artist lecture response- Deliliah Montoya

Delilah Montoya showed us a virtual tour of her show Chicana bad girls, which was a collection of 18 different artists, somehow showing empowerment and courage in women. She had hoped to inspire and show people the strength of Chicana women, and their true “bad girl” side. She wanted people to see that being a bad girl wasn’t necessarily a negative thing. It was a way of empowering ones self, and standing up for yourself and what you believe it.

The only piece of work that I clearly remember was the very first piece she showed us of an interpretive dance around tree of life. The costumes of the dancers resembled Adam and Eve. I wish I would have been able to see the actual dance, it seemed very provocative, but respectable at the same time, and ended with the forbidden fruit being eaten.

There was one artist that stood out to me by Paula Lopez. She was a colorist who never went to art school. I thought it was inspiring that she became a famous artist without any schooling. She opened her own art store, and would become familiar with the supplies on her own, and would then ask customers who were also artists. There was one picture where she was remembering a time as a child. Her teacher would always criticize her work and tell her to paint in another color other than red. But she refused to do so and still became a famous artist. A lot of her work stood out to me because of the bright vibrant colors that she used, it was hard not to look at it, and see the way she mixed colors and contrasted them. I also really liked the one artist who paid her way through school by stripping, who mixed self portraits with cartoons.

I was honestly dreading going to one of these talks so I had to go to hers because it was the last one, and unfortunately I procrastinated. I thought this talk would be pretty interesting. It’s always good to see women photographers who have made a name for themselves. But going in I was expecting to see some of her work. I’m not a very “artsy” person, but I enjoy looking at photographs because it’s something I like doing, and being in photography this semester I could have connected with some of her work. Needless to say I was a little bit disappointed in the fact that I didn’t get to see any of her work. I really didn’t like any of the other work that she showed, but I feel like if it were presented better I would have taken more of an interest in it. I wish she would have thrown some of her own work into the mix as well.

War Photographer

Overall, War Photographer is a really well-made and extremely provocative look at James Nachtwey's life as a photojournalist. Christian Frei's decisions concerning camera placement--especially mounted onto Nachtwey's camera--really puts the audience into Nachtwey's eyes as he documents the horrors of war. The fact that the film documents Nachtwey's documentation is an interesting sort of meta-documentation that reminds me of Ken Josephson's photograph of a photograph.

Something that did trouble me about the film's production is how long the film takes to tell the audience that Nachtwey actually has the permission of his subjects before he photographs them. In the scenes before that, these horribly downtrodden people are crying and often staring straight into the camera. Without knowledge that Nachtwey has their permission, I thought he was an unimaginable asshole getting in grieving people's faces. That's probably intentional, but I didn't care for that.

Other than that, the film is filled with memorable images, especially the family living on the gravel between train tracks. I'll never forget how little disturbed they are by the trains speeding past them as they eat and go about their day.

Art Event: SMP presentations (round 1)

Apparently I keep forgetting to do this, so here it is... at the last possible minute!

About two weeks ago, I went to the Studio Art SMP presentations, put on by Mike Benjamin, Sarah Kramer, and Anne Rowan. I was incredibly inspired by all three of the presenters. They are truly amazing artists and presented their art in interesting and engaging ways.

Mike Benjamin is a close friend of mine, so I knew a bit about his work before the presentation. I especially loved hearing about the details of the project. It's clear how much time and effort he's put into this proposal, and I truly hope he finds success! I thought it was especially great how interactive and informal his presentation was. He engaged with the audience and really encouraged people to speak their minds. I also loved his writing in the little "pamphlet."

Sarah Kramer's work really caught my eye. I loved how "real" she was throughout her presentation. I felt that she was very straight-forward and honest with the audience about her work and what it means to her. Rather than coming up with extravagant (and maybe BS) explanations for why her art looks the way it does and what it means to her, Sarah stayed true to herself and explained that her artwork was a process of self-discovery, of sorts, and she's still trying to make sense of it all. I think that is often what art is about for people, and I'm glad that Sarah presented her work in that manner.

Anne Rowan's work is just beautiful. I was especially drawn to her artwork after being introduced to photography this semester. I have always been fond of clear, sharp, close up images just like she creates. I was really inspired by her entire presentation... from the artists and philosophers that inspire her work, to the reason she photographs the things she does. I especially liked the Buddhist saying about how all things are really one (or something along those lines). Anyway, I thought her presentation was great and I really love her photographs.

All in all, I'm really glad that I went to these Art SMP presentations. I've always been curious about Art SMPs, and this is the first year I've had the chance to see my fellow classmates' work. It was a great experience!

Final Project

I finally know what I'm doing for my final project! It's not even that good of an idea, but at least it's SOMETHING!

For a long time I've felt that eating and sex are two of the most surreal things that people do with their bodies. We shove mass amounts of material into our mouths several times a day, sometimes for reasons other than simple nourishment. If you ever watch a person eating, I can almost guarantee that eventually you will become horribly uncomfortable with what you're seeing. To me the very sight of a person inserting God knows what--in most cases something that, one some level, was once alive--into themselves, moving their teeth and jaws in order to mash the stuff into a mushy, salivary substance suitable for passing through the gullet seems much more surreal than most people.

Similarly, sex is weird. I don't think I have to go too much into that.

Thus, for my final project, I would like to depict people eating food that evokes a feeling of discomfort upon observation. I won't do anything blatant and lame like a girl licking a Popsicle or eating a banana. I may, however, use items equated with sex in the construction of the photograph. The first thing that comes to mind is a dental dam used as a napkin. Stuff like that.

I more than likely won't be changing much of this, as it took me three weeks to come up with this.

A little tweak in my project idea

So I'm not making any major changes--but I have tweaked my project idea a bit. I'm still basing my project around various lines from Shira Erlichman's poem, but I'm planning on using them to create some sense of a person's daily life and the things they are surrounded by. The images I will include are a tree, a stop sign, a clock, shoes and a portrait. I will mount my photographs and stamp a line (or several lines) on the mounting board so that the poem and the pictures can work together to create meaning.

another update

Oopsies! I changed my idea once again. This time, it's very different from where I was going before.

During the process of shooting, I realized that I have become very interested in various textures, and showing them through close-up shots. Since I've mostly been focused on people throughout most of this semester, I want to go down a slightly different road. So here I go!

I made one change in my project. For the last picture, I am going to make a collage of 4 pictures I took for my senior year, and cut them into 4 puzzle pieces and combine them as one last picture.

FINAL PROJECT

The "meaning of life" is one subject that has intrigued me the most, what's the purpose of humanity...? I don't know and certainly not many people know. 

I want to show the sequence of human life in its natural form...first by showing a pregnant woman, where human life begins. Second, by showing a baby, and the unknown future. Third, showing a teenager, the age where thoughts are formulating but everything is so ambiguous. Fourth, showing an adult, the age at which we are supposed to decide what to do with our lives because that's what is expected, but also the age at which the process of reproduction has to occur in order for civilization to continue. That's where my sequence ends, in the repetition of the cycle, an old man holding a baby. I still don't know the meaning of life though..maybe that is the meaning, reproduction, a cycle? I might go against the cycle....

Final Project Proposal: The Journey

As inspiration for my final project, I will use a meditation from a Tarot card reading that was particularly inspirational to me during my time in The Gambia last year. The card is called Traveling and discusses the importance of enjoying the journey of life rather than rushing to a "final destination." Since my time in The Gambia, I have adopted this philosophy and try, every day, to view every moment for what it is and for what it teaches me, rather than viewing it as one step closer to the next moment. I have thought long and hard about the images that would best represent this philosophy, and have struggled to come up with anything that particularly excites me. It was not until I just pulled out and re-read the meditation that I found my inspiration- the line, "Each step on the path is important in itself...there is no need to struggle or plan too much." Therefore, I will spend my final weeks at St. Mary's photographing thing or moments that are meaningful to me while keeping this inspiration in mind. My 'goal' (even though I shouldn't technically have one!) is to find five images that form a meaningful sequence and somehow represent the idea of a 'journey' or 'steps on a path.' We'll see what happens...

Robert Frank Art Exhibit

I really enjoyed the Robert Frank exhibit. While I enjoyed the Americans exhibit, I was particularly moved by the Black, White, and Things. In that exhibit, I really liked the way the pieces were visually similar (through the use blacks and whites, as well as people, and objects) yet they contained distinct moods in each section and were conceptually deep. For example, with Black, there was a funeral procession and a procession of nuns in two of the pictures I believe, while White had more outdoor/nature scenes that were very freeing. In a way, one can think about them as life/death, black/white, inside/outside, etc. The short exhibit was able to portray a series of dichotomies through a small number of images. It strongly influenced/inspired me to use the surroundings to create visually interesting series of photographs that also convey a deeper meaning. I feel the photographs in Black, White, and Things were more visually tied together than the Americans, which was more conceptually tied together.

I enjoyed the conceptual ties between photographs in The Americans, which one can see better when they are all up on the wall, as opposed to in a book, since on the wall one could more easily see the juxtapositions of people, such as a black couple in one image next to a white couple in another. In this way, there was social commentary, and almost an element of the story as themes were carried through one image to the next, such as stars from the flag, lights, words, etc.

However, my favorite part of the exhibit was not the final images chosen by Robert Frank, but rather his work prints and contact sheets. In particular, I liked seeing the work prints since I could kind of see how he conceptually processed all the images, based on how he grouped them on the wall. Half the time, they didn’t seem to make sense to me, but it was cool to try to organize pictures when they were from so many different places, of so many different people. It was also nice, since sometimes the work print images weren’t particularly “good” in my opinion, and looked more like some of my own work prints. It made me feel better as a developing artist, since I could see that all the images didn’t come out perfectly each time. Obviously, that’s common sense, but it was refreshing to see that even a famous, well-respected photographer didn’t have a perfect picture each time.

Final Project Proposal

I officially SUCK at posting blog posts. It takes me forever to remember to do them. Anyway, here is my final project proposal as follows:

I would like to have a series of photographs involving my house (SC 14), which includes myself, Gen Goerling, Sarah Bastien, and Florence Bastien. We have all known each other for awhile (21 years for the twins, 8 years for Gen and I, and 4 for Gen and the twins, and myself and the twins). In the past 4 years, we've really learned a lot about each other, and as graduation is quickly approaching, we want to really preserve the time we have together. We are all going in our own separate directions--Gen is moving to Glasgow, Scotland; Florence is moving in with her boyfriend in Kansas City, MO, Sarah is staying here for the MAT program, and I am moving back to Baltimore for a bit until I get a job (I'm looking at the research triangle in NC, and some places here in MD). This is the first time I won't be able to see Gen on a regular basis (we went to high school together, plus living together) and she's horrible at staying in touch through email, facebook, IM, etc. Florence and Sarah haven't really been separated much (other than one semester abroad) and now they're going to be living about 3000 miles away from each other. As sisters who did everything together, this is a really big deal.

As a result, I want to photograph (and have been photographing) the four of us interacting as a group, in groups of 3, with just two of us, and individual portraits. In this way, we get our own personalities in the pictures, as well as our relationships coming through (hopefully!). One place I've been taking these photographs is the Garden of Remembrance (yes, there is meaning there...) in part because of the idea of "remembrance" with our final days together, because there is this one huge tree there that we'd go to to talk a lot (I remember those late night talks underneath it, ha!) and it also serves as a fairly plain backdrop where we all can interact with our environment in our own way, that has a bit more meaning for us than say, the studio. I mean, Gen in particular is in love with the outdoors (due to allergies, my relationship and Florence's tend to be more of a love-hate relationship, but still we tend to really like the outdoors and spring days) so I feel like we'd open up better in a spot that is very familiar to us.

Ideally, I would like the five pictures to be one of the four of us interacting, then three of us, then two, and then one, with the final picture being a single shot of the tree on its own. The decrease in numbers kind of signifies how happy/excited we were when we all met each other, but even though we are still friends, we've kind of drifted away a lot (especially Flo and I after rooming together...) which I feel would be some of us drifting out of the pictures, disappearing, etc. The tree has the representative quality of being a symbol for life, new beginnings, hope, etc. as well as a large blockade getting in the way, dwarfing you, etc. due to its sheer size.

Depending on how they come out, I might do individual portraits of each of us (reluctantly including a self-portrait...I felt so freaking vulnerable in front of the camera!) with the final of the four of us.

I took about 5 rolls of film of the four of us interacting in different ways and individual portraits, that at this point I just need to look at the pictures to decide how exactly I want to portray it. It could end up being kind of sad, with the dwindling numbers, or I could reverse it, with all of us kind of "meeting" each other there at the tree/St. Mary's with the numbers increasing. I could do portraits, or groups of two. It could be really happy/hopeful, or kind of sad with all of us leaving. I'm not quite sure of the tone I want to create out of the pictures yet.

Feedback would be helpful!

Final Project Proposal

I've decided to take a note from our textbook, "The Nature of Photographs," and focus on one of the four elements of the depictive level: time. The quote, "a photo is static, but the world flows in time" really struck me, and I'd really like to experiment with slow shutter speeds in order to display motion in my photographs. As far as the sequence, I hope to show not just how motion is seen in the individual photos, but how the project as a whole moves.

Stephen Shore defines extrusive time as "the movement occurring in front of the camera, or movement of the camera itself, accumulating on the film, producing a blur." I'd like to shoot both of these situations--whether I'm photographing something moving, or whether I'm panning the camera to create movement. While using a slow shutter speed (probably not faster than 1/60), I hope to capture some cool moments--some "discreet parcels of time." I'd also like to present the project in a way that moves as well, so I was thinking of mounting the pictures to a pinwheel type thing...who knows though, I sure things will pan out as the project evolves.

Update on final project proposal

So, I think that I might change my idea for the final 5 images slightly. After shooting 2 rolls and seeing what I have come up with, I am more interested in making the sequence solely based on how people touch, or don't touch. I don't want to limit myself to photographing only specific relationships, although touching anyone in any way does create some sort of relationship. I am also no longer looking to deal with small children, unless I come across some, or elderly folks. I am more focused on people in and around my age group.

One thing that I would like to do now is not only have a sequence of images that relate in their theme of touching, I also want to link the people I photograph to other people that I photograph, specifically by having one image of two people, another image of one person from before and someone new - and go on like that if I can. As I began thinking more about not just the images themselves, but how they will be organized into a sequence, I thought about ending the sequence with a photograph involving lots of people. I'm not quite sure what specifically I want for this yet.

Artist lecture response - Delilah Montoya

After attending her lecture, I found visiting artist Delilah Montoya to be quite an interesting individual. Her presentation on Chicana artwork by women seemed like a very specific and fascinating topic to explore, and was very representative of her purpose, interests, and identity as an artist; however, I felt that the information on this topic was rather poorly presented.

The only thing that I really remembered from her lecture without looking back at my notes was one of the first artists from her "Bad Girls" show who did a performance/instillation type piece involving a huge "tree of life" sculpture hanging from the ceiling as the main focus around which the performance was based. I found it interesting how this piece incorporated sculpture art with performance art, with several dancers dressed in costumes resembling Adam and Eve performing around the hanging tree. I also thought it was neat how the performance ended with a symbolic biting of the apples from the "tree of life" that hung above them. After hearing Delilah speak about this particular piece, I was able to imagine the actual performance, and I was very interested in seeing it done.

Another striking image that I took note of was the large digital piece by Alma Lopez of the Our Lady Guadalupe that Delilah began the presentation with. I liked this piece because, while it obviously had substantial religious meaning, it also dealt a lot with the specific cultural influence that Chicana women faced. This was especially interesting because of the empowerment that this image gave the women - it clearly celebrated their courage and vision to rise up and survive against things like racism, sexism, and masogyny, with many different hidden strengths that revealed themselves in the art work. In front of a piece of similar work done by a Chicana woman sat a label that said "Please resist the temptation to touch," which is something that I think very cleverly expresses and addresses women's rights, and also playes with the idea of an actual label in front of a work of art reminding viewers not to touch.

"Women abused by someone they know cannot get police protection."

I wrote down this quote from a large piece done on a huge piece of fabric containing hundreds of clippings from news accounts of violence against women, mostly because it really stood out to me as shocking and quite disturbing to think about. It really made me think about culutural differences between what I am used to and what others have to face, and how these things are significant influences for artistic expression in both cases.

Although the lecture presented many ideas about Delilah's curatorial work with the "Bad Girls" show about Chicana art work, I really was quite interested in her own work as a photographer and digital media artist, especially because I was under the impression that a good portion of the lecture would be about herself as an artist.

Final Project- Home Sweet Home

I am not yet really sure what I finally want to do for my final project. However, even before starting the second part of the project assignment, I only wanted to take pictures of houses. There are cetain aspects about American houses that are very common here but not at all likely in Germany. I ahve always been interested in homes- from the iside as well as from the outside. Thus, these striking cultural differences are kind of exciting to me. So I went out and too pictures of houses. I will see how much further i want to go with this, but this appraoch might eventually somehow turn into my final project.

Final Proposal

For my final sequence of 5 images, I am interested in exploring ways to depict relationships that people have with other people or animals at different ages in their life - specifically through how people physically touch, or don't touch, one another.

I do not have everything planned out for exactly what I want to do - I'm thinking this will probably become more developed when I go out and start shooting more.

However, I am interested in shooting:

• children
• students/people around my age group
• elderly folks
• any folks of different age groups intermingling
• relationships that people have with animals

I am not planning on shooting with the intention of creating a specific story, however; I think that one will probably develop.

Final Project

My final project will involve road-kill. I have yet to realize the true vision for this project. It's going to be one of those things that I won't find until my picture capturing is in progress and the creative juices are flowing. It's probably going to get a little gruesome.

What I can say is that there will be a more conceptual aspect to my prints that may comment on the relationship that humans (through our use of technology) impact the natural environment in a way that, depending one's outlook, may be either positive or negative.

It's good that there is no shortage of road-kill in St. Mary's County.

Final Project

For the moment, my intentions for the final project will be to show my "brothers and sisters," in a series of five photographs.  I chose this topic because it is a really complicated aspect of my life.  My only biological brother was killed in an accident 10 years ago, actually it will be the tenth anniversary of his death in exactly one month.  My mom has become a foster mom since his death, and so I now have 4 adopted siblings.  Through my project, I want to create a cohesive presentation to unify these 5 very different people, who have been unexpectedly connected through the one commonality they all share- they are my family.  Originally, I was planning on focusing on their faces, but I think that might change.  I'm still somewhat unsure of how to present the photographs to convey the idea I am aiming for, perhaps somewhat "Brady Bunch"ish.

War Photographer

I was really surprised by how much the documentary impacted me and the amount of respect I have for photographers. Nachtwey sacrificed a lot of things in his life to photograph something he is so passionate about. It is inspiring to see someone who enjoys his work and has truly devoted his entire life to his work and to exposing the truth about wars. I have a new found respect for him because I do not think I would be able to risk my life for something that may or may not make an impact on other peoples lives.

Some of Nachtwey pictures were so powerful, and I had no idea how much conflict is going on in other countries other than ours. However, I was a little bit appalled when he got in grieving peoples faces . They were still very powerful but I don't agree with him photographing a persons grieving over a loved ones death. I know he has permission from these people. I can see where he is coming from by showing the world the pain people are experiencing, and shows us things that the media doesn't have the guts to show.

I really liked his quote, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you aren't close enough." You have to get right in the action to get the true emotion of the subject so you can see the power of the photograph, and feel the emotion that the subject is feeling.

Delilah Montoya

Delilah Montoya gave us a virtual tour of her show, "Chicana Bad Girls" celebrating the empowerment and courage of Chicana women.  She was curator, choosing pieces from 18 different artists, with the intention of raising awareness about the maltreatment of Chicana women, as well as depicting Chicana women as empowered/strong/bad girls.  There were a couple of art pieces that stood out to me.  The opening performance really interested me.  A woman created the "tree of life" and hung it in the middle of the front room of the museum.  Dancers dressed in snake-skin fabric came down the stairs and performed an erotic dance, followed by a man and a woman as Adam and Eve.  The end of the dance involved handing out apples and everyone taking bites.  I enjoyed how the "bad girls" show began with "sin."

Another artist had a series of charcoal drawings that incorporated self-portraiture and comic strip style art.  The self-portraits depicted herself as a stripper (she stripped her way through art school).  Each portrait had a comic book-esque element to it; a cartoon dog that she is holding, etc.  She created a play on words, making a comic "strip" (get it?...like take off your clothes...haha).

Prior to this lecture, I was really looking forward to hearing Delilah Montoya speak about her own art, since I always find it fascinating when an artist describes his or her thought process.  I was disappointed when she talked about other people's art--which it seemed she knew little about.  Honestly, I wasn't expected a virtual tour an art exhibit, and came away from the lecture uninspired.