This was another one of my favorite assignments this semester. I had already been working on this scrapbook previously to the assignment but once I heard that we could do remix art I instantly new I wanted to use the assignment as an excuse to finish the project.

The way I ended up doing my remix art was first being inspired by the fact upset that school was going online and no longer being able to see my friends and especially my boyfriend as often since we both dorm and live away from long beach. I decided to make a start a scrap book of all the fun and great memories that we made while dorming up until he asked me out. I first collected a series of memories we had together, then went through all my videos and galleries to get screen shots of videos or photos we’ve taken and have them all printed out. Next I started looking everywhere for scrap book material. I started collecting magazines, stickers, even waited for coupons in the mail to come in so that I can cut out images and texts from there.

After I started throwing everything together and making pages of dedicated to specific memories filling in the page with all sorts of cut outs, drawing, and small messages. The big challenges that I faced was having so much materials to look through and collage from. I learned to just take it one step at a time and work on one page before working on others. It was a lot of flipping through the same magazine over and over again but looking for new stuff each time.

Personally I love the freedom of the internet. As an artist all I have to do is make a quick google search or other peoples art work to become instantly inspired. I also often google photographs that I can use as painting studies.

Honestly I think its important to give credit where credit is due, however I think copyright infringements go to far to often. I hear a lot of frustrations towards copy right laws when watching social media influences on YouTube. It has been a constant complaint when influences play tiny snip bits of another persons video or song and all of there original content shown in the video is legally claimed by someone else. I think it is ridiculous and does more harm then good.

I agree with Picasso 100% in that a great artist steals there for I decided to use Attribution CC BY since it allows people to give credit where credit is do but still use your work to build on and inspire them. I think the great pay comes from how you’ve inspired others.

Artist: Micol Hebron

Media: Social influencer/ Mixed

Website: http://www.malenipplepastry.com

Instagram: @unicornkiller1

Micol Hebron works as an Los Angeles-based artist, educator, organizer, and curator. Her main goal however is always to fight for equity and supporting the underrepresented. In 2014 she took pictures of herself topless at art exhibition that was a fundraiser for breast cancer. She was there topless to celibate breast cancer survivors and her mother, who unfortunately passed from breast cancer. After sharing her images on Facebook they were removed for her having her breast out where her nipples could be seen. Of course Hebron was upset and so began her targeted fight at the female nipple band.

Micon Hebron is a leading figure in the protest against the nipple ban along with many other injustices of equity. She has organized many feminist events and protest discussing and fighting for what she believes is right. She also of course is a talented artist. She is always pushing boundaries made against the female body by posting images of her own body proudly presenting her body as a body and not an object that must be viewed sexually. During presentation she shared her work of her photo shopping male nipples over countless images in mockery of the ban against a female nipple.

Her work might be considered “shocking” or “Inappropriate” by some who view it as she is apologetically presenting the female body. This is exactly what makes her work so powerful as it begs the question why some people find her body images art so shocking when at the end of the day it is just her body as a female. Her work really forces the viewers to see her body and the fact that it may make some uncomfortable is exactly why she does what she does. Her art works towards eliminating those societal views of the female body having to be sexual or something females should be ashamed to show.

I really enjoyed having Hebron present to our class. I think what she is doing is definitely important and I commend her for being so willing to fight for what she believes is right. She is also extremely friendly and generous. She personally sent me free male nipple stickers which I thought was really cool of her. Definitely an amazing artist and activist and I wish her the very best on her journey and fight.

I know the assignment was to do graffiti art with our names but I really felt like painting this week. I have been flooded with boring assignments that have really drained me mentally. So I really felt like painting to recharge my batteries and the graffiti assignment was a great excuse to paint while still being productive in my school work.

I have always wanted to do street art but never really had an opportunity. I’ve never even tried to paint anything in that style before either so I wasn’t sure if I’d even be good at it or how it would turn out. I decided that I would make a painting that would look like some street art mural and add a little quote in graffiti style writing. It was extremely fun and rewarding doing this assignment. I love having an excuse to paint and to paint in a style I never tried was fun and kept me really invested in painting it. I started painting it yesterday around 5pm continued straight until about 12pm. I first had to look at a lot of actual street art on google to inspire me and then I realized everyone mainly just threw together anything and made these really stunning pieces. I really like the creative freedom you have with painting in this style because you can really add so much colors and shapes and designs. Really whatever you are feeling. Eventually I decided to just go for it and started paint and drawing random shapes and colors that I liked and of course added My boyfriend and I as the main subject of the painting. I am extremely happy with how it came out. It reminds me of Slim and Queen wall art. I wish I was able to do it on a larger scale as actual street art but perhaps another time. Definitely wouldn’t mind painting another similar piece.

My idea was to gather materials from my walk with my dog and make some sort of collage out of the plants and leaves I picked up. I chose to use just picked leaves and flowers from the plants outside my house. My idea was to first glue together leaves to make a flat surface as the background to my flowers. Once I had arranged everything I thought it was missing a center piece to so I added a lime and called it completed. My choice of materials affected my experience because I was limited with resources but I really liked that limitation. Overall I am happy with how it turned out. It reminds me of a flower arrangement or a lime nest.

When it comes to a kiss I think it totally depends on how long it should last. It depends what the two people involved are feeling, so anywhere between a small peck as a sweet reminder of there love or a full on make out shesh that last hours. A great meal I would image would last an about an hour. I feel like an hour will be sufficient in eating time and and enjoyable conversation because every great meal should be with people. Art work should last however the artist wants it to last. When I paint my nails and do nail art my intent isn’t to keep it there for years but maybe a week or so but when I paint a mural I hope it last for years. Marriage ideally should last a life time but people aren’t perfect so that just depends also. The goal is definitely a life time however. A human life should last as long as possible in my book. To me human life is one of the most valuable things.

Overall time definitely affects how we perceive and cherish things. when there’s a timer on something we end up counting down the minutes. Somethings like clean water, landfills, and air should be sustainable definitely. That is why many people take advantage the resources we have because we often forget that they aren’t forever. Many people also see themselves as noting being able to do anything but truth is everyone can make a giant difference if they desired to.

For this weeks blog, we were assigned to explore three virtual games, artist, or worlds. I have decided that I want to explore three different games, that being; Minecraft, Sims, and Stardew Valley, and explore how each of these games provides the players a sense of vacation from their realities of the world. Considering the pressing times that we are all experiencing with COVID-19 and it being difficult to connect or even go outside, I feel as though people are seeking games like these our more than ever. What amazames me most about these games are that they allow individuals to build “Second Lives”.

What Minecraft, Sims, and Stardew Valley all have in common are that they are virtually reality games in which you can essentially play “house”. All of these games I have played in the past for hours on time. What I and so many others have loved about these games is that you can create a sense of an other life.

These games allow us to create avatars that looks and behave any way we desire. Perhaps the avatar that someone creates looks exactly like themselves in real life. Or perhaps their avatar are completely fantasized versions of themselves. The possiblities with in Sims and Mine craft especially, are endless with both games allowing its plays to make completely unique skins and characters.

Furthermore Minecraft, Sims, and Stardew all allow us to create dream homes and families with far less effort and time. The process of building a “successful” life in these games are incredibly easy compared to the harsh reality of the economic climbing latter. Also, there aren’t any ‘real’ risks. If one decides to spend all their virtual money on clothes and a house on Sims, no one cares. Or maybe you don’t plant enough crops in Stardew or Minecraft and end up suffering from it within the game. The damage is irreverent and easily recoverable from. Everything is instant whether that be rewards or conscienceless.

Lastly all of these games main goals can be subjective ranging from building an empire, to living a humble life, or simply just exploring the games potentials. They all provide momentary relief from the real world by building a whatever one desires with no harsh punishments. Essentially these games contains are the great things about the realities of the real world, with out any of it being actually real.

If all of these games are aimed at resembling real life then why do we build a second world is the real question. The answer is simple. They are fun, and they aren’t real at the end of the day. The possibilities and experiences that one can have are endless and one can live multiple ‘second lives’. So yes while these second lives are aimed to be realistic they are mainly aimed to be fun get away from the real would where things are often really in your control.

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“Minecraft opens a world of limitless possibilities driven by the player and created by the fans who love it.”

-Rob Manuel

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My goal with my vlog was to just act as natural as possible. Vlogging and being in front of cameras is certainly something that I am not used to. I tend to feel like I’m very awkward and end up getting very self conscious of my self. With that being said, I think I did pretty well at achieving the goal. I was a lot less nervous or critical of my self then I might usually be. Before when I was younger, I was someone who didn’t like the sound of my own voice or even really taking pictures. Watching the vlog now, I realized I’ve gain a lot more confidence since then so I’d say it was very successful.

What I would do different next time is definitely vlog with my friends. My friend Moose who vlogs says that when hes with friends it is a lot more fun and hes less worried about himself looking weird. He said he can play it off as just having fun and joking around. Surprisingly I think if I had to vlog again I would, It was interesting to talk about something that I wanted to talk about and not worry if anyone was going to really listen. Maybe with quarantine happening and having to be away from friends it could help vlogging. Might make me feel ore connected despite not being able to talk to anyone really in person.

I love YouTube and have a few favorite Youtubers. I’ve always kept up with YouTubers like Joey Graceffa, David Vlogs, Colleen Ballinger, Jenna Marbles, Felix kjellsburg, Bretman Rock and other channels where its more then one person running the channel. All time favorite might have to be Felix or pewdiepie but only his new stuff not so much his gaming content. What I like most about him is that hes just an OG of YouTube and hes very unapologetic of himself. From what I get out of his videos is he acts very human and is very honest with his sometimes blunt opinions. Not to mention of course he is very entertaining to watch and funny. Some lessons I could for sure take from him are to just say whatever I want to say. Of course be conscious of other people’s feelings and views but don’t let that stand in the way of my opinions and personality.

Authenticity to me and being comfortable enough with yourself and your personality that you don’t have to consider other peoples opinions of you when you talk or do anything. When you can be yourself of course. Performing on the other hand is when you are conscious of the way you look and sound like to others and you change your behavior as a response to try and get others to view you a certain way. I think they are pretty much opposites but that doesn’t mean they cant work together. For example some people might be conscious of theirs people watching them and might bring out certain aspects of themselves as a result.

“If someone hates your guts feed it to them, if someone loves your guts they’re probably a zombie.”

-Felix Kjellsburg

“Be nice to people, maybe someday they’ll be rich”

-Felix Kjellburg

Before I started drawing the map I thought I was going to be able to remember a lot more of campus considering I lived there. I started drawing and found that I started with Parkside dorms and branched out from there. It was quite easy at first adding the surrounding buildings and parking. I quickly realized tho the further from the dorms I got the less I remembered. Upper campus of my map is completely none existence because first I ran out of room but even if I had room I wouldn’t be able to fill it. It was interesting to look at it as whole because you can clearly see where the details are focused and where I had trouble remembering.

I am real disappointed with my human Spirograph. I want to try it again with one of my friends instead of my sister and see if I have better luck because we could not figure it out. For the process of making the Spirograph my sister and I first were really giggly because it was a bit silly to be holding hands on a marker, criss-cross with our eyes closed. After we stopped giggling we waited for a while but nothing seemed to happen. We decided to try again with a color pencil then again with oil pastel, and then again finally with a marker again. It actually became a little frustrating and I found myself trying to make myself move the marker at times. Eventually we just had to call it. The results look like a baby first holding a marker to paper. It shows all the awkward marks me made from starting and stopping and jagged lines from us trying to readjust. I am real curious as to how it was supposed to work and I hope to try it again with someone else in the future.

Mahsa Sorouri

Nature’s Cadence

http://www.mahsasoroudi.com

Mahsa Sorouri is an Iranian born artist who moved to america just a week after she was married. Within her interview she shared how was always surrounded by art growing up as her father was a painter. She talks a little about her first moved to Malaysia where she learned to speak English and then later moved to the states. She shared that she decided to leave Iran because she wanted to seek more oportunities to share her story and work. During the time of the video she had two projects titled “Naures Candance” and “7500 miles” both dealing with her story of being an ex-patriot living in southern California.

Mahsa Sorouri has an entire garden of succulents. Within it she propagates her plants to form new plants and build her garden. Some of the plants had grown without roots while others were extreme over achievers and had roots digging far into the soil. She explains how the new plant uses the petal in which they are propagated from as food and genetic material before shriveling up and dying but not before an entirely new plant is formed.

The story behind the plants is her experience when she first moved to southern California. She expressed how she was so home sick and alone where she couldn’t relate to any of the people or even art. She began to investing her plants but she noticed that while she was struggling to grow as a person or thrive her plants too began to struggle. She began to really invest and nurture her plants and eventually her plants began to thrive as well. They inspired her to be strong and patient. She feels like her plants really reflect her experiences.

I too grow and propagate succulents and I related with Mahsa a lot. After months sometimes of waiting and nurturing them it can be extremely rewarding to see new baby plants form. It was interesting hearing about her experiences being reflected into her plants as when she was lonely and out of her element so began her plants. I tried to think back to see if I had similar experiences and found that my plants did the worst when I was at my lowest also. When I began to notice change in my life so did my plants as well. I had never consider it before but our experiences were similar in that way.

When I was writing my pop song I was trying to think out old messages I had with a person and just tried to make them more dramatic and “cringe” aka Romances them. The process was very unorganized and I basically went with an approach of spitting everything onto a piece of paper. Once that happened I rewrote lines to make them more Romantic and tried to cut the lines shorter along with keeping them in a story line as much as possible.

It was actually easier then I thought it was to make the song but then again my song is very very bad in my opinion and super cringy. It was difficult writing in the sense that I was not enjoying it and found myself uncomfortable and embarrassed of how dramatic the lines were becoming. The topic of the song was also old and healed from so I didn’t experience any relief from expressing myself either. This unfortually wasn’t my favorite assignment of the semester to say the least. None the less I did it the best I could and can say pretty confidently I will not be writing another song for fun or expression.

If I had to write another song I have no clue what I would write it about. This song was difficult enough to think about and conjure. Over all the experience was a learning one and I feel like I have a better understanding of how difficult and personal it can be to write a song as an artist. It only further my respect towards creators in the music industry.

I’ll admit that I was mad

And I’ll admit that I should have hated you

I didn’t have the heart to throw it all away

But I didn’t have the heart to want it anymore

I don’t want it anymore

I don’t need it anymore

We were just hollow souls

Should have listened to what I was told

Placed it all in your hands

but it was too heavy to hold

Fumbling on the ground trying to pick up the pieces you broke

And now we are just hollow souls

I’ll hold my breath

So the candle can stays lit

But I really don’t have the heart

To ever want this ever again

Now Breath it in

And breath it out

Take a good look at everything that you’ve done

Because we were just hollow souls

Should have listened to what I was told

Placed it all in your hands

but it was too heavy to hold

Fumbling on the ground trying to pick up the pieces you broke

And now we are just hollow souls.

Now we are just hollow souls

Sienna Brown is a senior here at CSULB getting her degree in MFA. She plans to use her experiences as an artist and her education here to continue on to getting a teaching degree so that some day she can become an art teacher. She aims to change the experiences of many young people who must take art as a graduation requirement and hopes to get students to find new love passions with in the arts.

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Sienna had expressed to the class that she loves color. I’d say that colorful is a great way to describe her work. Many of her pieces are abstract and free flowing. There are happy elements of colors that are meant to drawn in the viewer but once drawn the painting reveals it darker elements and often disturbing messages. The colors that I see most often with Sienna’s work are primary colors. The piece above seems to have gold include which in my opinion seemed to really highlight the piece and set the painting’s shape real well.

Sienna discussed that with her painting she began with just going with the flow and the mood of the painting and it wasn’t till later that she found herself discovering the deeper meanings of the paintings. She noticed that she has unintentionally been expressing her relationship with food through her paintings. Sienna admitted that she struggled for a long time with body and eating disorders that can be seen through her paintings. She explained to the class that once she realized this she began to explore the heavier topics fully and aimed to work through the messages while using her art to heal and move past the obstacle.

I found Sienna Browne to be one of the most inspiring artist I have ever met. I thought she was super sweet and her work was incredible. As an artist I really want to explore my self through art just as she did. I think shes incredibly brave for being so open and willing to talk about her art. I’ m looking forward to hopefully making it to her gallery and checking out her work in person. Hopefully she becomes extremely successful at her teaching career because she presented herself as the type of art teacher I would have loved to have.