going to teach an art class next semester at school and she has switched her major to develop a meaning in art and discover the different ideas she has. Chen’s work explores the merging of science and art, and it also depicts how after a disturbance in nature, a place changes hence her exhibition name Succession. When I asked Chen what her interests were, she said they are wide ranging and primarily artsy and outdoorsy, giving inspiration for this exhibit.

Chen’s work took a long time to create and even perfect, she wanted to play with the idea of painting and photography. She uses a camera and google maps to create her work and then when she has her images she prints them on silk screen. The shape of her art work is to be similar to nature as if it was 3D.  Her art work is smooth since it is printed on screen paper, she uses earthy tones also to give off an exact resemblance to real life nature. Jennifer’s art work is a combination of jagged, undulating, and sinuous since it is to resemble natures. Just as nature is different at every view and detail, her art work is different in every small print and design.

I asked Jennifer why she chose to print nature she told me that she wanted to allow people to fully grasp how the environment is currently changing and rapid it is happening. She says we have to be more aware of the environment and how we treat it. Her images are trying to explore succession in nature and how when one thing dies, another is reborn or replaced. She explained that her art work depicts the minor changes in nature from the modern world perspective.

In my opinion Chen’s work depicts beautifully how nature is constantly changing around us, from the tearing down of forests and trees to the raising of buildings and cities. her art work give me the idea of conserving nature and taking time to realize what the modern world does to the environment and the creatures with in it. If humans took more than just a second to realize how nature and our earth is slowly deprecating over time, then we would be conserving more of not only our lives but the planet’s also.

Wk12 – Art Experience – Game Design

 

The cache I placed is North 32.8504 degrees and West 117.2730 degrees.

The cache I found was semi difficult, I went to a library and found it in the fiction books in the sub category: fantasy. While the one I placed was far down south, which may prove to be a fun yet hard challenge for those that are up to it. Geocaching made it fun to find new boxes and places, also figuring out what there is to do. This weeks activity made seem like it was hide-and-go-seek, hiding a box, and seeking out others. When thinking if you can map feelings and emotions onto a map, you can. If you think about places they hold secrets and stories and some may know and others may not. Yet if we explore these places we can learn their secrets, emotion, feelings, and adventures. The geocaching takes us to these places to not only find a cache but find the stories with in these places and learn the emotions that come with it.

Wk10 – Artist Conversation – Helen Werner Cox

   

    
 Artist: Helen Warner Cox

Exhibition: Silent screams

Media: Oil paints, pastels, monoprints, crayons

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West

Website: N/A

Instagram: N/A

This week I met artist Helen Warner Cox. She is currently in graduate school for her Master of Fine Arts degree at CSULB. Helen explained to me that growing up in the country and becoming a country girl she had very little interest in horses, yet he art work for this exhibition uses carousel horses as a reoccurring idea. She used to live in Ithaca New York until she was 18 and then moved to explore a more vibrant lifestyle. Helen wants to explore more to have more ideas for her artwork and have a more vast art style. During her free time Helen enjoys reading and gardening mostly, yet lately she got into a game called Dots and has formed an addiction to the app.

When looking at Helen’s art work she uses a lot of vibrant colors mixed with earth tones to create an eerie yet fun look. Her paintings contain different angles of the horses on the carousel to capture the different aspects of life that we go through. She uses oil paints, pastels, and water based crayons to crate her beautiful paintings. Most of Helen’s work has a lot of rhythm and movement to it, it’s not so jagged but more smooth. the colors blend to bring a sense of calmness yet the look in the horses eyes say other wise. The powerful details of the faces of the horse and carousel show that she put much time and effort into each painting. Her work is also sinuous and not so much staccato. the curves of the carousel and horses give it life-like details that catch the viewers eye.

Helen described how her work revolves around one single theme: repetition. The repetitiveness of life and mistakes the ensue everyday unless you make a change. The horses she draws and the looks that she gives them depict how life can be unpredictable and scary at the same time.  She explained how’re carousel symbolizes society and the horses represent individuals within going in a circular motion consistently, with out ever slowing down or stopping. It represents society never slowing down and always changing without having the individual enjoy life or the changes that Come with it. The consistent motion and the fear on the horses face depict how humans, if we don’t move with society and keep up with it, we have fear of being left behind and being on the outside. 

Helen’s work gave me the idea of and individual looking inside the box from outside. Staring into society and it’s never ending change. In my opinion I agree with everything that Helen said about her work and how the individual is afraid to not change, that if we do not change with society or continue the repeatitive motion then we are castes outside. We live in constant fear of not being with society or being in the in-crowd. 

Wk 10 – Art Experience – Instagram

   

  

  

 What I noticed about the activity was that most students are out exploring everyday or trying something new. They are also either at work or hanging out with their friends. It’s cool to see everyone interacting with others and sharing their memories on Instagram. Looking through all the posted photos it seems to me that we are one big community going about our daily lives with those inside the class and those outside of it. What I noticed the most was everyone enjoyed doing something, trying something, or going somewhere to make their day a little more fun and interesting. This art experience expanded my view on what people do daily besides just the normal “go to school, then go to work, and then go home”. It allows everyone to show what they do daily, posting the pictures offer not only advice on what to do, but gives new ideas on things to try, places to go, and new people to meet. Viewing the photos for this week’s project was pretty cool to see what other people do daily, the most common idea that is saw was people enjoyed hanging out with their friends or family and going out and adventuring, which is pretty cool. I got to explore, go to work, and hang out with my friends. A lot of other people in my class did too. 🙂 

Wk10 – Classmate Conversation – Andrew Andrade

  
This week I had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Andrade. Andrew is a second year at Cal State Long Beach, and is currently a political science major. Once he graduates he aspires to going to law school to study civil and criminal law. Andrew is from along Beach City and commutes to school, he used to attend Millikan High School. Throughout high school he played almost every sport but mainly focused on wrestling. During his free time Andrew likes to travel to new places, hangout with his girlfriend and friends, and watch movies or documentaries. Andrew lives a relaxed lifestyle but he told me he wants to get back into the athletic lifestyle he used to have. Andrew has a Bichon Frise named Charlie who is 11 to 12 years old and is the love of his life. When I asked Andrew why he was taking Art 110 he said to fill a GE requirement, and because he’s never taken an art class besides photography in high school. He also thinks the Art 110 class is different, and has a different approach to understanding art and the creativity that comes with it. If you get the chance you should interview Andrew, he’s a great guy to meet! 🙂

Wk9 – Artist Conversation – Sean Joy Rosario Cabanig

Info Block:

Artist: Sean Joy Rosario Cabanig

Exhibition: All Work All Play

Media: Copper, Bronze, wax, fishing line, spray paint, sterling silver, enamel, silver plated chain

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Werby Gallery

Website: n/a

Instagram: n/a

This week I met with Sean Joy Rosario Canabig, Sean is from Los Angeles and is completing her last semester in BFA Metal Working. Her first year At Cal State Long Beach she declared herself a creative writing major for poetry but found a new love in metal work. During her free time Sean enjoys playing video games, spending time with her boyfriend, going out to eat, and experimenting with food dishes also.

Most of Sean’s work included copper and silver mixed together beautifully to create her art work. When i asked her how long most of her work took she said some were done quickly, such as in a day, but others too much longer, either a week or month. She explained that her metals were melted at 1500 degrees to create the look of paint blended together to form beautiful images such as a heart and flowers. The texture of her work is soft and smooth, the metals blending together perfectly, creating swirls of black, blue, white, grey, bronze and silver colors. Sean’s art work is undulating and sinuous, with soft curves for the jewelry and dishes.

Sean explained why she chose metal work and it was for her to experiment with art and her life. She explained that she was able to have fun in her work because she was exploring herself and her feelings in that moment and transferred it to her art. Sean explained how her exhibit name depicts how we should all take life, slow and full hearted. She said that as humans we have tendencies to rush things and get upset when things aren’t perfect but we should take a moment and step back from things and look at life and how wonderful it is. We should learn to be more patient and calm. Sean said she beats herself up hard when her art work didn’t turn out how she wanted and that she pushes herself harder so her art work can have more meaning and be more beautiful. She said her artwork is a reflection of her feelings towards life and the people in it.

Sean’s artwork is aesthetically pleasing. My favorite piece is the white heart on bluefish black metal. also the white flowers on the dishes are beautiful. The way she blends the metals to create designs and shape them into jewelry and dishes is so cool! In my opinion metal work is different than the typical art form, its creative and personal. You can create jewelry, dishes, and any other object you chose. Sean’s art work was calm and simple yet out spoken and different, it is something that i would wear and put in my house as accessories.

Wk9 – Classmate Conversation- Gina Householder

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Gina Householder. Gina is a second year at Cal State Long Beach studying Pre Film. She wants to be in non-fiction production, documentaries, and then move into narratives as job. When I asked her why she is taking Art 110 she said that she likes art and being creative and it was to fulfill a pre-requisite for film. I also asked her why she decided to go to CSULB and she told me her family went there and she knew the school really well already. Her favorite class at CSULB is history of broadcasting because you are learning about all tv shows from all times. Gina has one younger sister who is fifteen, she also has three dogs: two French Bulldogs and a German Shepard. She also has a Gecko. Her hobbies include going to the beach, Disney, volunteering and reading. Her favorite music are all kinds, but particularly alternative. She likes some country but doesn’t really listen to it. Her favorite show is Sherlock on BBC, her favorite color is yellow, and her favorite food is pizza. I Hope you guys get the chance to meet Gina just as I did!