13/2 Final project

My final project is designed by using founded material, body parts, and scanography.
I created 5 series :

I used red pepper as a heart, m&m as the blood drop, and rose petals as the blood to show a lonely broken heart.

Sometimes we don't really know what we eat and drink. 

I used rose as petal as frame. Who is lighting the love?

I want to show the contrast of live and die,  empty space and fullness. Pay respect to life.

We have the right to know and the right of free speech.

I used a scanner to scan the objects and play with light exposure in the photoshop to get the best effect. Here are some screen shots of the material and making process.

13/1 Reflection on new form and new media

Looking back at the whole semester, I think over all it is a fun exploration.

Show my process: I really like the idea of documenting the process of art making. I think it servers as a great reminder for myself and others about how great ideas came up. The documentation shows people creative ideas are all approachable and they all come from life. I also think the making process may inspire others when they are dealing with similar subjects.

Explained the outcome: More than often the projects did come out in the way we designed, especially when we doing art with technologies. Sometimes the unexpected difficulties may force me to change directions, sometimes we get surprised that the technical issues actually server us as an advantage. I think it is important to keep the original design in mind and explain it to your audience. But be open to the new avenues that tech problems may lead you to, and let the audience know how you get here.

Linked to vocabulary: Now I know a little bit about the fancy terms in art and technology. I know what to expect if you tell me it is a 2D, 3D design or scanography, I think there are overlaps and combination between different categories. For example, many layers of a 2D design can create a 3 D effect. So don't let the definition limit your imagination.

Found multiple possibilities:  I like the varieties of homework projects came out as a class. People took the same topic to all kinds of directions by using technology. I always got inspired by others work and I also try to explore new ways to conduct an idea.

I persevered through the work: There are moments I feel I don't know how to do it. But I preserved and got the work done with the help from google and classmates. Pushing myself out of the comfort zone and exploring new areas is a great learning experience. Looking back, I realized I did learn a lot and I am glad I made this far.

Eliminated carelessness: Of course things are not done meticulously. I need to pay more attentions to details when I get familiar with the technology. Especially when dealing with design softwares, a tiny mistake could ruin the whole design or hinder the project from coming out.

Through the semester, I see a lot of technology can be used in the art classroom. Such as sound, stop motion, paper circuit, scratch and many more. Technology has made electronic material more affordable and easy to use. With the help from instructor, students can open new windows for self-expression and story telling.  More creativity can be emerged beyond paper and pen and more solutions would come from young students (designers).

For myself, I think I met my goals, and stretched myself in a way that I thought I could never be creative! I look forward to seeing and creating more art with technology in the future.

12/1 Circuit

For this week circuit, Yechen and I made a moving boat.

We first fold two paper together into a boat

we add conductive tapes to wire up the boat

Add power and motor

Add lights to the boat

Now we have a boat which can across rivers and oceans....

12/2 Reading Reflection

I really resonated with the following points, and here are some of my takeaways in term of classroom connection.

1. “Making is the most powerful way that we solve problems,  express ideas and shape our world.”

A good design like making, could also lead to solution to problems. In the art classroom, instructors should encourage students to have the mindset of problem solving and try to articulate their ideas by making something concrete. In this way, student would have a deeper understanding about what the key issue of the problem, and help others to understand their problem. On the other hand, students may get inspiration during the process of making, which could lead them closer to the solution.

2. The idea of tinkering – “Making things and then making those things better is at the core of humanity.”

In the art classroom, teachers should encourage students to keep trying and editing,  in order to find a better way to solve the problem. Teachers should give students freedom to trial and error, and help students get comfortable of failing and make them realize the best way to learn is though failure.  During the second half the semester, teacher should give students a chance to re-visit the projects they did before and see if they can use what they learned during the semester to improve the design.

3. Invent artistically  

Tools like Lilypad Arduino, is a great toolbox for students who want to create some artistic projects but lack of technical knowledge. The free online code libraries demonstrate a lot of common problems, which help students sweep away some of the their technical troubles.  Student can also self learn about what others did and modify them to fit their own specification and design.

11/2 Ideas of Final Project

Found material, Body, Scanography :

I am thinking of using some interesting/creative material and body parts to create a selection of scenography images.

11/1 3D print

We (Avery and I) collaborated on making the 3D model together.

We started to find interesting designs on the Thinkercad with idea of something small and we can use it in the real life.  We ended up with a dinosaur head, and we planed to use the tongue as a ring holder. Avery helped us printed the dinosaur head at her job.

Then, we started to design rings (fun part) , we stated to play around with the basic shapes in the Thinkercad. We also used a few designs from the community. It is really fun to turn something which doesn’t look like a ring into a ring. For example, we cut a inner hole to make a mandala into a thumb ring.

Switching from a 2D view to a 3D is not easy, but it is a lot of fun to move around the arrow keys and mouse to position different components and parts.

While, for some designs, because there is space between layers,  the printing process was not easy.

10/1 Laser cutting project

10/2 Comment on blogs

Avery (7/2 Sound), I love your sound piece. The sounds tell stories and take me on the path. The crisp sound from keys serves as indicator for approaching home. So many layers, quiet a journey.

Dahye(Impact 25) I really like the idea of personalized exhibition in the virtual world. It gives people a chance to view all their favorites at once. I can totally see it being used in the art classroom. Teachers can select art pieces which serve for the learning theme and interact with them by clicking on the images to get more detailed information. Very creative ideas and big potential for educational application.

Katherine (10/2 2D) The animal selection presents their unique feature: the big horn! Some good stories can come out of them. The color on the wood is so random but fun. For the cutting, the figures look very clear to me. I think it is a good idea to engrave the image twice to allow the cuts go deeper.

Regina (8/1 Stop Motion): I like the way you demonstrated mixed color effect through stop-motion, it is simple but effective. I can total see it being used in children art classroom to help them learn colors. The color motions are much easier to attract kids’ attention than still images, and it also can better assist kids to remember the before and after color effect.

Seung (10/2 2D) Cute key chain! The color and the wording both serve the purpose of reminding people " don't forget bring your keys!" Because it cuts through, it is interesting to find out letter O becomes a big hole. I saw you were playing around with the font in Illustrator. How did you make your mind to choose this fount over the others?

Wei (8/1 Stop Motion): Very cute design. The monkey avatar fits perfectly in the fun theme. I can see parents using this short demo to show their kids how each instrument sounds like. There is also a lot of potential to extend the demo to a full tutorial to teach kids how to play certain kind of instrument. The interactive elements also add gamification theme to the learning process. I am sure kids would love to play with it.

ZhenZhen (9/1 - Computation - Glitch Algorithm) I really like these pieces, there are very inspiring. It is interesting to see art images being manipulated in a heavy tech savvy way. I like the way you interpreted the image as bunch of data dots. The artificial error added a lot of funky flavor to the original art piece, very bold. You should create a collection by using this technique.

Takeaways: As the semester approach to the end, it is helpful to look back and see how far we get from the beginning. I enjoyed to see peers’ work and cool ideas, a lot of them are very inspiring. I also see a lot of educational applications through the creating process. Design for a purpose, I think the mission for art educators is not only create visually appealing art pieces, but also teach students how to express their creative ideas and empower medium to delivery their messages. 

Final Project

3 Subjects: Founded materials, Body, Scanography

9/2 Scratch in the classroom

The scratch experience is very fun and fairly intuitive. A lot of command blocks are very easy to understand, while some of them are not self-explanatory and needed some programming logics to understand and use them. I really like the command blocks which can be plugin by each other. The color codes represent the functionalities, and the shapes also serve as cues for users to play around.

Scratch is great for all student levels. Instructors who have basic programming knowledge are needed to guide students at the beginning, and answer all the questions and help those who are struggling.

Scratch can be used as a great to for designing interactive art. It allows students to upload their own images and they can easily add elements to make it interactive.

Scratch creates nearly endless possibilities for learners to explore, game, film, instrument. Students can create whatever is interested to them and share them with others. The most fun part is, Scratch makes art making process very engaging and collaboration happen very easily. Students can test out each others’ projects and keep build based on them.

9/1 Scratch - Get the ball

Instruction: Press the space bar to start the game!
                    Move the arrow keys to catch the ball !! Have fun:)

8/3 Lesson plan idea

The lesson plan idea is to use stopmotion as a storytelling tool in the elementary school.

Teachers would ask students to use a storyboard and set up figures and scenes which are needed for their stories. Students need to develop stories based on them. Instead of telling or writing the story in words, students would need to have the rough idea of the story in mind and place figures in front of the camera to let them act out the story, it is like an animation process, but much simpler. Students can also use a few text for interpretation,   

This kind of project can be done in pairs or in groups, and it is a great opportunity for students to practice teamwork. Since students would have different roles, such as director, camera guy, person to move the figures etc. Everybody have to contribute their part at the same time in order to make the story happen. 

8/2 Documentation

set up the foundation

start to build a house 

keep building  up      

adding more blocks 

make it stronger      

                     almost finish

the house is done     

8/1 Stopmotion - build a house

8/4 Reading reflection

Constructivism, the underlying principle of makerspace, suggests that the knowledge is not delivered to the learner, but constructed inside the learner's head. Learners are impulsed by solving a specific problem in a authentic context, where the intrinsic motivation drive them to learn science and math. Any new material can create new learning opportunities.  Student take control of their own learning as they take ownership of their projects; personal learning happen naturally.  These statements could be applied in both science and art.

I really resonate with the author in couple things. Makerspace helps students with their creativity. In that environment, students are encouraged and horned to express their thoughts and ideas in any forms. The results of their projects may not be important at all, but the intellectual processes employed during the making process are most valued.  This skill is a great asset to students which they can carried outside the classroom and can serve them for life-long. Makerspace also nurtures the spirit of not being afraid of failure, just test and try, which is also valued across different subjects. 

Another thing brought into my attention is the social aspect of learning. "Talking and working with others is one of the best way of cement new knowledge."(Martinez, S. L., & Stager, G. 2013). Makerspace helps to cultivate a sense of collaboration and build a learning community where students switch roles from learners to tutors. Students get inspired by each other, share their learning and help others, which are rarely seen in the traditional classrooms. In the professional workplace, no matter in technology or art industry, teamwork is crucial for successful products, it should be encouraged since students are young.

7/1 Sounds project

For the recording project, We (Katherine, Yechen and I)  want to track some sounds that have indications in our daily life. We would know someone is coming by hearing the steps. We hear the training is coming, before seeing it approaching the station. We feel cold when we hear the sound of wind and rain. These sounds create vivid images and sensations simultaneously when we hear them.

So we start to record the sound from the rain, from people's steps, from the subway and the sound from the radio on the subway. And then we attach a layer of classical music, which add a sense of luxury to the daily routine.  When we finished the piece and listened to it, I feel like I am experiencing a scenario, in which a person is listening to the classical music and walking in the rain to a subway station and take the subway. The layers give me more sense of a real life.

7/2 Reflections on the sounds

I have to admit that I never thought about the role sounds play in our lives. I take them for granted and never pay full attention to them.

Due to this week assignment, I start to listen to sounds actively. I recorded couple clips from the subway on my way to queens. I took subway a millions times, but never listen to the sounds on the subway. I unplugged my earphone from the music, turned off my e-reader, and concentrated to the sounds around me.

I start to feel the sound, feel the vibration, from all directions. I closed the eyes for couple minutes; I can hear the sound from the train track, the conversation from the people sit near by and the voice of radio on the train. I noticed that I was able to visualize everything I heard, the grind from the track metals, the faces of the people talking. Sounds encircled me and created a three dimensional space surround me. Sound presents more than a picture; it live up the scene, delivers a sensation, comfort or stimulants, and presents a vivid visualization, a phenomena. Our ears are very curious; they always want to find out where the sounds came from and the story behind each sound.  Sounds provide us a tangible approach to discover them.

Some take-away from the TED talk The Art of Listening.
-Listening is an act of generosity and a source discovery. 
Sounds send out emotions. Emotions get fulfilled through listening.
Listening is about focus and concentration.
Tune the body to experience the sounds. The drum skin can resonate with the body.
The power of the listening, instead of prevailing or persuading, give the other one a way to pour out and tell out what they are suffering and struggling with.
Self-recording (listen to ourselves) gives people more chances to express themselves in peace, (self-interview).