Mel Shaw Exhibition

The Mel Shaw: An Animator on Horseback is an exhibition currently located at The Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco. Mel Shaw was born in 1914 in New York, but his family moved to California in 1928. Mel Shaw was an animator who worked for The Walt Disney Studios for many years. Shaw first met Walt Disney while they were playing Polo in the 1930’s. Where they became friends and Shaw started working with Disney on many movies. Among these movies Shaw worked on included Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, The Great Mouse Detective, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King.

Shaw was a storyteller and would find inspiration in anything that he created. I had never heard of Mel Shaw before but when I saw his exhibition I thought lets see what he has done. I was so excited because I realized that he worked on some of the best-animated Disney movies ever. The first thing I noticed was that he worked on The Fox and the Hound and then I saw the sketches that he made for Dumbo and was completely speechless.

After walking through the exhibition completely I learned that Shaw didn’t just draw and paint for Disney but he also created his own work. There were paintings of horses, centaurs, and landscapes that were full of life and colors. His works have an animated technique combined with a life like feeling. Shaw not only made sketches but also would paint with different types of paint, which included watercolor and oil paints. He also made clay models to create sculptures and ceramics. 

I am glad that I was able to see this exhibition because it gave me a chance to see one of the artists that helped create the Disney movies we all know and love, and to see his sketches and paintings that helped contribute to making the movies.

Matt Kenyon Artist Talk

Mat Kenyon came to the University of Nevada, Reno and gave a talk about his art pieces. I would have to say his talk was very interesting and I enjoyed some of the pieces he had to talk about. Some of the pieces he talked about were Tardigotchi, Notepad, and Puddle. 

One of the pieces Kenyon talked about was Tardigotchi, which is an artwork that what two creatures one is alive and it is a water bear called Steven and the other is an avatar creature that is not really alive. They are living inside a sphere that resembles a Tamagotchi toy. This piece was really interesting and I thought it was funny how he put a real life microorganism inside a toy to be taken care of.

Another piece that Kenyon talked about was Notepad. Notepad is an act of protest. Notepad looks like an ordinary yellow Notepad however this notepad when magnified you can see that each line is micro printed with the full names, dates, and location of the deaths of Iraqi civilians on record over the first three years of the Iraq War. I thought that this was very interesting because I would have never thought that micro printing onto paper to make it look completely normal was even possible.

The piece Puddle that Kenyon talked about was probably one of my favorite pieces that he talked about.  Puddle is supposed to just look like a puddle of oil however upon further inspection you can see that there is a word being spelled in the puddle. He was able to make words appear out of the oil, I found this to be very interesting and different.  

Overall I liked Matt Kenyon’s talk hearing about his different pieces and the story behind them was both interesting and funny.

Jamie Lynn Shafer Exhibition

When I went to Jamie Lynn Shafer talk I had no idea as to what her work was about or what she did. As I listened to her talk I was intrigued and found her power point to be interesting being able to see the projects. However after the talk I actually got to see her exhibition and I was completely shocked. Her pieces in person where so much better then looking at them in a power point. As I looked at each different piece I remembered why and how she made them from her talk. However looking at them close up the amount of detail that she put into each of her book was incredible. Some of the pieces like Code Red, 1 in 3 and 17927 where smaller in person than what I thought they would be.

When I first saw Code Red I was surprised at how small the book actually was. I was expecting it to be much bigger but is was small and I think that it made it more confined and made the viewer look more closely at it. Just like Code Red I expected 17927 to be bigger as well but it was small and made the details that Shafer put in to the book that much more impressive.

After seeing the pieces in person I would have to say my favorite piece that she made was actually a collaboration that she did with a coworker and it was a poster series that contained a poem with different imagery in the background. Shafer was the one who completed the imagery on the posters. I really liked the posters because it was extremely captivating.  When I first saw the poster is attracted my attention immediately.

Among the whole exhibition there where other art books that Shafer made that she did not talk about in her talk but they were just as impressively created as who works that she did talk about.  Overall I am very glad that I went to this Exhibition because it showed and reminded me that there are many different types of art forms in the world that can have an impact on how one thinks.

Jamie Lynn Shafer Artist Talk

Jamie Lynn Shafer is a book artist who currently has a fellowship at the Black Rock Press Redfield at the University of Nevada, Reno.  She has a MA in the Art of the book. While being in Reno she has created and worked on many projects, a few of those projects include 1in 3, 17927, and Code Red.

The project 1 in 3 is an Art book that she made to display domestic abuse in women. The book paired victims with pictures and stats. The book is created with pictures of women separated into three rows. The top is the women’s forehead, the middle is their eyes and nose portion of their face and the bottom row is their chin. This system of separating the face gives the book movement as well as showcasing the different areas where domestic abuse is targeted. Shafer also talked to the women and asked them for quotes which she included in the book. I think that this book is very creative and unique; Shafer takes a topic that is widely discussed and creates something intriguing that can grab the reader’s attention.

The next project of Shafer’s is 17927. This project was themed on the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania. The number 17927 is the revoked zip code of the town. This Art book to me was one of my favorites of Shafer’s because of the detail and story behind the book. The book is about the town of Centralia and how the town was known for mining but mainly known for the fact the mines caught fire in 1962 and has been burning ever since.  The book is a tunnel book meaning it is a type of pop up 3 dimensional that shows how the mine is burning. The book itself actually tells a story of a 12-year-old boy named Todd who fell into a sinkhole and his cousin saves him. I really like how Shafer constructed this book and when she talked about it, I could tell that she put a lot of work into creating the book.

The last project is called Code Red and it is about school safety and gun violence. Shafer explained to use that her wife is a Trauma Counselor at a school and had to help counsel students after there was a gun lockdown at the school.  Shafer created an Art book that is a single sheet fold paper accordion that makes a type of room when opened. This book is a sculpture piece that represents a room and on the wall is written all the places guns can be found in the home. Shafer really wanted to address the fact the there is carelessness when it comes to the storage of guns. This piece was very effective and a great take on how to address the topic.

Overall I really enjoyed Shafer’s talk and her enthusiasm that she had for all of her pieces that she created. She really studied all of the themes to get a better understanding to her work.

Project #3 Augmented Reality: Estrerth

For this Project we had to pair up create and augmented reality. Emma and I were given two sculpture created by students on campus at the University of Nevada, Reno. We combined the two sculptures put color on them and created one sculpture. We then put the the 3d sculpture in the app Layar so it would show in the real world. We decided to name it Estrerth. Here is how it turned out.

Project #2 Gaea

For my project I was able to create a world that was like a Utopia. 

This new world is called Gaea. 

40 Years from now the human race is rebuilding the earth. The last 40 years we destroyed the natural earth. Forests, Deserts, Mountains, and Oceans all started to disappears. People decided to change this and restore earth to its natural beauty. Now the earth we live in, no matter where you look, you will see the natural earth. Skyscrapers where built for housing, schooling, and jobs. They are made of glass so when you look outside you see the grass and the trees. There are no longer roads just pathways for people to walk or ride a bike, if it is needed to travel far distances then flying cars are taken. The clothes people wear are all the same, however they are made of a nanotechnology that changes the colors of the fabric. The purpose of this earth is to serve as reminders to never let the natural elements of the earth disappear again. It is a utopia where the only important concern is to keep the earth alive.

Project #2 Proposal and Sketch

In the past 40 years the earth had became run down from air pollution as well as destruction of forests and oceans. However within this time earth has been restored and slowly put back together. Old Buildings and cars were destroyed to use the materials to build new and improved buildings as well as flying cars. Medical advances have increased significantly leading to people only dying at an old age, which has resulted to an overpopulated world. Large glass skyscrapers where built to accommodate the mass population. Flying cars were invented leading to less pollution in the air. The only way to travel on earth is by foot or bicycle. Grass and tress have been planted everywhere so people can enjoy the earth and its second chance. There are no more advertisements because people want to only notice the natural elements so they remember not to destroy the earth again. The buildings are made of glass so people can always see the earth’s landscape. The flying cars are made of an invisible material so there is no obstructed view of the sky’s above. Clothes are made from a material that can change color so fewer materials are bought. This also applies to all other materials like furniture, dishes and blankets. All of the buildings are the same size and shape in order to save space. Most buildings are for housing; the others are used for workspace and schools, as well as recreational activities.