Week 15- Artist Conversation- Hyeri Kim

     Kim’s art exhibit entitled, “His Extravagant Proposal,” was elegantly put together to display an ideal that is one to seriously contemplate about. Kim is relating the love between a man and a woman’s marriage with the love that is God. The promise that a man gives to his lover is seen as the same promise God gives to us, love unconditionally. Kim’s art attempts to compose these elements of love in her art by representing it with jewelry one might see at a wedding. The one piece of her exhibit I admired most was the ‘Vintage Wine: Necklace’ which was presented on a rather vintage and beautiful dress. At first I thought the dress was the art, until I looked at the paper detailing the art and saw the necklace. The necklace was very well designed and looked like the perfect piece that would present powerful and unconditional love. Delicate and elegant were the words that Kim used to describe her art and the way love that she was portraying is. I thought these words were perfect for the art that Kim created and represent the overall theme of the art Kim had in mind when putting together this exhibit. I loved Kim’s art and how it relates love between a man and a woman and the love of God. It truly is something special to look at and see the wonders that humans can do once they put their minds and hearts to something.

Week 15- Classmate Conversation- Kevin Cordova

http://kevinlcordova.com/

I enjoyed talking to Kevin in the art galleries about numerous things. He is a freshman here at Cal State Long Beach and is currently pursuing a major in anthropology studies. He commented on how it’s pretty difficult so far but he is determined to accomplish his goals. Kevin doesn’t dorm on campus, but rather commutes from Lakewood which is not too far from the school. Right now Kevin is not in any clubs, but is looking for and wanting a job to earn some money. I talked to Kevin about his interests and he said he likes to write. Writing has always been one of my hobbies as I like to write stories set up to be screenplays for movies. He also likes classical music and composers over the traditional pop and rap music most people listen to these days. His favorite movie is Guardians of the Galaxy, which I too find to be awesome and funny. Overall, Kevin said that he enjoys cal state Long Beach and that its nice, beautiful, and quiet. I agree with him there and hope to be seeing Kevin more often around campus as we go on trying to graduate with an awesome college degree. I hope to talk to Kevin about movies more as we both have a passion for them and writing stories for them. Kevin is awesome!

Week 13- Artist Convo- Chase Wolcott

     This piece by Wolcott entitled, “Three-Legged Seagull” was the most eye catching to me in the art gallery. This piece was one of the many in the gallery formed of a collab of artists. This painting on canvas looks like a lazy day on the beach, but with really interesting creatures laying around with the humans. This image is very good and although the texture of it looks to be smeared, ultimately it is very detailed and looks great. The artist wanted to use a contemporary style to look and visualize a rather uncommon day at the beach. This was my favorite painting, because the colors and details to it really make it look great. I’m glad I got to see this piece in the art gallery this week.

Week 13- Classmate Conversation- Abdul Algasim

http://abdulalgasim.com/

     I met Abdul towards the end of my Art 110 class and had a great conversation with him about a numerous of things. Abdul is from Saudi Arabia and is a Freshman here at Cal State Long Beach. Abdul is 20 years old and came has only been in the United States since January of last year. He visited the states before he moved here and says he loves the United States and it’s been really awesome for him. He told me how he played soccer in high school and we talked about how the each of us played it and how most Americans he knows really doesn’t play soccer. Right now, Abdul lives in Long Beach and is not dorming although being a freshman. He is a pre-mechanical engineer major and commented on how those classes are pretty tough when considering things. He likes to swim, chill, and hiking in his free time. Abdul said that out of all the art he likes paintings and sketches. He’s not deeply infatuated with art but does like certain kinds. Abdul was fun to talk to and I’m glad I ran into him before the end of art class. I hope to see Abdul around art more before the end of the semester. He is a very chill and cool guy to talk to.

Week 12- Teach One Activity- “How To Draw Mike Wazowski” by Parker Mandujano

For this week’s project I wanted to teach the only good thing I can possibly do. I’m not the most artistic person, so teaching how to draw my favorite character, Mike Wazowski (from Pixar’s Monsters Inc) is the best possible thing to do. I’ll document a step by step process of how to draw the loveable one-eyed creature now.

STEP 1: Firstly, start by drawing a circle shape for his body and put two lines to start his legs. But a 3D cross in the circle to get the dimensions of his eye right for the later step.

STEP 2: Next, create a darker shade around the body and take some lines out on the side for arms.

STEP 3: The third step is to draw his arms out of the open spots that you darkly shaded on his side.

Step 4: Draw his eye on the center of the 3D cross and add an eyelid. Also, make his mouth by making it half of a cylinder.

STEP 5: Add teeth in his mouth by squiggling lines. Put a tongue on him and make his pupil in the eye within a newly drawn circle.

STEP 6: Using the thin lines, make his legs and add his feet with little toe nails to finish him off.

LAST STEP: Finally, what I did was outline the entire drawing with a pen to make it pop more and look slicker. This is up to you to do, but it’s a good option!

And that’s how you draw the awesome cyclops creature who scares little kids! Mike Wazoski!

Extra Credit: Activity Feedback

1) My favorite activities of the semester had to be the Instagram week, Drawing week, and Painting week. Firstly, I love using Instagram and love taking pictures so it was fun being able to use my favorite picture taking app for Art 110 and show others my pictures. I liked the Drawing activity because it was challenging and fun to see how good I could draw someone using the app. I felt like I didn’t do to well though. Lastly, I enjoyed the Painting activity, because I have always wanted to spray paint my name somewhere and it was fun to do overall.

2) My least favorite activities of the semester were probably the V-Log activity, the Counter factual activity, and the Kickstarter activity. I didn’t really care to make a video log for my website, because I don’t feel like using it that much and I doubt others would really be interested in watching it. The counter factual identity was interesting, but really wasn’t that great. Lastly, the Kickstarter pitch was fun, but seemed a little like it was for a business class not an art class.

3) Overall, the class was fun and the activities were pretty interesting to do or try. Tuesdays can be pretty boring just sitting in the theater, but Thursdays at the art galleries or doing an activity were pretty fun.

4) I think the one thing that could make the class better would be to have less blog posts each week, because it can begin to get a little tiresome over and over again.

Week 12- Artist Convo- Timothy Cooper

     My favorite piece from last week’s gallery had to be Timothy Cooper’s “Something that means Something”, which seemingly looks like white plates making an ‘X’ or a ‘T’. These plates were hand thrown and created in almost identical proportions as they were all lined up almost synchronized. Cooper states that the project is meant to bear witness to the ability of multiple individuals to work together to create a positive aesthetic experience. I could not really make out what the “something” was when it came to what these ceramics were supposed to be but I saw them as bare plates that made a shape of something that could be viewed differently by different people. I love when shapes and objects are made to be used collectively to make up a bigger picture or object. These plates weren’t perfect, but rather chipped or scratched various places. It goes to show how not everything can be perfect but can end up being used together for a bigger and better picture. Timothy’s work was adored by everyone at the gallery and had people talking pictures of it the whole class hour. I’m glad I got to look at it and talk about it with my friends and Kathleen, who I met and interviewed.

Week 12- Classmate Conversation- Kathleen Nguyen

http://kathyn9514.wordpress.com/

     I met Kathleen at the art galleries when we were looking at the big plates arranged to look like a ‘T’. She is a freshman who is attempting to pursue a major in Health Care Administration at Cal State Long Beach. Kathleen is dorming at Hillside and is from the Bay area in Northern California. I talked to her about the art class and what she thought about it, and she stated that she’s not really artistic but the class is pretty easy and she has enjoyed the various activities we have done in the class. When we were talking about our hobbies, she told me that she is in the water polo club at CSULB and has played since she was 14 years old. She has been competitively swimming since she was just 6 years old. Right now Kathleen is taking 15 units for school and has a three day weekend like myself. I asked her why she wanted to pursue a career in Health Care Administration and she replied that although she wants to aid people, she would rather do it indirectly so this job is better for her. I had a nice conversation with Kathleen and hope I can talk to her more next time in Art 110.

Week 11- Your Own Activity- Penny Art

I decided to make a picture using pennies commonly known as “Penny Art”. The inspiration came to me when I saw a jar of coins at my girlfriends house and I heard and seen art sculptures and pictures created using coins. I figured I could construct a picture with the coins and make something that I never would have thought of. After looking up pictures of ideas I decided that a ship would look pretty cool. I used the bronze pennies to assemble the ship and finished off the remainder of the picture using the silver coins as the water. Overall, I think the picture came out pretty good and the layers of coins I used to construct the image made the water look like waves and ship with compound structure. I’m glad I got to once again try something new and hope I can continue to do some form of art that I can enjoy and feel proud of in Art 110. I’m excited for next week so I get to show how to do a particular activity.

Week 11- Artist Convo- Wesley Hicks

     Wesley Hicks art exhibition in the gallery this week was very intriguing yet very confusing at the same time. Initially I walked in and was excited that the art was ceramics because ever since taking ceramics in high school I have enjoyed the art. The colors of the clay and plaster were very vibrant and made the ceramic art pop out. The reason why Wesleys exhibit confused me is because I couldn’t figure out what the purpose or theme of the art was. Wesley claims that his art has an underlying purpose and is presented in a way so that the object can be perceived as something that it isn’t. Wesley also states that his art is mirroring himself, which illustrates how art can project ones creativity and individually. The thing I liked about Wesleys art is that he says since he uses art of unknown origin, the way it’s presented and arranged gives the most context of the art. The cracks in the ceramics and imperfections are used to relate to humanity and how we can be deceived by art just because it’s not ideal or perfect. The different ideas of Wesleys art may be confusing but I’m glad that I looked at the gallery and got to ponder on the purpose and ideas that I wanted to understand.