In Integrative Studio and Seminar, I have been introduced to many ideas and concepts through our Bridge exercises, required readings, creating projects, artistic practices, journal entries and class discussions. I clearly still remember when we first had to introduce ourselves by guessing a unique fact about each other in Studio, and choose a Hindu mythological concept and relate it to ourselves, to initially get a sense of each of us in Seminar. It gave us an understanding of the course itself, how “Avatar” would come into play during the course.
Starting off with Bridge 1, our first project was our Self-Portrait and Personal Flag. Our readings included texts that discussed narratives and stories about people’s lives as they decide their morals and how they construct themselves to be the people they are, such as “Narrating The Self” and “Inescapable Frameworks”. Our presentations on these assignments had to reflect on our personal history and how we choose to appear and express ourselves. For my Personal Flag and Self-Portrait, in the first stages, our exercises in Seminar such as the Thek-Thark mash up and 11 Possibilities really guided me into what I wanted to highlight into my project from all of my facts and ideas. During the process, I was introduced to the applications Illustrator and Photoshop, which I had a bit of difficulties learning in the beginning, but later on managed to adjust to and I slowly learned how to sufficiently use it. It was very helpful in terms of my project, because I had to use many tools in both applications to fully complete the design of my personal flag.
In Bridge 2, our next project was our Body-Extension exhibition, where we had to create our own body extension with the partner we were assigned to. We had to have our own curatorial statement and material analysis for Seminar, describing our observations, concept and goals for this exhibition, as well as stating our inspirations and what the exhibit would achieve. Our readings, such as “Ways of World making” and “Sometimes There Will be Art but Nobody Will See It” consisted of songs and articles talking about conceptual art and how we decide of art contributes to fiction and knowledge. Additionally we had to bring sensory based elements and incorporate them into our exhibition. In Studio, we learned about different artists who would make these body extensions, then we started off buying our materials and clarifying our concepts. We had to build our exhibition from scratch, make our own exhibition postcard as well as work with our partners in terms of interviewing each other and connecting our creations together.
In Bridge 3, the project was done in a bigger group, mine consisting of 5 people all together. Our next concept for this bridge was to create an art installation the referenced a piece of history in Washington Square Park, since that was where it had to be placed. In Studio, we engaged in many exercises that brought our groups closer together, such as choosing a group name, coming up with the appearance and concept, recording our observational notes in the park about the art installations we saw, as well as coming up with our ideologies and what we want the audience to learn from our installation. In Seminar, our readings involved articles and letters that explored how a group can speak as “one voice”, and be able to express our ideas as a collective, some of them being “Wild Women Do” and “Identity Crisis: Notes From A Names Obsessive”. We participated in other activities that expressed our group as one, such as the Utopia time and mapping, having a collective dinner together and producing a collective manifesto that revealed each of our voices into one.
For Bridge 4, we got back to working as individuals, and the project had to based on the concept of your “avatar” and create something that displays you avatar, whether it be a movie display or an object. In Studio, we we shown many ideas based on the avatar concept, and for me it really guided me to finding out that I wanted to display my avatar through a stop motion film. I had to brainstorm the materials I was going to use for my mythological mermaid and the props, as well as the script of the film. Our classes consisted of working on them, which was very helpful over thanksgiving break. In Seminar, our main assignment was to propose a thesis statement and draft of a paper that we would write that connected with our avatar concept. There was a library exploration to find the books and journals that would be used for the annotated bibliography, as well as written excursuses that helped establish a final thesis statement for our paper topic. Our readings consisted of connecting our interests and practices, thinking about thinking, gathering our thoughts, such as “Funes the Memories”, “Monkey Bars” and “Why I Write”. My paper was about the history of mermaids changing over time, and fortunately I was able to gather several sources for my paper, as well as generate a presentable topic and thesis for the paper. For the studio presentation, it took many hours of work to mold my play doh figures and objects, as well as set up the whole background for my stop motion movie. It was my first time making a stop motion, and when I had finished I expected it not to be so great, however it turned out really well crafted to me and the project truly sparked an interest in stop motion, and to continue working on making these types of films.
Artist Statement:
Discovery from Within
After my first studio piece, the personal flag project, all the way to our Bridge 4 Avatar project, I have come to realize that I enjoy using Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as creating movies and stop motions with iMovie. Creating pieces such as my “Tune Into The Heart” was not very successful in terms of the operation of the devices I used. With every project I had created, I incorporated a piece of my culture, my memories and parts of myself that aided my experience throughout Integrative Studio.
From the Integrative Seminar texts, I truly gained a strong interest in the readings regarding the senses, how we communicate and what role they play, such as “Songs of the Gorilla Nation”, and discussing the role of art in “world-making”, with the text “Sometimes There’ll Be Art and Nobody Will See It”. However, my deepest interest that I do want to explore further is the topic of CGI, I want to learn more about the Uncanny Valley, photo graphics, the wild future of advanced technology and simulations, and how it will affect our future. Many of our readings had deeper truths that took some time to fully understand, but I have honestly learned many concepts and ideologies philosophically and artistically.
My background has played a huge role in all the pieces and writings I have done for both Studio and Seminar. From my experiences back home, the have allowed me to express a piece of who I am in each piece I create. While I am still adjusting to a new environment, this new experience has made me want to find comfort in the things I do, the art I make. Whenever I make a decision on my work, I make sure that it reflects something that can be recognized by the audience, but is fully understood and brought out from within me.
I am from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, studying my first year at Parsons School of Design in New York City. I have lived in Jeddah all my life, starting off at an all-girls school that only taught in Arabic, until I moved to a British International School and I started learning to fully speak English. As a child, I only used to play piano, until I discovered my passion for painting and photography.
Mind Map:
Final Personal Reflection
My joint Integrative 1 Seminar and Studio experience was very mind opening to me. Starting from the beginning of Bridge 1, I was able to see many creative people express and present themselves in an artistic way that really inspired me to put more of myself into my work. Our required readings in Seminar always had a deep connection to our projects, and even brought out further discussions which has given me a lot of insight and perspectives to ideas and concepts that I have never given much thought or that I was just never introduced to. Bridge 1 was the day I really pushed myself through my fears of opening up who I really was to many unfamiliar people, with all of our personal flags, it became a starting point to putting myself out there as much as I could for the continuing projects and exhibitions. As we had more ongoing projects in Bridge 2, 3 and 4, it gave me the opportunity to work creatively and skillfully with other people, and be able to share our ideas and work together to build exhibitions. Through every seminar discussion, there was always a topic or piece of information that sparked an interest in me, such as the CGI “Uncanny Valley” subject matter that I do want to explore further in the future. In Studio, I had adjusted to expressing my ideas thoughtfully and being able to gain inspirations from the presentations and discussions in class. I’ve learned to love using Illustrator, as well as making short films such as my mermaid stop motion and working with the camera itself. These two classes have really helped me explore further interests in terms of creativity and things I could pursue in the coming years, and it has pushed me to do my best work, and I hope to continue on in Parsons with the things I have learned.