Week 1 – Expectation
Expectation is the belief that something will happen. At this current stage of my life I have a lot of expectations for the future, however for this semester I have a two of expectations for myself. I expect to progress even further as an artist and as person. I built this expectation by looking back on my first semester and realizing how far I’ve come. The first three months of Parsons made me feel like I could tackle any creative challenge that was in my way. I learned how to film, I got better at photography, I implemented my architecture skills and refined them as I was trying to figure out solutions to design projects. I got a great GPA, maintained a job and was a member of an upcoming animation studio. Realizing I had the strength to do all of this at once, added to my confidence and built my expectations for this semester so high that I don’t think there is any ceiling.
Week 2 – Identity
Who am I ? This is a layered question. First off my name is Ethan, I am from Queens, New York. My family is from Trinidad. My identity is still being figured out. Overall my I identify myself as a creative. I create music, art and designs. I use these to express my views, aesthetic values, and my culture. If you want to know about my identity, you would have to analyze the things I create. The music I create is influenced by hip-hop and pop music. Growing up in New York city thats what I listened to and thats what inspired me. Inspiration is telling about someones identity. I think a person’s only true freedom is the freedom to choose what inspires you, the things that you let in are very telling. In addition the building designs I create are all about helping and sustaining the earth. These design reveal who I am the the core and also shows my taste. The art I create shows what is going on with me in the moment. If I’m bored, something in the news is bothering me it’ll come out through art rather than words. Art is the language that communicates all my values, how I grew up, and who I am as a person. Therefore my identity on the inside is always changing even if the image of me to the outside world doesn’t change.
Week 3- Observation
Observing something means you notice or perceive it. That thing registers as important in your mind. You observe the most when you are noticing things in the environment that you are in. You notice people and their behaviors, you notice small details about the space and you also feel the atmosphere or mood around you through visual and sound cues. In order to observe things you have to have to focus in and give the space around you more attention. As an artist observation is crucial no matter what field your going into. A portrait artist has to observe the subject they are painting in order to come up with an accurate depiction. A sculptor has to observe their materials before they start building to make sure it will go well with the project. Photographers observe things visually. They scope their environment and come up with the best composition, paying attention to the subject and the areas around out. Capturing beauty in any environment, or any work of art requires perceptive skills.
Week 4 – Archives
An Archive is a collection of historical documents or records providing information about a place, institution, or group of people. I think my camera roll is an archive of my life going back to my days in middle school ( I have a lot of storage because of Icloud). Photos reveal the character of person. For example from my camera roll you would be able to tell I was always into art at a young age and as the years go by you can see my drawings and art in general get better. Also you can see my love for baseball, my phone has lots of photos of me playing, going to games and even some videos of me reacting to certain games. I’m a huge Yankee fan. You can see who my friends are, screen shots of music, basically my entire life is in my camera roll. This story or archive that i’ve built was started on its own from the day I received my phone. Overtime everything accumulated. I can go back and revisit where i was from the year before just by scrolling.
Week 5 – Research Topic
In order to choose a topic, you need to decide what you are interested in, whether that be about art, design, animals or anything you could think of pick something you like talking about. Then you would synthesize questions you have, and explore these question with in-depth research and testing. For example if you are researching skyscrapers because you are interested in architecture. Your first step would be to look up building designs. The next steps would be to find one that captures your attention, the real research starts now. You would need to find out who the architect is, the location, what the floor plan looks like, what works for the building and what doesn’t. After you’ve done your research on this building you can apply the characteristics and the aesthetic values you found to your own designs. That is how research works !
