Capsule - Book Bound

Our action project for Book Bound was a digital portfolio that offers an overview of our learning and experience of the course. Book Bound is an humanities course, in which we explored the definition of reading, evaluated its importance, explored works that are considered "classics" and understand the criteria necessary to earn such stature. We read The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald as an example of a "classic". I was indifferent about The Great Gatsby. I thought the plot was a bit diluted, but very thought provoking. We investigated the literary canon, critique it, offer alternatives and additions. The literary canon is the Great book list. The idea of a literary canon implies "official status" and to be entered into the canon mean gain to certain privileges. Also, we research roles necessary to build a library. We visited two libraries (a public library and school library) to familiarize ourselves with the inner-workings of a library, to find inspiration and guidance for our vision of our school library. I envision our school library with tons of work space, infinite availability of books, recording booths, computers, art/cool posters plastered on the walls and comfortable chairs. I enjoyed our field experiences because I learned about the different search engines for academic research offered at the library. For this action project, we were assigned to put together a portfolio of our best work throughout the course. My favorite project was our choice for the canon slideshow.


Storyboard:

Before embarking on our Book Bound adventure of the importance and history of reading, we took some time to remember and contemplate who we are as readers. Through the use of StoryboardThat, an autobiographical web-tool we were able to tell the story of our lifespan as readers, specifically on learning to read. Our stories had to include at least 5 frames and captions. We considered plot point such as: when and where we were when we first began to read, who helped us learn to read, what struggles we faced as readers, and how we felt reading in school as we crafted our stories. Prior to completing this activity I talk to my mom who has been very instrumental in my development as a reader for specific details about my reading history. Moms played a huge role in my classmates' reading stories as well. This assignment allowed many of us to dive into ourselves and create connections between our reading patterns and our history with reading. I had lots of fun working on this assignment. I struggled with how to start, but my conversation with my mom helped clear the haze. I added more details to my story and proofread. I am proud that my reading story shows my progression.

Slideshow:

What is a classic? How does something acquire such status? What does such a title suggest about the thing itself? These were some the questions we were presented with in the beginning of the course. Classic "belonging to the standard authors of Greek and Roman antiquity" "of the highest class; approved as a model" from the french word classique (17c.) from Latin classicus is a term used to categories books of the highest caliber. Certain books receive this status and end up on required reading lists across the U.S. These grouped together, literary classics are referred to as "the canon". The literary canon is the great book lists. They are texts that have been deemed worthy to be read by anyone who considers themselves cultured. For this assignment, we chose a book we believed belong in the canon and created a slideshow justify our choice. Also, we presented and defended our book selection to our peers. I wanted to share my enthusiasm for the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan with everyone hence why I chose to publish this assignment. I struggled with finding images of scenes for theme illustration. I added more details to the lesson plan portion of the presentation, added an image, and proofread.

Literary Journal:

We were assigned to create our own literary magazine/journal in team of 4s. Literary magazine is a periodical magazine/journal dedicated to literature. Literary magazines publish short stories, poetry, literary criticism, letters, interviews, essays, and many more. Our literary magazine consisted of external submission, pieces from all group members, and images. This assignment showcased different types of literature. I really proud of the pieces in the magazine. We split up different tasks among ourselves. Miscommunication impacted our quite a bit, but in the end we pulled through. I fixed the page set-up.

Literature Poster:

We created propaganda literary posters based upon a guiding question about literacy. We research the answer to our guiding question using reliable sources. My guiding question was "How many books does the average american read yearly?" The average American read 12 books in the past 12 months according to the Pew research center. The purpose of this poster and course is to promote literacy. I want to encourage literacy in the most effective way as possible and this assignment allows me to do so. I was difficult to come up with a concept for my drawing. I used paper and pencil. I am proud to have persevered.

GN, Literature poster 2015. 

  

Face2Face

For our final Action Project in If These Walls Could talk course, we were assigned to carry out our mural from unit 2 into a large-scale mural. Using alternative materials and artistic technique chosen from our group, we proceeded to bring the mural to life by scaling up the image to fit the mural space, create a timeline and budget to successfully carry out the mural, and installed the mural. We also documented the process and edited the content into a 2-3 minutes video. We also wrote an artist statement explaining the intended purpose of the mural and the experience of creating the mural. I enjoyed working on the stencils and stamps.




Name: GN, DC, RD, MV, JV
Title: Face 2 Face
Date: 12/2015
Measurements:
Media & Techniques: Paper, ink, spray-paint, stencilling, wheat-pasting, wheat-paste, collage and block-printing.

For this action project, we installed the mural my group members and I proposed in Unit 2. In Unit 2, we experimented with different media and artistic techniques. We created a series of 5 swatches which allowed us to visualize our mural through a variety of media and artistic techniques. Our final mural is a tribute mural to GCE’s student body. The mural is a collage of faces made from GCE students’ facial features. Each facial feature highlights individuality and the collective faces represents us communally.

The techniques and materials our group previously chose to be most effective to carrying out the final mural were mosaic and wheat-pasting. We felt that the mosaic added texture and eccentricity, and wheat-pasting helped create a realistic collage image. After much deliberation, my team and I decided to proceed to bring the mural to life through stencilling, wheat-pasting, and block-printing.

Stenciling is an artistic technique which produces an image by applying pigment to a flat surface over an object with designs in it which creates the image. Stenciling allows the pigments to reach certain parts of the surface. A stencil is the resulting image and the object used. Stenciling is cost effective, it can be reused to rapidly reproduce the same design or image, it gives the piece a simplistic look, and allows the addition of details. This technique enhances our mural by making it simplistic and sleek. The mural consists of 5 walls. Three of those walls have white, red, black and gold spray-painted lotus flowers. We were inspired by Shepard Fairey’s signature lotus designs and artistic techniques. Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, activist, and graphic designers. The other two walls have a checkered pattern of white and grey wallpaper block-print.

Block-printing is one of the oldest printmaking techniques. Block-printing is essentially using a carved material covered in ink to transfer an image on to a surface. It can be done with rubber, wood and linoleum. We chose to use linoleum. We printed out our wallpaper-looking design, traced it into the linoleum, then carved the design. We carved away the parts that we didn't want to print, as the ink will be applied to the raised surfaces to print the design.

We coated the walls silver grey. Our color scheme was grey, white, black, red, orange, and gold. We wanted neutral color with pops of color and coolness hence gold. After applying the wall background to our mural, we wheat-pasted our collaged faces. Wheat-pasting is a liquid adhesive made from flour and water. It is used for arts and crafts. Our mural transforms the space into an arena. It gives the space a sense of activity.

I enjoyed my experience working on the mural. I struggled with compromising with my team mates and being under time constraints. I was the documenter, artistic director, director of operation, and mule in addition to helping my team prep for the mural. I recorded every milestone achieved by my team and made sure that my group members had all the materials needed. I also took part in the decision making processes. My favorite role was documenting. I enjoyed recording our progress which allowed me to take pride in our hard work. I have a good camera which allowed me to take clear pictures. My least favorite role was being the artist director. I didn't feel comfortable making some of the executive decision I made. I unable to visualize concepts and as an artistic director you need such a skill. I wish we had more time to work on the mural. Due to last minutes changes the mural does not look as our group had envisioned, it is much more than we had envisioned. It's so RAW!