Sound Canvas

Weird loops

A day in the life of a farm

Olivia's Movie

Time Travel

I thought that this article was really interesting. The fact that we can use these lasers to virtually travel through time is something that I thought i would never be reading about in my lifetime. One part that I thought would be particularly beneficial for the future is the fact that we can also see how these sites and monuments are going to be effected years from now; this also may help us to avoid damaging these monuments and sites further than they already are. The fact that this can help us with architecture and everything in the present it definitely a plus but to me, I definitely think that the history element and "traveling back in time" so to speak is much more intriguing. I honestly never thought that this sort of thing would be commonplace during my lifetime; I definitely had no idea that they were even experimenting with this sort of thing. But I am interested to see what they can do with this new technology.

Tebe Interesno has attracted much attention for his focus on otherworldliness. His work is usually very fantasy-like with a touch of humor. In this piece, one can get a definite sense of surrealism from the view of the globe from space with some sort of little creature "watering" the earth. One knows where rain comes from, but this work humorously satires the world and human knowledge. There is a unique and imaginative humor to his piece that makes it so interesting.

This piece, by Tebe Interesno, is much different than most of his other pieces. Many of his works incorporate some sort of creature making slight fun of human actions or human life. This piece is one in which Interesno focuses more on fantasy, and surrealism. When one first glances at this picture, the silhouettes of the animals seem like birds, seeing as they are in the sky. With a closer look one discovers that they are actually fish. This can call to mind the expression, "a fish out of water," which is paradoxical, unusual and unrealistic which seems up the feel and expression found in Interesno's work. Another difference to this piece is that he keeps with black and white instead of color.

In this piece, by Tebe Interesno, he uses another one of his little creatures to playfully make fun of human life. Interesno is know for his fantasy-like pieces which usually incorporate humor. This piece also has an element of otherworldliness. Humans have always talked about the possibility of other life forms coming to earth ; this sort of taps into the idea, specifically because the "creature" depicted in this piece is "playing with" a rocket ship. This is just one of the many explanations that could be behind this work of art.

When first looking at this piece of digital art, many would first think that it is meant to a mystical, surreal landscape. The black and white coloring of the piece gives the cathedral a more menacing feel and the waves crashing against the side of the cathedral make the work all the more dramatically surreal. The fact that the sky is dark and stormy along with the sea around the building also makes it look like the world is ending. However, there is another angle in which one can look at this piece. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame is designed in the Gothic style that has always have mystical and supernatural meanings associated with the architecture.

This piece, also by George Grie, most certainly has a large amount of surrealism within it. Many of Grie's pieces are veery dramatic and somewhat menacing and dark. This one, however, is somewhat different. Despite the black and white coloring, the sky is much softer and inviting; however, this drastically contrasts with the image of the ship nearing, what looks like, "the end of the world." In this piece, Grie very interestingly depicted the theory that many people had believed for so long, that the world is flat. The 14th century ship nearing the "edge of the world" evoke an element of fear and is the central element of otherworldliness in the piece.

A wonderful piece by George Grie, this work is a surreal landscape. The ship depicted, The Flying Dutchman, is excellently portrayed not only by it's ghostly features, but also by the negative space around it. Grie seems to use the image of the sea and menacing sky to reflect the ships eeriness. In addition, like in many of Grie's other pieces, the black and white coloring adds alot of drama to an already very dramatic and surrealist work. The interesting thing that Grie does in this piece is make the Flying Dutchman look like a ship while also incorporating some building-like qualities to it, perhaps signifying its permanence of forever sailing the sea?

My Museum

My Digital House

Four Square Articles and Parents of the Future

As far as the whole Four Square thing goes, I think it is a pretty cool idea. It would save a lot of hassle I think as far as coordinating times to meet up with friends etc. Honestly, I don't know how someone has this much time or energy to be constantly updating their exact whereabouts but I definitely think that is an awesome tool that many people would enjoy and benefit from. However, it could also cause problems as far as avoiding people you do not wish to see because they can easily just come to where ever you and confront you. This also presents the problem of your whereabouts getting into the wrong hands but that is why it is important to use technology wisely. Personally, I think that as far as knowing the whereabouts of your children, it is only necessary to a certain age. Children, in my opinion, should be monitored to the exactness of where they are until they are about 13 or 14. At this age they are just starting to become teenagers and it is important that you still keep tabs on them to assure they don't get into trouble. However, once they reach the ages of 15 to 18, depending on the person, they really should be left to their own devices. You can't make decisions for yourself if your parents always know what you are doing and where. Part of the experience of growing up is making your own mistakes and learning from them. One definitely cannot do this to much extent under the watchful eyes of parents. As far as children and the dangers of the internet and using programs such as Twitter, Four Square and Facebook I really don't see the harm. As a parent you should teach your kids to use their head and to make smart decisions. You should have confidence in what you have taught your kids and have faith that they will be smart and make good judgements.

No Budget, No Boundaries:It's the Real You

Even before reading this website I have never really been interested in avatar-based social networking sites. Maybe it is because I had never really fully experienced them or heard much about them. However, after reading this article I'm pretty positive that I wouldn't really want to spend my time on one of them. I think that the exchange of real world money for virtual possessions is kind of ridiculous. I, personally, cannot imagine paying real money for virtual possessions or services. For some people, it may be a world of escape or a way in which to live their life or express themselves or their style in a way that they are unable to do in the real world but to be honest that is just not something I would spend my time doing. In the article, it was stated that people like to receive kudos for the things that they own. To me, it just seems ridiculous to be that concerned about what other people think or how they see you in society let alone to place material possessions that high up on ones priority list. It is interesting to me that these kind of websites began to really kick off during this time of the recession. It is amazing to me how great the need for material possessions really is along with the need to outlandishly state ones status, money, or power. Another thing that really shocked me was that these websites are doing better than the websites that are targeted and use by teenagers and kids. For children, it is typical to make believe and pretend to live in this fantasy world; children have always done that. But it really amazes me that now there are places for adult to do this too and that they are actually much more lavish and extreme than that of the websites for kids. I guess for some people this is a fun and different way to escape their lives and become someone else or to live in a way in which they cannot in real life. However, you will never find me on one of these websites. I just don't think that it is a valuable use of my time to "living vicariously" through an avatar character. There are so many other things that I can be doing; despite being limited in the real world because of the recession, real life can give you real life experiences, and memories. There is no reason that I would feel the need to find escape in this virtual world; I have my own life and despite not being able to buy the latest designer bag or shoes, I would rather spend my time enjoying my real life instead of creating a virtual one.

This calligram is an alien because the quote talks about artificial intelligence so I thought an alien with a space background definitely went with this quote! Doing this project I have to say wasn't my favorite. It was fun to experiment with but I found it extremely difficult to manipulate all the paths!

Calligrams

This is another one of the calligrams that I did. I made a computer and put a leaf on the screen because this quote talks about the differences between natural and virtual environments.

Calligrams

This was one of the first calligram that I worked on. The quote talks about virtual self and I chose to do a webcam because interacting with someone over webcam or internet is completely different than personal interaction.

My Digital World

This is another revision from one of my original welcome signs. I decided to change the background and put a filter over it which changed many of the original colors. I then changed the font and colors to match the rest of the background somewhat. I thought with my particular signs that less is more. Although I am new to this, I tried played around with a lot of different options but decided no to do to much to it because I kind of liked it the way it was. really enjoyed exploring the many options Illustrator had to offer. :)

Welcome Sign- Final Draft

This is my final version of one of my favorite welcome signs. :) I added a lot more splatters, which I really like because I am a huge painter and have a love for abstract shapes when it comes to art. I also love the background because its really colorful and out there and grabs the eye of the view. I added the myspace, facebook and twitter logos also to reflect the things that I am interested in virtually. I am always on these sites and regularly use them to display my art work :)

Welcome Sign- First Draft

So, instead of doing three separate images, I decided to revised one of my favorite welcome signs after listening to some of the critiques. This is the first one I did; here I was just experimenting with all of the different things that you can do with Illustrator so there isn't much on it because I really wasn't sure how we were supposed to portray our "virtual selves."

Warm Up Photoshop Exercise

This is a collage of images from one of our warm ups. Its basically just a series of 5 images combined together. I really haven't used Photoshop before so I was just sort of playing around with all the effects it had to offer. :)

"Virtual Self"

Technology has drastically changed the way we interact, communicate, and express ourselves. Email, myspace, Twitter, facebook and all those types of programs have totally changed our world connecting us and making it possible for us to communicate with people around the world instantly. Letters that would have once taken forever for the other person to receive can now be read and replied to in a matter of minutes. Not only is it completely awesome when trying to communicate, it is also wonderful for sharing and gaining more information. Almost every facet of our world has been enhanced by the influence of technology.

Personally, I love working with technology and although I am not that experienced with working with most of the digital programs, I do like to experiment with them. I like working with computers and use them constantly for communication purposes, but before this class that is all that I really used them for. My accounts on facebook, myspace, and this blog for instance all have some effect of a part of who I am but I have to say without it, I would still be the same old me. Technology has definitely impacted my life but it does by no means make me who I am. My personality and identity are not really that much effected by technology and computers. I feel like who we are without computers is completely different than our "virtual self." Our identities are much more fluid and easily changeable and moldable on the internet but overall it's really different than who we really are. For me, this class has honestly been a very different experience for me because I am an artist but I only with mostly oil paint and pencil. This class has opened up a different form of expression that I didn't really know was available to me. It's amazing what you can do with some of these programs! :)

City Scape

This is our first group project :) Lukas, Danielle, and I made this awesome mysterious city in the middle of the ocean.

Test Post

Test Post :)