Public Farewell

The timing of this envelope was too perfect.

Thank you 

Layla 

Text art...as text art...

                        Realize by Sarrah Khan

I was trying to figure out what I should do for text art...and then I found Zalgo text. I was inspired to use this to text a friend and make a point to help people realize...

                           Human Is Human

Light art

                          Blue by Sarrah Khan

This is my light art. I took a photo of my friend wearing my cat headphones. She was dancing to music and I snapped this photo of her retarded dance. I liked how it turned out...it looks like an i...for Inspiration.

Proposal

Here is the link for the slideshow for my project proposal for public text art in Houston!

I would like to establish a public art campaign geared to engage Houstonians with our arts world through riddles posted on billboards that will be executed by local artists and poets. These riddles will focus on locations, artworks, individuals, etc. throughout Houston.


proposal

This is my light Art piece. It is a ceramics piece thag I made and it was originally intended to be a light piece from the get go. I really enjoy playing with light inside my pieces because they are usually grotesque and filled with openings, and I feel like when light radiates through jt, it adds a sense of fear because it's dark and all you can see is the silhouette of the mouths gaping open at you 

Public Art Proposal - MiniMurals

For my public art proposal I chose the Houston MiniMurals project going on which was graciously presented to me by our fellow colleague Liia. :)

The Houston MiniMural program is a reproduction of a similar program started in Emeryville, California where artists painted traffic utility signal boxes.  This idea was brought to Houston in 2015 and culminated by the UP Art Studio, Houston Art Alliance, the Mayor's Office for Cultural Affairs, and of course City of Houston Public Works.  Originally, the plans were smaller scale, spanning Houston's District K, and including 13 chosen artists.  The widespread popularity and overall acceptance of the colorful traffic signal boxes called for more and more areas of Houston wanting their own taste of public art.

Here are some examples of current MiniMurals in the greater Houston area.

For my public art proposal I would like to create a minimural of my own, in the neighborhood I currently live in which borders 3rd Ward.  I would like to create a mural that is respondent to the environment and people surrounding it.  For that reason I would like to create a piece that speaks and perhaps uplifts those who see it.  I would like to spray paint a quote by Marcus Garvey wrapping around the signal box.  

"A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots."

Here is a very rough preliminary sketch of what I was envisioning for my signal box:

My desired budget is no more than $1000 and I would like my piece to be on the corner of MLK and OST. 

street ART

Hey everyone! I wanted to share two of my favorite current street art murals.  First, here in Houston, is the recently painted Butt-Squiat and Warholio by Donkee Boy, which combines two of my favorite things, art history and popular culture! This mural is located near 8th wonder brewery on the outside of the Secret Group.

And even though we were only supposed to post something from Houston, I couldn't help to share my favorite international street art duo below, Pichi & Avo from Spain!

Donkee Boy Butt-Squiat and Warholio, Houston Texas 

Pichi & Avo - Spanish street art duo. 

   This is my time Art piece
I know that it is just me. I know that it is just my body with black paint on it. But I consider this as time Art because in reality, we are all time Art. Our bodies change over time constantly. One day we have a random pimple. In the next five years we become more mature in appearance. In thirty years we have wrinkles. Our bodies are in a constant state of change, and everything we do affects not only our physical bodies, but our mental bodies as well. Things change. Regardless, we are all beautiful, no matter what out bodies endure. In the end, it is simply a part of us.

   Drink up!

This is my trash Art and I chose to do this because I figured that it would be appropriate considering that sometimes, you get the best ideas while drinking. Sometimes it's not the greatest idea when you think about it sober, but there are those rare times where your greatest ideaa ever come when you have had a few too many due to the fact that alcohol pretty much destroys all your inhibitions and sets you free.

   My name is Thien-Gia Dinh and I am a Texas artist that specializes in multiple fields of art

   I am currently wishing to do an installation by which I will call judgement

  It will consist of about 200 ceramic tiles that will be placed upon a wall at Buffalo Bayou park due to the abundance of people that are there and I feel like it would be a proper place to install this piece.

  The reason for this is that people are always feeling like they're being judges, especially when eyes are on them as they pass by. The discomfort can be overwhelmin, and I want to tap into that because despite the discomfort, people are always wondering why? Why are these eyes on me? People are always wondering as to why they are being stared at. They wonder if it's their clothes, their face, their body, their mannerisms. It invokes thought and it lingers within their mind for a while.

   Not only that, but I want to make people see that Art is not always something conventionally beautiful. I want them to see that Art is not always about subtle interpretation and wondrous comfort. I want them to look, to see, and to avert their gaze but also to wonder why.

   In order to proceed with the creation of this piece, I will require a budget of 1000 dollars. This will cover the materials needed, such as plaster, Clay, clear glass marbles, an assortment of glazes, and whatever tools are necessary in order to install this piece

   I hope this piece will be reviewed and considered because I want people to see, and feel judged. However, I want them to also obtain confidence from realization that in the end, it really does not matter how people see or judge them.

light art

For my light art I chose to present this stain glass piece I made awhile back (my one and only). I love the way that the glass changes in the sun. Without light it would be flat and not as interesting.

Art Proposal

Art Proposal for location: 801 Barton Springs Road, Austin, TX 

Budget : $38,000 

Dimensions : 12" X 16" at its widest point

This piece I present to you today has one main goal; to bring people together that once were strangers and fill our hearts with love that we all would like to share. This structure will resemble a heart-shaped lock. Pedestrians would pass through, entering in the key hole and circle around to a opening in the back of the lock. As they enter they would be encouraged to take a marker and write on the walls on the inside of the structure telling what that individual is addicted to. When there is no more room the walls will remain full for one month and then repainted to allow this piece to be interactive. As they exit they will realize that everyone is different but we are all alike in that we have something that eat away at us. It can destroy us when we are left to fight alone but united we can conquer all with love.

Engraved on the walls -

(Entrance) All alike but oh so different, please list here to what you are addicted...

(Leading to the Exit) There is only one thing that can unlock this lock that weighs on me, the key is simple but oh so hard to see, open your hearts, live in love and together we'll break free

http://www.publicartist.org/call.cfm?id=1071

My Light Art

I love to experience art that incorporates light, which is most likely why I've used light in my artwork so often in the past. For the light art I wanted to share one of my favorite pieces that I created using light. This was also a found-art piece because most of the materials used were things I found (such as the bark falling from trees, twigs, and most importantly the light used to illuminate it!). The name of the piece is the "Eyes of the Djinn". I created it while thinking of the campfire stories I would here of the djinn that surrounded us, how they were always there in the darkness.
It is not a public piece (although it was in show open to the public in VA), this piece resides in my parents guest bedroom. It is on a timer to turn on when the sun goes down and off at 10pm. It is about 6ft tall and fits into a corner of a room. In the daytime the eyes are barely noticeable, especially behind the branches and twigs, but at night the two aspects trade places and the eyes take over.

Art on Main- Public Art Proposal

The City of Auburn in Washington State has put out an RFP for artists to create within a window-front space which will be on display to the public 24/7 for 2 1/2 months in 2017.  They seek artwork that will "engage the community and activate downtown Auburn."

In researching the city online I found it hard to get a feel for their specific culture or identity, everything that came to mind were ideas I could use in Seattle as well (only 30min drive). Therefore I decided to take a different approach than trying to interpret the city as an outsider and instead recreate the city in a way which the residents can engage with their home. My inspiration originally came from "Where's Waldo" books, the idea of bringing people to the window-front to find something specific within an image of their city. This then led me to recall prints of the New York Skyline and of Manhattan that I grew up with displayed on my wall by the artist Tony Graham. Along the border of the prints were things to find within the busy city drawing and even points for each find, this I believe could be fun for all ages on a larger scale.

The intended site is a store-front window on Main St. in Auburn, WA. The size of the piece will take up the space of the window area (regular retail windows are about 12ft high, 20ft wide, and 3ft deep).
Therefore the scale of this piece will be roughly 12'x20'x3'.

The budget for this project is $1,000. With this money I will purchase the thin wood needed to create the 3D city map, paint to color the map, and the necessary lighting so that the piece can be viewed easily twenty-four hours a day.

The following images should help one to better understand my concept.

My Sketch of the window-front:

A Fun Map of Auburn to use as a guide for my 3D Map:

Example photos from Tony Graham's Manhattan Map:

This is the link for the RFP:
https://www.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=3946

Art Proposal

"Play"

The focus of this project is to engage the viewer’s inner child, those aspects of their lives that were lost (or in the process of being lost) due to the gruesome process of “growing up”. In order to achieve this I would like to propose a series of four statues of children of indeterminable race and gender:

One with hand extended named Addison.

One sitting cross legged named Avery.

One holding a book full of lined paper named Dakota.

One with their hand cupped behind their ear named Quinn

Each of these statues would be accompanied by a sign inviting the viewer to interact with the statue:

Addison’s sign reads, “Will you hold my hand?”

Avery’s sign invites you, “Will you sit with me?”

Dakota’s sign asks, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Quin’s sign ponders, “What is your biggest secret?”

With these statues I intend each visitor to not only project themselves as children onto the ambiguous statues but to also remember that part of their personality as they are in the moment.

Twilight Zone: The Movie... Killer Scene

The popular tv show, The Twilight Zone was made into a movie in 1983. While filming the movie on July 23, 1982 one of the scenes in the movie turned into a tragedy killing 3 actors, Vic Morrow (58 years old), Myca Dinh Le (7 years old), and Renee Shin-Yi Chen (6 years old). Shooting a scene where the three actors were running from a helicopter, the helicopter crashed into the actors and killed them all instantly. The chopper was flying too low to the ground (about 25 ft above the actors), which led to disaster due to getting caught in the pyrotechnics that were lit and going off and caused the crash. The co-director John Landis was accused of directing the helicopter to fly too low as well as not abiding by safety standards with the pyrotechnics. Landis' artistic vision for the shot may have been prioritized over the safety of the actors and everyone involved nearby the scene.
This tragedy although did help to push the need for CGI effects, which opened the door to so many more artists to explore and create.



You can sadly watch the helicopter fall on them in this you tube video-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh1USxEZLwM

art proposal

Rose Collage by Eva Tuyen

Purple Rose by Eva Tuyen

Rose by Eva Tuyen

  

       I have always been interpreting and sharing my art through painting. I always felt like people can literally see and feel the artist's emotions through each stroke and motion in the paint. And i also love the idea of local art crawl spaces that features local artists. There is one that i am very fond and interested in, it is called Big Medium East Austin Studio. This place allows inspired artist to join in on their movement of allowing all kinds mediums into the studio. I have plans to join in on their movement by painting a mural on a wall space provided in a warehouse style gallery.

      What I plan to paint is a monochromatic rose collage, I also plan to allow my stroke to show through as well, I really want people to see the process of the artists hands. The rose is my favorite flower even after they have died and wither,  it is just as beautiful. Doing this project there is no strong message but more on the aesthetic side.

Above, I have shown a few of my rose paintings that are placed throughout my home!


budget: $2,500.00

(the budget includes windsor and newton acrylic paint, paint brushes etc)

Wall Space: Approximately 9ft x 7ft

Location : 916 Springdale Rd. Bldg 2 #101 Austin, Texas 78702



                                                here is a link for the art-crawl space/studio

Happy NCCE:02017:05:11!

A Calendar of One's Own

Last year in Sculpture Block program I devised two new calendar systems. 
The first (represented the row of dodecahedrons pictured above) uses a base-twelve number system of my own invention to track the date. To avoid confusing them with base-ten numbers, each digit has it's own symbol, as well as it's own new pronunciation. So to count out the twelve moonths, we say oh, an, un, een, oin, aiv, iks, ev, eit, ain, en, el, ano, anoon, with oh being equivalent to zero. That way, 29 days into the new year is essentially zero moonths and 29 days (which looks on it's face as though it were '26' in the base-twelve system, and is pronounced oonix.)  So the last moonth is essentially numbered as 13 (anoon) even though it is the twelfth.
    Having twelve moonths devided into thirty days adds up to 360 days, with the other five (six on leap years) as a special time when for a nearly a full weeek all clocks are stopped, and everyone stops what they're doing and points their middle fingers up at the sun. Then the new year begins at midnight on the summer solstice. 
    Each moonth is devided into five weeeks of 6 days, which are devided into twelve whiles (2 hours) each of twelve spells (ten minutes) of twelve scoshes (fifty seconds), which are made up of twelve moments (4 and one-sixth seconds)
    The years are grouped into anonons (twelve year periods), anotaries (one hundred forty-four year periods) and anolaries (1,728 year periods). 

Confused by all this? so am I. 

That calendar died after less than a week of use.


That's why I made the second system, which I still use to this day. This day is written out as NCCE:02017:05:11:00:59. Thirteen months of four 7-day weeks each. Starts on the summer solstice. Standard base-ten number system.00:59 is of course the time, daylight savings effective year-round. Easy.

TLDR: 

With Trump as president, I now feel 100% justified in not taking seriously anything this culture deems normal.

So happy f*****g New Year! ;)

-JG









 

"The Black Girl who Stole Christmas" (Public Art Proposal)

"The Black Girl who Stole Christmas" is a more recent title to a series of performance art projects that I have been altering since high school.  I once performed in front of a crowd for my senior year of high school in a Santa suit.  The performance was held at the CAM museum. The piece included my handing gifts out to the public only to then frighten them with a toy baseball bat and run around crazily.  No one was truly frightened about the bat.  I found that my race was a frightening event.  No one could get my race out of their head.  The piece embodied what it feels like to have something handed to you only to have it taken away.  It was about emotional and mental abuse.  It sprung from my mother's horrible marriage.  No matter what though, the audience continued to ask if the piece was about being black.  Would the audience have asked a white artist if the piece is about being white?

That first Santa suit performance was titled "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".  Maybe it should have been titled "How the Stepdad Stole Christmas."  My second performance working with this santa suit that my grandparents so randomly have was in Eric Thayer's course.  Throughout my junior year of college here at the university, I began to see that non-blacks do not see me as Layla...they see me as a black girl first and always.  With seeing me as a black girl first included ideas of who black girls are supposed to be.  The piece in Eric Thayer's course began as a previous performance about the term "nigga".  I went into who is supposed to use that word and when.  Anyhow, my santa suit performance was titled as "The Black Flood".  I trapped myself in half of the gallery space on the third floor with a gallery wall.  I toyed with the concept of being a gorilla in a zoo.  That is how it can often feel to be black in a world of people who can't seem to get over your being black.  People treat black like it's a completely separate species.  I also included the santa suit because I wanted to combine the touchy subject of race with this character whose had a commercial race war for all of his life (at least in the consumer industry).  I twerked and practiced floorwork in a stuffed santa suit for an audience to pass by and watch.  Most people were disturbed and looked as if they did not believe it was authentic enough.  I began to make direct contact with audience members and gave them no choice other than to respond.  It caused them to have to individually reject me and a lot of people were not able to do that.

I now want to perform again with all of my previous santa suit work included.  I submitted this idea to the Art League of Houston for the main gallery.  The setting will include a spread out of faux snow with a large Christmas tree.  Presents will be wrapped underneath the tree and inside will contain items from a black beauty supply with black models.  Typical American Christmas music will be played from a stereo which I will carry on my shoulder.  My attire will include a santa suit, dancer stilettos, large hoop earrings, and stuffing.  I want to include copies of 5x7" zines for the audience to take away.  I also want to project a slideshow that precedes me.  I am not sure on the interior of the gallery but I would not mind the projection being to my side.  I have included photos of entries from my zine. I want to continue doing "black" activities (twerking, rapping, and eating hot cheetos and licking my fingers) in a santa suit to see who becomes distant and uncomfortable.  Most people treat me as if the issue of being black in America is a form of whining.  The performance will embody the emotion of not giving a care about how people feel about me.

Junk Art

I've been working on this for months. I call it the BASTARDSTAFF (Always spelled in all-caps).

It runs Sonic Pi on a Raspberry Pi controlled by an Arduino Micro controlled by eight keys and an as-yet undetermined number of buttons and knobs, all mounted on a random scrap of wood I found. It is composed of a mish-mash of parts I bought from EPO and Radioshack, along with others I salvaged from old electronic equipment.

When completed, the eight keys will grant access to at least ninety-nine possible tones spanning user selectable scales of between three and and ninety-nine notes-per-octave. Other controls will allow me to control volume, tempo, instrument type, filters, and who knows what else. Pressing the green button tells it to start looping the button-picked riff.

Please excuse the bad mirror selfie. A junk artist's mantra is 'Never use what you don't have access to.' In my case that includes a tripod-compatible camera. 

And of course it would never be complete without a turtle skull with illuminated eyes as a prow ornament.

-JG

Is Text Art. Is Also Light Art? Counts as Text Art for Sure.

I had the good fortune to experience this in person a little more than a week ago at Box13.

Pablo Gimenez-Zapiolas drove his car through the neighborhood around Box13 with a projector strapped to the passenger seat, projecting the poetry of local poets onto every wall, fence and shrubbery he passed.

I walked with a small crowd of visitors a few blocks around the neighborhood past industrial sheds, empty lots and various businesses. Pablo circled our route, overtaking us several times, each time the bright-white lettering jostling its way across every surface to the right-hand side of his vehicle. it was mesmerizing.

-JBG

time art

Synopsis: 

This is a documentary style film directed by Katy Walker, Maia Monasterios and joel mejia.
i chose this for my time art, because it is a film that questions time itself; its more than a chronological thing, but more of an infinite cycle.



Synopsis: The film follows a writer who is compelled to make sense of the mysterious and powerful energy she felt at her aunt’s deathbed. A series of strange coincidences leads her on an exploration of synchronicity – the concept that all beings are mystically interconnected, and that time is not so much a chronology as it is an infinite cycle. Considering herself something of a skeptic, she treads the fine line between nervous breakdown and ecstatic revelation as she seeks out scholars, shamans, artists, and community activists in her search for answers. Together, they explore a reality where time is transformed from a unit that can be measured and commodified -“Time is money”- to an experience of oneness with the natural rhythms of nature and the universe. It is here that the writer discovers that time is, in fact, art.

light ART

Here is an install from Discovery Green here in Houston which was on view from November 2015- February 2016. Bruce Munro's Field of Light. This was a very fun install at the park and this coming summer there will be another similar light installation by Christopher Schardt called Enchanted Promenade (the bottom image) which will be installed from November 2016 - February 2017.