Presentation Before the Faculty

Last Wednesday, I had to present my project to the entire art faculty. To put it simply: it was nerve-wracking. I spent two weeks freaking out about it, putting my slideshow together weeks in advance and working frantically on my project to get it to a point where I would show them all. I stressed myself out tremendously, and could barely eat any food. Everyone before me struggled under the scrutinizing gaze of our professors, feebly attempting to answer their challenging questions. I could only imagine what sort of traumatic event the presentation would be, and my mind was not helping the butterflies in my stomach.

In the end, I rushed up to do my presentation, and it went well. Yes, the professors were hard with their questions, but I also got some very good ideas out of the experience. One that I'm definitely hoping to do is put a QR code in each of the pieces which then leads to a website about the writer. I also want to see about putting the words of the writers into the piece instead of simply the words I found on the receipts. This is be a challenge, however, because I don't know if I can get the writing onto the receipt paper, which is what I would like. Also, in the display, I would have information for those without smartphones so they can learn a bit about the writer's lives. I would write it in a modern sense, and then allow the viewers to reveal who I'm  talking about by flipping a flap or something. This would help to show how the writers still fit into society today.

I didn't feel very relieved after finishing my project, partially because I then had to run to my Geology lab. When I returned to Hermann Fine Arts Building for my Solid Design class, I was a little early and decided to wait in the gallery, looking at the art hanging on the walls. While I was there, two of the professors came up to me and kindly told me they liked my project and were excited to see the final result. Finally, I felt relieved! Simply by hearing that my idea wasn't a total waste helped to ease my mind and reminded me why I did art, which I had started to question throughout the semester. Hopefully, I will keep working towards a better project, without too much hiccups.

First Day of Presenting Before Faculty

Well, today was quite the wake-up call. The art professors sure can be brutal when they want to be. Granted, I'd rather them be hard now than later on when we're farther in our projects. I noticed the main focus of the professors was the question: "Why?" To be fair, it's quite a good question.

Thus I decided this blog entry would focus on my why so that I will be ready for my own presentation next week (note: because of how today went, I've already started putting my powerpoint together). My why is that there's more to literature than dust and funny words. if I must illustrate Billy Shakespeare in an extremely suggestive pair of jeans, then so be it. Literature to me portrays what makes us human and how throughout history, we're all connected. As an example, I once was in the bookstore with my very scientific boyfriend, who naturally stood staring at the wall of computer programming books. I appeared next to him, my arms piled with literature ranging from Mark Twain to Oscar Wilde, when I noticed The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin and immediately snatched it. He looked at me curiously, wondering how such a scientific book fit in with my collection. "Have you any idea how much of a debate this caused in literature? It's amazing!" I explained as he simply raised an eyebrow. I went on to describe how people in the 19th century suddenly had to decide whether they would follow religion, or learn more about the science that was quickly developing. To me, literature is a true window into the past, but also a way to see that people have always struggled between religion and science, or even homosexuality, feminism, and the structure of power. William Shakespeare has been dead for centuries, and yet we still read his plays today because we can relate, even in this crazy age of speed and technology.


My goal is to have other people see writers as people and think more about how they can relate to them, even if all of the writers I've chosen have been dead for at least a century.

New Link!!

So my dear friend (although I now wonder what she searches online), Michelle, has shown me this new website, which I felt was relevant to my project. In this case, Chris Jordan uses garbage to make pieces of art. Only by zooming in can you tell it's made out of things from aluminum cans to bottle caps. The first on the page is an image of the moon, made out of old credit cards! It blew me away, but also made me think of my own project because of how I'm making the image that you can see from far away, but if you step closer, you can see the sparkle of burning receipts.

If you'd like to check it out yourself (which I absolutely suggest), click here. Enjoy!

My First Sketch!

 

So last night, I made my first sketch of my project. This is William Shakespeare on the body of one of my dear friends. I plan on taking this piece this weekend and make it larger. The background will be black with the help of the receipts, and I hope to have the background done before Fall Break is over. This is my first big step towards my project, and I'm super excited!

Let's Make 'em Sexy

I have most of the images I want and have started to put the faces with the bodies. I still need to photograph a few more people to figure out a couple more writers. I have decided that by the end of this week, I should have the beginning of my first piece started, which will be Billy Shakespeare.

I will be making each of my pieces on Bristol paper at 18"x24". I've researched frames and I know I can buy 9 of them at a decent price. I plan on just getting simple black frames because the pieces will be black and white so it should look nice. I want to sketch out a thumbnail sketch this evening of Billy and then blow it up to a larger size onto the Bristol paper. I will have to buy more paper, but I don't mind, especially since it's easy to find and not extremely expensive. I'm thinking for this project, I will be spending around $100 at the most, which isn't too bad at all. It helps when your medium is trash, and something most people simply discard!