Explorations Unit

 

Welcome to my Explorations Website! This website is built around "Responsive Web Design," which means it situates itself depending on what technological device is used. The Exploration Unit gave us a chance to venture into our creative minds and create something that we've always wanted to create. In Design and English, we focused on our "Blink" brains, or the subconscious, and made our art from there. In Web/Audio, I created some music using Reason, a program which I've become much more aquainted with this year and hope to use a lot more in the future.

This is my last Freestyle project and I have to say that it is with a heavy heart I bid the program goodbye. Freestyle has taught me how to utilize creativity and fosters so much of it. The community is filled with fun, talented people who both inspire and make you laugh. The teachers are always willing to lend a hand and care about your success. Sometimes projects can get overwhelming, but when looking back on finished products, a sense of pride shakes your bones. The lessons I've learned, from English to Design to Web/Audio, are ones that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

In English, we were to create a funny, original screenplay then act it out. Me, Chiara and Ray wrote the script and decided it would be best to portray ourselves, but in a much more exaggerated form. Chiara was to be her "hipster" self, Ray was "preppy" and I was "peppy." I had such a good time with this project because working with these gals is such a treat, and to be honest, they're even funnier off the script. (video)

The Blink Unit consisted of reading Malcom Gladwell's novel, "Blink," and understanding ideas from the subconscious. A lot of it surrounded the validity of snap judgments, or the first thing that comes to one's mind. We based our art off of these by first meditating, then doing "freewrites" on certain prompts given to us, then created pieces based off the prompts. It was really interesting to just write whatever what was on my mind and see where my thoughts took me. Click the image to see a larger version.

I based my piece of of the prompt we were given: thought. Space has always fascinated me, even more so its magnitude. From colors to length, it feels so endless. I’ve heard of entire galaxies that shouldn’t exist, according to current laws of physics. The impossible can be possible in our universe. It’s a beautiful yet terrifying thing to be a part of. I chose to amplify my acrylic paint piece for two reasons: acrylic paint is my favorite kind of paint and it was the piece that turned out the best (which says a lot – I am not a hands-on art person, at all).

I used Adobe Photoshop to edit each portion of the work, especially to bring out all the colors that can easily go undetected. It made the piece look a lot more intricate than before. The 3D sphere effects on the paint makes the spirals it almost CGI-like, a tool Ms. P and I discovered together.

In Design, I made a fake magazine cover, featuring the ever-so-lovely Channing Tatum with makeup. It related to my English piece in the sense that it signifies how stereotypes and false expectation get in the way of what is really going on. Click the image to see a larger version.

In my humor piece, I used a combination of satire and parody in my humor project, a magazine cover. I got inspiration from a bunch of Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health magazines, then mimicked their fonts, word choices and how they constructed their photographs for my own piece. And, yes, I mean construct, not just enhanced, because nobody looks naturally like the way they’re exhibited in the picture… not even the person themselves!

Adobe Photoshop and InDesign were both used in the making of the magazine cover. It was a fun process, especially putting makeup on Channing Tatum. It suddenly hit me that I was actually doing what these magazine designers do, except when they distort the original image, it is seriously to make the model “more appealing,” while I was doing it as a joke.

The cycle of consumerism starts with making people insecure. Magazines like Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health need people to believe they are not appealing the way they are, and so if they want to look like the “beautiful” person on the cover of their magazine, they should read to find out what they need to buy. Companies advertise products in these magazines, from body-building machines to mascara, and have deals with the magazines because both benefit from the profit. I am so tired of people falling into the trap and these corporations taking advantage of people’s insecurities, then giving inaccurate advertisement to the masses. I wish there were more companies willing to be real, appreciate people of all shapes and color, and represent them.

For my WebAudio mini project, I decided to create some mini-songs. I've always enjoyed playing and listening to music, and in the Music Video unit I devled into a program called Reason to make the song. At home I like to fiddle around on my ancient piano, but after discovering Reason, I literally have access to an entire orchestra at my fingertips. It's pretty daunting, but I do enjoy it. These songs are me playing around with beats and tunes that I like.