ARTS 475: Week 5

"You listen to too much pop punk, and now you don't believe in yourself." - A professor trying to get me out of my head, 2024

I’m trying.

On Tuesday, I started working on getting this bank sign idea on the move. I created a small version of the “NO TRUST?” sign. I have to print out a copy of the small sign and get it ready to project onto the big screen.

I couldn’t be in class on Thursday. The recording project I am working on ran very late. This was unfortunate as I wanted to get started on my sign right away. But I will have to get started on it this weekend to make up for the time I lost today. I have what I need to get started. I’ve never worked on something like this before, but I am ready to learn. I think this sign idea is going to look really cool when it’s finished. I want it done.

Since Tuesday, other ideas have surfaced. I really want to make a project with syringes. More specifically, I want to take a blank white canvas, and attach as many syringes as I can in a grid-pattern, pointed out. I want it to be a wall of needles, pointing at the viewer. I feel like that would be an intimidating image and a little dangerous as well. I would clean and sterilize the needles ahead of time, of course. But I just feel that the image of rows and rows of needles, emphasizing how much medication I’ve taken in just the two years I’ve been on it, would be powerful. While I like the “Photo Every Day” series, and have been keeping up with that, I feel like I want to do something more.

I wrote about this last week. I think it's really going to come down to the presentation. How am I going to display these seemingly random images to an audience? I have been writing a short splash text for each photo as well as documenting a song that particularly stood out to me on that day. I don’t think I’m going to include text in the series. Text can give things away, and I don’t want that.

Right now, my order for ideas is:

- NO TRUST? (bank sign project)

- Story Of My Life (temporary name for the Photo Every Day series)

- Untitled Needles Project

ARTS 475: Week 4

I got a new idea. 

While looking over my Atlantic Union Bank sign my roommates I found in a dumpster, I started thinking about money. More specifically, what people who don’t like banks do with money. They keep it in their mattresses. My new idea for a project is that very concept: The idea of losing faith and trust in the banks, and keeping your money in your mattress. This idea has resonated with me more since Tuesday, and I think I could pull this together. 

It would involve two main parts: The sign and the mattress. My Atlantic Union Bank sign would be painted black, with the phrase “NO TRUST?” on it. Originally, my plan was to paint it white, and have a clear black-and-white design to cover up the bank logo. However, my plan changed a bit on Thursday. What if, instead of covering the logo entirely, I used the white area that would be for the letters to allow the logo to peek through? It would be obstructed, but I think it would allow people to see that it is in fact a bank sign, but not show too much to the point that I’d get in trouble. 

As for the mattress, I’m thinking of cutting up a mattress and displaying the sign on it. The mattress would have fluff and play money spilling out of it, creating a visually appealing effect. My main problem right now is…well, finding a mattress. They’re typically pretty expensive, and I’m not looking to sink a few hundred bucks in a mattress (or am I? :3) that I’m going to cut up, and then throw out once I’m done. My issue with used mattresses is the fear of bedbugs, as I am not interested in risking taking some home with me to NY. Maybe there’s a way I can work around that…

 

So that’s my new idea. I think this is doable, it just needs a bit more thought. I’m going to go to Goodwill this Sunday to see if anything peaks my interest for projects for this class, so I’ll keep my eyes open for a mattress. 

As usual, I’m continuing my “Photo Every Day” series. I’m still kind of on the fence about it. I like the idea, but I feel like it needs more. Something…bigger. Something that will make the viewer go “Wow!” I have to think more about how I’m going to display this…

That’s all for this week.

ARTS 475: Week 3

What a week.

On Tuesday, I went to class as normal, and I continued my work on my “Photo Every Day” series. I’m really liking how this is coming along. In just the two weeks I’ve been working on it so far, it has covered a wide range of emotions. There were some pretty happy moments, and then there were the photos from this past week where I was sick and couldn’t leave my apartment. I really want to do something special with these photos,  and I’m getting a lot of inspiration from the slides shown during our lectures. There’s a lot of really interesting and creative ways these artists display their photographs, and I want to do something like that. I’m still thinking of pasting all the photos to my sign-board, but that seems a little unoriginal. I should find a more creative way to display them, maybe some way to show the progression of time?

Thursday was rough. I’ve been sick since Wednesday, and not being able to go to the studio isn’t very helpful. I’m continuing to work from my room. Today, I looked over at my old, beat-up TV I bought at Goodwill for 10 bucks. I’ve been using it to play video games, but I got the idea to maybe incorporate it for a video art work. The camera that I use to photograph the “Photo Every Day” series also takes videos. The grainy quality of the videos matched with the TV’s 4:3 resolution seems like a jump back 15 years. I’ve always had an interest in the “Y2K” aesthetic, and maybe I could do something in that vein for this class? 

As for now, the “Photo Every Day” series is my main focus. The album art collage is my second, and this new video art idea is my third. I think I can turn this into something cool. But it needs more than just pictures. How am I going to draw the viewer in? Still working on that part…

ARTS 475: Week 2

Second week of my senior thesis class. On Tuesday, I thought more about my project. I’m deciding between different things now. After taking quite a few pictures since class Thursday, I’m thinking about incorporating text into the images for the viewer to be able to understand more along the lines of what I was thinking at that point in time. Also probably going to throw in song lyrics, as I listen to quite a lot of music during the day. The new idea that came to me today was album art. I already have the idea for my band Motif1’s debut LP album cover, but I still like to experiment with different things. Maybe I can work on that, make a giant collage of fake album art with the “Motif1'' name. A third idea that surfaced during my work today was utilizing my giant plastic board my friends and I found in the dumpster last semester. I’ve wanted to use that in an art project, but I hadn’t found the right opportunity for it. But I think now is my chance. Maybe I could spray paint “MOTIF1'' on it, and decorate it with lyrics and images relating to the band and the messages I convey through our songs. I will need to work on this further. As of right now, my main idea is still focusing on the “photo every day” idea. I’m going to try to turn it into a zine. Just need to figure out how to actually make that.

On Thursday, I decided to move and sit in the almost empty classroom across the hall from the Digital Lab, just for a change of scenery. I am continuing to work on my “Photo Every Day” project. I’m really liking how that one’s coming along. Some pictures were taken when I was doing something fun, like hanging out with friends. Some were taken at pretty low points, like the basement of duPont Hall. What I was thinking, what I was feeling. The negative feelings surrounding my work, and how I view myself as an artist. I’m trying to stay away from text for the most part in this series. I’m not totally writing it off, maybe a little phrase here and there to give some context, but I think the photos look better on their own.

Additionally, I was thinking more about how to actually display my photographs. After attending Taylor White’s gallery opening on campus, I was really interested in how he displayed his works, especially these. They were duct-taped to the wall and displayed in a kind of scattered arrangement. I really liked this display.