Wk 6 Classmate: Amber Luna

Amber Luna is currently a sophomore at Cal State University Long Beach. She grew up and still remains living in Downey, California and commutes to school daily. On top of being a full-time student, Amber works as a waitress at a restaurant. As of now, Amber is a criminal justice major and is unsure as to what direction to take within the field. Amber went on to explain that she wants to pursue a career as a social worker for kids or possibly a probation officer. Amber claims that she does not have a specific favorite type of music; she likes all genres. She also does not have one favorite color at the moment because it changes so frequently, but if she were to choose, it would currently be burgundy red.

Amber is enrolled with this course because she needed to fulfill her general education requirement and this course sparked her interest. Amber’s only experience with art is a few classes in high school. Despite her small amount of experience in art, Amber assures that she is still very interested in the topic and is glad that she decided to take this course. Amber informed me that ART 110 has made her view art differently and is grateful for this new-found perception.

http://ambersluna.com/

Wk 5: Landscapes with a Corpse

Death by Patience

Wk 5 Artist: Megan Kinney “Pulse”

The art gallery, “Pulse”, is an “exploration of nature through reoccurring forms, unpredictability, and processes. We approach our work intuitively and seek out what excites us”. This previous statement was provided by the artists; Henela Bae, Jamie Vilatoro, Megan Kinney, and Dianna Franco whose work makes up the gallery.

I was given the opportunity to interview artist, Megan Kinney, who is a Michigan native. When she was fifteen, her and her family moved to 29 palms; this is where she drew the majority of her inspiration for her art pieces. She draws a lot of inspiration from texture. She likes “woods and trees and rock formations especially in Joshua Tree”. Megan claims that her whole life, she has enjoyed art and would not want to do anything else. Even from a young age, her “parents always knew [she] was going to be an artist”. For most of her pieces, she starts out with colaging and and drawing before she actually starts the paintings. She went on to say that she spends more time studying the art piece than actually painting it.

The above piece pictured was done by Megan Kinney which represents nature with the female form. The piece was inspired by her own “personal experience influenced with body image like how we are hiding who we really are within  something else”.

https://www.facebook.com/MeganKinneyArtist

Wk 5 Classmate: Ty Dawkins

 

Ty Dawkins is currently a first-year at Cal State University Long Beach. Even though Ty grew up in Redlands which is in southern California, he does not commute to school daily. He lives in the off-campus housing, Beachside. As of now, Ty is undeclared but is fairly certain that he would like to pursue History. He has always been good at it has also found an interest in it. His goal is to someday be a history teacher. On campus, Ty is also affiliated with the Fraternity, Theta Chi. 

Ty is enrolled in this course because he thinks art is very interesting. His favorite form is psychedelic visual art. Even though he has not had very much experience with art, only one art class in art school, he still finds it really cool. Other random facts about Ty include his passion for mountain biking and his favorite color is pink.  

http://tywilsondawkins.com/

Wk 4: LACMA

 

On February 14, I had the opportunity to go to LACMA. The museum features exhibits includes art from Japan, China, Germany, United States, Pacific Islands, Africa, Egypt, Europe, and other countries. 

This piece of art pictured above was from the Renaissance era in Europe. Among all of the art pieces throughout the museum, this one may have possibly been my favorite. Upon seeing it, I was amazed by its large size; it was around twelve feet tall. Next, I was so intrigued with the detail in the piece; the artist appeared to have only used paint and yet it looked so three-dimensional. If you look more closely into the piece, I feel like there is something new to see each time; like the people walking up the stairs and the detail in the trees. 

The above piece from LACMA pictured above was from the African exhibit. When I first saw this piece, I was intrigued by the originality of it. It is a symbol for so many different things that are represented by a figure looking down upon a grave that has the tombstone “Congo”. This can represent an individual mourning the loss of a fellow friend or the loss of an entire nation. My favorite part of this piece is its usage with lighting and shadows and its message. 

The two pieces are similar because of their usage of detail. The artists clearly took their time in order to create a piece that would properly convey their messages. 

 

Wk 4 Artist: Natali Guerra Pineda “Viva!”

 

Natali Guerra Pineda arrived in the United States in 2008 and since then, she has been working diligently to complete her gallery, “Viva!”. The gallery includes many different materials like glass, in which she melts it down to a powder and uses it to shape the piece, copper, metals, and pen ink for her pictures. There are so many different used materials because Natali claims that she “likes to try and use everything she can” in her pieces, “if she can try anything new, [she] will do it”. Even though this is Natali’s first gallery, it definitely is not going to be her last.

Natali’s inspiration is drawn from life in general, hence the gallery’s name, “Viva!”. She is inspired by the human body, perfectionism, nature and the unknown. She believes that “time is ticking so love your life”. 

The piece pictured above was an assignment Natali was instructed to do that somehow depicted death around the world. She embraced the assignment and created a piece using sequences that showed an individual “who loses a child due to hunger”. This piece related to the overall theme to the gallery because death is ironically an aspect of life. 

Natali’s artwork was very fascinating because she used so many different forms of art in order to showcase her overall theme of embracing life. 

Wk 4 Classmate: Dania Barrera

Dania Barrera is currently a freshman at Cal State Long Beach. She stills lives in West Minister, so she commutes daily to school. During last summer, Daria  decided that she wanted to major in Sociology and is still pleased with her decision. She claims to enjoy learning about social problems; including personal relationships, stereotypes, and society as a whole. Daria and I found a common interest because as a psychology major, which is fairly similar to sociology, I understand her fascination with the subject. Daria went on to tell me that the reason she is enrolled in this class is  to further her knowledge about art. She does not consider herself an artist, but loves to draw. Her past experiences in art include taking art classes all throughout high school. Daria proved to be a really nice and interesting classmate that I am glad I had the opportunity of meeting.

http://daniabarrera.com/

Wk 3: Instagram Project

On February 6th, the students in my Art110 class were instructed to upload pictures to their instagram accounts with the hash-tag #Art110s14. By the end of the twenty-four hour period, there were over five hundred pictures tagged with the hash-tag.This project allowed us to get a glimpse of our fellow students’ everyday lives. I thought the idea of the assignment was neat because it reminded me of the movie, “Life in a Day”. 

Wk 3 Classmate: Erica Rudolph

Erica Rudolph is currently a freshman attending Cal State Long Beach. She grew up in Huntington Beach and as a result, she found a passion for surfing. Now, Erica lives in Long Beach at the college’s off campus housing, Beachside. As of now, she is a majoring in Communications but this will most likely change a little further down the road. She is still not sure what subject she would rather pursue, but she is keeping an open mind. So far, Erica has enjoyed her first year at Long Beach and is especially glad that she joined the sorority, Delta Gamma. Erica does not necessarily consider herself to be an artist but greatly admires the work that she has seen so far in the galleries this semester.

http://ericarudolph.com/

WK 2 Classmate: Jacob Kline

Jacob Kline is a Freshman at Cal State Long Beach. He currently is undeclared but is interested in pursuing a career in film because he loves how “it can display his creativity and ideas”. He prefers film over any other visual art because he is “able to write his own scripts and then create his own visual representation”. According to Jacob, he thinks that art is crucial in our society because, “it lets you express the side people would normally be afraid of”. Jacob thought that Patricia’s piece was an interesting way to view an urban society because after growing up in Oceanside, he found it relate-able.

http://jacobdkline.com/