Macie's Masterpieces

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Remix is the Art of Your Time!

Art Idea #14: Remix Culture

Unfortunately, I was unable to share the music I remixed because the website I used wouldn’t let me download my creation with out paying for it. I am sad to say I didn’t realize this until after I put together what I thought was a master piece. Just for my own satisfaction, I am happy to tell you I chose to mix two iconic songs together and was very pleased with the outcome. The songs I so proudly chose were “No One” and “If I Ain’t Got You” both by Alicia Keys. Being that I was unable to share my creation, I thought I’d share one of my personal favorite remixes of my own past time (7th grade to be specific), DJ Earworm’s 2014 remix.

I felt as though in terms of freedom when creating my own mix, I was able to do whatever I wanted; in the aspects of fear, I think I was getting in my own head about whether to not I knew what I was doing (I didn’t) or if the mix even sounded good. I thought of so many things that could’ve gone wrong while making my mix, it almost took the freedom aspect away from me. As for empowerment, I feel as though I was discouraged because of my fear, however risk allowed me to say “whatever” and try new things with the songs that I thought might sound good.

Personally, I feel like when people Copyright their items that they are proud of their creations and wouldn’t want anyone to steal credit for what they may have taken forever to create on their own. I don’t think it’s as strict as it could be, but I mean there is only so much you can do to keep someone from stealing your ideas, this is an everyday issue with many other things as well.

For my own own remix, the license I would have chose would have to be the one in the middle, 6 flavors of Creative Commons license, but here is why; though I created the mix itself with the two songs, and it took quite some time to do so, I am not the creator of the actual songs. Those specific songs were professionally produced and created by an artists and for me to take full credit of those would be wrong in my eyes.

As for my experience in making my mix, I cannot tell you exactly what I did, simply because it is top secret (and also I have no idea what I truly did), but it honestly didn’t come out to be what I expected, but I think it was because I was holding myself to DJ Earworm standards, when that’s not at all realistic. I think all the controls and stuff on the screen were kind of stressing me out so I kind of just threw the songs together and hoped for the best while clicking random buttons and turning certain knobs.

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Artist Conversation #5

Artist: Kiyomi Fukui

Exhibition: The Green Thumb Project

Media: Paper

Website: http://www.kiyomifukui.com/

About the Artist

Kiyomi Fukui is a former student at Cal State Long Beach, where she earned her MFA in printmaking. She graduated in 2016 and is now working on many beautiful projects. Fukui is a Japanese-American artist who resides in Long Beach. Her bio states, “At the core of her practice is an attempt to capture transient intimacy, irrespective of media.” This introducing her love of telling a story with her art.

Formal Analysis

When admiring her Green Thumb Project, I found that its personal moment to her is what truly made the piece beautiful. She took a mold of her late mothers thumb and planted seeds in it and they sprouted beautifully. This was her way of sharing the rebirth of life. I find that is form of art is especially beautiful, because there are no specifications. You do not get to decide which way the plant sprouts, whether or not the leaves come out of the left side or the right side, or how many leaves there will be. I find that the meaning behind this project is what makes it truly admiring.

Content Analysis

When asked questions about her parents and her relationship with them, it was quite inspiring as to how Fukui answered the questions regardless of how uncomfortable she may be. She mentioned that her and her father did not have the best relationship because they disagreed on many things, which lead to inspiration for some of her other work that also turned out to be beautiful. She also spoke about her mother and how she never fully got over her passing, and how that has effected her art and her life since.

My Experience

When hearing from Fukui about her life experiences, I found it quite impactful that an individual can go through as much or more than she has and still be able to life a beautiful life filled with passion and love for what she does for a living. I felt compassion for her work as I too related to some of her experiences that have also led me to become a much stronger individual. After viewing her art, I found that her work what both beautiful and inspiring in a sense that it was real. Her art was based on real world things that people go through everyday.

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The Street is a Great Place for Art

Art Idea #14: Graffiti Writing (Pandemic Isolation Version)

So being that we are amid a pandemic, I had no access to paint or spray paint. However, I managed to smuggle a couple of crayons from my little sisters.

Now I am not the best artist, but I tried my best. I sketched my name out in bubble letters and then colored it in with pink and blue. This ended up giving me some bubble gum vibes so I was actually very satisfied with my outcome.

As for my experience while creating the piece; well I was actually quite bored. Mostly because I was forced to use what I had (a 3 year olds crayons). However, I also impressed myself because I had never tried to write my name in bubble letters, it had always been done for me in elementary and middle school, but here we are now. I finally did it myself and it doesn’t look too bad, at least not to me.

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Art Can be Sustainable?

Art Idea #13: Sustainable Art

My idea for sustainable art was to make my art out of recyclable items such as aluminum can, specifically; their tops. I though that the piece was quite reflecting of how we should be helping our environment by recycling.

I think my piece was able to reflect what I was trying to express, especially because of how simply the design was and how it was actually a little more difficult to think of what to do.

I think my choice in materials had a lot to do with what I ended up creating, but I am satisfied with my creation.

When it comes to the length of a kiss, it should last as long as the passion is existing. Meaning that the two individual involved in the kiss are the ones who decide how long it should be along with how passionate it should be.

A great meal should last as long as you desire. If you are really hungry, you might finish the meal at a quicker pace, whereas for others, the meal may be so great that they want it to last, thus allowing the meal to last longer.

A great work of art should last as long as it is appreciated, and that is up to the audience, as well as the creator. This is all upon perspective, as are many things in this world.

A marriage should last as long as the happiness within the bond of the couple. Sometimes people fall out of love, or realize that they were never truly in love and that is okay.

A human life should last as long as Gods will. We were put on this earth for a reason, and I intend to fulfill that reason, as I wish others will.

I don’t think the length of somethings existence should have an effect on how much we appreciate them. Our perception will always have an effect on how we experience things, but the lengths of their existence should not determine how we feel the way we do or how we see things the way we do. However, unfortunately not everyone thinks this way and this causes many things in life to go unappreciated.

I think my version of recyclable art is a good example of how clean, water, air and land should be sustainable and long lasting. We must do our part in helping the environment to be as healthy as long lasting, and appreciated as we wish to be as individuals.

We can all make a difference I doing our part on this earth, by always remembering to leave places on this earth better than we found it by simply picking up a piece of trash, or even by recycling.

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The Internet is an Art Gallery

Art Idea #12: (my) Virtual Art Gallery

When it comes to virtual art, I must say it is simply difficult to pick a specific style. I’d be lying if I said finding my artists all with in the same sort of theme was easy, because it wasn’t. However, I still managed to figure it out, and thankfully so.

I have chosen my theme to be majestic. The pieces I have chosen from my artists bring a sense of peace to mind at first glance. After being examined after a long while, you might notice that these pieces are all quite different, especially when it comes to pieces from different artists. I am glad to say that I did this on purpose. Now, it is obvious that all the pieces were going to be different, but I for one, am surprised at how similar they actually are.

The colors represented in every single piece play a role in how it can make an individual feel when observing. My first artist, Rafaël Rozendaal, uses only one color in is art along with some text. Though the text may represent some random thoughts and feelings, they are presented in an aesthetic and satisfying way. As for my second artist, Petra Cortright, her pieces are much more complex. However, they are all representing a scene. All of her pieces have flowers within them and a majority of a base color, but it’s the pop of color that brings a majestic feeling to it. My third, and last artist, Rachel Rossin, has pieces that are quite different from one another, unlike the previous artists, however, they too represent one solid color theme while sharing an aesthetic and satisfying pop of color to represent the majestic feeling I am trying to share.

Rafaël Rozendaal

Petra Cortright

Rachel Rossin

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Being Yourself Can Be Art

Art Idea: #11: Vlogging

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H97v96n5K2w&feature=youtu.be

My goal with this video was to show a couple days in my life while being at home, and honestly I’m not too proud of the outcome but I had to work with what I had and it ended up being pretty decent for my first vlog.

I think I accomplished my goal of showing what a day in my life looks like at the moment because this project is basically what I have been spending all my free time on and it shows.

Next time I think I will definitely be more prepared, I will likely also have a little bit long of a video. This one was very last minute unfortunately because of the kind of week I had.

I don’t really tend to watch YouTube too often but other than Emma Chamberlin, I would have to say that my favorites involve her, The Dolan Twins, and James Charles.

I like how exciting their work is, and how easily it is to get attached to them as individuals, I feel like a lot of their videos are quite real in a sense, especially since all three are in different forms of entertainment.

I can definitely get beside their realness, I feel like these YouTubers are pretty real with their fans, The Dolan Twins have even taken a break from blogging when they feel like it is having too much of an effect on their personal lives and I love that they still have the ability to know when too much is too much.

To me, authenticity is being as real as possible, letting your true colors show (in the best way, of course). It really shows who a person is and what they are actually striving towards.

A performance on the other hand I feel is just a big act to put on in order to impress others. In my sense, I feel as though I have gone through certain things and felt with certain people so much so that I don’t really feel the need to impress everyone anymore, I simply happy with sharing the real me.

Overall, I do believe that authenticity and performance can co-exist, I mean sometimes we do have to put our masks on (metaphorically) to hide what’s really going on in our lives because some things may be too much to share, or simply is nobody else business, and in that sense, a performance is okay.

I feel like when it comes to celebrities, it is part of their job to put on a performance, so when watching the videos of Jennifer Aniston on the Jimmy Kimmel show, I can definitely see a change of character because one video is for “work” where she has to present herself the way her managers and all her people want her to be seen. Where as in the second video, where she is at home, she can be herself. I don’t think that makes her less of a real person, I think she is just doing her job.

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Artist Conversation #4

Artist: Mahsa Soroudi

Exhibition: 7500 Miles Project (Unsafe Quarters), Natures Cadence (Inner Fragments)

Media: Paint, Photographs

Website: https://www.mahsasoroudi.com/#!plant-show/bzxke

About

Marsha Soroudi is an Iranian artist; she was born Iran in 1981 and completed her education there as well. Soroudi attended Sooreh University, Tehran, which is also where she grew up and was raised in a modern Muslim family. She got her love of painting from her father, who always loved the form of art.

After a week of being married, her and her husband moved to Malaysia for about a year where they learned English. They eventually moved to Southern California where they live now. They moved with the intentions of exploring, not with the means of escaping.

Formal Analysis

Specifically focusing on Soroudi’s Inner Fragments exhibition, the exhibition has many contributors, however it was curated by both Mahsa Soroudi, as well as Parisa Ghaderi. Both the curators, as well as the sixteen artistes involved in creating this exhibition are Iranian women who tell a story of life and work in Iran. The art is meant to portray the lives of women in general. I especially like this piece because some of the pieces are direct where some of them are abstract pieces of art. There is a piece in the gallery, with no title to be found on the website, that caught my eye. This piece is very abstract, it has many hypnotizing, primary colors and jagged shapes and it’s size is almost perfect in my taste, not too small, but not too big.

Content Analysis

In watching the interview provided by Professor Zucman, I learned a lot about Soroudi. I was especially interested in her succulent project which corresponded with her immigrating to the United States. She mentions that she enjoys planting succulents because it was her way of connecting to the world in the sense that she too had to plant her roots here in the U.S. and learn to grow here as well.

Synthesis

I found this exhibition to be quite inspiring in the sense that it touched base with both immigration as well as feminism. Though I am neither a immigrant or an established feminist, I found that it was quite interesting to hear what she had to say about her experience living in Iran and her whole process of ending up where she is now in Southern California with her husband and thriving in the art community.

The pieces presented in her website where very attractive, I wish I could’ve seen them in person rather than through a screen where I feel as though I only get 1/4 of the experience.

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Artist Conversation #3

Artist: Sienna Browne

Website: https://www.siennabrowneart.com/

Instagram: @siennabrowneart

About the Artist

Sienna Browne, a senior in CSULB’s art program, came to my art class to present about her gallery that is coming up on March 27, which unfortunately I will not be able to attend due to prior plans. Based on her website and Instagram profile, Browne seems to identify herself as an “artist, creator, and storyteller.”

Analysis

The pieces that Browne showed us in her presentation and the pieces that are posted on her website and instagram are all very fascination. They are all very colorful and enjoyable to look at. Just as she mentions in her bio, her work definitely does tell of some very fascinating stories that are actually quite inspiring to reflect on.

Content

Based on what Browne showed the class in her presentation as well as the art on her website and Instagram, it is very clear that she is very well interested in the pop of color and shape. There is not one specific piece that I can point out, simply because I have fallen in live with them all and the meanings behind them that she also explained in her presentation.

My Experience

I found Browne to be very inspiring with her work. She mentioned that she wants to eventually become an art teacher because she feels that art teachers are no longer passionate about what they are teaching and she wants to be able to inspire students in making their own art. I also found it empowering that a majority of her art had to do with something she was subconsciously going through while creating those pieces. A good example would have to be the fact that she was creating pieces that had to do with her eating disorder and only later did she realize that her pieces were actually reflecting what she was going through.

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Your Realism is getting in the way of My Romanticism!

Art Idea #8: Writing a (romantic) Pop Song

These are my (short) song lyrics, please keep in mind I am not at all musically inclined.

I met him on the highway in September.

I can still recall the baseball hate he wore.

He was drinking Coke on a warm night,

and I knew no one could ever love him more.

I promised him I’d stay with him forever.

He said to me, our love would never die.

But who’d have thought he’d meant what he said.

In my song, I’m trying to Romanticize about stumbling across the perfect man on a random night. Especially in this day and time because it’s so hard to find that person and connect with them right away, it’s usually a whole confusing process that nobody is really interested in going through.

I had no idea how to write a song, let alone a Romantic one so I had the help of a lyric generator, however the generator seemed to be from a mans point of view so I didn’t use the lyrics it gave me I just used the layout of them to write my own.

This was not necessarily easy in a sense because I know this song is not going to win a Billboard ranking or anything like that but it also wasn’t the most difficult thing either. It was actually fun to be able to play around with the lyrics.

I don’t think my song is successful in the sense that people would be dying to listen to it but I think it was successful in Romanticizing.

I honestly don’t think I will ever find myself writing another song, but I do love listening to music so for those who that the time to write them, I have a new profound respect for those individuals.

If I were to ever write another song it would probably be about a (non-existent) boyfriend that I could Romanticize about for fun.

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Cameras Tell Stories

Art idea #5: Storytelling (Photography)

Gabriel Gomez, 19, Current CSU-Long Beach Student At Korean BBQ Celebrating His Nineteenth Year Of Living.

Sophia LaRosa (Left),18, Mattias Franklin (Right),18, Getting Ready To Grill Some Brisket For Our Korean Dinner.

In Order From Left To Right, Macie Avila (Me), 18, Gabriel Gomez, 19, Sophia LaRosa, 18, And Mattias Franklin, 18, At Korean BBQ Getting Ready To Celebrate The Birthday Boy Himself

9 Others, Also At Korean BBQ to celebrate Gabriel Gomez Turing 19 Years Old

Korean BBQ, Raw Meat Waiting To Be Grilled And Enjoyed.

Samantha Plemmons, 18, Gabriel Gomez, 19, In The Car Getting Ready To Head Back To The Dorms After Enjoying A Korean BBQ Dinner

I chose to do this story because I feel as though a birthday in a way represents a big change in a persons life marking another year around the sun. Gabe is one of my close friends and the fact that he invited my to celebrate his birthday with him and so many of our other friends meant a lot.

I honestly think I didn’t do as well as I had hoped, just because I kept forgetting to take some pictures and then certain moments would pass and then my pictures would come out mediocre, so though they may have no meaning to you, they are actually really fun to me.

The “best” image in my story, I think would probably have to be the first one of just Gabe by himself. It was his reaction to us singing Happy Birthday to him in front of everyone in the restaurant.

I think the picture of the mean on the grill and the raw meat waiting to be cooked wasn’t necessarily a “great” picture, however it is still important to the story because it was the reason for going to the Korean BBQ place to begin with.

Next time I think I would try to take better candids rather than staged photos because those are always fun and simply happen to be my favorite. They also tend to show more emotion to viewers than a staged photo would in general.

I feel like there is always a story to tell when it comes to photography, and quite frankly I love it. Personally, I don’t know off the top of my head what other “photo stories” I could tell or would even try to tell in the sense that some things are meant to be more powerful than others.

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My First Blog Post

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Art is a good way to talk to your brain!

Art Idea #10: Drawing (Automatic)

Drawing the map of campus with my eyes closed I thought for sure would be a walk in the park, however it was actually more difficult than I thought it would be. I felt like I would have gotten it pretty spot on, and I mean, I wasn’t too far off but it definitely isn’t how campus looks. As for the one we draw with a partner, I had my little sister, Cynthia (6), help me out and we had our little audience member to watch, Layne (3). The automatic drawing was actually pretty enjoyable to do, especially with my little sister because she thought the would thing was funny to do.

The outcome of our piece is actually quite mesmerizing. I had Cynthia pick the two colors we ended up using, which were red and black. W started off with red and a few seconds in my sister opened her eyes and thought it looked “boring” so that was when we decided to add the second color on top. We then did the same process with the black pen and lasted a little longer but she was not satisfied so we did another layer of red and it actually come out to be a pretty cool piece. As I am writing about this process, both of my little sisters are attempting to do it by themselves because they think it is a fun game.