HW7.1 Video Creation

For this assignment I recreated a clip from the movie, The Blair Witch Project

Click to see the original video

HW7.4 Impact100 Project

For our project, Nina and I created an online ballot that allowed 100 people to vote on the specifications of our final work.  The ballot allowed voters to decide the medium, color scheme, theme, orientation, size, number of works in the series, and the final method of presentation.  Nina and I were inspired by the current political election and we wanted to see if the democratic process that we trust to decide the leaders of our country could also be trusted to create art.  The results of the voting process are shown below:

Based on the winning options from the vote, the project is a series of 5 works created with pen and paper in warm color tones focusing on the theme of Radical Self Love.  The works are 10inx10in squares and will be posted around NYC.  

I find it interesting that within each category, there was very clear winner.  Every winning option had at least a 12% lead on the next strongest competitor and the largest margin was 37%.  The public had a clear majority opinion so I felt reassured that we were creating a work that would please the most people.  

Nina and I used watercolors and pens to create washes in warm color tones and draw out phrases that inspired self love.  We focused on ideas of inner strength and personal fortitude.  Since the public had voted that the works would be displayed around NYC, we made each phrase address the viewer directly, hoping that strangers who saw the messages would be moved by them and develop their own self love.  The dots and dashes that accompany the phrases are the words "self love" written in morse code. 

Once we created the works, we printed them so that they were 10inx10in and we posted them around NYC.

HW7.2.2 Video Artist Research: Andrea Fraser

I saw Andrea Fraser's piece, Projection, two years ago at the Tate Modern museum.  I thought it was an intriguing use of video because it obliged the audience to participate in the work without their explicit knowledge.  Projection consists of two screens on either side of a dark room, on which videos of the artist are projected.  Fraser is shown sitting in a chair, looking directing at the camera, and talking.  Only one screen is active at a time while Fraser is shown taking part in a one sided dialogue based on transcripts of real psychotherapy consultations.  She takes on the role of both a therapist and a patient.  After she is shown asking questions and writing down notes as a therapist on one screen, she appears as a patient giving answers to a seemingly different set of questions on the other screen.  During this process, the audience is standing between the two screens, changing their orientation as the work moves from one screen to the other, mentally trying to connect the two sets of videos, and being directly addressed by both characters so that they also become the therapist and the patient.

Sources: 

http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/andrea-fraser

http://www.outset.org.uk/england/projects/outset-frieze-tate-fund/outset-frieze-art-fund-2008/

HW7.6 Self-evaluation Selfie

As a self-evaluation for the semester so far, I am going to break down the various things I have learned:

• Technological Art Media: 
• This class has taught me how to use many art media that I had never really handled before including, scanners, digital collage, and stop motion animation.  Although we have not dived deeply into any one art form in this class, we have skimmed the surface of many different types of technological media and I have a better understanding of New Media Art as a whole now.  The research into artists who use technology has also allowed me to understand actual artists' take on the form, and not just my own.  
• Teacher Difficulties:
• By listening to my classmates' past experiences as teachers, I have come to learn the difficulties that are inherent in teaching new media art in schools.  The lack of resources and technical instruction needed make technological art more difficult in some ways than traditional art to use in a classroom.  The most interesting difficulty I have discovered is the inaccessibility of technological art for students of lower socioeconomic backgrounds.  If students do not have access to computers or cameras or iPads at home, they are less prepared to use them in class.
• Technological Art Opportunities:
• I have learned that technological art offers certain opportunities that traditional art media does not.  Technological art materials are often a one-time up-front cost, such as purchasing Photoshop or some other computer program, while traditional art materials, such as paint, run out and get old with time and have to be continuously repurchased.  Technological art also has multiple possibilities for display including online or in physical galleries.

HW7.3 Video in Classrooms

Video has great potential in classrooms because it allows students to view themselves and evaluate their performances firsthand.  Students are often asked to give presentations or speak in front of their classmates in order to develop their public speaking skills and share their work with the rest of the class.  One downside to this practice is that students must rely on outside observations to understand how they were received.  Instead, teachers can use video to record a student's presentation and show them exactly what can be improved and what was done well.  Alternatively, students who may otherwise be unable to present in front of a crowd, such as students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, have the ability to use video to record themselves presenting and share the recording with their class.  Video has the potential to help students evaluate themselves and create accessibility.

In an art classroom, video allows students who are not adept or comfortable with traditional media to view themselves as an art medium.  Painting and drawing require skill and technique that may discourage some students from utilizing them,  but most younger students have interacted with video their entire lives and, thanks to modern technology, creating a video can often be as simple as pushing a button on your phone.  Since the methodology of video is so simple, the medium lies within the subject of the video.  Therefore, students who choose to make videos of their own actions take on the responsibility of the medium and control the work.

HW6.5 Impact100 Progress

One of the major projects for this class is the Impact100 project.  For this project we must create an art project that involves 100 people.  Based on the election year frenzy that we are currently in, my partner, Nina, and I have decided to create a democratic piece of art, guided by the decisions of the majority.  We have created an online ballot, where 100 people will vote on every detail of our ultimate art work.  The size, theme, medium, etc. is all voted on by the public and whatever receives the most vote will be reflected in our art.

The idea of this work was also inspired by the methods that will be used for deciding our final project for this class.  Our final project will be assigned based on the rolling of three dice.  Each die has media or themes on it that will affect our project.  The entire project is based on chance.  For this project, instead of relying on chance, we wanted to give the decision making process to the people.

Screenshot of the ballot

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO VOTE

Logo created by Nina

HW6.4 Photography Lesson Plan

Activity: Students will take a series of three photographs which create a chronology or narrative.

Age of Pupils: Middle School Students

Objective: Students will explore digital photography and learn the art of storytelling.  By limiting the series to three photos, students must be concise and deliberate in their choices.

Materials: Digital Cameras, Photo Paper, Laser Printer

Discussion Questions: What are the parts of a story? (Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action), How many words do you need to tell a story?  Can you tell a story with only images?

Implementation:  Cameras must be handed out to all students and students must have at least an hour to plan and shoot their photographs.  Once the activity is completed, there should be a break for the teacher to print the photographs.  Then the students should order their photos and display them.

Follow-up: Allow students to examine their classmates' photographs and write their own stories based on the narratives in the series.