Part 1.
The six presenters in our seminar last week had a lot of positive and encouraging tips for the students coming into the St. Edward’s art department. The first two presenters, as Fine Arts majors, both placed emphasis on going to see as much art and exhibits as possible during our time as a student because we have resources and opportunities that our teachers and faculty make us aware of. Rachel, the first student speaker made a point that has been prevalent already in my first few weeks in college, about the time and consideration art takes. In this short period of time, I have discovered the truth of this statement because the time I spent working on projects is directly related to the quality of my work, and my professors will be able to judge how much effort I put into what I made. The two main pieces of advice I decided to take from these two students presentations is to be looking at artists online and also to be developing the concepts I would like to develop over the four years that I am a student here. Caelin put a lot of emphasis on thinking about the conceptual aspects of the art I make inside and outside of class.
The two Graphic Design majors, Shelby and Paul, talked mostly about developing portfolio work and making connections by attending extra-curricular events. I liked how Shelby encouraged is to find our passions. Often, we get caught up in the work required of us and only focusing on fulfilling our assignments, when we need to be paying attention to the mediums and concepts that interest us and keep us hungry to make work. Paul’s presentation focused more on making connections because networking and making yourself known in situations usually results in more success. I realized that I should be constantly producing work so that my skills and ideas develop and I can explore my motivations for creating on a more personal level.
Christin and Juliana also encouraged us to be creating outside work. Christin advised that we utilize professors and juice them of all the information and advice we can while we have them as a resource. She also said it is helpful to utilize a sketchbook and reference our drawings and recordings when we need inspiration for other art work. Juliana made it a point to say that craftsmanship matters and that we should pay attention to details. Eventually, being considerate of the details that show forth effort and careful crafting of work will become natural and will be part of our muscle memory through practice. I took away from their talk that I should look forward to critiques and not fear them because critique is important for improving the quality of my work and will only make me a better artist.
Part 2
The color clock is a hexadecimal clock that changes color every second of the day and converts each RGB value into hexadecimal numbers ranging from 0 to 235959. I find this website very intriguing because it encompasses various dimensions by assigning a visual quality to a method of measuring time. The slight color difference in between seconds truly shows how many seconds go by without us thinking about them, and assigning a value to each one seems to make them mean something other than a very minuscule unit that measures our every day lives.
Soundcloud is a website that lets people all over the world share their original music as well as use music from other profiles to create playlists. Listening to my friends’ original music and other musical artists on soundcloud has compelled me to write music and experience the sounds being created and posted from around the globe. I have listened to various artist podcasts that have been particularly intriguing and inspiring, as well as shared music and use my personal artwork for the cover photos in my profile and on my feed of music. Having access to a large playlists and artists is very helpful for someone who likes creating and places a large emphasis on music to inspire creativity.
http://crumpledbelle.loveliftstheload.com
Crumpled Belle is my mom’s blog that was part of a website my family had while living and traveling on a school bus. I find inspiration and recover memories from our family experiences and my mothers words about her point of view. The text accompanied by pictures, art, and videos, reminds me of where I come from and forces me to make connections with my past. Through sifting through my mother’s recordings of thoughts and feelings, I am reminded that I have an archive of information within myself to use in creating meaningful work.
http://www.ravenandlily.com/blog/why-we-produce-with-artisans-and-not-factories/
Raven and Lily is a company that makes clothing and accessories that does not mass produce in factories, but teaches women who are in unfortunate positions around the world the manufacturing skills necessary produce handmade items and make a living for themselves. The company offers health care, education for both women and children, as well as an overall nurturing and caring community. Raven and Lily focuses on including the uniqueness of each woman’s culture into the articles they produce. Their products are diverse and are made to be sustainable so that their legacy and individual value lasts for years.