Wk 15-Artist Conversation-Nancy Young

Artist: Nancy Young

Exhibition:As the Crow Flies

Media:different types of printmaking:intaglio, relief, lithography,serigraphy, monoprint

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Dennis W. Dutzi Gallery

Website:no website

Instagram:no Instagram

About the Artist

Nancy is finishing up her final semester at CSULB in the School of Art printmaking program, and this is her BFA show. She is very intrigued by all the different types of printmaking, and used the various styles for this show. Nancy got into printmaking after coming back to school and taking the history of printmaking class. From then on she continued taking more of these types of classes until she was hooked. Throughout her undergrad years, Nancy has also been working. She is a programer, and does database things, which she loves. Outside of art she loves music and her dog, and hopes to get her dog a friend soon. This show was inspired by the grief and loss that Nancy has dealt with throughout her life.

Formal Analysis

As mentioned above, Nancy used various methods of printmaking for her show. She is fascinated by how many different ways you can print. The nature of the work is very detailed and specific. The picture of the tree for instance, has many lines that make up the scratches in the tree bark, which make it look much more realistic. Most of the work is made up of bland colors such as grey and black, except the main picture of the crow. This particular picture is enhanced by some yellow and red to bring attention surrounding the black crow, which is the center of the show.

Content Analysis

When creating this exhibit, Nancy was thinking about the grief and loss she experienced throughout her life. For one she lost her husband a few years ago, and he inspires a lot of her work. It is also influenced by the milestone she is accomplishing by graduating this semester. It took her a while to get here because she originally got kicked out of school after being put on academic probation while struggling with bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Each piece in the exhibit is titled with miles and they are all distances from Cal State Long Beach. Just like we eventually need to leave Long Beach and find new work, the crow must also leave the nest to find new places to explore.

Synthesis

I loved talking to this artist because she brought attention to all of the struggles we young people have in college: staying on track. I have a plan for my life and I know where I want to be in five years, but it’s not always easy to stay focused with all of the other fun aspects of college. I also related to the thought about leaving the nest and finding work. With graduation getting closer, Its hard not to think about how scary it is to have to be an adult with all these responsibilities. We want to push it away and stay in college forever, but eventually we have to leave the nest and move forward with our lives, and I’m excited and nervous for everything that lies ahead.

Wk 15-Classmate Conversation-Vanessa Betancourt

This week I had the pleasure of meeting Vanessa. She is from Bellflower, CA and she commutes to CSULB. When I asked her if she liked commuting she said she did, but it’s such a pain to have to leave your house 20 minutes early to drive and find parking. A problem a lot of us have to deal with here at Long Beach. Her favorite thing about going to school here is that everyone she meets is very welcoming and friendly. When deciding where she wanted to go to college, Vanessa only applied to Long Beach. This is because they have a really good social work program, which is what she is majoring in as she completes her first year here. She got into social work because she loves kids, and she thinks sometimes they are dealt a bad hand; they deserve more than what they get. She also wants to be a foster mom when she gets older so some kids won’t have to be in the system. One interesting fact about Vanessa is that she has two tattoos and ten piercings. I had a great time getting to know Vanessa this week.

website:https://vanessabetancourt.wordpress.com

Wk 14-Art Experience-Sketching in the Garden

This art experience was a little bit more challenging than the previous ones we have done. For one I was nervous to take this class thinking I would have to draw, since I am not very good at it, but was assured that was not the case. I almost made it throughout the class without having to draw, but this week I finally did. Honestly my pictures came out pretty terrible, but the thought and effort was there. It’s a little hard to tell the difference between my abstract and realistic but you can get the general idea.This class is all about thinking outside of the box and pushing the boundaries, and I think I did that for this experience. The picture part was a little bit more fun because it’s easier to capture the beauty in a picture than in a drawing. Also it’s easier to be a good photographer than a good drawer. All in all I’m glad I made the effort to draw, even if it didn’t come out as good as I wanted it too.

Wk 13-Classmate Conversation-Danielle Dallas

Danielle Dallas is from Bakersfield, CA where there’s not a lot to do. She said people usually go to the marketplace to go eat or go to the movies. She is currently a second year at CSULB majoring in Communications with a minor in marketing. Eventually she wants to go into advertising and public relations for a big company, but she’s open to any opportunity that comes her way. She chose Long beach because after touring a lot of different schools, Long Beach was the one place that felt like home. Her favorite thing about going to school here is that the campus is beautiful and she loves how diverse , accepting, and friendly our study body is.

Website: she’s not actually in the class so no website, but she said you approved her being used as a classmate converastion

Wk 13- Artist Conversation-Ihab Ali

Artist: Ihab Ali

Exhibition: Eyewitness

Media: dry wall, car, burlap, black sheeting

Gallery:CSULB School of Art, Murilyn Werby Gallery

Website:no website

Instagram:ihabali

About the Artist

Ihab is an Arab American from Damascus. He lived there for 14 years before moving to America where he has since lived for 11 years. He is a ceramic artist with a BFA in ceramics, and this is his senior show. In his free time he likes to go to his studios and do more art. We basically got the feeling that art is his life, and we even hard a hard time getting him to tell us his favorite food, which is pizza with pineapples. His work explores the ideas and memories he has of his homeland.

Formal Analysis

As mentioned above the media used is dry wall, burlap, and lots of black sheeting. The exhibit consisted of a dark setup, almost looking like an underground tunnel. It had a scary feel to it, and all the pieces in the exhibit represented different parts of Ihab’s memories of his homeland. The sketches in the wall were very staccato and abrupt, most likely to best imitate what it would have looked like in the war torn times of his home.

Content Analysis

When creating this exhibit, Ihab had flashbacks or memories of what it was like growing up in Syria. He described it as a theatrical piece of reality that potrays poverty destruction and abandonment. The artist included what he had seen on tv or the media, as well as pieces of what he could remember. Ihab’s aim was to try to show western cultures what is was like to be in Syria during that time.

Synthesis

What I took most from this exhibit was the fact that Ihab was trying to educate Americans. There are always a lot of stereotypes surrounding his people as are there stereotypes about everything and everyone in America. Maybe if we were a little more educated we wouldn’t be so quick to judge and assume things about people. This resonated with me because being in sorority always comes with this negative stereotype that we pay for our friends, and that we are all stuck up and rude. If people only knew the truth about our organizations maybe they wouldn’t be so quick to stereotype, and that is what Ihab’s goal was through this exhibit.

Wk 13-Art Experience-Art Care Package

My art care package includes stationary which represents me since I like to write notes, a bow to represent Destiny, the person I am sending the package to since she is on the cheer team, and a current issue of 17 magazine for the cultural aspect. This was a fairly easy art experience since you could just pick anything laying around that fit into one of the three categories. Sending some a snapchat is similar to a care package because you are sending something to someone specific anywhere in the world . If differs because care packages contain physical items while snapchats are just pictures and videos. Ephemera is whatever you want it to be. Someone’s trash may be seen as treasure to someone else, so you can’t pass any judgement based on what you think of someone else’s ephemera. Also I think over time things can become more precious if during the time they were popular, they were passed down as a sentiment and kept for generations because they were important. Also art that is seen by many or few is still art. Popularity doesn’t define what art is. You can be an artist and no one may like your stuff, but anything you make with creativity and thought can be art. I think a snapchat doesn’t hold as much sentiment because it doesn’t take a lot of thought to send someone a picture and its fairly simple and easy to do. Because packages are becoming less common I think they now hold more importance and it shows that someone cares and made an effort to think about them and send something to them. I believe time has a lot to do with how much effort goes into something as well, unless resources are not available. For instance when my mom orders food out I don’t think as much of it, as opposed to when she takes the time out of her busy day to cook dinner for all of our family. In the same way sending a package may be able to contain a little more love because of the effort and thought, and because it is not such a common practice anymore.

Wk 12- Art Experience- Geocaching

Wk 12-Artist Conversation-Jennifer Chen

Artist: Jennifer Chen

Exhibition: Succession

Media:printmaking and digital print, gloss

Gallery:CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West

Website:no website

Instagram:no instagram

About the Artist

Jennifer is in her last semester at CSULB in the graduate printmaking program. An interesting fact about her is that she actually did her undergrad in Biology. She also has a wide range of interests, so her work reflects the merge between science and art. After she graduates she plans to teach a class at Long Beach and see where it goes from there. This exhibit titled Succession, describes a disturbance in a landscape ,whether it be fire or flood, and how over time the land is continually changing.

Formal Analysis

As mentioned above, the media used is printmaking, and digital print. Jennifer also uses photoshop to create her stencils, and she added gloss to her work to give it the three dimensional feel. The nature of the tree bark is mainly lines sketched into the tree, highlighting the wear and tear over the years, and the names and stories left behind with people’s carvings. Most of the other pictures pop off the page and make it feel like you are in that scene. Those are brightly colored to pull attention to the different elements of the landscape. The texture of her work is rough due to the gloss that makes the pictures look 3-d.

Content Analysis

When creating this exhibit, I mentioned that Jennifer was relating her work to the idea of succession; the idea that landscape, people, and things are continually changing over time. Her work is more of an urban change or urbanscape,  and she looks for the microscopic and the macroscopic  elements of the landscape itself, and how those change over time. She focuses in one piece on the tree bark,  which stands for the microscopic elements. She includes different sites in her work, whether it be historic areas, landmarks or monuments, to see how they differ in their landscape.

Synthesis

What stood out for me when talking to Jennifer was her wide range of interests, which influenced her art and how people and things change. I too dabble in a lot of different things such as sports, sorority life, and friends, and it has greatly influenced my experience in college. Also I am just beginning to realize just how much people and things change, especially after you move away and go to college. I don’t have the same friends or interests that I once did, and that is because I am evolving as a person, just like the landscapes.

 

Wk 12-Classmate Conversation-Katherine Pantoja

Katherine is from South gate which is near Long Beach, so I asked her why she chose CSULB for college. She said it was the simplest and easiest thing to do; to stay close to home and be familiar with the area and the people. Her favorite thing about Long beach is the nature because it is calm and quiet especially in between classes. Her hobbies include reading, watching movies, and traveling. She  also loves being out in nature. Her family as a whole does a lot of traveling in the summer, and they have been to Northern California, Cancun, and Alaska. Katherine is a first year and is undeclared, but she’s thinking about going into creative writing. One thing I noticed about Katherine is that she also likes to change her hair, and when I asked her about it she said that if she had the money and resources to change it a lot, she would. She likes to experiment with color, which makes her a perfect fit for art 110.

Website: https://peanutkat001.wordpress.com

Wk 11-Art Experience-Turning Pages

We document ephemeral changes through pictures, whether it be on a real camera, or an iphone. I think pictures say a lot about an experience, and you can really tell people’s emotions and feelings. If a few words went along with that saying we could get a sense for what was going on in that moment. That’s why scrapbooking is a good memory keeper. I think pictures are all up to interpretation, everyone is gonna think something different about what is going on in the photo, so I don’t think the type of picture matters, or even what really is going on. The picture is what you make of it. Another way to share an experience can be through objects like a postcard or a souvenir of the place. I also think the act of taking pictures can enhance what you are seeing, since you might not have spotted something if you didn’t take the picture to freeze that moment. While we were in the library people thought we were out of place and odd and disturbing, but in the bookstore we were like any other customer. This experience was different than anything that we have ever done, and it was interesting to see how people around you react to different things you are doing that might draw attention to you. Something new I learned was that I didn’t know the books were purposely “hidden” away, I thought it was just the setup of the library. All in all it was a fun experience.