The purpose of this conceptual project is to be able to express my ideas in unconventional ways.  In English we made our ideas into poems, making them more abstract through the use of metaphors so that they could have a deeper meaning.  We communicated these deeper meanings in Design, using photography and abstract concepts to not only show our ideas but to also leave them open ended, leaving interpretation up to the viewer.  Finally, in Digital Media we brought it all together, putting our poems and recordings up for the world to see.

On this page you will see a variety of projects created in programs such as Photoshop and Dreamweaver.  This Conceptual Project has taught me to use all of my resources and think outside the box when showing my ideas.  I have gained experience in programs that many professionals use today to record and produce pieces of art.

In my expository Essay, I explain the difference between singing with and without passion.  The point of writing this essay was to show how putting passion into something allows a person to let go of their emotions.  I gained inspiration for this essay by noticing the difference between singing in a choir and singing at home.  When singing at home, I noticed that I was given much more freedom than singing in a choir, and because of this I was able to express my feelings much better.

In my poems Despair from Repetition and Dive, I explore the effects of fear on they body.  In Despair from Repetition the feeling of fear is derived from writing poems, and I explain how this fear is the cause of writer’s block.  In Dive, the fear is caused by swimming, and how fear can cause someone to freeze up.  The Eye and the Storm is an ekphrastic poem, in which I respond to Crimson Spinning by Andrew Gottlieb.  An ekphrastic poem is a poem that amplifies or expands the meaning of a piece of art.

Writing these poems gave me new insights on how to write meaningful and thought provoking poems.  What I enjoyed the most about creating my poems was making my ideas more abstract.  Even though it is challenging, it expands your ideas and gives them new meanings.  This makes the experience of the poem relative to the person, as everyone is going to feel a different way because of it.

The feeling that my Haiku is based off of is the feeling of fear from swimming.  To give viewers a better representation of my statement, I also took a picture that captures the feeling that I am trying to express.  In Digital Media, I produced music that reflects the emotion of the poem, and used Adobe Animator to combine everything and make a video.

Writing the haiku taught me how to be concise while abstract.  I had to get my point across in only seventeen syllables, so I used metaphors to communicate my idea in a way that was flexible.

I am exploring the feeling of indecisiveness from fear

The point of the conceptual art piece is to show a feeling of indecisiveness from fear.  To do this, I had to make my photo abstract and unconventional.  This allowed me to communicate my idea, but also show other concepts. Capturing and editing my piece expanded my knowledge on photography and the elements of design.  I learned how to portray things so that they capture the attention and interest of the viewer.

Every time I hear the word poems
A chill shoots through my back.
I try to write on the paper,
But the ideas do not flow.
They bounce around in my mind
Like a vase covered in bubble wrap.
This excerpt from my poem shows the effects of the fear of others thinking you are unintelligent.  When I write something, such as a poem, I have a fear that it will not be good enough, and will be harshly judged by the readers as they pick it apart.  This fear creates a feeling of indecisiveness, which in turn causes my ideas to be “covered in bubble wrap”.  Instead of being able to express my thoughts and feelings, I commonly end up writing something to fill the blank space.  This causes an onslaught of empty ideas which only prevent me from thinking clearly.  Instead of having a concise point expressed, I am left with meaningless words sprawled out on the paper. I represent this feeling of indecisiveness through my photograph.  My photograph shows a half cooked piece of meat with a knife laying on it.  In the corners of the photograph, thick cut pieces of raw meat lay on the white cutting board.  The pieces of meat represent my ideas when I write.  Instead of being small and easy to chew, they are big and hard to chew.  They are uncooked, showing they are unprepared, and cannot be taken in unless they are cut into smaller pieces.  The larger piece of meat is half cooked, as if the cook was unable to decide what to do with it.  Even though one side has been perfectly cooked, only the raw side has been cut from.  This represents how indecisiveness can stop you from seeing what is better, especially when writing.  The knife lays abandoned on the raw side of the piece of meat.  It still has pieces of meat on its shimmering blade.  The knife and the fork are uncleaned and unorganized, as if the person cutting the meat gave up.  Most of the trouble I had taking this photograph was caused by lighting.  I had to use a single lamp to define my focal point in the image.  There were many other sources of light that I had to play around with to get the best shot.

For my piece of Experimental Music, I take inspiration from modern jazz.  I used woodwinds such as the sax and trumpet to give my piece a very natural sound, while using drums to keep the beat moving and to give the song a smooth flow.  To create the music, I used multiple instruments that are built into ProTools, such as Xpand! 2 and BOOM.  Using a MIDI controller, I was able to create the harmonies and melodies in the piece of music.

This piece of Experimental Music allowed complete creative freedom.  It forced me to organize my ideas and apply them to create a product.  Though it can be intimidating to have such freedom in production, it made it much easier to express my ideas and feelings.