Final Project

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5oOrYCm9MM

At first, I have no idea what should I do for this final project, but after looking at all the photos in my iPhone, I decided to use those photos to make a short video to document my life in OSU.  Since I bought my iPhone just before I came to the USA, so all of the photos in my iPhone were taken since I entered in OSU.  It is like my iPhone accompanied me, experience my university life together with me and document my life for me.   Before I started this project, I think this could be a review of the passing year in OSU, which will be extremely precious and meaningful to myself, so I was very passionate about this project.  

Then I started to make this short video.  When I chose photos from my photo album, I feel like I was looking back my passing year.  And I smiled when I looked at some pictures.  Also, I categorized them into my first Halloween, my first Black Friday shopping, I went back to China during winter break and my grandma's birthday, I traveled to Orlando in spring break, my dad came to OSU visit me as well as my 20th birthday.  I wrote some key words to introduce each picture.  I really enjoy in making this project, this project makes me think my life in OSU is not that boring, and it is kind of unique and interesting.  I also chose a song named “Journey” as my background music; I think this song is very appropriate here, because my study abroad experience is really a exciting journey.

When I completed this project, I am very proud of it.  I like to share it with my friends.  And I really like the last picture which is a line “to be continued…”, and the background music fitted very well here.  I think this is also fill the requirement “Please remember that you need not know how the narrative ends, just how it begins”.  After all, I believe this short video is not just for this course’s final, but also for myself.  I will be very happy that I made such a video when I graduate.   

Final Project- for Thursday Nov.29

Failure Paper

My biggest failure in this semester was I did not communicate with other students except my two friends.  When you ask us to share our opinions about the articles we read or the videos that we just saw, I just shared my opinion with my two friends, and I never shared my opinion with other students.  Also I did not make any new friends in this class.   I learnt I should share my opinions with more students from this failure, and maybe ask their opinions about my projects, and other people’s opinions can give me more ideas and improve my future projects.  Look back all of my micro projects, and I think my biggest success is micro project 3.  I used Photoshop to put my seven personal items’ pictures in a backpack, I carry all of them everyday but I never notice them before.   I did not notice my other personal items before I did this project, but after it, I began to notice small things that around me, including those things that are always there but I never noticed.  If I can redo one project, I would redo the micro project 4.  I think I did not put all of my effort in that micro project.  I simply recorded different sounds and put them together.  If I could redo this project, I would think it deeper and make it interesting.  I would make it longer, record more sounds in the coffee shop and even some little conversations and use garage band to repeat some sounds to make my project diverse and interesting.

Blog 10 Brainstorm for final project

The final project's topic is narrative.  At first I thought I can narrate Black Friday shopping, from my last year's experience, Black Friday is crazy.  People will wait outside the stores and wait for them to open.  And the stores usually have super attractive deals, like AF had 50% off last black Friday, and it opened at 12:00am.  All of those people are crazy.  Then I looked at my cell phone try to find the pictures that I took at last year's black Friday.  However, when I looked at my cell phone's album, I found I have taken more than 800 photos, and most of them were taken since I came to the United State, and I realized I have came to the United State for more than one year, so I came up with a better idea, which is I can do this project to narrative my one-year study abroad experience.  It will include the pictures of my dorm, my first pumpkin carving, my first Black Friday, I went back to China during winter break and my grandma's birthday, I traveled to Orlando in spring break, my dad came to OSU visit me, my 20th birthday and so on.  But I do not know if it okay to use old pictures to do this project.  After all, I believe this project would be great!

MP5

My word: heap

The project I choose is my clothes.  I wear my clothes everyday, and clothes are easy to alter, so I did not think about it too much when I picked it.  Then I looked up the word "heap" in dictionary, it means accumulate, gather, and load.  After thinking about my word's meanings, I came up with an idea, which is I can heap my clothes together into a pattern.  I have many clothes with different colors and patterns, so I thought heap them together maybe an interesting way to express the word.  I decided to shape my clothes into a heart.  I put my sweater in the bottom, then I heaped my shirts on the top of sweaters to make my pattern looks colorful and nice.  

MP4

The place I choose is a spot on campus where I usually pass when I walk to classroom.  It is a crossing between Central Classroom and Oxley's Cafe.  I have Art Education 2520 every Tuesday and Thursday, and the previous class ends about half an hour before Art Education class starts, so I usually spend that time in that place.  Normally, I will buy a cup of hot chocolate in the Oxley's Cafe and sitting on the chairs outside for a while, chatting with friends, watching people walking around and hearing waiter call customers' name to serve coffee.  It is usually 9 o'clock in the morning, so there are only few people outside, but more people are waiting in the line to buy a cup of coffee in the Oxley's Cafe.  I also noticed there are several squirrels near the tree, and the birds are singing.  If I close my eyes, I will know I am in this place by hearing waiter calling customers' names to serve coffee and birds sing, and I have recorded pieces of these sound in my work.

This is the URL for my MP4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XYytyZRGso&feature=youtu.be

Blog 9: Response to Carver R "Cathedral"

I just finished reading the short story called Cathedral, which is kind of long for me, but this story is interesting.  The story was about a blind man called Robert came to visit the narrator's wife, and the narrator was unhappy at first.  However, when his wife fall asleep, and there was him alone with Robert.  He tried to describe what he saw in the television to Robert, but he cannot say a word about what Cathedral looks like, then Robert told narrator to hold his hand and draw it.  Robert told the narrator to close his eyes when they were drawing, and the narrator said he felt something else and he would like to keep his eyes close for a little longer.  The narrator experienced something differently when he closed his eyes, I guess it is inner peace, he can feel he was in his home.

However, I am still a little bit confused about the story.  Why did the writer name this article "Cathedral" which Cathedral appeared very late in this article. Also, this story seems have no end to me.  I can only guess what will going on after the narrator open his eyes and what will he say to Robert.

Blog 8: Response to Wallace “This is Water”

According to the article, Wallace used a short story about an old fish asked two young fishes how is the water, but two young fishes asked back "What is water?" Which is also the title of this presentation.  This short story gives us the main idea which is we usually cannot notice something that is most important and obvious.  For example, we have an old saying in China and its meaning is we did not notice that we are happy when we are having a good time.  I believe this is approximately same meaning with this short story.

After telling the story, Wallace talked about the capacity to think.  He told a new story to illustrate an idea which is people can have different thinking based on same experience.  This told us to be a little less arrogant and do not have blind certainty.  Actually, this idea is very useful in our daily life.  We need to be a little bit critical about ourselves.  We should not be stubborn, and we should question our thoughts.  This idea can make us think broader and deeper.  Moreover, how to exercise control over our thinking is even more important form Wallace's presentation.

All in all, I believe Wallace's speech is very useful for us-university students both in our daily life and academic life.  How to think is an important capacity for us.

Blog 5 - Wexner Center Exhibition

I went to the Wexner Center to visit the exhibition of Annie Liebovitz’s art works last week. I did not even know her name before, but I think she is so brilliant after visiting the exhibition.

At first, I thought the exhibition would be boring, because I did not even hear about this photographer before, and I did not recorgnize any characters in the photographs when I was in the first floor. However, when I went to second floor and third floor, I found more and more famous people I knew in the photographs including famous actors and politicians. For example, there were photographs of like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Michael Jackson, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. I was extremely surprised by Annie Liebovitz is such a great photographer who can took photographs for all of those famous people, I even saw Queen Elizabeth’s photograph in the exhibition.  There was one another amazing thing that I found in the exhibition, which is I saw several famous photographs that I have seen before but I just knew they were taken by the same photographer who is Annie Liebovitz.  However, I did not understand all of the pictures that she took.  For example, there was a picture about a man wearing a suit was full of leaves.    

All in all, this exhibition gave me a chance to get know Annie Liebovitz and visit so many excellent pictures.  I really enjoyed this art exhibition.

MP3

My iPhone - I bring my iPhone everyday, because this is an indispensable tool for me.  I use it to check emails, wake me up and play games during leisure time.  I used this phone for one year and a half, so there are lots memories in my iPhone like pictures.  And one special thing about this iPhone is I brought it from China, so there are so many pictures that I took when I was in home.  Most importantly, I used it to keep contact with my family and friends who are in China.
One or two words- Miss home

My Buck id - I carry my buck id with me everyday, because it is a identification. I got it first day when I was in the Ohio State University. It is not only a photo identification, but also a that I am a university student now, which is a big change for me.
One or two word- University student

My watch - I wear my watch everyday, and it can remind me what time is it.  There is a funny picture of beard on the watch dial.  There is no numbers, so I need to guess the time rather than read the time, which is an interesting thing that I need to do everyday, and I enjoy it.  Every time I look at my watch, I have a better mood.  I think people can tell I am a funny person from my watch.
One or two word- funny, enjoyable

My key and key ring- My home key is very important, I need to use it to enter my home.  I bought the key ring from Orlando's Disney land.  I traveled to there last spring break, and this traveling is pretty fun.  This key ring is a little bit childish, but it can remind me of the great traveling experience.
One or two word- Love travel

My scratchpad- I bring my scratchpad everyday.  I write down things that come to my mind.  It contains a list of my homework and exams, a shopping list as well as a reminder of trifles.  It can show I am an organized person. 
One or two word- Organized

My glasses- I wear my glasses nearly every school day, because I am nearsighted.  However, it is just for my academic life.  I wear contacts when I do not need to study, because I am afraid wearing glasses everyday will make me look like a nerd.  Therefore, I think this shows that I care a lot about how I look.
One or two word- care about beauty

My lipstick - The lipstick was a little gift from my best friend.  My best friend knew that my lips are very dry in autumn, so she bought a lipstick when she went shopping.  I use it everyday in autumn, and it also shows I am very cherish my friend's love for me.
One or two word- emotive

This final image contains seven objects that I carry with me everyday, includes glasses, iphone, buckid, key, watch, lipstick and scratchpad.  I used a backpack as a background for this project.  All of these objects show that I am a university student who love travel. And I am a funny, organized people.  Also, I miss my friend and family alot.  However, these descriptions are the whole story.  These objects only show a part of my identity.  I am also a sensitive people and I love shopping. 

   

Blog 7 Response to Kaprow “Blurring of art and life”

From my perspective, this article gives me a big idea which is everything can be an art.  Kaprow uses an example to illustrate this idea, which is he brushes his teeth everyday and watches his eyebrow move up and down.  The rhythm of this is also an art for him.  Art does not need to be present in the gallery or theater.  Kaprow can observe many interesting things when he brushes his teeth.  One thing I remembered from the article is art shifted away from the specialized object in the gallery to many other things.

Moreover, there is one sentence that I do not understand which is "This is where the paradox lies; an artist concerned with lifelike art is an artist who does and do not make art."  I am confused about the phase" does and do not make art."All in all, I think this article is very interesting and brings me a new idea about art.

MP2

     I remembered I walked to Art Education 2520 class in the first day, because I live near the school.  I was kind of surprised when I knew the location of the classroom, because I never know there were classrooms inside the Ohio Stadium.   I was afraid that I cannot find the classroom so I left home earlier.  It is a little bit cold when I walked out the door.  There was not much sunlight and everything seemed so fresh in the morning.  I saw sky is light blue, several squirrels are chasing and climbing tree, few people walked to classes.  All surroundings are quiet and peaceful.  When I took a breath, I can feel fresh air and the smell of grass and soil.  I can hear squirrels running on leaves, my neighbor was cooking and the slight noise that their outside air-conditioner made.  I walked on the road and I heard clear and melodious sound that my feet stepped on leaves.  As I was closer to school, more people I saw and more voices I heard.  On my way to class, all students around me walked fast and some of them were chatting with their partner.  I felt the campus was alive. 

     Before I left home, I searched the location of Ohio Stadium on the google map.  Google map gave me a route to the destination.  When I followed its direction, I found there were much more buildings in my way than it showed on the map.  Also, since I am bad on sense on direction, I had no idea what is the route looked like when I walked on the road, but google map gave me a general idea about what my route looked like, which is amazing.  It was easy and convenient to find the location using google map.  After arriving at Ohio Stadium, I just followed the instructions that teacher emailed to us to find the location of the classroom.

     In my journey,  I did not walk to school alone. I walked with one of my housemate who has the same Art Education class with me.  We talked about trifles on our way to class, like what should we eat for lunch, which is my favorite topic and we can never made a final decission until it is time to eat.  Chatting made my journey not boring, also, it made me miss many scenes in my journey.  Since I needed to take pictures on my way, I payed attention to each building that I saw in my journey, and some of those I have never seen carefully before.  Also, we took pictures in different point of view even though we had the same journey.  I took pictures about several main buildings and roads' name.  I used a map from google map as my background and organized pictures that I took to make my map. 

Blog 6: Response to “Cardiff, Miller and the Power of Sound”

This article talks about Miller and Cardiff's artworking story, they worked in the same group of studio, how they had their first date and found they has so many things in common.  After they got married, their life was poor but they started their artworking with sound.  The Dark Pool was their first mature artwork.  The most impressive part of this article is one of the Cardiff's sentence, which is "Sound feels more directly tied to memory, to dreams, which are important to our-".  I believe this is so true for me even though Cardiff did not finish this sentence.  I also find one part is interesting, which is the author shared his walking experience with Miller and Cardiff about he reassured his stunned brain when he took his earphones out.

From my perspective, I cannot fully understand the artwork about sound and I do not know the fun of recording sound when I walk.  I may not choose recording sound as my career, but I will appreciate the artists like Miller and Cardiff. 

Blog 4: Response to Hornby “Nipple Jesus” article

This article talked about a guy was a nightclub bouncer, and his wife does not like his job.  His wife  wanted he has a more realistic job like opening a shop, and she lied about his job to other people.  He turned his job to a security guide for a controversial work called Nipple Jesus in an art gallery.  This picture was controversial, many people do not like it in the news.  However, the main character stand there for days and watch people look at this picture, he think is beautiful and holy.

At the beginning of the article, the man and his wife had a conversation about the man's job.  He said he want to be Tiger Woods or Richard Branson.  I thought he was unrealistic and kind of ridicules.  Also, his words are so rude and emotional.  However, when he changed his job to working in an art gallery and all of his thoughts about the controversial work, I changed my mind.  I started to believe he is a man who can appreciate art.  The ending is not like what I thought, which is kind of sad.  The man started to think of Tiger Woods and Richard Branson again.

MP1

Asymmetrical image

 

  Symmetrical image

 

Radial image

Person and their surrounding space

 

 

Person up close

An image from a point of view of an ant 

 

 

An image from a point of view of a bird  

A stable image

 

 

 An unstable image

 

My name on campus

 

 

The same thing about my experience taking the first ten pictures and the second ten pictures is they took my much time than I thought and I quit enjoyed these two experiences.  The different is when I took the first ten pictures, I can take whatever I want as long as I like the scene.  However, the second ten pictures have requirements, so I need to think about what should I take and choose the scenes that meet the requirements before I took pictures.  Therefore, I need thoughtful idea when I took the second ten pictures.  The most enjoyable process for me is to take a picture of my name on campus.  I need to find my own way to piece my name together which is a very interesting process.  My favorite picture is the image from a point of view of an ant.  I need to get down on my knees and pretend like an ant look up the streetlight to take this picture.  All in all, this is a interesting assignment.  It makes me feel like I am a photographer.

 



10 pictures

 

                                     

 

Blog 3: Response to the Walker and Barrett articles

From Walker's article Big Ideas and Artmaking, I learnt big ideas are important for professional artists, also big ideas can engage students to think deeper.  Sometimes subject is same as big idea, but sometimes subjects is different from big idea.  The article gives a example of Jennifer Bartlett to illustrate this idea.  Gardens are subjects in her work, but her big idea is rules and systems.  Additionally, in my perspective, big idea is also a essential part in our real daily life, like writing a paper needs big ideas for a student.

I cannot understand Jennifer Baetlett's work that inserted in the article, and I just cannot feel the same way as the article said.  I even cannot tell she drew a garden.  I think I need to try to appreciate art works and try to understand them.

From the second article from Barrett talked about interpreting visual art.  He started from denotations and connotations in visual art.  A example of an advertisement for Panzani spaghetti products was shown how the artist interpret connotations.  Michael Ray Charles's paintings were been deconstructed by teachers, students and even preschool children in this article.  

In my own opinions, I am more comfortable with students' interpret conclusion of the cover of rolling stone magazine. On the contrary, I do not fully understand the teachers' conclusion, and I feel the teachers' view is deeper and more complicated.  I am also surprised by that even kindergarten students can get some massage from painting, which is really amazing.

Response to the Kidd, Hickey and Weschler articles

I just finished reading the article of the book The Cheese Monkeys, and this article seems like a lecture.  The lecturer liked to use enemy as examples.  He talked about two-dimensional plane including left to right, top to bottom as well as big and small, and in the front of and in the back of.  One thing I remembered from the article is that the speaker talked about all of those are relative truth.  Moreover, I find there was a sentence is very useful, which is "Everything in between is what should concern you".

This article is hard to understand for me, for example, there are many words and expression that I do not fully understand.  The name of the book confused me.  What is cheese monkeys? Does this book have anything related to cheese monkeys?  Why is the book's name cheese monkey?  These questions were in my head the whole time during my reading, and I cannot find answers when I finished the reading.  From my reading, the article did not mention cheese monkeys at all, and I cannot see any relationship between cheese monkeys and the article I just read.  Maybe that is because I just read a little part of the book, so I cannot see the relationship.  However, I am just curious about the name of the book. 

The Heresy of Zone Defence starts with describing an amazing play in basketball, but since I am not a basketball fan, so I cannot imagine how good the shoot was.  Then the writer moved to talk about rules.  From the article, basketball is not a fine art, and basketball became less beautiful when it began to be governed by its rules.  In a nutshell, art should be liberated by its rules.

I find difficulty in understanding the relationship between liberating rules and governing rules.  I think there is not a clear boundary between what rules should be liberated and what rules should be governed.  Additionally, I believe  some rules should be governed even they are for art.

The third article is kind of professional.  It talked about use the face's muscles to produce 5000 different expressions. For example, using hyperrealistic facial animation technology for some cartoon characters, like Shrek.  This kind of technology makes the cartoon movie more and more realistic and amazing.

The technology and professional stuff that the article mentioned is hard for me to understand, but I do appreciate all of those technologies to make thoes realistic characters and some animations for my favorite movie Harry Potter. 

Introduction of myself

My name is Wenke Zhan, and my English name is Vicky.  I come from a beautiful coastal city in China.  I am a sophomore in Ohio State University, and I am major in Business, but I have not decided what specialization I should focus on, maybe accounting or finance.  I love to take a walk on oval, feed ducks in mirror lake and study in the Thompson library when I am in school.  In my free time, I like shopping, reading novels, watching TV shows and traveling.  Shopping is every girl's hobby, and I just love beautiful clothes and shoes.  Additionally, I have traveled to London, Oxford, Orlando and many places in China.  And I planned to travel to west side of USA.  Traveling is an amazing thing, which can bring me lots of different experiences and knowledge.   

Here is a top five list of my favorite TV shows:

• The Vampire Dairies
• Supernatural
• Gossip Girl
• The Big Bang Theory
• Nikita

Here is a photo of me