Week 15 – Artist Conversation – Ally Richardson

Artist: Ally Richardson and others
Media: Bobby pins and etc.
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Merlino Gallery

Ally Richardson is a senior student at CSULB who is currently pursuing an art degree. She is passionate about making unique bobby pins and loves cherry blossoms. This week the College of the Arts used the art exhibitions for sales. In Richardson’s case, she sold her art, the bobby pins, and manned the sales at the Merlino Gallery.

Upon walking into Merlino Gallery, I was amazed by the numerous pieces of art and their different styles. In one room, we have art from many different people from many different backgrounds and skill-sets. In one room, we have unique jewelry, such as bobbypins, rugs, and pottery. It was as if I was being bombarded by the art of different backgrounds at the same time, much as if I had walked into an art gallery that consisted of multiple people. The experience really contrasted with the exhibitions of the weeks previous, where each exhibition was about one single person.

The pottery in the room gave a feeling of mixing antiquity and the modern times of today. The art styles and techniques used today seemed to mix with that of centuries before. Although the ideas and techniques have changed, the medium for presenting art has not. For the paintings, such as that of the people standing back to back, the rusty color and the rough texture seemed to present a strong message. I personally saw a rough relationship between the two being conveyed through the details of the frame.

Overall, it was amazing to see all the art pieces of many different people in such a small area. In the four galleries, there was bound to be the art of more than 15 artists. We were presented with many different mediums, such as pottery, metal, and fiber. Additionally, we were hit with many different messages. In our old exhibitions, we would often have one exhibition by one artist with one uniform message.

 

 

Week 15 – Activity – Finger Painting

This week, were were given the activity of finger painting. Having not bought the art kit, I had used my own paint which I had lying at home, which may have changed the experience I had. The paint that the art store gave was for finger painting, which I imagine would have a smoother texture than acrylic paint. As simple as it seems, there was much more to it than I had thought. The texture and mixing of color really presented itself with an insightful experience.

For this activity, I used three different acrylic paints, printer paper as a canvas, and some good ol’ Vietnamese newspaper to protect my floor from the paint. I first began by pouring some red paint on one side and blue paint on the other side. After mixing the paints together with my fingers, I sprinkled some white paint around then mixed once again. In the end, the paints were not evenly mixed, which I feel is better artistically than a conglomeration of just these three colors.

On the left I have mostly red and on the right I have mostly blue. The two colors intrude on each other’s space, lending itself to the feeling on a struggle between two sides. In the middle and all throughout the finger paint, the white paint connects and separates the two as it zooms all around. Meanwhile doing the activity, the way the paint ran through my fingers eased my mind. Tired of studying for finals, the silkiness of the paint was relaxing. Being able to work automatically, without thinking allowed me to release the tension within my mind.

 

 

Week 14 – Classmate Conversation – Megan Salinas

On Wednesday, after our discussion in class, I had the opportunity to meet Megan Salinas, a 3rd year here in CSULB who is pursing a degree in Kinesiology. After Long Beach, she is hoping to go to PT school to become a personal trainer. Talking to her about her aspirations really interested me, because I saw the same curiosity in myself. Of course, I’m not a Kin. major, but in my daily life with lifting six times a week, I have gained a giant interest in our bodies and how it functions. After getting to know each other for a while, I began to talk about the QotD. We felt that school have evolved to segregate people by weeding the people who do not try. The drop out rate is really high, although I would sort of attribute that to the mindset of the parents who mindlessly tell their kids that they have to go to school. We felt that school is not necessary to become successful in the future, although it may help if school is something that is right for them. In the end, we think that high school and undergraduate studies will stay the same content-wise. The way that it is presented may change, but we felt that it won’t change very much. People will learn the same material and it won’t matter much how they learn it.

Week 14 – Photo 2 – Instagram

Instagram is amazing in how it connects us all and our lives through images and videos. We have a network of friends which connects on to other group of friends on and on, connecting us with people who we never would have met in our own lives. We can also tag pictures with hashtags to group pictures from people all over the world. It’s a platform for expression, whether it be sharing your appreciation for your bestie or bragging how tasty your food looks. We talk about our lives when we post pictures and talk about topics when we share tags with other people.

For our class, we were told to tag #art110f16 on all our posts and look through the pictures posted. My pictures were of food, friends, and sights, whatever I saw that looked interesting as I went about my life. Other people seemed to similar post things on the tag. They tagged whatever they felt described their life. Most looked interesting, but did not make it seem like the other person lived a much more adventurous and exciting life than the rest of us. We all go through our lives with our pets, hobbies and friends. We’re not much different from each other, leading to a sense of community. We are all students in CSULB and under the skin with makes us all look different, we are all similar. As students in Art 110, we can find many similarities between our lives and others. For example, I saw  that Jasmine Mejia had three dogs, just like me.

Better yet, she had two big dogs and one small dog also! #art110f16 certainly did feel like a community, having many qualities that all of us share.

Week 9 – Classmate Conversation – Sage Garver

Artist: Sage Garver
Exhibition: BIO
Media: Metal Chains, Light Bulb, Plaster

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Dutzi Gallery

Sage Garver is an art student at CSULB who is currently pursing a degree in the Sculpture Program. Garver, growing up, experienced many illnesses that disrupted her from the world. Sickly from losing control over her body to diseases and other manifestations, she channeled her anger into her art by using qualities relating to her sicknesses as baselines for her art.

The exhibition is well lit with a centerpiece that illuminates the whole room. The light consists of a light bulb covered in iridescent shells. The walls are purely white with protrusions that resemble many different round shapes. These shapes relate to viruses, pathogens, and organs. The room is filled with much empty space only the boundaries of the wall contain anything noticeable.

The way the sculptures are integrated into the walls of the gallery work to stimulate our senses. The way the sculpture protrudes from the wall influences our sense of touch. The whiteness of it all emphasizes the our senses. There seems to be a lack of tranquility through the way the protrusions disrupt the order of the wall. This disorder relates to the way our health is jeopardized by irregularities such as viruses. Our system and immune system is in dismay just like the wall. In order to get back to working condition and feel healthy, our body has to get rid of all the viruses, the protrusions, to revert itself to a stable, smooth state.

Any one of us can see how Garver’s painting relates to our bodies. We have all gotten sick at one point in our life. We have experienced what it is like to have impurities in our body and how our body struggles to cleanse itself. When we have irregularities, the bumps on our immune system, our body does not feel the best. Our bodies are in a state of chaos as it fights to rid itself of these bumps. From then until we get back to a clean slate, we go through illnesses and conditions the same way Garver does. We can understand her frustration when empathize with our past experiences being sick. In the end, our struggle versus pathogens is an inevitable and frustrating battle.

Week 12 – Artist Conversation – Kyle Kruse

Artist: Kyle Kruse
Exhibition: Janus Maxim
Media: Leather, Ceramic, Television

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Marilyn Werby Gallery

Kyle Kruse is an art student at CSULB who is currently pursing a degree in printmaking. Originally a physics major, he switched to printmaking after being unsatisfied. He claimed that his old major was basically regurgitating learned information whereas his major today allows how to think and utilize the information learned. After CSULB, Kruse is looking to attend graduate school in the hopes of teaching art in a collegiate atmosphere.

Upon entering the exhibition, I was greeted by the still darkness with two sources of light, the right side, and the left side. On the left were three sculptures donning eerie masks seated on pedestals and three woodblock carvings hanging on walls. On the left were three televisions, each displaying a different film of fire and pottery.  The exhibition predominantly consists of red and orange much like a fire.

Janus Maxim represents our memories, reality, and the void in between. We are in the space in between the past and the future. Kruse utilizes his exhibition along with mythology is commentate on the state of our reality. The statues and carvings are of the past and have individual meanings. For example, Kruse alludes to the myth of Prometheus to represent the birth of civilization. Each piece has it’s individual meaning that come together to reflect upon our civilization.

I believe that Kruse’s pieces of work reflect how our society has progressed over centuries. In the past, people looked toward mythological figures to explain the rise and falls on humanity. There were stories associated with each person. Even today, where we do not rely on mythology, much of the stories and morals that were told still hold today. Although time changes, the morals from the past are retold, staying eternal. Furthermore, when we look toward the past, we can see how much we have changed over time. The placement of items and the progression of time help to facilitate that through their chronological order.

Week 12 – Artist Conversation – Nkechi Okoroma

I’ve actually known Nkechi for since the beginning of the class and the week we are finally doing a classmate conversation together. For the first project, the plaster project, we collaborated together and have been working with each other in this class ever since. She is a food science major who switched over from microbiology. When I first met her in class, she described herself as shy, however I really don’t see that in her. She’s a very open person and very fun to be around. You can find her at her website: https://nkechiokoroma.wordpress.com/.

Our stance on the question of the day was very similar. We personally felt that as a public figure whose image is commercialized through the media, the person had the right to use her image in the art piece. Her image is publicly available and the actions someone does with it, as long as he or she does not monetize it, is acceptable. There are many political cartoons of Trump, altering his image and conveying him how the artist wants. Why should it be any different for Demi Lovato? She and Trump have their images put out through media and much more. Of course there would backlash from people who are protective of her image, however that image does not belong to them and no longer belongs to the Lovato. By agreeing to show up on TV shows and becoming a musician, her image is not solely hers anymore. Thus, although she may not approve of it, she has no recourse.

Week 9 – Artist Conversation – Daniel Bonilla

Artist: Daniel Bonilla (with the help of  Dalia Banuelos)
Exhibition: Social
Media: Gallery: CSULB School of Art,  Maxine Merlino Gallery
Website: http://www.dbvphotography.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deliaeffect/

Daniel Bonilla is an undergrad senior who was rejected from CSULB for a BFA in photography who displays a strong affection for photography. After taking a photography class as a child, he grew to love photography. Although he had been rejected from the program, that did not deter him from moving forward and creating more art. With the help of his friend Rather than displaying his frustration in counterproductive and destructive ways, he chose to make an art exhibition out of his art, recycling it in a way that bends it toward his theme of displaying failures rather than successes.

Upon walking into the exhibition, you are greeted with the dim darkness of the room. Looking past the darkness, it is easy to make out the sign on a person in a fetal position, held behind a seemingly never-ending black string. The room looks littered with past works of art yet looks clean since they are all interconnected. Each string ties together most of the art pieces, combining them into a single piece with a shared purpose. In the corner, there is a trashcan, filled with past works, that intercepts the path of the black string. In the corner we see yet another model that is also in a vulnerable position and wearing a color of black which is common throughout the whole exhibition.

The frustration of Bonilla’s rejection resonates through the exhibit. The blackness of it all, from the clothes, the dimness, and the strong signify a tragedy and a death. Yet he uses the tragedy of the rejection in an act of rebirth and recycling, creating a new exhibition from his previous works. The models toward the back further help us empathize with his rejection. If it were to have a face, we would all know how it looks. Yet Bonilla leaves us to create the image after leaving us with his emotions. Just by looking through the exhibit, we identify with his feelings. We feel the frustration, the tears, and the heartbreak of being rejected from something that you were passionate about.

I think we all can connect with Bonilla and his friend. When we someone that is successful, we think of all their successes and their “A’s,” rather than their failures and their “F’s.” We showcase our successes even though we have those times where we feel like failures. Many of us even have to deal with the heartbreak of being rejected for something we love dearly – whether it be getting an F in a class for the subject we love or getting a failure letter from your school of choice. In the end, we have to come to terms with our failures and move on instead of letting it consume of. Bonilla is doing exactly that through his creation of this exhibition and most likely more to come.

 

 

 

Week 9 – Activity – Art Care Package

Today I’m sending out an Art Care Package to my aunt, who lives several miles down the street from me. I used to visit her house all the time back when I was a child, but that has long stopped. Now over a year, I might visit two or three times compared to, I’d guess, 20 times a year back when I was 7 to 10. Since we haven’t been talking to each other for a while, she hasn’t gotten a chance to know how I’ve been growing and how my personality has changed over the years.

In the package I included things that I own and describe me. The five things are: a protective case for Sennheiser earbuds, a bag of rubber bands for my braces, earplug (unused), a Chinese New Year sleeve given to me by my girlfriend’s grandma, and a very heartfelt card that my girlfriend had written for me.

Not all these items are very sentimental to me, but it shows her things that I still hold on to and still describe me. Just by looking at it, she can connect with my experiences such being with my girlfriend, being Asian, and wearing braces.

The ACP is comparable and different from sending a Snapchat in several ways. In a Snapchat, you are not supposed to hold on to what you see. You see your friend, your relative, or whoever sends you the snap for several seconds. For the ACP the items are ephemera which stays with you physically. It makes you think of the person every time you see it, just like a Snapchat would. When you reminisce about great times what that person, you can see ephemera or Snapchat and think about your past with them for ages.

Ephemera is precious in the way that your memories are triggered just by looking and feeling them. They do not necessarily have to be a sentimental item of the person, however it still leaves the same effect. You feel connected to the person through the medium of the item in front of you. Your grandma was given this ticket and now you have it in your hands. You can think about the experience just by looking at it. With the ephemera I’m handing over to my grandma, she can get a better idea of who I actually am and connect with me through the medium for years to come.

 

 

Week 8 – Drawing #2 – Sketching in the Garden

This week, we went out to the Japanese Garden out near the hillside dorms. My girlfriend and many of my friends from the group that I hang out with had gone there and I pretty much was the only one that hadn’t seen it yet. I heard many good things about it and I really didn’t know what to expect. Upon seeing it though, I am really pleased to comment on how peaceful and in touch with nature the garden is. The koi fish in the pond, the rocks, and the bridges reminded me a lot of my Asian culture. Being able to sit down and just partake in the view and the atmosphere really helped a lot when I drew my sketch. A calm peace of mind is what I find most important for tasks like these. So having found zen, I went to work on my sketch.

So my sketch primarily focused on the center of the garden, which is found by the rocks. I drew things which I acknowledged and noticed meanwhile sitting down on the rock. The outline of the pond along with its shape, the bridges, the tree on the left, the ducks, and the fish. I tried my best to drew a duck that actually looked like a duck just mindlessly swimming in the pond. ONLY TO BE STARTLED BY JAWS AND ANOTHER SHARK. I couldn’t see the bottom of the pond, so I used my imagination to have fun with the sketch. Having the ability to make the sketch mine and play around with the concept and idea of garden really helped out in keeping me interested in sketching.