Artists Working with Identity

Cindy Sherman

         A photographer and film maker who shoots herself dressed in costumes to represent different women in society and the stereotypes that the media places on women. She says she is not a feminist artist but simply pointing out how society generalized and sees women in a certain view.

What types of things are people saying when they appear a certain way?
How can this dictate anything about an individual?
Why do people view women in different ways based on their dress?
Does this objectify or change views on these women in any way?
What types of things are shown through stereotypes and in women especially?

What types of association or judgements do people pair with certain women and their appearance?
What do these appearances actually say about the women personally?
How can these photographs shift a viewer's thinking upon learning that the figure is the same person in the other works?

This American Life: Middle School

The “This American Life” episode about Middle School was an interesting look into adolescents and what they see as important. Looking into the school dance was extremely interesting to reflect and compare it to my own experiences. I remember us trying to pretend like the chaperone teachers were not actually there. We were probably way to scandalous for being in middle school but I think that’s when you’re exploring yourselves and others. This is important in order for you to understand who you are and who you want to become. It was frustrating to listen to Leo’s story who had just moved to a new town and hated his life in the new setting. I was excited to hear that he had a good time with a new friend but then he said nothing really had changed. I’ve realized how frustrating everything was in middle school. Everyone is so judgmental and guarded and since they don’t want to be judged, they judge others to protect themselves. It’s true that everyone is mostly influenced by their peers. I think that this is a time that is inevitable and needs to happen in order to develop personal morals and opinions on things in life that actually matter. It can be a traumatic and defining time in your life and is absolutely necessary for social and mental development.

Art Education Application Portfolio

Self Portrait- oil paint, newspaper, glue (3' x 3')

Kafka Drawing- charcoal (18" x 24") 

 

Card Bird- playing cards, glue (10" x 12")

Discovering Series- Digital Prints

Surroundings- clay and towel on scanner (8.5" x 11")

Searching- clay and towel on scanner (8.5" x 11") 

Drowning- clay, bag, water on scanner (8.5" x 11")

Recovered- clay and towel on scanner (8.5" x 11")



Ceramic Work:

Historical Coil Pot: Terra Cotta, glaze (10" x 18")

Pitcher and Cups & Saucers Set: Porcelain, underglaze, and glaze

(Pitcher 10" tall) 

Nature Drinking Vessels Set: Porcelain

Fireflies

Coral

Branches

Mushrooms and Moss

Rocks

Artist Statement:

In my practice, clay has been my main medium. Three-dimensional work is how I visualize an idea in physical form. Creating functional vessels is a way that can make the user both use and experience a piece. Pottery can inject decoration and uniqueness into the user’s life that other forms of art cannot accomplish as easily in comparison to this direct interaction. I am interested in creating pottery that is functional but has sculptural aspects. My work is both aesthetic and concept based and I draw inspiration from nature and industrial design. The juxtaposition of these two ideas and their overwhelming convergence is something that I often contemplate. Organic forms mixed with straight lines and the ephemeral difference between the shapes is something that I incorporate in my pieces. I encompass the types of movement that is embodied by ceramics on the wheel in my other work like painting and photography. I plan to continue to exploration of form and organic nature in my work. 

Trimis and Savva readings

Through reading the article, I was thinking a lot about the idea of chorotopos and what is means. It exemplifies scaffolding and one's surrounding and the influence of an environment of a learner, thinker, and artist.
Is this an ideal that is prevalent in our society and should be expressed. are there ways in which this is already shown and put forth? Is this and ideal that is specific to art learning or can it be encompassed in any critical thinking situation?
Is this way of thinking something we do intuitively or something that we need to teach through example is school and in lesson plans. If I am doing a project or learning a new idea, I might visit the location or research it enough to feel as if I know it intimately. This seems to be the ideal behind chorotopos. Is this the natural path of the art maker or critical thinker in general?

Studio Exploration 1

At this point I'm still very unsure as to what I want to do for my project. I've realized throughout this week that I am not place based in my memories or thoughts. When I first heard the assignment about place, automatically I started thinking about places where I felt most at home and most comfortable. But for me, what is home at this point. I live at school in my dorm for a majority of the year but that is not home. I spent my past summer at a sleep away camp in upstate New York and although some of the campers believed it was, this was not my home either. Over winter break I spent half my time in London, but that obviously isn't home. So you would assume that my parent's house is my home and it is. When people ask me where I live I say Long Island, entirely referring to my parent's house. But in the past year, I've spent a total of 7 weeks at that place. Frankly, that doesn't seem like a good enough description of a home.

I've been thinking about using either the area of the camp I was at for the summer which was in the Adirondacks near Plattsburgh and 15 minutes away from the Canadian border. It was an extraordinarily beautiful area. A group of us spent a day off besides a river in Saranac Lake at a friends house and it was the calmest and most peaceful day. I was thinking about somehow representing that day and overall that summer of getaways and peacefulness that was truly a great experience both personally and professionally.

Another idea of mine is to create a houseboat. Whenever people, especially my mother, asks me what I am going to do after college with a degree in art and jobs in the art education field slowly dwindling down, I always think about how I have no concrete or even vague plan. I've therefore decided that I am going to simply get a houseboat and sail around and make pots. To me, that seems to be a relaxing and pleasing future that could take me literally anywhere.

Both of these places of ideals share similar feelings and ambitions for life. As I'm writing this I'm trying to come up with a solid answer for the sake of this post but I'm still in a planning stage of this idea. However, I can tell you that whatever I do will be refreshing and calm in order to reflect my summer and ambitions for what lies ahead.



After further thought, I'm thinking about working around the idea of a place of home verse a place of escape and how those two things can be the same at times and polar opposites at others. For me personally, my summer could be seen as an escape and it was there that I found peace and a sense of home. Which is quite ironic since I had never been to that area and did not know a single person there. Yet somehow, it was familiar, comfortable, and safe which is what a home should be in my mind.

As far as a physical project, I am still at a loss. But I know I want to work with this dichotomy of home and escape. This might turn into a very representational project of the site and a display of the area that made me feel this sense of warmth. But it might also turn into a more of a conceptual piece revolving around the feelings, memories, and bond to that specific place and time.

Class Discussion (September 1, 2011)

      In class, we got into groups and discussed ideas for contemporary approaches in art education. Hearing about all the different articles truly gave new ideas to the meaning and focus of art education. The article that I read by Kiefer-Boyd,was about teachers who implemented new activities into their classrooms as part of a staff development course which opened conversation about power and privilege in reference to race, gender, and other controlling ideals like one's memory and outlook. Art education can be a vehicle to open the lines of communication which may be unrelated in other areas. By directing a project in a certain direction, students can learn more about themselves, their influences, and others by having a project work conceptually within the contemporary world we live in. I think that this is an essential part of education, more specifically art. Another article focused on experiments done in a class in which the teacher used specific techniques to increase critical thinking skills in his students through art education. For me, I think that this article is extremely important. I believe that art can be a driving force in learning how to approach a problem-solving situation as well as further students' development. Art teaches critical thinking when dealing with difficult problems, looking and observation skills, and dedication. Art in the art world can be a vehicle for expression, change, and conversation. Art in the classroom should exist in the same manner. All of the articles that we read were interesting and progressive views on how to view art education. 
     After discussing our articles we categorized their main parts in the chart. The categories were teacher's actions, student's actions, students' development, ongoing processes, and cultural environment. All the of these categorizes were filled with ideas from the articles. Many ideas linked between categories. This just proves that art education, like art, does not exist in a vacuum and is affected by everything around it and should be presented  in that way. Through the activity, we were able o see that the ongoing processes and cultural environment affects the actions of the teacher and student which then affects the student's development, which is the main focus of all education. The activity definitely allowed us to see the value in contemporary ideas in art education and focus on the affects and advantages for the student's development to treat art education in this way.

       As an artist I am working in 3-dimensional work, most recently in ceramics since I have just joined the program. I like to apply some sort of meaning as well as contemplate aesthetics in the pieces that I create. I don't want something that's going to be purely visual, nor purely conceptual.