Exhibition #1: Joe Allen

When I was little, my parents immersed me in Native American culture. We went to go see museums on their history, watch the pow-wows when they happened, and visited some Native American territories on our way to national parks like Antelope Canyon. I’ve always admired Native American culture and their history, and I have even tried to learn how to make baskets like they made in the past. Therefore, Joe Allen’s exhibition, Tule Duck Decoy Maker, did bring back that love for the culture in my mind.

The exhibition itself was not big, and it basically showed the same thing no matter where you looked. Duck decoys made of tule were all that were seen in the exhibition just like the title straightforwardly stated. The only difference were the years the decoys had been made as some were made in 1993 while others were made this year. To most, I’m sure this exhibition must have been plain and pretty boring. However, this exhibition reminded me of the beautiful things Native Americans were known to make. It also served as a testament of how much time was needed to make something as simple yet useful as a duck decoy. The decoys were simple in shape and design, but I could see the practicality in it as well as the beauty of knowing how much effort was placed into making it. I also liked the differences between the newer and more aged duck decoys. There were not that many differences, but the older duck decoys were smaller and had signs of aging through the darker looks and spots on them. It went to show the artist’s improvement in his years of making, remaking, and improving his duck decoy models.

I really did enjoy this exhibit more than I thought I would. There was nothing eye-catching to the normal viewer, but it was beautiful in the way it showed progress and gave a big homage to a culture that’s sadly underrated but wonderful and unique in its own right.

In Memory Of Progress #5

November 2nd:
Sean and I both decided that the place we wanted to set up our installation at was in the courtyard in the CFA. It had a very open space with a few trees, and the glow of the Life Gems would definitely bring the attention needed for viewers to see the exhibit. I spoke with Carla Geib at the theatre department asking for permission to use the space as it was property of the theatre department. I also asked Serina for help about 3D modeling and how to use the printer. I also sent her two 3D models I had made in Maya asking if she could print them out so I'd have some test models ready.

November 5th:
Serina emailed me back telling me she'd help teach me how to use the 3D printer. I met her in the digital media lab, and we agreed to meet the next day for the lesson.

November 6th:
As confirmed, I met with Serina in the digital media lab to learn how to use the 3D printer. She had printed my two models though, as she pointed out, they were way too small. I first learned how to use Cura to make the models much bigger and rotate them correctly. She also showed me Microsoft 3D Model Repair to help clean up the models I made instead of me taking hours to find the loose ends I made in them.

Then came learning about how to 3D print. She showed me all the instructions of how to use the 3D printer when I had a gcode for the models with a good size in my mind. We printed the newly sized test gems, and she showed me how to fix clogs in the plastic tube after just so I knew.

The two gems came out a good size. However, the layer was too thin. There were significant holes in both that I saw. It was a start, but there was a lot more gems to be printed and a lot of fixing to go.

November 7th:
I went back into the digital media lab to try the 3D printer again. I got one print done. However, this was the same draft Serina and I had printed before...so I got a second copy of the gems from yesterday. On top of that, the clear plastic in the 3D printer wasn't coming out no matter what I did. I fixed it as Serina taught me too, and I cleaned the build plate as well. I ended up leaving defeated though I did email Serina about it.

In Memory Of Progress #4

October 19th
   After the very helpful critique of our progress from the class and Joe, we have decided to scrap the centerpiece of the stands as well as the animation. Like they said, it would be much easier to just take more time on the heart of the project which are the Life Gems and the stands they are on. We are also taking the other major piece of advice to research names for each stand (especially the tragic ones).

   I took time today to research a few names for the car crash stand. I was mainly looking for a crash which resulted in fatalities for a family, and I came up with a few names. I'll probably look at more later.

October 24th
   I took some time today to think more about the Life Gems as a whole. Specifically, I needed a list of how many I was making, and I needed to be sure I would be making them via 3D modeling. So far, I came up with a list of at least ten Gems to make. An idea I had was that, for more broken gems (the prime example being the pile of shattered gems for the bombing) I could make gems from resin molds and take a hammer to them. It's at least an alternate idea to look at since I do not know how well the material used in 3D modeling will break in comparison.

October 25th
   Sean and I took the entire day looking for the names we wanted to use for our stands for the project. The list goes as such:
- Miscarriages: Caleb David and Phillip Sawyer (twins) - February 28, 2015
- Drive By Murder: Tyjuan Poindexter (14) - September 19, 2015
- Car Crash: Thomas Garza (23), Lillian Luna (20), Brianna Garza (1) - September 5, 2015
- Bombing: Victims of the Erawan Shrine Bombing in Bangkok (20-27 dead) - August 19, 2015
- Full Life 1: Bridget Finn
- Full Life 2: Ramona Peters (nurse)
- Full Life 3: Olin Vinales and Benita Saquiton Aspili
- Full Life 4: Time Capsule = Sean and I

   For the eighth and final stand, we decided on making a time capsule sort of like a memory towards the future to give a lighter note on the topic. For this, Sean and I agreed that we could each put something towards the time capsule that was symbolic of our lives.

Once we had the names, we drove to Goodwill to find some supplies. Mainly, our search became driven towards the drive-by murder as we had decided to do two parts: a backpack spilling out things from his personal life, and an evidence box with the parts from the murder. We grabbed a backpack and a few other things (clothes for the miscarriage) before heading out.

On his walk later on, Sean started collecting pieces of car he found on the street to use for the car crash.

October 26th
   An idea I had for the miscarriage Life Gem would be tricky. Since the gems are for twin boys, I thought maybe shaping the gem in the form of two fetuses (maybe in a heart) would be an interesting idea. As a 3D model, I'm really not sure if I could do this. However, the resin idea pops into mind again and there are baby shaped molds out there. If I were to go by this, I'd probably do it via resin.

   Also, some pictures of the ideas we have for stands and the presentation:

Memory Progress #3

As I have been out cold for a good week and a half or more, I do not have much to give for this progress report. Sean has joined my team and has been very helpful in giving insight to the project. Now, the idea for the presentation of the project is well refined as is the idea itself.

The presentation will be a circle of eight stand holding the momentos of different people. Four of these stands will be of people who have lived or are living full lives. The other four will symbolize tragedies in life and honor those lives who were cut too short. For these four stands, we have decided to make a stand for a miscarriage, a drive-by murder, a car accident, and a bombing. In the center, I believe two computer screens or screens in general with a DVD player will be set up to play the split screen animation.






Each stand will be different in size and appearance to symbolize the different lives and memories, but all will have Life Gems in it. Like before, each Life Gem will be different in size and color. However, the Life Gems of the four tragedies will have profound differences. Though the four full lives will have complete and big gems, the four tragedies will not. The miscarriage will be a tiny Life Gem, the drive-by and car accident with be chipped or broken somewhere, and the bombing will consist of a dish that hold shattered Life Gems of different colors. The idea is that all will have a light rigged under it to give the necessary glow as a symbol of a lost treasure or the souls in particular.

I have done a few more silhouettes and will be focusing on mainly designing the Life Gems and completing the animation. Sean will help with making the stands.

Memory Progress #2

September 14th, 2015 

Along the ideas for the Life Gems, I came up with another project that worked better than the original animation idea and the family tree idea. My idea would be a split screen animation showing two sides of memory preserved and stopped in family trees. On the left side would be a girl who would grow from a baby to an old woman. She would get married, have children, become a writer, have grandchildren, and live a good life with a prosperous family tree. On the right side would show countless stories of people whose lives were cut short. Some ideas are a child who dies of malnutrition, a woman who gives birth to a stillborn child, a family who dies from a bombing, and a child who commits suicide. The purpose is to honor all lives despite if their lines carried on or not. It’s also to make aware that not all stories have a happy ending.

I started making a very base mock storyboard for it. I imagine my style for the animation to be a shadow puppet silhouette animation. Each silhouette would be made in Illustrator, moved like puppets in After Effects, and put together into a film through Premiere.

September 18th, 2015

I started on making a much more detailed storyboard for the animation. I wanted to focus on positions so that I could easily move certain parts of the silhouettes I design. The first storyboards were based on only one character (the babies, the little girl, and the malnourished kid), but I needed to think of space after since more characters would be introduced.

I also asked my parents to send me profile pictures of themselves.

September 19th, 2015

I thought that looking into silhouettes and artists like Kara Walker could help me in stylizing the silhouettes a bit more. I also received the profile pictures from my parents. I also looked more into the shapes of each Life Gem a bit more.

September 20th, 2015

I continued working on the storyboard. I might end up scrapping some of it because the figures aren’t coming out the way I want. I’m also having a bit of trouble with certain Life Gem shapes...especially the pear shape...I think I need some more practice. Specifically, Dad wants either a pear faceted gem or a smooth round gem, and I plan to do his first.

September 21st, 2015

Finished a good chunk of the storyboard. I believe the main character’s name will be Bridget Finn...short, sweet, has a nice ring to it. Right now, I have 2 set parts: the malnourished child who dies young and the newlyweds who can’t conceive a child. The next part will be the family who gets caught in a bombing and the actor trying to go for fame and fortune and losing it all. I’d like it to end on a good note with Bridget dying fulfilled in old age having just finished her book.

September 24th, 2015

Tried my attempt at a pear shape Life Gem again using a model to help. It actually came out pretty good though it took a long while.

September 27th, 2015

Worked on making a smooth oval Life Gem this time. Took a few times but it came out very good! After that, I attempted making a faceted oval gem using a copy of the smooth. It took forever but the results came out alright...trying to connect the vertices is very hard I realize, and I still messed up in a few areas. Made a copy with more of a tear shape.

Also, my pear shaped Life Gem seemed a bit off. I really hope it didn’t get corrupted...it took a long time to even figure out that shape.

Memory Project Progress #1

Saturday, September 12, 2015:
With my list of the people the Life Gems were going to be for written down, I called my family and asked others in person about their favorite color and ideal gem shape. I was glad to know that everyone, including myself, had a different style they saw. After that, I proceeded to attempt to sketch the shape of each life gem. Sadly, I don't have my brother's and am still thinking about one other.

Sunday, September 13, 2015:
My main focus for today was trying to create some experiment designs of gemstones on Maya as to practice a bit on getting the shape down. I worked to try and create a 3D modeled gemstone on Maya with the research I had acquired. It took a couple of hours, but I got a structure that started to resemble a gemstone which was a big step up. Once after, I worked more trying to make different shapes and edges on the gemstones themselves. After a bit of a break, I worked again getting even more variety in shape and size. I don't have the hang of some shapes yet, such as the emerald or the cut oval, but I'm hoping to ask for some advice on that in class tomorrow.

Individual Theme and Group Theme

Individual Theme: Memory

• What is one of the most common fears that never gets mentioned? In my opinion. it's the fear of never being remembered after you die. We all wish to leave some sort of momento for others to inherit and remember us by . In a bigger idea, a lot of us aspire to do great things: make films, become famous, write books and poetry. For my project, I'd like to look into the preservation and destruction of memory through the representation of different mementos.
• Some ideas:
• Life Gems: There is a choice in which a person can have their ashes be turned into a gem when they are cremated. This is a unique way of preserving memory.
• Family Lines: It is often thought that having a child is a way of preserving oneself. However, what if the line ends abruptly? What if a woman is never given the chance to be a mother and a man a father?
• Silhouette Animation: I think it would be a neat idea to do a silhouette animation (via Photoshop or another program) of things a person tries to accomplish in life and momentos in death.
• Momento Tokens: I would like to go to thrift stores and gather items that can be used as momentos. Things like shoes, watches, handkerchiefs, and other trinkets.
• Custom Mini Coffins: Along with the Life Gems, I'd like to design a few custom coffins in a miniature form. Some will most definitely be smashed.
• Journal: To complete the project, I would like to keep a journal on it talking about each day spent on the project. It can be a journal, an email log, or a podcast.
• Ideal setting: alleyways, hidden rooms, places you wouldn't expect to find momentos
• Art styles: 3D modeling (Maya), stopmotion (Photoshop and Premiere), craft

Group Theme: Obsession with the Comfort Zone

• As a people, it is much easier to stick with the things we are comfortable with than try new things. We can be drawn to a state of complacency, and we can be terrified by both change and the unknown. For a group project, I think it would be fun to do a performance or interactive exhibit showing this and breaking it for the audience.
• Some ideas:
• Texting vs Talking: It's much easier to text or type your true feelings than say them in person. The act would be a performance piece with someone talking as a computer monitor shows the type of their true thoughts.
• What Food We Choose: This would be an interactive piece where people will have the chance to try something new or stay to the familiar (McDonald's. Burger King, In N Out). It would show how complacent people are with their food.
• Things We Grow Out Of: Some people never grow out of habits or even items they loved as a child.
• Wheel of Fears: Basically a bravery test...see if you are ready to face your fears.