The internet is great because you can do so much on it. There is so much information on the internet. There is plenty of censorship here and there but there is freedom on it. People can spread ideas and do so much. It can empower to speak up and share their ideas. Their values. The risks that come with it do exist. Because people speak up a lot, a mob mentality does happen sometimes. As much as there is empowerment there is the opposite. I don’t really know what to call it, toxicity? I’ve seen it a lot where a community or forum will have this bias towards something and becomes completely close minded. The behavior doesn’t stop well because no one stops it. It’s like a mob mentality that piles on top of each other. Sometimes, it makes it harder for other ideas to come into play so they each stay in their own little bubble. Makes it weird to say that the internet can be so inclusive but not at the same time. Also as much as there are good ideas there are also bad or dumb ideas.

As for copyright, I think it works as intended. People can use ideas from other platforms in their own way and make money off it. At the same time, it isn’t a complete rip-off but more like inspired. If copyright was stricter I don’t think it would really work because some ideas always come from another. They’re inspired. It includes genres, stereotypical tropes, designs, etc.

I choose public domain. I felt as though I wouldn’t mind if people profited or took my idea. Everything comes from somewhere else. Nothing is truly original. Whether it be your interests or likes, something influences you. You can have your own unique style, but it came from something. Also I feel as though copyright mainly exists for economic reasons. It’s for people to profit off of their own hard work. People can’t steal it and make money from it or put it off as their own.

I thought the experience of making my photo collage was pretty fun. I did it full of good memories and people that I cared about. Looking through my camera roll doing it was pretty nostalgic. It made me remember some of the good times before quarantine. It came out as I thought it would. Some of the pictures I wanted to put it I couldn’t find, but it still turned out good. I found good pictures anyway.

For this art experience, we were supposed to write our names in bubble letters twice using at least 2 colors. I know these look pretty bland but that’s because I don’t have any art tools at home. I’ve never been much of an art guy so I don’t own these things. To be honest, I’ve never even written bubble letters before. It was interesting. I don’t really like how they turned out, but since I don’t really do them I didn’t expect much.

I think graffiti art can be really nice. I grew up in southern California and lived a chunk of my life in New York city, so I see a lot of street art there or here in LA. I think it can provide a different type of art experience and is something anyone can appreciate. I feel as though common everyday people can relate more to art street than any art in a museum. Mainly because they are made by people who share those same struggles and can be related to since they come from the street. Art in a museum can be intimidating and may not be people’s thing sometimes. Street art removes that barrier of feeling out of place.

Artist: Sienna Brown
Exhibition: Solo Exhibition
Media: Painting and Drawing
Gallery: Black Umbrella Tattoo And Art Gallery
Website: https://www.siennabrowneart.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siennabrowne/

Sienna Browne is currently an artist in her 4th year at Long Beach State’s Drawing and Painting BFA program. She started getting into art as a child and loved it ever since. It has really helped her through the tougher times in life including the death of her father and eating disorders. It has helped open her creativity and she owes a lot to art. She turns her past struggles into beautiful art and it helps her move on from it.

In her paintings she uses more vivid primary colors and bright colors. Often times, her art is free flowing and has little straight lines. It seems like the lines just flow. The shapes are really round and sometimes it makes it hard to see what is going on. There is always a lot going on in her work and it is very “simple”.

Her art is often about her experiences and struggles in life growing up. In a couple of her paintings, there is stuff about food which shows her eating disorder struggles. In another painting, there is a little girl walking through what looks like a lot of noise. It seems like she’s struggling with all the negative things people have to say and she’s drowning in it. All of it represents a chapter in her life.

Personally, I really like her work. I like how looking at it, you can see the stages in her life and how she was changed as a person. I’m the type of person that really enjoys and looks for personal development and being able to see her journey is really inspiring. It’s great when you can see people overcome whatever struggles they may have whether it be insecurities or anything really. The idea of bettering yourself should be something everyone strives for!

My idea for this week’s art activity was fried rice! I choose food because it is something we have to eat everyday and I consider cooking an art. Being able to eat something savory is one the best joys in life in my opinion. For materials it was pretty simple, just spam, rice, sausages, eggs, onion, soy sauce and some other seasonings. I think my piece was able to express my idea. I mean look at how good it is. It’s a little foggy because my camera got fogged up from the steam. My choice of materials allowed me to shape the way the food tastes and looks. I choose ingredients that I liked specifically. Everyone has their own way of making food or fried rice and that’s unique.

I think a kiss should last a couple of seconds at most. A great meal should last for as long as your alive. I still remember this one restaurant I used to eat at. It was so good but the main chef ended up passing away and to this day I can’t find anything as good. A good work of art can last forever as long as people are around to remember it. A marriage ideally should last a lifetime. The question of human life is usually up to the individual. To me I would hope to break 80+.

Of course the finite timeline of something like human life makes us think differently about it. People are more inclined to enjoy their time when they are alive if they aren’t around forever. It puts a time limit on things we can experience so we have to make the most of it while we/they are alive. All those natural resources should be sustainable. Sometimes though it isn’t possible, due to a number of different reasons. No, one person can’t make a difference in something like climate change. Only a large large number of people together can do something about that. One less piece of trash or even the amount of waste one person uses in their lifetime won’t make a difference in the grand scheme of things. It’s the whole population that has to do something.

The theme I have decided to do for my art gallery is Animal Crossing! The game has plenty of depth and ways to show your artistic side. The time is takes for people to make there island is extremely tedious and takes a lot of dedication to unlock and buy everything in the game. During our quarantine Animal Crossing has been one of the best ways to past time. You can basically customize your island how ever you want to and many people choose to follow a certain theme or just do something they overall enjoy. I wanted to explore some unique creative ideas in making a deserted island your home. Some go for an aesthetically pleasing place they call home. Others wanted to portray a theme in their own islands.

This first one is made by a Youtuber named MrDanishButterCookie. I feel like in this island what he shows is a place more similarly close to home. You can see the customization he puts into his island. From the park bench area to the waterfall walkway and the way his rooms are set up. The two rooms I decided to showcase is a nice game arcade room. Perfect for the boys. The other one is a music room with a wall full of posters of his favorite characters. His island was definitely one of the more homier feeling ones.

In this specific island, you can definitely see the work put into aesthetics. The picture on the top left is a map of the island. You can definitely see the time he put into the island as the artist completely stripped the island down and made it from the ground up. Completely new. You can see the beautiful fountain with a garden of roses and the little small cafes in the area. Definitely one of the most aesthetic islands I’ve seen. All the water adds a very nice touch to make the island a little more pleasing to see.

This by far is one of the best islands I have seen so far in Animal Crossing. This one was created by the Youtuber “No One”. I’m pretty sure you can understand the theme of this island just by looking at it. It’s a spooky island. Animal Crossing is a very kid friendly game. I didn’t even know you can do things like this to your island. The artist was very successful in creating an amazing theme. He created very a very asylum like vibe throughout the whole island. It reminds me of a place near where I live called Downey Asylum. It’s an old abandoned insane asylum that is rumored to be a home of a cult. The abandoned classroom, blood on the ground, papers that have been scattered about. All this paints a story that something very wrong has happened in this island. In one room there is a sacrifice circle and in one classroom there’s even an formula for transmutation or what looks like some experimentation on living things. Overall, I love this island and the theme that has been made.

Well first off, my goal in this vlog was to just talk about my day and what I like to do in the morning. Basically, it’s just how I start my day. I think i was easily able to accomplish it. Some things I would do differently though is maybe plan out what I’m going to say. Make it so there are less pauses as I am thinking about what is next. To be fair, I am camera shy so it’ll probably just get better with time. I don’t have a specific youtuber I could really say is my favorite. I usually just watch random videos that pertain to what I am interested in at the time. Right now, I really enjoy NairoMK or like maybe real enginering. NairoMK is just a professional super smash bros player who is just really funny to watch and at the same time is exceptionally good at the game. Real engineering is one of my other favorite channels because it breaks out the engineering of some of the greatest and advanced forms of technology we have today. As an aspiring engineer that wants to do big things in the future, it always manages to pique my interest. I know it sounds nerdy, but it truly if interesting if you like that kind of stuff. Well, for Real Engineering one of the biggest thing is the use of visuals. Most of time, visuals are 100x more interesting than words. I would probably try and add more than just my face. Maybe more game play or me eating would make it less bland. Authenticity to me is being genuine it’s very real. None of the staged stuff. Something that comes from the heart. Performance is something you do for an audience. Performance explains itself, it’s a performance. It’s something you practice or rehearse to show other people. I think they are not opposites at all. During class people would say they were. In reality I think the best performances are the ones that are authentic. I think just because you practice or rehearse it doesn’t make it any less you. Choreographers who refine their work are still authentic. Job interviews are also authentic. Practicing is just a better way to show your art or yourself. It makes it easier and more fluid. There’s less pauses and just overall a more “clean” experience. A lot of people can’t perform the perfect dance or say the right things fluidly during a speech. Practice is just another way of making the delivery better is what I am trying to say. I think both those are authentic. I don’t really think she’s performing. Her energy may be different, but that is just because the situation is different. That’s all it really means. People act slightly different around the parents than their friends or SO. Even to different friend groups, but I don’t think that makes it less authentic.

Artist: Mahsa Soroudi
Exhibition: N/A
Media: Photography
Gallery: N/A
Website: https://www.mahsasoroudi.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mahsasoroudi/

Mahsa Soroudi is an artist and art curator who was born in Iran in 1981. She received her BFA in visual communication from Azad Art and Architecture University in Tehran. Growing up she was exposed to art from her family. Her dad would like to often paint which is why she wanted to go into the arts. One of her passions is to familiarize and give exposure to contemporary artists who go unseen.

On her website there were 2 albums of her photography. The styles in each were completely different. The first one, “The Expected”, had photos of a woman going through her everyday routine. However, every photo was in black and white. All the color was stripped away making it seem kind of monochrome. There was almost a sad tone to it. Some of the angles were really up close and personal as well. The second, “Clio”, is full of pictures with jewelry in it. The background in the photos are either completely black or completely white. It makes the jewelry pop more and puts emphasis on it. There’s no background noise at all in any of the photos forcing the viewer to look and focus on the rings.

One piece of work she explores is “Nature’s Cadence”. It’s the idea that plants remain beautiful and strong even though they are struggling to adapt to a new home. She related to her own experiences. As we struggled in her move to the United States, for a long time she couldn’t really call this place home. Another motivation for her is wanting to help empower Iranian women who are artists. So she started the 7500 miles project.

I like her work with the succulents. I feel as though it is easy to relate to in my own life. She said the plants health would often correlate with her own mental health. An under rated part of it all though is that the plants bloom and look healthy on the outside, the reason they appear so if because the roots are healthy. It kind of parallel’s real life in some ways. If you want to be successful you have to work on personal development and nurture that. You have to make sure you have a solid base to work off of.

To be honest, this activity was kind of a hard one. I never really do art at all, so I don’t have any form of art supplies. Which is why I have almost 0 color in my work. I had to scavenge around my house to look for printer paper as well. At my place, I only have the essential school notebook stuff to do homework on or to write notes on. I couldn’t justify myself spending any money for it either since times are a bit tough and it’s unlikely I’ll use them again. Also trying to self-quarantine myself so I don’t get sick. Besides all that though, the experience was kind of fun. I usually don’t draw but I don’t hate it. I just think I’m really bad at it. For the map I could hardly remember what’s even on campus besides food spots and locations of my classes of stuff I go to. I’m a little directionally challenged as well so there’s that. The food spots are the most important so I made them the biggest. For the second part of the activity, I was a little unsure if we were supposed to just draw random circles in any particular way so I just did it. It was kind of funny doing it with my girlfriend since we would just kind of push each others hands here and there.

So for this week’s activity I decided to wear an old volleyball jersey I have from the Long Beach State team, with a tie. I originally was gonna choose my friends peanut butter bread costume but he didn’t have enough time to pass it on to me. Basically for this, its nothing something anyone normal would wear. It’s a jersey with a tie, they both are meant for two completely different scenarios and situations. Putting them together just looks weird and funny.

I ended up doing this in front of the church next to my apartment. I walked over and since they still had people from Sunday mass. I basically just came up to some people as they were walking by what they thought my name would be and my major is. Most of them ended up giving me some pretty weird looks. Most of the time they’d just answer I don’t know or how would I know? It was definitely a weird and a little embarrassing of a situation. A couple of people would just guess some random names like John or Chris. As for the major question, a good amount of people thought I was somewhere in the art department or psychology. It was either because I was trying to stand out or because a couple thought I was trying to conduct a survey. I didn’t talk to that many people only about 5 before I got shy and left.

I don’t think they would’ve responded much differently if I was wearing regular clothes. I would probably get less weird looks. I think I’m sociable enough to where they didn’t think I was a crackhead or some druggie. Overall, the experience was a bit lackluster. People do judge off of looks and first impressions, but it didn’t seem to have much of a difference. People just wouldn’t really know what to answer. I feel as though asking for a name won’t exactly do any good, because they don’t know anything about me besides a random appearance. So I feel like they just guessed a common name.

Artist: Ana Alvarez
Exhibition: The Enchanted Borderlands
Media: Animation
Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Dr. Maxine Merlin Gallery
Website: N/A
Instagram: @aadorisart

Ana Alvarez is currently an undergraduate student in the Long Beach State’s School of Art’s animation program. She along with a couple of other people are working on some concept art on a story that involves magic and wild west.She uses procreate to illustrate the story and bring it to life. The story was inspired a little by Harry Potter. She has interests to work at Netflix and bring stories to life. She is slightly more into content geared towards a more mature crowd which is why she wanted to do Netflix over Disney.

The artist uses a lot of mixtures in her colors to create a more ominous feel. All the backgrounds are not very clear and are foggy. The art of the characters aren’t drawn like most kid’s cartoons. It has more of a realistic yet doesn’t completely resemble real life characters. The colors are always blended in and bright such as in the fog and in the potions. Even the whip is glowing bright.

The artist simply just wants to create a fun story. The reason they wanted decided to do the wild west is because one of the artists was fascinated with it and its a topic that hasn’t really been explored. She wanted to create something a little new and unheard of. Like many animators they just want to bring a story to life.

I overall really liked my experience looking at the art. Before I went to go talk to Ana I looked through all the exhibitions and this one stood out to me the most. I really enjoy the work of animators because I just enjoy a good story. I love watching shows and reading about fantasy. The artwork just made me feel excited because I wanted to see more of the story and where it would go. Unfortunately though, after the exhibition the artists are planning to scrap the animation.