Wk 6: Photowalk

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Although it was a hot day, the walk was enjoyable and I was able to experience a new side of campus that I have never experienced before. With my photos, I wanted to use only a square set because I wanted to remain consistent and portray similar compositions and color schemes. Because I haven’t been to the Japanese Friendship Garden on campus, I wanted to make that and its nature my focus. This was the last place we went to so I was a bit hot and tired once the destination was reached; however, the atmosphere made the trip worth it. When I do go out to natural sceneries, I like to focus on what can easily go unnoticed or the details that aren’t paid attention to from afar which is what I depicted in my photos. I also edited the photos to match a specific, warm color to match the heat of the day.

I really did enjoy the experience during the photo walk, however, I feel as if I wasn’t necessarily guided but just told information about certain places that I could’ve easily found myself rather than interesting facts. I feel as if I were to do it again, I would go just to the Japanese Friendship Garden and go into specific details about it for a group so that those visiting can take in the scenery and appreciate the beauty rather than just walking through it.

Wk 5-Art Experience-Cuisine

 

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This week I decided to try out cuisine. I recently came across a buzzfeed video and wanted to try making a teriyaki chicken luau bowl and thought that it would be a perfect meal for a date night. I usually cook since I live on my own but I don’t normally try to make my food look pretty unless I’m trying something new and want to take a picture of it. For this meal, I used pineapple, teriyaki chicken, purple 12 grain rice, and some kimchi. This meal usually just includes chicken and white jasmine rice but I thought I would add some color and make the meal a little more healthy. Surprisingly, the hardest part about cooking this was cutting out the pineapple without actually cutting through it so the juices wouldn’t spill when I put in the food. Thankfully, this problem didn’t occur and I ended up with two successful luau bowls inspired by those that are usually overpriced at fairs and food stands which tasted just as good!

Wk 5- Classmate Conversation-Justin Marquez

Justin Marquez is a first year computer engineering major from Glendale. Although he isn’t far from Long Beach, he currently dorms on campus to get the full college experience. He was never really interested in art but he took an art class in high school and is learning more through this class. When not going to school, he enjoys basketball and his favorite TV show is The Office.

Wk 5-Artist Conversation-Kristi Jenson

Artist: Kristi Jenson
Exhibition: Fuse: Joined to Form a Single Entity
Media: Metal: steel, copper, silver
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery East
Instagram: whipperton

Kristi Jenson who is getting her BFA in Metal & Jewelry is graduating this fall. Although she has only been working with metal for about 2 years, she originally started sculpting and realized that metal is what she enjoys working with the most. In general, her pieces would take about 3 weeks to finish depending on its complexity. The process will begin with a sketch to a paper model then to working with metal. When Kristi isn’t working with metal, she enjoys watching The Walking Dead, knitting, or reading but especially enjoys the hammering, sawing, and fire work that working with metals involve.

The work Jenson showcased utilized copper and very natural colors; this accentuates the minimalist yet eye-catching pieces. She states that she enjoys the precise technique of working with metal and how the process is forgivable. This is evident in her pieces as it is very clean and smooth. The scales of her pieces vary and she is interested in working on both small and large scale pieces. Eventually, she hopes to showcase her art on tables that she has made herself even though she is currently focusing on jewelry.

Jenson speaks about how one the aspects she would like to work on, is her artistry. She has trouble naming her works and doesn’t necessarily have certain themes to connect them with. However, that doesn’t mean her work doesn’t evoke certain emotions or grab the attention of her audiences. A reason why she enjoys working with metal so much is because she enjoys setting things on fire and hammering them. I find this interesting because just by looking at any kind of metal art, it isn’t evident that that is how the process is due to its smooth lines and beauty.

I particularly found Jenson’s work beautiful. She made pieces that cannot only be showcased but also worn or placed in homes. It’s natural colors and smooth lines really caught my attention and made me interested in her other pieces.

Zines and Things

Although I read about the LA Art and Book Festival, it was definitely more than I expected. Due to my extreme lack of funds and a car, I used the metro to get to Little Tokyo and walked a bit to reach my destination. At first sight, I knew I was where I belonged when I saw everyone dressed in their own unique styles and able to appreciate all the art and literature that surrounded us. I was also extremely astounded by the crowd because I felt like I fit in extremely well. The big building yet small spaces was a bit overwhelming but luckily I was alone and able to wander where I wanted with ease.

Recently, zines have become my favorite art form. It’s modern twist on magazine stills that provoke much emotion and cover a variety of topics such as social justice, politics, and sexuality really interests me. All of the art I saw seemed familiar despite me not knowing who the artists are or where the work is from. However, everything I saw reflected all the art and literature I follow on my own time that I see online. I also saw a few booths that really covered specific issues such as feminism which is really important to me. The art was beautiful and the artists were extremely passionate and inspiring to talk to. Unfortunately, I was unable to buy any merch because I couldn’t afford it but I made sure to get business cards so that I can look back at all the amazing artists I spoke to and the art I saw from all over the world.

From all the times I’ve been going to LA, the LA Art and Book Fair has become my favorite event, hands down. I felt relatable to the people and art there and everything from the photo books, zines, mixtapes, and t-shirts really piques my interest. Next time I hope to spend more time and even multiple days at the fair and to share the beauty of everything there with others.

The Whimsy Ideals of Samuel Jernigan

Artist: Samuel Jernigan
Exhibition: Weight of  Whimsy and Ideals
Media: Ceramics
Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West
Website: www.cargocollective.com/samueljernigan
Instagram: @samueljenri

Recent 2015 fall graduate, Samuel Jernigan expresses his interest in alienation, belonging, loneliness, and absurdities through his exhibit, Weight of Whimsy and Ideals. Although his work may prove otherwise, he claims to have not considered himself an artist up until about 3 years ago. Coming from a music background, he believes that getting into art, specifically ceramics, was just a natural step to being curious. This started around the year 2000. When he is not creating art, you can catch him reading a comic, looking for fresh produce at a farmers market, or ending his day with a beer.

Jernigan’s focus is ceramics, however, he utilizes a mix of materials such as wood, steel, and paint in his work. The variety of materials used in his art expresses his interest in interchangeability and how the meanings of art can change based on the materials used. He also makes it a point to use minimal color on certain pieces despite the amount of animation shaped through his sculptures. This also accentuates the interchangeability of his work because with a lack of color and use of many materials, perception can be different for everyone. With extremely round shapes and bright, yet minimal colors, his art was user friendly for all but carried diverse meanings for his audiences.

This exhibit explores the ideas of belonging and loneliness along with accentuating the importance of interchangeability. Jernigan mentions that many of his pieces can be put together but because they may be separate, different meanings are explored making what could be, unknown. He also speaks about his interest in comic books. Although those don’t necessarily inspire his artwork and animation, the comics inspire the idealization of his work through absurdities and its ability to change fixed identities. Despite all the thought that goes into his art process, he also enjoys making pieces that are entertaining for himself and can make him laugh.

I personally enjoyed this exhibit a lot. I felt that his pieces made me nostalgic of my childhood yet allowed me to interpret and delve into the different meanings behind the pieces due to it’s complexity with materials and minimalist colors. It was particularly interesting to find out that Jernigan was interested in expressing ideas of belonging and loneliness because it really got me thinking. How do these pieces explore these ideas? I was then able to connect those ideas to the nostalgic feelings his sculptures gave me along with his interest in interchangeability.This then made me connect those ideas with personality types and how people change, especially when young, based on their interests in belonging and at times, need for loneliness. Although this may not be his intent, his work really had me thinking about more than just the playful figures and definitely piqued my interest.

Wall Writers

Watching Wall Writers was definitely an interesting experience for me. As someone who has always appreciated graffiti art from the age of 6, I never really thought about the origins or history of the art. I would just write bubble letters and fill them in with bright colors without much thought about why I am so interested in this art. When watching Wall Writers, I definitely didn’t expect what was shown. These writers didn’t consider themselves artists and I was expecting to be taught about artists rather than taggers. However, it is extremely interesting to see how an artform has grown from something so simple to something noticed around the world on walls and communities everywhere.

As an aspiring filmmaker, specifically documentaries, it was inspiring to see all the work and initiative that needed to go into this project. Art takes a long time to produce and learning that this film took 7 years to make with almost a lifetime of gathering information, is extremely motivating yet tiring. Roger Gastman discussed how he couldn’t get in contact with the people in the film right away and that he had to do extensive research to receive a majority of footage in the film. This is particularly disheartening because although I have worked on smaller projects, I hope to cover topics in pop culture along with various social justice issues in the future and did not realize the amount of work that goes into making a film so informational and entertaining. However, I am still motivated to work hard and I was only inspired through this process because it is an art form that Gastman is passionate about. Because of this, I learned that passion is all it takes to be successful and make something beautiful.

A Conversation with Kyu Lee

Today I had the pleasure of speaking with Kyu Lee. She’s a senior graduating this spring with a degree in technical theatre. I found this particularly interesting because she’s the first person I’ve met who is as interested in theater as I am. Although she is a technical theatre major, her work involves designing light and sound sets. When I asked if she would want to work with theatre productions, she explained that most jobs would be found in the music business such as musicals or concerts. She also expressed her enjoyment for music and that her favorite musical is Cabaret and her favorite artists are Alicia Keys and Michael Jackson. Even though she does intend to work in technical theatre, one of her other dream jobs is to become a flight attendant and at the moment, she works at an airport.  Aside from what she does for school and what the aspires to be, she is from Torrance and has been living in the US for 12 years when she is originally from South Korea. To her surprise, we found out that we both us a Korean messaging app called Kakao so we can now communicate through there! She is definitely fun to talk to and her kind demeanor makes her a great friend!

Life and Death: A Look Into Josh Vasquez

 

Artist: Josh Vasquez

Exhibition: Vida/Morte

Media: Drawing and Painting

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Gatov Gallery West

Website: http://joshvasquez.com/

Instagram: @joshybehr

Los Angeles native and CSULB student, Josh Vasquez, has been an artist all his life and can’t imagine himself doing anything else. In his exhibition, he explores the connection and tension between life and death through various mediums of different scales. For 6 months, he expanded on his work and even created his favorite piece, Los Ojos Dos(not pictured), which his favorite because of its large scale. Although his exhibition consists of installation art, drawings, and paintings, he also enjoys photography as a way to capture moments along with expressing himself through his art.

Vida/Morte which shows little evidence of clean lines and perfect shapes utilizes a rugged style and illustrates that neither life or death is perfect. Through natural installations, colors, and strokes, Vasquez accentuates his eye for bringing out the abstract qualities of his thoughts on the tension between life and death because it cannot be explained through words. The lack of color also brings out the simplicity of both ideas despite both being somewhat unknown despite its importance. Throughout the colorless yet effective exhibit, Vasquez is able to illustrate two ideas that people believe to know so much about but cannot explain.

Vasquez discusses his interest in the tension between life and death, hence the name of his exhibition Vida/Morte. Due to the large scale of his pieces, it is obvious that he put plenty of thought and really focused on getting his pieces done to perfection throughout the 6 months of work. Many of his pieces include contrasting ideas aside from life and death such as black and white or clear and opaque. His art shows that two opposite ideas can coexist and make sense. Life and death are both abstract ideas but Vasquez explores this through his deep thought and intense interest for the ideas. This is particularly interesting because he knows that art is his life and without it, he wouldn’t know what else to do.

This exhibit gave me a lot to think about. What do I really know about life and death? Why are these two ideas so important to everyone? What is there to illustrate about it? Vasquez’ art gave me more perspective about these ideas. The tension between the two is so great yet it goes unnoticed. Everything must come to an end but once it does, something else starts anew. The lack of color, or even the dying colors especially caught my attention. Vasquez uses very limited colors yet his exhibit resonates not only with death, but also with life. Because of this, I wondered why life only relates to color. Not everything that happens while living is happy and colorful and that goes unnoticed. Although this may not have been the intent of the artist, the art has made me more appreciative of this idea and how not everything in life is perfect.

More than just Snapchat

When using Snapchat, I don’t normally think of it as an art form; however, I realized that art is subjective and anyone can do it. Snapchat allows its users to become artists without even realizing that they are one through its many different features: emojis, drawings, and filters. I typically use it to take silly selfies, show off my outfits, or to draw out my mood. I have realized that a lot of people use it to show off their day or friends to make it seem like their activities are fun so people can assume more about their lives. Snapchat style is another factor that I have observes. There are either certain filters or drawings that people add to their pictures. For example, when I use snapchat, I tend to use the filter which makes my pics cooler(color wise) and draw on with pastel colors or non-typical emojis. Usually I don’t add any drawings or filters to photos I take when I’m out. I enjoy taking photos from various compositions and making use of the natural colors and shapes that I see. This is definitely different for everyone and it is interesting to have different individuals as friends to observe these differences.