Somehow in looking over my very infrequent posts on this blog I just happen to think of the futility of a blog for a class itself. I may just feel this way because I didn't have as much time to devote to this class as I would have liked, but I really felt that our 3 hour discussions on one reading should have done the trick. Those in and of themselves just seemed like an attempt to stretch out an entirely too dense and monotonous reading. It became too difficult to really sift out what counted as valuable information for the class and the daily quizzes. The blog for the class itself did provide useful information about the class and our projects but since I myself am not a blogger I would almost always forget to view this page. If I were ever going to choose to possess blog it would be an effort stemming from enjoyment of some kind. Writing for school has become work and not an act out of passion and true interest.
When I first signed up for the class I did feel that. I thought that we were mostly going to be analyzing art, which we did, just not in a way that I ended up personally enjoying or taking much away from. The book itself was something that I grew to hate with a passion. Too many vague references and the same information repeated in a multitude of different ways. In essence the book was beating a dead horse. After a while of going on in this manner the reader becomes detached and zones out from the reading. It is a chore and when a reading becomes a chore the level of true understanding seems to follow suit. If readings from other sources were supplemented then maybe there would have been a higher level of understanding and interest(and I don't mean readings included on the blog, readings for class time itself, 3 hours do not need to be devoted to 20pages of reading). The projects for the class itself were very unique and thought provoking. I highly enjoyed them, they was my favorite part of the class. But this class is still young, it has not been around long, with some tweaking it shows some real promise.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Well, I never did get the chance to post anything for the t-shirt project so I shall try now.
When attempting to figure out some form of adequate symbolism for this project I kept drawing a blank. every semblance of a decent idea seemed to fade away. Then one day while sitting around with some fellow classmates having lunch I came up with a plan. We had been attempting to brainstorm for this project and just looking at our current surroundings. Since text was not an option the closest plain and simple symbol happened to catch my eye. It was the form of a man on a restroom sign. It is a very recognizable shape to everyone, both of the shapes chosen for the male and female restrooms. But what is it about them that makes them so recognizable in regards to gender? When were these images designed?
So for my parody on the back of the shirt I wanted to add certain elements to each figure to make the viewer really question gender. For the woman I ended up putting a large handle bar mustache on her face because a mustache is a very masculine symbol that isn't questioned in regards to gender. The man was a little bit more difficult. There is nothing I can really do to him in regards to adding a very feminine element that is unquestioningly female. I ended up sticking to the hair theme though and adding what first came to mind, a 50's/60's flipped out hair style. It just screams feminine in my subconscious. I wanted to add a purse but I felt that it would not transfer very well. But all in all I felt that my efforts to really communicate everything mentioned above fell short. The red details to make the parody portion of this clear on the back were far too small and I felt that this really did not go in depth enough.
But somehow it seems more worthy than a "nice try" comment on a grading sheet.
When attempting to figure out some form of adequate symbolism for this project I kept drawing a blank. every semblance of a decent idea seemed to fade away. Then one day while sitting around with some fellow classmates having lunch I came up with a plan. We had been attempting to brainstorm for this project and just looking at our current surroundings. Since text was not an option the closest plain and simple symbol happened to catch my eye. It was the form of a man on a restroom sign. It is a very recognizable shape to everyone, both of the shapes chosen for the male and female restrooms. But what is it about them that makes them so recognizable in regards to gender? When were these images designed?
So for my parody on the back of the shirt I wanted to add certain elements to each figure to make the viewer really question gender. For the woman I ended up putting a large handle bar mustache on her face because a mustache is a very masculine symbol that isn't questioned in regards to gender. The man was a little bit more difficult. There is nothing I can really do to him in regards to adding a very feminine element that is unquestioningly female. I ended up sticking to the hair theme though and adding what first came to mind, a 50's/60's flipped out hair style. It just screams feminine in my subconscious. I wanted to add a purse but I felt that it would not transfer very well. But all in all I felt that my efforts to really communicate everything mentioned above fell short. The red details to make the parody portion of this clear on the back were far too small and I felt that this really did not go in depth enough.
But somehow it seems more worthy than a "nice try" comment on a grading sheet.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
