Propoganda Assignment

Meet Apollo, or for the purposes of this assignment, meet this dog. This animal was domesticated by men, thousands of years ago. Now, people have cast these animals aside, and they still carry that longing and loving look in their eyes to make the people happy-- the people who made them so eager to please. So, this is a photo that portrays the love that a dog feels for the people who have cast him aside, and wronged him. This is a dog who still sits with a bandana of honor around his neck, that humans placed on him, to give him an outfit that would make him unique so that he would be adopted. He also sits, honorably in a round frame symbolizing that badge of honor he wears, hoping he might have the chance to be loved.

The composition of this poster is meant to be striking. I used red, white, black, and gray to portray the urgency of this animal's adoption. For this animal specifically, he was losing weight and was kennel stressed, and he needed to be adopted so he wouldn't die of voluntary starvation-- like many other animals in his situation. I wanted to make the focal point the dog and his question. His question is written in both capital and lowercase letters to show his confusion about how to write his question, but he still wants to ask it simply because he wants someone to love. He offers a reason to adopt him, not because he would promise to be good, but because he is biologically destined to love his human owner no matter what, and for many people, love is what they spend their lives searching for. 

Apollo, this dog, and other dogs like him are saying, "The search is over. I will love you forever", even if they struggle to organize their thoughts to persuade people to love them back-- it's all they want. It's scientific fact. 

Multimedia Artist/Our Propaganda Assignment

I figured I would extend a note to everyone who wanted to know a little bit about the multimedia artist that I explained about in class last Thursday. Her name is Paula Scher, and she is a postmodernist who has done a lot of work with logos and typography. I think that taking a second look at her work will help with our current propaganda assignment. Here's a link to her TED Talk. http://www.ted.com/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious?language=en
Checking out her works on google images could be helpful and influential as well. Happy illustrating!

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are addressed by Mary Stewart in Chapter 8 of her book, Launching the Imagination | A Comprehensive Guide to Basic Design. Almost every idea that a person conceives is technically based upon some type of knowledge made available by the presence or absence of a stereotype. I realize the last sentence contains an abundance of subject matter, however Steward provides a fantastic example that portrays this idea. She makes the connection that the icon of a broken wine glass placed on shipping crates to indicate it's fragility, is an example of a stereotype (Stewart 162). We make the connection that the contents of a container are fragile. The anticipated idea of "broken glass" indicates the expectation that the viewer will make an inference about the content in the box that may or may not be glass, however it is clearly fragile. Past experiences of seeing broken glass and noting that glass is a fragile substance, then applying this notion to a completely separate entity, is an example of the stereotype at work. So supporting the claim I made earlier, its plausible that the words written in the color red on documents are important because we associate the color red with emergency responders and stop-signs, which would be another stereotype. Or, the depiction of a whale on any canvas makes the viewer think of the sea because a whale is associated with the sea regardless of the background on the canvas. Regardless, people make associations based on what they know, so many ideas are based on stereotypes.

Shared Language and the Artist's Intentions

In the chapter titled "Constructing Meaning", in Mary Stewart's textbook titled Launching the Imagination, she provides an example of the importance of shared language (158). This is important in the process of gathering knowledge about art that depicts different languages, however, I don't believe that knowing the language on the canvas is always pertinent when it comes to understanding/appreciating the art. In the book, the example used to demonstrate this language issue is Figure 8.1 titled, "Haui-su, Detail of Autobiography, Tang Dynasty, 7th-10th centuries" (Stewart 158). There are brushstrokes on paper that create Chinese characters that "communicate specific ideas " (Stewart 158). The viewer may understand the specific message that the artist wished to convey. If the artist was aware that part of their audience would not be able to read the Chinese characters, then the onlooker would actually be absorbing the artist's intentional message. Stewart does touch on this by stating, "For those of us who know no Chinese, the calligraphy is visually enticing but conveys no specific message" (159). So, maybe the artist intended their viewers to draw their own conclusions about the work even if they wouldn't know the message. In fact, maybe the true messages in some of these language-oriented works of art, are strictly derived from the art's aesthetic rather than the language displayed by the art.

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, OR

This photo belongs to Quinn Wharton. I was able to download it off of the internet, although because I know it is copyrighted, I am giving credit where it is due. 

This is a photo of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. It is a historical landmark from 1930 that was renovated on the inside in 1983. 

I recently had the pleasure of attending this venue for the opening symphony of the season. Because this is a class based upon art and technology, I would like to address the functionality of this art as well as its aesthetic beauty. This is a room that was built with the ability to amplify sound as it leaves the stage and travels further across the room. This is, of course, a functional aspect of the space that many of the 2,000+ visitors attending a symphony would simply enjoy as part if their concert hall experience. The precise building of the structure, perfect numbers and balance, graphics made on a computer, and other technology that must have conjured the making of this incredible concert hall represents an advanced technological aspect. As a result the guests have a pleasant artistic experience while easily listening to their favorite symphonies. 

In coordination with it's functionality, the concert hall is aesthetically stunning because of it's color schemes and sheer details. These visuals allow the guests to take in both the music from the symphony, with the richly smooth sound, and smoother deep yellow lighting that creates lemony pools across the reflective surfaces for the guests to simply melt over. In other areas of the Schnitzer Hall, there are chandeliers that continue this lighting trend, while there is more yellow granite, rich red carpets, and black furnishings to solidify the concert hall's beauty. 

Vector Exercise

This is my vector exercise. I used the letters "U" "C" "B" to represent the future school I'd like to attend for grad school, which is University of California Berkeley. I wanted to take advantage of the shadow on each letter and create sharp objects to show the illusion of three-dimensional images. For example I wanted the viewer to especially feel as though the "B" in the center is jumping out of the screen. I used a lot of the eraser tool in the creation of this image as well as the selection tool to create the pointed edges of the different letters. I also chose vibrant colors to make the letters pop from the white background.

Art and Design

"Concept and composition are equally important aspects of art and design"(Stuart 125).
This is a quote taken from the summary page of the 5th chapter in Mary Stuart's textbook Launching the Imagination. There is something that confuses me about this statement. Is design not the concept and the art not the composition? I understand that there is a difference between art and design as it's plain to see that one denotes the other, but aren't the words concept and composition just stating the same things?

Brainstorming | Onslow Beach, North Carolina

According to Mary Stuart in the text book Launching the Imagination, "Color temperature can help create the illusion of space" (44). The contrast in the saturation of the girl's clothing and skin color to the lightness of the background of the blue water, sky, and blue tinted beach creates the illusion that the boy and the girl are small in comparison to the water. Later in the book, Stuart describes the process of Brainstorming that helped me to understand the composition of this picture (121). The photographer that took the picture intended to capture a moment of love, therefore, after thinking of all of the other potential connotations of that word, she captured a moment that conveyed many ideas.  The beach conveyed curiosity with it's many grains, footprints, and shells. The waves represented ongoing time, even when the two people on the beach stood still. Sand and water both represent land a sea creatures alike.The act of a photographer taking the picture brings about the idea of senses being used; eyes, ears, touch, smell, etc are all used. Although Stuart alludes to Brainstorming being a process of sculpture-making, I believe that a photo, being that it is worth 1,000 intentional words, is a strong representation of brainstorming. This photo taken at Onslow Beach, North Carolina, and although interpretation of all works are arbitrary, the artist almost always has an idea for each small detail, and that is where brainstorming comes into play.