Topic being explored:  Equality & Feminism

• Why does this topic interest me?
  • I have always been interested in the topic of feminism. Equality has always been an issue I have taken an interested in and both topics together are issues I strongly stand for.
• What do I already know about this topic?
  • Both equality and the rise of feminism are controversial topics. Many disregard them altogether or refuse to acknowledge their reality.
• What do I want to learn about this topic?
  • How much of an impact their recent movements have made and the transitions that have been made from the beginning of the origins of equality and feminism til now.
• What are cliché images and ideas relating to this project that I want to avoid?
  • equal sign, gender symbol, peace signs
• Why should other people care about this topic?
  • Because it is an issue that our country has been facing for decades. Not only is it a very real topic, but it degrades people we all know and ultimately affects us all.
• How can I discuss this object visually without falling back on overused imagery?
  • By looking at a broader, more abstract picture I have some ideas involving the “shattering of stereotypes” and the rise of female dominance
• How do I get people interested in this topic with my work
  • Make the piece intriguing and something that triggers people to think. When art is interesting, people want to talk about the subject matter intertwined within it

Our Composite With Paper

Photoshop Automated Creation

Our Photoshop Composite

For me the most frustrating part of this project was using photoshop. It is not always easy to manipulate the pictures how you would like them to look. Also, for some reason, more abstract pieces of art are harder for me to develop. Maybe this time it was due to the fact that it was a group effort and we all had to decide on the piece together as a whole. If I am being honest, my favorite part of the assignment was putting the composite together on paper using the old methods of scissors and glue. I think that this also was the most successful medium we used.

Using a computer to manipulate images the way you want to is more difficult. You can never truly get the organic shapes you may desire. Even though the computer continues to become more advanced, it is not as creative as the human mind. Photoshop was not able to make the same decisions as us because it a predetermined automated piece. It cannot manipulate the work the way we desire.

Hockney views photoshop as a sort of stale representation of art. Making every pictures without flaw and extremely edited takes away from its creativity. The photo just isn’t the same. He thinks that there is a loss of personal connection when using the computer to generate the work and ultimately lose some of its human experience. I agree. All these computer applications can be helpful to an extent, but allowing them to create the art themselves takes away the connection and meaning. It makes the work more lifeless and flat. When the computer is added it can be a co-creator, but in my opinion art requires human interaction and creativity so it should not be the sole creator. Humans are the creators of art, the computer is just a tool for us to enhance art.

To create these composites, multiple pictures were layered like a collage. I started with the ocean scene as the background layer in the piece above. From here, I added the city scape and used the gradient tool to blend its features into the background. Finally, I used the magnetic lasso tool to crop from its original background and placed it into my piece, editing it final features to get the desired effect.

In-class composite: