Collective Identity 6/1/10
When I think about the identity of a group of people, I think of a group of similar people basically defined all the same. But, in our art room, it is impossible to sum up the identity of the population with just one specific word. If I did have to pick one word though, it would be FAMILY. I think family, not because we are blood related, but because we all share a common goal and interest of creating great art. So many different races, ethnicity’s, and backgrounds create an amazingly diverse family, where we all feed off of each other. We are a family in the sense, that without one another to learn from, no one would ever be inspired to try something new. No progress would ever be made. In every family there are always the siblings that compete with each other. In our classroom, without an unspoken competition, we would never develop and find ourselves. Our classroom reminds me of an art orphanage. With Mr. Miller as the caretaker, we are all trying to find our way into the loving art community. Even though we ask Mr. Miller what we should do for our next project, like any good parent would do, he would always tell us to do what made us happy. This brings me back to being a giant multi-cultural family. Without each other we would be lost, and the Wissahickon Art Department would seize to exist. In a family it’s not every man for himself; just like in our classroom. The different personalities of each person are what make our collective identity truly amazing.
Conceptual Project Proposal 4/27/10
For my conceptual surveillance project, I would get a remote control car and drive it through the school. I would use the the car as a device to catch the students in the halls off guard, and I could survey people’s reactions. The school’s surveillance cameras would come into play to capture how students would react, without them knowing that they are being watched. This method would be a very effective one, because it would get a definite reaction, and it would be a large group of people with a wide variety.
Deciding when to drive the car through the halls is very important. I want to get the reaction of the most people possible. If I do the experiment right when classes end, I feel that the halls would be too crowded and the car would be ineffective by getting stepped on or tampered with. We have three minutes in the halls between classes, so I figure that if I were to plant the car in the halls with one minute left, that the halls would start to be less crowded. This would give me enough space and time to maneuver the car without it being messed with.
This idea is definitely a creative way to use the school’s surveillance cameras in order to capture the natural reactions of people while they have NO IDEA that they are being watched.
4/23/10 Surveillance Log
Day 1- I saw Mr. Miller sitting at his desk. He was working hard, slaving over his Mac Book. He looked more focused than I had ever seen him before. I looked away for a few minutes and when I looked over at Mr. Miller again, a large snake like figure was creeping up behind him. The figure was a dark red curling shape; it was the color of blood. with gray tentacles on it. When I looked up, I saw the shape of a giant octopus towering over Mr. Miller. Before I could react and warn Mr. Miller, It had already wrapped him up in his legs and swallowed him whole.
Day 2- The class was sitting in their seats waiting for Mr. Miller to arrive, but he never did. We waited and waited, and all of a sudden a voice came from Mr. Miller’s desk. It sounded like him, but he was no where to be seen. The whole class is confused and cant figure out where his voice was coming from. The we realized that the lamp that was always on his desk had a mouth. It was the one who was talking to us. Had Mr. Miller turned into a lamp? He seemed to act like nothing was wrong, so the class just continued like there was nothing wrong.
Day 3- The jungle of paint brushes and art supplies engulfed the class room. We had more and more supplies filling up the class room as each day went by. Every inch of the floor was covered in supplies. It got to the point where the supplies are up to our necks and people are fighting to survive the overflow of paint brushes, pencils, buckets, hot glue guns and much more. We were swimming in paint and it was survival of the fittest.
Day 4- I’ve been all over the world and seen some crazy things. I’ve experienced extreme wealth, extreme poverty, drugs, violence, peace, love, but I until now I’ve never seen a boy with as much emotion as one boy I saw when I was in Sudan. It was a life changing experience. The confusion and serenity flowing through the boys face made my outlook on life so much different than it was before. No longer did I look to complain about all the negative things in life, I learned to appreciate the life I have.
Day 5- BOOM, BOOM, BOOM. I wake up and look out my window and see that the house next door was completely crushed with no trace of how it happened. a few seconds later i saw that another house was demolished. I look up and see these colossal feet towering over me. I ran out of my house as fast as I could. I run for the hills, and I look back and my house just explodes from the force of the monster feet coming down on my house. I stand there in awe as I see all my belongings get obliterated before my eyes. These Giant feet the size of small houses keep doing damage as I sit in the foothills watching the unstoppable wrecking balls.
4/22/10 Prompt Question
What are the ethical differences (if any) between the surveillance of objects/property and living subjects?
There is a tremendous difference between surveillance of objects and living objects. When surveying inanimate objects, you dont have to worry about capturing them in their natural form. Non living objects believe it or not cannot see that you are taking pictures of them and will not react to a camera in their face. You can very easily manipulate objects to the way that you want and then survey them. When observing say, a still life, you are in control of how you survey it.
On the other hand when surveying living subjects, it is much more complicated. When trying to capture moments, it is hard to get get the subjects in their natural state; especially in the classroom. I have been trying to take pictures from a distance and everyone notices and either hides or looks up at the camera. These unnatural poses are not what surveillance is supposed to be like. It makes it very difficult to survey people without them seeing you when we are confined to the classroom.
Where does truth and/or fact exist in the relationship between the surveillant and the surveilled?
There is truth and fact in the relationship between the surveillant and the surveilled. When it comes to seeing what a person, place or thing is really like, the only way to find absolute truth and fact about them is to see them when they think no one is looking. I’m not saying it is okay to spy on people in their private settings such as a home or bathroom, but in public places, surveillance is very common and revealing. Mostly used for the safety and security of a store or building, surveillance cameras capture the facts of what really happened and can be used as evidence if necessry. The whole point of surveillance is to watch over an area and simply uncover truth, whether it was meant to be hidden or not.
Surveillance Log
2/22- The soldiers are marching through the fields, fighting off native pirates of the jungle. The soliers look at the sky filled with smoke, and see the blackened faces of their dead fellow soldiers. They see the pain in their eyes, and it can only make them think about how much time they have left, before the vines of the Amazon swallow them whole.
2/23- The town is being defeates by a self powered dictator, who likes to call himself the Master Cowboy. He slowly made his mark on the town, as a mere sherrif that was responsible for the safety of the people, and he was looked at as a hero by some. He slowly took his power and turned it against the town. He used all the people he put behind bars, in his scheme to take over. He made these hardened criminals into his armed forces, and made them patrol the town. Eventually he made his rise to the top and no one could get in his way. In the end he stood at the highest point of the town, and flexed his muscles showing off his power for all to see.
2/24- When word that the MAster Cowboy has taken over, got to Gotham City, Batman was not going to sit back and watch the neighboring town go to waste. He immediately flew to the town and sat in his batcave for weeks while planning a way to take down the Master Cowboy. He quickly called upon his super hero friends and they attacked the Master Cowboy from all sides. The Cowboy and his convict sidekicks were no match for Batman and his crew. Once again the town was back to normal all to the thanks of Batman!
2/25- The Bank was surrounded by masked men. The disguises made stopping them so much harder. They all had mustaches and sunglasses on. The inside had masked men as well as snipers on the outside, as they were trying to rob the bank. These criminals were sneaky, and demanded ridiculous things. They had the bank on lock down and were certain that they were going to get out without a pr0blem. They had hostages and were very dangerous. No one new when the nightmare was going to be over.
2/26- I was trapped in a desert, with a human skull to my right animal skull to my left with bones scattered everywhere. There was no one in site and I was sure I was going to die stranded and alone. I rolled up in a ball thinking about food and water. I could have sworn that I saw a person on a bicycle and someone on roller skates, but I knew my mind was just playing games with me. I was devastated that I hae no hope for survival.
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Fall Semester 2009
Diptych Reflection 12/21/09
The Diptych project was a great way to show the many different facets of my life and personality. When people look at me they most of the time stereotype me as a kid who only cares about sports. For people who make this assumption about me, they are only partially correct. I have more than just a hard, and masculine side to me; I also have the mellow artistic and creative side as well. I felt that through my diptychs I could easily portray my versatile qualities as a person. I have many hobbies, but my two passions are complete opposites to say the least. Ice Hockey has been my life long passion, but ceramics is something that I had recently picked up in my high school years.
I chose Ceramics and Ice hockey because they are so opposite from each other and have completely different lingos and languages. As interacting pieces, if they were to have a conversation, I would imagine that they would look at each other in confusion and disrespect because they don’t have the appreciation towards the other hobby. At first, hockey and ceramics would clash and not get along at all, but after talking and getting to understand each other they would find a new appreciation and realize that each takes equal amounts of skill, but just a different kind. One being more physical talent and the other being more mental, Ice hockey and ceramics could learn a lot from each other.
These two hobbies of mine are what help me get through the day. Ceramics helps me clear my mind peacefully, an hockey allows me to clear my mind actively. Without these activities in my life I would not be as well rounded as I am today
PORTFOLIO DAY- (11/22/09)
Just seeing the scene on the outside of the Philadelphia Convention Center was an experience in itself. I arrived ten minutes early and assumed that I was too early. Well, I was wrong. I walked into the doors and was immediately told that I needed to go to the end of the line. I didn’t think anything of it at first, but my jaw soon dropped. The end of the line to enter wrapped around the entire building. Being human, I eyed every person up from head to toe as the artist stereotypes flowed through my head. I soon realized that I wasn’t so out of place after all. The only thing that made me stand out from the crowd was that I had NO portfolio of art work to show. I did not know what to expect and how to prepare. I figured the schools i talked to would have computers so i could show them my work online; but that didn’t work out too well. Walking around and admiring everyone’s art was a great eye opening experience to all the different perceptions of what art is. It was interesting to see the high standards of some schools with lines that took hours waiting in, and the other schools with no one to talk to. It seemed that the convention center was spinning, overwhelming me. Overall, I’m glad I went to Portfolio Day and exposed myself to the artistic talent of Philadelphia.
11/18/09
For my 1st Diptych painting, I am using the vocabulary and lingo, from Ice Hockey. For my 2nd painting I am going to use terminology from Ceramics. These to activities make up a big part of who I am, and are pretty much polar opposites from each other. I feel that the athletic diptych and artistic diptych would have a very interesting and confusing conversation because they are two completely different activities.
11/13/09
Heroic REFLECTION
Presenting my heroic identity through cards was hard enough; but having to explain my identity through words to my peers seemed even harder. Even though I did not how I truly wanted to say, what I needed to say, I feel like my explanation flowed and made complete sense.
I took the meaning of my heroic identity through a literal “visual” standpoint. When You just glance at the cards they dont look like anything to exotic or impressive, but when you really look into them is when you find and see the hero. Like I said, it doesn’t take super powers to be a hero, anyone can be a hero by doing things to impact others. The broken glass on my cards shows multiple images of you when you look into it, which only leads me to believe that you can be as much of a hero as you want to be. I did not really plan this meaning behind it, but when I looked at the cards for so long, a whole new meaning fell upon me.
11/2/09
Heroic Identity
What the heckkk is my heroic identity?
If I was a super hero, and I could have one power, other than to be able to fly, I would want to be abke to help people all less fortunate. I feel that the only way a person can really see the pains that some people suffer is to look at themselves first, and really come to appreciate how fortunate they are. A hero doesnt have to have super strength or tremendous speed. Anyone can be a hero. I do things across the board with my family and friends to try and make a little difference in people’s lives. Whether it is supplying food for people on Thanksgiving or hockey equipment for inner-city kids so they can learn to play ice hockey, I really enjoy making an impact on peoples lives. Does a hero have to technically be on a larger scale? I don’t think so! S, technically I am already a hero… Right?
I look at my cards that I made and look into the broken glass, and see multiple images of me! If anyone looked into the broken mirrors they would see the same thing. So why can’t we all be heroes?
