Did: working on video/slideshow (4 hrs)
organizing plastic materials in my studio (2.5 hrs)
cutting plastic (3 hrs)
scheduling pool time at NCRB (1/2 hr)
distracting myself by researching grants, artist residencies, etc (3 + hrs)
Discovered: while working on the video/slideshow this week I realized that sound could play a really important role, especially if I want my audience to become immersed in an environment... I had thought about using sound before, but I think actually making the video has really influenced me. There were a lot of reactions to the sound of the bubbles from my breathing in the last video and I think I should explore ways to incorporate it. I think progress on the visual aspect of the piece is going well, but I am hoping that feedback during the crit on tuesday will help me out :)
Olivia also sent me this website, which I am excited to explore further:
http://www.messageinthewaves.com/
I also looked up Sigur Ros videos (they are an Icelandic band) after Erica mentioned them. I have loved them ever since I went to Iceland after my freshman year, but I haven't really watched their videos.... This one is particularly relevant to me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yjurf5d6X0
Do: Finish up my video/slideshow for Tuesday & work on sound :D
Friday, January 15, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
back to school, back to school.
The last semester of my college career has begun! I am feeling positive about the direction my work will be taking this semester. After writing the first draft of my thesis and meeting in a group as a class, I have a good idea of what I need to work on immediately. I have been so focused on creating underwater photographs and figuring out the logistics of this project that I have put the actual presentation of the work on the back burner. I have a feeling that this semester is going to fly by and I need to start actively figuring out how I want to present this project to the public. I am interested in projecting the images... which will allow the images to be much larger than I would be able to do with prints (due to technical problems, cost & space...etc.). As the project has evolved I have also become much more interested in creating a sense of atmosphere in a gallery space... a place where people feel as if they are entering into my work.
For Jan. 19th, I will be showing classmates a projection in a small group critique. I realize that I need to figure out how to show a number of images without them appearing to be a slideshow. I am interested in incorporating some of the small video clips that I have taken... So I am going to start organizing and compiling still images and video in imovie so that I can experiment to get the effect I want. I am hoping that I will be able to get a number of images to flow together into each other. I will also have to address sound and decide how much audio should play into the finished product. It may turn out that imovie won't be the best software to work with for this project, but I am going to use it as a starting point and explore other solutions if problems arise.
I spent my studio time yesterday editing pictures that I haven't given enough attention. I really responded to this image:
It is very different from other images that I have taken this year, but there is something about the way it glows in combination with the movement blur that intrigues me. Without knowing the context of my project I don't know how anyone would know what this is... I feel like the combination of images like this with sound and video could produce the kind of atmosphere that I have been thinking about. I want to create the surreal feeling of being in the water, or in a unfamiliar space with these images...
On another note, I looked at the work of Chris Jordan after my review panel recommended him. I don't know if they were aware of the fact that he just recently completed a project related to the Pacific garbage patch... He went to Midway Atoll where he photographed baby albatross chicks who are being fed plastic particles by their parents on accident. On his website he explains,
"These photographs of albatross chicks were made on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, none of the plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the untouched stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."
These photographs were taken from Chris Jordan's website: www.chrisjordan.com
You can view a TED talk of Jordan discussing his work HERE.
I also found images, videos, & writing (including Jordan's) about the garbage patch at this website: www.midwayjourney.com
For Jan. 19th, I will be showing classmates a projection in a small group critique. I realize that I need to figure out how to show a number of images without them appearing to be a slideshow. I am interested in incorporating some of the small video clips that I have taken... So I am going to start organizing and compiling still images and video in imovie so that I can experiment to get the effect I want. I am hoping that I will be able to get a number of images to flow together into each other. I will also have to address sound and decide how much audio should play into the finished product. It may turn out that imovie won't be the best software to work with for this project, but I am going to use it as a starting point and explore other solutions if problems arise.
I spent my studio time yesterday editing pictures that I haven't given enough attention. I really responded to this image:
It is very different from other images that I have taken this year, but there is something about the way it glows in combination with the movement blur that intrigues me. Without knowing the context of my project I don't know how anyone would know what this is... I feel like the combination of images like this with sound and video could produce the kind of atmosphere that I have been thinking about. I want to create the surreal feeling of being in the water, or in a unfamiliar space with these images...On another note, I looked at the work of Chris Jordan after my review panel recommended him. I don't know if they were aware of the fact that he just recently completed a project related to the Pacific garbage patch... He went to Midway Atoll where he photographed baby albatross chicks who are being fed plastic particles by their parents on accident. On his website he explains,
"These photographs of albatross chicks were made on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.
To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, none of the plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the untouched stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."
These photographs were taken from Chris Jordan's website: www.chrisjordan.comYou can view a TED talk of Jordan discussing his work HERE.
I also found images, videos, & writing (including Jordan's) about the garbage patch at this website: www.midwayjourney.com
Thursday, January 7, 2010
I heart Stephen Colbert.
Yesterday Stephen Colbert had Charles Moore (the man who discovered the Pacific garbage patch) on his show. Here is the link to the interview:
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/260772/january-06-2010/charles-moore
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/260772/january-06-2010/charles-moore
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Friday, December 18, 2009
post review
Oh! here is the video I showed at my review. Please excuse the dark graininess:
Did: I gave my review!
Accomplished/Discovered: I feel really good about my review. I think gathering everything along with all of my thoughts into one presentation was really helpful for me. I also feel really positive about my feedback. I came away from the discussion with two main points in mind:
1. The panel was interested in the fact that I am walking a line between having an "activist-minded" project and doing "something else". A boundary between science in art and a boundary between a campaign and a work of "fine art" (perhaps?). I was encouraged to keep exploring this boundary even if I don't have answers.
2. There is a real need for CONTEXT in the project. i.e. if I want the audience to be aware of the plastic pollution problem they need to know more factual information about the problem. They might need to know how many milk jugs were used, where they came from, over what period of time...etc. This would emphasize that my art itself is made from recycled materials. I should also think about what I am going to do with the work once IP is finished. But I will need to be careful about how I integrate this information.
Obviously, this is my personal take on my feedback so I will be interested to see what kind of comments came out of the review.
Do: ENJOY break. (& maybe do some occasional milk jug cutting and thesis writing... maybe)
Did: I gave my review!
Accomplished/Discovered: I feel really good about my review. I think gathering everything along with all of my thoughts into one presentation was really helpful for me. I also feel really positive about my feedback. I came away from the discussion with two main points in mind:
1. The panel was interested in the fact that I am walking a line between having an "activist-minded" project and doing "something else". A boundary between science in art and a boundary between a campaign and a work of "fine art" (perhaps?). I was encouraged to keep exploring this boundary even if I don't have answers.
2. There is a real need for CONTEXT in the project. i.e. if I want the audience to be aware of the plastic pollution problem they need to know more factual information about the problem. They might need to know how many milk jugs were used, where they came from, over what period of time...etc. This would emphasize that my art itself is made from recycled materials. I should also think about what I am going to do with the work once IP is finished. But I will need to be careful about how I integrate this information.
Obviously, this is my personal take on my feedback so I will be interested to see what kind of comments came out of the review.
Do: ENJOY break. (& maybe do some occasional milk jug cutting and thesis writing... maybe)
Friday, December 11, 2009
scuuuba in the pool
Did: arranged tank rental (1 hr)
signed pool contract (1 hr)
milk jug work (2 hrs)
picking up equipment/transporting to pool (2 hrs)
time in pool, setting up & photographing (3 hrs)
editing photos/video/working on presentation (3-4 hrs)
returning tank/cleaning equipment (1 hr)
Accomplished/Discovered: I feel like I did a ridiculous amount of leg work to get into the pool this week. There were so many things that could have gone wrong and almost/sort of did. I am hoping that now that I have figured all of this out, the process should be much easier. I arranged for a tank rental last Friday, picked it up this Wednesday, went to the pool on Wednesday night, and returned the tank yesterday afternoon, whew! Then I had to sign a contract for the pool rental... that was a process... Once I had moved everything to the pool I started setting up my equipment. Unfortunately I had a slight equipment malfunction over which I had a short anxiety attack, but I was still able to dive in the pool. Yesterday afternoon I dropped off all of my scuba equipment to be checked out.
The actual pool experience, however, was phenomenal. In a serendipitous turn of events, a classmate of mine (Jake) from my "Creating Art Outdoors" class, has been working on a large plastic piece with the intention of using it in a lake or river. Ideally it would partially fill with water, and the edges, which are inflatable, would help keep the water in. I told Jake about my project and he decided to bring everything on Wednesday as well. Since the piece is actually pretty big, it became a great background for my work.
We were able to play around with a lot of variables. He had rented lighting equipment from the Duderstadt and that created an amazing glow in the pool. We were able to shut all the lights off in the pool as well.
The entire experience was incredibly surreal. Jake's piece looked like a giant inverted jellyfish.
When he began swimming in it it actually looked as if he was encased in an enormous egg-like structure. His silhouette went in and out. Sometimes I would see just his hands pressing on the interior of the structure and the rest of his figure would be lost in a hazy shadow.
Here are more images from the evening:
Do: Now I need to focus on getting ready for my December review on Tuesday... That will include editing more photographs by that time. Over break I also need to start thinking about what will really be important for me to photograph at my next pool date (Jan. 13th). Then I can actively start to build it :D
I am also super excited just to have some down time over break... I can't wait :)
signed pool contract (1 hr)
milk jug work (2 hrs)
picking up equipment/transporting to pool (2 hrs)
time in pool, setting up & photographing (3 hrs)
editing photos/video/working on presentation (3-4 hrs)
returning tank/cleaning equipment (1 hr)
Accomplished/Discovered: I feel like I did a ridiculous amount of leg work to get into the pool this week. There were so many things that could have gone wrong and almost/sort of did. I am hoping that now that I have figured all of this out, the process should be much easier. I arranged for a tank rental last Friday, picked it up this Wednesday, went to the pool on Wednesday night, and returned the tank yesterday afternoon, whew! Then I had to sign a contract for the pool rental... that was a process... Once I had moved everything to the pool I started setting up my equipment. Unfortunately I had a slight equipment malfunction over which I had a short anxiety attack, but I was still able to dive in the pool. Yesterday afternoon I dropped off all of my scuba equipment to be checked out.
The actual pool experience, however, was phenomenal. In a serendipitous turn of events, a classmate of mine (Jake) from my "Creating Art Outdoors" class, has been working on a large plastic piece with the intention of using it in a lake or river. Ideally it would partially fill with water, and the edges, which are inflatable, would help keep the water in. I told Jake about my project and he decided to bring everything on Wednesday as well. Since the piece is actually pretty big, it became a great background for my work.
We were able to play around with a lot of variables. He had rented lighting equipment from the Duderstadt and that created an amazing glow in the pool. We were able to shut all the lights off in the pool as well.
The entire experience was incredibly surreal. Jake's piece looked like a giant inverted jellyfish.
When he began swimming in it it actually looked as if he was encased in an enormous egg-like structure. His silhouette went in and out. Sometimes I would see just his hands pressing on the interior of the structure and the rest of his figure would be lost in a hazy shadow.
Here are more images from the evening:
Do: Now I need to focus on getting ready for my December review on Tuesday... That will include editing more photographs by that time. Over break I also need to start thinking about what will really be important for me to photograph at my next pool date (Jan. 13th). Then I can actively start to build it :D
I am also super excited just to have some down time over break... I can't wait :)
Friday, December 4, 2009
12.4.09
Did: Hours & hours of plastic collecting, cutting, stringing and experimenting. Prep for Dec. 9th pool photo shoot. (6+ easily)
Contacting Rec Sports supervisor about pool date (1/2 hr)
Discovered/Accomplished: Potentially one of the most important things I discovered this week was that I cannot continue to hot glue plastic milk jug pieces in my studio. I have to start doing this in a ventilated area... I guess I didn't realize that gluing the pieces was releasing fumes until I stood up... haha... its sort of funny... kinda.
This week I feel like I became really inspired to create new forms with the plastic. Part of that is a result of coming across some new images of underwater life. I am working on creating a sphere of plastic using much smaller milk jug pieces, glued together around a form (pink plastic kiddie rubber ball). I am hoping that I will be able to put an underwater flashlight inside the sphere to make it glow from the inside. I also made new forms with the milk jug handles where I attached plastic bag pieces to one end. This form will be able to inflate... inflatables are something that I am starting to think more about. One of the problems I am encountering is the time consuming nature of mass producing the kind of forms I need. Inflatable forms would allow me to take up much more space in an underwater environment without as much labor intensive work cutting and gluing...
Do: I need to begin working on my practice presentation for Thursday. My first photo shoot with scuba equipment and a pool to myself is this upcoming Wednesday!!! I am really excited, but I know that I have a lot of preparations to make. I need to finish the spherical form so that I can experiment with it on the 9th.
*I will post photos soon!
Contacting Rec Sports supervisor about pool date (1/2 hr)
Discovered/Accomplished: Potentially one of the most important things I discovered this week was that I cannot continue to hot glue plastic milk jug pieces in my studio. I have to start doing this in a ventilated area... I guess I didn't realize that gluing the pieces was releasing fumes until I stood up... haha... its sort of funny... kinda.
This week I feel like I became really inspired to create new forms with the plastic. Part of that is a result of coming across some new images of underwater life. I am working on creating a sphere of plastic using much smaller milk jug pieces, glued together around a form (pink plastic kiddie rubber ball). I am hoping that I will be able to put an underwater flashlight inside the sphere to make it glow from the inside. I also made new forms with the milk jug handles where I attached plastic bag pieces to one end. This form will be able to inflate... inflatables are something that I am starting to think more about. One of the problems I am encountering is the time consuming nature of mass producing the kind of forms I need. Inflatable forms would allow me to take up much more space in an underwater environment without as much labor intensive work cutting and gluing...
Do: I need to begin working on my practice presentation for Thursday. My first photo shoot with scuba equipment and a pool to myself is this upcoming Wednesday!!! I am really excited, but I know that I have a lot of preparations to make. I need to finish the spherical form so that I can experiment with it on the 9th.
*I will post photos soon!
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