Project 3:

This multi-faceted project successfully demonstrated my skills I have gained over the course of this semester, while forcing me to consider both form and function- an aspect I rarely address in my tangible artwork. My alternative map created a unique path to experience the St. Mary’s campus. While I was not sure how I would be using the photographs as I was taking them, I knew I wanted to use this area, exposing it during the daytime, and providing a new perspective to a place typically used by people avoiding detection while committing questionable acts. I wanted to capture the adventure and journey of my drift, as well as the beauty in a place littered with beer bottles and graffiti. I quickly got very obsessed with my website that was to be the vehicle to display my drift, spending hours a day perfecting its simplistic aesthetic. I became so attached to my website in means of practicality for my career as an aspiring artist, I did not immediately consider how I was going to convey my photographs and journey in a functional way, but only how I could keep my website cohesive and minimalistic. Once I was satisfied with its appearance I then began to explore means of displaying my final project. Unlike my previous two projects, it was multi-dimensional with layers of visual imagery. This complexity posed a serious problem as it did not fit quite so seamlessly into the structure I had created for my website. I was also encouraged by my professor to provide more than one way to experience my drift. In order to achieve this, I decided to organize my images in both a narrative that can be observed at once, and a narrative that can only be observed a single scene at a time. I wanted the viewer to explore my alternative map, just as I explored the landscape. To do so, I included rollover images triggered my numbers along my path on my map. While I included simple instructions to the viewer, it still takes some experimenting and maneuvering of the mouse in order for the photographs to appear. The virtual architecture I created, was an exact replica of my living room at my old home, before my family moved. My house was a classic mid-century modern rancher, that included iconic furniture from this time period, most of which was designed by Le Corbusier. Because the furniture was so well known it had been created in the Google Warehouse of components. I couldn’t resist including these objects that I had been so personally connected. By including them into my landscape, I created literally my home away from home, and a private retreat that I could escape to, expressing a sense of nostalgia for a space I no longer in habited. While observers of my drift may not be immediately aware of my connection to the furniture and layout, I believe they can still grasp the idea of an interior space taking place in nature. This idea furthers my idea as my home had been designed very clearly with Frank Lloyd Wright in mind. The majorities of the walls in my house were either floor to ceiling windows, or stacked stone. I wanted to extend this integration of nature, and make it literal by placing the contents of the interior space directly into nature, vulnerable to the elements. While I was very satisfied with the space I created, my ability to display this space was slightly more difficult. My goal was to create the same viewing experience on my website, as you would directly in Google Sketch-Up, orbiting my environment. To do so, I took multiple snapshots orbiting around the space, and linked the images chronologically. With each click, the viewpoint evolves into and around the space. As I had mentioned earlier, I am satisfied with my overall aesthetic of my website. I think it is important for artists to have simplistic websites to display their work so that the viewer’s attention can be on the work and not distracted by poor formatting, faulty links, or contrasting colors. With this simplicity I was fighting to keep it clean, yet user friendly. Just as my last project’s simplicity perhaps created too much ambiguity, I was realizing that my minimalistic website could easily fall into this same trap. I also realized that prior to this project, I had never created a piece of art that had a function. With this is mind, I adjusted my website at least three times to include “back” buttons, and links to my home page on each page. I still worry that by making these links discrete, the user will not be able to move through my website as smoothly as I had hoped, but in the end I took this risk in order to maintain the aesthetic that I feel best enhances my work. In addition to creating a website for my digital work from this course, I also made links for my resume, contact info, and painting and drawing. The painting and drawing links are still works in progress, but I think will be very beneficial in the future, especially for my SMP when a website is mandatory. Examining this course as a whole I was incredibly satisfied with the broad amount of knowledge I have gained over a rather short amount of time. This knowledge is not only practical as an artist, but also immensely beneficial in the work force. In fact, because I was able to say I had experience with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver on my resume, I greatly improved my chances of being offered the Professional Fellowship position in the Boyden Gallery- a paid position that I actually was recently offered and accepted for next year. Although I felt the Artist Entries were a pain during the process of doing them, after the fact I found them important elements to realize the relevance and application of digital media in the art world. An adjustment that could be helpful would be to ask for entries directly connected to our projects as sources for inspiration. I did this when looking for inspiration for our vector portraits and found it to be really useful. This suggestion, however, is only applicable when we have adequate understanding of the project in advance. Especially regarding our final project, I wish I had been more aware of the project from the very beginning. If I had been aware, I probably would have taken different, and in my opinion, better photographs. I had actually wanted to re-take my photographs, but time constraints wouldn’t allow me to do so. Additionally, I think a major improvement would be to not require, or even suggest students to subscribe to Lynda.com. I felt that is was a waste of money, as you taught the tools just as well and effectively as their tutorials, and any additional aspects that I wanted to learn I could find just as easily, and for free, on YouTube and other websites.

Self-Assessment

Digital: