Artist: Mel Chin

“Making objects and marks is also about making possibilities, making choices—and that is one of the last freedoms we have. To provide that is one of the functions of art.”

Mel Chin, born in Houston and currently residing in North Carolina, creates work that is similar to Mark Dion's in that it is not rooted in any particular medium or process, influenced by disciplines such as alchemy, botany, and ecology among many others. For example he did an ecology project called "Revival Field," in which he worked with a team to grow certain plants and use them to actually clean up toxic ground.

"The survival of my own ideas may not be as important as a condition I might create for others’ ideas to be realized"

What really interests me about the work of people like Mel Chin and Mark Dion is that they seem to be expanding art in a direction where it becomes more than just the manifestation of the artist's views and ideas about how the world should be. They skip this step by researching solutions and putting them into action with the help of others, and this becomes the actual artwork. The work has influence in the same way, but also serves as a physical catalyst for change that has already been put into action.

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/chin/index.html?gclid=CNelsJKGyZkCFUFM5Qodrmm_uQ#
http://www.frederieketaylorgallery.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Chin

Topic: Final Cut

I've been doing a little research on Final Cut, the video editing program that's available on the computers in the Pollack building, and it looks like it'll be easy to create the video as separate clips and import them into the program to assemble the "final cut." The real surprise though, is that it sounds like I'll be able to import my ambient sounds and even edit and combine those in the same program, which should simplify things a lot. Final Cut supports multiple channels of sound and allows basic editing such as fades and levels, which should be all I need for this project. All in all I can't wait to get enough video and audio clips to the point where I can start assembling them in this program.

Artist: Paul Nicklen

Paul Nicklen grew up on Baffin Island in Nunavat, Canada in a small settlement consisting of mostly Inuit families. It was the Inuit that taught him the patience and survival skills he has to succeed as a wildlife photographer. With a keen interest in animals he studied biology but ended up becoming a photographer full time for many magazines such as National Geographic. Nicklen specializes in wildlife photography in areas of extreme cold, shooting both on land and underwater. I first came across his work last year in an article he published for National Geographic about the life of narwhals and their importance in native hunting practices. Recently though, his pictures appeared in an article about the arctic world of Svalbard, Norway, the biology of which is threatened by a changing climate. The unbelievable photos of polar bears, walruses, and other wildlife in their arctic environment immediately caught my attention. I cant imagine the sheer amount of patience and will required to travel and wait for hours on end in treacherous conditions to get those kinds of pictures. The danger of such expeditions is highlighted by the fact that his guide and friend tragically fell through a patch of sea ice and died during that very trip.



















http://www.paulnicklen.com/about.html
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photographers/photographer-paul-nicklen.html
http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a21621/paul-nicklen-posters.htm

Topic: Ambient Sound

A genre of music that focuses on the "timbral" qualities of sounds, which is the aspect that allows a listener to differentiate between two sounds played at the same pitch and loudness. Ambient music is normally meant to have an atmospheric, visual, or unobtrusive quality to it. It is often used in video for the purpose of creating an atmospheric effect, enhancing the visual experience without becoming obtrusive or taking the viewer out of context. The type of ambient sound that I'm most interested are those dealing with nature. Naturally occuring sounds are often recorded and mixed with urban or "found" sounds to form a beat or just played in their random natural state. With the use of natural and urban sounds I hope to enhance the visuals or even concept of my stopmotion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_music

Visiting Artist: Mark Dion

I was a little dissapointed that I didn't get to the lecture in time to get a decent seat even in the hallway, but it was worth it nonetheless. What took away from it was a better understanding of how to form and speak about good conceptual work. His concepts relate to mine to an extent, but are much deeper and more defined. The piece about the silt in venice sounded incredible both in the process and results, and the portrayal of a fallen tree as a work of art is genious and couldn't be more true. His work ethic is amazing. The time management and focus on a detailed and structured process is what made his concepts so defined and complex. Recording my ideas is something I do a little of, but I often dont refer back to them enough or at all, and as for my time management thats a different story entirely (i.e. this blog).