This assignment was to create a website with working links and four seperate pages. The website was created on the same topic that our QuarkXpress brochure was about. My topic was once again Casa de Claire, a vacation destination frequently visited by my family and I.
Because this project involved very little creativity, I found myself only making a few small decisions. I chose a background color that was as close as possible to that of my brochure. I also chose the topics of each page. These were the home page, information about the house, information about the island of Vieques, and information about rates and fares.
This project was challenging because we did not have the correct software on our computers to put our sites on the internet. We overcame these problems by eventually downloading new software onto all of the computers.
Overall, I am not very proud of this project. If I had more time I would have tried to figure out Dreamweaver enough to make my website more detailed, and closer to my mockup.
In this project we were told to use QuarkXpress to recreate postcards made by various companies to advertise their products or services. I chose to recreate a postcard sent our by People Magazine advertising a deal that they have for people who subscribe to their magazine in bulk.
This project was different from the others that we have done because we were not really able to make decisions on our own. All of the decisions that I did make were based around the fonts, images and colors that would best match the card that I was recreating.
I found it very challenging to create the pink arrow featured on the card that I chose. In the end, I made the card on Adobe Illustrator, edited it in photoshop, and then added it into my design. There must be some easier way to do this, but I was unable to find it.
I am proud of my attention to detail on this project, and the fact that I was able to complete the assignment on my own, without help from my teacher.
If I had more time I would have worked on the pink arrow much more. I am disappointed with the way that the arrow came out, and I do not feel that it adequately mirrors my original postcard.
For the final project of the semester we were assigned to create a sound slide using our own voice and music as audio. The subject of this project was something that we are passionate. It was easy for me to pick a topic for this project. The thing that I am most passionate about is my family. I chose to do my sound slide on my mother's artwork in particular. My mom is a role model to me in many ways, but one thing that I admire about her is her ability to transform thoughts, feelings and ideas into beautiful, meaningful pieces of artwork. I chose to incorporate pictures of my family and pictures of some of my mom's paintings into my sound slide. I also chose to use the song "Heart of Life" by John Mayer in the background of the sound slide because it reminds me of my mom.
Overall I really loved creating this final project. I think that it was fun to create because we were able to pick something that we are passionate about as the subject. However, I did find it incredibly challenging. It was difficult because we were completely on our own in creating this sound slide, and were not allowed to ask any questions about the project. I had a hard time overlapping, cutting and editing my audio file in garageband and then transferring it to itunes, and then transferring it to an MP3 file so that it could be used in the sound slide.
I am proud that I was able to overcome the challenges that I did face. I am also proud of the fact that this project really means a lot to me. Regardless of my grade, I created something that I am passionate about and that reminds me of many memories loved ones.
If I'd had more time I would have scanned small cards and letters that my mom has sent to me over the years that I have been away from home. Although the images on these notecards are not at all fancy, they reflect the relationship that my mother's art plays on my life. I am still very happy with the result of this project even though I did not have time to incorporate these pictures.
The script to my sound slide was as follows:
Art is an expression of one’s self. A work of art can reflect a person’s experiences, passions, opinions and hardships. One of the most amazing things about creating art is that there are no rules. No boundaries. My mother, Sheila Boss-Concannon, has been a huge influence in my life in many ways. One way that my mother has impacted my life is with her artwork.
Starting out as a graphic designer, my mother became an art teacher in the mid 90’s, right around the time that I began elementary school. Her artwork evolved during this time from sharp lines on the computer to picturesque landscapes, house portraits, and images of people she loved.
She primarily worked with watercolors, and brought her sketch book with her everywhere we went, capturing our experiences in paint, to look back on later.
Looking through my favorite pieces of my mother’s artwork, I realized a reoccurring theme. The subjects of my mother’s artwork are the people, places and things that are most important in her life. They are things that my mother is fascinated with.
As my mother’s life changes, so does her art’s style. My older brother left home to go to college in 2006. At this time I noticed a major change in my mom’s artwork. She began to create multimedia pieces in which she used multiple mediums. She started to create collages with photographs, fabric swatches, and clippings from books, magazines and newspapers that have meant something to her. She then paints on top of these collages. Her multimedia artwork means much more to her than the watercolors that she created earlier in her life. These pieces show the passion that my mother has for the subjects of her paintings.
When I left home two years ago to go to college, my mother’s artwork changed once again. Now that my brother and I were both away from home, my mother’s life had changed dramatically. She began to work on a new piece of art. This was a multimedia piece as well. This piece took her almost a year to complete. When I came home for the summer from my first year of college, she showed me the multimedia piece that she had just finished. The piece was painted on a small canvas covered in images of my brother and I with our parents during our childhoods. On top of those photos she had painted a bird’s nest. The nest had nothing but a few feathers inside. The painting was called the empty nest.
It was at this point that I realized that my mother used art to communicate the things that she could not say out loud.
Now, my mother’s artwork has become a way of communication between the two of us while I am at school. She often sends my little sketches, or home made note cards with small images on them. She sends me invitations to her art showings, even though she knows I may not be able to come.
What started out as one of my mother’s hobbies became a way for her to show the importance of different parts of her life. My mother’s artwork has become a way for the two of us to stay connected while I am not home. It has become a shared passion, and a link between the two of us.
