Final Project- Theory of Me (10/12/17)

The final project was a prompt to understand you place in the world and to create a project about ourselves.

I decided to draw from my experience with the installation. I really enjoyed that project and experience. I took my own spin on it and created a playlist of songs I really enjoy. While listening to the playlist of 15 songs I made a picture for reach of them. I thought it would be interesting to see what I would create based on some of my favorite music.

Here is the playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/user/alyssafiumara/playlist/2AfaFn3rT5V19nnlWIeDWQ

The picture of my project:



I asked my classmates the questions:
1) Should I have changed my final project idea?
2) What do you like and dislike about my piece?
3) How does color effect my piece?
4) What piece speaks to you the most?
5) At first glance, what genre would you guess each painting is?


My classmates had to respond to my questions overnight. Here are some responses:

1) Should I have changed my final project idea?    No.
2) What do you like and dislike about my piece?   love the concept
3) How does color effect my piece?   sets the mood
4) What piece speaks to you the most?   second row far right
5) At first glance, what genre would you guess each painting is?   pop?

1) Should I have changed my final project idea? no
2) What do you like and dislike about my piece? I like that the art gets more detailed toward the bottom.
3) How does color effect my piece? color helps convey feeling 
4) What piece speaks to you the most? purple and blue zigzags makes me think of haziness
5) At first glance, what genre would you guess each painting is? a representation of a feeling

1) Should I have changed my final project idea? No, sometimes more pieces are better than 1
2) What do you like and dislike about my piece? I love the bottom flower, maybe the same amount of detail is needed in other parts 
3) How does color effect my piece? Each piece drags you through a set of emotions
4) What piece speaks to you the most? The flower piece
5) At first glance, what genre would you guess each painting is? Genre? They make more of an emotion that a genre. 

Neon Studio and Glass Demonstration (10/6/17)

The neon and glass studios were amazing. It really made me want to take some of those classes during my time at Alfred. I thought being able to do that as a freshman foundations student was very unique and will definitely make more of us interested in taking those classes. I loved the demonstrations.

Daily Practice (10/6/17)

Going Home:

Going home this weekend was very important for me. I hadn't been home in a month and a half which is the longest amount of time I've ever been away from home. I was so overjoyed to go home that when I walked in the door I immediately started to cry. I cried for a good 20 minutes before I stopped and just laid on my couch contently.

Being in surroundings that are super familiar is so comforting. I forgot how the material of my couch felt against my skin, and the way the sun feels pouring through the windows. I missed being kiss attacked by my puppy and hugged by my brother. I hadn't see my brother since move in day.

I kept thinking about the senses we learned about in class and applying them to my weekend. It was interesting to apply things we learned in class to my weekend.

Studio Research 9/30/17 // Glass Casting 10/5/17

Today in class we had an experience using food. We entered class and picked a place to sit. We were then prompted to chose a spot to sit. After we picked a place to sit we were allowed to pick one big plate, one small bowl or plate, a fork or spoon and a napkin. When we chose those items we then had to trace our objects onto the paper that covered the table. Next we were told to go get coffee or orange juice and mingle with out classmates. After some preparation our professors brought us back to spots in pairs. Our spots were not the ones of our original choosing. Instead we were placed in someone else place. This was interesting because it wasn't anything any of us were expecting. We thought we would all be put back in our spots. After that we ate out food which was really good. We got into some nice conversation. Our professors then told us we has to stand up and sit down for every 5 chews while we were eating. It made us more aware of the action of chewing. This also correlates with another thing we did during the class. We all had one orange slice and we had to chew it for 5 minutes. This caused all of us to have different outcomes. Some chewed it too earl, some were so slow that they didn't even chew the whole slice.  Next we were told to keep our trash and make sculptures out of it. Each time we were prompted to make them smaller and smaller and make sketches. Then we were told to start collaborating with my partner and were told that the materials left were going to be used to create a project we would cast in glass. I was really excited to see what we would create.

My partner Kayleah and I met up to create our project. We decided to take a bowl and create little utensils to put around the outside and put spirals on the top. We knew that the piece was gonna burn but we didn't care because we knew this whole experience was an experiment.

Glass Casting-

Glass casting was such a cool experience. I really appreciated the fact that our foundations class got to have this experience because I've been told many times that freshman don't get to do this. It was very anxiety inducing being around all of the hot materials but it was also very awesome. I loved taking our piece and putting glass on it. It went up in flames to start but it calmed down and we added some spirals on top.

We got the casts back today (10/12/17) and they turned out so cool! I really liked how the bubbles formed in it and the way the spirals fell. We talked about our pieces in class today as well and wrote about them in our sketchbooks.

Daily Practice 9/29/17

My daily practice for this week was about starting new friendships and maintaining old ones. Throughout the week I made a conscious effort to try and make friends. I also spent a lot of time communicating with my friends from home because I haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to contacting them.

I feel like keeping in contact with those close to you is very important even though at times it can be very difficult. I feel like I have been lacking the ability to contact my friends and family since coming to school. It makes me feel really distant which I don't like. I have group chat with my sister and mom which helps us quickly message each other little tidbits of information.

I have also started video chatting my friends more often too. I love talking to them when they are bursting with excitement to update me on a certain topic. I like when I have a chance to talk for hours with friends and family without interruption.

Another great part of me striving to gain new friendships is that its actually working. I  really appreciate being asked to go do things with people. I became close with Mia and Christine after I went to Mia's to have hot chocolate and play Cards Against Humanity. Just little things like that make me very happy and help me feel confident that AU was a good choice for me.

I also think the NYC trip weeks prior helped the art students get closer to one another. I loved that trip and it still influences my thought on art and my classmates.