Final

Before the project, I was really unsure about what to do. I really liked the idea of a narrative, so I decided I wanted to end up doing some type of narrative. I looked at some videos on the Art21 website and read the short on Carmen a couple of times because I really enjoyed it. I tried to figure out why and it mostly the imagery of blindness and imagination. I decided to use that as inspiration for my narrative in waking up.

While making the project, I didn't want to make it too complicated. I took some photos of my usual journey on a normal morning looking around my house. I detailed my thought process during the walk and my process of waking up. I tried to show my consciousness through the hue's of the photos. I wanted to incorporate imagination into the narrative, so the last shot was my imagination of the scene I was looking at.

Now that I'm done with the project, I don't really feel like I used my big idea of imagination too much. The narrative only really builds up to a small act of imagination. I tried to detail my movement into clarity while waking up and walking downstairs. The ending scene is a changing point of the process. In my mind, I was mentally prepared and clear, seen by the cleanliness of the the floor. But I wasn't actually ready to start the day, that was just my imagination. I'm pretty happy with this aspect of the project and the connection I wanted to convey with the scenes. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with my final.

Final Progress

My thought process so far has been pretty scattered. I really enjoyed the narrative pieces we watched in class and I want to do something somewhat similar to that. In particular, I thought the one about identity when being watched and the life of someone else was really interesting. I thought a lot about what my life would look like to someone else who stalked me or whatever, but realized I'm a pretty monotonous college student. That could be interesting, but I decided not to follow through with that idea. I looked up some stuff on the Art 21 website about random artists and found the ones who worked with the idea of memory really interesting. I also read the short story on carmen and the ideas of blindness and imagination were inspiring. I decided I wanted to work with short term memory paired with the narrative aspect of the other ideas. I want to try to communicate the blur between memory and imagination when you close your eyes. I've had many experiences recently with this, just thinking about the things around me and the distortion I can get caught up in with my imagination. I don't want to communicate this idea too simply, so I'm kind of stuck right now on where to begin with the narrative.

Identity at Play

When thinking of how to use the words I was given, I first thought of pens or something exploding because of the crumple of my hand. I realized that would be pretty hard to document and get a picture of the actual explosion of the pen, so I decided I wasn't going to do that. The wasn't too much limitation with the word 'fire' because you can basically add fire to any object that I could think of and something would happen. I looked around my house in search of something that I used everyday and found the water cooler in our kitchen that used to be from an office. Since it usually distributed water, I was wondering what it be like if it also, ironically, distributed fire. I took a picture of the water cooler and darkened it a bit to make it seem more mysterious and almost like a water cooler from hell. I put two flames coming from where you usually get water from to embrace the fire coming from the water cooler. The picture is mostly just centered what fire would look like coming out of a water cooler.

Altered Identity

When brainstorming, I wanted to chose an ability that wasn't too cliche. I wanted a superpower that I could still be a normal person with and not some crime fighting extraordinaire. I choose to have the ability to go through solid objects because I could use it to get out of bad situations if I needed to, or just make traveling more convenient for myself. In this situation, I'm diving through the wall of The Shoe because I wanted to get into the game without paying for it. I definitely took more time thinking and creating the idea than actually photoshopping it, which definitely shows. I could of conveyed my ideas better or had more detail in me jumping through the wall of the stadium. I blurred the part of the wall I was jumping through to make it look more believable. Keeping my daily life was important, so keeping the photo normal looking was a priority.

Places

I usually end up studying at the Wexner Center in between my classes on Thursdays because it close to both of the buildings I have class in. In the photos, the skateboard is representing me in the grand scheme of the Wexner Center. I am actually a very small part inside the building. I wish to be unnoticeable to the point where someone might sit on me or take my seat when I'm studying because I don't want any distractions. The three pictures depict my time in the Wexner Center. I don't really notice anything else going on besides what i'm doing at the table I'm sitting at, so the perspective is just the table and seats with it. The photos start with me coming into the building, to sitting down in the second picture with my time spent studying, and then leaving the building in the last picture. In the last picture, I don't want to really be noticed when leaving. Almost like if someone sitting across from me looked up I would just be gone without them noticing.

Identity and Selection Explanation

My final image shows that I take a lot of my identity from relating with my friends. Everything is revolving around the picture of my friends showing that I use all these things to either relate or communicate to my friends. The Bible is on the top of the photo, which is also above everything else because of where I place my relationship with God in my life. The background and porch picture are in grey scale as well as the descriptive words for them because they are blended into the background of my identity and I don't actually notice them too often. I feel this final image doesn't explain a lot of the things I do in too much detail or how much time I put into certain things. Overall though, I'd say this depicts an attempt at the balance in my life with the priorities I have individually and socially.

Identity and Selections

My iPod - I chose this item because I enjoy listening to music while either walking to class, driving somewhere, or just anywhere really. It is a big part of my daily life and I feel comfortable listening to the music I like anywhere and relating it to my thought processes. It can easily influence my mood, mostly by what genre of music I choose to listen to.

Description - Relational Comfort

My Laptop - I chose this object because I spend a good amount of time on it, whether doing school work or checking my homework, or wasting my time with different websites. I use my laptop a lot to talk to my friends and read. 

Description - Communication

Bookshelf - I chose this object because I really enjoy reading and finding new things in books. A lot of the books aren't even mine, but the bookshelf has a great sense of knowledge and understanding to me. I enjoy putting old and new things together with the books that a read and getting application out of them.

Description - Revelation

Skateboard - I chose this object because it is a new hobby that I picked up out of the blue pretty recently. I enjoy trying out new tricks and trying to get consistent with the stuff that I already know how to do. A good amount of my friends skate as well, so learning new things from them and trying them myself is exciting.

Description - Novel

Shoes - I chose to include my shoes in this project because I really enjoy wearing them and almost idolizing the way that the look. There is no better piece of clothing than a new pair of shoes to me. Shoes say a lot to me about someone's identity and their interests.

Description - Distinct

Bed - I chose this object because to me my bed has always been a sense of comfort. I also enjoy the good talks I can have with my roommates before going to sleep. It always seems like I can just have a different state of mind either before going to sleep or waking up of contentment. 

Description - Complacency

Bible - I chose this object because it is a huge part of my life. Reading my bible and understanding God better because of it makes reading a big part of my daily life. The comfort and guidance I get from that is not comparable to anything else in my life. 

Description - Conveyance

Porch - I chose this as an object because it is a place that I go to do just about anything. Whether it be personal time or spending time with others, going to the porch at my house is always a good place to go to.
Description - Experience

Friends - I chose this object because of the pure influence that they have on my life. I can't imagine my life without the people I have in my life. They are people I can truly always count on.
Description - Appreciation

Columbus - Without this object. a lot of my appreciation for certain things may have never came. I am truly thankful to be living here and experiencing what I am on a daily basis because of this city.
Description - Expansive 

Walk to Class Explaination

Map of getting to class

My walk to class starts with my making my way down Olentangy St. towards the bus stop by the Giant Eagle at the end of the street. On this leg of my journey, I always get some personal thought time about what's going on in more of a big picture sense. When I get on the bus and go down High St, I usually end up then focusing on school and my objectives with that. I always notice the restaurant Tajmahal on the bus ride, along with the Donatos Pizza on the corner. After I get off of the bus, I walk the rest of the way to class. I normally think about all of the people I see on the way to class. I either try to gauge where they are heading or what they're going to do next. This is what most of my thought life consists of until I actually walk into the classroom. 

When making the map of my walk to class, I decided to first start with the basics of taking the actual route to the classroom I take. I added in the locations and places I usually notice on either my walk or ride there. I added in the texts of my thought processes on the way throughout the trip. I tried to experiment with blending the modes of transportation into the background on the map, but it didn't really look too good. A lot of my time was spent grouping the different layers together on the map and rotating everything to keep it on track with the route.

Getting to Class

On the first day of class, I had to look up and remember that this class is in the Ohio Stadium. I've taken the same route to get here everyday so far, which starts by walking from my house down Olentangy St to High St. Then, I get on the 2 COTA Bus at the stop by Giant Eagle. From there, I ride to the stop by ARPS Hall and walk down 18th Ave to the Ohio Stadium. Finding the actual classroom is pretty easy, since there are signs all over the entrance and doors leading to the room. The idea of a universal map of this route is that it will show the actual route I take, the means of transportation that I use when getting to class, the places I usually notice during my commute, and the things I usually think or notice about along the way on a smaller scale.

Entry #2 Wexner Center

Artist name: Michael Polsky
Title of the piece: Supergrid
Media: Oil on gessoed paper
Date: 2007

I was immediately drawn to this painting in the exhibit because of the deep contrasts between the dark blues and burnt oranges. The painting portrays a skyline with much of the painting covered in the blues of the sky. There are two rows of wind turbines on the bottom left of the painting. The land looks like it is on fire and it is becoming more desolate and dark as the painting moves to the right. This painting has a lot of contrast between light and darkness, but it isn't in the normal sense of a landscape that I would think of where there would be a lot of brightness in the sky. In this painting, the sky looks more like a deep ocean. It seems to be portraying a vastness in the sky while the land is becoming hopeless. Both parts of the painting seem to be filled with sadness, except in the top right corner where the sky is a lot brighter. This seems like as the sky gets brighter and more joyous, the land gets darker and more gloom. As for big ideas from this painting, I would get exploration in terms of the sky/space and hope.

Intro

Hi, my name is Nick Gagnet and I am originally from Toledo, Ohio. I moved to Columbus during elementary school and have been here ever since. I hope to travel more in the future because I have never really been out of the country. I went to High School at Metro High School where I took post secondary at Ohio State my senior year. I am currently undecided in my major, but I am leaning towards either Marketing or Psychology. I hope to meet new friends and experience different things at Ohio State. Outside of school, I truly love my group of friends and spending time with them. I am involved in Xenos Christian Fellowship and live with 11 other guys in a house that all go to the same bible study at houses on campus. Other than that, I enjoy watching movies, playing sports, and reading. One thing I wish I was better at is writing and just being more creative in general, so I am looking forward to seeing what this class brings me.