Altered Book.

This assignment was perhaps the most open ended out of all the projects we've had in this class thus far. The assignment was simply to make a book. So, for my project, I made an altered book about my grandparents. My book is a true love story, told through letters. The inner pages contain images of my grandparents and on the inside, there is a box of letters which my grandparents wrote to each other during World War II.

Surface Research and Destroy.

It all started with a photograph, and well, ended with the same photograph...just in a different format. 

I began by taking a photo of a leaf floating on the surface of a pond with branch reflections. I printed it out on 8.5" x 11" glossy photo paper then proceeded to destroy it by cutting it up into tiny triangles and making it into sculpture number one.

Here is my initial photograph (the color got skewed a bit when I printed it out, but I liked how it turned out, although I wish the quality had been better).

After I finished my first sculpture, I took a picture of it, then destroyed THAT by cutting it into thin strips and making it into sculpture number two.

I took a picture of sculpture number three then destroyed it by cutting it into strips yet again, but then rolling them up to make sculpture number three.

I think you're getting the idea now. Here is sculpture number four...

Sculpture number five...

Sculpture number six...

And FINALLY, my final product. Which ended up getting destroyed unintentionally from falling backdrops right after shooting this photo.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. It was fun trying something completely new, although at times I found myself rather frustrated. But then again, I always love a challenge.

Top Three Prospective Majors.

This week, I visited the Pollak Building to explore my top three prospective majors. I went to the Photography and Film, Cinema, and Graphic Design departments, seeing as those are the areas of art that I am most interested in. While I was there, I talked with some people and got some very useful information on each department. I learned more about portfolios and the kind of work that I would be doing in each separate major. It was also nice to look around the halls and see the work displayed to see what kinds of projects the students do. Going there was definitely very useful in thinking about next year and choosing a major.

Photography and Film is my top choice of majors here at VCU. I was lucky enough to talk with some of the photography students and they really encouraged me to pursue photography as a major because they love it so much. We discussed the different types of cameras that are good to have if I were to go into photography. We also talked about some of the great opportunities that the major has to offer.

Surface Research and Destroy Progress.

I started out this project pursuing the idea of the Seven Deadly Sins, hoping to make each destruction relevant to each one of the different sins. However, I started learning about Buddhism and its whole concept of rebirth, which was really what got me inspired for this project. In Buddhism, rebirth refers to a process where beings undergo a succession of lifetimes as one of many forms of sentient life, each running from birth to death. Buddhism doesn't believe in a permanent or unchanging self--rebirth in subsequent existences must be understood as the continuation of a dynamic, ever-changing process.

I chose this concept because I think it encompasses the whole point of this project--creating one piece of work, destroying it, then changing it into another piece of art in a different form.

My first piece is a photograph that I took. I edited the photograph and had it printed on 8.5" x 11" photo paper.

Better picture to come--it's still on my camera.

Original, unedited image for closer look at details.

I then destroyed the photograph by cutting it into small triangles. Out of those triangles, I am currently working on an abstract sculpture. Picture up soon hopefully.

Most of my progress thus far has been more planning. After the sculpture, I want to do a mixed media piece using smaller shapes out of the photo paper. By the end, I'm going to make paint out of ashes from the second to last piece, and paint the image from the original photograph.

Acrylic Pattern Painting.

For this project, we had to make our own canvases using canvas, stretcher bars (18 x 24), and a staple gun. We were then assigned to create an acrylic painting of any representational object (any object that is not abstract) and somehow incorporate a pattern within the painting. This was the first time I had ever really worked with colored acrylic paints, so it was definitely a challenge for me, but I had fun doing something new. For my piece, I put the pattern on the umbrella. The umbrella is melting, almost as if it is creating rain, and causing the pattern to flow into the puddle.