Who has two thumbs and is just now getting around to this blog situation?... This guy!... I think all of you will soon find I have a habit of being very honest, even in most situations when it gets me in trouble, that being said, coming into the WASH program I can honestly say I felt a little discouraged. I had a bunch of friends that went through the program last semester so I somewhat knew what to expect and unlike the majority of the students ( I think ), i'm more of an advanced student coming into the program. In addition, I am definitely NOT big on performance art. So on the first day when Kathy was explaining the first assignment ( playing with newspaper/ performance ), I may have looked calm and collected on the outside, but inside, I was twisting like those tasty doughnuts.
However...
Upon coming into the program with such an annoyance type perspective, every additional day, I find myself pleasantly surprised. After the first day and the newspaper fashion show, what I thought would be a glimpse into a very unhappy semester, I found myself asking, "Am I actually enjoying this?... Why yes, I think you are." I figured that everyone else would create some type of creature or physical being revolving around a type of fantasy. So, I wanted to create something that would stand apart. Something more conceptual than visually creative. But in order to get such a message across, the props had to be very obvious and basic. I chose to be a nightmare. A professional artist, that begins to lose his eyesight, goes broke, and commits suicide. For the artist portion, I created a pallet, layering the tape and newspaper until it was stiff enough to compare to a normal pallet made of wood. I bent the edges and tore a whole for my thumb to achieve the shape. I rolled balls of tape and stuck them to the pallet around the edge. Then I went through magazines ( magazines because they have more of a gloss finish, like wet paint ) and tore out pieces with different colors to simulate a variety of different pigments on my pallet, then I wrapped those pieces around the balls of tape for a three dimensional effect. I created paint brushes by tightly wrapping tape around rolls of newspaper leaving about an inch at the end which I would fray to simulate the bristles. To simulate the aspect of losing my eyesight, I made an eyepatch. To simulate the basis of sex and professionalism, I created a neck tie, decorating it with stripes ( layered tape ). Then the kicker. I made a basic looking hand gun which I hid underneath my jacket and tore up a handful of small pieces of newspaper which I hid in my jacket pocket. Presumably, when everyone was watching me go for my gun, I would slip my other hand in my pocket for the confetti, then when holding the gun to my head and pulling the trigger, blow the confetti out my fist to simulate the carnage of suicide. Check out the video for a glimpse. All in all, not a bad first day and first assignment. Good job Kathy, Valerie, and WASH peeps!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk6PMOiftLA&feature=player_embedded
