Wk 15 – What I thought about ART 110 – Megan Maeda

Here are some funny photos that have resulted from this ART 110 class, some are failed photos from art activities and some are just from funny art I saw in our visits to the galleries. I honestly loved this class so much, and it really made me want to go to class. The convenience of slack and how fast Glenn responded to any mentions is really hard to find in a professor, n my own personal opinion. I also really loved WordPress, first off- it’s free! Who doesn’t love that, oh! same with slack too- it’s also free!! Anyways, WordPress was so easy to manage and even though my blog is nothing specifically spectacular to lookout with the layout, I feel it looks the best to what I could figure out on the behind the scenes of WordPress. Beachboard is boring and whenever I have to go check it, it gives me anxiety and stress because Beachboard holds all my grades. WordPress is 156463 times better because it allows you to have creative freedom.

My top three favorite art activities go in the order of zines & flip books, architecture & urban planning, and plaster casting. The zines & flip books art activity was my all time favorite project because I used to like little snip bits of poems here and there throughout high school and didn’t realize I stopped when I got to college. Maybe I felt I didn’t have time anymore or maybe things didn’t happen to me that made me want to write about it, anyways- I loved making my zine because it made me write a new composition. The zines are so cute and can come in a variety of different sizes and overall I just really loved them. The architecture & urban planning art activity was my second favorite because I always love the part of the Sims 3 game when I could build the family’s house from ground up. The redesign made me think outside of the box and really think about the overall outcomes of the changes I would make to wedge. I was excited to be able to use the build feature again on the Sims 3 since I haven’t had to play the VR game since I started college, so that was it’s first boot up since I moved to Long Beach. The plaster casting activity was my third favorite art activity because it was the first activity we did in class and it allowed me to go on a quick beach trip with my friends to complete the project. My plaster did not turn out exactly how I hoped my hand mold would have, but I definitely shared a lot of laughs with my friends throughout the whole process.

Overall, I really enjoyed this class because every week there is something new. You can really tell Glenn put his effort into every post, email, and video he sends out to his classes. I made a lot of friends I either see on campus and say hi, or we hang out often through the classmate conversations I had during this class. I met one of my best friends, Ceasar through this class who I eventually found out he is actually in the 1:00pm class! lol! To anyone reading this who is hesitant about taking a hybrid art class, really challenge yourself and take it! You will learn how to do time management with technology and learn how to use a bunch of different media platforms.

Wk 15 – Art Activity – Design Thinking applied to Life

For my first two design layouts, I took Glenn’s advice and did them as “Designing my life for me @ CSULB” because as a freshman, I still am not sure what major I want to decide on.

Currently I am an Asian Studies major, but I really am looking into changing it to Asian American Studies because there is no foreign language requirement which is what seems to be kicking my ass the most this first year here at CSULB. I feel so lost in my Japanese class which is very disheartening because I feel like that is my legacy. I am half Japanese and I’ve always wanted to learn the language because I am in love with the culture, but learning the language proved to be too difficult for me and I guess it never really “clicked” for me. Declaring as an Asian American studies major I still get to learn about issues involving AAPIs which interest me a lot, but I just would be free of the stress of Japanese class. I constantly wonder what my grade is in that class and I feel confident going into tests, and then when I get them back my confidence flies out the window. I really am considering officially changing my major to this, and this chart really helped me plan it out.

If I stick it out with being an Asian Studies major, I believe I will be very unhappy. Staying with Asian Studies means I would have to take one more semester of Japanese and just feel extremely dumb in class all over again. Talk about self despair. I know myself, and I do not think the Japanese language will ever come naturally to me. Staying with this major means a lot of my extracurricular time wold be taken away and be dedicated to getting a tutor or something to help me pass the class. I’m not even sure if I will be passing my Japanese class this semester because the Japanese department doesn’t post grades until your final grade at the end of the year. I am just so sad whenever I listen to Japanese in class or read it and I can’t get it right away. This chart helped me think about my final decision.

For my chart I actually did on a future careers I put first a videographer because my dad is one and I’ve always been interested so why not! For my second I chose an engineer. I know really nothing about engineering and I am not really sure if I can realistically see myself perusing this career, but I felt it was most convenient for me since I already work at an engineering firm. I figured I can slowly build my way up in the company and learn new things every day of work. I always want to learn new things, so I drew out this chart to plan it out as a back up career for me. If I graduate CSULB with an Asian or Asian American studies degree, I’m unsure what careers come out of that besides becoming a teacher. That is why I out becoming a teacher as my 3rd job choice.

Wk 15 – Classmate Conversation – Josh Ocular

This week for the last classmate conversation, I was able to talk to Josh Ocular! He’s a really cool guy and a second year here at CSULB. He is a sociology major and fell in love with Cal State Long Beach when he visited the campus his sophmore year of high school. In his free time he likes to play tennis and play video games, as he stated was “basic guy stuff” lol! His favorite anime is Haikyuu which is about volleyball, I definitely want to check it out over summer when I have time to watch shows again! He is super excited to finish strong this semester and he plans on working throughout this summer, a great guy 10/10! Check out his blog here!

Wk 14 – Classmate Conversation – Ceasar Nonga

This week I talked to Ceasar Nonga, I recognized him because he is in a club I’m in here on campus. I got to know a little bit more about him, his major is Kinesiology and he is a second year. We get along really well and have a mutual admiration for KPOP music, lol! He is a really nice guy and he telling me about a girl he is dating that he thinks is really pretty. I was getting so excited for him because I feel like guys don’t really fan over girls like girls fan over boys. The club we are in together is called PAC which is short for Pilipino American Coalition. It’s funny because before I’ve never talked to him until I realized him in class so it gave me an excuse to talk to him, now we hang out! We just had out PAC formals yesterday and I saw him there. I love making new friends! Find his blog here!

Wk 14 – Sketching in the CSULB Japanese Garden

I love the Japanese Garden here at CSULB and when I found out class was going to be here, I got so excited! I used to visit the garden a lot last semester because it is really close to my dorms and even though it does not compare to a real Japanese garden, it still works in making me feel connected to my Asian roots. Personally, I thought my sketches weren’t as bad as I thought they could be. Even though I stuck to really simple structures like the bridge, a bonsai tree, and obviously the pond, it was fun to challenge my self to depict the image I wish to draw. The blind hand drawing I did surprised me a lot and I am actually impressed with myself lol! It was nice to be able to just relax at the Japanese Garden during class time and sit in the nice sun to draw. A 10/10 experience!

Wk 13 – Classmate Conversation – Diana Soriano

I talked with Diana Soriano this week as well! She is a first year like me, and is majoring in mechanical engineering, wow! She likes to hike in her free time and played volleyball in high school. She also did track in high school to stay in shape. She likes to take pictures and videos and I found out she has a Youtube, but was not willing to share it was all of us in the above left picture. She commutes from Torrance and enjoys listening to tropical house music. She like the artist Kygo and she wants to go to a festival in Seattle because she really just wants to watch Flume like she did in February. Check out her blog here!

Wk 13 – Classmate Conversation – Danielle Banuelos

This week I also had the pleasure of speaking with Danielle Banuelos, she is a fifth year majoring in health science. She likes chipotle and netflix. Her favorite show to watch right now is 13 reasons why and she recently stopped watching how to get away with murder because her boyfriend is making her stop until her catches up to her. lol! She si super good at makeup and I complimented her on it. She told me what products she was wearing that day and I was so impressed! She wants to go to PA school just like Yuritzi. She commutes from Ontario, which is a long drive! She said its manageable because she only attends school 3 days out of the week and then she works the other days at a school with kindergartners. Find her blog here!

Wk 13 – Classmate Conversation – Yuritzi Chavez

This week I spoke with Yuritzi Chavez, and she was so nice! She is a 3rd year majoring in human development. She is from Downey and went to Downey High School. She likes hiking and trying new food. Her favorite food is mexican food. She is trying to be a physicians assistant. She likes to travel and recently came back from Seattle. She has been to New York twice and in January she is going to Turks and Caicos. Sounds fun! She came to CSULB because it was close to home. Find her blog here!

 

Wk 13 – Artist Conversation – Laura Lopez

Exhibit Information

Artist: Laura Lopez

Exhibit: Selvática (wild)

Media: Drawing and Painting

Gallery: Werby Gallery

Website: N/A

About the Artist

Laura Lopez is a grad student at Cal State Long Beach and is working towards fer Masters in Fine Arts. Her artwork focuses on drawing and painting. Laura is from Columbia and just recently moved to Long Beach two years ago. Before deciding to take her education abroad, she worked for a few years with her undergrad degree in architecture.

Formal Analysis

COLOR. That is the first word that would come into your head if you walked into Laura’s exhibit. Her canvases are so colorful they immediately grab your attention. She worked mostly with oil paint to achieve these creations of her take of the jungle. The vibrant color use contrast greatly against the large black strokes to outline trees and nature.

Content Analysis

Laura’s colorful canvases portray the Amazon jungle. She loves the jungle since she was able to visit there when she was 20. Her use of bright colors is to depict the vibrancy of the jungle. One of her pieces shown above has a white figure in the middle that symbolizes a white jaguar roaming the middle of the forest. Laura stated a white jaguar is seen as an animal that can cure sickness. She hopes the white jaguar in her painting can relieve students of worry who visit her exhibit in the middle of their school day.

My Experience

Instantly when I walked into Laura’s exhibit I was instantly captivated by her intense use of colors. I loved each painting just solely based on how colorful they are. One of her paintings are actually my current screensaver on my phone! After learning her pieces are a representation of the Amazon jungle, I can totally see her interpretation of it in her artwork. I really loved her work!

 

 

Wk 13- Artist Conversation – Carmina Correa

Exhibition Information

Artist: Carmina Correa

Exhibition: definition of sugar

Media: Sculpture, Sugar

Gallery: CSULB School of Art, Dutzi Gallery

Website: N/A 😦

About the Artist

Carmina Correa is an undergraduate here at Cal State Long Beach. She is working towards her BFA in CSULB School of Art’s Sculpture Program. The ideas behind her work look at the relationship between sugar and diabetes and the ways it effects our body’s health. She was extremely nice to talk to and was expressing her interest in video games, which she likes to play in her free time.

Formal Analysis

The main color expressed throughout the exhibit was bright red. Within each lollipop there was a blood glucose strip, those who have diabetes are familiar with those. In the beginning of the exhibit there are a set of lollipops with the chemical compound of sugar printed on each individual lollipop. In the corners of the room, there are ramen packets on the floor symbolizing the unhealthy damages all that sodium will do to your body. In the center of the exhibit there is a large green and black structure made out of what I would guess to be clay. There is no set shape to the objects in the middle of the room. The most common repeating shape overall if the circular lollipop shape.

Content Analysis

The main point behind this exhibit is to show the effects sugar has on the body, more specifically on those who have diabetes. Correa has type 2 diabetes herself, so you can tell there was a lot of effort put into this project. Each lollipop is a bright red to symbolize blood and each blood test strip embedded in the lollipop hold very strong symbolization. Each strip within a lollipop is to show how many times Correa had to check her blood levels throughout the semester. The ramen of the exhibit is to show that as college students, we tend to eat what is cheap and easy to prepare-even though it definitely is not the healthiest thing to eat.

Synthesis / My Experience

Overall I really enjoyed talking with Carmina! Normally on these artist conversations I feel like I am talking to someone above me, and Correa was really easy to talk to and actually reminded me a bit of my sister when she mentioned her interest in video games. I think her exhibit is important because it brings attention to the daily struggles people with diabetes have to go through. My uncle has diabetes and I never knew that you had to prick your finger that many times throughout a day, even a semester. This exhibit makes you really think about how many crap foods we put into our body.