Intro to Digital Photography Class

I just started the Spring semester a few weeks ago, and I am loving my classes!
My one fine art lab this semester is a digital photography class. I took an intro level black and white photo class last spring, and I was excited to get back to photography and be able to learn some Photoshop skills.

Here are a few shots from my first project, which was a basic lesson in learning to see through the camera. It was a nice refresher assignment and definitely a reminder to NOT drink coffee right before shooting. Blurrrr! Haha! Hope you enjoy these images. <3 Alex

Architecture library skylight

Light fixture in shade

Light fixture in sunlight

Close-up of art locker

Poem in Progress

Trying out the villanelle form for a class assignment. It felt a bit restrictive at first, but similar to playing scrabble, once your brain gets the hang of it, it gets better!

Response to “The Second Coming” (Yeats)

(The Second Coming!)

Like a man going away. See, the hour draws late.

Crimson tide will flow, no bounds.
While blood and water, separate.

Predictions of the end find no date.
Play and foul share no common ground.
Like a man going away. See, the hour draws late.

Hell itself concedes to failure in the gate.
Eyes that see, and aye, the clouds.
While blood and water, separate.

Eating, drinking, marrying. Just wait.
One roars, ending the other’s night prowl.
While blood and water, separate.

Like rocky cliff, up narrow, go straight.

Look! All you who reside on the ground.
Like a man going away. See, the hour draws late.

Soft sounds of a wind chime strike the ground.
At last! It is lost, and I am found.
Like a man going away. See, the hour draws late.
While blood and water, separate.

More pictures of Sculpture #3

Sculpture #3

Bridal Yoke Angle View

Bridal Yoke Front View

under construction

reconfiguring the template... be back soon with updates and pictures!

-Alex

Sculpture Assignment #2

My second sculpture assignment during the Fall 2011 semester at USC's Roski School of Fine Arts. We were instructed to create something that stimulated senses other than sight. My sculpture included sight stimulation, but also hearing and touch. The mirror has built-in speakers mounted in a frame that I attached to the back of the mirror and viewers can hear the music through the speakers or headphones that are also "built-in" with a cd player inside the frame. The glow-in-the-dark ink allows you to leave your own impression on the mirror and is activated by the blacklight (you cannot see the ink if you step out of the curtained-off area that was installed). 

My purpose in making this piece was to create an off-putting/strange environment and utilize sound to create a totally different experience than that of the environment. My classmates said they felt "quietness" and "stillness" when listening to the music, even thought the music is not necessarily quiet or relaxing. The purpose of the ink/touching is related to my interest in quantum physics and the power of sound and frequency -- our absorption of frequency and the delivering of frequency through touch. 

The soundtrack is a combination of 3 tracks: "Fly" by Jason Upton, "Angeles" by DimensionCielo, and voice over of me praying in the Spirit. Enjoy!

The Tiffany Project

Lately I've been thinking about the purpose behind my art works. I have strong beliefs and I want to express those beliefs.  But is that all? Should my work purely be an expression of who I am or my personal perspective? I think many artists would argue that this is what art is.

I want more.

Tonight I received some clarity about my questions of purpose and goals in art. I don't want to simply regurgitate my own impressions and thoughts. I'm after REVELATION. Specifically, I want my work to be a sort of catalyst for REVELATION. Separate from or similar to my own experience, whichever it may be, I don't want my work to just be about me. I want the viewer to have new REVELATION.

This might sound elementary to some, or even naive. But I'm sure that others will agree and express a similar desire.

So for now, this is my statement.  My personal manifesto. Short, yes. But that's not important right now. Clarity will increase as I pursue this goal.

Perhaps even this first post will be a first "work" in this pursuit ;)

-Alexandra