alyssafiumaraart: September 2017

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Artist Presentation Plenary (9/27/17)

In my opinion the Artist Plenary was sort of boring. I am not really into ceramics as much as most of my peers and I am not that good at it. I appreciated her coming in though because it takes a lot of time to come in and present. It must have taken al lot of time and energy to plan out the presentation and find all the visuals. It was the final plenary of A block that was required so I would have went even if our assignment wasn't to go see her. One interesting this she talked about was the willow pattern. She talked about how the pattern became seen as tacky because it was so widely used. It was also an affordable plate design unlike plates and china the rich used.

NYC Trip (9/22/17 and 9/23/17)

I still can't believe how amazing the NYC trip was. It was my first time to the city so I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was a place full of great art and adventure. We left AU at 6:20am and made it to NYC six hours later.

We got dropped of at The Whitney Museum and from there we went to the Gallery District in Chelsea. Going into the galleries was an amazing experience. The differences between each gallery was insane. I felt enlightened about art because of the experience. I really likes seeing all of the different art on one strip of street. At first I was nervous to go from gallery to gallery because I wasn't familiar with how galleries worked but once I got into it I had fun.

After going to Chelsea we went to the Whitney Museum. I really liked how the staircase connecting all the floors was its own piece of artwork. It transitioned from light lights to purple light to red lights as you went down the building. I felt like that was symbolic of descending into hell possibly. It looked like there was an alien type being at the bottom of the stairwell. Another part of the stairwell that intrigued me was that one of the figures had the front of a plane as its face. I don't know what the significance of that is but I would be interested to see people's perspective. Another thing I noticed while in the Whitney Museum was that the large elevators were painted as baskets. I thought this was interesting because it's as if we are all in baskets being pulled up by strings to the next floor. I thought it was very creative. I also really appreciated how each floor has sets of balconies. It was a cool way to observe the city from the outside and it was cool to see the cityscape behind some of the pieces. I don't know why things about the museum in general interested me but they did. The artwork that was displayed in the museum was beautiful as well.

After the Whitney we went to our hostel. That was an adventure in itself because half the group had to wait to get on the subway and half the group made it on time. The group that went on the subway together got separated and half the group got off at one stop and one at another. Neither of the stops were the correct one so we had to walk to the hostel. We made it to the hostel before our teacher even did because we got off at a later stop that was closer to the hostel.

Once our teachers go there we got our keys and made our way up the stairs. When we made it to the room we came to the realization that each room did not have its own individual ceiling. The walls were low and if you stood on the top bunk you could peer over to your neighbor's room. This was interesting later in the night because you could hear people's beds moving and you could hear people snoring.

That night we were allowed to explore the city. One of my best friends from home, Gabi, attends Hofstra University so she decided to come meet me outside the hostel so we could see each other. We decided to go to an Italian restaurant called Fiore with a classmate of mine named Dani. It was so nice to have a conversation with someone from home and someone from school. I enjoyed it. We all got the same meal and it was one of the best things I've probably ever ate. It was a spinach gnocchi in a crème sauce. It was so rich and dense that I couldn't even finish my plate. While we were at Fiore we saw two more of our classmates named Lauren and Jackie who we decided to go get dessert with. I forgot the name of where we went but it was an adorable sit down bakery. We all got desserts and a drink and had some nice conversation about school and the trip thus far. The trip made me feel more comfortable with my classmates.

After we were done exploring my friend went back to Hofstra and I passed out in my bed until the alarm went off in the morning. In the morning Dani, Lauren, Jackie and I all went to a cute little coffee shop. It was so quaint and sweet. It had a world map on the wall, pillows on the benches and Lana del Rey playing on the radio. We enjoyed some more conversation over out bagels and coffee. We noticed a man hanging posters outside using wheat paste and Lauren and Dani were eager to go talk to him. When we left they went to talk to him and we learned that he hangs the posters illegally and is paid by his employer. It was very cool to talk to him. After that we walked back to the hostel to pack. On the way back we took pictures with street art.

After we got back to the hostel we packed up and left for MoMA. We took a subway there and then walked the rest of the way. MoMA was so amazing. My favorite part was seeing Starry Night. I couldn't believe that painting was right in front of me. Another piece I really enjoy was a piece by Jackson Pollock. It reminded me of a splatter paint piece I did for the musical in high school.

After MoMA, Dani and I went to The Met. We went through Central Park which was beautiful but also so exhausting. We were both sweating and carrying our giant backpacks. It definitely was an adventure.

The MET was so cool. We got in for a dollar which was cool because I was running low on funds. It was such a cool museum but by the time we go there we were just so worn out that we didn't even want to see a lot of the pieces. Especially with the museum being so huge, I wish we had more time to view the pieces.

We were really hungry so we decided to go find food. We were gonna go to a bagel place but we found a burger place instead. We got food there and went to Insomnia Cookie after we finished eating.

On our way back to MoMA we passed by the Scientology building. It was so weird and there was a sign on the outside that said "free personality test inside".

After we got back we got on the buses and left the city. Once we got out of the city the bus got quiet and many of us fell asleep. I didn't even notice it was 2.5 hours into our trip back to campus when stopped at McDonalds. I was so happy to be back to campus because I was so exhausted.

Daily Practice (9/22/17)

This week started with parents weekend. It was so nice to see my mom and sister. I took them to Cohen to show them my Observational Drawing and Studio Research classwork. I showed them my groups installation and they really enjoyed seeing what I am doing in foundations. Since we are so busy in foundations I never get to show them the extent of the work I do. They thought it was so interesting how we found all of our materials around campus. I was so sad when my mom left but I was also overjoyed because my sister got to stay. We hung out in Powell and we actually got to get caricature done by a caricaturist. After we went back to my dorm and watched Hocus Pocus. I also spent time drawing with my sister because its an activity that we both like to do. Art has always been something that has helped me connect to people. I was very upset the next day when she left campus to go home. She had to head home so she could make it back to her campus. She goes to SUNY Oswego.

Another experience during this week was watching "After the Fire" for the fire safety meeting. I couldn't believe the amount of pain those two men went through when getting burned in the fire. Its a miracle that they weren't killed. They set an example for others to not ignore alarms when they go off, no mater how many false alarms. One of the men spoke about how he suffered depression because of his appearance. He felt as though people looked at him differently. Its interesting to think about how people perceive themselves and how others perceive them.

We also had to interact with the sound installation. I thought this was such a cool opportunity. I have another post about this experience on my blog.

I also went to Corning Museum of Glass which also has its own blog.

Thursday and Friday Studio Research Class (9/21/17 and 9/22/17)

Today in class we discussed our thoughts about the installation we got to be a part of. I think most of the class thought the installation was a cool practice. I am very excited to see the book when its completed.
We were prompted to get into pairs with someone who has the same type pf blog and then you would have to interview them. I ended up in a group of three with Mia and David because we were the only three people in our class to use BlogSpot as our outlet. I was interested to see their take on the sounds.
We had to prepare questions to ask about our final projects. Then we had to plan a time to interview each other.

Corning Museum of Glass (9/20/17)

I went to Corning Museum of Glass with Professor Mary McInnes for an ancient art history fieldtrip. I am taking this class for "A" block.
I really enjoyed the museum. Part of me wishes that the trip was for a few more hours because I feel like I didn't see the whole museum the way it was meant to be viewed. We had an opportunity to see all of the ceramics and glass from the ancient time periods we are studying in this class along with other more contemporary pieces.

More photos are posted on my art instagram: @alyssafiumaraart

Sound Drawing (9/21/17) and Sound Drawing Interview

I thought that the installation was very interesting. I think that the sounds were good at getting a strong response from the listener. In my experience the sounds gave me very high anxiety. This forced me to use very bright, loud colors. It got to the point in the installation that I wanted totake the headphones off because it was so triggering and obnoxious. I think that was the intent of the piece so I enjoyed the success of the piece.

I found myself also using a lot of spirals and squiggles. I think that was how I mentally and physically filtered my thoughts of anxiety. I couldn't stop moving my hand while I was listening to the sounds.

I love the idea that the drawings from the installation are going into a book. Thats such a cool and unique experience for a freshman in college. I would love to purchase the book when it is released.
My drawing that was inspired by my installation took more time than my installation pieces. I didn't expect to take so much time on it. I was very specific with my lines and colors. I was also very calm anf organized while drawing which is the exact opposite of my feelings in the installation.

Sound Drawing Interview:
I interviewed Mia Bagnall about her piece. Here is the audio clip:

https://soundcloud.com/alyssafiumara/recording

I also was interviewed by David Kwak about my piece above. Here is the audio clip: https://soundcloud.com/alyssafiumara/recording-2

Making Our New Project (9/19/17) and Large Scale Drawings (9/28/17)

In this project we were prompted to build a microsystem that contained sound, 2D, 3D, a primary source from area the original group explored and the scale had to reduce by 2/3 in any direction or form.

I really enjoyed the breakdown into smaller groups. It was interesting to see the difference between the atmosphere of a larger group and a smaller group.

I like that my group kept the nature theme that our original project contained. We decided to do a hanging walk-in project because we wanted our project to be interactive. We wanted our piece to surround the viewer and make them feel like they are in nature. We wanted this aspect to correlate with our sounds, further enhancing the experience.

Large Scale Drawings:

We were asked to make 4 large scale drawings (2 brown paper, 2 white paper) of our installations. Here are some photos:

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Light vs Dark (9/15/17)

We played with clay while listening to sounds and these were the remains. David left a hand print on the ground and I thought it was very cool to see the differences when the lights were on and off in the room.

Our Museum (9/15/17)

The project we were given was to find objects of specific subjects around Alfred States' campus.

Each piece in our display had a story to tell. People from my group created stories for each object as if it has a past. I really liked incorporating nature into this piece. We found the golden rod and other plants on the hill at AState and we cut it down using scissors. We also went to the Walmart in Hornell to get photographs printed out for the project. Then we had many meetings to decide the plan for where all the objects would be placed. My group worked very well together and I really enjoyed this project.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Field Recording 9/14

Friday, September 15, 2017

Daily Practice

Daily Practice (Week of 9/10/17):

This assignment has definitely made me more aware of my surroundings. I loved walking around campus with a sense of purpose. I also have been paying attention more to the relationship in which things and people interact.

(9/8) Connecting with new people is a perk of being in college. You have so many choices when it comes to who you can interact and surround yourself with. I hung out with a group of kids; one was my friend from high school, another was her roommate and the rest were that girls boyfriend and his friends. Although I didn't really connect with many of them deeply I thought it was interesting to watch them all hang out. I watched how people interacted walking around that weekend. I saw couples holding hands, people fake fighting with each other playfully, and people greeting one another. It made me realize that I think interaction is an interesting and necessary thing that occurs between people.

(9/12-9/13) Another example of this was during the group project. It was cool to see such a unique group of talented strangers come together to create something so beautiful. I really appreciated each member of my group. You could tell everyone was trying to put in their best efforts even through some hardships. We had many problems communicating because our group chat was messed up but we still managed to meet up. I thought everyone's ideas flowed so well together for all of us being so different. The group project gave me a sense of community that I didn't have in my first week or so here. I am excited to work on further projects with my foundations peers.