Scrapbook10

I found this pinecone near the path behind Dorchester. It caught my eye because there weren't many left and I thought about it almost being spring. There are still dead plants and such which bothered me because it is March. I feel like things should be slowly coming back. It didn't seem as decomposed as I thought it would be and I felt it represent how certain things can really keep form even though it was probably laying there for a while. People see pinecones as a nuisance and feel that they are boring, which they are. There is real no value of pinecones except food for squirrels. It is not art at all due to the fact that it is a dead part of a tree. It fell off and will now decompose into the Earth.

Scrapbook9

The object I found is a piece of plastic construction fencing. I found it near Goodpaster where there was previously alot of construction. It was lying in the dirt half in, half out. It caught my eye because of the contrasting color as well as the curiosity I had regarding what type of trash it was. I found it hard to decipher what it was until I pryed it out of the ground. It is supposed to keep people out of construction zones but I don't see how something that soft and weak could handle that job. The orange does provoke a feeling of danger or caution. I don't see it as art due to the fact it was used to fence off a construction site and accidently was ripped and left in the dirt. A person did not put it there in an artistic expression.

Scrapbook8

I found this starbucks cap near the path by St. John's Pond. It was maybe an inch off of the brick path. It caught my eye because it was face up and stuck in the mud so it was almost level with the rest of the ground. I had to pry it out in order to examine it further. It stood out because it was a metal object in an otherwise natural space. It must have been discarded there when someone had finished their frappucino. It enters into that sphere where you can now find modern commodities everywhere. Starbucks is such a huge part of American culture that it is even found embedded in the dirt in a small campus in the middle of no where. It is definitley not art because it doesn't really take us away from the real world and let our mind wander but instead it probably reminds someone that, "OH! I havent had my coffee yet today."

Scrapbook7

I found this orange peel off of the path between Dorchester and St. John's Pond. It was lying in the grass along with a few other pieces from the same orange. It caught my eye because its vibrant orange color contrasted the greenish brown grass. I picked this particular peel out of the bunch because it still had the tropicana sticker on it. To many people a rind on the ground like that represents the consumption of a fruit. It is directly corrolated with the idea of someone eating orange pieces. Its not art because it was just the natural covering for a delicious fruit. No one artistically put the peel on the orange. It was created by nature to protect the fruit. It deserves our attention for that same reason though. It shows that something can be protective and attractive to the eye at the same time.

Scrapbook6

I found these metal covers over a manhole near the library. They were resting over the hole obviously to cover for the missing manhole cap. One is a turquoise color and one is red. It drew my attention because I saw these color sheets of metal just laying in the grass and I wondered why they were there and how they got there. The fact they are covering a manhole intriqued me because I dont feel they are as safe as a regular manhole cover. The colors and just the shape in general caught my eye. The more I thought about it the more i realized that it made me think about how people are like those covers. Squares trying to cover a circular area. It reminds me we all don't exactly fit the mold society wants us to but we still serve a purpose. I don't really feel it is art because it is just there for protection. It was never meant to really have an artistic meaning to it.

Artist 6

Ken Goldberg is an artist and engineering professor at the University of California, Berkley. He created a robotic arm surrounded by a neatly organized garden. Users can interact with the garden via the internet. They are able to sign in to water or even relocate plants. The lives of the plants depend on the ability of people to log on and care for the plants in a timely fashion. His type of art goes with the idea of letting the viewer interact with the project and tweak it any way they feel fit. People do not know if it is real or fake because all they know of it is through the internet. I feel it is neat to be able to take care of something living even though a person may be thousands of miles away.

Artist 5

Mark Napier is an artist whose works are influenced by his background in painting. Each piece has similar qualities to a painting despite being done on a computer. He uses and interface where a person can type in a URL and the website is jumbled using Napier's design, producing a fragmented image. It also allows a user to be directly involved in the creation of the art work, due to a persons ability to decide what website will be used. I found his work attractive because I have never really thought about what a website looks like before it is all good and done. Just by looking at my screen now, I wonder what it would look like if the text and boxes were jumbled and formed some kind of other image. Napiers work seems to go with the idea of the viewer being able to interact with the work so it can take on different meanings. Not just the meaning the artist wants it to take.

Scrapbook5

This marked door is located under the library overpass along the path. It is viewed by people everyday and sometimes people don't even realize its there. It caught my eye because it had markings all over it. The markings must have come from tape that held flyers up on the door. There are at least one hundred markings on it. Some from the tape and others seem to be scuff marks. What makes the marks even more noticeable is the fact that the door is red so the white marks show up a lot easier. A door usually invokes curiosity in a person because we all want to see what is behind it. The reaction of someone to a scuffed door may keep them from opening it as opposed to a clean door. A clean object will most likely be handled more than a dirty one. This is not art because there is no real meaning behind the marks on the door. The marks were made by accident and are not meant to express anything.

Scrapbook4

I found this area of a missing brick on the back steps of Dorch. It is to the very right on the top step. It caught my eye as well as my foot. Something is supposed to be there and logic would tell the person a brick would be the ideal choice. As I was walking up the steps I realized something was out of place. I am not sure what happened to the brick that once filled that vacancy. Bricks tend to be a symbol of strength. A person might say, "that person is built like a brick" or they might tell a goalie that they are a "brick wall." But when a brick is missing it feels like the integrity of the object of which it was apart of is compromised. I feel it is not art because there was no real artistic intention. The brick probably broke loose from being old and having to withstand the elements. It just naturally happened or someone might have helped it along in the process. 

Scrapbook3

I found this popsicle stick near the bell tower. It was lying in the grass not more than 5 feet from one of the pillars. It drew my attention because it seemed out of place. I caught it lying there out of the corner of my eye. Someone had enjoyed the treat that had been impaled on this object and discarded it without a second thought. It was just simply lying in the grass near trees whose form it had taken at one point in time. It is a symbol for simple pleasures. Written on the popsicle is the phrase "Delicious Memories" which seems to imply a person remember how tasty the treat was and how it made them feel. When a person sees a popsicle stick they are bound to think back to the last time they had a popsicle or an ice cream and I feel that has to entail only good things. Its not art because it is used for a specific purpose, that purpose being to keep your hands from having melted ice cream or fruit-flavored ice all over your hands. It is a favorite commodity for elementary school teachers in aiding with art projects. 

Scrapbook2

I found this footprint outside of the library. It was on the side of the library near St. John's pond right near the wall. There was some soft sand there from the recent rain and someone must have stepped in it. What drew my attention to it was the fact that it was something man made in an area of grass and sand that was natural. It stood out from the otherwise smooth land. It also made me wonder who was walking there? Why were they walking there? Footprints, I feel like, are regarded as something that is only temporary. Usually you see footprints at the beach and they are more profound by the waters edge. They are there and suddenly gone as a wave goes rushing over them. The footprint I found is out of reach of such waves but I am sure it will disappear with the next rain. It made me think of how all of us are like footprints in the world today. Here for a moment, some more fleeting than others, and gone until another footprint takes its place. I feel it is not art because there was real no artistic purpose put forth in its creation. Someone just so happened step in that exact place.

Artist 4

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer was born in Mexico and his one main art project took place in Mexico City's Zocalo, the world's third largest urban square. In his workVectorial Elevation he used searchlights that when activated could be seen for a twenty mile radius. He included thousands of people who contributed to the spectacle via a website he created. These people were able to create their own meanings for the art project as well as interact with it. Lozano-Hemmer felt that the lights provided a way for people to express themselves in a way that could easily be changed from one thing to the next. The fact he used spot lights especially drew me to his work because from my home I can see the spotlights in Annapolis dancing through the air. It gives the viewer a feeling of awe as one sees the lights gliding through the air. The lights provide an almost unearthly kind of way to express a persons thoughts or feelings.

Artist 3

Mary Flanagan is a New Media artist who uses first person shooter games to send a message to a select audience. One of her most famous art pieces is domestic which uses the game Unreal Tournament, a first person shooter game, and turns it into a way to create a "home-like environment for the exploration of childhood memories and feelings." She uses photographs and text to portray her message to the people playing it. Her style of art forces people to really think about the messages instead of just going through the game with no real purpose. I am attracted to her work because I have played many first person shooter games and never saw anything that really made me think of certain memories. She uses a feminist way of going about these otherwise male dominated games and intertwines certain features that draw many girls to her work. She tries to make the games more personal and Flanagan tries to bring some sort of social value to the games. Flanagan's purpose is to take people away from the violence and put them in a position where the player is actually thinking about what he is doing.

Artist 2

Alexei Shulgin is an internet artist from Moscow. He uses an old computer harddrive with a keyboard to recreate versions of popular songs. He has recreated "California Dreaming" as well as "Smells like Teen Spirit," by Nirvana. I find his work personally interesting because I enjoy different types of music and his take on music is unique. It does not sound very appealing to the ears but just the thought of how he is doing that makes it awesome. He is performing a song with his "computer" that took four band members to do. Granted it doesn't sound as good. He felt art was a performative practice therefore he created his art so that it could be shared in this way. His work seems to prove that art can be performed and undestood at the same time.

Analysis of Collages

The three pictures presented all have similar aspects. Each depicts extremes that is easy for the onlooker to gather. The three pictures have the ability to express different meanings but when a viewer has them in a row it makes it easier to hone in on one specific idea. A similar part of each picture can be found in at least two of the three pictures, such as the pictures of rich businessmen. The pictures of the rich business men help connect the other content in the picture but in the third one there are no businessmen at all. The collage does not seem to fit. Each picture conveys its own meaning but when it is view in proximity to the other collages the viewer can draw from it the universal meaning.
The first collage is made up of two extremes. One extreme is the very rich and the second is the very poor. This collage seems to represent inequality with the poor and the rich both shown in one picture. One can grasp from the faces of the cartoon characters that greed is also trying to be depicted. They have snarling, devious faces and are holding money bags while the poor people on the other side of the collage have faces filled with sadness and despair. The collage seems to show the imbalance there is in the world today. The huge corporations are greedily hoarding money even when there are poor people right outside their establishment. The collage is split in half with the rich on one side and the poor on the other with a picture of a planet and the word help in the middle. The poor are asking for help but the rich just don’t seem to hear them.
The second collage seems to represent balance, or lack thereof. Each picture entails some kind of object teetering to one side as if it were off-balance. There are two scales and each has an object that when looked at forms an idea of wealth. The gold coins and the rich businessmen seem to play on the content in the first collage but in a different way. This collage seems to express more of the gap between the rich and poor by showing the imbalance in the literal way.
The third collage does not seem to fit with the other ones. Only one picture within the collage seems in place with the other two collages; the picture of the scale. I am finding it hard to draw conclusions about the meaning behind the pictures and the way they are put together. The smog and the polar bear and the world on a matchstick seem to point in the direction of global warming. It does not seem to have any ties with poor or rich people but instead nature. Even the scale does not look to be similar to the other ones in collage two. The scale in this collage seems to hint at equality between trash and our world. It could mean we are slowly tipping the scale so that pollution is slowly going to take over our planet. Yet there is no link between this collage and the two before it. The first two seem to represent inequality or imbalance but the last one seems to show that our world is slowly fading due to our polluting habits.