My Remix

In Internet Culture, I believe that we all want to have the freedom to say what is on our mind, but fear saying the wrong thing and being judged. There are countless people that have said controversial things years ago, that come up to haunt them in the present. Additionally, major influencers are able to empower their audience with the right words, but can easily put their followers at risk by saying the wrong thing.

I think that Copyright is doing a good job at rightfully giving credit to the creators, and taking down content that is not rightfully someone’s. There are many times when I go on Youtube and TikTok and see that a video has been taken down or muted because of copyright issues. Sometimes, however, I feel like Copyright could be slightly confusing for people like myself who do not fully understand how it works. I will occasionally see videos that are taken down because of copyright, but I do not understand why or how.

I am leaving my Remix to the <a href="http://<p xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"&gt; <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"&gt; <img src="https://licensebuttons.net/p/mark/1.0/80×15.png&quot; style="border-style: none;" alt="Public Domain Mark" /> </a> <br /> This work (<span property="dct:title">Zayn x Harry Remix</span>, by <a href="https://vimeo.com/417066259&quot; rel="dct:creator"><span property="dct:title">Julliane Del Carmen, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik</span></a>), identified by <a href="jullianedelcarmen.art.blog" rel="dct:publisher"><span property="dct:title">Julliane Del Carmen</span></a>, is free of known copyright restrictions.

Public Domain because I used preexisting songs to make my remix.

I used iMovie to remix the songs Falling by Harry Styles and Good Years by Zayn Malik because I understood that application the best. It was definitely more difficult to do then I had imagined; I had to watch multiple YouTube videos to understand how to combine two songs together. I was able to edit and split clips great in the beginning, but for some reason I was unable to do it for the second half of the song. These two songs have a lot of emotion in them and I wanted to see if they would sound good together. After doing this, I have a lot more respect for people that Remix, as it can be difficult to blend two or more things together.

• 

• 

• 

I was not able to spray paint my name because I did not have those material on hand, so I used markers and a piece of paper instead. While making this, I wanted my name to start out in light colors and end with the darkest one. Looking at it now, I definitely could have made the colors more similar to each other, but it was still a fun experience! My personal favorite color from all of the letters is the “i”! I made this while listening to music, so the atmosphere was very relaxing despite the hectic circumstance of having to do this art at home. I also tried to add some little “splatters” to mimic what it would have looked like if I was able to actually spray paint it!

In the future, I would love to be able to try the actual graffiti part, as it looks like a lot of fun. I have used spray paint in the past, but it was usually just to paint an entire thing, never really my own name. It does seem a little hard to control and get precise lines with, but I still think it would be a lot of fun to do in person!

My idea was to capture the beautiful colors that fruits have. It was an especially hot day, so I decided to capture the vibrant colors that I would be incorporating into my smoothie. I used frozen fruit that consisted of nectarines, mangoes, pineapples, and strawberries. I think that my piece was able to express my idea of showing how pretty the foods that we eat are, but I do wish I had more colors to incorporate, such as a kiwi and purple grapes. My materials show that there is beauty in even the things we don’t pay much attention towards, like the things we consume.

I think a kiss should last around a minute, a great meal should last around an hour, a work of art should last for decades, a marriage should last for as long as the couple is happy for, and human life should last as long as the Earth can sustain them.

I think the fact that some things, like ephemeral artworks and human lives, have a finite time forces us to cherish them more while they’re happening. If things were to last an infinite time, we would continue to push the appreciation away, as we could just experience them later in the future. Things like clean water, air, and land should be sustainable and we would like it to be long lasting, but that could create a lot of damage to them. People would show even more of a lack of respect for taking care of our world knowing that we would never run out of resources. Even now, knowing that those things are not permanent, many people do not care about appreciating and continuing to conserve clean water, air, and land. One person could make an extremely big difference in a global problem like Climate Change by doing their part and also educating others. Having one more person be a part of change is better than no one making the effort to be a part of the change.

Artist: Micol Hebron
Exhibition: Gallery Tally
Media: Digital Media
Website: http://micolhebron.com

About the Artist

Micol Hebron is a professor at Chapman University but has spoken about her art to other classes many times. She graduated from UCLA Undergrad in 1995. Micol grew up in the woods of Northern California with “radical hippie parents,” so there was no real date or time when she discovered her love for art. She was constantly trying different methods of art and implementing change that she wanted to see in her art. Art is also a way for her to learn about herself and, especially in college, it was a way to process her trauma of sexual assault. Micol rarely gets bored, as the world has so many different aspects to learn about and make art about the things that she is learning and experiencing.

Formal Analysis

The majority of the art that Micol Hebron showed us can be easily accessible through a cellular device, as many of them were uploaded to Facebook or Instagram. The art images are not particularly large, but the meaning behind her art can still be seen and felt. Micol includes a lot of her own body in the art that she produces, with various little adjustments made to them. Her art does not focus on the fabrication of objects, but rather images based on social media and social happenings. There is no particular color scheme that she adheres to, as her images can be full of color, neutral, or black and white. Many of her pieces require a deeper understanding of the issue of gender equity to fully understand.

Content Analysis

Many of Micol Hebron’s works correlate to the feelings she experienced with being uncomfortable in her own skin and body after being sexually assaulted. She did not understand why her female nipples were being censored and her photos being deleted, while the male nipples were able to be showcased freely. In particular, Facebook has given her many strikes for showing female nipples, which makes her on the verge of being completely banned from the site. Now, she has created many different feminist activism art images that test where the line is of what is allowed to be shown and what is still banned. Micol noticed that different “famous people” are allowed to show images of their body or others’ body parts with nipples and butts, but she was still getting censored. Unbelievably, a white male artist took credit for the same work and movement that Micol Hebron had been working on for five years.

My Experience

I really enjoyed being able to hear about the past and present experiences that Micol Hebron faced and is continuing to show in her artworks. Having an entire class period dedicated to learning more about her journey as an artist and the meaning behind the work that she produces was something that I really enjoyed. I rarely have time to listen to an artist for over an hour, so this experience allowed me to have the opportunity to know more about the person I am doing my artist conversation on. It was very empowering to see her talk and explain the issues regarding a woman’s body and the ways society treats it in comparison to a male body. Micol is definitely passionate about her work and it makes me happy to know that she is truly making a big difference on societal issues.

For my art gallery, I decided to have an overall theme of aspects of life that I miss while being in quarantine and to visit these places in a virtual world. The first virtual game that I will be presenting has the most youthful and playful look to it, and it will gradually get more detailed as you scroll lower. Personally, I miss the presence of people and the outdoors, both nature and the bustling city. Thus, I tried to find environments in the games that I have that best represents the places that I miss the most. All of these environments were made by the actual creator of the game, as there is no option to build your own world in these games. These particular games were what I had on hand, but they also do a great job in representing various levels of detail, yet all of the environments are beautiful in their own way.

ScribbleNauts

• 

• 

ScribbleNauts is a video game that allows the player to visit a variety of different environments, ranging from the beach, city, dessert, hospital, and many more. This captures the aspect of my usual life that I miss a lot: human interactions. With this game, the player is able to interact with other “people” and create objects or people that will help solve their problems. Since the quarantine, I am sure many of us did not think that our ability to talk to people whenever we wanted would be taken away so abruptly. This seemingly simple game mimics the types of interactions that we took for granted.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

• 

• 

Breath of the Wild has a lot of nature environments, full of greenery and vibrant colors. This depicts the aspect of our quarantine lifestyle that we also took for granted. I personally miss hiking and going for walks or drives through scenic routes, so I feel this game represents some of the views that I have been missing out on since the quarantine started. In particular, the bright sky and grass that the creator made does a great job in showcasing how beautiful nature is in its true form.

Assassin’s Creed

• 

• 

Assassin’s Creed has a slightly less bright environment than Breath of the Wild, but still has breath taking scenes. The beach has always been more favorite place to be and I had even planned on going to Hawaii before the quarantine started. Now that I am unable to go to my trip, these beach scenes reminds me of the beautiful blues of the water and the swaying palm trees. The creator did a great job at depicting the natural sways of the ocean water and the various shades of blue that can be found in the water. This acts as a reminder that even though I am not able to visit the beach, it will be even more blue and beautiful when I am finally able to visit, which is definitely worth the wait!

My Day In My Life video

My goal with my video was simply to be able to show my daily life, without being too uncomfortable on camera. I also wanted to accurately portray my day with the good and not so good parts. I believe that I did accomplish this goal because I tried to incorporate clips of me talking and ones with me not talking to have a variety that would not make me uncomfortable. I also showed some of the responsibilities I have at home, as well as fun things that I get to do.

Next time, I would definitely talk in a more consistent volume throughout the videos of me talking because I was having trouble matching the sound of multiple clips. I will not overestimate how loud I think I am because it seems to be easier to lower the volume than to increase it.

I would vlog again, but probably only when I am doing more interesting things than staying at home quarantined. I found myself unable to record a majority of my day, as it would usually consist of the same things or me going on my phone. But, if I went on a trip, I would definitely want to capture the moment so that I can look back on it later.

My favorite youtuber right now is a group of people that run JKNews. I especially enjoy it right now because it keeps me updated on current events in a fun way. They talk about different things and have fun conversations to go with it. For my own vlogging, I could incorporate their comfortable-ness with the camera into my own videos in the future.

To me, authenticity is something that comes straight from the heart. There are no filters or facades in the way that a person expresses “authenticity.” On the other hand, I believe performance is something that is calculated and learned from prior experience and advise. They are opposite in the way that they are first introduced, but they are able to exist together as people learn what is appropriate and inappropriate. If authentic behavior is judged, then I believe that is when it may turn into a performance to change that. However, if authentic behavior does not provoke any negative or positive outcomes, then it remains authentic.

I believe that the clip from home during the coronavirus pandemic is more authentic because it does not have the stage lights, hair and makeup touchups, and audience to impress. There is less pressure to intentionally make the audience laugh because there is no one that is physically watching. The latter clip appears more performative as they are dressed more professionally and lean towards wanting to appear more put-together.

Cognitive Maps

I decided to do the human spirograph with my 11 year old brother. At first, he did not understand the process of closing his eyes and holding the pencil together but, I told him to just go with it. During the process, he kept repeating the word “circle,” which I found to be a little strange. We both laughed in the beginning because he kept on talking, but we eventually got used to it and kept drawing circles.

Looking at the final piece, I can see that my brother was pulling the pencil toward him, as the majority of the drawing is toward his upper side. He was also pushing down really hard on the pencil in the beginning, until I told him to put less pressure on it. This caused the majority of the color to be focused in the center of the paper and a lighter color toward the outside. Overall, it was fun doing this with my little brother as we do not normally make art together.

Artist: Mahsa Soroudi
Exhibition: Nature’s Cadence
Media: Succlent
Website: http://www.mahsasoroudi.com

About the Artist

Mahsa Soroudi was born in the early 1980s in Tehran and grew up in a Muslim household. Both of her parents expressed their love for art throughout her childhood, which influenced the way that she was exposed to art. She went to school in Tehran, also commonly associated with being the art capital in Iran due to its multitude of art galleries. After her marriage, she sought more opportunities and moved out of Iran to her first destination: Malaysia. After learning her english in Malaysia, she moved to the United States, where she now resides.

Formal Analysis

The art pieces were in various sizes; some of the succulents were tiny and needed a close up view and others were tall and can be easily seen from a distance. The succulents had the typical earthy tones that are associated with plants: different shades of green and brown. Depending on the type of succulent that was being displayed, the texture varied from plant to plant. Generally, a smooth leaf texture indicated easy growth while a rough texture can be associated with hardships that the plant had to stay alive. The succulents were placed in either glass vases or small plastic containers.

Content Analysis

The succulents served as a metaphor for Mahsa Soroudi’s life because despite how beautiful the plants were on the outside, we never fully known what is going on inside the dirt. She relates to this as an immigrant because she thought she would be easily able to thrive in California, but soon found out that a piece of herself inside was missing home. Despite moving far from home, she could never forget her roots and where she came from. During a period of time when she felt down and unmotivated, she noticed that the plants were all suffering, despite being a sturdy succulent that generally do not need much attention. After acknowledging this, she began to take better care of the plants, which correlated to her mood and self feeling better too.

My Experience

It was very interesting hearing Mahsa Soroudi relate her art to her immigrant experiences. Although I do not personally relate, my parents immigrated here and I can imagine that a similar sense of uncertainty and confusion have crossed their minds. Being a long distance away from a majority of close family members is definitely not an easy thing to do, so I respect and am amazed of people, like Mahsa Soroudi, that are able to take the chance for a better future. She also looks very happy and it makes me joyful too, knowing that she has found her place and is thriving.

• While writing this song, I was thinking about my dog, Kyo. He is just over a year old and I have had him since he was a young puppy. College has made me see him less, but I was happy reminiscing on the memories I shared with him.
• During the process of writing this song, I just imagined what I would say to Kyo if he could actually understand me. I also thought back to the beginning of when I first met Kyo, to the present time, and then to the future.
• It was hard to make this song because I am not the best at rhyming words together. There was also a lot more that I wanted to say about Kyo, but it would have sounded more like an essay rather than a song.
• I do not think my song is very successful because there is no super catchy lyric, in my opinion. But I am still happy that I was able to express my feelings towards Kyo in a song-like format.
• I would probably never write a song again as it was not in my area of expertise. There was no significant beat that was going on in my head while making this song, which has heightened my respect for songwriters in the process. There is a certain skill that I feel is needed with songwriting that I just do not possess.
• If I were to write another song, it would probably be about some of my closest friends as I have a lot of positive feelings for them as well.

Kyo

The first day we met, you looked at me with wondering eyes
And I stared back at you, unbelieving that it was time

My life has been leading up to this day
Spending countless hours together so we can play
Oh how I love you, Kyo
I would never trade you for another dog (Oh no)

Kyo, you are so cute when you bark
You're the best dog that there is in the park
Oh Kyooo, 
My Kyooo

I love feeding you peanut snacks
Even though it makes you lose your six-pack
Be good, don't be bad
And you'll never have to worry about me being mad

Kyo, you are so cute when you bark
You're the best dog that there is in the park
Oh Kyooo,
My Kyooo

Even though one day we'll be apart
Just know that you will always be in my heart
 

Artist: Sophia Grecco
Exhibition: Lucky Places for a Grave
Media: Watercolor, Charcoal, Acrylic
Gallery: LBSU School of Art, Merlino Gallery
Instagram: Sogriart

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

About the Artist

Sophia Grecco is an Undergraduate student at LBSU and is currently in the Illustration BFA Program here. She worked on this exhibition, Lucky Places for a Grave, with Sophia Grecco. Each artist had their own different styles, but she enjoyed making everything blend in together for this exhibition. Growing up, Sophia had an interest in reading folklore stories and an obvious interest in making art. With these distinct interests, Sophia combined her two interests into one to create the art that she has presented.

Formal Analysis

The five watercolor pieces that make up Sophia Grecco’s side of the exhibit was painted using watercolor, charcoal, and acrylic. The pieces were painted in a size that is relatively noticeable, so the viewer can be standing at a distance to see the paintings or closer up to notice more of the details added throughout the paintings. The light colored wooden board that surround the paintings helps to add a medieval effect to the story. The images were painted using a variety of colors, but it seems to mostly stick to earthy tones. The watercolors add a very blended effect, which the artist appears to have taken advantage of as many of the paintings include a body of water of some sort. The sizes of the paintings vary in sizes and shapes, which adds to the effect of the paintings and makes it visually appealing.

Content Analysis

The process of making her paintings stems from Sophia Grecco’s childhood interests in fairytales and folktales. While reading many of those tales, she started to notice a reoccurring pattern of a male dominant figure saving the damsel in distress; Sophia Grecco wanted to change that pattern. She made her art pieces as a way to edit and reinterpret those folktales and fairytales. Being part of the LGBTQ+ has especially created this desire to have more representation of strong, independent women. Sophia Grecco wanted to create her own kind of fairytale that was not simply like the typical princess and dragon slayer stories that have been told for decades. When asked why this exhibition was named “Lucky Places for a Grave,” Sophia revealed that her and Ashley Anderson had used a word generator to make the name.

My Experience

It was endearing to hear that Sophia Grecco had combined her childhood interests to create her art pieces as an adult. I had never realized how repetitive some of the folktales and fairytales can be, so it was very empowering for her to capture a story that did not have the traditional details. I aspire to be able to have that type of mindset of knowing when a group is not being represented enough and to break the boundaries of falling within that same box, despite what others may think. I especially loved how she tied in her childhood interests with her major as a college student, because that shows how sure she is with herself and that she knows what she wants. As many other college students, I sometimes struggle in knowing if I really picked the right major for me. Thus, it was uplifting to see someone else that is following their dreams and interests.