Conceptualizing the Concept of the Conceptual Artist

So that thesis. Here's my introduction, just to give all you salivating salamanders out there a taste of what I've been working on.

'Due to my past and current frustration with understanding the 'true' meaning of contemporary art, I have decided to create pieces presenting others with the same frustration. However, with the word frustration comes a dark connotation; in my life, frustration leads to a learning experience, which in turn leads to a creative endeavor. My journey through the process of conceptualizing the concept of the conceptual artist has become a passion. I want people to look at my art, initially confused, but slowly have ideas come to fruition. My hope is that those viewing my paintings will create stories and narrations of their own, walking away with a very individualized experience. Geometric shapes of varying colors, sizes and forms make up my paintings based on three Ann Arbor-specific locations, the Farmer's Market, Maya Lin's Wave Field and the corner of State Street and Liberty Street. Each individual place has its own essence, therefore each painting will reflect on it. It's not my intention for my audience to understand every step I took to arrive at the final destination, it is however my intention to force them into a completely visual experience.'

Have fun figuring out what it means.

It's the Circle of Life

When I'm sick, I can never remember what it's like to feel healthy, but right now, I'm at that stage right between being sick and getting healthy, and it feels GREAT. I mean, kind of. Still can't really breathe out of my nose and still have issues sleeping, but hey, I'm gettin' better.

I haven't been able to work on my paintings for a bit now because I've been trying to rest up whenever I can. This has really drained a lot out of me. I've been busy writing my thesis though which has been oddly fun. I think this has been the scariest part of working on IP this whole time, but like I just said, definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. Weird.

Just an FYI to all those sick ones out there, Puffs nose blowing tissue with Vick's...AMAZING! Invest in some and your nose will be in heaven.

Only Rogue Wave

There isn't too much music out there that I feel like I can just close my eyes and take it in. I'm just not that kind of person. But, Rogue Wave does it to me. I get my kicks from 'em. I can't really explain it.

http://www.roguewavemusic.com/music/player/id/3

Go there and try it. Close your eyes, take a minute out of your busy schedule to relax a bit and listen to the music. It just gets you.

Music

I put my iTunes on shuffle, and this is what came up. Somehow it's partially true.

IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
3 A.M.
-Matchbox Twenty (I sometimes say random things)

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF?
Fly
-Sugar Ray (Totally)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Foolish Games
-Jewel (This one may or may not be true)

HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Barely Breathing
-Duncan Sheik (This one's real true, I'm getting sick, and I can barely breathe)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Missing
-Everything But The Girl

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
The World I Know
-Collective Soul

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
I Love You Always Forever
-Donna Lewis (Me too)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
I Can Love You Like That
-All-4-One (Well that's a nice thing)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Sleep To Dream
-Fiona Apple

WHAT IS 2 + 2?
I Feel It All
-Feist (I failed math)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BESTIE?
Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
-The Beatles

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Tragedy
-The Fleetwoods (This does not bode well for me does it?)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
The Little Green Valley
-Elana James

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Memory
-Elaine Page (I hope I'm not only a memory)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Deserted Cities Of The Heart
-Cream

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Golden Loom
-Bob Dylan

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
A Well Respected Man
-The Kinks (Apparently I'm in for a sex change)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee
-Stockard Channing

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?
You
-Rogue Wave (Didn't know that one)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Drunk Again
-Porchsleeper (HA!)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Careless Love
-Madeleine Peyroux

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Anyone Else But You
-The Moldy Peaches

Oh music, how you make me laugh sometimes. I like you though.

I Feel it All

I love Feist. I also think this is the best song on her album.

She's so playful, and her videos tend to be just one shot, which makes me like them even more. You can tell she's always having fun with them.

I also love this one.



Yay colors. Yay one shot. Yay Feist.


I'm tired. I don't want to paint. Tell me I'm done.

Mos Def Big Band

is my new favorite thing. Chelsea and I just went to see Mos Def Big Band at Hill. It was incredible. The bassist and drummer were phenomenal, and I never use that word. When we got there I really didn't know what to expect because I just said I would go with Chelsea since she loves Mos Def. I thought it would be fun, and if not, an experience. When the first beat started, I knew it was going to be good. In the beginning, I was just appreciating the music for what it was, everyone in the band was amazing, and the energy Mos Def had was amazing. Then I started to notice my head bobbing along with the beat, and then my toe tapping, then I just started to feel it through my body. I couldn't help but move along with the music. Not all music does this, but I love it when it does. I had such a great time. I suggest everyone find the music that makes you move, and makes you smile, it's amazing when you do.

LOVED IT!

Sleepy face

Karaoke is fun. Now I'm sleepy.

Dreamz

I had another very strange dream last night. I can't explain all of it because I only remember bits and pieces of it.

There was a giant disappearing, progressively more albino shark that the locals liked to call a 'land whale' because it came up on land? There were also giraffes that walked around under water and above water. This whole thing took place on an island on stilts that was a combination of Greece, the whole of Africa and Australia. This was a continuation of a dream I had the other night where I learned about this island in a class. I had memory flashbacks to this 'learning experience' in the classroom in said previous dream. In this dream I watched a news report about this 'land whale', which was a flashback. There was also a woman that fainted, a guide that didn't like where we were going, mountains that led to the beach (which is apparently where we were trying to get to), a tourist group watching dolphins, and a melon thing that when opened looked like brains.

I think there must be something wrong with me.

I looked up 'Land Whale' on Urban Dictionary and this is what I got:

1. land whale
The big blobs of people who can't move and get crushed by their own weight.
2. Land Whale
A person who is obese and has a big enough overhang to shelter a moose.
3. Land Whale
A fat, stupid sidekick with no real purpose except for to make its companions look better. (in most cases land whales are needed or else its friends would appear hideous)

And this is one of the images of a 'Land Whale' that I found on google.


Go figure.

By request...

So, my dreams are pretty strange most of the time, and only rarely do I remember them. I can recall random bits and pieces which allude to the fact that my dreams can be effed up. There are the select few that I consciously tell myself I must remember. This is one of those dreams.

A little background on my life when I had this dream. It was fall of 2006 and I was mentally preparing myself to go abroad. And I was stressed about school. Two important factors.

For whatever reason, probably because I was about to travel to Europe, I needed to learn French. But of course, I would have to go back to my high school to do this (obvious I know...what?). In high school I took Spanish, so of course I never saw the classrooms where French was taught. When I got to the school, I went to the classroom where I was taught Spanish 2 and 3. This was the wrong room. I figured out that this was more advanced French and I needed beginners. I left and walked down the hall to the room where I had Spanish 1. This was the correct room and I knew it (don't ask me how, I just did). However, when I got there, a girl that I graduated with was in there serving horderves and coffee to all these elderly people. So, I joined in. Once they were all done, the room was magically cleaned and Kaitlyn was no longer there.

In walked one of my friends from high school Joe, accompanied by a few of his friends from MSU. They were there to learn French as well. We were all standing at the front of the classroom waiting for the teacher, when the back of the room transformed into the facade of a palace, separated from us by rocks and water. Logically, we all decided it would be a good idea to jump off the rocks into the water for fun while waiting around. Don't ask me to explain how this all fit into the classroom, but there must have been some form of trickery...because, well, it's a dream where gravity and space physics don't apply. We were jumping off into the water, and I don't think I did it more than once because of my fear of water (or at least large bodies of it). This is the point where I realized that this was a dangerous thing for us to be doing because the waves were smashing on the rocks. I tried to warn everyone but nobody would listen to me. This kid jumped off and got smashed.

I almost freaked out, but THEN, I went back in time about 5 or 10 minutes. This meant that I could save this kid's life. I told him he couldn't jump off, I tried to warn Joe that he would die if he jumped, but the kid did it anyways, but not without someone trying to stop him. This led to him getting injured but not dying. I then proceeded to use the phone to call 911. I told the police on the receiving line that someone was hurt and we needed an ambulance. They told me that they couldn't pick us up at the school, and that we would have to walk to the hardware store (which is not close by any means). I hung up the phone stunned, and decided we should just take him in my car. He was kind of coming around at this point and was able to walk, with help, so we went out to the parking lot. However, I could not find my car, and Joe's little brother Nick just happened to be there so he said he would help us.

Right then, a shuttle bus drove up that said Saline Hospital on it, so Joe and his friend just said that they would take the shuttle to the hospital, and they left. I still needed to find my car though, so I was walking through the aisles. Another one of Joes friends came up to me to try and tell me something, when a HUGE machete came through his chest as if someone had stabbed him from behind. This is where it got weird. The picture stopped moving, and it was just paused on this image of this kid getting stabbed. Then the credits started to roll. This is where I woke up. Apparently I watched a movie in my dream, and woke up when it was over.

See how strange my brain is?

Four, 4, For, F'r

This was the piece that I put into the All Student Exhibition this year. It's called 'The Natural Number Following 3 and Preceding 5'. You figure out what it means. (I think it's obvious)

Pretty Much Yeah

The winner of the cookie challenge was Ms. Chelsea Hoard. And she was within the 24 hour time limit so she will be soon receiving not one, but two kinds of homemade goodness. YAY COOKIES!

Here's another video by Michel Gondry. I cannot even begin to wrap my head around this man's talent. With this one, the song kind of sucks, but the video is amazing.



Tonight before lecture a few of us went to Ashley's for a drink and to relax a bit. They had this beer on special called Vanilla Java Porter from the Atwater Block Brewery in Detroit. It has actual chocolate in it and I can't begin to explain how good it is. The best part about it you might ask? It tastes like Guinness, and by that I mean real Irish Guinness, not the crap they export to all the undeserving countries out there. I mean, it's a bit more chocolate a little less coffee, but it's the closest beer that I've found in the States to come close to the amazingness of Guinness. Definitely a dessert beer, and definitely something you should try out.

Here's a link to their website... http://www.atwaterbeer.com/brewery.asp

Ahh Detroit, you keep on surprising me with your splendid goodness.

This That The Other

This:

So this is an experiment I think will be a fun one. The first person to email me at emilyem@umich.edu will be a winner. A winner of what you may ask? Cookies, I will bake the first person to email me cookies. And if you email me within 24 hours of this post, I will bake you two kinds. No I am not the type of person to use store bought cookie batter, this will be from scratch. This is mostly for me to see who is reading this, and it should be fun for all...or at least the person who gets cookies out of it. What have you got to lose? Nothing, only cookies to gain.

That:

I've been thinking, and I don't know what I am going to do this summer. A few of us have been throwing around the idea of taking a road trip out west which is something that I have been longing to do for, well, forever. And it will be a good way to say adieu to the whole crew after graduation. This puts me in a weird position for going back to Ireland. I would not have very much time to make enough money to live there before I go. Conundrum. I am throwing around the idea of only going for a month or two just to make art. Then there's the problem of not making money. Maybe I should go for the four months and just do everything. But then they suggest going early in the summer because there aren't too many job openings at the end. But where's the money going to come from for my plane ticket? And for living there? I don't know. It's frustrating, I want to do so many things and I don't know which are more important to me at the moment. I'll be doing some soul searching for a while now.

The Other:

School is going to be crazy this semester, but I feel like it's going to be much more productive. MUCH more productive. At least it has to be...hah. I will post some photos at some point soon.

P.S. I love Michel Gondry

Who knows where or when?

When I settle down, it will be for good. I refuse to believe moving is a good idea.