Dumb Ways to Die

Such a great video! Watch it! =)

Panel Discussion

 Saturday December 1st 1pm-4pm 

National Art Education Association is hosting an 

Art Education Panel Discussion. 

This information will be very useful to everyone who is interested at all in the art education field. We are inviting current educators in the field to come to talk to us students to answer any questions that we may have for out future. 

#stressedout

I have so much to do and It's stressing me out. Everything is due and I don't have the time to do it. I don't know how to do it and I'm not really sure why it's so bad. I've had this every semester, but now I think my body is telling me that I can't take it anymore because it's freaking out is any way that it can. 

Schedule for the next week. Everything is due. I have so much more to do this week as well. Everyone is telling me to stop stressing out, stop worrying, but I can't. It's who I am and right now I just need the next few weeks to be over. Then when those end, break will happen, and it'll pick right up again and I'll freak out until I turn in my application for the College of Ed. Sorry to whomever is reading this, it is just my weekly rant. 

I have a presentation I have to do tomorrow and I'm not sure how it's going to go. I don't do well with reading comprehension and I was chosen to do the conclusion part and summing up everything for the presentation. This is very hard for me to that is the thing that is stressing me out tonight. Tomorrow will be more, I'm sure. 

All I know is, if you don't figure out this something, you'll just stay ordinary, and it doesn't matter if it's a work of art, or a taco, or a pair of socks! Just create something... new, and there it is, and it's you, out in the world, outside of you, and you can look at it, or hear it, or read it, or feel it... and you know a little more about... you. A little bit more than anyone else does... 

Cystic Fibrosis Gala

This weekend I will be participating as an artist in the Cystic Fibrosis Gala! I am creating an edition of one of my prints using the colors from the cystic fibrosis foundation logo. It will be a piece offered at the silent auction at this event. The event will be at LaFontsee Galleries in Easttown Grand Rapids. There will be goodies and lots of art to see. Paul Kotchman, is the senior development director for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in Western Michigan, and he asked me if I would participate in this event. I am very honored to be chosen to have my art shown here and couldn't be happier than to contribute my art for such a wonderful cause. 

Here is the link to the event if anyone is interested in finding out more information!

http://www.cff.org/Chapters/grand-rapids/index.cfm?id=23000&event=23000

Re-elected

Today is a new day! We should all be thankful to be here today. The past week in the United States has been hard because of Hurricane Sandy and all of the election processes taking place. Good and bad has happened over the past 4 years, but there are now 4 more years ahead of us. We do not know what will happen, but all we can do is HOPE.


http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/10/17/obama-romney-education/1636977/

it's coming along

I met with my COE advisor last week and everything went well. I've met with him before we didn't necessarily have complications but there were a lot of questions. I wanted to double major as art and elementary major, but it wasn't allowed. Then about a month ago, all of our mypaths got messed up and gave us all elementary distributed minors, which isn't even possible so that was frustrating. I actually thought about doing that minor, but as art majors, we are no longer allowed to do that. 

So in the end, I'm just a plain art education major with an art history minor. My advisor also told me that I needed a 3.0 in my minor when applying to the college of ed because it is a teachable minor. However, I went down to SISC to confirm this and they said no, as long as you have a 3.0 in your major, you should be fine. PHEW! 

Anyways, now all I have to do is stay focused and organized. I am very organized this semester, but oh so overwhelmed. So much to do!

My Animation

                                                                    Metamorphosis

The big idea for my animation is change. Change is a huge part of everyone’s lives, but we often do not realize that it is even happening; aspects of us are changing as well as the environment around us. The connection is imminent within the action and reaction that we constantly have between us and our environment. Everyday we play a crucial role in the environment and it is a constant cycle to survive. Change is the transformation of something, whether it be a person, an object, or an idea. I am working with the topic of metamorphosis and the form itself within the animation. I have used the element of line as the subject form to illustrate the concept of transformation. I simply wanted to utilize the forms and shapes that I love to work with and that have seemed to stick with me throughout the past year. No matter what other variables have changed in my life, certain elements have stuck with me and made a lasting impression.  I think that it is important to notice those things and keep them in our lives.

In my work, the curls and shapes that I use represent my playfulness and fun loving attitude. People recognize my work by that specific quality of mark making. I used a landscape as inspiration because everyone can relate to a landscape, however one may not be able to see such as transforming, living objects. The landscapes that I have created and illustrated are sometimes how I view the world, in a whimsical, playful way. Most viewers would not see a landscape as I have represented it, but I have related it to resemble a common landscape that we have most likely all seen before. I also decided to use the idea of metamorphosis and change because at this time of year everyone in this region of the country can relate to the change of seasons, temperature, and surroundings.

In a more relatable circumstance, this shows an idea that could be drawn when looking at my animation; an aspect of sustainable change or environmentalism. How we treat the planet and allow it to grow, or hinder it from such, may impact everyone else who is living in our world and relying on it for sustenance and life. In my example, the birds are directly impacted by the environment around them, and the environment is effected by the actions and interactions of the birds. They create a sort of symbiotic relationship where each is effected by and reliant upon the other. We have to be very cautious of how we treat our planet because as we are changing, so is the world and everything else around us. 

Ultimately, at the end of the animation, the clouds end up raining and replenishing the ground to grow up to grow a forest just as the rest has happened before. However, this time when the leaves fall, a different bird is created and becomes suddenly more significant than the rest. The pink bird symbolizes the spark of change to come for the future.

I start drawing, and eventually the characters involve themselves in a situation. 

-Dr.Seuss

Ahhhhh!

Everything lately is so frustrating, it's hard to think. I want to do well this semester and it doesn't seem like it is going to happen. I am applying to the College of Ed in February and my grades need to be top-notch. The courses I am taking this semester, however, are not allowing me to do such. Taking 5 classes really isn't that much for me, but it is being overpowered by work as well. I'm used to over-exerting myself and working myself so much that I am tired. I am not one of those students who will pull all nighters. I'd rather have my grades struggle than suffer myself by not getting any sleep. I love my sleep and I want to stay sane. 

Right now, everything is just so overwhelming that I can't control anything. I have so much to do, and seriously somehow my professors plan it so that everything for all of my classes is due on the same day. This is super frustrating, but obviously there is nothing that I can do. I just need to somehow get everything to be okay and balance it out. I do my best and make all the lists that I can but it doesn't always work. 

Ahhhhh! Let me breathe.