Proposal for final project

A statement of the area of interest
I am interested in the power and unpredictability of mother nature.
Thesis statement
Despite technological advance, hurricanes are a powerful and unpredictable force. Nature gives little warning to prepare people and their property from destruction.
 Introduction
Although mother nature can be destructive, the aftermath left in the wake can be beautiful.  This beauty comes from the story told in the midst of the debris left behind.  I will analylize one example of this destruction and create a photograph(s) that will tell the story of one unfortunite ship and its remains as affirmation of the awesome power of mother nature.
My research will exclusivley be performed on the grounds of the University of West Florida (U.W.F), Pensacola.  My final artwork will be a sumation compiled from multiple sources of primary research including:
⦁ Correspondence with Greg Cook, assistant professor of anthropology  at U.W.F.
⦁ Correspondance and interviews with anthropology staff at U.W.F.
⦁ Historic newspaper articles relating to the event
⦁ Artistic inspiration from artsist Julia Sanderl in the agamograph style
⦁ Scholarly Articles about shipwrecks
⦁ Historic meteorological forcasts
The location of my field work, and sample collections will be performed primarily at the archeology department on the grounds of U.W.F., and will include the following types:
⦁ Photographs of the Hurricane Opal Shipwreck post-damage
⦁ Photographs of the hurricane Opal Shipwreck pre-damage
⦁ Drift-wood of ship-like quality
⦁  Photographs/screenshots of the hurricane Opal      
I propose to create a piece of 3D perspective, folded, artwork (agamograph) in the style of Julia Sanderl.  This artwork will be photography based, approximatley 20"x24" in size.  Additionally, I would like to create a frame out of driftwood to give authenticity to the piece.

Reading Response Landscape

Racheal Homack

Reading response Landscape

    In response to the article, “Six Quick Lessons in How to Read a Landscape” by Ben Kasten, Daniel Grant and Spring Greeney, I have learn there is much more to studying landscapes then I initially thought. Although, all six of the lessons explained in the reading have a similar theme, which is to analyze different details of the larger picture.  The six lessons in this reading include:  Play with boundaries, Look near; see far, Look up, look down, Compare then and now, Make and interpret maps, and Particularize.

    I feel that in everyday life we overlook details.  However, in art, it is important to inspect

all aspects of the subject of the piece.  This point is reinforced by Kasten’s second point, “Look near; see far.  He describes that the  “mundane stuff” are the things that really will tie a piece together, and make the piece feel more authentic.  Lookup, and down is a good point as well, as we must be sure not to get too focused on only what is right in front of our eyes.  Often, there is potential artistic subject matter within sight, but overlooked.   I believe that this is very true, both in art, and in life.  The small details are the reason that there are different “feels” of cities, towns, and places.  A city is after all just a city, until these smaller details are factored in, then they become a truly unique place.  

   Greeney’s topic, “Compare then and now”, and Grants topic, of, “Make and Interpret

maps” both have an interest of time, and change associated with them.  I feel that to really 

get the true essence of a place, especially to capture this in an artistic form, it is important 

to get a feel for the geography, as well as the history behind that place.  I feel that this is 

often overlooked but very important.

   

story book thumbnails

GIF Article Response

                         I Have always viewed GIFs as a quirky yet eye catching technique to draw attention to the picture or advertisement which they are a part of.  Much like Olia, in her blog, “In memory of Chuck Poynter, user and GIF maker”, GIFs to me always have an amateur feel to them but I don’t believe this to be a negative characteristic.  I also agree with the blog author Olia that certain inconsistencies make GIFs feel all that much more original.  Olia used the single pixel on the bottom of the famous dancing girl Gif as an example of this.  Some of the most humorous online content I have seen were in the form of GIFs.  Additionally, GIFs can be effectively used as advertisements to draw the viewer’s eye over to the moving image.  After reading the articles I have even more respect and admiration for GIFs in general.  I found it interesting that GIFs existed before the internet and can appreciate Chuck Poynter’s works (and people like him) much more knowing that he started out doing them just for the love of it.  

                In today’s social landscape the GIF has retained much of its original appeal.  These simple yet poignant animations still strike the same emotions as I am sure Mr. Poynter had intended.  In 2017, GIFs still are the perfect accompaniment to a well thought out webpage.   There is no doubt in my mind that a webpage with a GIF will draw more attention than one without it.  One must be careful however not to include too many so the viewer does not get distracted.  For example, a company’s logo on the top of a webpage that is animated could be a great advertising strategy even today to reinforce the company image.  However, because of their amateur feeling nature many large companies tend not to use them.  However, if a webpage uses heading, animations, logos, and other forms of GIFs simultaneously, the webpage becomes difficult to read, as the reader can become distracted.  The blog created by Sha is a great example of this.  I found this blog very difficult to read and navigate through without being distracted.   To me, Gifs work best for informal or humorous applications, like political campaign remarks, social media posts, and other similar applications.   

                I don’t think we have seen the end of GIFs, with the small file size and appeal, they are perfect for certain applications.  It is sad that to save 24 bytes Mr. Poynter’s signature was removed from his files by ungrateful patrons, but I am glad that Mr. Poynter’s son has recreated his father’s works on a webpage so that history is preserved.  His legacy will be continued and his original works will always be the foundation for which they are built.     

Animations

Chimeras, Hybrids, and Monsters

For the Chimeras piece, I wanted a variety of characters with some of them in the sky and some on land to make it more realistic.  I chose a desert background for the Chimera and added a rock to add more depth to the photo.  I carefully chose characters that already had a white background and used the magic eraser to ensure a clean looking final product.  I resized the Chimeras to make them look proportional. When I added the rock I chose to make that larger to stand out in the desert.

          For the Hybrid piece, I chose unique and interesting Characters that would stand out.  I intentionally picked hybrids that were of two completely different species, but with similar colors.  For example, the cat/fish are two species that are as different as I could think, but the colors make it look somewhat realistic. I chose a nature scene with a wooded background so all of these interesting animals can explore the woods together. 

When Resizing the Hybrid characters I made them all about the same size except for the banana bird which is a bit bigger because I wanted it to be noticed between the trees. The rabbit/duck is larger than the rest because I wanted to imply that it is very large (even though it is in the background).  To imply the cat/dog is behind the tree, I removed the bottom of the tree to place the half cat/dog in the location then pasted the tree over top of the creature in a new layer. I also removed the middle tree closes to the right front so the banana bird would stand out.

For the monster piece I wanted to challenge myself with a different type of background.  I selected a swap background so the monsters look more realistic.  Likewise, I chose monster characters that would fit with the background, except for the one eyed green monster who works is on land instead of in the swamp.  My method for resizing the monsters is similar to the other pieces.  The monsters that are closer the front are larger and the ones that are toward the back of the landscape are smaller to show perspective.  I tried a new tool in Photoshop called “liquefy” to add some swirl effects to the water.  This helped to give the illusion of movement within the water. 

New vs. Traditional Media

Throughout the ages, many aspects of art media has remained the same.  However, over time, technology and cultural changes have expanded what art media means.  New art media, in general, is not an entirely new field but based upon traditional foundations.  According to Wikipedia, New Media Art often involves interaction between artist and observer or between observers and the artwork, which responds to them. Yet, as several theorists and curators have noted such forms of interaction, social exchange, participation, and transformation do not distinguish new media art but rather serve as a common ground that has parallels in other strands of contemporary art practice.

New Media art is often referenced with old media in mind.  New media art can be an alteration or expansion of the traditional form, as such, there are many parallels between the two forms.  New media art, much like traditional, still requires artistic skill with color, texture, shape, and perspective in mind.  As an example, the process of making 3D prints is not dissimilar to making sculptures, the tools are just different.  An individual making 3D prints still has to create a plan and have the final form in mind, and know the limitations of the media in which they are using.  This is further supported by the Brown University Wiki titled New Media Art  by Mark Tribe.  Tribe discusses the similar techniques required in traditional oil based paintings and comic book art.

With the many inclusive features of new vs. traditional media comes many exclusive features as well.  Some may argue that traditional media is more fluid and free to interpretation.  Tribe remarks in general, new media art is fundamentally different “focusing on ideas than on objects”.  Critics also argue that traditional media, such as hand painted artwork, is more original and one of a kind.  The argument, in this case, points out that digital art can be replicated exactly the same with no evidence of the original.  Not to say this hasn’t been done in the past with traditional media though.  Before the printing press, copies could be made by engagements on rubber, essential making stamps out of them.  Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, and Andy Warhol, all have used this technique in the past to create their works.

            So far, I have discussed computer generated art and 3d printing to represent some commonalities between the two genres. However, there are numerous other examples that one could draw from to compare.  There is some difficulty that arises when defining ‘new media’ as the definition continues to change.  For example, the etched replicated works of some the great artists that I previously mentioned were at one point considered new media, we now look back and think of this style as traditional media.  Our definition now includes, “digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, video games, computer robotics, 3D printing, cyborg art and art as biotechnology” (New Media Art, Wikipedia, Jan. 12, 2017).   With this ever expanding definition, I believe that we will continue to see new media become traditional media, and traditional media remain the foundation for the new media.

Icons as Fact, Fiction, and Metaphor Reflection

Since wet/darkroom photography has been around since the beginning of filmmaking there is a certain familiarity with the process.  Along with familiarity often comes trust.  I would argue that more people implicitly trust wet/darkroom photography than the digital processes because the process required to create wet/darkroom photography leaves less room for altering.  In today’s society, we are constantly in the presence of digital photography.  Digital photography by many is seen as more advanced and technological.  With technology however, comes uncertainty.  The magazines, billboards, and website advertisements around us are almost all unquestionably altered in some way.  I believe this digital altering in advertisement and marketing gives the perception that any digital photography cannot be trusted.        

Although at first one might believe these assumptions to be true, they are not necessarily accurate in all cases.  In the essay, “Icons as Fact, Fiction and Metaphor”, Phillip Gefter uses many historical photos to illustrate that wet/darkroom photography can be deceptive in many different ways.  One such example includes “Home of a Rebel Sharpshooter, Gettysburg, 1863,” by Gardner.  Gerfter points out that wet/darkroom photography such as this piece can be “staged” to give the appearance of authenticity.  I would argue that both types of media (film or digital) are susceptible to this kind of deception.  It may be easier to alter the original photo in a digital format however it is not impossible to do so in darkroom photography either.  I believe in general people will be more trusting of older technology until something newer arrives.  So even though there is little basis of fact in proving deception occurs more readily in digital form, people will continue to believe this until they are more comfortable with it. 

The actual differences between digital photography and wet/darkroom photography are similar to the differences between an analog watch and a digital watch.  With an analog watch you can observe a mechanism changing from one state to another, much like processing digital film.  With a digital watch the numbers on the dial can change dramatically from one state to another with no indication of how it happened, this is similar to digital photography, and editing.  With a click of a button someone can change a subject’s skin tone, or turn a sunset into a sunrise.  In general editing digital photography is easier, and it takes less effort to manipulate a piece than the analog equivalent.  Therefore, I believe there is a grain of truth in arguing the validity of many digital works.  Basically, the effort required to manipulate digital works can be done with skill and keystrokes, the effort required to manipulate darkroom photography can require actor’s props, and arguably more time.

The debate over the perceived authenticity of darkroom or digital photography is really a debate of old versus new.  There was an equal amount of deception and editing with film as there is with digital media, it was only executed differently.  The trust that photographers get from the public is, and always has been directly linked to their credibility, which is all the more disappointing when they turn out to be hoaxes.