A Memory of Long Ago – A Mini Series.
I couldn’t decided which one was best so I decided to upload my different styles that I did, and created a little series that made I created to remember my Pappy. When doing the video my roommate’s cat wanted to be in it but I wants to keep the video whole because it capture the sound of the pen and I enjoyed that about the piece, I also uploads the scanned photos of the final product and it sits heavy on my chest because I remember him a lot. I hope this series helps you remember someone special to you!
Week 9
the physical version of I will not forget you. 
the digital version of I will not forget you.
family photo memory. 
childhood memory. 
before i was born memory.
The Memory of Long Ago — Conceptual Portrait
I wanted to use the photography we did in this semester and also use to the memories of someone who had a huge impact on my life even though it’s been 10 years since they have gone to rest.
I bounced between either adding an audio and movement or just one to the photo to make it a style of performance art like we learned about during the semester.
I found myself connected to Spring Hurlbut when it came to working with the memories of people, My pappy isn’t in ashes and I don’t have much of his left to use as props next to photos of his life and those are limited from what is posted to facebook from when he passed.
If you refer to the photos above you will see my brain storming when it comes to the idea that my mom and grandma came up with that would work with keeping his memories but keeping it creative where you can’t really tell the stories of where the photos came from and make you question his life and make up your own interpretations and I like that idea as long as nothing horrible comes from it but understand it might.
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Week 8
Repetitive Reminders
I had so much fun recording these audios, it was interesting to play them back just on my phone and hear the different audios. Once I finally got them uploaded onto my computer and into Garageband that is where the fun started. Though in the start I wanted to channel Kelly Mark and have this basic monotone reminder going nonstop on a loop but I like the idea of making it your own and changing the sounds in post production. I put both audios in reverse and but a voice effect on them to see how it would change the sound of the audios and I loved listening to each one to hear the differences. When I let my family listened they heard different things each time, what do you hear in the individual audios and the combined audio?
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Week 7
Repetitive Reminders — A Proposal
I do mindfulness every day and I find myself always stating to myself throughout the day with reminders and I thought it would be good audio to repeat over and over what I say to myself to get through the day. After completing DBT therapy with the CMHA in my hometown I find myself doing these daily reminders. I find that sometimes people need to hear these small reminders to continue in everyday life, and I wanted to make that happen. I got the inspiration from Kelly Mark’s I really should piece but instead of things that I should do it is things that I am or that I am worthy of. For example, I would say some things:
I am powerful
I am enough
I am beautiful
I have self-worth
You create your own clam.
I would try to be in a very quiet spot just like Kelly Mark, I do not have a studio to record in but I would try to find a spot to do this audio, so it is a peaceful reminder of just my voice a calming effecting. I am currently unsure if I should possibly add music to the piece or if that would distract from the affirmations that I would be saying. Most mindfulness exercise and affirmations I have come across on youtube and websites it just talking so I am leaning towards that so I can stick to that type of things.
Resources/References:
Pinterest Board of my reminders → https://www.pinterest.ca/imrachealnorton/mindfulness/
Mindfulness Website → https://www.excelatlife.com/downloads/mindfulness/index.htm
Kelly Mark’s I Really Should → http://kellymark.com/MULT_IRS_CD1.html
Three Artists & The Breakdown
Kelly Mark – I really should
The User – Dot-matrix Sympthony
Laurel Woodcock – One Minute Apology
What were the conceptual prompts for each piece?
I believe each of these artists had their own prompts in mind when it came to creating these pieces, narrowing down the prompts can seem a little hard but I will give it a shot. For Kelly Mark I believe she gave herself a prompt of using a list of things from past New Years Resolutions that never came to be and just keep growing as she thought about what she could do better or change. For The User I think they decided to give themselves a prompt of being old technology into a world of new, to use something that creates a unique noise and make it into a sound track. And finally for Laurel Woodcock, hers was a little more challenging, I believe she gave herself a prompt to remix something already made and put her own twist on it. All of their prompts to me seem so amazing with the outcomes they created, they all show conceptual art prompts amazingly well even if we can’t pinpoint the exact prompt itself and have to make up our own for it.
How are these audio pieces different from conventional music, or scoring of films?
I feel like each piece that is create is different in their own way but if we are to thinking about this when comparing it to the conventional music that we listen to everyday or the scores on films, these pieces are different. For Laurel Woodcock she uses music from an early generation and put a little twist on it, the music she used would be classed as conventional music that would be listened to either today or in the past and she put it in a program and cut it up and made it a different piece all together. For Kelly Mark her piece is all spoken word with some repetitive words, and I find those words create a beat for the piece itself but past that it is not like a regular day music, it could be close to a film score because sometimes in films there is voice overs instead of music but not to the extent that she does it in this one piece. And finally for The User their piece is completely different from any conventional music we listen to or film scores, they use items that create a unique sound and put the record of those sounds in a program and mix them up to create a different type of dubstep style of music, it not exactly like the conventional dubstep music you would hear but the more you listen to it, it has that quality.
How did the artists perform and resolve these ideas in the works?
I personally believe each artists has their own way of performing be it with paint or audio or any other type of media. For The User I believe they stayed in a quiet room with just the printer so only the sounds of the machine were to be picked up, they probably used a high quality microphone and recording equipment to make sure no background noise was picked up including the breathing of the artist. I believe the same goes for Kelly Mark, I believe she sat in a recording studio that was super quiet and only picked up her words and saying so it had no distractions other then what she was speaking. Laurel Woodcock seems to have used a program on a computer to make the changes to the audio, unless she sat in-front of a record player and made it skip and scratch it at certain parts to create the noise and musically tone she was looking for.
What are some of the strategies they used to maintain interest in listening to the works – how did the works use repetition and change over time?
I think I choose these three artists because each of them used different techniques to keep our attention during the audio piece. For Laurel Woodcock, she interchanged which part skipped and how long it skipped creating a different illusion the skipping/scratching noise is also a jolt of energy because that isn’t a sound you like to hear when listening to records. For The User, they used tonal variations; they had the machines make different noises throughout though defiantly repetitive it changed in volume as well making you think was this change on purpose or mistake when listening to it sometimes. And Finally for Kelly Mark she used the same words I really should and made a statement, though she used repetition their wasn’t much change over time that I caught when listening to the piece itself, it was very monotones and sometimes hard to listen to and keep my attention on. So some of the strategies that these 3 artists used were; volume control, beat change, repetition of certain words.
What is the effect of listening to the piece on you?
These pieces defiantly had an effect on me when listening to them. Each artist had a different effect on me when listening to them. Kelly Mark, I was entranced for the first bit curious as to want she was going to say next because she was all over the place with what she really should do, but also awhile I lost instead in the lengthy piece of work and started to tune it out. For Laurel Woodcock I found myself cringing as the scratch of the record, unable to tell if it was a real scratch or a fake one create in a program either way it made me jump because you don’t do that to records. And Finally for The User I loved listening to this piece, it kept my attention and curious as to what part of the machine was making which noise and enjoy the slight volume changes, nothing that made myself jump or overthink or tune it out; it was by far my favourite piece.
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Week 6
❁ The Failed Masks of Our Times (A Series) ❁
Photo 1 (blue cube): a cat toy with 3 holes in it, sitting on my head and face poking out of another hole. I call this one the failed masked astronaut, my expression in this one gives me the weird childhood astronaut portrait vibes and I am looking at how baby my face is looking.
Photo 2 (red tube): a cat toy again, I was sighing in defeat when the tube would not stay flat and kept popping up; so I just went with it and I think this represents some peoples tunnel vision when it comes to the pandemic, I also just laugh at this picture and the 3rd one as well.
Photo 3 (Tupperware): a piece of Tupperware of my countertop, I was just happy I got it to stick to my face even for a brief moment and you can see the smile on my face behind the well used container. I have 2 other photos (?) of different facial expressions behind this container and each of them made me laugh.
❁ Article Answers ❁
Describe a situation from your recent experience where not seeing faces has caused significant misunderstanding, confusion or grief
I find that when I am covering security break at work and having to keep count of how many people enter the store, the faces blur together, they sometimes seem like the same person. The literally masks that they were sometimes make it hard to distinguish if I counted that person or not when another person is talking to me or asking myself a question. I find it hard to tell people apart nowadays.
Which of the faces discussed in the text were of particular interest to you and your experience? How do you think about these faces?
I think all of them had some sort of interest for myself and they all sort of connected to my experience stated above. I liked when she talked about the plague doctor mask being worn and scaring some people on the street, I believe that type of mask kind of suits the times we are in currently. When it comes to connecting to my experience, I’d have to say that when she was talking about the masks everyone wears from patterned fabric ones to regular surgical ones and that her identity is fraying. I feel like my identity is fraying but also the identity of everyone around making it hard to tell them apart and count them as individuals.
Who are you without your face? How is your experience different without your fadein public? Can you imagine new ways to face the world?
Who am I without my face? I don’t know I feel like I would be no one just another body on this earth, I feel like our faces give us our unique place in the world. The experiences daily are so different from before the pandemic, I feel like smiling is a lot harder nowadays because no one can see it so do you really want to smile? I feel that interacting and recognizing people is harder especially if you rely on faces to remember people because you suck at names, which is defiantly me. I believe I am adjusting more and more every day when it comes to our new world, I find myself smiling with my voice instead of my face so people can hear the cheerfulness instead of seeing it, I rely on looking at the top half of faces to remember who they are for the best I can so I can remember who they are it, my coworker or friends.
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Week 4
I decided to do a self portrait idea after trying to work with my family over the thanksgiving break but not being super successful with them staying still even for one minute.
I measured a 6-foot distance even though it does not look like it because my camera zoomed in when on video mode. I wanted to capture the essence of online zoom University which is what we are all stuck in for now. I tried my hardest to stay still with my whole body in the frame while not talking to my grandma who insisted on a conversation at the very second.
I found staying still even for the one minute was hard, it made me think about the stay still for the 1-hour project we had a few weeks ago, yes it wasn’t as long but still hard. In the end it was a fun project to do, even when trying with my mom fidgety and never stop moving family on mine I have a few outtakes of videos from my step-dad and grandma when I tried to make them stay still for 1 whole minute and I tried to have them relate to 1 hour exercise we had earlier, they congratulated me for being able to do that because their 1 minute was hard enough.
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Week Three
Video Sentences:
Making Changes — change one thing in the space he’s in.
Sitting — to make people feel uncomfortable and awkward.
Ladder Climb — successfully climb the ladder without support.
Dead End, Eastern Market, Detroit — successfully turn the van around in the alley.
The distance I can be from my son – Back Alley — let my kid travel as far as possible before nerves kick in.
Severa Observations — give the viewer relaxing tingles.
I did a lot of my brainstorming for this project on the phone with my mom and grandma. I tossed around ideas for things to throw and if it was safe to throw out my window on the 3rd story (we ruled no).
Some of the ideas that we came up with by bouncing ideas off each other and viewing Pinterest as inspiration
✿ hard boiled eggs
✿ cereal
✿ books
✿ medication packs
✿ skeletons
✿ raw eggs
✿ rice
✿ fruit
these were just some of the ideas. My final idea came from combining two ideas together and see what would come of it. I took some old cereal that I had in my apartment and the spooky cheap skeletons I got from Walmart.
When it comes to shooting I needed to find a spot that would be safe and not super embarrassing spot on my living property to photograph me throwing these images up in the air, I believe I have a spot I will document if it was successful later on.
Equipment Used:
✿ Nikon 7100
✿ 18-140mm lens (kit lens)
Camera Settings:
✿ ISO 100
✿ 20mm
✿ f/3.5
✿ 1/60 sec
Shooting went a little rough, getting the setting right and getting the camera to focus was the hard part. I took about 63 photos and only 2 came out and only 1 was really useable in post. I found myself making a huge mess when throwing the items, I even broke one of the skeletons’ arm. I have attached some behind the scenes and one of the attempts that my hand decided to make an appearance. Overall the shooting went okay, my feet were cold because of the morning dew by other than that it was good.
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In the video is the quick recap of the drawing, the drawing in total took about 10-12 minutes which is also how long it takes for the average person to walk a kilometre, so I used two different types of measurements in this prompt, it is sped up because procreate does not allow real time if it is under 30 minutes I believe.
Racheal:
W1:
Good notes on Sol Lewitt, Yoko Ono, Nauman , shows evidence of curiosity and engagement with material.
Kilometre image and description – seems related to conceptual practice, but I think it was a stretch to use the brain to express a kilometre – seems like you wanted to express something else, and then to add the walking time – also adds another layer that doesn’t speak to the brain-line… too many signifiers to be coherent, or to precisely express the concept of a KM.
W2: Image of Abramovic/Stillness gesture, and description complete and! I appreciate you made yourself uncomfortable/challenged– to create interest and meaning in the work– though I’m not sure each image in the composite show anything different or developing. Not sure I can feel the effort/struggle in the gesture – or the direct references or reflection on Abramovic’s works.
W3: 6 conceptual sentences are complete and get the idea – to write the simple formula for actions in each piece, as opposed to broader themes. Defenestration image and description are good, though I think there should be more reason to throw the cheerios and the skeleton – some meaning or intended effect – especially in combination – seems very random and unintentional. There should always be a good reason for every choice.
W4: Good notes on Adad’s work to get his formula, and I like your Distancing video, your performance of stillness is funny – and also true – with the University sweatshirt, and the position on the couch, your wiggly feet are a bonus to watch – but the music is unnecessary and distracts from the scene. Glad you tried to work with others – but appreciate it was impossible. Good quote from yourself/rationale in line with Hannah’s.
Good effort on these pieces, do go through and think about all the lecture materials and references as thoroughly as you can, there are a lot of good ideas there and make sure everything is intentional, simplified and direct instead of layered up with too many ideas. Good work, it’s fun having you in the class!