Stop Motion Animations

This video is a stop motion animation that I did using my digital camera. 

The video below was just a practice stop motion I did to vaguely understand the picture taking involved in making a stop motion animation. 

Lead Pencil Studio Lecture

     The couple that call themselves Lead Pencil Studio comes from an architectural education. The fact that the pair are architects make it interesting that they create these installations and pieces of art. It's interesting how the features of buildings and space influence the pair's creations, and I think that if the two weren't architects this work would not be the same. The pieces Lead Pencil Studio showed in their lecture contained many welded straight fragments of wire that were really interesting in both shape and how they created value and density. I think we can all agree that the billboard-inspired piece set up near one of the United States borders is just absolutely stunning. The environment and especially the sky change the piece and give it a setting. But the piece also shows us that we all focus on advertising and materials rather than the natural beauty that is always around us.

Self Portrait Composite

Corinne Botz

     By looking at Corinne Botz you wouldn't think that she is interested in domestic violence, obsessions, or death/crime scenes. But after listening to her lecture and seeing parts of her series, I really understood what she was about and what she does. Corinne Botz had a topic-- and in researching her topic of domestic violence she discovered something really great which was the little miniature dollhouse set ups of murder scenes. She stumbled upon this and became really intrigued and took artistic photographs of these dollhouse rooms and people. I really liked her photography because it was vintage and contained a lot of skilled artwork in the subjects-- but it rises the question in me if this is really her work or not. I personally think the actual artist she be credited with the dollhouse miniatures because they are hers... but because Corinne Botz re-interpreted (I guess) the dollhouse in a different way maybe they could also be hers too? But I just feel like the actual artist of the model (whose name I cannot remember) took so much time to make these things then someone like Corinne Botz can come and just snap a quick picture and basically steal the credit (not that that is her intention at all but from a distant point of view very well could be).
     It was also very interesting as most people were able to realize that all her photography was interchangeable. Old haunted houses somehow seemed like dollhouses and vice versa. It's funny how artists have visions and do things certain ways and are sometimes unable to change their views because they like what they like and usually without thinking about it do only that. Or it's just a cool coincidence that her work turns out the same. Who knows.

Ben Volta Lecture

     Ben Volta is a very interesting artist because he works mostly with the community in creating community projects. Throughout his lecture he showed pieces that he created with kids and people in Philadelphia. I do wonder, though, what his individual pieces look like and how he views ownership in relation to his pieces that he does with many people in the community. I was surprised to see how many young teenagers were able to put together such elaborate designs through technology... I guess technology really is the future. I am very curious and want to find Ben Volta's website and go see his mural of wallpapers on Vine Street. I think I enjoyed listening to Ben Volta speak because he has very strong ideals and interactions with his art and the way he worked with kids and other people. It's amazing to think that eighth graders are learning about Aristotle and Plato and drawing in their math class. I wish I had a math class like that. But a really interesting point I found in Ben's lecture was that he described the ideal (what you the artist see in your mind) and the observable (what actually exists and can be observed in real life). It makes me really think about art in a different way-- and how much my mind actually controls my art actually begins to become frightening.

Composite Image

     This piece was created in Photoshop. Everything but the wallpaper oval in the bottom left corner is my photography. The dollar bill was edited and parts were removed and added to challenge the copyright of the dollar bill and whomever created the wallpaper design because I used it in my piece. I wanted this piece to look like part of a vintage scrapbook and I think it really does.

John Thompson Lecture

     John Thompson is an artist that does many things in his basement studio of his grandfather's bakery. He is a carpenter and painter. I was mostly interested in how he views three-dimensional pieces as drawings and paintings because of the space they take up. John Thompson was a typical guy artist to me-- he liked planes, trucks, etc. I did like his installation, though, inspired by a farm and vintage surroundings. He seems like he is just finding himself as an artist and hopefully he is successful in the future work he creates.