Overdue Update: Photoshop

Project:     Self Portrait
Skills Used:    Layers, Hue/Saturation, Free Transform, Magnetic Lasso, Artistic Elements

The text used is from e. e. cummings' anyone lived in a pretty how town.
The flower background is from Neeta Madahar's  Cosmoses 2005-2007 series.

Project:    Digital Landscape based on a fantasy/nightmare drawing inspiration from a landscape artist
Artist Inspiration:   Ansel Adams
Skills Used:   Dodge/Burn, Hue/Saturation, Opacity, Clone, Layers

Project:   Advertisement Remix

In class project completed with Skye M.
Skills Used:    Hue/Saturation, Curves, Layers, Dodge/Burn, Crop, Paint, Artistic Elements

Welcome to the new season

Asbury Park Boardwalk: Asbury Park, NJ

For the past two summers I have gone to the boardwalk in Asbury Park, NJ. The Asbury Park boardwalk was founded in the late 1800's and hosts the music club The Stone Pony, known for their past local performers Jon Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen.

The boardwalk is currently undergoing a revitalization which can be seen in the opening of artist studios and workshops right on the boardwalk, and the addition of new boutique shops and cafes. While there I visited the local glassblowing workshop, Hot Sand, and La Placa Pottery. Both locations had artists working and answering questions about their studio, and also displayed some of their art inspired by the beach and shoreline.

Below are some photos that I took of the buildings on the boardwalk and their new Asbury Splash Park, a children's play space that was inspired by the garden.









For more information please visit: Asbury Park Boardwalk

Jeff Koons Art:21

Jeff Koons was born in 1955 in York, Pennsylvania. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and received a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore (1976), and honorary doctorates from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2008) and Corcoran College of Art + Design, Washington, D.C. (2002). Koons plucks images and objects from popular culture, framing questions about taste and pleasure. His contextual sleight-of-hand, which transforms banal items into sumptuous icons, takes on a psychological dimension through dramatic shifts in scale, spectacularly engineered surfaces, and subliminal allegories of animals, humans, and anthropomorphized objects. The subject of art history is a constant undercurrent, whether Koons elevates kitsch to the level of Classical art, produces photos in the manner of Baroque paintings, or develops public works that borrow techniques and elements of seventeenth-century French garden design. Organizing his own studio production in a manner that rivals a Renaissance workshop, Koons makes computer-assisted, handcrafted works that communicate through their meticulous attention to detail. Among the awards he has received are Officier of the French Legion of Honor (2007); the Artistic Achievement Award from Americans for the Arts (2006); and the Skowhegan Medal for Sculpture (2002). Recent major exhibitions have appeared at Château de Versailles, France (2008); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2008); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2008); Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin (2008); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2006); the Guggenheim Museum, New York (2002), and other institutions. Koons has participated in the Bienal de São Paulo (2002); Venice Biennale (1990, 1997); Sydney Biennale (1990); and the Whitney Biennial (1987, 1989). He was elected as a Fellow to the American Academy for Arts and Sciences in 2005. Jeff Koons lives and works in New York.


Art:21 Jeff Koons Biography

Jumpstart for Young Children

During my fours years at Simmons College I was a Corpsmember with Jumpstart for Young Children at the Colleges of the Fenway. Jumpstart is an AmeriCorps organization that pairs college-age students in a one-on-one collaborative relationship with a preschool child that needs the extra help to succeed in school. Their curriculum is developed to allow each child complete control over their activities in the Jumpstart classroom and are engaged in meaningful conversations with an adult to help them expand their language and literacy skills. The Jumpstart curriculum creates an active learning environment where children and are given the freedom to develop their own learning.

My first year as a Corpsmember I worked one-on-one with a four year old child at the ABCD Jamaica Plain Head Start. My partner child and I went on expeditions around the classroom chasing monsters and going on treasure hunts with other children in the classroom. We documented our experiences in our journals and personal storybooks that I put together in a portfolio that I then gave to her at the end of the school year at our Jumpstart graduation ceremony. We spent over 300 hours together in a creative learning environment that taught both of us valuable life skills.

The joy of my first year working with my partner child led me to become the Volunteer Coordinator for the Jumpstart program for the next three years. As a Volunteer Coordinator I was able to collaborate with outside arts organization and community members to give the children and the preschool more opportunities to learn through open-ended activities and conversations. The following slideshow depicts some of our events including my work with the Boston University Children's Theatre, the Scott/Ross Center for Community Service and other outside volunteer organizations.

Contemporary Art Project

My senior year of college I enrolled in a history of contemporary art course. My final project for the class was to create a museum exhibit that drew together central themes from my coursework and mirrored the work of curators in the field. My exhibit was to be designed with a specific space in mind and a central theme. This project required me to create a visual representation of my exhibit in a digital environment and draw together the concepts I had studied in class throughout the semester in a final paper.

This project had a strong impact on me as a student. Throughout the semester I had been visiting and documenting exhibits from around the Boston area through class journals and online discussion boards. My final project utilized my new knowledge base and allowed me to create something that was uniquely mine. I brought together an exhibit of artists that shared concepts of whimsy and social satire in their creation of new realities, which I then associated with themes from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures  in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871). 

My final project is an example of the ways in which arts and technology can be implemented through project-based learning. 

Takashi Murakami, Japan
black and white, 2006
Set of 300
Lithograph, offset
19.8x19.7 in (50 x 50 cm)

Takashi Murakami’s “jellyfish eyes” are a trademark of his work. Their presence in the Kaka Kiki Co.’s collaborative work with Louis Vuitton has led to a closer connection between the high-fashion industry and the art world.

         

Takashi Murakami, Japan
If only I could do this, if only I could do that, 2006
Lithograph, offset
20 x 20 in


If only I could do this.. is a glimpse into the fantasy world that Takashi Murakami has created. His characters, Kaikai and KiKi are flying over their fantasy world. In many of Murakami’s work he works with sequences of flight and travels into another reality.

Takashi Murakami, Japan
And Then (Hello), 2006
Set of 300
Lithograph on paper
19.6 x 19.6 in (49.8 x 49.8 cm)


And Then (Hello) features Takashi Murakami’s character, Mr. DOB, which in Japanese means “why?”, showing Murakami’s interest in existentialism. Mr. DOB’s mass production is attributed to his appeal to the general public. In Japan, Mr. DOB is categorized by the Japanese term kawaii, meaning “being cute”. Takashi Murakami’s Mr. DOB is a signature image, sometimes referred to as Murakami’s self-portrait. 

(Hopkins, 2001, p.1)






Takashi Murakami, Japan
Flower the Creatures from Planet 66, 2004
Set of 50

Lithograph
11.1 x 31.5 in (28.1 x 80 cm)

According to Takashi Murakami, “The subject matter of my art, it is like Cezanne painting Mont Ste. Victoire – I am surrounded by cute images and figures from cartoons and comic books, and so that is what I paint (Hopkins, 2001, p. 1).” Present in Murakami’s work is his emphasis on his character’s looking out at the viewer and issuing them a welcome into his new reality.

Damien Hirst, England
Lycergic Acid Diethylamide, LSD, 2000
Set of 300
Lambda Print on Glossy Fuji Archive Paper
41.9 x 50 in (106.5 x 127 cm)


LSD is one of a wide collection of Hirst’s Spot paintings. Each painting has pharmaceutical chemical titles whose compounds and ingredients are translated into Damien Hirst’s dot coding. Over 500 pharmaceutical chemicals have been coded using Hirst’s method placing the substances that society uses in their everyday life within a new dimension. 


(Thomton, 2005, p. 1)

Damien Hirst, England
Beautiful, Galactic, Exploding Screenprint, 2001
Set of 500
Screenprint on paper
40 x 40 in (101.6 x 101.6 cm)

Damien Hirst’s Spin paintings are done using a machine that disperses paint steadily on a spinning canvas. Each canvas is unique in its design and color, allowing for the creation of new realities.


(Thomton, 2005, p. 1)

Damien Hirst, England
All You Need is Love, 2006
Butterflies and household gloss paint on canvas
84 ¼ x 84 ¼ in (214 x 214 cm)


All You Need is Love was created for Project (Red) an organization dedicated to providing funding for HIV/AIDS research and humanitarian efforts in Africa. Founded by Bono, from the band U2, and Bobby Shriver, Chairman of DATA, Project (Red) auctioned off Hirst and other gathered artists’ works in order to help this worthy cause.

Liza Lou, American
Tiara, 2006
Cast resin and quartz crystals
Set of 8
2 ½ x 7 x 6 in (6.4 x 17.8 x 15.2 cm)

Liza Lou’s Tiara is from her most recent work discussing the vulnerability of individuals to symbols of confinement. In Tiara, Lou tackles the concept of power and social structure within our society through an idolized symbol of assumed power and superiority. 


(http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=14)

Liza Lou, American
Windex, 1996
Colored beads on plaster
11.2 x 5 x 2.8 in (28.5 x 12.7 x 7 cm)


When I discovered beads, it was like walking into an incredible paint store. It was one of those moments. To this day, I don’t consider myself any good at working with beads; it’s just that I have a vision for them. – Liza Lou 


(Castro, 2003, p. 1)

Liza Lou, American
Backyard, 1995-1999
Mixed media with beads
525 square feet

Liza Lou’s biggest beaded sculpture to date, Backyard employed the efforts of community members and volunteers in the creation of this large-scale sculpture. The large amount of time that is put into each of Lou’s sculptures, works to ask the questions, What is labor? What is thankless labor? What is acknowledged labor? 


(Dominus, 1999, p. 1)



References:

Castro, J. (2003). American history is not what it appears to be: a conversation with liza lou. Sculpture (Washington D.C.), v. 22 no. 4 May 2003, Retrieved May 3, 2008, from Wilson Web.

  

Dominus, S. (1999). The way we live now: 7-11-99: questions for liza lou; the venerable bead. The New York Times, July 11.1999. Retrieved May 4, 2008, from http://query. nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E6DC1E3DF932A25754C0A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1.

Hopkins, R. (2001). Shiny, happy mushrooms: takashi murakami brings Tokyo cool to the mfa. The Boston Phoenix, May 17-24, 2001, Retrieved May 3, 2008, from http://thebostonphoenix.com/boston/arts/art/documents/01629574.htm.

Thomton, S. (2005). Damien hirst. Art Review (London, England) 3 no 11 November/December 2005, Retrieved May 3, 2008, from Wilson Web.

Cambridge Arts Festival, Summer 2010

Starry Night,  Carolyn Swanhall, 2010

Sidewalk Art, Carolyn Swanhall, 2010

The Music Man, Carolyn Swanhall, 2010