When it came to creating my artist multiple I had some trouble, first my ideas didn’t feel complete or always unfinished; and then I nearly broke my hand. In the end I was able to create a multiple that makes myself and others laugh. It plays on how most students get simple pieces of paper to show our degree. I was able to with one hand make these ribbons, I made 5 in total! Holographic vinyl on a satin ribbon with a metal grommet and then an orange tie! The ribbon is a mock on track and field ribbons and it says “ I went to art school and all I got was this ribbon”
Environmental Videos
Nikki x Rach Videos
Working as a group brought forth ideas that I personally wouldn’t have thought of. I enjoyed working with someone, someone who was able to bounce ideas off each other and expand on them. We came up with three video ideas, 2 were completed together and 1 separately. The first two are called tree-iage and call birds not girls. The final video we did was about tarot reading within nature and not to a person. We created different-length videos and when we combined them they worked well but upon showing the class we sought we will try them separately and possibly together later down the road once reshot and edited. The one video I did was with a tree, I wouldn’t put it past 50 years at most though I do think it’s a younger tree and we wouldn’t be able to tell unless counting the rings within the tree. The video is called earthly connection and saw I do a tarot card pull and have a connection to the tree I explain to it what each card means and the possible outcomes that I see come from the pull.
(all videos are linked in the paragraph and will open in a new tab!)
BOOK STACKING
This small project made me think about books in a different way than ever before. It had me wondering about the course or context that lead the University of Guelph Library to purchase these books. While working I saw some fellow students thinking out of the box and it sparked creativity within the little work bubble some of us created. I enjoyed this project because it lead to out-of-the-box thinking within titles or colours and so much more. At first, I was going to limit myself to one floor, but I am glad I didn’t; it opened me up too much more. I then carried a few books throughout the library and tried to carry over the different floors that I used most in my pieces of work.
The final three I chose to share are a mixture of levels 2,3,4 of the university library.
The first photo is of three books that look like they are falling and the covers are open, the book spines read; mind in nature, interpreting the universe, nothing so absurd.
The second photo is of a digital painting that could represent feuds. Below the digital painting, there is a photo of 2 books with titles aligned that say; the sun placed in the abyss, the feuds of the clans.
The final photo is a black and grey photo of 2 books with titles aligned. The books are authored by one person, Annie S Swan. The titles read; The Better part, Between the tides.
ENVIRONMENTAL ARTIST PRESENTATION
Jason Logan — Make Ink
He is a Toronto-based artist, or as his website states a creative director and strategic graphic designer. He is known for several projects and companies. He has several books and is the founder of the Toronto Ink Company.
“I am convinced that creativity is a fierce weapon”
— StudioOlafurEliasson
Jason’s approach to design is summed up in two sentences that are stated on his website, “Good design thrives in the space between function and beauty. It completes, awakens, and engages the senses while helping to make sense of information.” He is a big believer that good design requires doing; that means making, doodling, imagining, and prototyping until things work out. And he is all about teamwork, he believes that good design cannot happen alone.
Because Jason has covered so many different artworks and other projects, I wanted to share some of the works before going into the big project that Jason has been working on for a while.
The big project that will be discussed is one of the books that Jason has published. The book is called Make Ink: A Forager’s Guide to Natural Inkmaking; it is 192 pages that are bound by a hardcover, and was printed in 2018. This book was used as a citizen science experiment to see and make eco-friendly, urban ink from street-harvested pigments.
In the book, Jason dives deep into the history of ink making and how to distill pigments from the natural world. We are able to learn to forage from materials such as ash/soot, rush, food, and even cigarette butts! After we are taught how to forage for the supplies to make the pigments, we then are taught how to mix, text, and transform all of the items you foraged into rich, vibrant inks; these inks are sensitive to both place and environment.
(I did not buy the full book, but I am tempted! I have found 2 articles on the library website that Jason has written to talk about natural pigment making!)
The final week was a fun time, I enjoyed seeing the youthfulness in the room as we exchanged tattoos and documented our art in a new form. For my projects I went inwards, I dealt with Xrays from years back and put them on my body so it is like you are almost seeing into me. I enjoy playing with the health side and family history for my art forms inspiration. If you didn’t know I am chronically ill, I spent a lot of my time since 2017 in hospitals and with new doctors and teams trying to make my body regular again, and it’s hard. I won’t go into detail about my illness I am not seeking attention, more aware if possible.
I turned up the blue in the x-ray to help play into my skin tones, and skin tone matching on computers is not an easy task when you don’t have a photo of yourself to work with on that computer. The final product turned bluer than I would have liked but in the end, it gives off this retro x-ray on a light screen, and I do like that aspect. I did my back, from shoulder to shoulder, and my knee. I chose these parts of the body because they are my most affected body parts for pain and flare-ups. I was looking into playing with my MRI scans and creating art that way and maybe seeing if it can be stretched and grown more. I will let you be the judge of my final piece of work.
On The Inside 2022
Week 1 – Wednesday’s Short Assignment (Michael Drebert)
Available Light 2008The Queens Eyes 2009
I find the broader aspects of Michael Drebert to be fascinating, the idea of making these on litho stones and not just a paintbrush or marker is so cool. A lot of his work is based around the litho stones and making these text-based works as well as other works that are also thought-provoking. I loved looking at and reading his pieces through his work pdf that he has posted on his website.
These objects work in the world because they are so simple but thought-provoking, like imaging passing that on the street and wondering what mind would have created this piece, I love it. I love how these two pieces alone show the different sides of the artist, what made him want to try to create fire with all the available light, what made him think the other piece would get him to see the Queen. I have attached the works information below so you can also read see how the artist themselves see these pieces when putting together pieces of works.
I find the language in these pieces is slightly different despite them being made by the same artist. The available light one seems more like a threat than anything else, like watch out all over the city because it is going to happen but not sure when or when next to the exact day. The other piece is almost a threat as well but instead of a whole city it is just a person that has really high authority, but it also seems like a vague statement, like I will set out and I will enjoy my time but I will also complete my mission, kind of feel next to a plain threat like the Available Light piece.
The Queen’s Eyes, 2009 Medium: performance Materials: entrance ticket to Buckingham Palace Size: dimensions variable Leaving Victoria, BC, I set out for England to try and look into the Queen of England’s eyes. Work exhibited at the Ministry of Casual Living, Victoria, BC.
Available Light, 2008 Medium: performance Materials: lithograph posters, fire Size: dimensions variable Over 1500 lithographic posters were placed around the city of Vancouver, BC announcing that I would try to start a fire using only “available light.” This project was commissioned by Artspeak gallery in Vancouver, BC
Project 1 – Brainstorming
(Week 1 and 2)
When it came to this project, I was stuck to one idea for the better part of the thinking period. I wanted to do something that would show my anger towards what took my grandma so quickly from me and far too soon. But for some reason I was unable to get the idea just right in my mind and after looking at things on google for some inspiration, I was able to find many ideas that I loved and wanted to recreate but I did not want to go step by step for my piece of work. I know this idea probably exists elsewhere but this is my idea thus far.
I will have people give me their answers to what they will put in the blank and henceforth put them in the blank of the poster prior to printing but I will be using different fonts for each answer that is put into the poster, so it kind of represents the idea of someone actually writing their response. I will make a few blank posters to hang and see if anyone will actually fill them out once in person is happening again. I have set out to my social media to get answers from people and I do not know how many I will be making just yet, because it really depends on how many answers I get from my socials to how many are made.
I want to share some of the art that I looked at and found interesting in my time of looking for a new idea, these pieces somehow spoke to me and I loved how they were created and placed in the world. These pieces did not really have an effect on the final idea that I came up with but I did enjoy them and I thought you might as well. I do not know the names of the pieces and one of them doesn’t come with the artist’s name so I shall just upload them for your eyes and mind to enjoy
These pieces as well as my own older poetry notes on my phone helped me come up with the “__________ is a fucking jerk.” idea, I love the idea of people randomly calling out things or people to the public without context because unless they are seen writing on the poster no one will ever know that they were the ones to put that answer(s). I love the idea of possibly creating a lined paper design and having the words on it like the one-piece below but the idea of a plain piece of paper with a super simple font next to the written answer is so powerful to me.
I also had the idea of just writing fucking jerk in paint and letting it drip down creating this graffiti type of piece but I see that as a side idea and the second edition in this idea of the jerk series. I love the dripping paint idea, I have had for a year or more now, I love how you can’t control it. I love that you are able to really decide where it goes next to turning the canvas or paper. I feel like I will complete this as a side project that is not for this class but I will probably end up sharing it to this post for everyone to see if I complete it.
“__________ is a fucking jerk.”
(fill in the blank)
Brainstroming UPDATE!
I decided to keep the blog clean and with this update, I decided to remove all the other brainstorming updates. They were poetry, tomorrow? shirt and just a number of days. I like the number of days but in the end, I fell in love with this idea of redacted papers? I like the blocked-out information, like what it is saying I really want to know, can I put it all together by just reading the unblocked part? It seems so intriguing. So I am posting my new designs that will be sent to print, can you guess which one I am printing, and what book or file the paper is from?
Text Multiple in location!
Parents Video Brainstorming
I have a few ideas and I went on an emotional rollercoaster to come up with a few ideas, I am still unsure what I want to do but I feel like it is something with emotion or education of something?
My first idea was to do with my grandma and use her final voice recording with a video, but I do not think I am ready to share that recording just yet, it is still too raw and fresh to a degree, but I loved the idea of playing off that type of emotion, sadness or grief but make it more board and open not just focused around my grandma? I love poetry and writing its a relaxing thing to do for myself and I enjoy the idea of writing letters to people that have passed or someone special. But that doesn’t really go with the parent prompt. So I am thinking of different ideas, some have info with that others are just words of ideas at the moment.
Dear Parent video: this one would be towards any parent, I have some supportive parents, not much trauma I would say but still there are some things to be touched on that could be an opening to many other parents. kind of like the video below this?
Dear Future Me: this idea is more focusing on me as a parent, what would I be like, how would I treat my kids, would I have kids? etc.
Explaining my illnesses to my mother: this idea is going towards how she sometimes forgets what it is like to live with chronic illness, she always says the same things and they normally don’t work anymore. I got the idea from a video I watched years ago, it is below!
The Mom Friend idea: this one is interesting, I see myself as a mom friend but also not the mom friend but I do have other mom friends around me, we make a group of mom friends and we gather sometimes. I am not sure where to go with this idea but I did love it.
The final idea is meant as humor I thought of it as a joke so I am probably not going to do with one unless someone can help me execute the idea. okay, the idea is ….. a day in the life of a childless milf ….. okay that is all for now
safe place to cry. – parents video.
when I created this piece all I could think about was the loss that I have felt in my family in the last 7 months, the loss that so many people have felt in their families be it a chosen family or a blood-related family, losing someone so close to you hurts. I created this as a safe place to cry when you lose someone or something. No one can see your tears in the streams of water. you are safe from judgment, from grief, let it all out, no one can hurt you in the shower.
Internet Video Research
this was an interesting research part. I watch what seems like regular things, like horror stories, podcasts, and gaming videos but when I went searching I found a gamer that did these weird but interesting videos. I am in love with cats and other pet videos. I found these two that made me laugh and enjoy the comedy.
I attached an old video from high school, 2012 ish was the year. please enjoy young me and the weird idea that we created at a film camp haha
Internet Video Assingment
this assignment gave me a headache, to be honest, the internet is such an open platform for finding an idea that sparked was a challenge. I had many ideas but after a few hours thinking about how to improve them, I ultimately ended up not liking the ideas. Some ideas were a non-binary gender reveal party, eating a book, horror ASMR (which I did), Best Friend Video Podcast, Ghosts Doing Random Things, Chronic Illness as poetry, and the list can go on. Once I found pleasure in the ASMR horror I went with a recreation idea, like it was a video at the time of the event and then the story over top of it. I love the idea of reenactment for stories, and I mainly watch ASMR and horror Reddit stories, so that is how this idea formed; from my usual watchings. I have the main reenactment video without the story overtop that has me talking to the camera, if needed I will post that but I much prefer it with the story and audio of my choice.
The video was a film one and done type of thing, it took time to get some of the expressions right but now I find little horror in these stories or I find myself feeling confident enough to fight these weird and bad people in the stories heard. So coming up with scared expressions was hard but easy, if that makes sense. I hope this gives peoples chills and I am thinking of broadening the idea to more ASMR horror or storytelling!
