Well ladies and gentlemen, I am afraid my time in this class has come to a close. It's the final curtain and I am wanted on stage to take my final bow. My thank-you speech? This lovely little final reflection piece I made. It summarizes many of the lessons that I have learned during my time in the Writing with Technologies course. I could not be more grateful for my time there, and I could not be more grateful for all of you. You, my lovely community, have started me on the path to becoming the blogger of the century! Thank you for your time, and maybe I'll see you around the web sometime. Ta-ta!
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There are so many amazing and talented artists in our world today. The fact that we have so many mediums in which so many kinds of artists can show off their abilities only makes our world that much brighter. I want to create a series of blog posts that highlight artists from my campus, ranging from photographers to painters to sculptors and everything in between. This posts featured artist is the wonderful Ashlyn!
Every artist has one thing they like and one thing they do not like about their work; Ash likes the openess of her art, but often hates the culture surrounding photography. In regards to the openess of her art, she said "I feel like there's a lot more freedom with how I operate as an artist compared to other mediums." She also talked a bit about how she sews, and that she enjoys combining both photography with the fiber opens up many doors for her. But when talking about the photography community, she noted how she was lucky to work in a department with such a diverse group of women. "The same isn't true for a lot of young women artists. I've received a lot of disrespect from men in the field that feel the need to incessantly criticize women." Ash also addressed a stereotype about photographers that she felt needed to be dispelled. "I think there are a lot of weird stereotypes that post photographers as voyeurs, these assumptions seem out of place and lacking a critical eye." A voyeur, if you're not familiar with the term, is someone who gets sexual pleasure from seeing someone either naked or in the midst of a sexual act.
Artists these days have so many ways that they can display their work that it's hard to imagine how anyone got their name out there before the age of technology. What used to be a daunting and often discouraging task of trying to showcase your art can now be done at the click of a mouse through various social media platforms. These days, you can even create art on the computer using programs such as Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai. That still blows my mind!
Now I know some of you may think I'm overreacting because hey, "Imitation is the highest form of flattery" or something like that. My point is, get the artist's consent first. Consent is a word that I live by; if I do not have consent to do something to/for another person, then I will NOT do it. Of course you have your situations where you're throwing a surprise party and do not need the consent of the individual to celebrate a good time, but in most other situations you NEED consent. This philosophy extends to the art world. Here's why you need consent: artists spend precious time (sometimes hours, sometimes days) putting together a piece that they feel their audience will love. They are so proud of what they've done that they want credit for their creation. Even if an artist is not too proud or fond of a piece, they still put a LOT of time and effort into it and want some credit for it. When you (or the average shmuck) take that artwork and post it online as your own work, then it is like you're cheating on a test; you're taking someone else's time that they put into studying, slapping your name on it instead of theirs, and saying "look at how amazing I am! I did this all on my own! Me! Not them, ME!" We all know how much of a big fat lie that is. Even if it's just innocently sharing a piece that you really like, when you don't give credit the original artist then you are subsequently invalidating all that time and effort that they put in to their work.
This digital age that we live in allows us so many opportunities to share our passions with the world, and that's one of the things I love about it. However, it also makes us vulnerable to those who would steal our art and take credit for it; these are the type of people that I do not like. So, if you ever find yourself in the midst of the internet and see a particular work that you really enjoy, get consent to share first. That artist will either really appreciate you sharing their work and getting them more exposure, or they will really appreciate you respecting their wishes and not sharing their work. Either way, you'll stay on an artist's good side that day!
If you want to learn more about why giving credit to the artist is good, as well a get some advice on how to protect your artwork, go ahead and check out this article on DIYPhotography.com. The author, Vladda Haggerty, gives some great advice on what artists can do to ensure that they properly protect their work from theft. Hello. My name is Gabe Costa and I suffer from General Anxiety. I've suffered from a young age, but it has not been until recent years where it has started to become more of a nuisance. I've taken anxiety medications since I was young, and even they don't always work for me. The worst is when I have an anxiety attack, which leaves me feeling unsafe in my own space. However, I have found a new way for me to express how I feel and effectively ease the anxieties within me; art. Ever since I was young, I've loved to draw and write. I'm sure that if you ever visited my home, you would find some piece of art that I drew or some story I wrote up when I was ten. I took a break from drawing and writing for a while, but I recently picked it back up. I have experimented with poetry, stories, painting, sketching, etc. It's hard to keep it up while I'm a busy college student, but I always make a bit of time to write. Here's an example of something I wrote down below (it's not perfect, but it's something): A record player Spinning on and on and on a Never letting my mind have a moment of silence Or a breath of relief Because it is a life blood that courses through my veins. Most of the time its what I heard on the radio, Sometimes its a song I hate, Sometimes its a song I love, Lines of meaning or no meaning at all rambling on in my head Crowding the limited space in my brain. Instead of the radio Or the music on my phone I should just take an auxiliary cord And let my mind's jumbled nonsense flow out of it So that maybe one day I can get a moment of clarity and peace. Who am I kidding? It's all music to my ears. Why do I write or paint? Because it expresses who I am. It helps me to see what I am thinking at that moment in time, which sometimes help me work through my anxiety-inducing thoughts. It also allows me to just do; I don't have to think too much about the process because art requires less thinking and more doing. Art has a way of letting people create whatever they want without having to follow many rules. With writing, you just have to be grammatically correct, and even then that rule doesn't always apply. Whatever feeling you want to express, you can express through art.
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AuthorI'm an average girl trying to be artistic. Come see how well it goes! Archives
May 2017
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