Poem: Final Project

Where The Sidewalk Ends

There is a place where the sidewalk ends
And before the street begins,
And there the grass grows soft and white,
And there the sun burns crimson bright,
And there the moon-bird rests from his flight
To cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we'll walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And we'll go where the chalk-white arrows go,
For the children, they mark, and the children, they know
The place where the sidewalk ends. 

Shel Silverstein 

Illustrator Word Visualizations
"Miniscule", "Cloud", "Distort"

Artist presentation on Christa Sommerer & Jeffrey Shaw

• Title of Exhibit:  "Virtual Realities"
  
• Artists:  Christa Sommerer & Jeffrey Shaw
• The theme of the presentation was to represent the types of work and media both Christa Sommerer and Jeffrey Shaw create and use.  Both artists create pieces that are viewer interactive, that is, the viewer participates in creating and/or manipulating the artwork.  Sommerer often incorporates touch screens into her pieces as well as other technology.  Shaw too works with technology to literally create virtual realities.  The two are unique in that they blend the use of science and technology with art.
• Read more about Christa Sommerer & Jeffrey Shaw:  

            - http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent/

            - http://www.jeffrey-shaw.com

Illustrator Career Pictogram: Veterinarian

Parable of the Garden

To be quite honest, most of the works in this exhibit were not ones of much interest to me.  But, because I had to choose a piece to talk about, I suppose it will be "Happy Meal", by Shahram Entekhabi.  In the video we see a young Iranian girl in traditional garb eating what I, and I'm sure many others consider, an American meal.  Though McDonald's is a world wide fast food chain, I tend to associate it with American culture.  In viewing this piece however, that thought quickly diminished as I came to realize that though all nations have their own traditions and cultural norms, at one point or another we all engage in similar activities.  This video showed me that ethnicity doesn't always define what you enjoy or things you do.  The cute little girl enjoyed her Happy Meal just as any other child would have.

Self Visualization Project

In visiting Dia Beacon I was exposed to the work of many talented artists. Though it is somewhat difficult to choose, one artist in particular that caught my attention would be Sol LeWitt. LeWitt has a series of installments in the gallery called "Drawing Series", which is where I found my favorite piece of his--"Wall Drawing #1211: Drawing Series-Composite", (1968/2006). The piece consists of numerous, equally sized squares that are composed of vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines, all done in red, blue, and yellow colored pencil. Though I've learned the most important part of the piece is how they came about (they were composed according to a strict set of directions), I couldn't help but marvel at how intriguing a simple piece can be. This piece and all of his works in the Drawing Series are done in a very systematic way. It is important to remember that LeWitt did not actually draw the pieces himself, he only composed the very intricate instructions and "mathematics" behind their construction. His work is all about logic and inventiveness, especially when it comes to who is executing the drawing.

Sol LeWitt was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1928 and passed away on April 8, 2007. He was highly influenced by Minimalism.