What I'm up to lately

Four studio art classes and 2 jobs keep me quite busy. I don't post nearly as much as I mean to.... Anyway. Here's what I have been up to lately.

Advanced Photography:
"Sequence" Photo project is due on Monday. My project is about our wasteful society. Last Friday I went shooting at the Manchester landfill (near MCC). I climbed around in garbage for 2+ hours shooting pics. It was smelly....hence I was smelly. There was one path that I could not go down because the smell almost made me vomit. I had to run away (literally). It was worth it though cuz I got some really good stuff. I had some trouble getting started (as usual) but once I was at the landfill and finding stuff that made my point, I got into it.

I also went to Walmart and took pics. My idea is to edit showing the orderly shelves of convinient disposable products, then show how it piles up. It's a critiscism of America/Western Culture basically. I tried to find images that had some sense of irony. I also played with Red White and Blue where ever I could. The final result will be a video with music etc....Should be cool.

Moldmaking/Casting: This project isn't due right away, but it is time consuming so I have to keep moving on it. We made 2 part plaster molds of different objects. I did an apple, some pipe thingies, and a rubber ducky head. Then we are casting the pieces in porcelin and latex and we have to make a series of 9 hybrids (attach objects in different ways). I'm making creatures out of the castings. It's fun! I'll try to post some pics soon!


Digital Photography: It's another Photoshop class. (My third one) This is my easiest class this semester. I have to take it because it's in my major, but I wish I could have taken the metals class durring the same period. Anyway, we are just finishing up our first assignment which was mainly to test our technical skills.. Our next project is "Scan-o-grams". We scan stuff on the scanner and edit in photoshop.

Pottery and the Vessel: My pants are coated with clay. We just started learning how to throw a pot on the wheel. It is significantly more difficult than it looks. It takes strength, and control to center, and the grog scratches up ur hand. I'll admit, I was overly confident about it. I was sure that I would pick it up real quick while everyone else struggled (such is usually the case, if I may be so bold). I have been having trouble tho. I had centering down, then I lost focus. Anyway, I still intend on getting good at it. And I look forward to making a lot of cool pots. For now, well we needed some basic mugs for our apt anyway. The other problem is that my wrist is kinda fucked up right now (carpal tunnel or some such) and it doesn't help it to be working the clay/typing this post. I really hope it gets better soon.

Some More Art

This was my final project (and one of the few projects I enjoied) in Drawing II. It is large: 40 x 64 inches (in 2 pieces). It was very much an experimental piece in that I experimented with some techniques of my own invention (as far as I know) such as blowing soap bubbles and letting the ink filter down to the paper.

Click images to see more!

This is one of the Udus I made in my Percussion Design and Fabrication class. It was without a doubt, one of the best classes I have ever taken. I was lucky enough to take it before it was canceled.

NO! Bad Teacher!

Most teachers show the same respect towards their students as they would like shown to them. I have tremendous respect for these teachers. But…There are some teachers out there who would chastise you for coming to class late. Or they would not excuse your absence even if you had been hit by a truck on the way to class. They have a inflated sense of their own importance and believe that you owe it to them to be there for every moment of their brilliant lecture.

I see things differently. A teacher is essentially you’re employee. You are paying them for a service. If you are not there for every moment of their class then you simply aren’t getting the most bang for you’re buck. This is your own loss and the teacher should not feel the need to scold you. Does your boss pay you to scold him/her? I believe that would likely get you fired.

Some would say that the teacher has a responsibility to the rest of the class. This is true. When you come in late you may distract a few people for a moment. But it is much more distracting when the teacher pauses the lecture to harass a student for truancy in front of the entire class. The student may have a very good excuse, but the teacher does not wait to hear it before they publicly humiliate the student. It is nothing more than a power trip for the teacher. But this position of power is false. It is really insubordination.

Now, I am not saying that teachers are undeserving of our respect. On the contrary, they are usually very intelligent people and deserve a great deal of respect. However, the student deserves respect in return. If they skip class too much then their grades will reflect their poor judgment. There is no need for the teacher to further punish their boss.

All I’m really saying is that Respect is a two way street. And students deserve the same respect as the teacher.