Eastern Students Display Work in Spring Student Show

Eastern Connecticut State University's Visual Arts students displayed some of their finest pieces of art in the annual Spring Show which was held at the college in ending weeks of April. The show included various mediums of art from the students and was displayed in two different locations on campus, the centrally located Student Center, and the Alvin B. Wood Services building of administration. Students of every concentration in the Visual Arts curriculum were urged to submit original pieces in order to be displayed to the Eastern student body and community, and give Eastern a sense of what the artists of their university dedicate their love and time to.

The Alvin B. Wood Services building held art work of those who had been working in sculpture, paint, drawing, printmaking, and photography. The administrative buildings two floors were tastefully decorated with original pieces, to be viewed by university visitors, faculty, staff, and fellow students. The sculpture pieces were artistically displayed on white pedestals, and emphasized three-dimensionality, as it allowed viewers to walk around the entire piece to admire all of its elements. The sculptures were created using mixed media, wood, metal, and even clay. The drawing, painting, and printmaking works were cleanly framed and hung neatly on the walls of the top floor of the building, to be seen while walking through the offices on an ordinary day.

The Student Center, and area popular for university students to gather, featured the work of the Digital Art & Design students of Graphic Design I, Package Design, and the Art Exhibitions class. Each visible wall held groupings of various projects by the classes that were divided by type. The displays included those posters created for Eastern's Video and Animation festival, designs for packaging, and famous people of Connecticut.

The Spring show is always an inspiring exhibition and gives Eastern visitors and students a sense of what goes on down in Shafer Hall from the Art Department. It is great to see that student's work can exist in and out of the classroom and allow viewers to appreciate their course of student and what their entire college degree has been essentially dedicated to. The art work, although not there to stay, let's viewers appreciate it as part of their space, in familiar environment. The student show has been going on for semester after semester now, and it will be interesting to see how the Visual Arts Department will continue to honor it.

Photos credited to: A.A. Desrosiers

For more information, please visit the Eastern Connecticut Visual Arts Department or Contact:

Carla Sheldon
Shafer Hall Room 211
Phone: (860) 465-0197
Fax: (860) 465-0200
Email: sheldonc@easternct.edu

Final FAD Poster

I created the last and final Friday After Dark poster of 2011. The event is actually taking place on Wednesday, May 11 during the day rather than their traditional Friday night time. The event it called "Shuttin' It Down" and is celebrating the coming of summer. The event will include a Tiki Bar, Mechanical Shark, Water Games, and Crafts. Try and stop by!

Evolution of Logos

How does a brand keep up with the constantly changing technology? One way brands keep up with the growing demand of users is to change its logo. By changing your brands logo, it regains attention, and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Changing your logo gives users a sense that you are keeping up with the rest of the working world, and can expect the same as your products. Below I attached a picture of some famous logos that have evolved over time.

WILD WILD EASTERN

Here is my latest promotional poster for Friday After Dark!

3 Words Revealed

The postcard designs that I posted the other day were three adjectives that define myself and my aesthetic of design. The words for the cards are busy, energetic, and creative. Busy represents my design style through various overlaying and graphic elements, and relates to my life due to the crazy amount of things I am involved in. I am constantly on the go, and barely have a free minute to myself, and I do not like sitting around. Creative represents myself as a designer and creator. This piece includes a good amount of work I have done in my courses. I figured why not display your own artwork to show creativity? The last card is energetic, which ones again describes my busy life style, hectic designs, and background as a cheerleader. Each card is in similar color palette, and graphics, but they work collectively to show me.

Work That Represents ME

Here are three designs I chose as portrayals of myself and my aesthetic. Each design is a word that describes me and my methods of design. Check back in a few days to see what I reveal the words to be!

Cow Parade

In my internship search, I came across a company known for their painted cows. Cow Parade is a non-profit organization, located in Bloomfield, CT, and is a worldwide phenomenon and the most public art event in the world. Cow Parade hires many companies and artists to create actual masterpieces on the cow's bodies, where they will then be displayed in public cities and metropolitan areas. The size of each parade varies, and can feature anywhere from 32 to 450 cows at one time. The cows remain in the location for 2 to monthss and are then auctioned off, with the highest sold being the Wage Moo from CowParade Dublin 2003, which sold for $146,000. The cows are made of fiberglass, and artists get to choose from three different positions, standing, grazing, and reclining. My family and I traveled to Boston years ago and saw some of these cows, and really did not understand the purpose, and now that I've done the research, I can not help but commend how successful this organization has become!

Spray Paint Art

I overheard some of my classmates talking about this awesome YouTube video that featured artists who work in strictly spray paint to create some magnificent pieces of art. After watching them stare blankly at the screen in awe for minutes on end, I decided I should have a look for myself. The artists use various layers of paint, and with the help of household items such as pots and sheets, can create the shapes they want for the piece. They use pieces of paper or cardboard as screens to prevent paint front getting all over the work, and to give lines a sharp edge. What was also interesting to me was they would use brilliant pops of orange and then cover it all in a navy or black. There is a method to the madness of course, as the artist then proceeds to use a ball of crumpled up newspaper to smear all the paint giving it a marbled texture. I posted the video for you to have a better look. Prepare to be amazed!

Eastern Palooza

Occasionally, I do some work for the Eastern organization Friday After Dark. Here is the poster I created for the Eastern Palooza event this Sunday, April 17 at 2:00pm. There will be Battle of the Bands, several inflatable games, as well as free food, and fun!

TOM'S Shoes - Styles of Today

Tonight, I attended the last Art & Lecture series at Eastern for the semester, and I have to admit it was my first visit to one of the guest lecturers in my entire college career. Because it was a required visit for my class, I figured I would be peeling my eyes open to stay awake. Instead, I was compelled by the speaker, and his words, and motivation, to the point where I wanted to somehow get involved.

The Art & Lecture series brought in Blake Mycoskie, a young founder of the TOM'S Shoes organization. After a trip to Argentina, Blake found an ultimate joy that overcame his life as he simply placed several pairs of shoes on several kids in need. He came up with a brilliant idea to found an organization that not only brought in revenue for himself, but gave back to the people who needed it most. His idea was to sell sturdy, comfortable shoes in the US, and for every pair sold, he would give a child in need their own pair to match. Although reluctant of the success he would find, Blake started off creating a mere 240 pairs of shoes, handcrafted from his friends in Argentina. After hearing the cause, and the "one for one" contribution, sales boomed, and Blake could barely produce enough shoes to support sales. Before he knew it, Mycoskie was being contacted by some of the biggest names in shoes sales that were interested in selling his product, and at this point has sold 1 million pairs of shoes to date, helping children in 26 different countries across the globe.

Although, they started out with three one color designs, TOM'S Shoes, has such then featured limited editions through celebrities and other organizations, and even now come out with different lines for each season. Below is a picture of this year's Spring line. TOM'S Shoes is a great organization. Click here to see more information about the cause and order a pair for yourself!

Latest Work

Here are some more sample of some postcards I've been working on

Facebook Page

Just got my facebook page up and running. Check it out!

The Art of Sushi

Over the past year or so, I have gained a strong liking for sushi, to the point where I crave it and is on my top list of foods. Of course, like many other people, I never thought that I would even try the stuff. Raw fish? Gross! However, last year around this time, some friends of mine invited me out for sushi and I have been hooked ever since. When we sat down, I was skeptical and looked at alternate options on the menu, but essentially decided that I would try it. I mean, it couldn't hurt to try it. I, of course, had to ask what I would like, or what the best roll to try would be and my friends definitely steered my in the right direction. I finished the whole plate, and raved about it to everyone, introducing my boyfriend, other friends, and family to one of my new favorite foods. Now, I am not simply writing to express my love for this food, but to take into consideration the art of the food, and how much the presentation actually adds to the fun.

Sushi chefs spend years in training in order to create their own style and presentation of the sushi they roll. Sushi was originally invented as a way to preserve fish, by being frozen, soaked, or blanched. The fish was then salted and paired with rice and rolled in seaweed. Sushi rolls today are now combined with several other elements and are one of the most colorful plates to eat. There are three things to consider when constructing a sushi roll: color, taste, and texture. Most plates are presented with pops of pink, orange, yellow, and green for contrast agains each other and the white rice, and dark seaweed. Plates usually only present 1 or 2 rolls of sushi, and is never piled to high. Japanese feel that this crowds the eye and takes away from the main event, and the roll as a an art. Often sauces will be delicately placed in some sort of pattern on the plate, and always is served with small piles of ginger and wasabi.

If you have not tried sushi, I definitely recommend giving it a try even if you don't think you would like it in our wildest dreams. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised. However, if you can't seem to take a liking to the taste, please appreciate the art that goes into it.

Wondering How to Transfer The Songs from Your iPod to Your New Computer?

For 4 years now, I have been frustrated that I had thousands of songs on my iPod, and no way to transfer them on my lap top. The original song files were located on my family's desktop which crashed some time ago, and as far as I knew there was no possible way to get those songs on to a new computer because of the limitations Apple placed on the device. My friends and I were talking the other day, and someone brought up there was indeed a way to get the songs back, but didn't exactly know how. Since I had alot of free time today (on this boring Spring Break) I did some research and was thrilled to find several online tutorials on how to transfer songs, and relatively simply. Here is a step-by-step process, just incase you, or someone you know may be stuck in the same predicament.

1) Download "Senuti" a program designed for exactly the problems of transferring songs between PCs - Download Senuti

2) Once the program is downloaded, it will ask you to plug in the iPod to your computer, but maybe sure you disable automatic syncing. Plugging in your iPod will automatically open iTunes, but you can do this in your iTunes preferences.

3) Leave your iPod connected, and a list of all of you music files will appear in Senuti as a list. When you click on the song, choose the green arrow that says "Transfer" at the top left of the window.

4) A window will open asking if you would like to copy the files to your computer only, or add to your iTunes. By choosing "add to iTunes" the file is saved on your computer, and additionally added to your music library.

5) You can pick and choose each song manually, and a blue circle to the left of the song file indicates that it already exists in your iTunes library.

Unfortunately, there is no "Select all" option, and with the trial version you can only transfer 1000 songs before having to purchase the program. Also, keep in mind there is a different process for both the iTouch and iPhone, but tutorials are available online as well. Lucky for me, my iPod is ancient (30G color screen from 2008) and it was super easy.

Here is a sample of a tutorial I found. Hope this helps!

Twitter

New Portfolio Page

Check out my new Portfolio page in the toolbar above!

Birthday Invite

People are already starting to take advantage of the fact that I want to be a graphic designer. My roommates are constantly asking if I can make things for them, and with my busy schedule I never actually end up doing it. The other day, my roommate asked if I actually could go through with it this time and make her a birthday invitation for her brother's 30th birthday. Since I didn't have much work due this week, I decided to help her out. I had her practice as if she were the client coming to me as a designer with her idea to let me know exactly what she wanted the invitation to look like. We discussed size, color, graphics, and of course what it was going to say. Not having many true ideas, she decided she trusted me enough to make something good, but it was still fun to pretend it was a real life situation. We both decided together that the invitation should not be one that would be folded, since printing it front & back would be a pain. Since I have been seeing several wedding invites on 4" x 6" horizontal cards, I suggested a similar layout, with a one side design and she agreed. I decided to use a speed limit sign with the number 30 on it, as a fun graphic element that would also represent the 30th birthday. I had the invitation use a red and black scheme, with hints of grays and whites for contrast. For the text, I chose something blocky, yet fun and bold to get the point across. Overall, I think it was a pretty cute concept, and I figured I would share it with everyone just in case they need to do something similar in the future. I obviously went back in and changed all of the information, but you get the idea.

Vintage Beverage Posters

In one of my courses at Eastern this semester, we began studying the graphic elements of Soviet propoganda posters and it gave me the idea to do some further research of vintage posters. I decided to focus on the graphic designs of beverage posters that were used and included some of my favorites below.

real.eyes: EHHS Takes 4th Place at States

See the link below to watch the routine of the cheerleading team I coach, which landed them a 4th place spot for the Connecticut State Competition in the Class S Division.

New Blog

Hey everyone, I decided to switch over form my Wordpress blog after viewing several others hosted at blogger. I just feel that blogger has a lot more fun things to offer, and I want to create a more interesting blog. I'll be developing this new blog over the next few weeks, so bare with me while it still looks empty. Feel free to leave me a post or some feedback. Thanks!