Manifesto

Artist Statement

Are manifesto is very broad and allows many interpretations of how to explore
and present art. If a piece of art explores are mediums and the senses through its
presentation then it is a part of this movement. This movement is trying to enable a
greater connection between art mediums and the senses they use. Several art mediums
only involve one sense but when we partake of art are minds think and recall various
sensations and memories. This led us to the piece for the manifesto.
Our piece begins with each member of the group viewing a piece of art (which
the audience can’t see). While they view the art a montage of visuals and sounds are
presented on a screen behind them. Each member has their own montage. The montage
represents what they are thinking while they view the art. Next we will then give the
audience sticky notes and explain that we want them to create, write, art with their sticky
note when we show them the piece of are we were viewing. The audience will then have
2 minutes to be inspired by the art and produce something onto the sticky note and put
this sticky note on the white board. We then will discuss with the audience how we are
influenced by what is around us and how this affected them in their creation. Also, we’ll
observe the similarities and differences in the audience’s art and the manner in which
they assembled their art together.
Also, our piece sought to explore connections between the physical and the
metaphysical. Also, it was exploring how are thoughts are shaped by what we sense
around us. When coming up with this idea we were influenced by the piece which first
inspired Melissa (which was Trey McIntyre’s The Sun Road). We then we all influenced
by countless memories and thoughts which fueled our discussion. We were also
influenced by the reading with the discussion of remixes since our thoughts are remixing
sensations from are past influenced by are present. Also, we were each influenced in the
creation of our montage which we will each briefly describe.
Jeff: For my movement manifesto montage, I immediately thought of a baseball
when seeing the sphere. Once the image became a baseball to me, I pictured scenes from
one of my favorite films, Moneyball. I saw the scenes where we saw in slow motion
various shots of batters at the plate swinging at a pitch. From this, I found different slow
motion shots of a batter, catcher, outfielder, and pitcher all with the baseball. Also, the
shot of the catcher is from this year’s World Series, where my favorite team, the Giants
won! This is my thought process when looking at the original image of the sphere.
Melissa: The process I went through when creating my montage was I first made
a list of my thought train when I saw the images. The image first made me think of the
pixar short Red’s Dream which is a unicycle, which made me think of the Boise Art fair,
which made me think of lemonade, summer wind, tumble weeds and of New Mexico,
coyotes and their howling, moon, rockets, an observatory, then Bruno Sand Dunes,
etc. For my montage I didn’t even complete the whole list I made since my montage
was getting lengthy. Most of this train of thought I listed are made up of memories and
associations which my mind quickly connects and jumps through. My montage is a

demonstration of how the minds trail of thought can be sparked by one thing and then led
through a series of memories and thoughts to something completely different.
Claire: My montage reflects the tangential associations my mind makes when
introduced with a thought, memory, or idea. My train of thought when I initially saw
the triggering art piece was very similar to my representation; I was reminded of
music, lyrics, sounds, smells, particular moments in time and emotions. Each of these
associated memories led to the next in a way that makes absolute sense to me. I think it is
fascinating how this montage could have gone on indefinitely.
Josh: My montage artist statement: Whenever I first come in contact with other
art, my thought process is thinking of objects or things that are similar to that image. As
I keep looking at the art, over time, I start to see meaning behind the art. My montage
starts out with random spherical objects and transitions to the theme that every person has
darkness and light in them. This was primarily based on the shadows and light that are on
the sphere.

P.S. The inspirational piece of art will be posted after the presentation so as not to
be a pre-influencer.

Historical Story

Creative Statement

The original inspiration that came for this story was Josh’s story about his grandpa who stole candy from a Japanese graveyard. From that idea a ton of ideas snowballed.  Christina brought some good ideas to the table.  She had the idea to have the exposition of the story start out with the two boys playing with toys and having one toy die and go to the graveyard. From that point John asks, have you ever been to a graveyard? This moment in the story creates a motivation for the kids to go to the graveyard.  She also originally thought of the Idea of having the ghost come back and haunt the kid. After editing the piece down, we decided to have John put his candy back so as to make the story more personal and focus the story more on Lenny.

From the reading, The Viel the author makes a historical setting very personal by making the historical account center around her. When my grandpa told me the story of how superstitious the Japanese culture was when he was a kid, it was very personal because it was told from a first person perspective.

An inspirational media for this project stemmed from the movie “Oh Brother, where art thou?” The Coen brothers tied a historical narrative and comedy together to immerse and engage their audience in their story.  The idea of tying in comedy into a historical narrative is unique because many historical narratives focus on serious big issues such as wars, kingdoms, and important people of the centuries. choosing to focus on an ordinary person of a certain time period, and make it comedic, makes the story less cliché and more unique.

Overall, if we had more time, we would have liked to make revisions; however, we fill that this story is a good start and will help us when we work on future projects in the program.

Here is the link to our Script

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8JULhdBBUPaMVZxTE1UTy04dUE/edit?usp=sharing

Genealogical Artifact

     When I was twelve, my mom told me that my grandpa would be coming to visit us for a week during the summer. I wasn't excited. At this time in my life, I had a very negative attitude about life in general.
  The day finally came where I saw him walk through our front door into our house. He carried with him only a suitcase and a small orange toolbox. That evening he visited with us and asked me and my siblings how our lives were going in regards to school and activities we were involved in. The next day as I was going outside to play with my younger brothers, thinking that I was going to have a fun carefree Saturday, my grandpa called out to me and said, "Joshua, how about we spend the day helping your mother. There are a lot of things she wants us to fix. I'm old and weak and you are young and strong." There it was, just as I anticipated, my grandpa asking me to help him with menial handyman jobs around our house. Just to please him, I grudgingly agreed to help him out.
We started with the sliding door. It was filled with dirt and other stuff. My grandpa handed me one of his fatheads from his orange toolbox and showed me how to clean it out. I hated the job; however within minutes our door was sliding smoothly again.
     After cleaning the sliding door I headed outside to play. My grandpa yelled in a pleading tone, "Don't leave me! Don't leave me!". Feeling guilty again, I came back. "Help me fix this leak behind the dish washer.". Again, I hesitantly walked into the kitchen to help him. I was actually quite fascinated that grandpa had everything he needed in this small toolbox to fix everything. From a micro screwdriver, to a set of pliers that could take off a 1/2" nut, he was never in short supply of tools.
    As we worked on fixing the leak, he taught me about plumbing and tricks for fixing leaks behind dishwashers. After half hour of helping him, he had my undivided attention.  He was also so optimistic that we were able to fix a leak that my parents thought could never be fixed. I realized that I felt way better helping grandpa out than I did playing outside or watching tv. I think I had a small transcendent moment while we were working. As the day went on, I became addicted to helping my grandpa out with these tasks because I was learning something new. At the end of the day, I felt that my grandpa was one of my best friends. That experience had a lasting impact on me and changed my outlook on life in a very small and simple way.
     A decade later, my grandpa unexpectedly died of a heart attack. After his funeral, we went to my uncles house where he had all his belongings spread out on the lawn for us to take. As I looked over his belongings I noticed a small toolbox. When I saw it, I was immediately flooded of a flashback of when he helped a twelve year old boy gain confidence and optimism within himself. I took the toolbox as a reminder of how my grandpa helped me fix my life through a small act.

Creative Statement

I actually struggled for a while trying to figure out a object that I have that has a significant impact on my life and has meaning to me. The idea came to me when I spotted the toolbox on a shelf in my apartment. Seeing the toolbox reminded me that there was a TON of significance behind it. The poem "Ode to Things" describes how I feel about this toolbox. As Pablo Neruda says, "Not only did they touch me, or my hand touched them: they were so close that they were a part of my being." The toolbox that I have is the only physical object I have left that reminds me of my Grandpa and how much he loved me. When I saw it after his funeral I immediately took it because, it represented who my grandpa was in one object. I feel that this experience I had with this object can be related to the story in Batman Begins when batman is going through his fathers belongings and immediately the movie cuts to brief flashbacks of his father using these items. I feel that how this toolbox relates to an emotional experience I had with my grandpa could make a good story. At the very least, just having these same feelings flowing through me as a write a future script on how an item means something to the character or the theme itself. In order to create a good visual story, you have to experience the same feelings that your characters feel in your story. This exercise helped me out with that. This assignment has helped me realize the significance items have in representing a principle or, put in a film, can help the viewer recall the same feelings the characters might be feeling.  Every object in the universe really has meaning to it beyond the visual and tangible characteristics of it.