Earthworks

Art Historical: Andy Goldsworthy 

The earthwork pictures turned out to be successful in the way the natural lighting worked and how we used the landscape to show how nature is incorporated with human interaction. What our group was intending to do was to capture how man and nature come together harmoniously. Reaching out to nature and revealing it in its true form. We were inspired by the work of Andy Goldsworthy and the way he uses the earth to show imprinting and continuity in his works. 

Native Americans used the earth and worshipped the creation within it. The earthwork photos we shot exemplify the way man uses the earth to its full advantage and appreciating its value. Native American's lived on what they could find and create simple necessities by using the earth. The man modeling in the shots showed a sense of appreciation and rejoicing in what has been given to him. The fascination and curiosity on his face including the dirt slathered on his cheeks was to show the his deep rooted interest in his culture (no pun intended). 

The 'strangeness' of Earthworks is a good thing and this was an important activity to do because it made me realize that the earth is more than just dirt and grass. It is an artwork in itself and revealed that there is so much use in it as well. It gave me a sense of appreciation and made me think about how each individual tree, blade of grass, placing and positioning of where things are have a purpose for being there. There is a sense of respect of nature that everyone should take time and enjoy what is given to them. 

The division of labor in our group could have been distributed better however, there was team effort and even work loads for each member. We all participated and worked together to come up with ideas with how we wanted our earthworks to be shown and worked together to make it possible. 

One Shot Movie

In the one shot movie we filmed, we intended our movie to have people skipping and giving the apple to others to exemplify how we should portray "giving" as. We had some technical difficulties with the division of labor in our group due to the scheduling and the timing to meet. Some people were missing and we had the hardest time finding the time to find a location and on what day to film our project. However, the teamwork in our group was successful in coming together to finishing the project up. By coming up with another idea, we managed to change it with a man eating an apple to show how people take giving for granted. By simply keeping it for ourselves. The black gloves was to show the dirtiness of how we can really be and the way he eats was to exhibit how we consume giving for our own purpose. 

Here's CiCi

Mask

Art Historical: Aztec Mosaic Mask 

Pre-modern:

My mask portrays an offense/defense in the pre-modern section by showing how there is a certain way we hide ourselves. We hide ourselves by putting on something others expect us to be while in reality we have no idea how we can really identify ourselves as. In the photo it shows a picture of a person (me) who is in a reflection on a computer screen and by touching the screen it was to show how we identify ourselves in the real world compared to the virtual world. We have become consumed by this altered reality we created and thus taking in the role of how we see ourselves. It demonstrates that we don’t really know who we are and we show our true form only behind a dark reflection.

Post-modern:

In the post-modern world, my mask exemplifies the map that comes before and creates a territory. Through this, the mask becomes a form of identification and where to start from there. It shows a roadmap in guiding where a person stands in who they are and who they claim to be. In creating a territory for ourselves, it puts us in a place where we start believing what we claim to be and create a person or a manifestation that changes our own perspective on how we see ourselves. My mask contains a spiral of blues and black to show that we become sucked into a distorted reality we created for ourselves. 

The pigmentation of light yellows intensifies the blue in the reflection of the computer screen. The dimensions and the perspective of where I am sitting with my mask works by taking a picture of the reflection rather that taking there picture with my mask directly. Rhythm is found along the different shadings of blue on my mask and along the blinds behind the computer. Natural lighting is used to bring in castings of shadows and dimension into my photo. The undefined reflection works essentially through bringing a meaning behind my mask and how it brings a distorted image to my picture.

The aztec mosaic mask is where I got the idea for my mask. The use of blues and textures in the mask inspired me to create it. One interesting fact about aztec mosaic masks is that some were created only for decoration or for display only. They sometimes do not have eye holes which relates to my mask as well. I created my mask not to have eye holes because I wanted to exaggerate the fact we do not really see ourselves as the people we think we are. The display also takes a role in the meaning of my mask by stating that we only put ourselves out there for display and try to please others as well as please ourselves.

Portrait

Ideal 

Real 

1.) What do I look like?

Elizabeth has big blue eyes and brood shoulders. She has sandy colored hair and a smile that is friendly and opening. She has a good fitted body structure with an oval shaped face and a defined collar bone. She has long, sand colored eye lashes and soft peach complexion. Her lips are light pink and medium sized and has a well defined nose bridge. 

2.) What am I like?

She is a fun loving girl who likes to explore new places and meet new faces. She is always a smiling person and always laughing. She is friendly to everyone she meets and is liked by many people. In her picture, she comes off as a sociable and lively person. In the photo with paint on her face, she also comes off as an inner childlike person that wants to be let out.

3.) Who am I?

She is a spontaneous, outgoing person. Her sense of humor and encouraging personality makes her a wonderful person to be around. When you have a conversation with her, she invites you in and welcomes you with a friendly "hello". When you speak to her, she talks in a way that is comfortable and calming. When you ask her about a deep thought, she speaks her mind in a way that is understandable and meaningful.

Ideal 

Real

1.) What do I look like?

Short black/brown layered hair with silver/white/blonde bangs. I have hazel eyes with an olive skin colored complexion. I have a somewhat of a flat nose bridge and small pink lips. I have a medium sized body and a big boned structure. My face resembles a little bit of a square shaped form and have inward eyelids. 

2.) What am I like? 

From the photographs, I see a caring and curious person. Someone who is understanding of others but is a little conflicted with herself as well. Compared to the black and white picture, I come off as an open person but hides something deep on the inside. 

3.) Who am I?

I think I am the type of person that is artistic and curious. I like to experiment with all different types of art and I love people and getting to know them. I am always asking questions and always wondering about the world around me. I love laughing with people but also sitting down and getting to know them more. To understand where they are coming from. 

- How do the notions of real and ideal alter the questions?

It is sometimes conflicting because there are different sides of a person that is hard to capture in one shot of a photograph. With the ideal and the real, it is somewhat hard to tell who a person can be and who a person wants to be. In a photo, it can only capture a certain time and place; displaying what is there outwardly than inwardly. 

- Has anything changed since you made them in the way you understand the pictures?

This assignment taught me that it is hard to show yourself in a photograph compared to what you are like in reality. It was somewhat hard to capture what a person is really like in a photograph and tell a story along with it just by using their face. There is a deeper meaning behind pictures and looking carefully at them and analyzing them is a good way to better understand that specific meaning. 

My own assessment: neither of the portraits of you are really you.

Agree or Disagree? Why?

In a way, I both agree and disagree with this assessment. I agree in terms of how we portrayed ourselves in our portraits but in retrospect, I disagree because there is more to a person behind the photos that our eyes cannot see. It is hard to show who you really are not only in photos but also in real life as well. We still are trying to figure out who we are in real world and where we stand in society.