The time-based artist that I researched was Vik Muniz. What originally attracted me to his work was his cloud pictures. I found the concept of having a cloud drawn in the sky and documenting it as a real cloud very interesting. I love cloud pictures and this idea that he proposed let to research him further. After further looking into his work I found that he also makes huge pictures made of things that are not what they seem to be. Wasteland was his biggest project and what he did was go to a huge dump and rearrange the garbage and trash to form a giant collage. When one looks down on the rearranged mass of trash you can see a picture and I found this very interesting. So what I did for my project was combine his ideas of clouds, collages, and things not being what they appear to be into one project. I went out and photographed cloud pictures, some that look like things and others that are simply clouds on a nice day. Then I collaged them together to form what looks like a sky. Next I chose to display the little chunk of sky on a box. This came from his idea of making things out of things they are not really. So it appears now that I have a piece of the sky that I can physically hold and take with me. This relates to Vik's work because it takes many of his ideas and the way that he creates pieces of art into account. I used clouds as my main focus and collaged them together to make something that is not what it really is, as he has done with many of his pieces. I feel as though my project conveys happiness and anticipation for summer. All of the pictures are of clouds on bright sunny days and right now summer is what everyone is waiting for.

The time-based artist that I will be researching is Vik Muniz. I love cloud pictures and when I was randomly selecting artists to on our page I was drawn to his cloud picture over New York City. Then I went to his page and found many of his other pieces very interesting as well.   Project ideas: -series of cloud pictures with hidden images -huge art piece in the back yard made of recyclables -collage of magazine pictures to form a larger image   I like the different ways that he deals with art and the ideas behind his work. I would like to do a project resembling one of his pieces. Not so much the idea behind his work but they style or kind of work that he does interests me.   If I decide to go with the collage of magazine clippings, I will need to check the copyright laws and make sure I am aware of what to use and not to use.   Still not entirely sure what to do yet, so I am open for suggestions.

This was a very awkward experiences for both me and the participants. I had a very hard time finding a location to do this as well as people who would cooperate. I eventually ended up at a church with elevator and finally found some willing participants. I could tell that all of them, except the children, felt just as awkward as I did. I think this was because the children don't have the same expectations for riding in an elevator as adults to. In the end this was a very interesting assignment and by far the most challenging one for me so far.

Awkward in the Elevator

Statement: part I

For my project I am going to be doing the unthinkable in an elevator. Instead of just walking in, turning around, and facing the door like the typical rider does, I am going to be switching things up a bit. I'm going to be entering the elevator and instead of turning around I will continue to face the other riders and try to strike a conversation. Many people feel uncomfortable with something like this happens and I want to capture the other riders reactions on film. I was motivated to do this because it will not make me feel too awkward because it is something I have always wanted to do just to see how others will react. In movies everyone always looks uncomfortable and ignores you. So I am interested the reaction that I will receive from others. Through this experiment I am exploring people reactions when trapped in a closed space while feeling uncomfortable. I will be trying to find out what kind of reactions I will receive as well as why I receive those reactions.

What the experience was like and peoples reactions will be posted by Wednesday.

For this assignment I chose to use the treehouse to record my footage. I thought it would be interesting and something unique that nobody else thought of. I didn't really have a defined idea of what I was going to do with the footage after I took it but I knew that I would figure something out. When was collecting the footage I was attracted to the different lighting that was there. It was very bright outside with all of the snow and it was very dark in the treehouse, which lead to some interesting shadows. I thought this was very interesting and made the footage have a creepy feel to it. I didn't want to use too many crazy effects on my project because I did not want to take away from the shadows but I did speed everything up quite a bit. I also added the title and ending parts and had them overlap with the actual video. I feel like my piece conveys a erie feeling in the haunted/forbidden. I feel like my piece conveys this though the actual footage and how fast is goes. It makes you feel nervous like something is going to pop out at you. The windows opening and footprints in the snow make you feel like someone else is there and adds to the creepy feeling. I recorded many sounds and pretty much jammed them all together. Many of them are of windows opening and closing and shuffling as I move around. These sounds make you feel like something is going around me as I am in the treehouse. The random knocking adds a creepy feel because you never find out where it is coming from. This was my first experience making any kind of video but it was very fun and I enjoyed learning how to use final cut pro. In the end my video is about a forbidden treehouse that is said to be haunted and I sneak into it and as I'm looking around and out the windows there are all kinds of creepy sounds going on as the windows open and close. I soon get scared and retreat. I had a lot of fun making this. 

My original idea for this piece was to record the many different sounds that my truck makes and have the piece portray a road trip. However, I was using my phone to record the sounds so I could not pick up on many of the little sounds. So instead I recorded what I could with some other random additions of sounds that I felt were interesting. I was drew to playful sounds and sounds with patterns and repetition because I found them interesting and fun to work with. To create the piece I first found some background sounds that could be played throughout. And from there I simply added sounds in between that I felt sounded good together. I arranged the sounds very symmetrical when it comes to the end and the beginning. I like patterns and organization so thats how I made it. I tried to stay with the idea of a road trip but I feel as though it is more whimsical and fun. It reminds me of when my best friend and I go places. Theres many sounds around us and the radio is up as we yell over it to talk to one another. The mood is very happy and playful and thats how me and my friend are when were together. Its not exactly what I was going for but for my first sound arrangement, I like it.

First sound by Angela

Deep Listening Exercise
Space: Math class on 1/30/13 at 7:40-7:50
Sounds
hum of heating/cooling vents
buzz of projector
crinkle of pop tart wrapper
straw sucking sound from apple juice box
backpacks zipping
cell phone sounds
umbrella falling on floor
door opening and closing
sound of walking on carpet
shoes squeaking in the hallway
shuffling, coughing, sneezing
talking, conversations
myself chewing

I decided to use the time before my math class started to do this exercise. This way I could get a variation of sounds as it neared time for the class to start at eight. Sounds in the room had a higher amplitude than those from in the hallway due to the fact that they were closest to me. Many of the sounds were continuous such as the vents and projector. However, some only lasted for a brief time such as the sounds made by people. As time went on the sounds morphed become much more busy and loud than when I had begun. It was cool to hear how the squeaking of the shoes became louder as the individual got closer to the room and either came in or passed by. The sounds around me may reference the dread of math at eight in the morning.

When Kate announced this project my mind was overtaken by many many ideas. However I wanted to do something original, something that was not shown as an example in class, and came up with the idea do use a puzzle. I created this piece by stabilizing the camera directly above my work station. Below the camera had created a plain brown background to set up to allow the puzzle pieces to show up well. Then I carefully began my project.
I did not encounter as many problems as I thought I would have. The lighting was a challenge. The only room bright enough in my house to take pictures in was too bright. I had to re adjust the settings on the camera and move my work station in order to keep most of the glare off of the puzzle pieces. At one point I was also faced with a camera problem. But after messing with the buttons I fixed the problem and continued on my way. Other than those two things the picture taking process went smoothly and I had no problem getting enough images.
I feel as though this piece conveys the idea of creativity and determination. Building puzzles can often be very frustrating especially if there are many pieces. It takes a lot of determination to start a puzzle and actually finish it. The beginning of my piece represents the frustration that my appear as you build a puzzle and how the pieces move around and don't always fit together how you think they should. In some cases puzzle building makes you sleepy and if you are not fully concentrating on it the pieces may start to spin in your mind in ways that they do in my stop motion. This piece also displays creativity in the sense that normally puzzles are build in the shape they are met to be not re-ordered to form designs and patterns. This piece addresses the conflict of the pains of putting a puzzle together. It shows how frustrating it can be put a puzzle together as well as all of the designs that may begin to dance around in your head after staring at it for too long. The resolution is that in the end of my piece the puzzle is put together piece by piece and finally allows for the viewer to see the full image on the puzzle. At the end the finished puzzle fades away to demonstrate the relief of finally finishing the puzzle.

storyboard

stop motion practice

Angela Witschi

Angela :)