My Art 7A Portfolio

After finishing up my Personal Space project today, I've finally completed all of the assigned projects for the quarter! Yipee! I'm proud of my work and am excited to turn in a disc with higher resolution files. Silly blogger kind of ruins the awesomeness of some photos.

This is pretty similar to my original compilation, with a few additions/tweaks:

Pun

"Sale Boat"

Daily Nexus Prank

Altered Activity in Public Space

Cleansing the air in an unmarked "smoking zone".

Random Act of Kindness

Confession

"I only talk to my extended family out of obligation."

Sequence/Narrative

Is this beautiful?

Alternate Identity

Life as a Girl Scout

Personal Space

What do you think of me?

Looking Back...

Rereading one of my first posts about my fears and concerns for Art 7A makes me smile. I was so naive! It's crazy to think that since then I've done performance pieces, participated in flash mobs, let strangers draw on me, acted like a girl scout and other ridiculous projects I never would have dreamed of. I used to think of myself as an artist because of my photography. That was the only medium I had ever really given much thought or put effort into. 7A has encouraged me to branch out so much farther than simply creating point and shoot photographs. I'm proud of the work I've done in this class and I feel like my portfolio has reached a wider breath because of my experience this quarter.

With regard to my initial fears about grades and shyness, I'm still iffy. I'm not going to lie--I'm still grade obsessed and anxious about get straight A's, even though I'd like to pretend a year of college has conditioned me to think otherwise. But even when I was doing different projects and taking the written final during lecture, I didn't feel too stressed. The atmosphere of this class is so much different than my other academic courses. I feel like I'll do well simply because I tried my best and pushed myself to new limits. Even though some projects may not have been as successful as I originally hoped, I still tried new things and came out with memorable pieces. Being able to have a portfolio and tell stories about our class will be a cherry on top after I get my A ;) Just kidding... kind of!

I'm still pretty shy. I think that's just my nature, and you could throw me in a class with insane characters like ours and I'd still stand to the side and smile rather than jump in. I do appreciate how caring and supportive our class became--we seem so much more cohesive and happy compared to the other sections. We really fostered a comfortable environment, and that made it easier for me to present my work without feeling too anxious or embarrassed.

Overall Art 7A has been a wonderful experience and I'm so glad I got to be a part of our specific section. Kip and Desiree made my spring quarter way more fun, and I'll miss our class!

Personal Space: Further Documentation

I already pretty much shared all of my photos in my original personal space post, but I uploaded three of my favorites to my Flickr account so people could view them in better resolution.

What do you think of me?

Michael also got some cool video footage of everyone's projects. Jump ahead to around 4:23 to see glimpses of mine (including documentation of "boobs" and Skyler writing on my face).

Spectacle Praxes

Art in Athleticism, Desiree D'Alessandro

I would be most interested in taking "Spectacle Praxes" out of the three class options. "Beyond the Studio" sounds a little vague, and I'm not sure what exactly it would entail. "Artist as Activist" sounds cool, but I'm not really into the historical aspect of art (I've taken too many art history classes already!). Spectacle praxes sounds like a fun and engaging class, and it would force me to come out of my shell and actively participate. I had so much fun taking part in our flash mobs, and this class would basically provide even more opportunities to do activities like that. I like the idea of involving the entire UCSB campus/community in a culminating project. This class would appeal to both art and non-art majors, and could definitely muster up some publicity/good portfolio work for students who take it. Although I would probably be too nervous to get into the class fully, I'm sure there are crazy kids out there who would love to make a spectacle of themselves and explore how to turn public spaces into art spaces.

Personal Space: What do you think of me?

For my personal space assignment I stood outside of the University Center with a sign that said "What do you think of me?" I placed a box of questions with instructions and a box of markers on a stool and then stood nearby. I invited strangers to come up, draw a question randomly, and then write their answer anywhere on my visible skin. The purpose of this project was to address issues of stereotyping, physical appearances, and to literally break personal space boundaries. The questions each asked details about my life that people walking by couldn't possibly know the exact answer to, and therefore they had to rely on the way I looked, acted, and spoke within our brief encounter. By writing on my body we were instantly forced to become intimate.

Instructions:

1. Close your eyes and pick out a question from the box

2. Choose a colored marker

3. Write your answer to the question anywhere on my visible skin

Don't worry if you have no idea what the “right” answer is—just go with your gut instinct and be honest!

Here are the questions from the box, and some responses from the public:

How much do I weigh?

Guess: 120 lbs; Answer: 118 lbs

What year am I? (First year, second year, etc)

Guess: 4th year; Answer: 1st year

What is my ethnicity?

Guess: Somalian; Answer: Caucasian

Where did I grow up?

Guess: LA; Answer: Mountain View

What type of music do I like to listen to?

Guess: Country music; Answer: Pretty much anything BUT country music!

How attractive am I? (Ugly, average, pretty, etc)

Guess: Drop dead gorgeous (uhm, thank you stranger!); Answer: Average

What is my sexual orientation?

Guess: Straight; Answer: Straight (The image on the left answers a personality question)

Am I an optimistic or a pessimistic person?

Guess: Optimistic; Answer: Primarily optimistic, sometimes not so much

What do you think my personality is like? (Shy, friendly, obnoxious, etc)

Guess: Shy but secretly outgoing; Answer: Pretty much spot on

Why am I doing this?

Guesses: You're bored/You're creative; Answer: Art 7A makes me do crazy things

Free write! Write anything you want.

Very mature response...

What I looked like by the end

It took a while before people were willing to approach me, even though I wasn't exactly being threatening or imposing on their time. But once people saw others writing on my body I think they were intrigued. Some people took it more seriously, and stood for a minute looking at me, then the question, then back, trying to get the answer right. Others took it as an opportunity to be "funny". Only one person wrote on my face, and only one person wrote something irrelevant (AKA boobs), which was surprising. I thought I would be much more vulnerable, but I guess when you're in a public space with people around no one wants to be the jerk who scribbles profanities on a young girl. This project definitely made me more comfortable in my own skin, because I'm not used to having random people get so close to me physically and make blatant assumptions about me mentally.