Selfie

Hey there Mr.B! I'm Alexa, this is going to be my third year being in your class and having you and I couldn't be more excited! I like to play water polo, this is my fourth year on the team, and its finally my senior year! I also swim on the team but this year I won't be this year because I would rather train for a Tri and I'm super excited, also to focus spending time with my family as much as I can. 

My goals for this year are to keep up with my grades and do well my senior year, hopefully win states this fall for polo this year, and also to truly find a concentration for Portfolio this year and that will show how I really am and something I feel strongly about, which I'm getting there but its hard to narrow it down and decide. 

For art in general I think I have a strong intention on making really great pieces and I love editing photos and taking them but for my weakness I always have an issue trying to find the true concept behind it and making the pieces come together. 

This year some ideas I have for my concentration are the following:

Insecurity of social roles

Stresses of modernity and globalization

Freedom of Expression

Mask (How people hide)

Water - meaning behind it

Valedictory Final

Valedictory Final

The central idea of my concentration is about sports portraiture, my plan in the beginning was to focus on not just one but several different types of sports but after I took my shots of three football players I figured that I would just work with their shots of just them and football and not worry about taking other shots of other sports but to focus on the football shots. 

After looking at all of my finished pieces I can honestly say that these are my favorite pieces from any project we've worked on this year. I love every single one of the shots that I choose to upload and use because the editing was so simple and easy which made the process of editing them so quick, not that I don't enjoy editing but after doing these it made me realize that if you have the right lighting that you want and need and the models work with you so well it can make everything else to simple and quick, my out come on this project I couldn't be more happy with, the simplicity but the hard details shown in each of the pieces make them all unique and that's what I love about them. The models were a huge help too because they were so much fun to work with but they all did their own thing which made all photos have such a variety. What I did to edit the photos was took them from color and turned them all to black and white and after that I played with the black, whites and grays and worked with what would bring out the best detail in each photo, then took out the grain and background behind the boys to color it black, it was a really simple process that turned out to look awesome.

Valedictory Research

So far for this project i've researched quite a few things. One being about the lighting for taking the photos, there should be great depth against the person that is being shot and the lighting should be darker in some places more than others. I really tried to work with the focus on the person and the lighting which was really fun but slight challenging. I wanted to do this because it seemed like it was really challenging and a lot of fun that will turn out to be a really cool and unique. Another thing I looked up and found is that a person's facial expressions in a photo show so much about them and they're personality. The people I chose to use for my shots I was really happy with because they were so awesome with the facial expressions and poses!

Valedictory Contact Sheets

Surrealism Finals

Surrealism Finals

Contact Sheet

Examples

 Expression Examples: Happy, Calm, and Fun

Rene Magritte - Man of Many Hats

1.      What is surrealism? Painting in many different styles, used based off of strange things that would happen in their dreams. 

2.      What motif did Magritte use in many of his works? Why was this significant? He used a man wearing a bowler hat in 21 pieces of his artworks. It was significant because he seemed to base his artwork on this man for a good bit of his pieces. 

3.      In his work Golconda, why is it important that Magritte varied the image of the man in the bowler hat?  How does it add depth to the work? he uses a lot of repetition and always includes the hat, as said, "Layered in the varied scale" he paints very realistically and likes to always include many specific details. 

4.      Why did surreal artists choose to create strange worlds with their art? All Artists want to be known for doing specific things so people can identify them as being that artist so that its well known. 

5.      Explain how the techniques of juxtaposition, altered scale, and language help Magritte explore Surrealism. Juxtaposition- unrelated objects, placing them side by side. These images seem both real and unreal, which makes it into being surreal. Altered scale- Makes and affect on how the background and foreground have an impact on the artwork which makes it seem closer to the viewer. 

6.      What would be a few reasons why Magritte would cover the faces of his subjects? "If our dreaming minds can create strange worlds, perhaps artists should try to do the same in waking life"

7.      Why did Magritte strive for realism & precision in his paintings? To show that there is hidden meanings in all paintings. 

Two Examples- 

 

Examples

Examples

Perception vs. Reality

Outward vs. Inward

Outward- Peoples perceptions about myself based off of my looks are most likely that I look like an average teenager, I like being around people and talking to everyone, I don't try to judge people at all based off of their looks or what choices they make and I love if people would look at me the same way. People now a days can be so judge mental and I think everyone whether they want to admit it or not, sterotype others. In my opinion of myself I see myself as an outgoing person considering I love to do new things, be around friends, family and new people. Based upon what I wear I think it shows that I dress pretty average. I present myself at school by showing respect to myself, my classmates and teachers, always trying to have a positive attitude and being joyful. To take shots in the studio during this assignment I plan on being in the shadow but also being in the direct light.

Words:

Outgoing

Joyful

Dependent

Respectful

Inward- The real me that people my be unaware of would have to be the fact that I may not look like i'm a genuinely happy person. I try to be the most motivative and happy person to make good vibes spread around to all people. It doesn't always turn out to be that way but when you look at the things in life that you have that make you happy and you're thankful for there's no other thing to do then to be happy.

I used this picture to represent myself because its so calming and simple, the shot with the lighting and everything around it just looks so great all together and I love this shot because everything just seemed like it was in place so well.

Exquisite Corpse

Each person drew a body part not knowing what the piece before looked like, we all made our own contribute to the piece and when we unfolded it we saw that it formed to look completely unique. 

Dada Final

Dada Final 

Halftone Screen

Text

Cut/Copy/Rearrange

Color Blocks

This project of dada was one of my favorite projects this year. They all came out pretty different and nothing really looks similar to each other which made all of them unique. I love how they were all created in an abstract manner rather than a commercial standpoint because they're all different and stand out, there definitely is a difference between the two and its an awesome difference!

This project ties into Dada because dada has so many different things you can do to be creative and have your own form of dada and in an aspect there can be many different dada creations and they all turn out so unique that nothing looks the same in any photo by whoever makes it. 

Dada Studio Experimentation

Questions About Art

1. What is a work of art?

A creative product with strong imaginative appeal. The biggest quality found in artworks would have to be how every single piece of artwork is unique.

2. What should artwork provide for the makers and viewers point?

Principles of Art such as:
Movement
Harmony
Variety
Rhythm
Unity
Emphasis
Balance
Proportion
Pattern
References

3. Why do people make art?

People make art because they create an illusion or some sort of magic to call their own, they can make anything into something amazing, unique or beautiful. They do it to see peoples reactions, so it can be the thing to talk about and see how well known it can get, also to express personal feelings. There are so many answers as to why people make art and this just happens to be a few.

4. Where does one encounter art?

One can encounter art from anywhere, and it can also be anything, there is so many different things to do and create that people consider as art and it can be their own art because everything is unique you just have to have the right eye to see it and create it.

5. What is the role of an artist?

The role of an artist is to create something like never before, and to make it their own. No other artist wants to see their own art piece look like something similar to someone else's and to be creative.

Dada Chance Poem

"A Head Full Of Fears Leaves No Space For Dreams"

The outcome of this quote really came out to having no words but random letters, such as U, O, E, S, L, and F.

I personally am happy with the outcome of this because I did another one and the first one I did turned out to have lots of empty space and it just seemed lost and no real meaning of the quote itself, with this second one I made it has its own uniqueness. 

MoMA & Dada

World War 1 and Dada:

Dada is a conflict that claimed the lives of eight million military personnel and an estimated equal number of civilians, around 1914-1918. This was made into existence because it was made to prove a point, and that point being that deaths from the war made a big impact on the nation and by showing the dada movement there was a lot of attention being drawn to it to symbolize it.

Marcel Duchamp and the Readymade:

Readymades is a description from the artist and an observer of his own art and gave them specific titles, all art pieces had a part of them that were named readymades and that was what he was known for. It made all of his artwork stand out.

They change my expectations on art in a way that makes me want to see more and more to see how different every piece is going to be from another, every piece has unqiueness to it and that's what I like about his work  the most.

Here is an example of his artwork:

Chance Creations: Collage, Photomontage and Assemblage:

These Dada Artists Embraced a lot of things to do with their work, but I think the biggest thing that they embraced was the reaction that they got from people, and how the talk was around about regarding these artists and their artwork.

These artists took this approach because they wanted to see how much different people would compare and contrast from their work from before or from other artists creations and sculptures and having their own understanding of the creation of imagery.

Here is an example of the artwork:

Artistic Collaboration:

As said in this article the whole experience with dadaism has a lot to do with skits, pranks, and performances were all seemingly inane, they were rooted in the sentiments of a meritorious nature.
They were all thought of so that they could all be unique and have their own purpose and that is what all of the dada artitsts did.

Word Play:

Dada artists do word play so that there have text and speech free from the rules of spelling, grammar, and punctuation, The Dada Artists form their final pieces of  art  to turn the original text and forms of literature into abstract forms of unique art.

Here is an example of Word Play artwork:

Pollution Final

Pollution Final

My social issue was about Pollution, I chose to do pollution as a social issue because I have very strong feelings about it, I feel like it isn't seen as a big deal to anyone but in reality it really is. Anyone and everyone can chip in to make the world a better place by stopping pollution there can be so many reduced leaks of oil and gases being put into the air, and also stop deaths of innocent animals and people from not having damage into their lungs. People need to open their eyes and see what this world is starting to come to and put a stop to it to make the earth a better place!

Results of hope from these ads I made are so people can see the facts that are being listed in them and maybe by reading them realizing that they could make a difference to stop pollution from occurring.

The Target Audience is towards any type of teenager, kid, or adult whether its boy or girl because there is so many ways for pollution to happen and people may not even realize that they are causing pollution and there really are so many ways to prevent it from happening. 

My slogans are: Do Something Drastic To Make The Planet Fantastic!

No Pollution Is The Clear Solution

Along with some facts that I threw into each photo that shows significance to the photos purpose.

 My thoughts about my final pieces of my project to be honest dissapointed me quite a bit, I had all these images of great ideas to what I could form the photos into then I just feel like they kind of ended up looking too plain and didn't have enough realism to them, Regardless I really do have a passion to wanting to stop pollution and I feel like there could be a great way to do so! 

Some tips I would give to another person who is doing the same assignment is to really think through on what they want to focus on for the assignment and to make sure that its something they want to do and won't get bored with it because I myself was going to do Drinking and Driving but then I realized I would have more of a passion with Pollution and don't get me wrong I think Drinking and Driving is a big deal but it wasn't as much of a passion to me as much as Pollution. 

The most challenging thing in this assignment would honestly have to be when I was editing my photos because I had great ideas in my head but I couldn't set my thoughts to the computer and it just got more and more challenging to me and I would over think and end up wasting time on something I didn't particularly like that much. I do think what I did well on this project was how I didn't give up on trying to perfect my projects even though the outcome of them wasn't really what I imagined and they didn't turn out to be my favorite project I have ever done but I know that over time they can definitely improve. 

Contact Sheet

Social Issue Ad

My social issue is Pollution, my ads that I have uploaded are so far based on animals, I have a picture drawn that is supposed to be one of my dogs (I'm not a very good drawer so my bad) but the first one says "No Pollution Is A Clear Solution" which is why I drew my dog and also added smoke around the dog because it symbolizes that there is no clear solution or clear view with a dog trying to see around all of the smoke which is pollution in the air, dogs and people both breathe in smoke no matter where it is so its kind of impossible to avoid it. With this ad i'm trying to promote no pollution in the air and showing how it affects animals as well as people. The Second advertisement ad that I drew is showing a girl who is putting hair spray in her hair, there is other hair products on the ground laying next to her and its showing all of the fumes that just go into the air after using them and it can also make an affect on the air and people breathing the air into their lunges and it makes an impact on the environment.

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook Article

One of the things i've learned from reading this article about advertising in social media is from the first article that's called Air Canada: Ruining A Good Idea. Lucile Garner Grant specifically. This stood out to me because at the bottom of the little article there is bullet points saying as to why that article containing her information isn't set up that well because it's not 1. Visually compelling 2. It's burdened with too much text. 3. It's a link post when it should have been a picture post. After seeing those bullet points I realized that it put out a great point, the information was set up well, there wasn't enough visual support to make the article interesting and I honestly think that if there's going to be an article uploaded and published it should look appealing and good to look at so people want to read it and are interested in it. From the next article, JEEP: Evoking the Right Emotions was advertising the vehicle of the Jeep but it wasn't in the best way in my opinion. They didn't even have a picture including the jeep even though it this article was based on emotions. It was a good article other than that but could have also included more information. Mercedes Benz: A Great Product Deserved Better is advertising the new an improved Mercedes Benz but was poorly constructed. The use of information wasn't much because of Poorly called to Action and No Logo. Subaru: Amateur Night
This article is not appealing, there is no information listed to support the photo of the Subaru that is also a super boring shot because it shows no character and no uniqueness. What I've learned about reading these articles as to what NOT to do when advertising is lack of logos, and information that makes the product interesting that attracts people to wanting to know more,  also if there's a great shot thats being uploaded make sure there's great information to back it up and not leave it hanging.

Ad Analysis

Pollution

I chose this photo for a great example of pollution in advertisement because it sends out a strong message, the reasoning why is because it goes to show just from pollution meaning gases and trash and just from one piece one person may just throw away or gases from vehicles can leave affects on all types of the environment.

This ad is triggered towards adults who happen to drive and may even liter trash, by them stopping all of this it can help any part of an environment.

The unique thing about this photo is its actually true, with all of the pollution it really does kill the environment and with stopping it can get it all back to health. 

Text/Slogan: Give Our Mother Earth A Chance.

The target audience is to anyone who seems to litter and just not care about where any of their trash ends up.

The uniqueness about this photo is how the plastic bag is formed into a sting ray and its showing a really great point, sea animals and animals eat anything that they really can and it ends up killing them if its dangerous enough.

The theme is save the animals that get stuck eating all of the trash and inhale gases that they shouldn't be. 

Text/Slogan: Each year, plastic pollution kills more than 100,000 marine creatures.

This photo mainly focuses gases that pollute the air. Whether people realize it or not there is a lot of gases that go through the air whether its from factories or from any vehicles.

The unique thing about this photo is that there's a person view from in a car and they are driving past factories that are producing so much gases that are polluting the air, The windshield wiper that is going across from left to right is showing what should there which is natural resources such as trees and grass that produce oxygen,

The theme for this picture is going showing how all of these factories are a big reason for pollution that is occurring all the time.

The slogan for this is: Don't pollute, time to reduce!

This photo is representing how you never really know what you could be eating. These two sushi rolls rolled in plastic bags are showing that there is so much waste and garbage just being thrown where ever that it can really affect not only animals and mammals but humans don't realize this either so until there is less pollution this will be a huge problem!

The unique thing about this photo is that you don't always see the bad side of where food comes from and that people should always be very cautious. 

The theme for this photo is just saying be cautious as to what you eat, you may never know if you're not careful.

Text/Slogan: What Goes In The Ocean Goes In You.

Social Issue Project Proposal

My project proposal is coming towards Drinking and Driving i'm going to build an ad around this proving that drinking and driving isn't okay to do no matter who you are or what age you are. its very dangerous and can leave affects on tons of people whether their family or friends.
The reason i'm doing drinking and driving because of past reasons that I would not particularly
 like to share in a blog post.
People should be concerned about drinking and driving no matter who it is. This problem relates to a lot of people whether its friends or family.
Motivation for others to be aware about drinking and driving should not be a difficult task. If there;s certain things brought to peoples attention and past stories from friends and families can make people realize tons of reasons to not drink and drive.