Final Project

                                                istance between Ohio and Alaska

                                                           My path of travel

                                       Impressive Aurora (the photos was taken by me)

Before working on this project, I have no ideal what would the finished project look like. It is mentioned in the brainstorming blog that I was going to create a project which describes my attitude towards art from beginning of the class till now. However, when I actually worked on it, there were no thoughts in my mind and I don't know how to present it, which made me realize that I have to come out with another theme for my final project. I went through previous blogs and hoped to get inspiration from them, then I saw Michael's review for my first introduction blog which expected me to talk more about my trip to Alaska during the Spring quarter break. I found it would be a good chance to share my trip with other in the final narrative project.

When I was creating the project, first I need to make sure how to present my tour, using video or images. Making a video would be a good choice which can depict my tour in a coherent way. Unfortunately, I don't have enough photos in my laptop to create a video for a few minutes. Most of the photos that were taken in Alaska are in my friend's camera, who travelled together with me. I realized what a big mistake I've made that I haven't made a copy of all the photos. Anyway, I need to make a project with a few photos in my hand, so using images seems to be best choice. I plan to use three images in this narrative project. The first image is a map which presents my preparation for the trip. The green tab with a capital "A" stands for Columbus, OH where I start my journey and the tab with "B" represents my destination, Alaska. The airplane I used in the image not only points out my main transportation, but also tells my destination since it is from Alaska Airline. The second image shows my main travel path in Alaska. It is clear if we start from the photo at upper left side and follow the little arrows in the image. I also point out where those photos were taken or what's in the photos on the top left of each photos. Therefor, I believe it's easy for others to know my travel path in Alaska by seeing the image and it can be a great reference for those who are planning an Aurora trip. For the third image, I used four photos that I took at the moment I saw Aurora. It was really awesome and I just couldn't believe there is such an amazing wonder in the natural world. Watching Aurora has always been one of my wishes and I'm glad that it has been realized a few month ago. I have to say it must be one of the best experiences in my life, which I'd love to share with others.

After I finished the project, I found that the photos about Aurora I used in the third image can't describe my actual feelings when I saw it. People would be shocked only if they see the Aurora, which is one of the most beautiful natural phenomenon, by themselves. I think it would be better and more impressive if they can see the aurora photos in a larger size, so I upload individually as follows:

        

Final Project Brainstorming

The first time I was trying to do the final project, I stared at the description and my mind went blank. Since there is no specific topic, I am totally disorientated. I would rather to do a project with assigned theme than to do an open one. After a few days, I got some thoughts:

I always believed that I have no sense of art before taking this class, but I really had a good time in the class and realized that art is really not so far away from my life, in fact, it is everywhere. I think I have come to like it. I was thinking of creating a procedure with several images to present my attitude towards art from beginning of the class till now. However, attitude is a kind of abstract thing which is hard to express. Even myself would feel difficult to completely put my feelings of art into words, not mention into images. Most of the images in my mind can only show part of my attitude, no completely. So, I think the transformation process of my understanding to art could be the main idea in my final project if I figure out a way to solve the problem.

I have never used photoshop before this class, which sounds really outdated. I just not that kind of person who would like to share every important moments online with all the friends even strangers, so I barely need to photoshop any photos. Since I have learnt some skills about how to deal with photos by photoshop through this class, I decided to use images not video or other forms in my final project.

Response to Carver "Cathedral"

        This is a short story about a man "opened" his eyes and became seeing the world by his heart instead of judging things by his eyes, which learnt from a friend of his wife, a blind man. At the beginning of the story, it's easy to read between the lines that the narrator doesn't like the blind man at all. I like the way that the writer doesn't use any specific words to express the man's dissatisfaction, but it can be felt from how the narrator described the blind man. I noticed that Carver introduced the story by "The blind man", which is not a name or anything else as if the only thing that the narrator noticed about his wife's friend is that he is blind. It also indicates his prejudice toward blind people.
        I also like the narrator's change in attitude towards the blind man after the interaction between them, although I have anticipated it when the first time I realized that the narrator disliked the blind man in the beginning. The blind man actually has clear eyes in his heart, he might can't see anything but he got everything in his mind. He told the narrator to see the world in another perspective by closing his eyes and perceiving the world by heart.    

MP 6

Hair Accessory

To Twist

To Inlay

The first photo is about the object I chose to use in this project which is the colorful hair accessory on my wrist. The reason I chose it is that I take it with me everyday so it's very convenient to tie my hair up whenever I need. Besides, the hair accessory is unnoticeable and I never paid attention to it even I use it everyday.

The first action word is to twist. As it shows in the second photo, I twisted the hair accessory to keep my hair up. I think the point of it is that the hair accessory was twisted by me not because I have to do it to finish my project, but that's the way how it works. So it would become useful when it is twisted.

The second action word is to inlay. At beginning, I was confused that how can I inlay the hair accessory in an other object. It must be something soft, otherwise it's impossible to do it. Then, when I was washing my hands, watching the water running out of the tap, I realized that water can contain everything, including my hair accessory. So I put it in a bowl with water in it, which made it inlay in the water as the third photo presents.  

MP 5

        When I considered what super power I wish I could have, the first word that came to mind is "Magic". I wish I could have magic and it doesn't need to be sophisticated like making people effectively immortal or altering some irretrievable disasters. All I want are some little magics that can make life easy. People always bother with housekeeping things like washing dishes and clothes, cleaning up rooms no matter how busy we are. It would be amazing if I can get everything cleaned and replaced in a second with a simple spell. Speaking of magic, I'm a huge fan of The Happy Potter series. So in MP 5, I use a picture of HP with his wand from the movie as my body part and replace his head with mine. Then the two photos in the project were taken respectively before and after my room get cleaned. The photo that presents the room after everything packed up which cost me about an hour contrasts sharply with previews one. But with my wand and spell, all things can be done in a second. I basically satisfied with my project except a small flaw. Since I replaced Harry's head with my head, it looks slightly out of place. It seems I can revise it to make it better.

Response to Wallace "This Is Water"

        The article is a commencement address by David Foster Wallace who was tryting to explain the meaning of liberal arts education. The degree that the graduates are about to get is not just for finding a good job, it contains actual human value that would benefit the graduates in their whole lives. I agree with the idea that a liberal arts education is more about "what to think" than "how to think". As Wallace said, Since people have different belief templetes, it is common that people have totally different opinions towards the exact same experience and there's no right or wrong answer here. So "how to think" is decided by individulals based on their templetes. When it comes to "What to think", it's about selection and there has right or wrong choice. In our lifetime, we are constantly doing muliple-choice questions. People who are successful always choose the right answer which means they always know what to think. Overall, I think a liberal arts education is the wisdom of life.

        I totally understand and agree with the main idea of this article. However, it's really not an interesting commencement speech even it tells the capital-T Truth.