final project

This whole semester I've been working on a website. It has been a slow process, but a worthwhile process that I've learned a lot from. I started exploring HTML then adobe flash figuring out Action Script. I couldn't count how many hours I've spent watching tutorials on action script and completing html tutorials. My website is not up yet but in the next few days I will launch it out onto the web! It is a way to show my photography in order to hopefully impress future employers and get my name out into the world. I am excited that this class gave me this opportunity to make this website.

A new direction

Last week during class I decided to completely change the direction of my project for this class. As deadlines for internships are quickly arriving, I have decided to make a website and learn HTML as a project. As an artist who wants her artwork to get out into the world, the best way to do that is to have a clean and professional looking website. The deadline I have made for myself is Nov. 1st as that is when most of my internship apps are due. I will be working in Photoshop to design the appearance of the site, Flash to create animations for the site, and HTML for the coding to make the site functional. I have never worked with HTML before but have found this great site http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp that has free tutorials and I think I am actually getting the hang of it. It looked like a completely different language before but I'm hoping that by the end of the week or maybe even by the end of class Wednesday I'll have a grasp on HTML.

"all the really good ideas I ever had came to me while i was milking a cow"

^quote by grant wood.

"the artist does not draw what he sees, but what he must ake others see. Only when he no longer knows what he is doing does the painter do good things."
--edgar degas

"visual formulation of our reaction to life."
--josef albers, on the content of art

"copy nature and you infringe on the work of our lord. interpret nature and you are an artist."
--jacques lipchitz

"to give a body and a perfect form to your thought, this alone is what it is to be an artist."
--jacques-louis david

...some interesting quotes i found while reading "Understanding Art" by Lois Fichner-Rathus

Forget It! Forget Me!

by roy lichtenstein. I can't explain why but this piece just stood out to me as I was doing some reading and research. Whether it relates to my project for the class or something more personal, I'm not sure, I think it might have an influence rooted in both and I am forced to think deeper.

Some questions I need to think about:

What are the boundaries of words?

How well do boundaries of one word system transfer to other word systems?

What are the limits of what a word system can include and still be a word system?

What are the limits of what a word system can exclude and still be a word system?

What is a word (word system)?

Does translation result in a form/version of the source word/word system or a new word/word system?

What are the forms/architectures of word systems?

Must word systems be made of alphabets?

Etc.

a project for the semester

my initial thinking of a semester project is to research and explore the stresses and pressures of a student's life in college. more specifically i would like to look at common diseases including depression, eating disorders, STDs, alcoholism among other problems of suicide and young pregnancy. these are some of the hidden burdens and aspects of everyday college life weighing down on the already heavy shoulders of students.