So, the story I was going for is the idea of youth and how the smallest things can mean so much to someone because they haven’t experienced it before. I’ve always been into exploring new experiences, and in the case of my little sister, everything is new to her.

I don’t think that my images were top notch or anything, but they were definitely authentic and candid. I never intended to take these photos for this class, actually. They were meant for the sole purpose of memories, and I think this gives them more meaning.

I think the image of Kim eating her Rice Crispies from Halloween is the most aesthetically pleasing photo. The lighting illuminates the subject, and I feel like her actions in this photo definitely express my message about youth and how simple experiences make children so happy.

I think all the photos of my photostory are not individually great. The fact that they’re put together this way makes them a good collective because it shares a common theme, but the pictures individually don’t make sense.

I don’t think I would change anything other than maybe actually editing them myself with photoshop or Lightroom. The realness and authenticity of the photos is my favorite part.

I think I would like to make a series on my teenager sister, Jenny. She mostly just stays in her room all day and is on her phone. I think that would be a funny photo story in comparison to Kimberly’s.

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This activity was fun because I had good company, but it was frustrating because I’m not familiar with sketching cups or trees or people. Personally, I don’t like drawing unless I have a direct reference. Even then, it’s mostly just cartoons or easily sketched pieces. A lot of my creative outlet comes from painting because I practice more with acrylics and nature painting, but other than that, drawing is out of my comfort zone. I actually think I would want to practice my art skills a bit more. I’ve been thinking about making an instagram for my art.

If I practiced for any amount of hours I would get better at it. I feel like this is a philosophy that goes with anything, but it just depends on whether or not I’ll actually go through with it. While drawing is relaxing to me and keeps my mind stress-free, I don’t know if I’ll have the time to work on any big projects.

My major right now is pre-aerospace, but I’m thinking of switching for mechanical to get a more general feel of engineering. Right now, I have experience in both CAD drawing, which is sketching for parts, and coding, which is like drawing but for computers and it only consists of words. I have to sketch out ideas and projects onto a paper to make it into a tangible thing to use, but other than that, nothing else.

I think drawing is definitely a language. It conveys certain emotions and aspects of life that we can’t describe in other languages. Therefore, it’s its own language. You can’t “draw in English” or “draw in Spanish,” you can only “draw.”

Artist: Janet Doan
Exhibition: Magic in the Making
Media: Animation
Gallery: LBSU School of Art. Marilyn Werby Gallery
Website: N/A
Instagram & Twitter: Jananachips

Janet Doan is a student in the School of Art’s Illustration/Animation program. She is currently and undergraduate student and her goal is to one day work in a studio to produce a fantasy show. The exhibition showcases a show that Janet and her team are working on. On this team, Janet is the storyteller and animator, which means she gets to control what her art does. One of the biggest things she likes to do is tell stories, and her animation is what brings stories to life which is why she choose animation as her major. She says one of the biggest genres she’s into is fantasy because growing up she would watch a lot of cartoons and read comics.

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In her artwork, you can see that it is very cartoon-like. All the people drawn have round faces which makes them seem less threatening and friendlier. The colors aren’t very bright and doesn’t pop out too much. The muted pastel colors make the story seem more mellow and calming. The main character, Ringal, is drawn to be more colorful to portray her upbeat personality, but not too bright that it overpowers the rest of the show. There’s very little jagged lines or angles in the people which makes them not as intimidating. Overall, I feel that the nature of the animations as a whole make the art more attractive to the viewer, which is the point of an animation show – to receive views.

One of the big things Janet said she wanted to do was make a light and cute story about necromancy. She has also been fascinated by magic and fantasy growing up. One of the big things though is that necromancy is a very dark topic since it involves reviving the dead. She wanted to make it seem more normal. It’s normalizing something that, in another setting, might not be accepted. One thing that stood out to me was that a large part of her childhood was the movie/book series Harry Potter. The idea behind magic and being a part of another world helped her through her life, so I feel that she wants to do the same with future generations with her work. So, people who are dealing with deaths in their life who happen to stumble upon Janet’s work will greatly appreciate her normalizing the ideas behind death.

Her art stood out to me mostly because I grew up with similar styles of art, and it made me feel really nostalgic. I just turned 18 recently, which means I’m starting the whole “adult” thing, but I don’t really want to let go the things I enjoyed as a kid, and her art reminded me of those things. I was also really into Harry Potter and hearing her inspirations behind her animations made the pieces a little more meaningful to me. After having to draw cups, trees, and people, I have a lot of respect for her art because she can actually draw proportions that look correct. Her art style is pleasing to the eye and is very welcoming. It makes me want more at the end of the day,

The formal qualities of the art are the neutral color tones of the tree. We boxed in the brown vines and the green leaves, so the largeness of the tree is hidden. The shape of the vines are long and skinny, and they overrun each other in a way that is unorganized. It’s highly textured because of the way the tree is built, but the design is very minimalistic. The aesthetics properties make the tree feel very freeeing and calm. Since there is nothing obstructing the course of nature, these vines can grow in any direction as they please. Knowing this, the viewer can find comfort in the disorganization of the vines. Also, since this framed art is neutral-toned, none of the aspects should seem threatening. The content of the art expresses the power of nature and how it should be able to grow and thrive freely. The vines growing in many directions show that there is no limit when it comes to nature. Connecting this with people and their everyday lives, we can see that not everything is linear and strictly in one direction. In fact, we should find comfort knowing that everything has its own way, as seen through this framed tree.

I feel that since we put the frame around the art, more attention was drawn to it, and therefore gave it the ability to become art. If someone happened to walk past this tree and had an art experience which made them think about the qualities of it and made connections to their own life, then the tree would be considered art in their own perspective. However, since no attention is drawn to the tree to make people think about it, no one can have this art experience. Therefore, I think that putting the rectangle on that portion of the tree gives it the ability to be perceived as art by more people.

I feel like our Art will only be considered art by the people who have been exposed to the rectangle around it because they have a reason to look at that specific portion of the tree. Other than that, everyday people in their busy lives won’t have the same experience because they aren’t attracted to the Art.

With my minimal knowledge of art, I understand that, in most cases, there is a subject and there is an object. Some cases of art have only a subject and no object. However, I believe that the absence of an object is also an object itself. So, I think there always needs to be some sort of background or thing we ignore so that the Art can shine through. For this example, my group focused only on that particular part of the tree and thinking about it gave us an art experience,. We ignored the rest of the tree, which is the same as our framed art, but there’s no attention drawn to it, therefore it’s not art. But we needed this “not art” to have our Art, or else there would be no frame.

Art can be something other than a physical object. There’s art pieces like music that can’t be physically touched or seen, and they’re still considered art because it causes viewers to think about how these pieces make them feel.

Adding onto the example of music, I think that the random assortment of musical notes itself isn’t what makes it art. Again, the viewers have to actually think about the piece to have an “art experience.” Therefore, without the art experience, you don’t really have an art piece. This is the same reasoning for actual physical art forms like paintings or sculptures. Choosing to have an art experience gives the viewer the ability to see the object as art, therefore making it art.

I chose Hugh Jackman because his role on The Greatest Showman honestly made the movie 100x better. His singing is great, his acting is great, and now I love the circus.

It was super embarrassing while doing the action because I was scared that people were gonna look and think that I’m weird. However, no one really cared because people always do weird things in LA.

It felt really different from doing chores at home because I feel like chores at home are kinda expected from me, but this action was like actually voluntary and no one else really did what I did. It’s also kinda weird because I felt like I was doing this for Hugh Jackman, but I don’t even know the guy.

I feel like if someone looked at me and was like, “Wow, she’s pretty cool for doing that for Hugh Jackman” or “Wow, she’s kinda weird for doing that for Hugh Jackman” and then they went home wondering why I did that for Hugh Jackman, then it would be considered art. Other than that, probably not.

The art pieces were inspired by how silence can affect the situations and environment around us. A lot of the pieces were microphones and audio files. There were actual QR codes on the walls for us to scan and listen to a narrative about sound. There were historical excerpts about how silent protests ended up affecting the society around them. One art piece was a video describing gun shots and the frequencies that they gave off.

At first, I was really confused because I didn’t understand what was going on. I understood there was a theme about sound, but I didn’t really get why. And then, as I walked around and read the paper the receptionist gave me, I started to understand that they were trying to connect how the lack of sound can actually speak to many people and affect the world we live in.

I think that the Stars on Hollywood Blvd get more visitors because of tourists and the celebrity status that the stars get for having the name of real celebrities on them. People probably go to see the Stars that inspire them. Art depends on who’s viewing them, so in my case, I think both are art because they both make me feel a certain way. The relationship of LACE to contemporary culture is very minimal. I feel that museums like that aren’t very popular in modern culture. Therefore, since it’s not popular, the relationship of LACE to the Stars on Hollywood Blvd probably makes it seem very little, even if there is a lot to talk about for both cases.

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The experience was very confusing. I had no goal except to fill the paper up, and I wanted to make something beautiful, but there was no defined image that I could make in that image.

It was hard at first because I had to get over the idea of creating something tangible, and then it slowly got easier as I started to accept that there was no real end goal. Then it just started to get fun.

As I said before, the experience of painting with no subject started as confusing and frustrating because I felt like there was not point. But, as I continued on with it, I started to feel more liberated and inspired to continue.

Compared to other paintings, it’s still not as impressive or thought provoking. However, since I have the experience of making it, it makes it my own personal treasure. Therefore, it’s the most important painting I’ve ever seen.

Performing Maintenance Art made me feel kinda shy at first, especially since it was at the USU where people I know could possibly see me cleaning a random statue. It made me feel vulnerable since cleaning is something that you normally do alone, not in public.

Madam Laderman Ukeles cleaning the steps of an art museum is obviously much more stable and calm than the sights of Richard Serra flinging molten lead against the walls of an art museum. One is seen as nurturing and responsible while the other is seen as chaotic and destructive. Visually, they are complete opposites, however I think they can be interpreted in the same ways. Ukeles cleaning the steps of an art museum and Serra destroying the art museum can both represent a new start for art. Since Ukeles is cleaning, there is a fresh slate for the museum to start off on. Since Serra is destroying what was, there can be a new beginning. Through these interpretations, both pieces can be considered “art”. However, if one were to simply look at these images and not interpret anything, both can considered “not art.”

Mierle Laderman Ukeles’ Maintenance Art performance at the Wadsworth Atheneum was considered art because there was an intention behind it, and the image it provokes can be interpreted and inspire others in many different ways. With this in mind, her performance was not considered “art” just because it was done in front of the museum. I feel that even if she was simply a janitor at a random factory, if someone had taken an image and left it up for interpretation, people can consider it “art” so long as it inspires them and provokes some type of thought. Therefore, the phenomenon behind art is the fact that it makes the viewer think about something they’ve never took the time to consider before. As long as there’s introspection, there’s art.

I don’t think art has anything to do with the medium or the intention. Paintings on canvases or paintings at an art museum actually can be considered not art, and houses that are painted can be considered art even if they aren’t in museums, depending on who is viewing it. With what was said previously, as long as whatever object (or maybe nothing) a person is viewing at provokes some feeling and deeper meaning that is thought, this object can be considered art, no matter the medium or intention. Some person could just spill soda on a paper, and the viewer could think it to be beautiful and feel a certain emotion towards it despite the intention or medium.

Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Jennifer Lopez have both made an impact on how I view “Women’s Work.” I believe that “Women’s Work” is considered art because, while it is a daily task that people do regularly, if looked at and appreciated, it can be art. Honestly, before thinking about how these images affected me, I didn’t consider them art just because I didn’t see the point. However, since I had given them meaning and appreciation for the deed it represents, I now consider it beautiful and a work of art.

I would probably want to clean Hugh Jackman’s star. The Greatest Showman was a real work of art.