About cscoggin@uoregon.edu

Born in Portland, 22 years old. University of Oregon student majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. Option model in Portland.

Public Art

Im going to be talking about my personal opinion about the role of public art. Public art is artwork in the public realm, regardless of whether it is situated on public or private property, or whether it is acquired through public or private funding. Public art can be a sculpture, mural, manhole cover, paving pattern, lighting, seating, building facade, kiosk, gate, fountain, play equipment, engraving, carving, fresco, mobile, collage, mosaic, bas-relief, tapestry, photograph, drawing, or earthwork. I believe public art is good should be widely used everywhere, It’s is nice to see what people make that is open to the public for free. Even though it can be expensive at times, it is well worth it. “During the tumultuous 1960s, public art was viewed as a way to beautify America’s public spaces and simultaneously unify a public divided over issues of race, gender, and the Vietnam War”(4). I agree with this statement from the reading. Art can unify people into gazing upon something of beauty. Why is public art so controversial? Answers vary, but in general public art controversy relates to the essentially conversational nature of the art itself. Usually located in visible public spaces, organized by public committees, frequently funded by public dollars, and intended for multiple audiences. Public culture can be contentious, especially in a country that values individualism, freedom of expression, and First Amendment rights, and yet also prizes communal experiences and relationships. A quote from the reading, “Conflicts over public art at the local level often persuade community leaders, elected officials, funding agencies, and artists themselves that public art is simply “too hot to handle.” But these heated debates also suggest that the American public, often typecast as apathetic and uninformed, is keenly interested in cultural conversations about creative expression and civic and national identity. The dynamics surrounding public art reveal an ongoing American commitment to meaningful conversations, which are the cornerstones of an active democratic culture”(1). Public art often has to cater to multiple constituencies and, as any politician knows, you can’t please everyone. Bowing to the interests and demands of one public may alienate another. But public art like politics is a collaborative exercise and depends on tolerance, compromise, and respect. Ideally, public art controversy animates creative civic dialogue. The key is to keep our public conversations meaningful and productive and to reclaim public culture as a forum for debate rather than an arena of hate.Grounded in conversation, dialogue, and often debate, public art can serve as a symbol of civic examination, prompting further debates about community needs, hopes, and histories. As an instrument of public conversation, public art can become a catalyst for civic and national revitalization. Often because it is controversial, public art can play a central role in shaping and directing community identity. A quote from the reading, “Public art is an antidote for the hatred and disconnectedness in society. It is a creative, participatory, critical, and analytical process. We must tell our stories, and encourage others of all ages to tell their stories in any language they speak. We must teach ourselves and others to listen and to hear our stories because it is in the very specificity of the human experience that we learn compassion”(11).

Collage

The words I used are imaginative, confident, creative, unique, and passion.

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This collage is considered are because I, the creator, have the intention of this being looked at and viewed with intensity. “Art is not confined to a small coterie of geniuses, visionaries, cranks, and charlatans-indistinguishable from one another-but is instead a fundamental human species characteristic that demands and deserves to be promoted and nourished”(26). Art is just not limited to painting and pictures, it can also be food. I like how Dissanayake said the phrase making things special. By using that phrase, it doesn’t limit art to a certain group. It shows how anything can be art as you the person decides what you want to make special. “Transforming the ordinary into the exta-ordinary. Looked at this way, art as making the things one cares about special, shaping and elaborating the ordinary to make it more than ordinary, is fundamental to everyone and, as in traditional societies deserves to be acknowledged as normal-to be encouraged and developed”(25).

 

Remix

I believe that copyright could be dangerous in the future. With Youtube as one of the most popular websites in the world, where a person can post a video of whatever they want. There are many channels that have millions of subscribers that post parody’s or remixes of other artists’s songs. I believe this to be really creative and not copyright at all. I also think that when you use someone else song over a video you created to not be copyright also. I feel as that would put many limitations on making a creative montage. When I agree copyright should come to play is if you want to use a producers beat for your own lyrics you made. You need to get permission from the producer or artist to do that and give them some royalties. Many artists do this all the time and put the songs on mixtapes for free for the public to have. I find remixed songs really creative and sometimes better than the original. Here’s an example: This is the original, and this is the remix. Here is an example of a creative parody. I really like this quote from the reading, it says, “But anyone who thinks remixes or mash ups are neither original or creative has very little idea about how they are made or what makes them great. It takes extraordinary knowledge about a culture to remix it well. The artist or student training to do it well learns far more about his past than one committed to this view about original creativity. And perhaps more important, the audience is constantly looking for more as the audience reads what the remixer has written”(93). The only role copyright plays is to protect people from other people using their creation to make money from it. The way they should address this issue is to not make it apply to people trying to make their own creative videos on youtube. If with fair judgement people are doing their fair share of original content, then they should be fine. Like I said earlier, if artists are remixing songs to distribute to people, then they should get permission. I believe copyrights should be limited and have different restrictions for websites like Youtube.

Art, Games, and Technology Research

The primary thesis of  “Computer Graphics: Effects of Origins, ” is on page t21. It says, “I hope to establish the relation of specific image, object, event or environment to conceptual frames. These frames exist within art and technology and are present in other forms of symbolic and material culture.” This is an example of the combination between art and technology is computer graphics. A historical example that shows an illustration of her thesis is on page 22. It says, “In the 1940’s analogue computers were used to generate the earliest computer graphics and display them on oscilloscopes. Ben F. Lapofsky and Herbert W. Franke were among the pioneers creating these images. Franke’s graphics were phase forms, presented as events rather than as static imagery. His work continues to explore similar forms. An early version of a plotting device was the Henry drawing computer, a modified analog computer designed by D. P. Henry that produced drawings by a combination of pen movements and table movements.” A good example of her thesis today would be in video games. Art and technology have been incorporated a long time, but more recently it is seen through video games. hundreds of millions of people play video games everyday and get to witness the combination of art and technology and how it has changed in the years.

Microbial Videogames

I found this audio presentation very interesting. Playing with life organisms is very cool and different. I clicked on the article and watched the footage of the actual gameplay of the game. It is very basic with pac man like dots around the screen. You basically guide a host of paramecia around obstacles and targets. The four-button controller shifts a weak electrical field, which the paramecia are attracted to. My only question about this idea is how receptive the consumers will be to eventually buy this type of game. I feel like it is very basic and wouldn’t attract that many people. It is a cool idea, but I don’t think it will draw that many people with the video game technology we have today. People would rather have someone create a good virtual reality game instead.

Creative Spirituality Reflection

1. Spirituality is that which gives meaning to one’s life and draws one to transcend oneself. Spirituality is a broader concept than religion, although that is one expression of spirituality. Other expressions include prayer, meditation, interactions with others or nature, and relationship with God or a higher power.

2. Yes, spirituality differs from religion. Religion is an institution established by man for various reasons. Exert control, instill morality, stroke egos, or whatever it does. Organized, structured religions all but remove god from the equation. You confess your sins to a clergy member, go to elaborate churches to worship, told what to pray and when to pray it. All those factors remove you from god. Spirituality is born in a person and develops in the person. It may be kick started by a religion, or it may be kick started by a revelation. Spirituality extends to all facets of a person’s life. Spirituality is chosen while religion is often times forced.

3. I define creativity by the creative process which includes formulation, saturation, incubation, inspiration, translation, and integration. Formulation is the discovery of the artist’s subject or problem. Saturation is a period of intense research on the subject or problem. Incubation is letting the unconscious sift the information and develop a response.  Inspiration is a flash of one’s own unique solution to a problem. Translation is bringing the internal solution to outer form. Integration is sharing the creative answer with the world and getting feedback.

4. The source of creativity is from inspiration. Every artist has his or her own unique process of inspiration. A quote from the reading, “My wife and I have noticed in our workshop on visionary art that some people receive full blown, detailed images in a flash. Others may receive only the briefest glimmer or feeling and it is not until their pencil touches the paper that the imagery comes flooding through. For me, pressure is a great catalyst. Important ideas can come at the last minute under a deadline.”

Creative Spirituality

I found this video really interesting. The video really started to get my attention when the first lady placed a camera in her mouth and disposed the film from her mouth to capture moments. She would stand still with people face to face and open her mouth to expose the film. She described it as soul to soul and revealing something we don’t often show to the world. She said “the shape of the mouth is very much the same shape as the eye, and the image becomes almost like the pupil.” The next guy John used kitsch objects to create spiritually like altars. It was interesting hearing about his Native American history. His grandmother was a hand trembler, almost like an oracle and his grandfather was a dancer where he puts on a mask and becomes a god. The spirit enters them when they start to dance. It was a ritual dance. I found it interesting when he talked about how the bear totem is a very powerful symbol because the totem was meant to giving the bear power and people turned them into a product and stripping away the power and meaning behind the bear totem. The painting he did of the corporation setting displaying the CEO as a deity in the center of the painting, with the employees of the company as the angels under him was really fascinating. The painting caught my attention in the movie and made me analyze it further. It’s really interesting and cool to see how spirituality can be a source of inspiration to create art.

Why Horror

1. Tartakovsky, Margarita. “Why Some People Love Horror Movies While Others Hate Them.” Psych Central.com. Psych Central, n.d. Web. 15 Feb. 2015. http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/10/31/why-some-people-love-horror-movies-while-others-hate-them/.

This article mainly talks about why some people love horror films and can’t get enough of them. She stated four different reasons why some people love horror. Those are the excitation transfer process, different wiring, novelty, and gender socialization. The excitation transfer process is basically how you feel right after watching a movie. So after the film is over, this physiological arousal lingers. Any positive or negative feeling is intensified and will have an effect of seeing a horror film in the future. She also talked about how some people are wired to enjoy high levels of physiological arousal. 10% of the population enjoys the adrenaline rush they get from scary movies. With novelty, people turn to scary movies because all of us are wired to pay attention to anomalies in our environment. The last point she talks about is that more men enjoy scary movies because men are socialized to be brave and enjoy threatening things.

The article I found mainly talked about the issue of the excitation transfer process. According to Glenn Sparks, Ph.D, a professor and associate head of the Brian Lamb School of Communication at Purdue University, he found that when people watch frightening films, their heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increases. A quote from the article, “After the film is over, this physiological arousal lingers, Sparks said. (We’re just not aware of it.) That means that any positive emotions you experience – like having fun with friends – are intensified. Instead of focusing on the fright you felt during the film, you recall having a great time. And you’ll want to come back for more. However, if your experience was negative, you might not. For instance, let’s say you were on a date that wasn’t going well or you got into a car accident on your way home. Again, because your lingering arousal heightens any emotions you experience, the negative feelings might sway you to skip a scary flick in the future.” The reading we were assigned this week, mainly talks about the reason we like horror is because of the plot and the drama that it creates. A quote from the reading, “Applied to paradox of horror, these observations suggest that the pleasure derived from the horror fiction and the source of our interest in it resides, first and foremost, in the processes of discovery, proof, and confirmation that the horror fiction often employ. The disclosure of the existence of the horrific being and of its properties is the central source of pleasure in the genre”(282). We like the story it is telling and the drama that is unfolding to help us discover what is happening. We wonder if such a creature can be successfully confronted, and that narrative question see us through to the end of the story.

2. Ringo, Allegra. “Why Do Some Brains Enjoy Fear?” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 31 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/why-do-some-brains-enjoy-fear/280938/.

This article mainly talks about why some brains enjoy fear. He states many different reasons, these include, people enjoy the natural high from the flight or fight response, gives people a self of confidence after its all over, know its a safe environment, and qualities of scary things across cultures.

There were three issues that caught my attention in this article, those were the flight or flight response, self confidence, and safe environment. With people liking the rush from the flight or fight response, there is strong evidence that this isn’t just about personal choice, but our brain chemistry. Research from David Zald shows that people differ in their chemical response to thrilling situations. A quote from the article, “One of the main hormones released during scary and thrilling activities is dopamine, and it turns out some individuals may get more of a kick from this dopamine response than others do.” This means some people are going to really enjoy thrilling, scary, and risky situations while others, not so much. Lots of people also enjoy scary situations because it leaves them with a sense of confidence after it’s over. A quote from the article, “Think about the last time you made it through a scary movie, or through a haunted house. You might have thought, “yes! I did it! I made it all the way through!” So it can be a real self-esteem boost.” With having a safe environment, here is a quote from the article, “To really enjoy a scary situation, we have to know we’re in a safe environment. It’s all about triggering the amazing fight-or-flight response to experience the flood of adrenaline, endorphins, and dopamine, but in a completely safe space.” This why haunted houses to such a good job. We can get all the effects and our brain has time to process that what is happening isn’t real. The reading we were assigned this week, mainly talks about the reason we like horror is because of the plot and the drama that it creates. A quote from the reading, “Applied to paradox of horror, these observations suggest that the pleasure derived from the horror fiction and the source of our interest in it resides, first and foremost, in the processes of discovery, proof, and confirmation that the horror fiction often employ. The disclosure of the existence of the horrific being and of its properties is the central source of pleasure in the genre”(282). We like the story it is telling and the drama that is unfolding to help us discover what is happening. We wonder if such a creature can be successfully confronted, and that narrative question see us through to the end of the story.

Horror

1. Non-Diegetic Sound:

I chose the scene right in the beginning of the episode. Buffy lays down on the teachers desk and Riley comes over to kiss her. I chose this example as it was the first opportunity of non-digestic sound. It is an example of non-digestic sound because when they started to kiss each other, background music started playing for a more dramatic effect. This example contributes to the aesthetic of horror for this scene because when I hear background music play, it draws me into watching because I know something is about to happen.

2. Diegetic Sound:

I chose the scene where Riley and his friend are in the elevator and the voice in the elevator is saying “vocal code not accepted.” I chose this example because there was a lot of different stuff going on. It is an example of diegetic sound as there was sound made by an object in the story. This example contributes to the aesthetic of horror for this scene as you had both diegetic and non-diegetic sound happening at the same time. There was the background music and sound coming from the elevator. It made me pay closer attention as the tension was building up.

3. Mise-en-scene

I chose the scene where the two monster guys were gliding around with the two other people following him. They knocked on the guys room and two crawling guys held the guy down and one of the glider guys took out a scalpel and cut into him, I chose this example because it had costumes, make up, and props in it. This example contributes to the aesthetic of horror for this scene because the costumes and makeup work added to the suspense and horror of the film. The background music was still playing, so it added a little extra to the scene. It made me watch the scenes closer as I wanted to know what was going to happen.

Adornment Reflection

What I wear today is very different from what I used to wear. What really changed my style was when I started working at Nordstrom’s. That got me into fashion and really influenced what I wore. I was able to see and try a lot of clothes and see which styles I like and didn’t like. What also changed my style was the people that I met when I was working there. One  of my coworkers had an awesome style and I really liked it a lot. I started talking to him and asking questions about brands and where he was buying his clothes from. That guy is the reason why I got into high end streetwear and introduced me to my favorite store in Portland. Another way I pick clothes is by watching what people wear. I really enjoy watching all the Chinese students at our school because most of them are really into fashion. If I see someone wearing a piece that catches my attention, I will go research it and find more information about it. The last way is by Instagram. I follow my favorite store and different fashion people, so i can see more clothes and accessories. The only belief I have with the way I dress is that I want to look everyday. So I never wear athletic clothes unless Im going to be working out. I wear the clothes that I believe are nice and make me present who I am when people see me. Some of the brands you will see me wearing are Hugo Boss, hood by air, represent clothing, and adyn. I didn’t get any beliefs from my family about what I wear. My dad usually is wearing athletic stuff when he’s not working and my mom dresses a lot nicer. The only thing they strongly believe in is me having no tattoos and piercings. As of right now I don’t have any tattoos or piercings on my body and that will probably stay like that for the rest of my life. I’m not a huge fan of piercings and not interested in a tattoo right now. My friends that I hang out with all dress deferent. Some wear mainly athletic clothes and others are into fashion and dress similar to me. I have friends with tattoos and piercings and some that don’t. Their parents were like mine where they don’t like tattoos or piercings. To conclude, I wear clothes that I like and that present me in a good way to people. I dress nicely every time I go out because I never know who I could meet and I like looking good.