Community Arts Project

What do you believe in?

I believe in making change in Toronto government housing. Rather than making this private, I believe in making the houses public by continuing on with the government funding and letting the government figure out the rental fee instead of having the owner of that particular apartment decide for them.

How will you use the arts to communicate your ‘BIG idea’?
Our big idea is to raise awareness on community housing and on making this public, rather than private. Our current mayor, rob ford, is trying to make all these homes privatized, which will cause problems for everyone in general, for many cannot afford to pay that much. For in government housing, the government comes up on how much a person is to pay, while in privatization, it will be up to the apartment owner

Who will you involve?

In our project, we hope to involve people of all ages. Children, adults, and seniors. For adults, we hope to just talk to them, providing them information on how to help us win this fight against Rob ford. In children, we will provide them with activities that tell them what the problem is about. By building cardboard homes, we want to ask them to write down, or talk about what they like about their homes and why they wouldn’t want their homes taken away.

How will you persuade the community to support your project?

By showing them statistics, reports, and other different images and facts about the current situation, we hope to bring this to their attention in order for them to help us protest to Rob Ford about this horrible situation.

Present your idea to the class. How do you think your presentation went?

As we presented, I found that we did rather well. We hoped to try and get the class to support our ideas, which I’m sure most of the class did understand our point.

What could you have done differently?

What we could of done was create a video about this, and perhaps to write a song about this, just like one of the other groups did

List 5-6 comments/suggestions/questions from the class feedback.
We did not get any feedback for we had no time for questions of any feedback material.

What is guerrilla art all about?

For this blog, I went out and drew on the sidewalk with chalk. I wrote ‘Smile’! In doing so, I stepped back to watch the reaction of others. I was unable to record this for I had no video camera, but I did get a picture of the sign that I wrote. By simply getting some colourful chalk, I wrote on the sidewalk, since many walk on the sidewalk. I saw that many did like looking down when walking. To those who did not look down, they saw that others were looking down. So, when seeing that happen, they also curiously looked down and saw the sign. I saw the smiles on their faces as they looked around and whispered to each other. Chattering filled the air and I knew that my art seemed to work well with those people. For me, it made me feel accomplished to see others smile because of artwork. In fact, I found a couple of people that did really nice artwork. Colorful, in fact. It made lots of people go, “ooo!’ when I showed them. They smiled because of the colourful pictures that were displayed on the screen, making them wonder on how the artists created such wonderful things.



Word of the week: contrast. to place a something completely opposite of the color beside an original color. something that stands out.

IT'S MAGICAL THINKING TIME!

during class time, we were given time to make something out of clay. i created a mask, a girl, and a cat out of clay. So, i came up with a story for all three of them on how all of these clay models are related to each other.

NAME: mary
AGE: 10
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE: new york, new york
LANGUAGES: english
FAVOURITE FOOD: blueberries
FAVOURITE PASTIMES: shopping, eating, playing with her cat, being like an actress
FAVOURITE SPORT: playing tennis
FAVOURITE ANIMAL: cats
FAVOURITE COLOR: blue
AMBITIONS: Becoming an actress and being rich

i've created a story for them and it goes along like this.

this is mary.

this is her cat, blue.

this is mary's mask.

mary and her mask like going on adventures.

blue also likes going on adventures.

And so, they went on an adventure.

The End.

WORD OF THE DAY: mold. to mold. to take an object that is able to bend and to create another thing (something) out of that clay or object.

fruits and shopping!

i've sketched three fruits out. it starts out as a stawberry, apple, and orange. All three of them are similar, though they all have different tastes. All of them also have relatively the same shape but their texture is different. So, the word of this blog is 'texture'. It means, a feel amongst the different surfaces. Every object has a different texture to it. Some may be similar to certain other objects, while others may feel completely different. All three fruits here have different textures to them all when you feel them. Texture is defined as a change of physical appearance or a feel of an object.

This week, we are to choose three foods from the same category. I chose three types of food from my favorite section, fruits. As mentioned before, i chose the fruits, strawberry, orange and apple. I found that i like lots of fruits, this list includes, pears, bananas, dragon fruit, kiwis, starfruit, pineapples, grapes, watermelon, blueberries, peach, mandarins, and lots more. All of them have different shapes and even all their textures are different. Taking peaches as an example. They have soft and fluffy like skin, while oranges a rougher texture and it's hardly soft at all, for it is hard. The textures for all these other fruits are all rather unique in a way that not all fruits have them. Like the shapes that the fruits hold, all of them look different. Even though a few look alike, they are all different in a way. These fruits and turn into alot of things, such as jams or they can even become recipes for pies!

word of the week: watercolors- colors from paint that are water based, normally used to paint.

How can we represent our identities and understanding of the world?

(1) Choose an “art” verb (ie)
sculpting, printmaking,
collaging, illustrating, drawing,
painting, etc. and fill in the
blank
“_____________ with Scissors”

in this particular subject, i find that the word for this sentence most suited is, 'carving with scissors'. it may not exactly make sense, but the word 'carve' does sound rather curvaceous. the word sculpt basically means to wield. to smooth. sculpting is normally meant to change one shape into another. in many sculptures, paint, meaning color, is also applied on the sculpture itself.

(2) Use your imagination and create
an art activity for yourself, friends,
or children that communicates
personal identity and understanding
of the world.

an art activity that can be used for kids and everyone? it's a rather difficult thing to do, but i suppose just drawing out what you think of yourself and the people around you is an interesting activity to do. Such as drawing your name out and then designing the words to make them represent what is important to them. By drawing a background for them will show their feelings on themselves. By theses drawings, I hope the find what the participant's feelings through the drawing. I also see that drawing can be considered as communication, for pictures describe at least a hundred words. Though drawing, this activity can also help me or the teacher to understand the child's interests and their likes and dislikes easier. Even though the activity is not all that creative, simple activities like this can also bring out the child's emotion through drawing and coloring.

word of the post: sketch. this word particularly means to roughly draw something out that is not normally something that is 'good' in the artist's eyes. they believe that it is more of a outline than an actual drawing.

ART FILM

in this art film, i discussed the film with my friend. the first expression i can give you is the word 'dark'. it was gloomy. it had a plot in it, but i don't think it's meant for kids. it should of been rated at least pg 18, because of the blood and the mature subject matter. the word dark, basically means black. darkness is described as emptiness, since emptiness is normally dark. well, here's a conversation i had with a friend when watching this movie.

me: hey, did you watch Pan's Labyrinth?
KIRA: yeah, what did you think about it?
Me: kinda creepy. I mean, it's really dark and all...
KIRA: well, it's supposed to describe imagination and all.
Me: i know! But when i first watched it, i actually didn't know it was in spanish. Haha!
KIRA: i knew, since i researched about it.
Me: anyways, i didn't know that there would be so much blood in it! It kinda creeps me out.
KIRA: yeah. But i didn't mind all that much.
Me: seriously? I found the goat thing kinda creepy.
KIRA: it's depicted so differently from the original faun like drawing. Like the faun in lion, witch, and the wardrobe.
me: yeah! That's what i thought! When first looking at it, i was all, “o.o what is that?!”
KIRA: well, it was creative. That's what matters, right?
Me: mhmm. I suppose. Well, what was your favourite part?
KIRA: the ending. It was really sweet.
Me: me too! Poor little girl though! I wanted her to have more of a fighting chance! It was as if the imaginary people were plotting her death all along. Otherwise, how else was she supposed to go back to the underworld? Or hell?
KIRA: yes, that's true.
Me: i thought it was an alright movie. The movie 'spirited away' was a really good one too!
KIRA: oh yes! Too bad it wasn't on the list.
Me: =/ yeah. Too bad. But at least we watched this one! It was really sad on what happened to the mom.
KIRA: yeah. That sucked. I felt really bad for the mom. The general got what he deserved. Though, you know what? I've discovered that all bad guys are only bad because they believe whatever they're doing is right!
Me: hey! That's so true!
KIRA: it's a pity though.
Me: yeah, you do sort of feel bad for him for he thought he was right, but he deserved it for killing the little girl. Poor pan!
KIRA: ...i'm going to go and watch some spirited away now.
Me: Ooh! I'm watching it with you!

Word of the week: composition: it means to arrange a bunch of artistic like parts into a whole, so that they all fit together.

a carving out of a watermelon

Watermelon skin carving from Vid Nikolic on Vimeo.

banner with tvd

made by me. don't steal. if using, credit me please.

blend

made by me, please don't steal.

the nature of things

i was walking back home one day and just this image caught my eye. so, i took a picture and photoshopped the photo to enhance the photo itself. i found this idea creative, by looking at the different levels in the photoshopping process. i found this picture to remind me of lines. by how i see it, lines can be straight, curvy, and about everything can be considered a line. from one point to another. it's amazing how things can be so interesting. everywhere we look, creativity blossoms. there can be boring things, but to some people, that boring thing can turn into a piece of art! like, how a saying goes. One man's garbage is another man's treasure.

AGO TRIP: the art critique

GO BLOG #2

Name of painting: Hyeres Square the Obelisk and the bandsand
Made in: 1927
Type: oil on canvas

What I liked about this painting was that, I found it colorful. It had more of a cartoon like feel to it, making the painting feel like fantasy, when it drew you in. The water pool in the drawing made everything feel more calmer and when I first looked at it, I noticed the lighting of the painting which was sunshine. It made everything feel much more fresh and when I also took a second look at it, I found that it could also be represented as musical for there was a small band playing on the side of the picture. What I found that could be represented as a symbol would be the palm trees that signified peace. The painting also had some water in it and it reminded me of calmness and the musical instruments at the side is a symbol of 'fun' and 'playfulness'. The last symbol that stood out to me was the large hotel in the back that symbolized vacation for it looked like a building that lots of people would dream to go into. What the feeling of this painting told me was the vacation like atmosphere it held. It had a more playful, relaxed, fun reminder to me and the place it reminded me of was Washington D.C in the United States. Though, the palm trees and parts of the building structure also reminded me of Orlando Florida. The texture for the painting looked rather smooth, for the brushwork had a smoothness to it, instead of the rough looking paint that some pictures have. I enjoyed looking at the blending of colors that the picture held. For it would be a light blue and then darkening into a dark blue to show the shadows of the picture.

My Sculpture

Last class, we created paper sculptures. In this experience, I learned that creativity can come from many different ideas that come to mind once touching the paper. Yes, it was difficult at first and it was so hard to come up with some sort of sculpture at first, but slowly and gradually, my group and I created a vase with some paper flowers we scrunched up. So, today, I created a sculpture with items that i found at home and made a frog flufftimecup. By looking closely, you can see a red bracelet, signifying it's insides and there is a yellow watch inside also signifying the time it was created. The belt for the sculpture also was an inspiration on the frog and the princess story on how the frog had to wait for a princess to kiss him. Which brings me to the green paper object on the blue fluff. The blue is supposed to be hair and the green thing is actually a paper frog.

So, the term that I want to explain on my sculpture is texture.

in texture: the surface quality of a work of art; how it feels (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009) The cup (body) is smooth while the blue fluff as the hair has more of a soft texture. The middle of the watch as a more bumpy texture, while the literal watch itself is smooth. The piece of paper, which is the green frog is smooth with a few rough edges because of the pointy parts that show the nose and feet of the frog. These items were found from different parts of my room. The frog was made by me while the cup I found in my drawer. The blue fluff originally came from some keychain and the watch was an old present from my uncle from a long time ago.

When I first started building this sculpture, I found that it was difficult to place and it was also hard to place meaning into why I placed certain objects in the certain area. Now that it's done, I see why I placed those objects in that certain area. To me, this sculpture reminds me of some time machine. It's only because of the watch that makes me think of something that has to do with time. I also liked the fluff that I added to create more of a playful look.

reference:
Schirrmacher R., & Fox, J. E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (Sixth Edition).. Delmar: Cengage Learning.

sculptures

Water Sculpture from Shinichi Maruyama on Vimeo.

What does creativity mean to you?

so, what does creativity mean to me? by definition, it means: 'phenomenon whereby a person creates something new (a product, a solution, a work of art etc.) that has some kind of value. What counts as "new" may be in reference to the individual creator, or to the society or domain within which the novelty occurs. What counts as "valuable" is similarly defined in a variety of ways.'

though, to me. it just means something that you yourself as created. something imaginative. creativity just comes to you when you least expect it and in ece, children are always learning and creating something. i find that the most creative children are kids and they learn this from the adults. even the simplist things can be considered creative. take a photo for example.

can turn into something like this,

another example would be taking some photo of the same model, but in a different photograph and the original would look like...

it's as simple as that.

i find muse, or as you can say, inspiration through so many different things. such as looking at other people's artwork and looking at different pictures inspires me to take a photo or change the photo into a more colorful and vibrant hue. photography is something that is inspiring to me and from taking photos like ordinary photographs of people, i enjoy changing it into a prettier change of the tone and using different circles, or light textures to create a more gentler appearance. as well as fixing the light in the photo to create a lighter or darker shade on the photo. it also depends on the photo, on seeing if that photo needs fixing first or even if it is perfect as it is.

sunset blvd

lion king- sun rising!