Final Project

For my final project, I found the theme of "Progress" to be very associated with my Archaeology major. Through such rapid evolution that humans have endured, we have become out of balance with the earth. Technology has enhanced our culture beyond where we should be compared to the pattern that we had been following in the normal evolutionary change. The last 100 years have made so much "progress" that we are completely out of wack with our universe. An interesting topic that comes up in archaeology is our characteristics that we have that have developed from adaptations throughout our histories. More specifically, we see that humans are typically scared of spiders. Why is this? What from our past made us internally frightened by the bug? There is no logical explanation from our current living to be more frightened of such a small creature than we are of a large vehicle. For our current situation in life and current placement in the evolutionary scale, this does not fit. This shows that in our past as human beings, there was some reason to be logically frightened of spiders because they had caused us some damaging effects. Since we progressed so quickly, our internal adaptations are not caught up with us. So we remain afraid of spiders instead of what should technically scare us in the world that we live in.

On this note, I used all metal kinds of material for this project and made it based on the "King Kong" image of some magnificent creature trampling the city while everyone flees in fright. I used a giant spider in the gorillas place to represent the irrational fear of spiders that we have as a culture. The metal signifies the technological advancements that has made progress used simultaneously with infrastructure. The growing skyscrapers continue to lead us into this unbalanced state and further from our internal adaptations. 

Project Five: Weaving

This short weaving project was at first difficult to try to come up with something original. I found an empty vase and thought that it may look cool to decorate it in weaves as a decoration. I chose the material thinking that I wanted it to look whimsical and like the ocean. The material ended up blending together so that the 50/50 weaving just turned out to look like I had simply wrapped it in the material. My weaving work was completely undefined. The decoration also didn't turn out how I liked, so I had to change the figure to a bird with bubble wrap. This made me happier with the piece, but I still may go back and make some of the weaving features more identifiable.

Project Four: Chair

The chair project was interesting. I received the chair and remember thinking how incomplete it was. It had twelve short pieces of wood holding it together as a base, but there was no seat. I tried to use one as a seat for class one day that there weren't anymore available stools. It was extremely uncomfortable and I thought how useless it was as itself; a chair's main purpose is to provide a seat, and this was not being fulfilled. So I chopped it up....I thought about it as getting a gift from a significant other and then returning it as useless as it came with the same material first making it up when it was a complete form. I printed "return to sender" on it because that is what I would be thinking if I was so unhappy with the useless form of a seatless chair.

Project Three: Transformation

My forks, spoons, and knives project was inspired by my childhood. Camping was always my favorite activity, and growing up by the campfire and being experimenting little pyromaniacs reminded me of the flexibility of plastic silverware. I loved to watch the shapes and transformation process that the plastic would go through as it reacted to the heat of the fire. When I started this project, I didn't expect for it to turn out quite as well as it did. I let the shapes form without molding the warm and melting plastic. This made the flower shapes turn out more organically and less manipulated. If I were to make changes to this project, I would have made more of the flowers and combined them into a shrub-like structure with lights in the middle. I still plan to do this when I get a few extra moments of free time. This was by far my favorite project.

Project #2: Darkness

The darkness podcast that we listened to in class inspired part of this project. I connected the transformation and darkness themes. I used darkness in this piece with a contradiction of bright colors to represent loneliness, which usually accompanies darkness. It is the burden of the individual that can sometimes create the darkness of this feeling. The podcast inspired this because I thought about what it would be like in complete darkness and then to see the sight that he did looking down at earth. It must have been one of his greatest experiences but the moment is so limited to himself that it is hard to relate the story to someone else besides through his stories. This makes him know more than the average person and standout but in a bit of a lonely spot. That is the cost of being an individual. The contrast shows the beauty of the situation as well as how it separates the individual from the rest.

Project Four: Open Ended

For my fourth project, I was having trouble coming up with something off the top of my head. I began thinking of how I could use characteristic from past work and incorporate that into this piece. I still was drawing blanks, so I thought of what materials I would use. I landed on fabric because it was quick and accessible. The entire concept that I developed next was based off the unseen. It represented an imaginary window with the wind slightly blowing.. Wind is invisible and yet it i felt by everyone. What other concepts share this feature?? If I could change the presentation, I would figure out a better position for hanging it so that it looked like one half was blowing naturally in the breeze. I would also get some lights behind it perhaps. It is missing something that I have yet to figure out. I liked the concept it was developing, but I need  something to add that would better convey this message.

Summary of Project One

Overall, I saw progress as I attempted each medium a few times. If I were to start all over again, I would have chosen a completely different idea. I didn't realize what possible constraints may come after the original clay mold was produced. I definitely had the least amount of passion and patience with the plaster. However, I enjoyed trying out different mediums for the positives. I would like to work with the paper again because I like the look it produces. Paper was what I was looking forward to working with when we were first beginning; wax was as well. The process was a good learning experience but it really tested my patience. 

Paper Mold: Positive #3

My paper mold, as you can see, did not quite turn out the way I would have liked. For this positive, it was difficult to get the paper out from the deep crevasse of the lenses. It wouldn't come out complete because I could not get far enough under the tops. I tried three attempts this. The first time I needed to let it dry a little bit longer. The second time I probably should have added a few more layers, and the third time it was a little combination of it all, plus I wasn't able to make a good enough tool to make it all come out at once. I ended up getting the entire thing except for the tips of the lenses out. They are still inside the mold because it is still stuck in there. 

Tape Mold: Positive #2

For my second mold, I chose to use tape. I had used tape to do a full body model last year, so I was familiar with the process. It worked really well and only took me one try to complete it. This was another one of my favorite molds.

Wax Mold: Positive #1

This was the second attempt at my wax positive. The first try did not turn out because only part of the glasses came out whole. The second time came out in whole pieces and then were attached by the hot iron. I cleaned up the surface and melted the edges down. I liked working with wax the best of the positives I tried.

Plaster Project

This was my fourth attempt at making a successful two part mold. As you can see, I resorted to the simple shape of giant sunglasses to fulfill the requirements of this project. I tried two different ways of splitting the object into two parts, this one turning out to be the most effective. It was nice to finally have a mold done.

Project One: Clay Mold

Project one's theme was a totem. I originally began to make a lion head. The animal is one of my favorites in the animal kingdom, and I appreciate the subtle power of the "king of the jungle". The strength and majestic nature of the lion are things to admire. However, the project was not turning out how I wanted. It had to do with defects in my base structure. It was not made particularly enough to create the shape necessary to create a realistic lion head. The head was also going to have too many ridges that would make cuts in the later plastering process. So I restarted...

This was my second attempt at a base clay mold. I chose an elephant head also because of its graceful power and strength. It would also produce less curving and cutting so that the plaster may create a better mold. I really liked my elephant head before I had plastered it. I tried to create the plaster replica at least four different times. Each got a little closer to creating an acceptable mold, but my patience was tested at this point and I decided to try a more simple mold. I think if I would have continued with a few more attempts, I would have been able to make this come out how I would have liked. Nonetheless, I don't think I will be working with plaster again any time soon.

Video/Digital Artist:Coco Fusco

Coco Fusco is an artist born in New York City in 1960. She is born of Cuban-American decent and has become an artist and writer since 1988. She does performance which she has expressed internationally. She also uses electronic media and combines it with performance to produce various formats. Some include live performances which she streams to the internet, as well as large scale projections. From here she generally invites audiences to chart live-chat interaction. Currently Fusco is a faculty member at the School of Art, Media, and Technology at Parsons The New School for Design. Currently, Coco Fusco is developing a series of performances that will examine the role of female interrogators in the War on Terror. With all her work, she focuses on the relationship between women and society, war, politics and race.




I found Coco interesting because from the images of her projects, it looks like she takes it to the extreme. Doing this is always necessary in order to really make an issue stand out. It is only when you can recognize the problem that it can be properly evaluated and then improved.

Angela Ellsworth

Angela Ellsworth is an artist working with paintings, drawings, performances and installations. Her work addresses the female body and all of the issues that go along with it including constraints and various contexts. Just a few of the issues she confronts deals with physical fitness, endurance, social ritual, and religious tradition. She was brought up Mormon so has a strong heritage that is reflected in her artwork. For example, her 'seer bonnet piece contains thousands of pearl-tipped corsage pins embedded into fabric. The points are inward and represent the tradition of craft work in the home. Traditionally known as women's work, constructing these pieces speaks to those who suffer cruelty, submission and control as they are put into this position.

Jean Shin

Jean Shin is an artist living in New York City. Shin is known for her transformation of objects into a conceptually revealing sculptural design. Her work generally involves a lot of labor as she accumulates mass amounts of materials for each project. She works with everything from broken umbrellas, lottery tickets, pill bottles, lost socks, worn shoes, etc. Shin may accumulate hundreds or thousands of these objects in order to produce a deeper meaning targeting both personal and collective associations. She relies on community and collective input of objects and labor in order to complete her visions, which often brings a bit of controversy over whether or not it remains her artwork since she is only overseeing it. I was on the fence about the issue. On one hand she does create the vision and idea and without that start, there would be nothing. But I also believe in the artist touch, which she has little input in. I would like to see her more involved with the hands-on process, but I appreciate the vision all the same.

Broken umbrellas and thread

Variable height x 72 ft w x 42 ft d

Commissioned by Socrates Sculpture Park, New York

Melted 78 rpm records on

wooden armature

5.2 ft h x 12 ft w x 12 ft d

Installation at Museum of Arts & Design, New York, 2008

5.2 ft h x 7.7 ft w x 8.8 ft d

Installation at Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York, 2007

Jae Won Lee

Jae Won Lee received her Master of Fine Arts from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1995 and now resides in Michigan where she teaches courses. She hand builds porcelain and also uses paper and hair in her pieces. She puts a lot of her Korean and United States heritage in her work and reflects that dichotomy of the two cultural worlds. It is her human experience incorporated into something that can be viewed as an object. She works with many multiples and so enhances the meditative space for her work. She may use hundreds of bundles of tiny needles or porcelain coils or discs. It expresses ultimate necessity like the minimalist and formalist work.

"Sleepwalking around the Peach Garden"

Object I: Frail Hope, Internal Distance 
Porcelain
Highfire
12" x 27" x 13"

Ceramic Artist:Judy Moonelis

Judy Moonelis is located in New York City and has been represented in exhibitions nationally and internationally. I liked her work because she uses mixed media in some of her art. But more specifically, the ceramic art that she produces has an archaic look with nice earthy tones. I like that particular feel to certain elements.

EV Day: Fiber and Craft Artist

EV Day is an artist based in New York. She works with installations and sculptures that capture the ideas of feminism and sexuality. EV Day got her MFA in sculpture from Yale University in 1995. This piece was made from various pieces of vintage City Opera costumes and then suspended in order to simulate motion and is shown at City Opera's David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center in New York.

The work on the right "Shazam" was done in 2009. It is a fishnet bodysuit pigment embossing on cotton base sheets. It is 59.5 x 39.25in

The work on the left "Bride Fight" was done in 2006. It was composed of two bridal gowns with accessories, fishline and hardware.

I like the look that EV Day goes for. The elegance and abstract features of her work create somewhat of a majestic feel that can be analyzed as deeply as the viewer finds necessary.

Fun facts

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1GinZO/:1BItsJ4g4:Paf0y+ao/moreoo.com/facts-about-our-life/

Fun facts like these are always fun to read and store for random conversations

HAHAHAh

Skyscraper Edge Walk

I don't know if I could do this. I would want to just to test my fears, but I don't know if I could enjoy it. I am pretty scared of heights and ledges. It makes me nervous just thinking about it.

It is known as the Edge Walk at the CN Tower in Toronto. A trolley-like harness system railing supports a group of six attached individuals. It is on top of a 116 story building overlooking a city 1,168 feet below.

A way to express the negatives of progress

These are all very powerful advertisements. I liked the artwork in each one to express an actual political issue. The images enhance the message that the words convey.

Artist Research: Michael Muller

I was checking out Michael Muller's photography and was thinking how brilliant it was. I have never seen work quite as astonishing, in my opinion. He seems to capture everything at its peak, it is incredible. After looking at his website, I researched him further and came to realize that he is actually already quite famous by his credentials. He is known for his award-winning celebrity and advertising photography and a director of campaigns with brands like Speedo, Nike, Kodak, Coca-Cola, Range Rover, Elle, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, etc. He has also shot art for Iron Man, X-Men, The Avengers, etc.

Aside from this, he has recently experimented with underwater photography and nature footage. This is what actually caught my attention. I was going to say that I finally found a photographer who sufficiently captured some of my most favorite animals' greatest qualities. It was after this that I found his celebrity work and other gallery images. Everything captured my eye and I could not stop looking at all of the pictures. 

Muller was raised in Northern California but traveled quite a bit in his younger years. He traveled to more than forty-five different countries. His family moved to Saudi Arabia for his father's work, and here he discovered his love for photography. He was later accepted into the Otis Parsons School of Design but chose to drop out after one semester. He decided that self-education was a better fit for him and by 22 he was photographing some of the most prestigious names in entertainment and fashion.

Dancing with shadows

Speaking of using shadows to create other images... this performance style piece does the same. This is just as impressive to me as the installations. Very creative

Class Variations Around the World

I was looking at this site that compared bedrooms around the world. I was by random sample that took a child's bedroom from a few places scattered around the world and did so in an unbiased fashion. The comparison simply provided the child's life with a whole range of backgrounds. Both ends of poverty and wealth were evident and so highlights the variability of culture and values in different countries and possible patterns throughout. Here are a few with a short biography for each child...



Erlen is 14 years old and is pregnant for the third time. She lives in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her home is a small shack. She usually sleeps on the floor, but now that she is in the later stages of her pregnancy, her mother has swapped places and allowed her to sleep in the bed. Erlen was twelve when she first became pregnant, but her baby was stillborn. A year later, she lost a second baby soon after its birth. If her new baby survives, Erlen is unlikely to return to school as she will need to stay at home to look after it. She will be a single parent. Erlen would like to be a vet when she is older, and to live somewhere else.


Tzvika is nine years old and lives in Beitar Illit, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is a gated community of thirty-six thousand Haredi (Orthodox) Jews. Televisions and newspapers are banned from the settlement. The average family has nine children, but Tzvika has just one sister and two brothers, with whom he shares his room. Tzvika wants to become a rabbi when he is older. He also likes to play religious games on his computer. His favourite food is schnitzel and chips


Joey lives in Kentucky with his parents and older sister. He is 11 years old. He regularly accompanies his father on hunts. He owns two shotguns and a crossbow and made his first kill—a deer—at the age of seven. He is hoping to use his crossbow during the next hunting season as he has become tired of using a gun. When he is not out hunting, Joey attends school and enjoys watching television with his pet bearded dragon lizard, Lily.

Maria lives in Mexico City with her parents and older sister. Their home has three storeys and is set around a courtyard, behind security gates. The family has taken security very seriously ever since one of her cousins was kidnapped by a gang. Maria is 12 years old and attends a private school. Maria enjoys socializing with her friends at school but does not like working hard. Her hobbies include all types of dance—tap, ballet, Irish—but she would like to be a professional jazz dancer one day. Maria has two stereos, an iPod, a cellphone and her own private doorbell outside her room.

Indira lives with her parents, brother and sister near Kathmandu in Nepal. Her house has only one room, with one bed and one mattress. At bedtime, the children share the mattress on the floor. Indira is seven years old and has worked at the local granite quarry since she was three. Indira works five or six hours a day and then helps her mother with household chores. Her favourite food is noodles. She also attends school, which is 30 minutes' walk away. She does not mind working at the quarry but would prefer to be playing.


Alyssa lives with her parents in Kentucky. She is an only child but her grandmother, uncle, and orphaned cousin live close by. Their small, shabby house, heated only by a wooden stove, is falling apart. The ceiling in Alyssa's bedroom is beginning to cave in. The family would like to buy a trailer if they could afford it. Alyssa's mother works at McDonald's and her father works at Walmart; everything they earn goes towards bringing up their daughter.

Jaime is nine years old. He lives in a top-floor apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York. His parents also own luxury homes in Spain and in the Hamptons. He has a younger brother and sister who are twins. In his spare time, apart from playing the cello and kickball, Jaime likes to study his finances on the Citibank website. When he grows up, he would like to be a lawyer like his father.