Fieldtrip

I enjoyed the field trip to CCA; it was great to get out into the city and see what other people are doing in art & design. Project H, however interesting, did seem less conclusive in its execution and compilation than I expected. Seeing the different products that were compiled was very interesting - especially since I had seen & heard of some of them before - but some products in the trailer did not seem to be as germane as some of the other choices. I very much liked the gallery exhibition on the top floor of the artists who live up and down Hwy 1/101. I especially liked that there were photos next to the actual piece. As an art student, it is often that I learned about paintings, sculptures and other works through books or the internet before – if at all – seeing them in person. The idea that a piece of art may be represented or viewed differently when seen as a black&white 2D representation as opposed to in real life is a creative idea to explore in a gallery space.

Fieldtrip

A couple thoughts on the field trip... 

I had never thought too much about product design before. It adds the element of function into an already complicated process of designing something. I understand what project H is about but i am not sure if it is as effective as it could be. She said some of the project designs would probably never even be manufactured, so it seems a little strange to pour time and money into them. I think she said the only one thats actually being used so far is the rolling water barrel. I think the adjustable eye glasses are a good idea. And i also think writing a book definitely helps her cause to market and promote both the project and the products. They need to come up with a way to test these products such as the water filter straw and get them approved so it is actually possible to mass manufacture and distribute the product. If the point is to empower and help people, I think its important the designs they work on have a possibility of actually making it out into the world. I also think it would help them to narrow their focus a little in regards to their products. Some seemed to not fit in well with the rest of the group or have a necessary function that isnt already being utilized by some other already produced product (like the toys). I think they should focus on products such as the water barrel and filters and eye glasses that could help people in third world countries that do not have very many resources. It might also be easier to market the products if they were a little more focused into one category. 

Feild Trip

Two thoughts:

I enjoyed the show very much, but there are a few things that I think they can improve upon. All of the products were chosen to "empower people" but I did not see that in all of the products. For example, I do not know how the toys for mentally delayed children empower them. I can see those products as a great product, but I do not think it fits into the exhibit. Also, I think the term "product" has a certain implication that these items are being produced. However, some of the items were not products at all; some were student and conceptual projects.

I was catching up on tv this weekend, and I saw Project H on The Colbert Report. I think she was wearing the same shirt.

Artwork

I decided to pass out the Artwork newspaper by the deYoung. I thought that the people there would appropriate a newspaper that is about art, however I was mistaken. Almost every person I approached wanted nothing to do with me or my newspaper. People seemed really weired out by me. I think that people are so conditioned that nothing is free, that they thought I was trying to sell them something. I talked with one man for about 5 minutes, about what the news paper is about and how I was handing them out for a class project, and finally he said, "Oh, no no. I'm not interested in that" and walked away quickly. There were a couple of people that took the newspaper, but it was very few. I staid there for about an hour, and I had only handed out about 6. I put the rest in a newspaper stand.

Field Trip: Two Thoughts

Post for two thoughts on our field trip.

1. Seeing the designs of products that make life easier in other parts of the world, like the water barrel or the LifeStraw is interesting, but it made me think about where or what the designs are for the opposite end of the spectrum. Things that improve production so that our advancements can help bring others up to our level.

2. It was pretty neat to see an image of an art piece beside the art piece itself. It got me thinking about more interactive images that could come about in the future such as a Three Dimensional image that is posted online so that everyone around the world can "visit" a certain exhibit without actually visiting it.

artWORK

I chose to pass out ART WORK at my local coffee shop. I live in Nopa on the Panhandle and my neighborhood is filled with thirty-somethings with young children and designer prams as well as a sprinkling of hipsters in their twenties who breathe flannel and have their fixed gear bikes practically grafted to their bodies.

I struck up a conversation with one of late twenty-somethings: a young woman with a pixie hair cut, large brown eyes and a red sweatshirt covered with Scottie dogs. She was drinking herbal tea and munching on toast with hummus. She explained to me that she studied art at UC Berkeley and struggled with finding a steady job for years. Not having gone to graduate school she wondered if that would make a difference on her resume, but after getting engaged and a few years later having a child, the thought of spending money on grad school was out of the question.

She asked me what I was studying and I told her I was currently studying design to pursue a career in advertising or package design. “That’s the ticket,” she said. “In this capitalist economy the only way to have a solid career in art is to do something which pleases the corporations, like selling their product. But don’t worry,” she said hastily, “I’m not saying you’re selling out. It’s intelligent.” She lifted up ART WORK off the table to show me what she had been reading before I brought the paper. Real Estate License Exams for Dummies – complete with dogeared pages and a crinkled spine lay on the table.

“I have to pay the bills! My son, Harrison, is four and I don’t want to worry about money. I still paint at home; now that Harrison is older I don’t have to watch him every second of the day. It’s been fun lately, too, to do art with him. It’s not the life path I thought I would be on ten years ago, but I’m happy. That doesn’t change the fact that I don’t think that artists need more governmental backing though. If I could help support my family without studying this damn real estate book it would be a dream come true. My sister is at Berkeley now and my parents are stretching their wallets thin to try to make ends meet after the fee hikes. It’s ridiculous. Art students pay as much – sometimes more – than other majors to attend college and we get the shaft. I don’t know how to change it but I wish someone would. The businessmen who run the country have to decorate their penthouses with something, right?”

ARTWORK project

I chose to distribute Art Works near the theatre in the Castro. I chose this location because the demographic in the Castro tends to be open minded, outgoing, and generally friendly. Out of all the people I spoke with while handing out the newspaper, three encounters stuck out in my mind.

            The first was a guy named Chris. He was probably in his late twenties to mid thirties, and was sitting on the street near where I was standing. We talked about the concept that artists can no longer just be artists, and how with the failing economy art promotion/publicity, advertising, and exhibits have been exponentially decreasing. He brought up a personal story and said that he had been an artist his whole life, doing mostly drawings, painting and poetry. However, with the lack of opportunities to make a living through art, he eventually became a writer. He referenced Dave Archer, whom he said was a friend, saying “okay so we’re artists- now how are we going to feed ourselves?” He was very interested in the magazine because it seemed applicable to his own experience. 

            The second was a girl named Sarah. Her reaction when I gave her a magazine and discussed it with her was to tell me about the Hospitality House here in the city. The program helps provide homeless and low income people have the means to produce art, and even offers opportunity for employment in certain artistic fields. She also told me about Roaddawgs, a program similar to the Hospitality House that focuses even more specifically on art. The program pays young people for their poems, writings, comics, paintings, drawings...etc, anything that could be considered art. She felt that these programs are an important part to helping the problems addressed in the magazine.

            The last conversation I had was with three boys, all of whom were art students at the Academy of Art. When I handed them a magazine and began to introduce what it was about, they smiled and said, “This is our biggest problem…” and went on to tell me about how they were art students who had no idea what they were going to be able to do with their degree. They were interested in what the magazine had to say and were all too familiar with the real life situation the magazine describes. 

Art Work Newspaper Distribution

I went to Japantown to distribute my stack of newspapers and upon arriving found out that there was to be a convention that weekend. Anime on Display is what it was, bringing a crowd of people that I thought would work towards my distribution. I decided to start by walking around with the newspapers in front of my chest while describing the content, hopefully generating some interest. Much to my disappointment though, the few people who I did catch weren't very interested in the issue at all. After about an hour of trying to get people to at least pick up the newspaper and open it, I decided to leave the papers in several empty newspaper stands, hoping that somebody would pick one up and read it at a later time.

Perhaps a different approach would have worked better for that convention had I known that it was occurring. Maybe somebody who attempts to do the same thing in the future will have more success than me.

ArtWork Distribution by Jose Qwistgaard

When it came time for me to distribute ArtWork, I felt somewhat discouraged to distibute it to strangers around the street. Having had previous experiences working at canvassing jobs and quitting after a day, I knew how much I hated being turned down by people who lack interest in social issues. Doing this alone also did not help either, but I knew I wanted to spread the word and distribute the magazine. So on Sunday I took a walk around my block and decided to stick a copy of ArtWork inside people's Sunday paper. This way I figured: If they are interested in the news and read the paper, they will have time to at least skim through this. With this theory in mind I started passing them out, the more I did it the more exciting it got, it sort of became a rush at towards the end. I only had 10 papers so, I had to spread it as much as I could. Honestly, it was fun, it almost made me wish I could have interacted with people, but for the type of person I am, it takes a lot for me to walk up to strangers and do that, if you are a person who likes to do that, then I admire that. I hope at least one of the people found their paper, or people are still interested enough to read the Sunday paper. As I approached a doorstep, I asked a man if I could stick it in his mailbox, which to he replied that he was gonna throw the paper out anyway. I hope most people are not like that. I hope at least one person picked it up and read it. It would certainly be interesting to do this at a larger scale. Maybe while some people talk and distribute I can do this method. In the end I hope more people become connected with their world, and artists gain more respect here in this country. Im sure if we continue like this though that will someday happen, we just all need to keep an open mind at what is going on in the world, and not stay confiined to just our personal lives.



Route of Distribution -

Adding a little extra information to Sunday's paper -

art WORK

Bazaar Cafe is a host to local struggling artists. Many of the patrons are artists in the truest sense of the term: they are extremely artistically talented, but cannot support themselves through their art. They sit in the cafe writing code for website applications, grading high school history papers, etc. and occasionally "just for fun" will pull out their sketch pads and embroidery hoops and make some art. Every artist that I talk to that comes in tells me to learn web design or advertising if I insist on being an art student. One such patron, Shane is the most talented embroiderer that I have ever met. Her unbelievable skills, patience, and creativity have many times inspired me to pick up my embroidery needle. When I gave her the publication we had a discussion about how she was supposed to be having an art show in a local venue to showcase her new embroidery and hand-made clothing line. She said that she had multiple discussions with the art coordinator and in the end he simply refused to communicate with her through any way other than email. Shane doesn't have email, and thus lost out on the space. Apparently, you need a computer to be an artist.
sylvia is a local website designer. she told me she's still waiting for payment for a website she created for a christian university in the east bay. There are no regulations on how much someone gets paid or when. The arts are not considered a respectable or important career where standards should be set. Sylvia went to art school in Europe and says that all of her art school friends are making livings for themselves there. Also, they receive social security and will actually be able to retire sometime.

-_-

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