Week 15 // Student Interview – Andrew Lee

My initial meeting with Andrew was awesome, I could already tell that he’s a solid guy and soon after getting to know him a bit more, I learned that he’s an extremely well rounded, responsible man. I learned that he grew up with a close friend of mine from high school and that he went to Cypress High School. I have a few friend that went to Cypress, so I connected with him through them as well. Throughout our conversation with each other, I felt comfortable, to the point where I felt like I was talking to an old friend and just catching up on the latest. We got to talk about what we had plans for in the future and I mentioned to him that I actually wanted to pursue a career as a cop. He mentioned that he was enlisted as a reserve for the Army ever since he was 17 and a half. I asked him how it was and if he was a part of the ROTC program here at Long Beach and he exclaimed that he wasn’t but if he could that he would for the opportunities.

I got to learn that he was a man with priorities and responsibilities and that mark of a true man shows in his character. I’m glad that I’ve gotten the chance to meet him and I’m confident that this will not be the last time I encounter him. I just hope that we could further our friendship by continuing the guide each other and support each other in our endeavors.

Week 15 // Artist Interview – Michael Clute And Lorraine Dasouki

Man, this weeks exhibit was a treat, getting the chance to see all the graduating BFA student’s art work was amazing. I had to force myself to try and focus on a specific artist that I really enjoyed from that whole show, and Michael Clute was the man. His artwork was truly unique in my eyes, after getting to read his little bio that he had for himself what stood out to me the most was the key word “Star Wars.” His inspiration and hobby through games really leaked out onto his artwork and you can definitely see how. But his piece made with cardboard blew my mind. To see something so disposable be used to create something so breathtaking is a gift and I’m so glad to have gotten to see his work.

I also loved Lorraine’s work because it reminded heavily of Pixar and Disney. Her artwork strikes emotions of happiness, joy, as if you just finished watching a classical pixar movie like Toy Story. I loved her bio as well, while it made me laugh and smile, her artwork made me engaged and joyful.

Again, after seeing all these amazing artist and their amazing work, I’m truly thankful for the wonderful opportunity that was given to me through this class. I want to continue my appreciation with art by being involved somehow, and my future goal of getting a tattoo will be a permanent reminder that art is not only a gift to perform but also to see. Thank you!

Week 14 // Artist Interview – Yireh Elaine Kwak

(The featured image was painted by Charles Banowetz, and had to be one of the most impressive paintings I have ever laid my eyes on.)

And we meet again…

And once again, I am blown away by her talent. I realize after seeing many artist week after week, I come to the decision that my favorite style of art is between pen and ink or landscape artwork. And Elaine’s painting came out pristine. Her landscaping artwork are amazingly beautiful, truly taking my breathe away. I stood there, staring at her paintings, a lot longer than I really should have. But I couldn’t help notice her intricate details, her use of colors, the way she drew her clouds, all of it worked so well together and meshed into an amazing piece.

Everyone must remember seeing her before, I know that I did, and her passion of drawing landscapes that’s are inspired by looking out her backyard has evolved. This time around, I’m completely lost in her pieces. Not to say that her pieces before were bad, not at all, but this time around, I just can’t say anything  else but that I love her artwork. Landscaping artwork truly makes it real for me, and as I gaze into the artwork, I imagine myself surround by the art where I feel that I’m almost there, looking out into a beautiful mountain side.

This kind of art makes me appreciate the human capabilities so much more. Such great talent that is surpassing what I believe is possible. And I thank you for sharing your artwork with our class, thank you.

Week 14 // Student Interview – Guillermo Vargas

This week, I had the honor to meet Guillermo Vargas. He’s a first year majoring in Mechanical Engineering hoping to make his career focused on making vintage cars. He was inspired and uprooted by his uncle who is instilled in him a passion for cars. His uncle help him see cars as much more than just a heap of metal, but instead a work of art ready to be painted. One interesting fact that I got to learn about Guillermo was that he worked at In-N-Out, arguably the best “Fast-Food” restaurant ever to be made. We got to talk a lot more about that and ended up on the subject of working out. As a fitness major, we got to talk and just enjoy each other’s conversation about our biggest accomplishment with fitness. For him, he’s trying to make weight and grow stronger and bigger, which is exactly what I’m striving for as well. It’s not an easy road, but I got to encourage him to keep fighting, because I truly believe that it’s so worth it.

Getting to know Guillermo was a gift and he’s an overall solid guy. An alpha male who loves sports, raised in the iconic Saint John Bosco, and a man with responsibilities. I truly hope for the best for him with school family, and his future.

Week 13 // Student Interview – Katie Leyba

I was blessed with a moment to meet Katie Leyba who is a 2nd year majoring in Electrical Engineering. Right of the bat, you already know that she has a drive and passion to work hard. With a major like electrical engineering, you can’t just sit around and hope for things to come, you have to work hard and diligent and deserve the grade that you get. Getting to know her, I learned that she has a motivation to wanting to advance technology focused on helping people, whether it’s through sickness or well-being. And to meet someone who is passionate about making this world a better place to live in is truly one of a kind in my book.

She not only seemed kind but was and was extremely polite and engaged as we conversed. It’s not easy to make this “assignment” feel not like one but she made it feel like meeting a new friend. I was glad to have met her and overall was so blown away by her ambitions and goals. I hope for her endeavors to come as successful and that she continues to strive for bigger and better outcomes. I foresee a great future for her and I really wish for her goals to become realities.

Week 13 // Artist Interview – SHIHORI NAKAYAM

This week I had the privilege to speak to an amazing artist, Shihori Nakayam.

Her gallery was dubbed “Recapturing the Moment” and why she named it that was because every piece in her gallery was inspired by keen memories that she just remembers. If you see her artwork, there are no patterns to her pieces as a whole, but her style and flavor is engraved in each piece. When asking her what her motivation and inspiration to creating her work was was that she just remembers images of her daily life where she then begins to draw with her pen and ink. I absolutely love her style of work, it’s so intricate while so simplistic. Even though the two describing words are contradicting, to met it describes her work perfectly. When you see step back and see the art as a whole, you notice beautiful lines and a great picture, but the moment you step forward and notice the details… you see something new and amazing.

Another style that she adopted apart from pen and ink was this art style of layering papers over each other with different foundations. Those artworks were done in pastel colors that really made the art soft and beautiful to look at.

I absolutely loved her artwork and what she does, I really hope that she continues to be inspired and for her career to only advance. I wish her and best and am once again so thankful for the opportunity to meet her.

Week 13 // Extra Credit – Jairo Ubeda “License Plate Art’

Step 1) Grab a blank piece of paper and two different colored markers. Step 2) Find a very kind person to drive you around for 15 minutes or so. Step 3) Pay close attention to the license plates from various different cars. Step 4) Chose one colored marker for California and the other colored marker for the out of state license plates. Step 5) Only write down the first letter of each state. Step 6) Start in the center of your paper and work your way around in a spiral motion. Step 7) Stop as soon you hit the edge of a paper…… or until the driver gets annoyed of driving.

On this beautiful sunny Sunday, on my way to church which takes an average about 15-25 minutes, I attentively started working on this assignment. My normal route to church requires me to take the 91 freeway which helps with the variety of cars I will drive by. To my surprise, I was stunned by the amount of non-Californian license plates I got to see. I was predicting that I was only going to get to see maybe maximum five but instead I actually got to see 13. It creates in me this curiosity of wanting to know why they’re here, do they live here? Are they on vacation? All the way from Texas, to the beautiful beach side shores of California.

My end result was interesting and it was a pleasure to complete this assignment. California is a great place to live, with great opportunities, great lifestyle, and especially great weather, who wouldn’t want to come to California. Right?

Week 13 // Extra Credit – Hoc Nguyen ‘Procedural Poetry’

1) Take your favorite book.

2) On every page of a single chapter, use the last word of the page.

3) Create a poem or image using the collected words.

4) Extra words may be used to tie in collected words together.

Hoc Nguyen

https://hawknguyen.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/wk-12-activity-algorithmic-art/

To // one // think // running // real //simply // house

“To think,

that the one who blinks,

is running real,

can simply feel,

and go to their house.”

My experience with this procedural art was rather surprising. The end product came out very well in my opinion. I still don’t exactly know what it means, but it stirs great thought and I think that that’s what makes it so special. The book that I used is called “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis, and it’s a book that really changed and molded my life. I read it together with a mentor that I have from church and he mentioned to me that Lewis’s thought processes on a lot of the worldly things he had to come across made him think more deeply about his life and relationship with God. This book “Mere Christianity” is a great read and I can definitely vouch for it’s depth and satisfactory level of reading.

However for my end poem, I’m glad that it has some sort of flow to it. I realize that after doing now two of these poem creations, it’s really not easy making sense of it, but I’m pretty satisfied with how this turned out.

Week 13 // Extra Credit – Jasmine Barnum ‘Text Msg Poetry’

1. Get your mobile device!

2. Open up to your text messages.

3. Look through your messages of the last ten people you have messaged.

4. Write down the third word of the last text you sent to that person.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all of the ten people from your text messages.

6. Make a poem from all the words you wrote down.

7. Read your poem aloud!

– Jasmine Barnum

http://jasminebarnum.com/2015/04/20/week-12-activity-algorithmic-art/

Practice // sure // baby // try // do // class // Tuesday // man // my // and //

“Man, try baby practice Tuesday my class sure and do”

My finished product was tricky to achieve because of how hard it was to make sense of it, however, once I got it all to work “well” I was pleased with what I got. If I had to interpret it in some way, I would define it as a motivational conversation to help a friend to go to class. Maybe I have a friend who hates school right now and this is my way of telling him to taking things slow with baby steps and to go to class. All in all, I was pleased with the outcome and am eager to see other results.

Week 13 // Extra Credit – Kyle Wadsworth

1) Do you like video games? If so, what are some video games you like to play?
2) Describe your experience. What happened? What did you like? What did you not like?

First off, I’m extremely impressed with how the game functions and I can foresee the possibilities and potential for this game. Awesome job Kyle!

I love video games, I’ve always grown up blessed with a playstation, N64, gameboy, etc. But in particular, once I was introduced to Counter-Strike, my world completely flipped over. I absolutely love first-person shooters, but by far Counter-Strike would have to be my most favorite game of all. However, apart from FPS I also love playing role-playing games such as Skyrim, Diablo, etc.

My experience with your game was completely satisfying. I personally don’t really enjoy puzzle games just because it consist of a lot of pondering and brain activity, but all in all, your game was more satisfying know that a classmate of mine created it. Your game really reminded me of Portal with how the mechanics of solving the puzzle works but it definitely still holds a unique style. I loved the variety of challenges you gave out, especially with the last map where you incorporated the drop boxes, lever, and the box. Overall, I’m excited for what’s more to come. Keep up the hard work!