An-My-Le

"Unfortunately, pictures do not smell."

Indeed, they do not, but if they did, artists would have an easier job. Sometimes I try to put myself somewhere that I once was, trying to remember every thought, feeling, smell... everything. It creates almost an out of body experience. No form of art can fully capture the experience of actually being somewhere, so artists have to do the best they can with what we have.

"Scale is important because it shows us how insignificant we are."

If more people realized this, they might realize how unimportant war is as well. We're all headed for the same fate, really - coexistence just seems like it would be easier for some reason.

"War is very complicated, it's not black and white... that's why the work is ambiguous. It's meant to be."

Though her final sentiments indicate her feelings against war in general, her photography doesn't really show a bias one way or the other. Mainly, her work just suggests a fascination of war in general - a curiosity, really. I think curiosity is important for an artist.

Robert Adams

When you put two pictures side by side, you are influencing how the viewer looks at them; how they react. This is what Robert Adams believes. This is very helpful advice when looking at photography from a technical standpoint, or at least from a book-making standpoint (something in which I'll have more experience in doing very soon.) It's something to keep in mind when I design my next couple books - images tell a story. Another interesting tidbit from Adams: images imply more than what they show.

His images of the so-called "valley of death" were kind of haunting, in a way. The black and white on all of his images probably had something to do with it. I believe it at least leads the viewer to think differently. In color, the images may not have had such an effect.

Janel Munoa - The Removal Act

Phenomenal music video - not only was I struck by the intense visuals and editing techniques, but the song itself actually rocked... it rocked hard.

I was really happy with seeing many different digital art concepts incorporated into one work, combining (presumably) stock footage with footage from many different locations cut together. The most interesting stand alone visual came from her dancing on the side of a canyon - often cut in between shots of some disturbing images. Probably the overall "coolest" moment was when her chalk drawings gave way to her creations literally jumping off the walls/canvas, coming to life on their own. A wonderful integration of different technologies.

I would like to able to shoot and edit something like this one day.

HAHA... I Lied

Okay... I'm reawakening this blog for the sake of Advanced Digital Arts class at CSUSM. Here you'll be able to keep up with my adventures in photography and plant life, or something like that. I'll be visiting various Native American Reservations and taking pictures of the natural wonders, as well as chronicling my book projects. The journey begins NOW.

Final Post

As a follow up to this blog (and course,) my book has been published on blurb.com, and ordering information can be found below. Since the course I've already used my new found book making knowledge to make two books in my workplace - I'm glad to have picked up a real world skill.

The Fravit Com...

A visual "guide" t...

By Matt Chewiwie

Book Preview

Artist #5: Matt Gardner

Matt Gardner is both a talented illustrator/animator and a talented geek as well. Together, he uses his powers to create some seriously awesome and hilarious comic book flash parodies.



One of the things I noticed right away about his style is that his characters don't have any limbs- their arms and legs just kind of hover. I suppose this probably makes for easier animation, but it also adds some humor to the proceedings.

His cartoons mainly serve to poke fun at the comic book universe, often breaking the fourth wall to do so, and it is clear that his has a vast knowledge of the source material by the many obscure references he throws into the mixture.

Find his work at www.floatingheadstudios.com .

Artist #4: Andea Chewiwie

Fan videos are a testament to our recombinant culture. It's an example of taking work, cutting it cut, putting it out of context, and saying something new with it. YouTube is crawling with such videos. Many fans clamor to take their favorite movie, show, or any other type of video and re-edit it to say something completely new.

I figure this would be a good time to mention my sister in this series of artists blogs, as she is among the many who take part in this cultural phenomenon.

Andrea Chewiwie is painter, illustrator, musician, and fan video editor as of recently. While many of her works have yet to go online, the above is a good example of both recombinant culture and her work. She's taken Linkin Park, a popular rock group, and fused it with FMV's from Final Fantasy, a popular video game series, to create something entirely new.