Art and Technology - Assignment Two

Assignment: Watch animation of Opera Madama Butterfly and blog about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E387c5RAhK4

After watching a different version in class, I was not expecting this animation to have so much ?detail? in it. Not knowing about the story of this Opera besides what we saw in class, this animation displays a woman getting impregnated by a Sailor. He then goes off and returns by ship after the daughter was born. He comes back with a different woman and takes the child away. The mother no longer wants anything to do with her life without her daughter and the sailor and  end up killing herself.

This animation took an interesting/out there approach to the story. One, the child was first born as a fish.. then changed to a child hooked to the mother by an umbilical cord and flying like a kite attached to one another. The father breaks the cord from the mother and takes the child away. The mother tears her skin off of her body and then disassembles herself with tools.

Interesting... not my kind of thing but very interesting to see how people can think of such things.

Big Brothers Big Sisters

After several months of going through the interview process and classes, I am finally a Big Sister! I chose this organization to volunteer at because I wanted to start volunteering with something that can be long term and really have an affect on someone and myself. I couldn't think of one better for myself then Big Brothers Big Sisters. I love children and I miss my family so much and especially getting to see my little sister continue to grow into a young woman. Although the process took a while I can tell that it was well worth the wait! I met my little sister two days ago, her name is Ki'Yana. She is beautiful and very outgoing. She really enjoys playing and baking. We decided that going to a park would be our first thing to do with one another. After the park I plan to bring her back to my place and bake some cupcakes with her to celebrate my birthday together. When she saw that my birthday was this week she was very excited! So I thought she would really enjoy baking cupcakes and making them all different colors. I also went to Michael's and bought some beads and string so we can make bracelets with each others name on it or say sister or something. I will let her choose. I can't wait to start sharing everything about my life with her and really getting to know her. I plan to help her with her reading and writing skills and just be someone she really looks up to.

Art and Technology - Assignment One

Today was my first meeting of ART 211 (Art and Technology) with Professor Santiago Echeverry. I have had a couple other classes led by him; Advanced Digital Art, Online Productions, and Special Problems. Course Description: Art and Technology is a lecture course that will provide a context for the development of art and its interrelations of technology. Students will explore the evolution of multimedia to hypermedia. Emphasis will be placed on the creation and transformation of technology used in the 20th centure, such as radio, computers, television, the internet, and networked environments. Developments will be related to historic art movements.

Class Assignment One - Create Blog - post feelings of the class, what I expect to learn and who I am.


After having Santiago as a professor before, I know and expect that this class will be intense. There have been some crazy experiences in the past with assignments and conversations, but I feel that this class will go above and beyond after hearing what will be presented to us through video and documentaries. We (the students) were "warned" that it may be quit gruesome at times. I guess we will see how that goes... 


I really look forward to being creative and going out of my norm with these projects. I want to view art in other ways, like Santi's example in class, Dada art. Some see it as art and others don't. I want to gain a respect for artists who go out of the ordinary and really see what they are trying to show or say. I want to learn to take my ideas further and challenge myself. I really hope to get the most out of this class as possible so I can learn more ways to be creative and be able to do so for clients. 

A little about myself... I will be 22 in 6 days and sometimes really wish that I was five again  because I am getting very nervous/anxious/freaked out/excited to graduate in May.  All these mixed feelings are a head ache. And I use to wish my life away saying, "I can't wait to grow up!" I can't complain, there are still several things I look forward to in life. This will be a whole new beginning and I have about 4 months to get ready for it! Ok, sorry, back to "about me". I have a wonderful family - my parents, Chris and Connie, 2 brothers, Garrett and Jordan, and a little sister, Allison. I have a boyfriend, Tyler, who also attends UT. I attended Saint Louis Community College at Meramec before attending UT. I didn't care a whole lot for the community college experience, but it was good for me because I really didn't know what I wanted to major in. I had changed my major several times, but I do believe that I am in something that I am passionate about; Digital Art/Graphic Design. 

A White Christmas and Amazing New Years Eve

I'm not sure when the last time I had a white Christmas was. I remember last year it was pretty nice out, however, this Christmas it was gorgeous... white powder everywhere. The view from our kitchen window was beautiful... looking out to the snow on the ground and covering the trees with the lake in the background was a perfect morning to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  After a nice breakfast my family gathered around the tree and opened presents.  Later, my sister, Allison, and I went out to do some sleigh riding in the snow. Then mom and Allison built a snowlady, Sassy Suzzy!

I got to spend a couple more days with the family and then headed back for Tampa. Tyler and I both had a lay over in Atlanta and actually had the same flight from Atlanta to Tampa. :) This was unplanned! I was so excited to see him when I got off the first flight and he was waiting for me at the gate. We sat together on the next flight and then grabbed a cab and headed to my place. We then enjoyed a wonderful meal together at P.F.Changs. We had a great night together, nothing crazy but was great being back together. 

Since then.. We went over to Tyler's aunts house on the east coast to spend time with his parents and sister. We had a great time, gorgeous weather and beautiful beach. We built an awesome sand castle.  

This has been a great month break, but now I have a week until school is back in session. Last Semester as an Undergrad!!! WHoooHooo!