Mock-up for my vinyl cutting project…..I really prefer my final result.  Check out how it turned out here.

I think that these are probably the ingredients for a popular blog.

Last week in class I mentioned PostSecret.  If you haven’t already check it.

And if you like that, you may enjoy, FOUND Magazine. 

Hmm maybe in my next life I will be an advice columnist.  If you have any questions I’ll try and answer them!   

A narrative? Would you like it better if it was a narrative? Write your own narrative to this piece.

LISETTE MODEL AND HER SUCCESSORS

at Presentation House

333 Chesterfield Avenue, North Vancouver

“Lisette Model and her Successors” (March 15 – April 20, 2008) is a photography show featuring, as the name suggests, works by Lisette Model and her students.  The black and white photographs that adorn the gallery walls represent a wide range of point of views but Model’s influence runs like a thread through each photograph connecting all of the works.  Model was an incredibly talented and artist and an amazing teacher.  This show features some of her famous students like Diane Arbus and Leon Levinstein.  The characters in the photographs seem to be given precedence over any other formal elements at work in the piece.  As a film, video and intermedia student currently studying at Emily Carr Institute the debate over film and digital seems to be ever present.  While viewing the “Lisette Model and her Successors” show I was aware of the photographic film process which I enjoyed. When looking at the prints there some technical imperfections were sometimes visible but these marks on the prints seemed to aid the photographs by adding to the honest quality of the photographs. 

As a current media student I have been studying many different types of digital art. I believe that in today’s world an artist is at a great disadvantage if they do not possess the technological skills to use digital media to communicate their point of view.  This photography show contrary to my above statement offers a great argument for film.  The range that film is capable of is really highlighted by the fourteen different photographers shooting in wildly different environments some of the photographs possess a hard high contrast sharpness while other possessed an ethereal delicate quality. 

When we are bombarded by glossy digitally altered images constantly in our day-to-day lives, I felt like this photography show was in some ways a reprieve.  It was a chance to see photographs of real people that live seemingly real lives.  Each photograph seems to be a jumping off point, a small window into a stranger’s life.  The technical imperfections formally complement the natural imperfections of the subjects featured in the photographs.  The black and white palette calls attention to fact that these photographs are not trying to emulate the real world but rather observing it from a certain point of view.  Because all the photographs are in black and white it helps create cohesive flow between photographers working during different time periods with very different subject matter.

I really enjoyed this show.  I felt very inspired by how the photographers communicated through their imagery.  I felt like the artists really pushed the medium by making every specific choice matter.  I feel like I am constantly reminding myself when I am working on my own projects that every element of an image has potential meaning so it’s important to consider every choice and the potential for communication.  This show is rich in layers and because it features fourteen photographers really does feature a spectrum of subject matter and formal choices.

If you are interested in Lisette Model’s teaching practice I found two interesting youtube videos featuring one of the co-curators, Larry Fink, who was also a student of Lisette Model. 

This is part 1

and 

This is part 2

(Part two has better sound quality)

I recently did my DIVA 200 mobility game project on telepathy.  I also just had my birthday.  The game and my birthday reminded me of an experience I had just over three years ago. I was three days into a seven month trip to Europe.  I was planning on spending three months in London and then backpacking all around Europe for the last four months. I was going to be travelling for most of the time with two very close friends but I started off in London alone for a week.   I was walking back to my hostel and right around dusk this man at a crosswalk asked me for the time.  After I told him, he smiled at me and told me that my aura was bright (I hope this doesn’t come off like I’m bragging) and asked to hold my hand.  I didn’t feel at all threatened so I gave him my hand.  After holding/pinching my hand he told me that we actually knew each other and that we had met for a reason.  He suggested that he buy me a 1/2 pint at the pub across the street so he could read my aura.  I complied and while I drank my beer he held my hand and my stomach and told me things about my past, present, future and even my previous lives.   I was completely shocked by how many things he said about my life without me mentioning anything.  He said he saw it all in my energy.  He told me that I shouldn’t work a regular office job and that he saw me working in the film industry….I am in the film and media program and spent the last year working on a television show.  He said I over think things and stress out way too much…true.  He told me that I played a guitar..I play bass guitar.  He told me that my mom and I are great friends but I that I was in the process of gaining some independence….I am very close with my mom and I was at the beginning of a seven month trip away from home.  He also told me that in my past lives I had freed a slave and in another I was a ballerina who danced for the dignitaries.   One day when I had far too much time on my hands I looked to see if there were any ballerina’s that shared my birthday.  I found that Lucia Chase was an American ballerina born on March 24th, 1907 and died January 9th, 1986. I was born on March 24th, 1986! 

A couple days ago the forecast for Monday was sunny with 0% of precipitation. Now, I am really sad to say that the weather is supposed to be very chalk unfriendly. http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CABC0308 http://www.cbc.ca/weather/conditions.jsp?station=YVR http://vancouver.weatherpage.ca/ For this reason I think it should be postponed until sunny stable weather presents itself. I have created a facebook group so if you have facebook and are interested in participating at a later date, join! http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23402365270&ref=mf

It’s easy, this is how to participate:

1. Obtain a piece of chalk
2.  Arrive at Library Square( Homer and Georgia outside the Vancouver Public Library) at precisely 12:30pm with your piece of chalk.
3. Write or draw what you love on the ground with your chalk. 

It can be anything: a person, people, animals, books, a joke, etc.  Please invite people to this event. After five minutes of chalk drawing and writing we will have created a mural.

  If you have facebook go here http://eciad.facebook.com/event.php?eid=8630832854 and invite your friends!  

Here is probably my first attempt at becoming a pen pal.  I wrote to The Queen of England (with the help of my mom) and drew her a picture.  In my letter I asked if The Queen wore her gowns to bed and if The Queen would send me a picture of herself. I still don’t know what The Queen wears to bed. 

google map!