Final Project - Hemophilia Claymation

For my final project, I worked on a claymation project that focuses on the lives of people with hemophilia. I first focused on interviewing different people in the hemophilia community including those who are directly affected, parents of the children with hemophilia, and the medical professionals who help them. These interviews became the basis of the story that came to unfold in the claymation.

I originally was planning to use 3D models, but I changed the idea to clay after thinking more about humans. As humans, we are very fragile, and our skin is quite soft in comparison. Using clay seemed to be a much better and much more malleable medium. The colors were also a key thing in the video. The red people symbolized those with hemophilia, those half in red were carriers, and those completely white were completely void of the hemophilia. This is based off of the charts shown to explain hemophilia, and I believe it to be one of the strongest parts of this piece.

Another thing I wanted to do was to create a cohesive set that could be used to tell the story. The main method I found in doing this as through the use of a set that could be spun to help further the story along. The use of rotation and different yet linked rooms worked well in this case.

This story is one that is very dear to me as it personally affects both me and my family. In the end, I am very happy with how it came out, and I hope in the future that I can improve this video to create something even better.

Artist Exhibition - Austin Pratt, DJ Tilley, and Erin Shearin

During the month of April, I went with a bunch of my friends to see the artist exhibition at the Jot Travis where the BFA graduates’ works were being held. There were plenty of works to see and even slight little handouts to grab.

One thing that drew both my roommate’s and my eye were the tar abstracts on denim canvases. First of all, using tar and denim as a medium is a very interesting method, and I really did like the idea of tar as a different kind of paint. As for the pieces themselves, each piece drew out a different sort of sensation in my mind. Some of the pieces seemed very angry and remorseful while other pieces tended to bring a feeling of uncertainty or fear. They drew my mind to a world painted by the tar, and each piece brought a certain scene to mind. It was quite pleasant to see a set of pieces that held so much emotion in such a unique fashion.

Another installation that also drew my attention were the human/animal infant sculptures. The sculptures themselves were very well done and well sculpted. It looked so good that I slightly cringed at the sight of some of the sculptures. I understood that the point of the pieces was to point out the ecosystem and make a comparison that humans and animals live in the same environment, but the point sort of got overshadowed by the grotesque nature of some of the pieces to see. My favorite sculpture of the lot was the owl infant as I enjoyed the texture of the features in contrast to the smoothness of the skin.

The last thing I enjoyed was the slight interactivity of the gallery in the form of these little pieces of paper that were there to grab. Each piece held a different command so to speak. The one I received said “Place this on the window of a stranger’s car” while most of my friends got the one saying “Take this paper, burn it, and let the ashes be carried by the wind from your hand.” These words, though ambiguous in meaning, seemed to carry a strength in them. It felt as if some sort of burden, known or unknown, was being lifted from our shoulders. In that sense, those tiny pieces of paper held a lot of power.

Overall, this was a very fun exhibition to go to with a great variety of art and different responses in seeing the pieces.

Artist Lecture - Joel Swanson

The first artist lecture I went to go see was Joel Swanson at the Wells Fargo Auditorium. My first impression of him and his art was that it was really different as it dealt with the frames of language. It was not a topic I was very used to hearing being brought up in the art world.

To be honest, when it comes to art, Swanson’s style does not really strike me as interesting or fascinating. It is rare to find typography art that really catches my attention. However, the neon sign NO/NOT/NOTHING had a unique vibe to the project. It felt like there was an ambiguous message to be said with that, and I felt as if the piece could be well used for a number of different audiences. The piece itself could very well be used to help people who are struggling with different issues or help with environmentalism. I also liked the t/here piece he showed as I could see his themes of the materiality and technology of language in play. I could also see his creative play with the two words stated there as I did with NO/NOT/NOTHING. Homophone was also a very interesting take on words that were similar in spelling yet different in meaning.

The most interesting piece Joel Swanson showed was a piece named Sol Lewitt’s “Sentences on Conceptual Art,” Diagrammed. It is something that quickly took my eye as it definitely stood out amongst all the other pieces. The form of the lines and the branching-like webbing all gave a unique perspective to his typography art. To be honest, I cannot say if this is typography, but it certainly does fall under conceptual art well. It sort of reminds me of the braille language if lines connected those dots. It’s a very beautiful piece in its own right, and I believed it to speak greater than any of his other pieces.

Overall, Joel Swanson’s lecture was an interesting one with a unique take on art. His themes on materiality, indexicality, quirks, inconsistencies, and technology of language did show in every piece he showed. Though the art style is not one I hold much interest in, I could clearly see his point of view in making the pieces.

Artist Exhibition - Nick van Woert: Pink Elephants on Parade

During the beginning of the spring semester, I went with a few of my friends to see Nick van Woert’s Pink Elephants on Parade gallery exhibition. The exhibition itself was an amazing abstract display of different materials and textures. 

One of my favorite pieces was this piece that hid what seemed to be like a statue of Poseidon behind a plastic-made cloud of smoke. The effect of the tar in the back, the paint over the plastic, and the colors that gave an lava-like effect embodied a brilliance to both the environment in destruction and to past history. When I looked at the piece, my mind was brought back to the historical destruction that had befallen Pompeii in Italy which had been described as the “wrath of the gods” during that period. 

Another piece that really drew my attention was this coal sculpture with pieces of metal stuck in it including a metal bar. For some reason, the piece itself spoke out to me as one of those unique creations land art can make. It reminded me of the industrial times in history where coal was a highly used resource. The piece also spoke out to me as a sort of message to how much humans consume the environment and resources in it. 

There were also pieces in the exhibition which brought up personal feelings of nostalgia. The strongest example of this was a piece that was a framed piece of American pine bark that hung on the wall. In the past, I went on many trips to national parks with my family, and I hiked a lot as well. Seeing the pine tree frame piece, I felt nostalgic and remembered some great memories of hiking on the trails and smelling the fresh scents of the trees. 

Overall, I believe that there is an unspoken feeling each of van Woert’s pieces have to them even if they may not have a clear cut meaning. All of the pieces felt nostalgic of certain memories I had in the past, and each piece made me feel different emotions from destruction and wariness to happiness and satisfaction. I really enjoyed going to the exhibition and looking at every piece he had to show. I believe that he has a great style and that I could really connect to van Woert’s art better than others.

Artist Lecture - Tehching Hseih

During the last two weeks, I went to Tehching Hseih’s lecture on his art. My first impression of him was that he was an interesting man with funny parts at times and a very unique style to his performance pieces. To me, performance pieces can for the most part be very slow and a bit boring so it’s nice to see a performance artist who actually does pieces that intrigue my eye.

One of the things I absolutely love about this performance artist is the sheer originality of his pieces. Tehching Hseih always seems to have an organized plan with his performance pieces as well as specific rules and a set start and end date. Each piece is unique in itself since the piece always seems to have a comparative situation to it. For example, in 1983, Tehching Hseih and Linda Montano did a one year performance piece together. In the piece, they’d always be together in the same room at the same time, and this would be accomplished as well by an eight foot rope connecting each other. However, the two performance artists would never touch. This sort of gives the feel of an unhappy marriage in my head and how though two people could be bonded to one another, it may not produce a happy ending.

Of course, the year long performance pieces that really blew me away was the Time Clock Performance piece done from 1980-1981 and the Cage Piece from 1978-1979. For the cage piece, Hseih stated that he would be stuck in a cage for an entire year refusing to talk, read, write, watch television, or listen to the radio until he was unsealed. For a person like myself, that kind of year long process would probably drive me a bit insane since I rely on drawing or writing to relieve stress. In his Time Clock piece, Hseih went to a room where he would punch in a card for a time clock every day for a year. That sort of taxing day to day repetitiveness also would be something that drives me a bit unnerved since I do like to do different things every day. I was impressed with how thorough he was in these pieces as he got a friend to bring him food in the cage and maintain it everyday, and he also got witnesses to sign that he punched in the time clock every day. Dedication like that is something people do not see often, and I believe it to be something that draws people to his work.

Overall, Tehching Hseih was a great man to listen to. He has very funny moments but his works also struck a chord with the exact timing. Even the six minute video he showed felt so long in comparison. There’s a meditative charm to his works and I really was glad I went.