PSA Artist Statement

Kelsey Best

Darrin Gailey

Josh Ledwig

                                               Artist Statement: iMovie Project

Though our generation is considerably more tolerant of differences than the generations past, bullying is an on-going problem in society. Bullying can range from physical assault to emotional abuse and any act of malice in between.  In the making of our documentary-style PSA, we hoped to spread awareness about bullying through interviews and statistical analysis. Six people who have experienced the effects of bullying shared their stories and opinions with us, allowing us to gain a better perspective on this sensitive issue.

We worked to break down some lengthy interviews in order to find similarities in content. Specific questions were asked to prompt the discussions and we organized the movie accordingly. We began each interview by asking the participant to define “bullying”. We followed by asking questions such as “have you ever been bullied?”, “have you ever witnessed someone else being bullied?” and “how do you deal with bullying?” The answers were diverse but also shared certain similarities, such specific stories and instances of witnessing bulling.

Our questions stemmed from the making of our concept map, which also influenced our storyboard. The concept map started with the idea of “bullying”, then lead to the four different areas for analysis: the experience of being bullied, the experience of witnessing bullying, kids who bully others as well as the definition of bullying. This began the catalyst from which we organized our ideas into a storyboard.

Our collaborative efforts were cohesive throughout. We all found participants for interviewing and we worked in unison to put together the movie. Separately, we worked to edit the footage so as to be time efficient. This meant cutting out unimportant speech between the interviewers and interviewees and highlighting profound statements given.

            We felt that the Wonders Cabinet was an appropriate setting for this endeavor because it is an intellectual space designed for analysis, which supports the documentary style in which we filmed. It was also a quiet space in which we would not be interrupted. However, we also wanted to work with the schedules of our participants, which meant, in one instance, meeting in a classroom space instead. We feel that this similarly worked to support the intellectual nature of our analysis of bullying. The angles of the camera worked to create visual interest and  contrast as opposed to a static viewing.

We feel that we were successful in our attempt to raise awareness by means of digital media. This allowed us to reach a wider audience through digital means of creativity. Films are a popular form of art that most people partake in and are therefore an appropriate venue for this project. In this increasingly visual and digital age, we can deliver messages that entertain as well as inform through mediums such as this. We also wanted to include music that would create empathy in the audience. This is shown in the somewhat down-trodden music that accompanies the beginning, followed by the up-lifting music at the end.

Bullying PSA

The Artmaking Strategies of Kasia Ozga

ART 335: EXTRA BONUS ASSIGNMENT

THE ARTMAKING STRATEGIES

Your Name(s)	Kelsey Best
Artist	Kasia Ozga http://kasiaozga.com
Key Artwork	Consumption, Human Scale, Fight Club, Cartographie Personnelle, etc.
BIG IDEA/CONCEPT What is the work about?	Critical Public art, art “making” the public
BOUNDARIES/MEDIA	Used items, umbrellas, Velcro as adhesive, cast stone and metal, rope, plastic wrap, duct tape, etc.
SUBJECT MATTER	Relationships to public spaces, idea of a living being not being bound to the body
VISUAL FORM	3D sculpture, performance, installation
KNOWLEDGE	Comes from people and place art is made. Site specificity and info about the public
ARTMAKING PROBLEM	Languages/text to be use must support content
TECHNICAL STRATEGIES	Velcro, sewing, casting stone and metal, mold making, resin casting, etc.
CONCEPTUAL STRATEGIES	Creating dissonance of place and material Creating conflict in interpretation Social Realism Utopia/Dystopia Exemplifying how we treat public spaces Uncredited workers
YOUR 3 QUESTIONS:	What interests you about the general public? What interests you about manifesting physical representations of relationships? How has your multicultural experience complimented your art making?

Flash Project

Kelsey Best

Mark Ladd

Flash Project

            In our original story, Cinder, we chose to explore the mind of someone who witnesses the end of the world from the safety of space. By doing this, we worked to show the story from both a first and third person perspective, opting for sound effects and scenery to help tell the story. It begins with our character, a man in the military, waking up to the sounds of sirens from his army base. He quickly dresses and rushes outside, finally arriving at his destination: a launch pad with a space shuttle. Switching to first person, we see the inside of the shuttle from his perspective, highlighting the fact that he is alone. The shuttle launches, spiraling upward away from the Earth. Meters on the dashboard indicate that something is about to collide with the Earth, but the added soundtrack acts as a comic relief, reminding the viewer that this is indeed the end of the world as we know it. The Earth is destroyed by an asteroid leaving the viewer with a cliff-hanger ending. The manner in which the video ends leaves us to ponder our own mortality and the fragility of both human life and the Earth itself.

            We used a combination of stop animation and video game-like graphics in this piece, changing styles as the perspective changes. This acts to emphasize his loneliness as he transitions from the Earth into the shuttle, and then into space. Watching the Earth be destroyed and experiencing the notion of being the last person alive provides the character with a sort of false hope. Though he has survived the asteroid collision, how long can he survive alone in space?

Photoshop Artist Statement

Kelsey Best

Digital Creativity

Project 1: Photoshop Postcard

            The place I have chosen to feature in my photoshopping project is my car. This in itself is interesting because not many people would consider a car to be a “place”, but more of a means of getting from place to place. For me, I consider my car to be a place as well as a means of transition, simply because it is often the only place I can go to be alone. In a world full of busy streets, roommates and crowded classrooms, my car acts as a shelter. The comfort I experience when I’m in this space is the aspect I want to examine in my work. I have been fortunate enough to avoid any sort of accident in my car thus far, and have attempted to create a life-threatening scenario that would eradicate all sense of comfort and safety.

            My first postcard depicts my passenger side door and window. On the inside of the car, all is calm. Likewise, the side view mirror shows a clear sky and empty street. However, a raging fire from a neighboring car is shown through the window with emergency lights seeping in through the ceiling and walls. The feeling I worked to portray is panic. I want the viewer to experience that sinking feeling of dread when they allow themselves to become absorbed by the visual experience. The use of the side mirror is but one option in choosing surrealist techniques to alter reality. It could be reflecting the recent past, before becoming engaged in an accident, or perhaps a manifestation of where the driver should be in an alternate reality.

            The second postcard is made with a photo of the ceiling of my car, accompanied by a cropped image of the rear view mirror hanging from the windshield. The sky and treetops showing through the windshield have been altered in a chilling away. Again, alarm is the primary emotion that has been instilled into this photo. An inverted color scheme and transparent layer of tree trunks work to build the illusion that the car has crashed. A ghostly black and white reflection in the rear view mirror is reminiscent of skeletal structures or perhaps the bars of a cage. The white tree branches that stretch across the background are meant to remind the viewer of veins or perhaps the nervous system, hinting at our own fragility and mortality.

            My last postcard involves my hand as well as the steering wheel. This immediately references the relationship between my body and the car itself. The idea that a person can be in control of something so powerful is somewhat wishful. Cars will do what we ask most of the time, however, people will often describe a car accident as “losing control of the vehicle”. I worked to represent this notion with repetition and layering to create movement. A frantic jerking of the wheel is a typical reaction in such situations, and this type of frenzied motion often makes the situation worse. By inverting certain sections, I have suggested a lapse of time or perhaps a flashing between the present and future.

            The idea of taking a false sense of security and flipping it on itself is explored in these works. Together and separate, they suggest a chilling narrative. I feel that this is a relevant topic in today’s world simply because of our attitudes toward our cars as a society. Useful, necessary and often taken for granted. Creating and viewing work like mine reminds us that a car is a dangerous place to be, no matter how safe you feel.

Photoshop Postcards