Art and Stuff

[thebrokeblog]

Hypocrisy

For my performance I wanted to focus my concept around Hypocrisy that exist on the social media sites today. Hypocrisy is not something that has existed only since the creation of social media websites.  However in my opinion I feel that websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, create and cater to hypocrites. These websites are places were people from different cultures, subcultures, belief groups, ideologies, and walks of life congregate and communicate and I have noticed that a lot of the time people will try to change the way they are viewed or perceived online versus in real life. Often I see people actions in real life conflict and contradict with what they say or post or pretend to be on online.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I really love the themes you introduced through your performance! This was definitely a really thought-provoking and interesting piece, on a topic that I don’t think gets as much attention as it really needs. The only thing I think I might change if I were doing the performance would be to talk just a bit louder, as sometimes I couldn’t hear exactly what was said. Awesome work! 

[filtzgood]

Performance Art - Single use plastics

This is my public intervention project part II, and applied as my performance art piece in its disassembly.  This piece has been in my yard for a good minute, and while the interaction with my community was more in seeing the passersby stop and look, mostly with smiles, some with gawking irritation, I was happy with the overall public response.  I had some kids volunteer to talk to me, and that became the highlight of the process for me. As I stated in my artist statement for the installation, this is an important and critical issue for the future of humankind on the planet, and we have to pay attention.  The issue has been casually regarded, and individualizing the issue, giving people the impression that it is enough to recycle, and that will solve the problem is misleading.  The issue is far reaching and all industries are needing to respond to the issue with urgency.  Recycling on an individual effort  will not take care of it, and just that will not slow production or the processes that are in place in manufacturing.  This is an industry issue that can only be powerfully addressed through consumer choices.  Do not support companies with irresponsible policies, and products not easily disassembled for component recycling and reuse.   This is a movement of consumerism and the choices that we make in our purchasing, as much as it is an issue of effort to help an overwhelming issue in its scope.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I really dig how you your projects tied into each other, and for me, it really makes it feel like it’s an ongoing process, which perfectly reflects how we all have to take the time to give back to our planet and at the very least, recycle. If I had to change anything, I think the only thing I might change would be to try and get all of the video parts in one shot, and just speed up the last part of disassembling it in order to avoid editing. 

[janaechapman]

PERFORMANCE ART PROJECT

I really struggled with what to portray/act out in my performance video. I knew I was drawn to the concept of process the most out of the three choices. Ultimately, I decided to “perform” the act of potting a much overgrown pothos plant cutting that I have been procrastinating on transferring for many months now. The simplicity and mundane-nature of the act of potting a plant was attractive to me. As straightforward as something like that is, I think it’s fitting and somewhat profound for this current time. So many of us have resorted to simple pleasures and hobbies to fill up our time and give us joy, relaxation, and comfort. I know many people have started or returned to gardening or taking care of house plants in particular. It destresses us and gives us something to do during our empty time, but it also provides us with a little bit of hope. During a season that makes people feel so stuck, helpless, and pressured, it is reassuring to watch the faithful process of nature, of a simple plant that grows and continues in its cycle, unhindered by a global pandemic.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I really enjoyed this piece! I really like how you used simplicity in your favor and by doing something comforting, you made it into a performance and a piece of art. If I had to nitpick something to change, I think I might have changed the camera angle a bit, just so I could capture the actual potting process as well. Great stuff!

[guaminator]

Performance Art Project - “Head in the Clouds”

I personally don’t find myself with my head in the clouds at the best of times. It’s important to me to stay grounded and focused. But, in times like these, it’s difficult not to let my mind wander off. The uncertainty makes it easy to worry or stress about a lot of different things. For this piece I laid back to stare up at the clouds and just immerse myself in the moment. The ambient noises of my neighborhood snapping me out of my thoughts every so often. I wanted the mirror to show not only what I was seeing, but its positioning related to my head being an on the nose nod to the title of this piece and common phrase. The framing was important to me, splitting with half ground and half sky. Symbolizing where my head was at mentally while resting there physically as well. With everything going on in the world today it’s easy to get overwhelmed, I wanted to capture a moment of just taking a step back and escaping for a while. I debated on making it a time-lapse but decided against it at the end, the ambiance felt more immersive to me. 

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I really dug the simplicity and creativity of your project! The way you laid your head on a mirror showcasing the clouds brought your ideas and themes forward in a really ingenious way! The only thing I think I might have done differently if I did this project, would be to try and do it on a stormy day, only in order to try and capture the state of mind I’m in. Great work!

[kathemediina]

Spinning Out

Dancer and Ballerinas have techniques thanks to that they do not get dizzy when they are spinning out also with time and practice their brain adapt and also, they become resistant. I am not a dancer and I do not know the techniques and for this performance I put my self in this challenge. Endurance is what I select because most of the time we put ourselves in a comfort zone and is good to take challenges and see how far we can go and that is the main idea with this performance because knowing that we can learn techniques or just practice everyday sometimes is better to see if we can make it in our own. Also in the performance I want to show a progressive way of how is so easy to start and resist and then just get some more and more and how the body, mind (off balance) and emotion also can change.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I found this to be a really cool project! I really like how your title, themes, and performance go hand in hand, as well as how you chose some very interesting themes to explore. If I had to change anything, I think I would only change the progression of the spinning. I think I would start start out slow, and then slowly ramp up to as fast as possible, spinning continuously until I fell down in order to further portray endurance.

[ty-bjork]

“The result of unconscious bias,— instinctive, underlying beliefs about ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality, social class, religion, and so on. This may be largely unintentional.”

Although there is equal opportunity there’s not always equal outcome. I wanted to create a piece that speaks to the wonen, specifically mothers in the workplace. I feel like Covid replaced the glass to the said ceiling in regards to motherhood. Question began to arise... Who is going to stay home with the children in the case that schools go back to remote learning? I know this is not all the time, I know that circumstance make a dramatic difference, but I think that this is a huge setback for women in the workplace especially for mothers. I am trying to portray the struggle and also spread awareness of how the regression will start to oppress mothers in the workplace especially in fast pace fields of work. I want to portray this in three ways; first the symbolism of climbing the corporate ladder, then tapping the glass ceiling and trying to break that barrier, and last swallowing the “hard pill” of make the chose between family and work.

The repetitive motion of the ladder symbolizing the journey so many mothers are on to make to true prosperity in the workplace. Looking up to the potential and accepting the challenge to clime the ladder time and time again. I placed a doll at the bottom of the ladder, representing the symbol of children that this is not just women in generally but specifically mothers. I used the tapping of the glass as a symbol of trying to breakthrough. I did not tap hard intentionally, this symbolic to the energy it takes to get through this barrier. Last, I used swallowing of pills to symbolize the the hard pills we have to take to sacrifice for either our family or our job.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I really love the themes and ideas of your piece! These ideas need to be brought up and asked about, so that they can’t be ignored by the people would would gladly just leave them there. If I had to change anything, the only thing I might’ve done would be to try and connect all of these actions in one performance, just to add to the continuity and avoid editing.

[mirandapanda415-deactivated2020]

The Pain No One Sees

https://youtu.be/YikTRKAXdV0

Chronic pain. I have been living with it for twelve years now, and I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. It is debilitating, scary, angering, anxiety-provoking, and depressing, just to name a few.  In my piece, the X’s on my body represent areas of chronic pain, and as time goes on, the intensity gets worse, which is the type of chronic pain I have suffered through and am still suffering through. Most chronic pain is invisible to many people, so my intention with my performance art piece is to bring awareness to the pain no one can see. Since chronic pain is long-lasting and is an effect from many diseases, I wanted to also represent the estimated 50 million people in the United States alone who suffer from chronic pain along with me. Even though so many people suffer from it, I don’t think chronic pain alone gets enough awareness, so I hope my performance can do just that.

P.S. This was VERY out of my comfort zone y’all but I did my best :)

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I thought this was a really interesting project! I honestly didn’t know so many people in the United States suffer from this condition, and it’s honestly heartbreaking. The way you portrayed it was also really well done. If I had to change anything, I think I might try to keep going a bit longer, to see if I could make it so you really couldn’t even tell where the x’s were anymore. Great work!

[thekellyangryberger-deactivated]

Artists have attachments- many are drawn to garbage and the discards of others. I include myself in this group of people. I also tend to hang on to my own work. As I was scanning paintings from the last two years (one of those projects I finally have time for) I spiraled through memories of making each work, and the places that inspired them. Much of my painting work was made during a year-long period of travel in Asia and South America. For the first time, really ever, I spent time with this massive body of work and sorted it. Filed it. Organized it. Tossed the ones that I didn’t need, or didn’t seem worth saving for reuse. I scanned as much as I could stand to scan- and now these images exist in the DIGITAL WORLD! These paintings have spent the last year in a drawer and finally, they can see the light. 

While working through these memories it occurred to me that I had lost them until that moment I hadn’t any more. I’m not sure if that even makes sense. But what if I could edit out bad memories? Summon them to the surface like the boot reeled in on a fishing trip. Paint them. Shred them. I will read into the camera a few details of these memories before simply letting them go. I think we all owe it to ourselves to let go of shame- something I would say to someone else but have never allowed myself to do. 

As a self-critique, I do narrate this project through the video. I have a hard time with stopping myself from talking.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

This was a really interesting project! As a 2D artist myself, I also find will look through old works of mine and almost relive the memories I created while making the piece. It often feels like another lifetime, even if they are only a few years old. If I had to change anything, the only thing I might do would be to make a stand for the art to sit on while I talk about it, before moving it again, so that someone might be able to see the inspirations or even memories in the piece as I talk. Awesome stuff!

[ashtonrosek]

Performance Art: Indecisive

For my performance art project, I decided to create a process piece. The meaning behind this piece is about the constant pressures and beauty standards in our everyday lives. Each day, we see advertisements from the fashion and beauty industries with unrealistic images of beauty. It results in anxiety, low self-esteem, and low self-confidence in the majority of women. These images make women unhappy and self-conscious of their body, their hair, their skin, their clothes, and their appearance in general. 

This is when women begin to try and reach these unrealistic goals of how they believe and society believes they should look. They become indecisive about their appearance.

Here are some of my indecisive thoughts throughout my process of getting ready each day:

“Dressing comfy sounds fantastic, but I feel like I need to dress up.”

“I really want to leave my hair curly today, but everyone likes it better straight.”

“My mom likes when I wear heels, but I want to wear Vans.”

“What do you think I should wear?”

“Is this even cute?”

These are just a few examples of thoughts and questions constantly going through my brain when I get ready. As you saw in my video, I was simply getting ready for the day. I went through a long process of making myself into someone I thought is appealing to others - I made sure to cover up all my acne, straighten my hair, put on lipstick, put on eyeliner, etc. These are things I did not want to do, but society continuously tells me that it is what I should be doing. I then went through outfits and tried to decide what was cute or trendy or appropriate for the day. At the end of the video is when I decided I wanted to look how I wanted to. I changed into a t-shirt and some shorts, put up half my hair, and took off the majority of my makeup.

I’m hoping this video shines a light on these standards and expectations and shows women that we shouldn’t have to meet them. We should be able to feel confident in whatever we decide to wear, however we choose to do our hair, and however little or much makeup we want to put on. We can no longer be indecisive about our appearance, we must make decisions based on what we feel comfortable with and what make us feel beautiful. 

Also, I hope you guys enjoy the music. I definitely took a risk using it, but I found it somewhat chaotic and very fast paced. I thought it added to my video and its purpose. The music kind of represents the chaos that goes on in a women’s head when getting ready - tying into that indecisiveness of how to present oneself. 

Background music:

https://freemusicarchive.org/search?sort=track_date_published&d=1&quicksearch=beethoven&page=2

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

This was a really cool project! The music and performance came together really well, and I found it to bring your main ideas to the spotlight in a very direct way. If I had to change anything, I think I would try show off each of tools that you use, such as the variety of masks or makeup you might have to select from.

[jessicahughesart]

21:12 wehttaM

In this performance I recite the Bible verse Matthew 21:12 backwards. It’s a commentary on how modern churches do things “backwards”, selling products and services to become rich, closing their doors to those in need during natural disaster and homelessness. The Bible preaches against greed and yet our society has many people becoming rich and famous for preaching the bible, conveniently, they may miss certain sections or preach them anyway unaware of the hypocrisy.  

“Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,

And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

Awesome project! The themes and ideas you present here were great, and I don’t think they get discussed enough. I also really enjoyed the way you brought these ideas forward with how you performed your piece in reverse. If I had to nitpick, I would try to have the light set to a timer so that it would go with the performance straight away so I could avoid editing. 

[nathandmsudesign-blog]

Performance Art Project

I Hate To Say It But I Do Need Saving

With this performance I wanted to highlight what it’s like to carry all of the pressures and burdens of life: the tasks and goals and hardships and responsibilities we pick up over time and how it can seem like too much to bear sometimes. I wanted to convey that sense of burden and the feeling of being overwhelmed. Some of the items I pick up symbolize very really things like my pride flag and my school bag. Other things are less clear and more open for interpretation like the clothes and travel gear and camera equipment. Most importantly, I want the stress to be felt as my hands get over full. While its something I relate to I feel like many around me go through the same thing as well even if we don’t share our struggles or talk about it openly with one another. This was an important sentiment to explore for me personally and it kind of reflects my current reality. It was a unique experience being in front of the camera like that and there were stresses for me as I kept dropping things and having to rearrange them in my arms and hopefully that helps to reiterate my theme.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

This was a really cool project! I really liked how you used your actions and belongings to symbolize the stresses and struggles we deal with on a daily basis, and how having all our baggage with us can really hold us down. If I were to change anything, the only thing I might touch is the clothing being put on, I would have tried to pull on multiple shorts and some shoes as if I’m getting ready to go somewhere. Great work!

[eleni-learns-art]

For this piece, I wanted it to be as raw and as stripped down as possible- no fancy editing or performance, just me, raw and unfiltered. This is a letter/poem I wrote to my ex boyfriend last year. I really struggled with this breakup, and almost a year later I am still dealing with some of the emotional ramifications of this relationship. I hope that by publishing this piece, i will be able to find some peace and rest. Im hoping this experience will be cathartic and healing for me.  Again, like most of my works, the piece has to do with what it means to be a woman in different spheres, specifically a heterosexual relationship.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

This was a really moving project for me. I also went through a pretty break-up with someone about a year and a half ago, and it still feels like I’m dealing with issues brought up because of it, so this really hit home. Really well done. If I had to nitpick, the only thing I might have done would be to maybe put the camera at eye-level, to make it feel like an conversation.

[hollysherman4d-deactivated20220]

Performance Art Piece

This performance piece is about self-love. The concept of looking into the mirror is heavily associated with narcissism and an over inflated ego, but looking at yourself with love and compassion doesn’t have to be like that. In this project, I wanted to recreated the perception of how I personally look into the mirror. It has been a long journey to reach a point in my life where I have been able to reflect on myself and love myself. I found this performance piece very emotional. I have consistently had toxic relationships with mirrors throughout my entire life. I always looked for the flaws in myself and my body when looking into mirrors. I this performance, I looked into my own eyes in the mirror for 30 minutes straight and repeated the mantra, “you are love, you are light”. I found this experience to be very emotional to me, and I actually ended up crying at points. Sometimes it is hard to practice self-care and take time to sit still and just be with yourself, but I think it is so necessary to our mental health and wellbeing. My drive as an artist is to create work that makes an impact, on myself or others. I think with this piece, I definitely had a wonderful experience recreating my relationship with my reflection and digging deeper into the negative roots of looking into myself and changing them.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I really dig the themes that you used here! We all have made mistakes, and have had terrible things happen to us, and I have found that being okay with myself and accepting myself have been extremely helpful to just keep going, so it’s really awesome to see a project touch on these ideas. If I had to change something, I think I might have changed the editing a bit, so instead of having a voiceover, it was just myself saying the mantra over and over again, just to avoid having to edit. Great stuff!

[evie26blog]

Performance Art Project: A Family that Cooks Together, Stays Together

I decided to focus my performance art project around something that I find extremely important. After having my daughter, I realized that my husband and I never ate at the table as a family like I had when I was growing up. I started wondering when and why I stopping the tradition of preparing and eating a meal as a family. Growing up, I always helped my parents cook and it provided a unique time of the day where we could connect as a family. I believe that this time together is so important and it gives kids the opportunity to learn and be creative, while at the same time it reinforces the family bond. By the time my daughter was a year old, we decided to make a habit out of cooking together and always eating as a family. I filmed my family preparing a pot roast that was to be cooked throughout the day, this is why my daughter is in her jammies and looks pretty disheveled. She loves to play with ingredients by tasting and smelling them, she also loves adding things to the pot (which she graciously shows in the last few seconds of the video). I contemplated several times making a different video because I wasn’t totally in love with the way that this one turned out. Ultimately, I decided to stick with this one because it was a perfect capture of what cooking is like with my family. There are a lot of things going on at once and it may seem chaotic but it means the world to me that I can share something I love with my family.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I found this to be a really cute and wholesome piece of art! It was really nice to see your whole family come together to do this, and make a whole activity and bonding moment for all of you. If I had to change one thing, I think I might have changed the camera angle to include the whole kitchen so I could capture the whole environment and cooperation.

[christyto4d-beyond]

Performance Art: “Making America Great”

“Making America Great” is meant to be a commentary on COVID and quarantine in the USA. From the beginning, the current administration (with fervent support from its base) has downplayed the reality and significance of what is now a pandemic. From selling stockpiles of PPE to other countries to undermining state efforts to obtain PPE to refusing to wear a mask himself, President Trump has consistently acted in a way to secure his own re-election over the safety of his constituents. Relatedly, while people have been trapped at home under quarantine, money has continued to be poured into the border wall. Trump’s base has followed his lead and, like the president, put their own interests over the health and safety of the country as a whole. As a whole, I intended this piece to be a reflection of the selfishness, waste, isolation, division, and even nonchalant brutality of current times. This was originally performed live on Facebook. This recording was edited for time and was flipped as it was originally recorded as a mirror image.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

I love this project! Your themes and ideas came together really well with your video, and I especially liked how you used the empty boxes to build a wall to further your point. One thing I might’ve changed is how I built the wall, as it started to feel more like a tower than a wall. 

[valeriaqb]

Performance Art Project- El Sebucan

This project has been my favorite. I got to explore my roots and connect with my culture while researching and performing. This dance is called “El Sebucan” and it is named after a traditional tool used by indigenous tribes in Venezuela and other parts of the Caribbean to extract cyanide from bitter cassava, which is how casaba (thin flatbread.) This dance is part of my ancestors and blood, and so I thought that recreating it in my own way would be itself a piece of art. I want the audience to be intrigued by the dance and to wonder what it means. The choreography resembles the techniques used in the sebucan; the interwoven of the ribbons is similar to the braids of fibers in the actual tool.  The colors of the ribbons are intentional as well, they represent the colors of the Venezuelan flag.

I wanted to show a part of my culture while challenging myself a little bit since this dance is supposed to be performed by several people. Re-connecting with my culture has been a goal of mine for the past months since I have realized I am losing touch about my region, South America. It has African, indigenous, and European influences, which represents the rich and diverse blood that runs through my veins.

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

Awesome project! Its really cool to see how you have represented and showed your culture and heritage, as I’ve never seen or heard of this dance before! The only thing I think I might have done differently was the camera angling, as I couldn’t see much footwork with how the angle was done.  

[nervoussheepinfluencer]

this time - Performance Art Project

For my performance art project, I wanted to explore the theme of practice, and our interpretation of ability. If you tune into any form of media, such as the news, a show, or even social media, you’re bound to find people of extreme ability in some way. We often idolize these people, and seek to become just like them, at least in how well they can use their craft. Many of us see these absolutely amazing things that these people can do, and of course, we attempt to imitate. But we fail. And many can’t accept that, and decide that they are just not cut out for it. This leads me to what we have forgotten. I feel like a lot of us forget is that this ability, this talent, that so many people have in their pursuits, has been gained not through intuition, or just “being born with it,” but hours of daily struggle and improvement. These people have sought out this ability day in and day out, and have found it. Sure, you could say that some people are more predisposed towards certain abilities, such as those who maybe never needed training wheels, or just started drawing on their own as kids. But that hasn’t stopped the majority of those who actually have passion in their study to pursue what they love, and become great at it. In order to showcase this idea, I chose to record myself skateboarding. When I was younger, I once wanted to become a professional skater. I would watch as many videos as I could of awesome skaters, who seemed to be able to do the impossible without breaking a sweat. But I couldn’t. I always got so frustrated when I couldn’t land a new trick within a day. This actually lead me to have a burn out, and I ended up not skating as much as I could have because of how angry I was. However, what I always forgot was many of these pros spent complete days and weeks just mastering one trick on their board, day in and day out. So, for my project, I set up a space so that I could record myself going back and forth in one area, attempting to learn one trick, the 360 flip, or tre-flip, over and over again.  I did this every day for thirty minutes, six days in a row, so that I could show my progress and how much time can really be spent learning a new skill. I named my project ‘this time,’ because that is what I ended up telling myself every time I went to try the trick.

For reference, this is a link to a video of what a 360 flip is supposed to look like:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsgrgDrOFDs

P.S. Sorry this is a bit late, my computer ran into problems exporting, and I had to do a computer reboot. 

P.S.S. You may notice that my video is a bit edited. Upon reviewing my original video, where I just sped up my recordings in order to fit the time frame, I realized that you could barely see me doing anything, instead you would only see  frames, catching a glimpse of me mid-trick occasionally. Because of this, I edited the video so you can see each trick individually.