PART 1: Faculty Presentation Responses

Hollis Hammond: I thought the work was very original and creative. It all followed this really intriguing theme of clutter that isn’t necessarily trash, and a kind of order in disorder. I loved that every piece contributed to that main theme. The idea itself seemed a little odd, but there seems to be beauty in chaos and it was all captured and illustrated somehow.

Alexandra Robinson: My personal favorite was the piece that had a beach and sand on one side, and on the other was cold and an oncoming storm. I feel like the installation pieces followed a theme since they used the same kind of materials (plastic, flowy bags) but I didn’t quite understand what it was. The drawings were also similarly bare, capturing very simplistic ideas and portraying them in a very minimalistic manner. I didn’t quite understand any piece without initial explanation of its inspiration, like the painting based on the chart of the house market that was tragically beautiful.

Tammie Rubin: I love 3D pieces that are textured, but she made sure that every texture varied and was important in its own way. Textures that were pleasant and enticing with colors, delicately made ceramics, it was almost like experiencing the pieces with more than just one sense. It made me wonder what it would taste like, feel like, etc. I’d feel weird but she said that was what she wanted viewers to feel. Her last piece was one I remembered the most. She made multiple cone-like shapes with eyeholes and decorated them. On their own, each was unique and even cute, but all together they resembled the faceless hateful masses of the KKK, or something ominous and foreboding that made me uncomfortable.

Bill Kennedy: I really wonder how he managed to manipulate each photo like that. He did say that there’s no way he can replicate what he’s done on each photo, but it’d be nice if he recorded himself doing so. It was all an interesting approach to photography. Each piece captured the feeling of what it was taken of, rather than capturing how exactly it looked visually. The titles were what helped the most.

Joe Vitone: I felt a lot of emotion in his photographs, as if they were part of history and how honest they depicted a slice of life in the country. I wish he spoke more about them.. his demeanor seemed cynical and a little harsh, his descriptions of each photo were very shallow. I felt like I wanted more words to describe the photos, but I feel like I experience more from them than he ever felt when he captured them.

A Five Year Plan (i guess)

First thing’s first, I want to graduate from here. I want to be fluent in French and at least three different programming languages. I plan to have a few internships so that my name would be better known and easier to get hired into a video game company. At least one or two years would be trying to get myself into Bioware Austin as a QA Tester or literally anything that my capabilities can cover efficiently. From there, I’ll be able to start saving up money.
Just for the plan’s sake, I’ll probably be trying to get into the company as a QA tester to begin with. Being trustworthy, reliable, and with useful feedback I hope to work my way up until I get to positions I’d actually want.. right now I’m not quite sure what that is yet. But I know I want to work at Bioware.
Another thing is I’d like to be working on my own personal project, using everything I’ve learned in university to apply to my own video game. It probably won’t be taken up by a company, but that’s okay with me. I need to be working on something personal while working for a company. Maybe it’s about self expression, but if the work I provide for the company isn’t enough for me to express my creativity, I’ll probably have something else at home.
I hope to be transferred to their main location in Edmonton. And, after a few years of working my way up and providing quality results, I want to be an important part of future video game projects. Maybe like a director, but someone in charge of approving and calling something in that my opinion is valued and respected and contributes.
But then again, it’s still a question of whether or not it’s all possible in five years. This is as close to a plan as I can manage, but, it is something.