Selfie

Showed my process:

Throughout this semester, I have shown my art making process in every blog post I have done. Each post was filled with photos that either showed my screen set up or the piece that I was working on in front of me. Since starting at Teachers College a year ago, I have understood the value of reflection and documentation. For example, this semester I became the first person in Teachers College to etch into glass. Thankfully, I have documented the entire process, my successes and failures. I have also written about what I thought I could do better or how I could have taken the process further.

Explained my outcome:
While writing my reflective blog posts, I had also tried to provide examples and explain why things happened the way they did. In addition to adding photos to my posts, I was able to realize what steps I took to get to my outcome. Especially in my final project post, I have detailed instructions about how I came to the outcome I have, even the part about how my project shattered.
Linked to vocabulary:
In terms of vocabulary, I have learned a lot during the circuits portion of class. During Sarah's presentation, I learned about the positive and negative sides of circuits and how they should be lined up with each other to complete the circuit. During this class, I also learned about other types of technology that could be used in the art room. I was particularly interested in the Makey Makey, and how any object could be turned into a "button" or "switch" to make another computer program work. Although it was confusing to understand at first, I learned that someone needs to be "grounded" or "earth" for the circuit because when touching the objects, you physically need to be part of the circuit to complete it.
Found multiple possibilities:
Throughout the semester, every project that I have worked on, I have connected to activities that could be completed in class. I have also tried to think about ways that they could be connected to another medium, usually a fine art medium. Personally, I feel like the future of art classes should have a mix of fine art and new media. This was also confirmed to me last year during Judy's class when she brought in a group of high school art students who explained that while they appreciate new technologies in art, they also love working with their hands in fine art. They also liked the tradition/history behind working with fine art mediums. Overall, I have found different ways to connect each new medium to a fine art medium that would be part of the making process or be part of the product of the project.
I preserved through the work:
I found that during every creative assignment, I tried to keep my own interests in the projects. Each project was either connected to one of my interests, my artistic process, or my future classroom. I find that in any project that I do, I want to keep myself in it so that I am able to get more out of it. I also find that I am more interested in doing well and learn a lot more about the new process that I am learning.
Eliminated carelessness:
As the projects went on, I have been able to fine tune my work aesthetically. While working in the artistic medium, it is not only process but the way that things look that should be considered. As shown in my final project, I faced a lot of challenges when working with a medium that I have not used before/working with a process that was not shown to me. Because of the laser cutting project I completed before, I found that it was not enough to go through the motions, but make sure that I am paying attention to the process and not making silly mistakes. So, when working on my final project, I triple checked all of the parameters to make sure that there would be no burnt places and no fires would start. In the end, my effort paid off and I was able to create a flawless etched piece.
Finding ways to include new media in the art class:
Because of the way that this class is set up, I have been able to see a lot of potential for technology-infused materials for art making in classrooms. Each week, our blogs called for us to reflect and analyze on the new media that we used. As mentioned before, I have found a way to connect each medium with a traditional fine art medium, which allows for more possibilities in future lessons.
In terms of my learning objectives, I believe that I have succeeded at completing them. They are listed below:

1. Increase Artistic Literacy of New Media: Throughout the semester, I have used and been exposed to new media that I was not comfortable with. Although I wish that I had more time to explore these mediums, I learned the basics of how they work so that I could explore them on my own.
2. Learn About How Other Artists and Educators Implement New Media into Practice: During the week that I was the digital steward, I found a lot of artists/artist groups that used the laser cutter in ways that I have not imagined before. Although a lot of the artists used it to create kitch like crafts, I think that the artistry is in the process of making because of the natural complexity of using the laser cutter. In addition to these artists, each week my classmates found artists that used the new media in different ways. In all, I think that I have seen many ideas of how to use the mediums so that it will be able to put it into my artistic and teaching practice.
3. Practice Collaboration Among Artists and Educators: Something that I am very thankful for in this class are the opportunities we had to work with others for creative assignments, and in the same space in general. Because of the communal nature of the Thingspace, I was thankful for being able to ask others about their process of making and what worked for them. Working with a partner was also great because sometimes a partner will bring new idea to the project that you would no t have on your own. For example, when working on the circuits creative assignment, I would not have thought about basing our design off of an abstract work of art if . Grace had not reminded me of Sarah's presentation and how other artists have included LED's to their artwork.

Digital Stewardship Slides: Laser Cutting

Circuits: LED

For the circuits creative project, I worked with Grace. Af first, we wanted to create a circuit that lit up Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer's nose when you closed the circuit somewhere near the reigns. Then, when we finally started to work on the project, realized that we are both Jewish and should try to create a menorah instead. The concept was much easier said than done. When trying to execute the project, it was difficult to figure out how to put multiple LED's onto one circuit. Finally, we decided to make an abstract piece so that it moved away from the representational aspect, which was an idea from Sarah's presentation that showed how you could incorporate circuits to fine art.

Our abstract collage in process.

Before we started working with the idea of an abstract work of art, we started by figuring out how to create a simple circuit. Once we did that, we wanted to add another light to the piece to make it look more interesting. But, we ran into the same issue of not knowing how to put two LED's onto one circuit, and we did not want to use another battery to power the circuit. We knew that we could look up online how to simply put another LED onto the circuit, but we wanted to figure it out our own way. I figured that we should just make another simple circuit around the one that we already created but so that it was still meeting at the same point of the battery as the other one. Which basically meant, making two ovals that had one part of both of them closer than the other. Fortunately, the idea worked and one battery could power both of the LED's. The only issue was that they did not always light up at the same time based on how the conductive tape was placed. But, we ended up liking the effect.

Out finished abstract collage.

If I were to do the project over again, I think that I would have kept playing with the conductive tape to figure out the different ways that you could complete a circuit to light an LED. Hopefully, I would have gotten good enough to figure out how to light a menorah. I would also like to explore the idea of incorporating simple circuits into my own art, which could be a great gateway into thinking how to use/implement circuits into a lesson. From the readings, it is clear that maker spaces have the potential to combine fine arts and new media. I hope that in my own classroom that my students will have the option to do either.

Final Project: Process

These are my results from the final dice.

While considering the initial steps I took to understanding my dice roll, I decided to approach it differently than what I had previously blogged about. I decided to use an object for my canvas that I had found in my mother's home while I was visiting for Thanksgiving, a matted picture collage frame with a glass front on it. Since I found it in the home where I grew up, I thought using it as a found object along with the theme of identity worked well together.

This is the matted picture collage frame I found in the house I grew up in.

 After realizing that I wanted to use this as my found object, I thought about the ideas I had already come up with to fulfill the rest of the final dice requirements. I really liked the shapes and unique composition that Chinese paper cutting art had, so I decided to stick with that as a starting point. I examined different kinds of paper cutting, from traditional to modern. I found that a lot of them are focused in the negative space that it creates. At first, I wanted the design to be in a circular composition. So, in my sketchbook, I printed different designs, pieced them together, and practiced free drawing the designs so that I could then draw them in Illustrator.

This is a picture of my sketches and planned alterations to the Chinese paper cutting design.

After reviewing my options for my circular composition, I found that it did not seem like it was the best fit for the glass object I was going to work with. Instead, on Illustrator, I was able to play around with the composition easily since it was easy to move objects once they were drawn on the art board. Once I outlined the face profile and eye, it looked like the eye shape was filled in too much and it would be a large space that was taken up by nothing interesting to look at. To resolve this, I changed it to a closed eye with emphasis on the eyelashes. In the original design, there was no indication of the neck/back of her head area, so I decided that I would extend it with a floral design commonly found in Chinese paper cutting art. I thought that it would be clever to merge traditional symbols found in Chinese paper cutting art with my modern composition. I also like how the content/theme of my final will also go along well with the traditional and new media dice results.

This screenshot is of my Illustrator file, and how I decided to organize the shapes.

Once I had my file ready, I looked into what the process was going to be like to engrave the glass. I found the manual for the laser cutter in the Thingspace and searched for instructions when using glass.

This is the page from the manual about cutting on glass, the kind of glass that should be used, and the kind of process/how you should treat the glass before putting it into the laser cutter.

This is the kind of laser cutter located in the Thingspace.

This is the kind of laser cutter located in the Thingspace.

Based on the kind of wattage/power of laser cutter in the Thingspace, I was able to find the settings suggested to engrave on glass.  

The parameters for using the laser cutter to engrave on glass is as follows (you must work quickly/have all materials ready so that it doesn't dry out, it is also recommended that you should use a flat piece of glass rather than curved but it is possible):

1. Coat the top of the glass with dish soap so that there is a healthy layer on it
2. Soak a paper towel or newspaper in water then wring it out so that it is just damp
1. The size of the paper towel or newspaper should be a bit bigger than the space that you are engraving
3. Put the paper towel or newspaper on top of glass on the dish soap layer side
1. Make sure that all of the air bubbles are pushed out of the surface of the glass
4. The glass is ready to be put into the laser cutter, and from there you would follow the standard steps of using the laser cutter
1. Make sure that it is flushed to the rulers on the bed of the laser
2. The speed: 45%; the power: 100%
5. When the engraving is done, you can brush off the newspaper or paper towel
1. It is helpful to wash the glass lightly with soap

Below are pictures of the laser cutter working and my final products.

This is the laser working with my file.

After working with the laser, I found that there are some things that the manual did not prepare me for. While laser cutting, it is normal to see a flame when working with glass. But, it is not normal to see the newspaper or paper towel curl up off of the surface, in which case, you should stop/pause your laser and reapply dish soap and push down the newspaper/towel back onto the glass. You should also be careful about shifting the glass inside of the bed of the laser (if you have to reapply dish soap).
Due to a series of unfortunate events, the glass shattered:

I decided to do the process over again since I was confident that I knew the process better. So, just as I did before, I coated my glass in dish soap (a lot more than I did before) and put a soaked piece of newspaper over it (the newspaper I used was a bit thicker than the normal newspaper, since the second piece of glass seemed more fragile/easily scratched). I also tried to lessen the power of the laser. The parameters I originally used was 45% speed and 100% power. So this time, I used 45% speed and 85% power to start. I found that the power wasn't enough, so I changed it to 90%, which seemed to be enough. Fortunately, starting the laser over again did not make the beginning part of the engraving look vastly different than the rest of it.

Once the engraving was done, I found that the newspaper was not completely burnt off like the first time I tried it. But, it was not a problem since all I had to do was wash the glass, and the burnt pieces came off to reveal a clean engraving.

Next, I thought about what I could put inside of my frame. I figured that I could find more found objects that go along with the theme of identity, but every idea I had did not fit into my frame since the glass pressed down on the surface. I figured I would put a twist on it and put in photos that represented my "found memories" that together, made up aspects of my identity. Using my printer at my apartment, I printed on glossy paper instead of going to CVS to create my photos. This way, the process still felt like I had creative control over it. It was also a good way to introduce myself to a new tool I could use in future work.

All that was left was to put my glass on top of my photographs!

This is a picture of my final project with the completed glass over the frame.

REFLECTION: Looking back at my process of making, I found that working in my sketchbook effected the final product in ways that technology would not have been able to. I was glad that my sketchbook slowed down the making of the design and forced me to consider the possibilities of how the image would look, and how to recreate it in Illustrator. Moving from my sketchbook to technology, was slightly worrisome. I was not sure how I would create a single object by using the pen tool with negative space in between it. It was not until I did some trial and error that I discovered how to create a compound path.

These are the steps I took to create the Illustrator file to etch onto the glass with a closed object.

The rest of the making went smoothly on the computer, but took longer than I expected. The process of figuring out how to laser engrave on glass was a challenge, but one that I am happy I explored. Regardless of my engraving process worked smoothly the first time, I am thankful that I found working on a lower power still resulted with the same ghostly/smokey looking effect. Knowing that I can recreate it twice tells me that I truly know what I am doing.
I believe that I could take this project even further. For me, my final project's value was found in the new process I found when engraving into glass with an image. With my experience in Adobe Illustrator, I think that I could apply the process to a more complex project. When I attended the NAEA event for Artist Statements, peers gave me the idea of using the glass to layer on top of each other to paint portraits. But, after learning this process I think that I could do it differently. I could even experiment with different depths and going over the surface with something that could change the color.

Overall, the process of making the project was a learning lesson that I will not forget. I find that working in traditional/fine art is not and should not be forgotten in classrooms. It should be valued as a tool, building block, and focal point of art. Technology should not be the only material/medium that should be considered when approaching a project. The two should work in tandem to compensate and inform processes and ideas. I will definitely keep this in mind when moving forward in my own art, and when my future students work on projects.