Education Portfolio

The story of sleeping as performance art is not entirely unique. It’s the message conveyed through the performance that truly makes it an original. I have always been fascinated by the notion of “home.” Is it a physical place, a building, a structure, a house? Is it a state of being, a sense of safety, of being provided for, of identity? These are questions myself and others ask regularly. What does it mean to be homeless: practically, spiritually, or emotionally? We see them huddled on the street corners, searching for cans in the garbage, holding signs aside the freeway, resting in the grass in a nearby park. In nearly all highly populated areas, homelessness is a fixture of life. The Reno Area Alliance for the Homeless estimates 3,000 people are living in a temporary situation around Reno, including in a motel, a shelter or on the street. For most of us, the homeless man, woman or family we see on the way to work every morning is nothing more than part of our daily routine. The a...

"The Drafting of a Man" This completely unoriginal piece of artwork uses the tradition of Dada, pop-art, and any number of art movements that have utilized collage, to develop a composition using only found imagery and objects. I started by exploring local thrift stores and garage sales to find the work of art that speaks to me. Then, using only found images from print sources, I recreated this art with new image layers, subsequently shifting the conceptual nature of the work. In this Dada inspired approach this piece lacks reason and logic, prizing irrationality and intuition, nonsense. For this art to be called nonsense, it should fulfill no legalistic criteria whatsoever. Each piece of random nonsense incorporated in this piece depends on another piece of totally unrelated, utterly nonsense which preceded it. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous. The concept of work in this random nonsense art technique is not obvi...

Artist & Technique Response Writing Assignments Vik Muniz - Wasteland In the documentary “Wasteland ,”  artist Vik Muniz showed his travel to his native homeland of Rio Brazil and to Jardim Gramacho, the world’s largest landfill. He wanted to give back to a group of recycling pickers referred as “Catadores”.  Muniz achieved this by earning money from the paintings made of trash and gives it to the catadores. Muniz stated his intentions were to change the lives of people with the same materials that they deal with daily. Muniz thought his intention for going to Brazil would give back hope to the catadores but instead he just gave them false hope. On the other hand many of catadores are humble and proud of their work, not everyone was fine being a catadores. In the film a female catadores named Isis, described how she felt being a catadores.  Isis, explains how embarrassed of being a catadores is, and because working on landfills are not enjoyable but it is a job w...

“FINGERBANGING” For all of you who don't know about The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) it is a small virulently homophobic, anti-Semitic hate group that regularly stages protests around the country. They are more famously known for protesting the funerals of soldiers killed in action, terrorist victims or other noteworthy people to say that those deaths are God’s penance for rampant homosexuality. The members of punk band called Get Shot! decided to protest the ultra-conservative Westboro Baptist Church by filming a porn of their bass player (Laura Lush) masturbating naked on the organization's front lawn to protest their hatred and unhealthy attitudes towards sex. Laura said, "The Phelps family and Westboro Baptist Church are ridiculous and do nothing except spread hate and cause controversy…As a bisexual woman and the bass player of a ridiculous punk band, I wanted to spread my legs and cause controversy." I personally think it’s a creative, if t...

Do You Know Man’s Best Friend? Science Fiction Film Lacey Salo The Sci-fi Project Proposal 1.    WORKING HYPOTHESIS and INTERPRETATION: ·       In life I believe that the Government is monitoring our daily lives through our pet dogs. My film will show this in action by exploring the routine lives of the average dog owner. ·       The main conflict is between Government surveillance and general public ·       Ultimately I want the audience to feel anxiety and paranoia ·       I want my audience to understand how easy it is due to modern technology for the Government to infiltrate our lives 2. TOPICS and EXPOSITION: ·       Subjects: o    Government Spying o    People and their Pets ·       Group: o    Society ·       Environment: o ...

I have designed a "serious game" concept about consumerism utilizing Gamesalad game design software. I have developed a game concept that is not purely for the sake of entertainment and distraction but a game designed not only for entertaining but to leave the player critically thinking, questioning, arguing and discussing the subject matter of the game. My approach includes both the design and visualization process that subverts expectations either through content and/or unexpected results. Gamesalad Arcade: Consumerism

I used a Skanect 3D scanner to scan Jeffery Campbell’s Lita Shoes, which creates a 3D replica of his trademarked product. I then used Pepakura Designer to print and design a paper model of this item. Pepakura Designer is a papercraft technique that predates 3D printing technologies. This is a very inexpensive way to produce objects in any scale, from the tabletop to the monumental.