Laila

Hi! I am in my second year, majoring in Studio Art and minoring in Creative Writing. I am someone who has always loved art from a very young age, consistently getting into some sort of supplies and going wild. Not only do I get to write about the creative flares that come to my head, but I also get to visualize/create them via drawing as well! Originally during my 12th year of high school I was going to go into the animation field, however, with the rise of AI I was concerned about the future of animation. This of course made me worry…for months, but after some time I thought ‘what is something that I can do for work that can still be art focused’ and the grand idea of teaching popped into my head. Which is why I am here now! This campus not only stood out to me from its looks, but also because my visual arts teacher from high school (who I deeply look up to) learned here as well. I want to be the type of teacher who is able to branch out into a array of mediums in my classes, which is where Guelph’s differing artistic options help to aid in my future endeavors. (I ALSO LOVE MY CATS!)

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The Artist is Present Marina Abramovic

1. My first impressions of Marina Abramovic’s performance work is that she loves to create a sense of discomfort in the viewer. Her work has a sense of unconformity with ideas never before seen in the artist world. Many of her performances show her harming herself or placing her body / mind in danger. For example, her flaming star performance, or her use of razor blades on her own flesh. While I can admire her intense dedication for her craft, I can’t help but seeing some of her aspects of self harm being problematic. Her work can be extremely applaudable and strong, especially in some of her later pieces but her ease in harming herself is worrisome.

2. Abramovic’s work is very person oriented, with seemly all of her installations including people, and herself. She has been said to ‘challenge’ her audience, seeing what makes them squirm and all for the name of art. Many of her performances include the nude, see how far people will go, and whether they will back out or accept it and continue forwards. Performance art requires training in a sense, readying the body and mind to become ready for the piece rather than just simply creating it without thought. With her quote she elaborates that performance art is putting yourself out there fully, no curtains, no masks, simply who you are, when in comparison when you pretend you are someone else.

3. Performance art resists many elements of certain conventions in the artworld. For example the use of live nude models, along with Abramovic herself in many of her performances (even though it could be quite dangerous with growing popularity) is breaking the mold that the world is comfortable with. The idea of a nude body to the regular non artsy person can be a touchy subject, as the idea of being nude is something quite personal. However, with performance art, there is a breaking of this mold, as Abramovic makes it almost impossible to ignore her exhibits of live actors. Not only that, but the idea of being a constant hour(s) long exhibit is something that many would flat out refuse to do, simply for the exhaustive labor of it all, however, Abramovic took it face on 7 days a week as an installation.

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“A KM” Assignment : Marked in Measured Petals

Concept

The concept that I chose to focus on for representing a kilometer was through the process of crocheted flowers. During a trip to Florida I went on recently there was an abundance of flowers that Canada was deeply lacking due to the cold weather. The sheer amount had caught my attention greatly, resulting in myself being inspired for this project. As someone who loves flowers in their many varieties I thought that this project would be a perfect outlet to not only show my interest flowers, but also start a passion project of faux crocheted flower garlands to decorate my room.

Precision of Measurement

The use of measurement was relatively easy to figure out considering my idea. I chose to divide 1000 by 20, 1000 being the total amount of meters in a kilometer, and 20 meters being the ‘length’ of each individual flower. The result of 1000 divided by 20 equals to 50, which is the total amount of flowers withing my project. Originally, the first idea that came to my mind was crocheting 1000 flowers! However, given that each flower takes roughly 3 – 4 minutes to complete, that wouldn’t be entirely feasible given our timeframe.

Materials

The media I chose was something that I enjoy doing in my spare free time, the media itself being crochet (as stated in the paragraphs above) . I had alternated between baby pink and baby yellow yearn, not only for its pretty colours, but also because of how soft it is. The colours themselves are also most commonly associated with spring and flowers, enhancing the project itself and it’s aesthetic.

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Turning the Gestures of Everyday Life into Art : Katja Heitmann

1 . Katja Heitmann’s work is quite straightforward, as she aims to capture everyday actions and moments for her exhibit. Many of these actions would include hugging, kissing, sleeping, etc. While she has more toned-down things like standing or walking, the more intimate and personal things create a stronger response from the viewer. Heitmann’s work is able to preserve these moments of vulnerability of the person(s) shes capturing, and while this is a gift for some, it could be harder for others who view this work. This could very well challenge or inflict emotions on viewers who feel as if they are missing these ‘everyday’ actions in their lives.

2 . A certain movement I caught onto immediately was the consistent act of hugging that was littered throughout this article. Heitmann used multiple figures of all ages; for example, mothers and daughters were very prominent within many of the pictures. I thought it was quite cute using multiple mothers and daughters of all ages, as it can show that no matter how much you grow, you’re never too old for a hug. It also adds a beautiful contrast, as many mothers will say that no matter how old their children get, all they can see is their babies when they were younger.

3.

Eye/Nose Twitch:

The first person that I will be talking about is one of my very long-term friends since the 2nd grade. Since we’ve grown up together, I’ve noticed many things about him over the years, and two prominent things that go hand in hand with each other are his eye/nose twitch. It would happen fairly randomly, however, quite often, at least a couple of times a day. I found it so interesting when I was younger, and while it doesn’t happen too often now in our adulthood, I will notice it time to time whenever it happens, especially if he’s explaining something that annoys him. I haven’t run into anyone else where that happens, so I associate that movement with him as it is so uniquely his. This shows that when observing those around you, you’ll figure out things about them that many would miss. 

Knuckle Cracking:

The second person I will be talking about is my other long-term friend/roommate. There is one thing that she will do even without realizing half the time (as she goes to do it again 10 minutes later and be confused as to why there’s no sound), and that is cracking her knuckles. She will start with her further knuckles and slowly but surely make her way up her hand to her smaller knuckles. She’d be blank-faced as she did it, as if it wasn’t even happening, which I was initially confused by. When I told her I’d be writing about her for this post, she stated, “I don’t do it that often”, midway through cracking her knuckles again, before I had even said anything (she laughed after she realized). This highlights that while people have their own unknowing habits that are basic in regular day life, those moments can have bits of comedy.

Tapping Fingers Rhythmically:

The third and final person I’ll be talking about is my younger brother. I have watched my brother grow up and have picked up on random habits of his over the years. My brother, who is almost 10 years younger than I, has had many random quirks; however, one that I’ve noticed within the past couple of years is him rhythmically tapping his fingers to whatever music he’s listening to. He’ll, of course, lip-sync the lyrics and individually tap his fingers based on the lyrics or the beat of the song. Funnily enough, he is not the only one who does this, as I’ve done the same since I was young. Whether he picked it up from observing me, or if it’s some sort of sibling bond, it’s so cool to me. This shows that siblings will tend to have similar traits to one another, whether it’s how they talk, express themselves, or simple things like random hand movements.

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Field Trip

Unfortunately, due to a midterm test being scheduled during the same time as the field trip, I was unable to attend. However, while I couldn’t go on the trip, I can certainly still talk about two other artworks outside of this trip that I have visited. While these are galleries I have visited in the past, they couldn’t help but still catch my attention, resulting in me picking these two specifically for this post. 

Justin Favela: Cardon, After Jose Maria Velasco

Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience

While this is something I visited a couple of years ago now, more specifically in 2022, I couldn’t help but include it in this post. As we are in our video unit, the Van Gogh immersive experience reminded me so much of this class and other example videos we had watched in previous lectures. As stated above, I am one big sucker for bright and saturated colours, and our dear Vincent Van Gogh seemed to love colour as well. Van Gogh tended to use contrasting colours within his pieces, which is especially prevalent in one of his most famous pieces, The Starry Night. This kind of experience, I find, I could possibly see myself doing in the future. It was enchanting to see in person, and I was deeply inspired ever since. I feel that if more galleries across the world had more immersive experiences like this, it would go over very well with the public and the future of gallery attendance. 

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One Feat, Three Ways: Good Soup

PART 1 : THE ONE – SHOT

PART 2 : THE SEQUENCE

PART 3 : THE LOOP – ROTOSCOPE ANIMATION

Concept

The concept that Emma, Ahana, and I decided on was the act of spoon-feeding. We wanted to instill unease into the viewer as they are made to keep constant eye contact. The idea of eye contact while eating in general is already uncomfortable to most people; however, the idea of it never ending makes you want to look away, but can’t, in case something happens. There wasn’t an intended meaning while we were creating the video, rather, keeping it open for viewer interpretations.

Materials

Materials were quite simple to obtain, as Ahana and I had brought multiple varieties of spoons, for example, a tbsp/tsp set, regular spoons, ladles and even a pot. Additionally, I had also brought the bowl (and got some water from the fountains) while Emma brought the food colouring for the water inside the bowl. Other items consisted of additional lighting and, of course, the DLSR camera. 

Process

Filming itself was a quick process as Emma and I had set up the camera, lighting, location and supplies while we waited, so no unnecessary time was wasted before class. We decided to angle the camera in a certain way where the main focus would be on the person receiving the spoon, while the feeder is only seen from the side. With this, it ensured that the viewer’s attention would not be taken away, and the eye always leads back to the spoon.  In the end in terms of work distribution, Ahana was the main subject of the video, Emma was the Editor/second subject (arm), and I was the Animator/Videographer. After filming was completed, Emma had moved to the editing process (with additional work of adding foley), while I had moved to the animation. While I cannot speak much on the editing process, as Emma had taken the lead on that portion, I can, however, speak about my work on the rotoscope animation. I immediately gravitated to this part of the project, as I had previous experience doing animation before. I had quite a few ideas at first, but I couldn’t quite decide what I wanted to do. I did, however, know I wanted to make it eye-catching. After pondering for a while, I was reminded that I had been playing quite a bit of Just Dance recently, which is where I was sparked with the perfect idea. The use of blocked out bright colours was perfect for this kind of assignment, as it would be able to easily achieve my desired movement. I had separated each moving part/colour on different layers, like how you would for tweening animation, and went on from there, moving the sections based on the original video until it was completed.

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Audio Art : Echo’s of Home

Concept:

The concept for this project was to focus on aspects of my early childhood. I really wanted to inflict emotions and nostalgia not only on myself but also on other listers. The main idea was to include the people most prominent in my early years, and of course, my younger self, around the age of 2-4.

Materials:

There weren’t many materials to use in this project, aside from the editing program, the USB drives, SD cards, and files containing all my home videos.

Process:

The process of obtaining all of the content necessary for this project was certainly long. To go through all the files took days, with each session of me sitting consisting of hours each time I sat down at my parents computer. While the process of getting the content was slightly painful (especially for my back), it was certainly rewarding, as I got to see memories that had been forgotten over time, as well as a side of myself I just simply wouldn’t be able to remember. After obtaining all the needed content, I switched over to the editing process of coupling clips where needed. Partially through editing, I had the idea to add another thing that was deeply a part of my childhood, which was a music box containing the song “You Are My Sunshine.” I thought this would be perfect to put in my audio piece, as not only is a music box something many associate with childhood, but it’s something very important to my memories.

Pauline Oliveros

I myself am very prone to listening, especially when it comes to music. Anything that relates to music, I will find myself listening to, without realizing it or not. I thought that Olivero’s idea of deep listening is quite endearing. There are always things that one is listening to, even if very small. Olivero brings sounds to life that one wouldn’t necessarily notice otherwise. There are multiple ways that someone can listen, one way being through their body. You can hear many things from your body, such as the cracking of bones, your breathing, and even your heartbeat. Many people who are hard of hearing will hear vibrations, for example, through their body, learning to listen that way. Understanding that listening can be done in many ways allows for so many more avenues of communication and creativity to spark.

Proposal:

Idea: My idea for this project is to use something quite personal to myself, that being my night terrors. Since the beginning of October I had decided to start keeping track of my night terrors as they had started to occur more frequently. The tracking consists of my notes app, containing the day, time, and what happened during that moment. As for actually portraying this as a portrait, I was thinking about using a video format, using the ticking of a clock with the stated times highlighted as well as the moon phase from that night as a additional visual aid.

Artist Reference: One of the main pieces that helped to spark my idea was the In & Out contemporary piece by Kelly Mark. I thought it was as excellent portrayal of dedication of her work and I thought this sort of “keeping track” motif would be a perfect inspiration for my Conceptual Portrait.