Animation

Just reminding you that my first animation was making a photo into a postage stamp.  My second animation was a pen that wrote out my name on to a piece of paper.

Lecture 13

The last speaker!!! My last lecture post!!!  For our last speaker we had Sarah Zwerling.  As an early artist she started out as a glass major.  She loved working with glass because it involved her whole body.  She began working with other materials that involved the whole body like blown sugar.  She started working with video a lot and installation pieces that involved several components like blown sugar, videos, and glass.  Her work has a lot to do with the emotional state of a person and less to do with physical forms.  Her last work she showed is installed on windows at the Philadelphia airport.  She used a computer to get the images to the way she wanted and then had a printer print and install them.  This piece was super impressive and I want to go to the airport just to see it.  

Lecture 12

Only a few more lectures left for this semester!!! This week it was Melinda Stefy who came to talk to Tyler about using Etsy and other online stores to promote or sell our work.  Her personal artwork had a lot to do with remnant pieces, memory, and loss.  Then she started to talk to us about her online vending stores.  She talked about the vending she does.  She does her vending online through etsy, consignment, and in person.  Her etsy store is fabrik.etsy.com where she sells things like reusable bags.  Her other etsy store is julre.etsy.com which sells her handmade jewelry.  She told us how to get started on etsy and how to become successful with online vending.  She made it clear that online vending is very time consuming.  If we aren't committed to uploading new stuff, or constantly keeping tabs on the site, then it will not be successful.  you have to be very active with your site and it takes tons of time and commitment.  

Lecture 11

This week's lecture was a different time.  I went to the night lecture to se Brett Cook talk about his community art.  He has a balance between traditional exhibitions and in the streets and community.  He is continually pushing his understand of what and where art is.  This has been my favorite lecture so far.  He was really fun and a great speaker.  His work is really inspiring and touches tons of people.  First he started out by asking the audience to tell him what we thought community and soul was.  He wrote them on a large poster and throughout the lecture would come back to our answers.  He talked about his early work a lot.  He started off as a graffiti artist, with zero recognition.  He worked collaboratively with another more traditional artist.  They would address issues in their community or around the world and would translate those problems into artwork.  The pieces were huge and then displayed around the town, outside.  This made him question though what public art was.  He wanted his work to be able to reach the people on an emotional level.  He started doing more large scale outdoor artwork, but now he started painting the portraits of people from that town.  These people represented the community and their portraits were physically in the community.  He showed portraits of real people that were alive and happy.  He left was the thought that is artwork is more about the process that the outcome or the thing created.  By painting these portraits and interviewing people around his community and other communities he gained more from that process rather than painting their portrait and hanging it up in a gallery. 

Lecture 10

This week our presented was Doug Bucci.  He was a great speaker and definitely kept my attention the entire hour.  He was very charismatic and excited to be talking about his work and life.  He continued to tell us to take chances.  He started experimenting with jewelry while he was at school and decided to push his interest further.  He started making jewelry and became highly praised and recognized.  He worked on a medallion for Prince Andrew, he worked for Jackass, and then he went on to work with Jeff Koons and Stella McCartney on their collaboration.   He told us to think about who we want to associate ourselves with when we get jobs.  Where and with whom can we have fun with or Who do we want to meet?  These were things that he considered and considers before he accepts a job.  As his career went on he started becoming interested in studying diabetes because he has it.  He started studying what diabetes is and what it affects.  Then he used that information to make jewelry out of it.  His work looks like little blood cells that are formed together to create very graphic and beautiful jewelry pieces.  

Lecture 9

This weeks lecture was Eileen Neff who is a photographer.  Before she became a photographer she studied literature and then painting.  Once she started taking photographs she never returned to painting and still hasn't in 30 years.  Photography and Neff just clicked together.  In a lot of her earlier work she first started with black and white photographs and then would hand color pieces of it. She likes to play and work with the illusion of perspective, or reflection.  Her lack of formal training allowed Neff to be free in her work.  Because she didn't study photography she felt a sense of freedom to do what ever she wanted. As she continued to use collage aspects in her work, Neff slowly started using the computer.  She resisted at first, but eventually gave in.  Eileen continues and continues to use lots of exploration in each project which is something I find very admirable. 

Rome!

Lecture 8

The guest artist this week was Sharon Louden.  Her lecture was really interesting and I found her artwork to be extremely beautiful and creative.  She is very renown and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and got her MFA at Yale.  She believes that one media does not define what the artist does.  If someone says "I'm a painter" that doesn't necessarily mean that that is all the artist does.  She is heavily influenced by nature, architecture, and hair.  She was a painting major who specialized on the figure, but got bored.  She started becoming interested in simple lines to create figures and movement.  To give a shape a sense of character.  She started merging different medias and specialties together.  Sculpture was no longer just sculpture, but involved painting and other things.  She enjoys working with abstraction because it is the artists interpretation of something without being obvious.  She mentioned art as being ever-changing.  I would agree with that statement.  All of the lectures so far have discussed how art is no longer what it used to be.  Technology is becoming more and more a part of what an artist can do.  Sharon uses technology when she works in animation.  She is beginning to become involved in animation very heavily.  In paintings, the movement of a shape is implied, but now it is there for the viewer to see.  It's like it is live painting.  It makes the viewer feel like you are part of the paper. 

Lecture 6 and 7

Lecture number 6 featured the artist Bradley N. Litwin.  His kinetic sculptures were displayed inside Tyler right at the main entrance. His sculptures are playful and humorous, but also incredibly complicated and detailed.  During his lecture he mentioned the fact that the Digital Revolution has affected his art.  He began as an animator working for companies that needed medical animation, or other companies that needed maps of a certain area.  As technology changed so did his artwork.  He uses art to create technology and technology to make art.  His sculptures now are made possible, and much easier, with the technology and animation to make sure that these objects will succeed.  He uses the technology to make his tangible objects.

Lecture number 7 was about program planning for this upcoming semester.  It's very exciting, but I'm stressing out! I hope I get in to the classes I need to get in to!  This lecture was extremely helpful (except for the fire alarm) and featured my friend from high school, Alexa Linton, who talked about how to use Owlnet.

Fun with Text!

Lecture 5

This week's lecture featured Ms. Kate Cuffari who is an object conserver at the PMA.  I loved this lecture.  What she spoke about was absolutely fascinating to me.  She told us a lot of the installations and sculptures that she was worked on installing and preserving and the problems she has faced with several pieces of decaying art work.  She mentioned technology in the way that she uses it at her job and the ways she recommends we should use it to preserve our work in the future.  I really enjoyed her lecture because she made it clear that conservation was keeping art alive.  The ways she uses technology are through things like x-rays of objects, and using UV lights.  She focuses her work on doing everything possible in trying to preserve the sculptures from crowds, dust, and traveling.  I like how she went in to detail not only about the actual processes of conserving, but also how they respect the artists wishes.  Each conservation process, the conservers have to ask the artist (if they are still alive) what their intent was for the piece.  They can't change the material because the material used effects the meaning of the piece of artwork.  They concentrate on keeping as much of the original piece of art as possible.  They don't display replicas of the artwork and they don't re-do parts of the artwork without the artists consent.  

Lecture 4

Week 4's lecture was from Phillip Glahn.  He was definitely my favorite speaker thus far.  He really knew how to address the crowd, and he was a really great speaker.  He mostly talked about the relationship between art and technology and what to do with our knowledge of both.  He did a great job of relating art history to our world of technology today and he did it with a touch of humor which is always nice to hear.  He mentioned how artists articulate their point and that we should consider this when we make art and look at art.  Art and technology fitting together has been around since the 1840s when the Panerama was invented and built.  Then, it progressed into photography and impressionism.  Then he moved on to talk about more of the things we see today.  When we walk down the street or into a store and we see signs that have been  mass produced art takes on a whole new meaning.  Mass production signs and designs represent anonymity and no one wants to associate it with those designs.  Everyone wants to be original.  Phillip then talked about re-skilling the artist's hand.  Design now in this age has completely changed.  We are now facing a world of technology and focusing less on making things with our hands.  We should be producing art and things that are interactive and artists should think of themselves as the producers of meaning.  As a producer, our hands are liberated and it will expand our skill.  Interacting with art is vital to its meaning.  Creating the relationship between the subject matter and what is being produced is what makes art interesting.

My Pictogram

Lecture 3

Scott Rigby was the guest speaker at this week's lecture.  He is a founding member of Basekamp. Basekamp opened in 1998 and is a non-commercial organization researching self-organized art projects.  It's a collaborative program and each week they host pot-luck  dinners that anyone can sit in on.  At the dinners a group of people talk about art and upcoming shows while they snack on all the foods that everyone brings.  People from all around the world can join in as well because Basekamp is a part of Skype.  People can skype in and instantly feel like they are sitting down with the group.  To learn more about Basekamp and the projects that have been involved, check out their website!  You can also follow them on Twitter!  Last week's potluck featured Nathan Shafer's project The New Up: Transhumanist Apologetics.  This week's potluck was the Pickpocket Almanack.  I didn't get to go and join in at this week's potluck, but maybe sometime in the future!

City Life

The theme for this slideshow is City Life. I was inspired by living at

Temple and in the city of Philadelphia.

I also mixed in some components of New York City.

Digital Designers Rediscover Their Hands

Read this article

This article focuses on the fact that digital designers can create anything using a mouse and a computer, but what happens when they start using their hands? The vast world of technology has taken over our own human senses. I believe that it is very important for designers to not only be apt at using a computer, but to also feel the material and structure of their creations. I think that Mr. Tully's Tinkering School sounds fascinating and fun! I'm definitely a hands on person. I enjoy feeling my creations rather than sitting at a computer screen starring at them. That hands on idea is being lost through technology and I think it's important that it doesn't become instinct. Becoming a hands on designer is beneficial not only for the designer, but also for the design. By being able to touch and really look at your design, you can easily see flaws, and improve upon them making the designs more approachable. Being at a computer does have its own benefits, but the article proves that creating things can be a happier process. Quoting the article, "While working in simulated computer worlds has undeniable appeal, Mr. Tulley says, “the physical act of making things helps the whole person.” ".

Lecture 2

This weeks lecture featured Mr. Peter Hanley who is the Manager for Technology Support here at Tyler.  He focused his lecture on the vast world of technology and what it has to offer for up and coming artists such as ourselves.  Getting noticed and heard as an artist is not an easy thing to do however Peter made it clear that the Internet makes being heard easier.  It allows the audience to find you.  They can find you through social media, online galleries, artist communities, and reproduction services.  Social Medias include things like art blogs (i heart photography, printeresting), deviant art (Flickr), and artist's blogs.  Another vital part of getting your artwork noticed through the internet is online presence.  This includes personal websites, and online artist networks (inliquid.com).  Art communities are another great way to get noticed, whether it's local or a regional art organization such as: CFEVA, or Philadelphia Photo Arts Center.  Reproduction Services include Cafe Press, and Artists Books (lulu.com, blurb.com, iPhoto books, and Printshops).  Maybe the most popular way for getting your art noticed in this generation is through Social Networking.  Networks include Facebook, Etsy, Spoonflower, Ponoko, etc.  Social Networking is a quick and easy way to make money.  Peter Hanley was a great presenter because he made this otherwise ordain and boring lecture into an amusing, interesting, and helpful way to learn about art and technology. 

Lecture 1

So today was our first Freshman 2D Principles lecture.  Gerard focused most of the lecture on technology, and on an overview of the next couple of weeks.  He mentioned work study jobs, and the Tyler Student Alliance.  He walked us through what guests we will be having in the next weeks and they include : Peter Hanley (Manager for Technology Support), Scott Rigby (BaseKamp, New Art World), Philip Glahn (Professor of Painting/Drawing/Sculpture), Kate Cuffari (Object Observer @ PMA), Bradley Citwin (Illustrator, Graphic Designer), Sharon Louden (Artist, Animator), Eileen Neff (Photographer), Douglas Bucci (Assistant Professor of Crafts Department).  Also the lectures will include an advising session, a panel discussion about new media (Etsy, PayPal, etc.), people from Environmental Health and Safety, and then some more keynote speakers.  Hopefully these lectures will be helpful in the future!