Protest Poster

Artist Statement

The social issue I chose for this project was the debate on anti-fur.  After some research, the main protests and idea that I found were taking the side of human choice, saying that we should chose to not wear fur.  The main posters I found were the popular ones featuring celebrities saying, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur”.  These were all focused on the idea that we, as humans, should stop this killing of animals and choose to not wear fur.  We should choose nudity over a fur coat.

For my project, then, I decided to look at this from another angle, that of the animal’s.  But I did not want to take the normal argument.  I almost wanted to add in some black humor- as if the animal was agreeing with the argument that some people have given.  This fox very sarcastically throwing in his point about this subject.

I wanted his argument to strike really hard.  Even though he is agreeing with what someone might argue, he’s actually using that to show how cruel this is.  These animals are killed only for their fur.  I am not anti hunting and I am not a vegetarian, but I do believe that animals should be treated with respect.  If you are going to kill one, then there should be more purpose than to use their coat as a vanity item.

The reading talks a lot about how what stories you read can influence what you create or do in your own life.  This is true in my protest poster as well. Most of the reasons behind wearing fur are vanity reasons influenced by society.  Because the fur coat has been so idolized as a sign of wealth and fame thanks to movies, books, and other forms of social media, the idea of owning one of these coats or other fur items is romanticized.  And the sad part is, there is no reason for it to be.  Yes, they are expensive, but is the price on the tag really worth the price of a living creature’s life? Or their mother’s?

Web Spinna

Artist Statement:

For my web spinna I wanted to explore the world of dreams in movies.  The first thing I thought of, of course, was the movie Inception.  This movie explores all the aspects of dreams and goes into them.  And this was what I wanted to explore.  In my opinion, movies are like giant dreams that you can watch over and over again.  The song starts off with the Century Fox introduction and add the old fashioned sound of a camera rolling film to bring the listener into a mind frame of cinema, then takes them into a dream sequence sound and starts to play off of that.

All fiction movies are created in the mind of someone at some point, whether they are based off of a book, an original idea, or something adapted.  Gong into a theater is like going into a sleep for two hours.  So my project explored the relation between cinema and the dreams that we have.

I threw in quotes form Inception that I think really added to the feel of the song, like asking the audience to come back to reality right as I start them into the main song of the dream, as well as the quote talking about how things seem so real in dreams, that it is only when we wake up that we realize it was only a dream.  If it wasn’t for the uncomfortable chairs and one giant screen, movies could be considered the same.  There are times when movies can suck us in so much that they play with our emotions, until we realize once more that it was just a movie, with fake actors and fake situations and nothing really happened.

This reminded me of a movie I watched recently called Certified Copy, in which you are not sure in the end if which lives the character’s were living.  At first, you are sure they are strangers, but then, They switch everything around.  Just like in a dream, you cannot tell what was the real story and what was an illusion.

Our reading talked about whether something is live, or if it is a sample.  They are talking about music, but I think this relates to dreams and movies just as well.  Is this a dream? Is it real? Or is it a movie, which is a fake sample of real life.

How do we decide what is real, what is dream and how to mix those two things?

Web Spinna

20th Century Fox
Camera Roll
Dream Sequence
Dream Quotes
Scapegoat

Medium Specificity

Artist Statement:

For my project, the medium of art I chose to focus on was clothing.  I like the idea of clothing being an art choice, because it is literally a choice you have to make every day.  And whether or not you are someone who chooses to follow fashion or someone who throws on a pair of jeans and an old graphic tee from middle school, you are still making an artistic choice every day (unless you are a nudist, but I will make them a free exception from this rule).  Even those who want to not follow fashion make a statement about themselves and their views by not following fashion.  That is what I wanted to focus on: clothing makes statements, no matter what you wear.
Our reading talked about a before and after picture of models, and it talked about to make the model beautiful.  Taking this in mind, I wanted to see what it would be like if there was only one shot to read a person.  Not a fixed up photo and not comparing one day to the next, but if you were to walk down a hallway and see someone for a few seconds one time, what would you think about them?  The first thing you are going to notice about a person is what they are wearing, because that is literally the first thing you see.  Before you talk to them, before you get to know them, and maybe before they even notice you.
For the actual project I took pictures of six different outfits all on the same model and in the same place but without his face in the picture.  Then I took these photos around to a bunch of different people and asked them to give each outfit a personality.  They had to say who they thought the person wearing each outfit would be without any hints other than the outfit itself.  The words I chose to attach to the pictures were the most common words used.
I was reminded of the movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox while doing this project, because that movie is so heavy on details for the characters.  Each outfit or accessory choice helps to say something about the characters. If they did not have such elaborate designs for each character, I am not sure each individual personality would have as much impact in the overall film.
It as interesting to see how even without a face or any movement or speaking people could very quickly and clearly come up with an idea of who this person might be.  It helped to prove my point that no matter how much or how little you try to show that you may not care about your choice in fashion, it is still a choice in fashion. And it is still a choice that shows things about who you appear to be.

Textual Poaching

Hi, my name is Rissa, and I am short.

Artist Statement:

I am short. I am not so short that I don’t fit in normally in a crowd, but I am pretty short.  You would not believe the multitude of short jokes I receive, even on a daily basis.  Over the years, I have learned to start to accept my height (after all, it’s not really going to change, right?) but there is one thing that has always bugged me: being short means I am thought of as young and a lot less mature.  Because I am short many people assume I am younger than I am.  And this also gives me less credit, for some reason, in the sensibleness aspect.  This doesn’t just stand for me either. When someone stands up, do we measure them by their size?

In “How Texts Become Real”, Jenkins talks about how certain images and objects can become icons in our world for things bigger than they originally intended to be.  Our idea of height relating to is a universal thing.  And for good reason, you grow up when you grow up.  But at what height are we considered grown? Or an adult? Or mature?

I chose to base my project off of the well-known signs from theme parks across America: the “you must be this tall to ride the ride” signs.  While these signs are put in place to keep people safe, they also send a message that people being to take in subconsciously all their lives.  They remember back when they were too “young” to ride the ride, not to “short”.  Seeing images of young children trying to measure up but failing leads us to make this connection that certain heights equally certain ages, and in turn means that person obviously has more experience, knowledge, and maturity.  It is as if those pencil measurements we make on the wall as we grow up don’t have numbers for height and age, but rather for height and development.

3’2”- knows their math; still needs lunch packed for them.

5’3”- can drive by themselves; deserves some responsibility.

6’0”-fully grown; give respectable attention.