City adventure status

Unfortunately I didn't get into the city this weekend. My mold/casting for my 3D class has taken over my life and I named my mold Russel. I think it's beginning to slightly drive me insane.

Tuesday's Lecture

Well this lecture was way better than the "potluck/skype" lecture. Philip Glahn talked to us about relation between art and technology in society. I really liked the images he provided because I understood his connection and could identify a lot of them. He talked a lot about the anonymity in mass production, and how in art that is not good because you are striving to be a recognized individual. He also stressed how editions decrease the value of art, the more that something is produced the less value it has. I thought the example of the artist who creates replicas of artifacts that were stolen during the Gulf War was really interesting. The replicas were created entirely out of Iraqi newspapers, and the artist found the replicas and their images using online databases (technology).

Adventure day part deux (Couples & Shapes)

Oh, and I forgot. While we were walking to Quizno's my friend Katherine got pooped on by a bird :)

Blogging Blues

So my keyboard broke on my old laptop and I was bumming other people's to check email and whatnot. Today, my dad brought me a new laptop and now the internet isn't working! How ironic. I'm borrowing my roommates now to update my blog.

Saturday I ventured into the city again with Dave. I had to go to the Sidney Goodman exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum for my drawing class. I have to say I was impressed with Goodman's work, but overall I was disappointed in the collection there. Waste of $12.00.

It was fun to get really into the city again, this time it was more entertaining because we had to pick a theme for our pictures. I chose to do couples, and I saw/met some pretty eccentric people. I also sort of themed "shapes" because ever since my 2D class all I have been able to see anywhere are shapes, shapes, shapes!!! I dissect everything down into simple shapes and it's driving me crazy! I suppose it's good though, considering I'm an art student.

I saw the ultimate "couple" while walking through city hall to get on the subway, a bridal party was in the center getting their wedding pictures taken. But for risk of looking like the biggest creeper in the entire world I didn't take a picture of the bride and groom. I was bummed, it would have gone so well with my theme!

I guess we looked like uber tourists because a homeless guy posed for us and called his wife over for a picture, welcomed us to Philadelphia and then asked for some money. But it turned out to be a really cute couples picture.

Today I got into the city again, I had a field trip to go to at Penn's archaeological museum. It was pretty neat, they have an impressive collection for a University. I want to get back when the Ancient Near East collection returns. We walked around Penn's campus for a while after, it's so gorgeous there. I had Quizno's for lunch! Totally made my day.

Lecture..

I was really disappointed by this lecture. I pretty much just got "potluck, skype, discussions." The concept sounded really neat, but the speaker wasn't very good at answering questions, and he did a poor job at explaining at what actually goes on at a potluck dinner. Overall, it sounded like a good way to meet other artists and gain networking opportunities. I was also bummed that he didn't expand on what kind of projects they got into.

Walk/Bike/Ride Pictures

City Adventure!

On Labor Day I ventured into Philly for the "Walk, Bike, Ride" assignment with Dave. We took the subway into center city and got off at City Hall. We explored around there for a little bit, and heard a great musician playing the soprano saxophone. We also saw the "Love" sculpture, and I was extremely disappointed. I was under the impression that it is HUGE, but it's tiny! The fountain behind it was nice though. We walked around a little bit more and eventually made our way to Rittenhouse Square. It was fun to people watch and get some drawing in. I saw some other student photographers while sitting there. After that we heard a really great brass band playing outside the square, and they appeared to be mostly related. They were really talented, and the youngest members didn't look much older than ten or twelve. After Rittenhouse, we walked over to Washington Square. From there we started to head over to the Liberty Bell. I had never seen it before! It was pretty much just what I expected. But it was neat to finally see it. On the way over to see it, we were harrassed by a rickshaw driver. He was really mean! I don't think he gets much business if he gives everyone such a hard time. After the Liberty Bell we made our way back to Temple. It was a fun adventure getting to know Philly better.

Seminar

We had our first official Foundation Seminar yesterday. Our speaker was Peter Hanley, and he shared with us the importance of using internet resources to publicize our work, to make connections, and to maintain an artistic networking community. He gave us numerous websites as potential starting points to network with fellow artists and to show our work (inliquid.com, lulu.com, Etsy, etc.). He mainly stressed four areas that allow an audience to find you: social media, online galleries, artistic communities, and reproduction services. It was very interesting and informative, and will prove especially useful to us as art students as we begin our artistic careers at Tyler.

First Week

Made it through our first week of classes! On Tuesday we had our first lecture, it was mostly an orientation of what we can expect at Tyler this year. Gerard Brown gave us a lot of information and an overview of speakers that will be presenting in the coming weeks. I hope to venture out into the city today to start my "walk/bike/ride" assignment for Foundation Computers. It should be fun!