Transformation Artists

Transformation artists are artists that use everyday objects and materials to make an entirely new thing out of it. Here are some examples of those artists and their art:

Tara Donovan
She used plastic cups, buttons, etc. to create amazing, large-scale, landscape-like structures.

Tom Friedman 

He uses toothpicks, pencils, and aluminum foil (and many other materials) to create amazing abstract art.

Laura Splan

She uses her skills in embroidery to create beautiful, comforting objects of non-comforting substance.

Such as pill pillows, and disease cell doilies. 

Rebecca Horn

She creates performance out of things that we consider everyday objects such as a piano and a dress. The  piano hangs from the ceiling and comes apart demonstrating it in a whole new way than people usually imagine pianos. She also made a dress out of metal that holds her off the ground while other people control it with a remote.

Damien Hurst

Took what we know to be a pharmacy, and turned it into art. He used the organization and pretty colors to create a room looking like a museum display.

Project Display

Sarra and I are going to paint our cabinet today! This is the cabinet we will be using for our museum display! After it is painted all we have to do is go fake ingredient shopping for our magical potions! Then of course the last stage is the assembly, which we be fairly easy! I am so excited!

Upside To The Storm

So the other day I was driving home (to Idaho City) on the snow covered roads. I have to admit, I hate winter. After growing up in Idaho City where there is tons of snow, I only got good at one winter sport.... shoveling. So I was of course excited to move to Boise where there are much lighter winters. But it seems as if I've brought the snow with me!
But on my drive home, I found a great upside to snowy days! They make for beautiful pictures! I was on Warm Springs road and I passed one of my favorite trees. A cow just so happened to be under it seeking shelter from the storm. With the eyes of a photographer, I saw potential for an amazing photograph.
After finding a place to pull over and trudging over in the snow, the cow began walking away. I was soooo very disappointed, but I got a pretty good picture all the same:

America's Next Top Model

So I watched the finale of America's Next Top Model today. For the past several weeks of the show, the cast has been in Italy! I've always wanted to go to Italy, but this is making me long for it! Italy is so beautiful! Its full of history, art, and beauty. I can't wait to go there with my camera and take some amazing pictures! I want to go to Venice and Milan for sure! And after Italy, I'm off to Greece!

Michelangelo-Artist

Michelangelo was a famous Italian renaissance artist. He was a painter, sculptor, and architect. He was the rival of Leonardo da Vinci.
He is known for his paintings in the Sistine Chapel and his Statue of David. His work was very consistent with most art in Rome, but stood out from all the rest, due to his imagination and technical skill, to this day. Michelangelo is a talented painter and sculptor of marble.
He was a dedicated artist. Much of his work was inspired be his desire to create better symbolic art. He spent years, even decades perfecting much of his work.
Here are some pictures:

Leonardo da Vinci-Artist

Leonardo da Vinci was and still is a very famous painter, sculptor, and architect, along with many other things. He has produced many of the most well known art today. That includes the Mona Lisa and The Last Super. 
Leonardo was an Italian man with great success in every aspect of art and academics. His art often showed or supported his scientific theories. He was a diverse person and artist.
Probably his most famous painting is the Mona Lisa. This particular painting is simple, but has intrigued people for decades. Her slight smile appears to be hiding something behind it. Many people have in depth theories about Leonardo da Vinci, such as the book The Davinci Code. Personally, I wouldn't put some of those crazy theories past him. After all, he was an extremely intelligent and talented man.
Here is some of his work:

Final Group Project!

Sarra, Tori, and I have accumulated 25 glass bottles for our project! We filled all of them up with different colored water and are going to add other weird ingredients on tuesday. I also found a great cabinet to use to display the project in. The cabinet is red, but the inside will be painted light brown. It will be perfect to display the potions in a pharmacy like manner.

My Cousins Baby Shower!

I recently went to my cousins baby shower! Her sister has a one year old and I was able to take some great shots of little girl Sadie and her mom. I haven't had a great deal of experience shooting kids that young, but it gave me some great practice! Her are some of my best shots:

Bart Hess-Artist and Photographer

Bart Hess is an artist and photographer. He creates 3D art and photographs them to make a 2D piece. His work mostly consists of some type of costume.
He creates unique extensions of the body. People then model these extensions for him so he can photograph them. These photographs can startle you, or amaze you.

Marcel Duchamp-Artist

Marcel Duchamp is known to be the first Conceptual Artist. His piece "Fountain" was the birth of conceptual art. His work is... controversial to say the least. The "Fountain" is a already made urinal. Marcel Duchamp took this urinal, laid it on its side, signed it, and called it art.
Most people were angry that he called this piece art, but no matter their attitude toward the piece, people noticed and started talking about this new idea in art. And with that, conceptual art was born.
Marcel Duchamp was born in Northern France. He attended a special school for seven years that focused on "intellectual development." Soon after, he decided to be an artist.

Here is his piece "Fountain," along with a few other works:

Mark Dion-Artist

Today in art class, we watched a short video about an artist named Mark Dion. It took me a few minutes to get a real grasp on what his art is, but once I figured it out, I was in love! The video was all about one piece called "Neukom Vivarium." To create this piece, Mark Dion collected a massive fallen tree from a forest. With the help of architects, construction workers, and biology scientists, the tree was moved into a large container filled with the soil that originally surrounded it. The tree was placed laying on its side, still covered in moss and insects that inhabited it in the forest. A glass structure was then built around the tree to protect it from the sun.
The piece is a "life-long commitment" as Mark said, and is watered everyday. Many plants have sprouted up around it in the soil and bugs still crawl in and on it. This permanent, living sculpture is displayed in the Olympic Sculpture Park.
Here are pictures of "Neukom Vivarium":

Nearing the End

The semester is almost over... and as relieving as that may be... there is so much to be done in so little time!!! Maybe I should have done some of that stuff sooner, but hey, I'm a freshman! But even still, I've got a lot of homework to bust out in the next week or two. Might as well get started now.... ugh.

Anika Smulovitz

 Anika Smulovitz is a jewish artist.  She is a professor of art metals at our own, Boise State University. Most of her artwork, is a combination between "contemporary society" and religion/culture.
     She was born in Eugene, Oregon. She acquired an M.F.A. and M.A. in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin along with a B.F.A. in Studio Art from University of Oregon. She has been a professor at Boise Sate for seven years and will be temporary chair while the current department chair takes his sabbatical. A large reason she chose to get a degree from University of Wisconsin is because one of the professors there was Jewish as well and did Judaica.
     The artwork from her latest Exhibition is called "Contemporary Judaica." In this body, and most of her other bodies of work, Anika uses symbols to express and explore the relationship between contemporary society and religious faith. This pieces can turn out more subtle or they can really force you to question the boundaries of faith and culture.
     Anika Smulovitz has artwork in a permanent collection in the Jewish Museum. This artwork would be two of her Torah Pointers. After her work was chosen for the permanent collection, Anika decided to make Contemporary Judaica her main artistic focus.
     Personally, I found Anika Smulovitz's art very beautiful. Her metal work is so flawless. Her work is simple, yet cultural. To me, it looks like she took a Jewish symbol and tried to form it into an everyday object. One piece in particular that I loved, was a piece called "The Key to the Tree of Life." It is a long, thin, bent key in silver metal. The curvature makes it look especially elegant. The top of the key is a detailed leaf. And the bottom has carved-out symbols.
     Overall, Anika Smulovitz is an incredible artist. Her work is of a unique style and idea. I think that everyone can ask some great questions and possibly draw some conclusions from examining her work.


Here are some pictures of her work:

Yoko Ono-Artist

Yoko Ono is an extremely famous contemporary artist. Not only does she make a wide variety of conceptual art, but performance art as well. Her work often requires participation from the on looker and deep thought. Her art brings up social, political, and life concepts. Her work is not something you can just glance at and be able to grasp the basics of it. You must take the time to understand what each piece is telling you, wether it be something about yourself or life in general.
Yoko Ono, born in 1933, is the descendant of a Japanese Emperor. When she was two years old, she came to live in San Francisco due to her father's job. But in 1937, her family moved back to Japan where she attended school. A couple years later, this process was repeated-moving to New York and then back to Japan. Years later, after much hardship (due to bombings in Japan), Yoko Ono was the first woman accepted into the Gakushuin University Philosophy Program.
Yoko Ono has accomplished many great things in her life through education, music, film and art. She is a well know and inspiring person and artist. Here are my favorite works of hers:

Approved!

The proposal I made for my final project was chosen by the class! That means two other classmates will be helping me complete my project. I am very excited that the class liked my project. And it will be very fun to work in a group!

“Like a Museum” Project Proposal

For my project, I would like to utilize my collection of bottles. The bottles are all of various shapes and sizes. Each bottle is clear and glass.

            The bottles will be full of water with food coloring in it. Each bottle will have a different amount of water and a different color. The meaning behind the collection will be completely fictional. Each bottle of colored water will be a bottle of magical potion.

            The magical potions will all have their own display cards telling the name of the potion and its specific use, along with the ingredients it was made with. For example: The Title could be Love Potion, its use could be to make someone fall in love with you, and its ingredients could be rose pedals and cupid’s spit. They will be displayed in rows on several shelves. The bottles will also have corks in the top.

            My intent behind this project is to use a personal collection of mine to make something fun and beautiful for everyone to enjoy. It will let people use their imaginations and believe in something that may not truly be there.  The bottles themselves are artsy, unique, and aesthetically pleasing. When filled with colorful water, the display will be even more beautiful! 

Janine Antoni- Artist

Janine Antoni is originally from the Bahamas, born in 1964. She now lives and creates beautiful art in New York. She is a difficult artist to put into one category. She does performance art, photos, sculpture, and other contemporary art forms. Her art consistently expresses human intimacy, mostly from the female point of view. Her art pushes through the normal boundaries of art and makes you think deeper. It is easy to feel the emotions portrayed in her work.
Janine Antoni often uses her body as part of her work. She has used her hair, eyes, mouth, and her entire body to create various works of art. Her art work often portrays themes of body image, life, love, the relationship between a mother and child, and other female relationships.
Personally, Janine Antoni is one of my favorite artists. She thinks of life from such a different point of view than most people. It is refreshing and enlightening to admire her work. Here are a few of my favorite Janine Antoni pieces:

A picture of Janine Antoni herself

A video of her walking on a tight wire. It creates the illusion that she is walking on the horizon.

A cow hide mold of her own body.

Tom Mangelsen-Photographer

Tom Mangelsen is a very successful nature photographer. He learned most of his photography skills from special outings with his father. His father Harold was a great outdoors man and often took his sons to places along the Payette river to watch the many birds take off for migration. Harold's admiration for nature and animals was definitely passed on to Tom. From these nature trips, Tom learned how to capture a beautiful, natural moment on camera. He learned patience in waiting for the birds, and he learned the behavior of the birds. Both helped him in capturing the perfect photograph.
Tom was born and raised in Nebraska and began to study business at the University of Nebraska. He then transferred to Doane College where he obtained a degree in Biology. He continued to study zoology and biology at the University of Nebraska and Colorado State University. He also began to work as a cinematographer.
His degree and job experience led to a job opportunity with National Geographic. Tom eventually created a documentary called Cranes of the Grey Wind. He was the photographer and producer of the film. Tom Mangelsen is an amazing nature photographer who is very passionate about his work. Not only has he taken famous photographs, but produced an educational and beautiful film about his great passion-nature.

Here are some of my favorite Tom Mangelsen Photos:

Museum Display

For my museum project, I decided to visit a well known display at Cabela's. I've seen it many times before, but I've never examined in in such detail. For started, the display is huge. This make it quite irresistible and breath taking. The animals are displayed on ledges and on the ground around this giant mountain. The mountain is enclosed by a wooden fence that acts as the display case. And I guess you could say the mountain is the stand for the art, which is the animals.
Each animals is displayed in a natural stance surrounded by things that would be found in their natural habitat. For example, the deer were surrounded by grass and were near the bottom of the mountain, while many of the more goat-like climbing animals were toward the top of the mountain.
It is a very natural display in such an unnatural place. They took the time to add leaves, trees, grass, water, and many other details. It is an absolutely astounding display!

Tis the Season for Photographs!

Being a new business owner can be difficult. I've spread the word about my photography business quite well though and I have 3 clients! This is quite exciting.... even though they are are fairly close family friends. haha But its still something to be excited about! Right?
Its about that time of year for people to start sending out Christmas cards. So my business is coming in handy to many of them. Especially since I have started out with fairly low prices. So hopefully Santa will bring in more clients!

LM Photography

This last Friday, I went to the bank and opened a business account for my brand new photography business. I am still in the process of building my portfolio with free photo shoots, but I am hoping to start making money soon! I ordered business cards (my business name is LM Photography) and am getting a website published currently!
I will do pretty much any kind of basic photo shoot, like senior pictures, family portraits, couple portraits, kids, portfolio builds, etc.I'm starting my prices low since I am unexperienced, But hopefully is business improves I will be able to raise my prices.
My website is "Coming Soon..." the web address is www.photography-lm.com

Check it out!

Blog Trouble

So I have several pictures I need to post, but my blog isn't letting me upload any of them! I have tried on several different computers and I am getting super frustrated. So sorry for the delay of posts while I try to figure this out!

Photo Shoot!

I just got back from a photo shoot with my friend Ellen! It went very well, we got a ton of great shots. Some were more fashion type shots while others were senior portrait style to appeal to my future clients! (hopefully) I am uploading the pictures now and will post them soon!

Starting a Business!

So I have officially decided that I am going to start my own photography business! I will do family portraits, senior pictures, and couples portraits. I will start my prices fairly cheap since I have little experience in business. But once I get more classes under my belt, I will increase my talent along with my prices.
At the moment I am working on building a portfolio to show future clients. I have a photo shoot coming up with a good friend! And I will be taking my boyfriend's family portraits this Christmas! I really hope that I become successful in photography. It is my passion.

Portfolio-Lauren McFarlane