Poem Book

Presentation:

Page 1 : Actual Sand

Final Editing "Beach Sand Poem Visualization Book"

            In my poem visualization book, I wanted to emphasize that feeling of being a kid and remembering life. Many people when they are young go on a lot of family trips, many to the Jersey shore if they live nearby. So what I wanted to accomplish in the book was to install images that are reminiscent of the beach and the shore area, that go along with the poem, “Beach Sand”. I wanted to first go along with the imagery of the poem, but also include images you might have taken if you were at the beach. Since I live at the beach, I am used to seeing vacationers. Most of the people visiting take a lot of pictures at the beach and play with the sand; overall they are very excited to be there, and I wanted to include this feeling and memory in my book. I also included a physical part of my book. I placed a real beach sand covered page in the front of the book for the reader to interact with. I believe this interaction with sand really puts the reader in relation to the poem and what it is all about.

            I chose the specific book structure of a leather lace bound (appx.) 4 ½ in by 6 ½ in book so I could play off of the idea of postcards. Most of my images are 4 by 6 inches and they can also be seen as postcard images you could buy at the beach and send to family, friends, or for collecting. I wanted to keep with a beach color palette so I chose a light crème-sand paper for the front and back covers, a crème cardstock paper for the pages, and natural colors found in the beach images. I chose brown leather lacing because it complemented the book well. The structure relates to how I view the poem because when I personally think of the sand I think of the beach and being home, while I also realize that so many people come to the beach on vacation. Because of this tourist aspect, I decided to have the postcards as an aspect that both the tourist and myself can relate. I really like how it turned out.

            For the images and typography in my book, I first did a photo shoot to receive the images for my book. I went to the beach and took many different poses relating the beach and sand theme. I edited the photos in Photoshop, set the opacity lower for most of the images, and then transferred them into illustrator to add the text. I added text on paths that I drew and manipulated some text that I wanted to stand out more than others. Some text I did not want on a path, and I just did type work in Photoshop. After the illustrator files were done, I opened them in Photoshop and converted them to jpegs. I then put all of the jpegs together on a (2)12x18 document and printed on the pphaser.

            I constructed the book by making the covers out of cardboard and then covered them with a thick crème-sand colored cardstock paper. I cut all of the actual pages in a crème cardstock, and then punched holes in the left sides of al of the papers and covers. I used aerosol spray adhesive to attach my images to the paper, which was very effective in the polished look of my book. I bound the book through the holes with brown leather lace, and also in the back is a light brown hemp string with beads and a shell on it, which also relate to the book.

I used : Bauhaus 93 Reg and Handwriting-Dakota Reg as my fonts.

Self Visualization Right Panel

Self Visualization Left Panel

Self Visualization final concept

In  progress on this project i ultimately decided to incorporate the image of myself through the use of polaroid pictures, camera lenses, a polaroid camera, a bright cloud filled sky and hands of other people. I wanted to include the concepts that i only care what i think about myself, and that i ultimately control what i see and how i want to portray myself.The use of other's hand trying to cover my face in the pictures is showing that although people see my in their own way, i control still how i want to see myself. The left panel shows how i also incorporate my love of photography into how i see myself, for a camera includes a lense. i often symbolize another lense from a camera as my other eye, because in everyday life i often imagine and position how i view things as if i were to take a picture of it. i used a little bit of illustrator for some graphics in this project, took my own photographs, and used mostly photoshop.

Illustrator Excersive

Poem Visualization

Beach Sand by Raymond A. Foss

Maybe it is the memories
the change of pace that brings us there
the sense of vacation
maybe the smell of the place
the sights of the gulls, the dunes, the grasses
but oh it is the feel of it,
the crunch and slide of it
the feeling of beach sand
so different from dirt, soil, loam
no, not earthy, moist, rich,
but oh so granular and gritty
even when wet,
moveable paper spreading under toes
sliding beneath the soles
smoothing my skin
clearing my mind
unburdening me of the rest
drawing me to the tactile, the feel
of beach sand

 Found online, click here.

My idea for the Poem Visualization is to make this book a childrens book/ a beach experience book for all ages. I want to incorporate the text to symbolize the words such as wavy patterns and ripples found in the water. I will include many photographs of all aspects this poem covers like : the sand, ocean, the beach, feet, skin. I want to use a pressed natural paper for the cover and bind it with a beachside reed if i have access to it. I also want to include a cut out for real sand to be seen throughout each page of the book; this part would be attached to the back inside cover. The first page of the book i want to be a page of real sand that i will glue and dip on, and i want to cover it with a thin clear sheet so the reader will be able to physically interact with the subject of the book. Since this book is about the beach, i want it to be very natural in color, very beachy, and i will ultimately model it around the beach in my town that i love, named Ortley Beach.

Xiuwen-Sherman-Kahlo

Ciu Xiuwen

Xiuwen's focus on the woman body and feelings that go along with women throughout their 

lives is a very important idea. She uses the color white in her Angel series which can 

represent purity, change, innocence, and being forced to change via influence. 

The character in this digital art is a young female asian who seems to be pregnant. The

positions of her body and the poses and way she touches her body represent the feelings 

and emotions women experience. The overall appearance of these works are bright and

youthful and quite conceptual. Her use of steady color and relation between pieces

makes them relate very well together. The repetition of the asian woman in some pieces

tells us that this happens often and can be relatable to other women. It also shows

how much emotion can be involved in issues that someone is dealing with. Her work

greatly exemplifies femininity and the portrayal of feelings of women by women.

These pieces can also give off feelings of loneliness, depression, abandonment,

sadness. However, despite the array of difference in each piece they again all

relate with the woman, the colors, and in the leading position of the picture.

Cindy Sherman

Sherman is a woman photographer who prepares  sets to photograph herself portraying female stereotypes in all aspects of life. In her Untitled Film Stills she gives off this feeling of feminism throughout the images the viewer sees. However, despite the fact that they are all photographs of herself, the photographs are less about Sherman and more about the role and perception of the photo. Her works bring to the table these feelings, even though they are all mostly in black and white. Emotions and motifs i view from this series include confusion, introspection, disgust, change, glamour, the past and introspection, fear, regalness, curiousness, and even more. She makes the viewer feel as if they are missing something when they view her in the work. She seems to have this attitude that is like "you won't understand me" just because she seems to have and portray multiple personalities. By doing this, she is standing up for women and declaring that women have a significant part in life just as men do. Just as men can take on many different roles and have different personalities, women can do the same and do it just as well. Cindy Sherman is definitely one of the women artists that really makes you think about emotion and portrayal. She exemplifies the correct use of black and white photography by the use of the grainy-ness and almost 'out of focus' images in her earlier images from the Untiltled Film Stills.

Frida Kahlo

Kahlo was a popular Mexican painter who

used the vibrant colors that mexican painters

often used during her time. Most of her

paintings are

self portraits that point out her pain and

sexuality and point out her issues that she

dealt with with life events in her past. 

The fact that she painted herself in most

of her work tells us that she knew

herself well and she was comfortable with

herself.She claims to have spent alot of

time alone and  throughout her past has 

gone through alot of emotional events

which show her psychological and

physical wounds in her reality paintings.

The animals she uses throughout her

paintings provide shelter and tender

feelings for her and she uses alot of

surreal-ness (abstractness) and religious

 symbolism. Kahlo portrays herself as a

stoic, strong, perservering woman.

She has gone through alot and this points out her masculinity which is also 

seen in several of the portraits. She accentuates her eyebrows and her

jawline, even her bone structure as something more than womanly.

Kahlo is pointing out that she is more than a typical woman, and better.

She has this front to her that shows the viewer she has lived and learned,

and even that she is much more than what meets the eye.

In the end, all three artists portray their own type of feminism. Through common

women feelings and positions, stereotypes, self visualization, and introspections, all three

women artists portray women and self portraits in their own unique way.

Concept for Project 2 : Self- Visualization

As I began to think about this project, I ultimately thought about myself and my personality as the starting point. Some of my characteristics are that I am : thoughtful, giving, involved, always interested, organized, confusing, contemplative, resourceful, emotional, conscientious, influential, artistic. On the other hand negative aspects of my personality are that I am sometimes unmotivated, easily frustrated, un-persuasive, and hard to compromise with. I also though about what makes me unique, what makes me, me. I love not matching, I wear odd necklaces usually with large pennants or designs on them. I love colors and photography more than almost anything. I typically have dreams of extravagant vacations and of dream houses. I have always wanted to pursue a career in the art field since I was little. It started as an interest in fashion design, then interior design, then textile and architectural design, then art teaching, and ultimately to photography and graphic design. I like to sleep a lot, and on the same note I do my best work under pressure. I always read and think into issues too deeply. I often spiral things out of proportion. Something that is a small issue or deal to you, is most likely a huge issue for me. Despite my issue, I try to make light of every situation, life could always be worse in some way. I become emotionally attached to people too easily, and I trust people very easily. Change is inevitable, so I have learned to deal with it.
I began to think about my relationship to the world, to the people and places I interact with. This made me really think because I am not sure I can answer all of those. To be honest, I have never really thought of what my place in the world is. There are billions of people and how is it possible for me to stand out? I feel it is a pessimistic question to ask, but in other terms I, as a person in this world, do not have to be anything but myself. I only matter for my family and friends and the things that I believe in. I love my family, I love my friends. We live for each other, and in my mind that is all I really care about.
Back to the descriptions of myself though, if I could paint myself abstractly and descriptively, this is how I would do it. I would represent the color light purple. Light purple is said to be a color represented by creative and conscientious people. I love sunsets, so any color included in a sunset would be colors I would love to work with. Bright yellows, beach side oranges, and pastel pinks describe me. I am calm, quiet, sometimes reserved, sometimes talkative, inviting, friendly, and welcoming. Colors more natural, ethereal, and dark would not represent me as well. I am not pessimistic, moody, a hippie, nor a naturalist. I would probably take the shape of an abstract, un-organic shape because I am a complicated and ever-changing person. If light was an element, there would be a lot of light because I am an open person and I also love the daylight.
After all of my speculation I think I am going to artistically and abstractly try to represent myself in multiple pieces. I want to include similar color in all of the pieces, and also use repeated shapes ( ones I will create myself or find on the internet). I will probably use a lot of light, maybe using the technique of over-exposing parts of my pictures, or incorporated pictures. I also may want to incorporate black and white imagery for my past. Like black and white is the past and as I am moving on in life the pictures become more colorful. In the end though I am looking to represent me with some of my emotions and somehow represent them, then have my alternate sides of myself ( such as the side that is too trusting or unpersuasive). I plan on creating about 4 pieces all relating involving my 4 main colors and hues and values related to them. I want to include a lot of originality in these images and a lot of techniques I have learned in Photoshop as well.
Some symbols and images I would like to include are a lock and key, maybe fantasy dream houses, some of the necklaces and pennants I own, cameras, line and abstract shading/forms. I would like to somehow include some sort of imagery that shows how I blow small issues out of proportion. I might also want to include crowds of people throughout my project to illustrate how I feel about having my own place in the world ; feeling like just one other person in the crowd. Despite that note, I want all parts of my project to be bright and colorful.

Illustrator Excersize

using the pen tool, trace the object in illustrator.

Illustrator File for Project 1

Film Still Illustration

Finished Project
This is my final film still for our first project. I combined four of my photographs, with a futuristic scene and a winter scene. I also incorporated the use of many tools to duplicate the clouds and add a futuristic flying car.

Photoshop Class Exercise

Film Still Illustration Photographs

Artist Overviews

Cindy Sherman

Cindy Sherman's film stills are all of herself. Her use of black and white film is central to the theme and feeling of her artwork. Cindy seems to look different in each one of her pictures. From different types of clothes to hair styles and hair color, the images portray acts of motion and images in sequence. For example in the picture above, "Untitled Film Still #13" Cindy is reaching for a book off of the bookcase. In any literal sense we can imagine another still of her reading the book or pulling it off the shelf. She makes it easy for us to know her intentions of what she is doing before and then after the still was taken. Moreover, CIndy is portraying stereotypical women figures and actions from the postmodernism times. Also many of her images compare to women in movies.

Jeff Wall

Jeff Wall's images combine social and artistic views in his art work. Being a writer helps Wall to accurately describe his images with a spontaneous theme that is often hard to grasp. In this way, Wall is a "painter of modern life". Wall finds inspiration in older work like Monet in his work, "Picture for Women". So we are able to see that Wall is taking older influence and combining it with his modern views which results in his old-but-new type of work. You can pick up on his idea of tension in the pictures. For the characters are life-size, close to the front of the image, in the foreground. The background is usually visually clear and somewhat simple which makes us focus more on the relationships between the people in the pictures.

Teun Hocks

Teun Hocks is quite a comical artist. In his images, he is the central character. The images are set up in a way where Hocks is stuck in a situation or some sort of comical event. For example the image above shows Hocks holding a large pile of sticks, and there is one on the ground. As most people know, when your arms are full and you drop something it is nearly impossible to retrieve the item without dropping all of what is in your hands. Hocks uses imagery to relay a message or story. His images could be seen as film stills, for he keeps us wondering how these things are happening in his images. It is also notable to talk about his color palette. Hocks seems to use earthy tones and natural colors and he uses deep shadows and saturation to create moods. Irony and scale are major themes in his work.

Gregory Crewsden

Gregory Crewsden's images seem to focus on the idea of isolationism. Most of his images include deep saturation and dark colors. The images relay deep concentration, because it seems as if we are supposed to really look at the picture and find the story behind it. Many of the characters in the images are not interacting and it arises questions. However, Crewsden leaves us in the dust, as his stills suggest motion, or a "frame" in a sequence where we are wondering what happened before the image and what happened after it. Another part of Crewsden's work is the lighting effects he uses. Since he actually has large lights positioned in place for these images, we understand that the lighting and spotlight effect on the characters is a very important focus and part of his work.

My Inspiration

This is one of my own photographs. Photography is my passion, and i take great enjoyment in capturing the world as it is. My inspirations come from life itself. The people, the places, the feelings that encompass our world. Life is a realm of possibilities. I enjoy finding all of the possibilities that pass me by. I try to work with what is always in front of me, for these objects provide the basis of visualization, and I believe that inspirations fuel the world of art.

Lindsey Arlene Photography

To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place... I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.

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Besides my own inspirations i find in life, i enjoy the meticulous detail and inspiration in Isaiah Zagar's "Magic Garden" located on South St. in Philadelphia. Isaiah's folk art and various experience in all different types of art provides to be a vast display of life experience and intelligence. The entire garden is made by Isaiah using many recycled pieces, also known as junk. But you know as they say, "One person's junk is another person's treasure". Isaiah's artwork lives by this concept.

More about Isaiah Zagar