This is a collage I made of my favorite band Twenty One Pilots, consisting of Tyler Joseph (the singer, as well as plays other instruments such as the piano and ukulele) and Josh Dun (the drummer). The process of creating this was quite simple, I gathered a few pictures that I thought were nice that represented their dynamic friendship. Then, I went into an app called ‘Polarr’ which is used for filtering images, and I messed around with the settings a bit on the middle right picture until I came up with something vibrant and low saturation that would mainly emphasize shades of blue, purple, and pink. Then once I was done, I applied it to the two other pictures I felt would look better with the filter, and then made the other three picture to black and white. After, I arranged them into an order I felt was aesthetically pleasing, and finished it off by overlaying a stardust image to add some bling to it as a whole.

Internet culture is definitely not easily known to be entirely good or bad, since there are many positive and negative effects and events that occur due to it. There is a lot of freedom, since you have the ability to post mostly anything you like onto any platform that has the ability for it to blow up and go viral due to exposure. However, due to how open the internet it, an original work can easily be copied or stolen without being noticed by the original creator, or in many cases a stolen work will go viral instead of the original creator getting that well deserved clout for it. An example of this is a TikTok dance that became viral, however many were getting clout and credit for the dance trend when the actual creator, a black female, received none. However, there is also empowerment in Internet Culture, since many times when, for example, diversity isn’t reflected in films or such, the media has the ability to bring attention to it and praise and recognize POC actors and actresses. Building further upon the previous example of the TikTok dance, once attention was brought about to the real creator of the dance, she was widely recognized and it was even used in a very popular song, Say So by Doja Cat, that she also had the opportunity to be a background dancer in using her own moves. Lastly, this example also displays the risks of internet culture, since you never know if someone will steal your work or ideas or if you can claim them back successfully if they do.

I think copyright in a sense does work, however it needs o be placed under different parameters due to how different Internet Culture is. For instance, there ae many times where I see accounts on twitter or Instagram that post clips from movies or songs and they get taken down due to copyright, however I don’t think they should be due to the fact that they are not attempting to take credit for it and simply want to share it. Overall, there should be better systems intact to determine the motivations behind sharing a piece of work to avoid overly harsh and strict copyright actions.

The license I chose for my work is Attribution, since I definitely would not mind someone taking inspiration from my edit to create their own version, perhaps with different celebrities or a similar filter/overlay, however I would like credit for the format since I did do it myself and found a unique style.

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Although being in quarantine hindered and changed most of the overall experience that was meant to have been outside and with paint, I did enjoy this activity. Doodling in a notebook while in class or when bored is something I, and most likely others, do often, and for me personally it usually involves me writing names. Most of the time, it isn’t my name I write, but others such as singers or fictional characters, and alternatively song lyrics if there is a song stuck in my head. So for this activity, writing my own name was a pleasant change of pace, as if I was finally recognizing my own name as worthy of being written with care and consideration.

I began by sketching my name with a pencil, then I went through markers I have and chose which ever color in any order I felt. However, the one pattern I did stick to was that I outlined the letters in a dark color, and then filled the letter in with a lighter shade to create a popping effect. I spent about 15 minutes or so creating the drawing, but I had a nice time doing it, since it required no critical thinking and I was able to rely solely on how I felt to what would look good on paper and visually pleasing to the eye. At first, I was concerned that my whole name not fitting on one line would ruin the sketch, however two lines due to my name having an even number of letters looked just as fine.

Additionally, I decided to write the name of my favorite video game character, Wraith from the game Apex Legends. The blue dot on top of the eye is meant to resemble a portal, since Wraith is known as an ‘interdimensional skimster’ that has the ability to enter the ‘void’ through a portal she creates, and I waned to embed that into her name. Although it wasn’t in bubble letters, I don’t envision her name written that way to accurately represent her as a character. Despite this, it could still be considered graffiti writing if perhaps it was more dimensional or if it was developed into a popular style to write in.

My idea was to attempt to portray the what my desk looks like due to gaming sessions. I used empty water bottles and wrappers in my trash bin in my room and placed them on my desk with the wrappers between them. I believe I did a good job at setting the mood for what it typically looks like in my room while gaming and the activities that usually take place, especially with my blue LED lights on since that is usually the setting I have them on when I am gaming. While gaming, I tend to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated and from talking to my friends/teammates so much, you tend to get thirsty. Also, I will grab any snacks I can find in the kitchen to eat in between games (parallel to them being in-between the water bottle isles) and eat them with water. I think my choice of using materials that came directly from my trash and were actually used in one of the gaming sessions it is meant to represent gives it a sense of authenticity.

I think a kiss should last typically based on what emotions or means one is attempting to portray. for instance, attempting to be sweet yet affection is usually associated with a short, quick, ‘sweet’ kiss or ‘peck’. A great meal for me should last a bit faster than usual sense I am usually so hungry or craving that food that I will eat it faster than usual. A work of art should last long enough to give the viewer the correctly intended experience and message to be portrayed, based on each differing piece. A marriage is meant to last for life, in my opinion, since I would only want to get married once with the purpose to last. A human life should last around 80 years, since it seems to me a decent amount of time to live ones life as well as be able to experience and be there for the lives of their children to watch them grow and guide them.

I do believe that having a finite lifespan creates a different type of lifestyle and effects, since the knowing that you don’t have forever and your days are limited forces you to put things in perspective and experience and appreciate things while you have it in front of you. I definitely believe that resources such as clean air and water should be sustainable since they are vital aspects to living as humans and for the planet in general, such as wildlife and nature. Individuals can definitely step up to make a difference in climate change by attempting to limit our carbon footprint, possibly through using other forms of transportation than cars such as public transportation or walking or riding bikes.

video link: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2cAEEtv8WWE

My main goal with this video was to address how much my video gaming addiction, especially with the game Apex in particular, has increased during quarantine. As well as giving a brief background with my experiences with gaming and Apex in general. I definitely think i achieved my goal, since I spoke fluidly and about whatever came to my mind openly, especially concerning how bad I knew I was when i started and that even now with a bit more experience, there is still room for improvement. Additionally, I hoped to encourage a few people who are not to sure of gaming to give it a try, and I think I did so as I made sure to emphasize that you don’t have to be the best to have fun, and again, there is always room for improvement in gameplay. Perhaps in the future I might attempt to add in a few clips of my gameplay improvement throughout the clips that I have, to show some growth and how possible it is to get better at video games. Despite this, I don’t think I will vlog again purposefully, it is something ive tried in the past but I think my daily life is not that interesting, for myself in particular I like to stream on twitch as it includes me being able to express myself and share my personality with others while also gaming and doing what I love with friends.

I honestly don’t have a favorite youtuber since I was never really into youtube for vloggers, I usually would watch gaming or vine compilations, however I would have to say that Markiplier is one of my favorites. His personality is really goofy and carefree and is able to absolutely slay at video games. He is really entertaining and the fact that his gameplay is spectacular is merely a plus. From his work, it may be helpful to take note of his carefree nature and how he doesn’t get frustrated when he fails, instead he starts over and tries again, which is a good lesson and value to hold, especially in gaming.

Authenticity to me is someone being organically genuine or themselves, with no intention of deception or ulterior motives. Instead, they are simply being themselves and having fun with whatever they do. Performance, to me, can be either fake or genuine depending on the standpoint or intentions behind it. I believe that acting is performance, and most the time the intention behind it is attempting to give voice and beliefs and a sense of reality to a character or accurately representing someone’s life in film or TV. However, performance could be fake and deceptive if the intentions behind it are negative, such as out of envy, jealousy, or manipulation–in other words, pretending to be someone that you are not and presenting a disguise or fake manner. As I explained previously, authenticity and performance can co-exist, in the situation that I gave with the actor attempting to accurately represent a character or real life person is genuine and attempting to give reality to something.

In the clips of Jennifer Aniston, I believe that the edition from at home during quarantine does have a bit more authenticity that the one filmed in the studio. This is mainly for the reason that in the studio, it is in the presence of an audience with many people on set attempting to make everything run smoothly. However, at home is a different environment and allows someone to be themselves because the aroma is calming and has pieces of you there–such as memories and pictures or loved ones. Simply, doing the interview at home is just different vibes compare to a studio, and one may feel freer to be themselves and not feel as though they are simply trying to entertain a live audience and gage their reactions.

My experience with creating a map of the school was different, considering I thought I would come up with a better map than I did. I’m one of those people who has a map of campus saved on my phone because I’m anxious and think ill go to the wrong building and needs to check every once in a while to make sure I am indeed going in the correct direction. All this being said, my map did not come out as representative as I thought since the dimensions were all off and led to where the library is supposed to be being cut off. I believe this is because I drew what was most representative to me starting from my routine and specific routes. For instance, I included the G7 lot because I park there and the pathway next to it that passes COB, BH, and eventually psychology is too long or not evenly spaced. I think my mind was moving too fast to remember every building considering the psychology building was an after thought I had to squeeze in and just now am I realizing I forgot the important landmark of the book store. As for the other activity, my experience was strange. I decided to do this with my mom since she was the only one present at home and honestly neither of us really understood what we were doing. We laughed a few times at first and accused each other of moving the pencil, which then led to us each denying it. However, we talked it through and convinced ourselves to relax in hopes the pencil would indeed move itself. Despite our efforts, I believe we both became a bit impatient since it wasn’t quite working and decided to finish with what is pictured. The results are definitely not what I expected, since the samples given were rather large and seem to have flowed better compared to ours. I also believe that it may have reflected what we wanted to happen, since my mom swore I was pulling the pencil towards myself, however I believe she was pushing it toward me, so I’m not confirming she DID move it, but it could have been a self confirmation bias type of situation. Overall, I did not really enjoy this activity since it seemed to be betting on the fact that it would work for everyone, but in my case it didn’t.

Exhibit Information:
Artist: Masha Soroudi
Exhibition: Nature’s Cadence
Media: plants, soil, water
Gallery: N/A
Website: http://www.mahsasoroudi.com/

Masha Soroudi is an Iranian woman who immigrated to the United States, more specifically Southern California, at the age of 30. She explained how she had been constantly surrounded by an encouragement of creativity, as seen by her parents professions in painting and the arts. Additionally, she described watching many Hollywood movies when she was younger, and this contributed to her knowledge of other cultures besides her own.

The process behind the ideas of Nature’s Cadence has to do with actual planting and nature. The artist described that the idea is to trim the succulent leaves and put each into its individual compartment in a tray with soil. What happens then is that each leave will grow its own individual plant in the soil. She described how the roots are not a part of the plants, since they are later used for food.

The artist continued to explain how after a while of exploring LA and going out, she soon became tired of the constant adjustments and couldn’t connect to the art or some other aspects of being in a new environment. It went to the point where she often neglected her plants, in what she include herself to describe that neither her nor the plants were doing too well. Then, she realized that she was not giving the plants the amount of energy and love the required, and once she did they soon began to do better than she was. She began to find meaning in the plants that applied to herself, in which she realized that the process of struggling to find new roots and expand them was not easy, however was ultimately worth it.

At first, I did not see how planting succulents was a form of art, but after hearing the artist’s experiences, I saw the symbolism behind it and what it meant to her. As she explained how she realized she hadn’t given the plants enough love and energy initially, I connected it with the idea that as long as you continue to put effort and care into something, it will continue to grow and blossom into something beautiful. In addition, when she explained that the roots do not become part of the plant and later act as food, it was not hard to find meaning in the simple biological process. I felt it symbolized how your roots bring genetic material and give you a start, but they do not define you and you have that choice to identify with them or not. Despite this, your roots do account for something and essentially ‘feed’ you, giving you potential knowledge and experiences that are unique to yourself, however what you do with that and how you build onto it is up to you.

Exhibit Information:
Artist: Sienna Browne
Exhibition: Product of the Pallet
Media: acrylic paint
Gallery: Black Umbrella Tattoo and Art Gallery
Website: https://www.siennabrowneart.com/
Instagram: @siennabrowneart

Sienna Browne is to graduate from the CSULB School of Drawing and Painting in May 2020. The art gallery that is soon to occur later this month is meant to act as a fundraiser for her next step in life and education, which is obtaining a teaching credential for art. She shared with us that she hopes to ignite a passion in students before they reach college to perhaps open them up to a skill they never knew they possessed. Browne’s style of work mostly reflects representational and abstract, more specifically surrealism and cubism. From high school until much recently, Browne’s work explores ideas of body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

This piece seems very simple at first glance, however sometimes less is more. In this case, the lines are generally very smooth, but not fine. They serve the purpose to create shading and different lighting, especially around the face area. The colors used in this consist of mainly pastels, but also nudes when concerning the facial features. In addition, many of the shapes are curved and circular, rather than having straight edges. Lastly, the texture seems smooth and soft.

Browne explained that this is one of many pieces that revolves around food on head portraits that were made during her high school years. She explained that these pieces convey her style, but not a concrete vision. Browne went on to describe that at first, she thought that these pieces were just fun and simple, since they each were meant to be puns, such as the sushi ‘rolling’ off the head. But years later, she soon came to address them as a reflection of her experiences she went through with an eating disorder. She explained her toxic relationship with food and how these pieces, and many other of her works, explored this theme. Furthermore, she conveyed that her use of brighter colors are meant to draw the viewer in, however the shapes and meaning behind the images confuse them, and create a dissonance in them. They wonder why theyre attracted to something so dark or conflicting.

Overall, the light and airy arura that was initially intended by Browne is very prevalent in the work and I could personally see the way it would draw in the viewer. However, after hearing of her experiences, it was not hard to dissect the piece and draw meaning from it in relation to the fact. For instance, the choice to place the food over the head instead of any other body part is obviously important, since it is directly placed over the subject’s head, looming over him and he glances up at it. The choice to only include to upper half of the face and no other body parts make it seem as though the subject physically cannot grasp at the food above him, and is forced to look and fantasize about it. In addition, the lack of facial expression makes it seem as if the subject is indifferent toward the food above him. Also, the background is notably empty, only a purple surface, no blue sky or clouds, or even restaurant in the back to set the scene, but instead a backdrop. This could possibly represent that food is the only thing on the man’s mind, no other notable distractions to think about, the only option is for the food to consume his mind. All of these work together to reflect and symbolize Browne’s eating disorder and toxic relationship with food, as she phrased. Browne is very brave to share this part of herself with us, with the world in her works of art, since it is definitely not something that is easy to talk about.

Going into the woods,
She calls my name,
Crying out from childhood,
Reminding me of the ball game.

The bitter breeze,
Locks into my throat,
Making my breathe freeze,
With no way to cope.

The fog knows no rules,
Only to consume,
Humanly fools,
Who panic and drool.

Imagine the trees dancing,
To the sound of screams,
From the humans entrancing,
Oh, to wish it were only dreams.

The fog knows no rules,
Only to consume,
Humanly fools,
Who panic and drool.

Kneel to the trees,
Sink into the dense grass
Below the leaves,
Beneath them alas.

The fog knows no rules,
Only to consume,
Humanly fools,
Who panic and drool.

During my song, I was attempting to think about crafting a story utilizing the typical Romanticism ideals. Mainly, I thought about humans in a submissive role in comparison to nature, which dominates and is almost all mighty. To the humans, nature is almost their god. In the beginning, nature had to use force against the defiant humans, but eventually the humans recognized the forest’s power and strength in comparison to their minuscule abilities, and gave in.

For writing my song, I went through a very basic process. Since I am not typically used to writing songs, I utilized a poetic function to write the lyrics. Specifically, I rhymed the ending word of a sentence every other line, and starting over each stanza. I crafted a story in my mind, fitting it to the rhyming pattern, allowing it to manifest into its own storyline. I purposefully created a chorus based on what felt right to me, and repeated it when necessary.

The writing process definitely wasn’t easy, however hard might be an overstatement. It was more frustrating than anything, since it was hard to choose a starting point and deciding where to go with it and the format of how you’re going to write it. Especially since there was a specific theme to stick to, since writing songs about personal experiences or emotions may be more easily written and smooth in comparison to forcing something out to match a specific perspective. It wasn’t entirely as I expected, since there are definitely different ways to write songs and rhyming isn’t universal in lyrics, however it was the most basic way I could think to get the ball going.

Overall, I think my song is successful in portraying themes of Romanticism. It may be confusing to decipher what the lyrics are specifically about in a story line crafting sense, however, the ideas of nature and human inferiority in comparison are definitely prevalent. I think I may write another song in the future, since I do enjoy writing poems time to time, and songs and merely a form of poet devices and go hand in hand. If I were to write a song again, there is a good chance it would function as an emotional catharsis for whatever I am experiencing at the moment. Possible themes definitely include anxiety and uncertainty towards the future, since, especially as a college student, is a great concern of mine and often occupies my thoughts.

For this project, I decided to change my look by wearing a dress and curling my hair, two things that I don’t usually do. My usual look, as referenced in the first picture, persists of a simple shirt and jeans. The only time this really changes is in summer, where I opt for maybe shorts and a crop top. As for my hair, I typically just leave it naturally, simply brushing it or putting it up in a pony tail. The only time I ever curl or straighten it is if I am going somewhere important, considering I never have time to do it just to go out or casually.

This weekend I hung out with a few friends as we decided to go somewhere to eat. We each drive ourselves, so we decided to meet at the restaurant. I attempted to walk in and meet my friends as casually as possible, remaining indifferent and not with an eager attitude to gage their reactions, in order to simply observe what they were thinking once they saw me. I did not expect them to react out of my own narcissism, but instead because, as mentioned earlier, I don’t usually wear dresses or skirts or do my hair any specific way unless its under very special circumstances. In fact, I doubt any of my friends have ever even seen me in a dress before.

As soon as I stepped into their view they smiled, out of what I presumed to be excitement for having seeing me and because of what I chose to wear that day. I was immediately hit with a wave of comments: you look so cute!, what’s the occasion?, who are you dressed up for?, where are you going?, I love the outfit!. I simply answered that there was no reason behind my dressing up, and they seemed to leave it alone after that. However, further into the afternoon I asked if the long sleeve I had worn matched with the dress, to which they responded that it did. This sparked another, smaller wave of questions yet again, to which I finally revealed the purpose behind my dressing and they laughed about it.

It was a bit entertaining and even awkward for me, considering the amount of attention, questions, and expectations to answer I had received. I’m not particularly used to that amount of attention placed on what I wear or how I look, considering most the time I consider myself ordinary. Despite this, their reactions were most definitely expected to be that way, since I am acutely aware of what my usual attire consists of, since I usually do not care too much about how others perceive my clothes. Overall, I liked this project since it gave me a reason to wear an outfit that I have been wanting to wear but haven’t had the opportunity to do so. Also, it is nice to receive that amount of attention once in a while, it feels nice sometimes for people to acknowledge your clothes, especially when you feel good in what youre wearing. Confidence in your clothes definitely contributes to my overall confidence in my body and myself. Wearing clothes outside of your comfort zone is often very valid, since it allows the individual to try new things and find the correct style that suites themselves.

Exhibition Information:
Artist name: Kelsey Steuernagel
Exhibition: The Enchanted Borderlands
Media: Digital Art or Illustration
Gallery: Dr. Maxine Merlino
Website: N/A
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelseynoelleart/

Kelsey Steuernagel is an undergraduate at CSULB, in the BFA pre production program in the school of art. Besides digital art, which is the media of the work I will be discussing in this post, her interests include traditional art and visual development in general. Ideas that her work explores in this exhibit specifically are a combination of the two genres western and fantasy. As she explained to me, these are two genres that are generally not crossed together, in comparison to other cross play such as horror comedy or romance comedy, which herself and the other contributors to the exhibit noticed.

There are many formal qualities of this piece, which is titled “Adelaide”. The lines are very fine. This is perhaps more easily done with digital art if using some sort of pen, in order to truly get every ounce of detail possible into the dress and form of the cowgirl. Noticeably, most of the shapes seen are circular or cylindrical, ranging from the body of the cowgirl herself, to the moons in the background and the cactus. In addition, the colors used are both bright and deep hues of green and blue, as well as deeper shades or brown.

The main content surrounding this entire exhibit is a cross between fantasy and western, as mentioned previously. A basic understanding of the underlying storyline of the exhibit is that there is a glowing green emerald that can produce naturally strong energy, which can power towns, or as others desire, weapons. Steuernagel described that their story begins out of greed as each and many races of the Enchanted Borderlands attempt to get their hands on the powerful gem. Furthermore, some powerful individuals even go as far as to hire others to seek the gem throughout the magical and chaotic world. Adelaide, as Steuernagel named the cowgirl in the piece, is part cowgirl part elf and fits into this storyline as her lasso actually harnesses the glowing green emerald.

Personally, I was pleasantly thrilled to see a cross between western and fantasy. I think it is genuinely such a compelling concept that should definitely be explored more in film and such, since it can have so much potential. The piece ‘Adelaide’ is exquisitely beautiful, the half cowgirl half elf is a concept that worked well in Kelsey’s case. It seems that she chose wisely in which aspects from both categories that she wanted to incorporate into the girl, managing to give Adelaide her own identity in the storyline without an abundance of overcrowding features. The fact that she has a lasso and elf ears, as well as her outfit aspects, are just enough detail to give the viewer insight into who she could potentially be. In terms of the lasso, I initially assumed that the choice to make it glow green was to incorporate the fantasy side of the piece, however after the artist revealed that it actually harnessed the gem, I was impressed and it gave Adelaide more character in the storyline. Noting her almost white hair, one could potentially recognize this as a type of color symbolism, in which it signifies purity and innocence. This also may be backed up by the expression on her face, which is one of perhaps surprise, given her gentle features. I also continued to wonder what side is she on, in terms or good or evil; did Adelaide want to keep the emerald for her own strength, or to help others in the general population? Or perhaps it was to prevent the powerful emerald from getting into the wrong hands. One could assume that her purity may suggest that she is ‘good’ and has the best intentions at heart. This part also reminded me of Wonder Woman in a sense, due to the glowing lasso in the hands of a powerful woman. Overall, this exhibit and piece was lovely, it introduced me to a new concept and universe that I hadn’t expected to be submerged into, but I’m glad I got to experience it.