Archive by Author | tdiaz1

Blog Post 11 VISU 1100

After hearing from the faculty I realized that it is probably going to be really important for me to choose a medium I like and actually get really good at it. As of right now, I am an art major so that I can try literally every type of art form, but I am majorly starting to feel like a jack of all trades, master of none. All of Hollis’ drawings were so detailed and HUGE but then some small ones with ridiculous detail like straight up I felt like a tiny speck of sand looking at those drawings and I really want something I create one day to make someone feel that way. I really enjoyed hearing Bill talk about his photogrpahy, paired with his general tone of voice and way of speaking he made photography sound like therapy. Aside from when he was shooting constantly working for Forbes and stuff but the pictures where he takes long exposures of water flowing over rocks. That felt like therapy for sure. Tuan’s whole thing was really cool to me as well because he kind of just tries anything someone asks him to do. He talked about so many different things he’s done for people and things I thought it was really cool.

 

My five year plan is a little ridiculous but I’m gonna give it to you. Hopefully I will be graduating in spring of 2017. Until then I am planning on making a ton of mugs and ashtrays and anything I can think of, then I’m packing all of that stuff up with my puppies and we’re going to live all over the US in a VW bus for about a year- year and a half. In that time I plan on trying to meet artists all over the country, as well as WWOOFing so I can learn how to grow my own foods. I plan on selling my art at the local farmers markets wherever I am staying, and possibly find jobs interning with artists I meet on the road. When I get back I plan on really getting into sculpting big pieces, something I hope to learn while I am traveling, and hopefully at some point in there start really feeling happy with myself and my life. I was raised in a very loving but materialistic home, therefore I am not focused on making money for happiness, I am focused on making life and art for happiness.

VISU 1100 Blog Post #9

The first internship I found interesting was a party planner/ events coordinator with Art Alliance Austin

http://www.artallianceaustin.org/news/art-alliance-internship-program

 

The second one I found isn’t exactly an internship but it is experience as a personal assistant for an interior designer in austin. I have a strong interest in interior design.

https://austin.craigslist.org/med/5322437342.html

 

I also really wished I had been able to intern with EAST this year. School work had to come first but next year I will hopefully be able to intern!

http://artsciencegallery.com/internships/

VISU 1100 Blog post 10

The first image is a bottle drawing that we had to complete for drawing 1. This was taken in an unfinished stage but I enjoy works in progress. The second image is of two mugs I hand built at home out of medium-fire clay. I have a kiln at home so I built and fired all of this on my own. I used commercial glazes for both mugs. I wanted them to both really look hand made so I left visible imperfections.

recent work 2 Recent work 1

Visu 1110 Blog Post #12

Last week we got to hear from three art professors at St. Eds. First, we heard from one of the graphic design professors. I really enjoyed her presentation and was very intrigued by her project that she has been working on with her husband. I really want to be informed when that is finished and released!!

 

Second, we heard from the ceramics professor. I am a potter so I was incredibly obsessed with hearing her presentation. I loved that she airbrushed acrylic paints onto her ceramics instead of a traditional glazing. She gave me a ton of great ideas of how to push my pottery further.

 

Last, we heard from one of the photography professors. I love that he uses those giant cameras, the images that are produced are so fascinating. Just in general he seems like a really awesome dude I wish I could take a photography class on the side but I’m out of electives. He made me feel like I should move around and push things further. He also inspired me to look further into daily routines and habits people have and see them as art.

 

This class has been really fun and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing from the alumni and faculty. The visiting artists were also really engaging. Over all I think this is a really beneficial class, but I think that you guys need to really push people into taking it their first year. I found myself a little absent minded during some of the talks because I am so far ahead of some of the conversations. Aside from that I wish I had heard some of these things sooner in my art career because they’ve been super beneficial. I do think you guys should have us doing some fun art projects though.

Blog post 10 VISU1311

As I listened to Radiolab Beyond Time I thought about time in a way I had never thought of it before. I honestly preferred my perception of time more before I listened to this Radiolab than how I perceive it now. I found it incredibly interesting that an artist has decided to utilize time and the way the earth changes over time to do almost a collaborative piece with the earth over the next 3,500 years. I think it is insane that someone could work so hard to create something they will never get to see finished, but I suppose that’s the beauty of the situation. The old man that treats life as though he is living in the 1920’s was absolutely fascinating. I have always been a huge fan of the Charles Dickens time period and love participating in Dickens on the Strand in Galveston every year dressed up and pretending its the late 1800’s but to hear about this man who doesn’t even keep the plastic caps on his toothpaste to create authenticity baffles me.

I found the entire Radiolab quite fascinating, the physicists’ approach to time and parallel universes reminded me of Mr. Nobody. I have no idea how people who believe in the parallel universe concept of time and reality sleep soundly at night. Especially considering my recent breakup, if I try to think about the different parallel universes where I made different decisions than I have this far in my life I get majorly nauseas. I will say that this Radiolab has furthered me in my certainty of what I want to make my book project about. I am very excited to see where everything goes!

FYS VISU1100 Blog 6

SKILLS INVENTORY (copy and paste questions into your blog)
For each class ask yourself the following:

  1. My greatest strengths in American Dilemmas include: Reading every source on time and writing good journals.
  2. For greater success in this course, I need to: Definitely take more time to go do my volunteer work.
  3. My greatest strengths in Black Freedom Struggle include: Doing almost every reading on time and participating in discussions.
  4. For greater success in this course, I need to: Actually turn in my reading questions on time!
  1. My greatest strengths in Visual Studies include: Getting out of the box when doing my projects and not sticking to one thing too hard.
  1. For greater success in this course, I need to: Not be so nervous when working on the computer with photoshop and what not.
  1. My greatest strengths in Visual Studies FYS include: I did every one of the blog posts on time for like half of the semester!
  1. For greater success in this course, I need to: Get back on my roll that I had at the beginning of the semester and finish all of these blogs!
  1. My greatest strengths in drawing 1 include: How much progress I’ve made compared to how I drew in the beginning of the semester!
  1. For greater success in this course, I need to: Get over my anxiety and make it to class more often. I tend to wig out and have to work at home.

Computer skills:

  1. My computer skills include: Using word and I know how to make folders on my desktop
  2. I still need to learn: Almost everything especially photoshop, bridge, and lightroom.

Research & writing skills:

  1. My greatest strengths as a researcher/writer include: I can do some really awesome creative writing and I can usually make even research papers interesting.
  2. I need to work on these aspects of research and writing: I need ot figure out when to stop talking when I’m discussing a point or topic.
  3. I learn best & accomplish most when: I am able to listen to some good music and sit outside for doing almost everything but I can also learn in a classroom as long as I’m getting to do

ACTION PLAN

I am not doing so awesome in drawing.

I think I could do some more at home practice and get better.

I could practice my shading at home.

I need to get familiar with my graphite pencils

I need to practice my ovals

I’m going to do some more perspective drawings at home so I can get better

I need to start taking my sketchpad everywhere

I need to make a major attempt to not stop when I get scared

I need to practice using charcoal and conte stick

I need to refer back to the textbook when working on my drawings

I need to practice general shading techniques

I need to push myself further and stop giving up

Visu 1100 Blog Post 5

cube2 cube1

Goal of the assignment: Create a shaded cube with one light source in all prismacolor pencil. I reached this goal by creating a shaded cube with one light source in all prismacolor pencil.

Self Critique:

The strongest aspect of this work I believe is the dark value of the cast shadow. The weakest aspect is the actual shape of the cube itself. It seems as though the dimensions are totally off. The composition could be improved by a stronger shading of the side of the cube out of direct light. I am really nervous about doing something too dark and not being able to go back. There isn’t really anything I can do about how conceptually lacking a cube drawing is. There is a lot that could be strengthened in the technique of creating this cube. I have never taken a drawing class so I have a lot to learn but I’m pretty certain there has got to be a way to create a cube with better dimensions and stronger shading aside from the cast shadow. I tend to draw the lines too dark in pencil and they show through my prismacolor. I am still pretty proud of myself for my cube drawing because it was incredibly hard for me in the first couple of weeks to draw even a straight line and now I’m actually able to see some progress in my drawing ability!

Blog Post 4 visu1110

The upperclassmen presentations were awesome but also heartbreaking to watch. I am supposed to be a senior this year but I happen to be running about two years behind because I transferred and couldn’t choose a major.
What I thoroughly enjoyed about watching the seniors and juniors speak about their experiences is that I realized I have this awesome opportunity to continue being a student and do that to the fullest, because the past four years I’ve kind of just been sliding by and doing some stuff out of class but for the most part I’ve been focused on getting my undergraduates out of the way so I’ve only taken a handful of studio classes. I feel like I got lucky on that front because the seniors took years to figure out that they should be doing a bunch of work outside of class and while I’ve taken just as many years I still have a couple of years to live out to the fullest extent and be using what I learn in my classes to further push my work outside of school. I am excited that I have been inspired to work on some personal things at home. I had hit somewhat of an inspiration block for awhile, pissed that I am still in school. But after hearing these students speak I am inspired and revved up and have been pushing out more personal artworks than I have in a very long time. I’ve even been experimenting with using my “trash” as stuff that can be turned into art. The whole thing has been very exciting and has really given me a new outlook to the remanding years I have as an art major.
My favorite part of every one of the presentations was their urge for us to work at home. They all encouraged each of us to find our own personal style and voice, which I love. The studio art girls gave us the push to try new mediums, the graphic design people urged us to find a voice. The photography students explained how important it can be to find an opportunity to intern somewhere. Juliana showed us that we all have the ability to do something awesome, like starting a gallery with a handful of friends. All in all the upperclassmen were great to hear from. I can’t wait to see where their suggestions take me.

 

4 websites that I find compelling are

Food 52- I love that this website is supposed to be for fancy recipes and expensive serving utensils but still has a really nice aesthetic component to it. I love that the thumbnails are right justified when you’re scrolling through recipes and the text is pleasing to my eyes.

 

Free People- Free People ALWAYS has something awesome going on on their website. Not to mention I am ridiculously addicted to the clothing, in general I love the set up of this website. I met a girl at a bar who does graphic design for free people and I definitely started noticing just how artistic the website is after meeting her.

 

The third website that I really enjoy that I am not quite sure counts here but one of my friends is an awesome photographer and I am addicted to his flickr. Mattpaladinophoto has ridiculously cool pictures and gives you a sense of adventure.

 

My final website is badassoutdoors.com which unfortunately is down for repairs right now but I really enjoy it because aside from having amazing pictures it also contains a bunch of important outdoorsman information and tips! I really like that they obviously have a graphic designer working for them. So many websites try to just figure it out themselves instead of hiring someone and they look AWFUL.