Shelby Charette

November 11, 2015

Part 1:

Tuan was the first to present, and looking at his work, it was very modern and new age; he used bold lines and vivid color in his work. His work was mainly for packaging and gifts, but the designs he made were spectacular in composition.

Hollis was the second to present. Her work used more linear and black lines, usually very dark drawings. Her work focuses around a main idea, which was natural disasters. It was interesting seeing Hollis’ thoughts and views of natural disasters.

Bill was the last to present, and he showed his transition from one idea to the next. His idea of taking pictures of water or extended periods of time was magnificent, and the photos came out really beatiful. I like how he went from such literal photographs, kind of like documentary photographs and went all the way through to this really abstract and unusual photography style where he took his photos apart and making them into something unique.

Part 2:

Year 1- I will begin working at a small design firm, to get my feet in the water. Also will be creating a lot of work on the side.

Year 2- I will be trying to climb up the ladder, I will keep learning about the tools, and software.

Year 3- I will become well acquainted with the business and how it is run, and I will have become very familiar and very good at vitalizing my tools and software.

Year 4- I will have had promotions, upgrade to more challenges and more of a work load.

Year 5- I will be comfortable with where I am in my career, although I will never stop trying to improve my abilities and keep trying to get better until I’m recognized and hopefully will keep working my way up the ladder to a more prestigious position.

Shelby  Charette

November 8, 2015

When watching the movie Momento, one cannot help but feel confused. The movie is a very different way of looking at a murder story, if it can even fully be considered one. I believe the movie should be categorized as a crime, mystery, or drama mainly. The film being shot backwards made a very big difference on how we viewed the movie as a whole. I had never really seen a movie such as this one, but the more one watches the movie, the more the story builds, which I find interesting because usually movies tend to have more of the information or backstory in the beginning but the very last few scenes contained the most backstory.

The director used the film sequence to his advantage because throughout the entire film, not only was the character, Leonard, always finding new information and being confused, but also he made the audience feel the same way. It made me feel as if I could in fact be Leonard, or relate strongly to his confusion. The director used this movies unique format to create a connection between the audience and the main character.

Below are three of my recent finished works. Two of them are created using photoshop, and one is made my hand. The one called “Lucidity,” and the other one called “Portrait, Milla,” are the two made on computer. I wanted to create a sort of dream-like state in “Lucidity,” in which I used all photographs of mine to create the effects and alter them to create a dream land for my subject, who was a cashier for a store I was in. The one called “Portrait, Milla,” I wanted to take and manipulate in order to make it outrageous, yet beautiful. The picture, when I took it, was simply a white background with my subject standing facing me, while I took the picture. I wanted to make something so simple into something extravagant using other photographs of mine along with found objects from South Congress that I scanned.  The final one, “Associate,” was crafted by hand. I took 4 different photographs that I believed went together in a way, then I printed two copies of each, and cut various shapes from them, then I placed them on a scanner, and scanned the objects all together. Then I printed them on 17 in. by 22 in. paper and cut out the object.

This is the final collage I created. I used 2 copies of 4 different photographs, and cut them all into circles and other various shapes. I then arranged them on a scanner and was able to print it out, making it approximately 17 inches by 22 inches.

Part 1-

Lynne Bowman Cravens

During Lynne’s presentation, we were able to see her growth from her work in the beginning to her work now and her artistic progress throughout the years. Her photographs started out being mostly photographs of the things around her, and began to morph into more abstract pieces, although the whole time her work had an underlying purpose and important message she was trying to convey. She showed the importance of experimentation and the process all artists undergo in order to develop into the mature artists they are.

 

Miranda Petrosky

Miranda’s presentation was extremely informative over design. She went through all types of design positions and their jobs, different  types of designs, and the industries they fall into. She allowed graphic students to be able to see the diversity in the field and that we are not limited to one job.

 

Dustin Meyer

Dustin had a completely different career plan than what he ended up with. He talked about the process of changing majors, and the process of trial and error. Ultimately, he provided extremely helpful information for photography students.

Part 2-

http://www.internships.com/graphic-design/Graphic-Designer-I9989357

http://www.internships.com/graphic-design/Austin-Youth-Film-Festival-Graphic-Design-Internship

http://www.internships.com/graphic-design/Graphic-Design-Internship-St-Elmos-Fire

I took one photo I shot from congress that was not particularly interesting, and cut and combined the shapes in order to make the photo more exciting to look at. I made this one by hand, and scanned it, although the texture is better understood in person.

I crafted this piece by hand, and used a photo of a window surrounded by foliage and cut the windows out, then I layered another photograph behind it. Also I added some black and white foliage photographs to the corners.

Before hand, the photo was very colorless, and despite being a very visually appealing photo, it lacked character. I used different colored layers in photoshop in order to subtract and add shapes to the photo.

The photo is a portrait of one of my friends. I used scans of a page of a book, and things I found on South Congress, along with a photo of foliage and some colorful stones in order to create this image. The paper in the background makes the image seem as if it is textured, yet it is printed on normal matte paper.

Below is a photograph I took of a woman in a store. I caught her in mid-thought and used photoshop to include several other parts of images to create a sort of daydream-like state.

Shelby Charette

Visual Studies Seminar

Hammonds

October 25, 2015

Feldman Critique Over Father Martin Nguyen’s Exhibit

When looking at Nguyen’s artwork, one cannot help but be overwhelmed by the many faces staring back. His exhibit consisted of numerous close up pictures of faces only consisting of the head and hair, including nothing underneath the chin. They are posted in organized rows and columns, with a thin, white, subtle square around each portrait. Nguyen is trying to convey time using the faces in his work. In his language, there is no concept of time. There is no past, present, or future tense, therefore, time intrigues him and the use of faces shows an organic concept of time.

Their artwork is astoundingly bold in the visual sense. The background consists of a plain color scheme, including mainly a drab white or cream color, although contrast greatly against the faces, which are in color, and it contrasts,  making the faces stand out very rigidly against the modest background. The narrow and symmetrical columns and rows make the work all together more striking. His use of the rows could be seen as a suggestion of grouping, seeing parts instead of a whole, although that is up to the viewers interpretation. Altogether, his work is centered on balance, symmetry, and unity as a whole.

During my exploration in Nguyen’s work, I was enthralled and fascinated by his interpretation of time. He took a concept so over-looked by our society, and made it into a very subjective idea. It makes the viewer think about how precious and ultimately essential it is to our society. It controls our everyday lives, yet we think nothing of it.

When I looked at the piece, I ended up comparing it to the universe. The artwork made me feel very small and insignificant, as if my time on earth is nothing but a mere second in the span of the universe. It made me feel somewhat isolated and alone, as if I was the only one looking at his work, as if everyone in the room just disappeared. Throughout my viewing of the piece, I was bombarded with mixed emotions, such as peace, isolation, insecurity, and insignificance. Ultimately, it made me question the notion of time and how I view life all together.

The work itself is marvelous, although I would not go to such lengths as to hang it in my home. The work is more of a modern art statement, rather than a more reserved and pleasant to view piece of art that is made merely for aesthetic appeal. This kind of work in particular belongs in a large gallery, for many people to see and enjoy in a more contemplating and next-level type of thinking way.

Within the first glimpse of his work, I thought it was somewhat over-rated, and that his work was not all that impressive. Although, having some context of the overall idea behind the work proved to be very beneficial to me and ended up elucidating the idea of the material for me. Nguyen takes the complicated idea of time, and morphs it into a way for almost all people to comprehend. In my opinion, he successfully and exquisitely conveys his ideas through his medium. He created a simple, yet complex piece of art that enthralls all who views it.

He used an under-rated topic and made it into something grand, which is something not all people, or even some artists, can do. Most artists take a large idea, such as political issues, or history, and uses that to make art, and all he does is take the minuscule and broad topic of time, that not any person even ever contemplates, and creates a work of art that has a way of enthralling, engulfing, and crawling into the thoughts of every viewer, and plants the seed of thought and ultimately leads to the introspection and thought evolution of the viewer. The piece itself is very thought provoking.

To me, this is what art should consist of. Art should consist of theory, contemplation, understanding, complexity, simplicity, and many other elements that combine and conform together into one thought provoking statement. Art is a statement, and yes it can be used for large issues or statements, but what happens to the small ideas left behind, with nobody to question it? It becomes forgotten, and no longer seen as relevant. That is why I believe Nguyen’s piece was exemplary, because he took the most elementary topic, and made it into a large statement worth contemplating.

Shelby Charette

VISU1100-01

Hammonds

1. I related most to Alex Roca. He is a graphic designer and so am I, also he has a wide arrange of styles like I do.

2. Nick Swift surprised me, solely because he did not really go too much into his major. He took something relating to his major and applied it to a larger and more broad idea.

3. The best advise I heard was either to use St. Edward’s resources to the fullest ability, or to not wait for someone to tell you to make something.

After finishing my project and going through the entire presentation process over the critiques, I realized I spent too much time on trying to capture the Gestalt principles in my images, rather than taking images and applying principles to those images. When taking pictures, I tried finding examples of images that would reflect continuity and repetition, and my photos ended up not being the best, but I felt like they did look better in a group, and some definitely stood out more. I feel like I took the project a little too literal though, and after watching the presentations of my classmates, I realized that was not the objective for our project. Overall, I took the project from a more literal perspective instead of a creative perspective, and could have done a lot better if I knew to be more creative with it. I learned to not take it so seriously, and to have fun with my projects while also trying to complete the assignment. Altogether, the critique helped me somewhat break out of my comfort zone, and let me explore and try new things with my projects. At first I was afraid to be critiqued because I have never had someone look at my work before and tell me where I needed work, but critiques are there to help us grow, improve our work, and learn from our mistakes and I feel as if the critique was very helpful to me and helped guide me to where I should be heading.

VISUAL STUDIES I:

1.My greatest strengths in Visual Studies includes my creativity, my sense of perspective, and my desire to try new things.

2.For greater success in this course, I need think more outside the box and not take my assignments so literally.

Computer skills- Includes photoshop, illustrator, bridge, and lightroom.

I still need to learn- more about the applications I use now, and more adobe products.

Research and writing skills-

1. My greatest strengths as a researcher/writer includes: my understanding of the reflections and critiques I must write, and researching of important artists and their work.

2. I need to work on my length of my reflections I write and clarifying my ideas more.

3. I learn best and accomplish most when my class is hands on and when I can use my computer in my class for my adobe related programs.

DRAWING I:

1. My greatest strength in drawing is my ability to learn fast and explore my creativity.

2. For greater success in this course, I need to practice a lot more.

Computer skills- Includes mesh mixer (the only program we learned to do an assignment)

I still need to learn… not much because computers are not really vital to this class.

Research and writing skills-

1. My greatest strengths as a researcher/writer includes: writing critically about my work and the work of others.

2.I need to work on not being so attached to my work and allow criticism.

3.I learn best and accomplish most when I have a lot of time in class to work on projects.

COLLEGE ALGEBRA I:

1. My greatest strengths in algebra includes nothing.

2.For greater success in this course I need to work harder, go to tutoring, and ask more questions.

Computer skills-

My class requires a lot of use on the computer, and some problems I have to adapt my answer to fit the criteria they’re looking for.

I still need to learn to do my homework in advance so I can get more points.

Research and writing skills- This class does not include virtually any writing.

VISUAL STUDIES SEMINAR

1. My greatest strength is my ability to learn while listening, instead of note taking.

2. For greater success in this course I need to engage more in discussion.

Computer skills- Most of my art is based through technology so I have a lot of experience with that.

I still need to learn more about the software.

Research and writing skills-

My greatest strengths as a writer/researcher includes being able to learn to critique my own work as well as others.

I learn best and accomplish most when my classes are more engaging in lecture discussions, rather than just a lecture.

RHETORIC AND COMPOSITION I:

My greatest strengths include being able to portray my ideas clearly.

For greater success in this course I need to work on my conclusions.

Computer skills- Use research and citations effectively in my papers.

Research and writing skills-

My greatest strength as a writer/researcher includes being able to construct my ideas clearly and use my research to my advantage.

I need to improve my conclusions.

I learn best when my professor critiques my work and helps me learn what I need to fix.

THE SIXTIES:

My greatest strengths includes being able to take thorough notes and retain information.

For greater success in this course I need to work on my test taking skills.

Computer skills- This class does not include computer use, in fact it is strictly prohibited.

Research and writing skills-

My greatest strength as a writer/researcher includes being able to construct essays during my tests and include historical context.

10 WAYS TO SUCCEED IN COLLEGE ALGEBRA:

1. Go to any and all study sessions.

2. Create study groups.

3. Look over my notes after each class.

4. Ask questions during lecture.

5. Go to tutoring as much as possible.

6. Ask other people in my classes for their notes incase I missed something in lecture.

7. Study hard before a test.

8. Go to teacher’s work hours.

9. Be fully awake during all lectures.

10. Make sure I’ve eaten before class.