Question 9 from your first homework assignment is:
List 3 issues, topics, areas or social problems that you are the most interested in and explain how you incorporate or hope to incorporate them into your work.
Please post your full response on this page. You are invited to comment on other students’ interests.
John R
hannahalicea
mato59
Courtney
atalieg
esmej
rachiecakes
roxymaria
chelsj
faheemm
Adrian
karissa
cassienoelle09
kaiyam
tgonza
nichoooolas
rrrosie
sydstrawberry
yhahm
claireh
smilingzil
harvey232
pkurtz
allisonjones8
luhnizzo
sofie
Ashlee Mays
ix3tv
andhedrew
sscac2saic
breidenbach
Alice Jingxuan
schulzoneeye
September 9, 2009 at 8:59 am
Ecology: I really like the conflict between nature and humans. The way we try to recreate what nature can do for us, and how we think we are bigger than nature.
Depression: I deal with these issues and so do many other people. I’d like to be able to express how common it is, yet how very personal and unique it is to every person.
Abstract: I really like the idea of leaving interpretation in the hands of the viewer. I like for them to take away something I might not have thought about and to find their own connections to my work. Also, through abstracts I’d love to exert a mood or feeling and change their mood with my piece.
September 9, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Identity and Idealism: I am very interested in human’s own awareness of themselves,and how our idea of our personal identity and our ability to project our own identity affect the image that we perpetuate to others.(I wonder if it is a conflict of interest for us to attempt to define ourselves, for example)
Humanism:(Feminism of sorts)I’m very aware of the social dynamics of the female gender in relation to broader social contexts, but prefer to call myself a humanist because as I believe the assignment of the female gender is minimizing to women,likewise the assignment of the male gender is to men. I feel that many struggles come out of the polarizing of the “opposite” genders, and prefer to believe that we are all humans before we are gendered and therefore,share much more similarities than we often acknowledge.
Body/Technology:I’m quite interested also in the shift that I feel I am noticing in the spaces we as humans experience our existence. The body is no longer the only place we are ourselves, as we are capable of creating a “cyber-existence” through social networking sites, and blogs(…),and generally speaking I’m nervous about the way our lives are being translated and merged with developing technologies.
I would like these topics to be involved in every aspect of my life and my art making, and hope that once I’ve exhausted the consideration of these ideas they will progress into other areas of related (or not) ideas to explore.
September 10, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Open mindedness- the differences in life style, personality, and opinion in our culture today, fascinate me and inspire me to learn constantly. The flaw in our society is that people struggle to accept points of view that oppose their own. I Want to find ways to promote general acceptance amongst people through art and community work. Though I have yet to attempt this with my art, one of my main artistic goals is to open a dialogue amongst people that promotes acceptance.
Relationships-Most of my work thus far relates to human interaction. It has always been my belief that the relationships a person forages with the people around them define them as a person. People and human interactions are very important. Nothing can provide for an individual’s well being like human support. People need to embrace and be thankful for these relationships. And take the time to learn from, and converse with people in their lives. This is the most common theme in my work and I plan on delving further into the complexities of human interaction during my time at SAIC.
Environment- I have always gravitated towards sustainability and the environment; however, I find myself lost and confused in the ever-growing green movement. It seems that many things are labeled as green but in actuality do nothing to help sustain our environment. Therefore, I feel I need to further research this topic before I integrate myself, and my work, into this movement.
September 10, 2009 at 11:15 pm
I honestly don’t think that I have any political or social intentions for my work in the present. My work isn’t very social or political. I may have these influences sometimes but not often.
November 27, 2009 at 12:34 am
Atalie,
I couldn’t resist reminding you that to say that your work is not very social or political, is a specific social/political position!
Does that mean that you believe that “art” is the current capitalist commodified system controlled by certain people who have the power to determine what is good art, who makes art, how much its worth and who can “own” it?!
September 12, 2009 at 12:15 pm
The Journey- the way I see it, everyone is born and everyone dies, so I’m interested in how people use that time in between the two. I personally have a list of things I want to do before I die and I like to use that list in a lot of my work. I like to get other people thinking about it and compare their own journeys. For instance, a lot of people are worried about going to school, getting a job, getting married, and getting retired. But by the time they have completed all these tasks they’ve realized that they’ve miss out on the simple things like milking a cow, flying a kite, trying to make fire without matches, and being an extra in a film. They miss out on all these experiences that really help them experience life.
Environment- I’m really interested in how peoples surroundings affects people and how they live their lives. Chicago is such a large area that if you take a 15 minute ride on the el then the city seems to transform into something completely different. I’d like to explore how the different suburbs of the city affect the citizens.
Obamaland- I’ve watched the news and seen how President Obama had, at one point captivated the nation. Now that Obama is spending more money than any other president ever has on ridiculous things like bailouts and spending all of his time fixing a perfectly fine healthcare system, I’ve noticed that his popularity has decreased. Moving to Chicago (Obamaland) I almost expected to be bombarded by Obama supporters. What I would like to figure out though is how strong the city’s faith in him actually is. I would like to learn whether Chicago supports him because this is his hometown or if they share the same views with the rest of the country.
September 15, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Personally, I don’t think the rest of the country has lost faith in him. But thats just one opinion. I mean, I don’t think people view Obama with the hopelessness they felt with the Bush administration. I have faith in him, and I do not think it’s because he is from Chicago. My roommate is from Austin, Texas. She is one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met, and she supports Obama a great deal. But those are my thoughts and opinions on it.
September 12, 2009 at 11:51 pm
My work inspirations don’t really come from the idea of political or social issues. Just more so things that entrance me in life.
The Seven Deadly Sins- These are the most inspirational aspect of life to me personally. I work with many different mediums to represent each of the sins and I use colors to bring out the life in my creations. The idea of the seven deadly sins really fascinates me because we all have one dominate sin out of the seven (sloth, lust, wrath, greed, pride, envy, or gluttony).” To each his own” is a phrase I think can be applied here. I am in love with the fact that these sins can bring out the best and worst in people.
Alice In Wonderland- This is one of my favorite books and movies. The way that innocence and madness is portrayed really makes me wish that I could fall down a rabbit hole. Each time I read this book or watch the movie, I see certain things that I never saw before and make me think of life in a little bit different light. This story portrays ultimately the artists ideal wonderland to me. You can be as mad as a hatter or as innocent as a little blonde girl, either or you belong. I have not yet figured out a way to interpret my ideas about these works to bring them to my own art. But I would someday like to bring that same feeling to life through my own creations.
These are the main 2 influence to my work right now and there is no real third idea, item, etc. that has really made an impact on my creative drive yet. So these two ideas will have to suffice for right now.
September 14, 2009 at 2:59 pm
The social problem that interests me varies. One is about what is beauty. Next, is about how people get education in different countries. Third, is about our environment. Last, is about why the cultural level differs from one country and the other.
Until now I have only focused on the concept of beauty. Especially when I start painting I think about beauty and expect my final piece to be looking beautiful. In the world, everybody has a different perspective about beauty; however, it is still not a solid issue until today. Beauty has been remained in the art pieces within the artist’s hands as a specimen of beauty, which represents the period. Moreover, throughout the world beauty will change forever. It will be difficult to be beautiful and more difficult to know what being beautiful means to all of us. Thus, I hope whatever I paint will be the next ‘beauty’ and remain in history.
I’m trying to interact within my interests and in my art but it is still hard for me represent words when I paint or draw a piece.
September 14, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Discrimination: against the poor, women, and youth, and how these groups bring negative stereotypes to themselves. To incorporate this in my work I hope use cheap materials, and incorporate images of these social groups in a positive but not forceful light. I want to show that these groups hold tremendous opportunities, I want them to be proud of whom they are.
September 14, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Honestly, my work here, and previous to SAIC has been ever-changing. I’m spending my time right now at school thinking of those issues that I would like to incorporate into my work. Right now I’m dealing with the more “technical” aspects of my artwork, and exploring the mediums I’m working with rather than trying to delve into political or social issues. I guess a few of the topics I skimmed upon last year in some of my pieces were linking things together through pattern and movement, sort of looking at objects, people ect. in a different perspective and placing all of the bits and pieces into a whole. I think as an artist of course it is important to include topics that deal with current society and so forth but I also think as an artist is is important to explore the imaginary (things that don’t necessarily have to deal with topics of conflict, rather, topics of personal interest.) Of course as I grow more aware of the things going on around me in the world and make sense of it all, I will be able to include those topics into my work.
September 15, 2009 at 5:27 pm
List 3 issues, topics, areas or social problems that you are the most interested in and explain how you incorporate or hope to incorporate them into your work
1. The unconscious and subconscious. Surrealism.
2. Psychological driven art.
3. The leap humanity has taken towards technology, scientific knowledge, and industry, and away from worthwhile relationships with people, tasks, and experiences.
September 15, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I incorporate surrealism by immediate drawing, and drawing what i dream, and by putting real subjects in surreal places.
I haven’t used the other two yet, but i will.
September 15, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I was actually all over the place.
• Pebble Beach, California – Junior Boarding School
• Kent, Connecticut – Prep College Boarding School
• Seoul, South Korea – Home
And now I can add Chicago, Illinois into my list. This places really helps and incorporates to me because all these places are so different, west coast to east coast and now in the middle. Also Kent, CT was right next to the border of New York so I had many chances to go to Manhattan. So by living in these varieties of different places, I was able to realize and learn a lot about different cultures in one country.
September 15, 2009 at 8:56 pm
I do not search to explore political issues in my work but instead social issues.
Family Relationships- I look forward to investigating the differences in family culture and morals in upper and lower class families.
Friendships- What does a friendship require?-similar backgrounds, similar political views, similar aspirations…
Personal Identity- What is it that shapes each individuals identity? Is it their upbringing or is it their natural mindset?- nature vs. nurture in true identity
September 16, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Past issues I have dealt with in my art have been domestic violence (because of close friends who have been effected) and another topic about my mother who has been sick (fought off cancer and a stroke). I think though that coming to college is a big change in a person’s life, and I think that I would like to reflect that in my art. When I was working on art about my mom it was at a time when I really needed to express myself and release my feelings and stress from home. I want this new time in my life to also include new art subjects. I think I will move away from what I have previously worked with and try out some new subject matter for my art. These are a few ideas that popped up:
Animals – I have always been interested in animals (drawing, playing with [such as a pet] or just observing them [zoo]). I also like the idea of personifying the animal. As humans I think we sometimes think of the animal as below us, but I have always imagined the animals really being smarter than us—they don’t have to worry about twittering, or updating their status every hour. I would like to incorporate them in a representational sense or in a spiritual way (nature vs man theme?).
Psychology – I took AP Pysch in high school last year and it was one of the most interesting classes I have ever been in. Psychology helps you understand why people are the way they are. That sometimes someone can’t help being a certain way because it their brain has been physically altered. I haven’t quite figured out how I want to include this in my art, but I know that Psychology really interests me, so why shouldn’t it be included in my art? I don’t have to become a psychologist to use what I learned about it. :]
Innocence/Growing Up – I am currently reading Peter Pan right now and the idea of always having some sort of “inner child” is also related to this. My friend also turned 19 and was freaking out because it is her last “teen” year and she didn’t want to grow up. But who really defines when we are “grown up”? Do we have to leave our childhood behind in order to be an adult? What about those that witness “grown up” events at an early age?
September 16, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Thought/emotional Process: I am interested in why I have the thoughts and emotions that I do and where they come from. Really. I guess self analysis, but not only for the sake of myself but for the sake of connection with others. Understanding and being understood by other humans. As an artist I believe exploration of oneself is extremely important to creating truthful art work. An artist has to be able to identify the truths about themselves, as well as the truths about the world they occupy. I know I can’t “figure myself out”(I don’t think anyone can), but at least I can keep a healthy relationship going.
Mental Illness: Specifically manic depression, which runs in my family. Being depressed or manic is to be in a place where you see the world quite differently then lots of people. I want to express that particular perception, if only to contribute to a more dynamic and understanding world.
Re-creation of human form: That is to say how I communicate through representation of the physical being, and how the objects I create based on the body communicate with me, the artist.
September 16, 2009 at 3:00 pm
List 3 issues, topics, areas or social problems that you are the most interested in and explain how you incorporate or hope to incorporate them into your work
1. Autism and Special needs in children: I have in the past volunteered in an Art Therapy program involving special needs children. The stories of these children have always inspired me however I have never incorporated any of this volunteer work or experiences in any of my artwork. I love the idea of helping create an awareness for such pressing needs as Autism through artwork that can potentially reach millions of people.
2. African Culture/Genocide: In high school I was an activist for the coalition Save Darfur and i worked with the organization to raise awareness of the trials that happen everyday in the African society. I have always incorporated this idea in my artwork because I feel strongly about human rights and equal opportunities for all people. I never want to get away from the idea but I would also like to explore further ideas and maybe try creating from a different approach.
3. Family Dynamics: My family is dynamically abnormal. My father died when i was young so I live with my mom, brother, and two grandparents who my mother takes care of. We have always been able to function as a family unit normally but it has always interested me in the more dysfunctional end of broken families. I would love to research that more and incorporate those ideas in future artwork.
September 16, 2009 at 7:53 pm
List 3 issues, topics, areas or social problems that you are the most interested in and explain how you incorporate or hope to incorporate them into your work.
1. Social/Moral standards: In high school I took a class called Literature/Social Justice, which actually was more of a Social INJustice class. The class explored the downfalls and shortcomings of human understanding. Seen in countries all around the world, it’s surprising to see how often humans can be so cruel and ignorant. In high school I made stencils and sold shirts raising money for non-profit organizations to better these causes. I plan to continue my artwork around this subject.
2. Cultural differences: Even with the globalization and diversity of our world, both racial and cultural differences create a deep division between a group of peoples. You can easily how critical race is–despite us claiming that race is not something we use to judge–by simply thinking about what people first think of when they meet someone: “Oh they’re Asian/Mexican/White/Black/etc.” Along with this topic, I would like to explore the hypocrisy often unseen in our society.
3. Drawing styles: Even after taking several strictly drawing classes, I am still exploring other artists’ work to see how they rendered a hand or a particular object. I am interested in drawing styles because no matter how many drawing classes I take, there will be more to see and styles to tap into. Only through the continuation of art will i be able to satisfy my interest and curiosity.
September 16, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Creation/Destruction: I’m really interested in the cycle of creation and destruction. I find it fascinating how in destruction there is creation and in creation there is destruction. I believe this to be an ongoing and continuous process that is apart of life that sometimes we overlook. I incorporate this issue into my artwork by including a mood that focuses on either creation or destruction but I also add other elements to counter and balance the mood of creation or destruction.
Dreams: We all dream and I’ve always found it to be a way to become in touch with another side of ourselves. I think we are most honest in our dreams. We can’t really run or hide from our dreams and sometimes they even reoccur. I believe our dreams provide us messages and answers we are looking for in our waking lives. In my artwork I incorporate dreams by recreating the experiences and fantasy worlds I encounter.
Identity: I think the search for identity is always important for everyone. We are constantly trying to figure out who we are and where we belong in the world. I primarily focus on my own personal search for identity in my artwork. I usually incorporate identity into my artwork by using my own issues and struggles to search for my identity.
September 17, 2009 at 12:25 am
1. non-use of media/pop culture/etc. i took a media arts course in 10th grade and learned to be very cynical and skeptical of trends, the media, and pop culture in today’s world. that’s not to say i shut myself in a box and don’t let anything come inside or affect me in any way. however, i do try to stay away from specific imagery, text, or popular ideas that might date my work or give it a certain feel.
2. sensation and perception. i am fascinated with color and sound, and try to look to the roots of such things for inspiration. i also have synesthesia, a condition where senses are perceived as multiple senses, which i try to incorporate in my art whenever i can.
3. simple, sustainable design. i eventually want to go into designed objects, and want to focus my attention there on making simple, environmentally friendly pieces. i haven’t quite delved into this yet – the closest i’ve gotten was making a set of small lampshades out of straws last summer, but i haven’t really continued with the idea since.
September 17, 2009 at 12:41 am
I am very interested in unity amongst community, and the automatic disconnect that occurs in such a highly populated environment.
Everyone being able to freely express his or her voice and opinions is a big focus in my artwork.
With my photography I also very much enjoy being able to spread the beauty and important happenings of the places that I go with others who may not have the opportunity to see the same things.
September 17, 2009 at 1:59 am
I am consumed by the problems in education at the most basic level, community segregation, and the lack of intimate connection in this hi-tech world. I hope to work toward change in these arenas through my own art center. I want to provide integration and involvement of the arts and personal interaction to a larger variety of people.
September 19, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Almost all problems of society are related to environmental issues and they all stem from population.
There’s not enough resources for everyone on Earth, and identity issues surround the issue of population overload.
Three problems that I am interested in are
1. The issues surrounding identity and population. It’s getting harder and harder to make sure everyone on Earth lives decently and has an opportunity to be known and successful. Especially living in a city, it’s so easy to lose yourself in the crowd. There’s plenty of art and literature that correlate to the idea of the identity crisis.
2. Ecological problems relating to the city. The government and professionals spend so much money trying to figure out why there’s so much crime and depression in cities. It’s not natural. The Earth is set up so perfectly, but we just have a knack to wipe out everything and create new. It’s not natural for us to be in these atmospheres so of course we will be depressed and have problems. “In wildness is the salvation of the world.” ~Thoreau
3. The last issue corresponds with the 1st issue. It’s the matter of disconnection. There’s so much hostility between people. Most relationships between people that I have witnessed are so superficial, and it seems that no matter how close we are to each other, we are still so disconnected. Communication is key to the world, and the lack of it is a definitely linked to most troubles in the world.
September 20, 2009 at 7:35 pm
The top three social problems that I am most interested in include the gay rights movement, recycling, and global warming. More than anything, I am focused on gay rights. I feel that art could be one of the best approaches to fighting for equality for the gay community. At the moment, I’m not sure how I would want to specifically incorporate these problems into my art. I am hoping that the class will help me develop ideas to how I can go about doing this.
September 20, 2009 at 8:12 pm
The first issue that I would like address with my work is Romania. I
have been to Romania for two different medical missions trips and I
have learned a lot about the children and lack of medical care in the
rural areas there. The country is still so corrupt, like international
adoption is not allowed because people in power were allowing orphans
to be adopted into slavery or trade in return for bribes. If I could
make a name for myself this is one of the issues I would turn to first,
I would make sure that the political crowd is aware of this as well as
civilians. If I could corporate it into my work I would most likely do
that through photography, going back to Romania and taking pictures of
these children and the area—a photo speaks a thousand words all on its
own.
September 21, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Homeless: Since moving to Chicago I have been confronted daily with the plight of the homeless. I am interested in the stories surrounding the life of these people. I would like to document images illustrating these stories.
Fantasy: I am interested in the role fantasy plays in art. I want to explore various aspects of fantasy: capturing fantasy in everyday life, exploring fantasy in fashion photography, and enhancing the quality of life through fantasy.
Different cultures (travel): I am interested in cultural differences. I would like to capture images of differing cultures sharing universal truths.
September 22, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I am very interested in absolute truth, education and justice. I hope to rise through the ranks to the status of Tetsuya Nomura or Miyao Miyazaki to where I can call my own shots and have complete control over my projects. I plan on using the medium of video games and/or anime to introduce these themes and to educate the people.