Day 1: Video Notes

September 2, 2018Senior StudioCara Schmidt

Cheryl Strayed Quotes

“You don’t have to get a job that makes others feel comfortable about what they perceive as your success. You don’t have to explain what your plan to do with your life. You don’t have to justify your education by demonstrating its financial rewards. You don’t have to maintain an impeccable credit score. Anyone who expects you to do any of those things has no sense of history of economics or science or the arts.

“You have to pay your own electric bill. You have to be kind. You have to give it all you got. You have to find people who love you truly and love them back with the same truth. But that’s all.”

I guess I have a simpler, more hedonistic view than the one expressed here, which is that you just need to be happy, whether that involves financial rewards, being kind, or artistic fulfillment. Similar to the view expressed here, I don’t think there is one permanent road to happiness or success. As for the last quote, I like it. People’s’ lives can be enriched in many different kinds of ways, not only monetarily.

Ira Glass on Creativity

It’s my first time learning about this phase. I agree with the notions presented in the video. I have heard that the people that don’t succeed are the people that quit, and I agree with that wholeheartedly. Well I may go through periods where I don’t feel motivated to make art, I can’t see myself ever stopping completely. It is very reassuring to hear that I will get through this phase where I don’t feel like my art is everything I want it to be.

Roberto Lugo

I enjoyed his story. I liked that he wrote “this wheel kills hate” on his pottery wheel, which reminded me of “this machine kills fascists” on Woodie Gunthrie’s guitar. I was also touched by how he was willing to sit down with the people that he was ideologically opposed to and tried to come to an understanding. He even put the confederate flag on his pot, so that he could feel the racist man feel that he saw him as a human with values. I have watched some other Ted talks about how people have confronted racism in non confrontational ways and seen great success. The one in particular I’m thinking about involves a black man who opened a leader of the KKK’s eyes, by sitting down with him and talking with him, until they became friends.

Living the Question Podcast: How We Can Embrace Vulnerability by Krista Tippett

I agree that vulnerability is like pain and fear, we have to practice it, and that it is both humanizing and countercultural. I also agree that vulnerability nurtures empathy, which I think more of is desperately needed in the world. Question that I have is how do you know when it is safe to be vulnerable? That is a question I often struggle with, and causes conflict in my daily life.

John Cleese on Creativity

I don’t know how I feel about the notion that our subconscious is solving our creative problems. I think it might be more true for some people than others if it has any ground. For the most part that is in my experience with art. I do disagree that to get creative ideas we must avoid distractions. I’m times distractions can be inspiration. I especially disagree with the notion that we do not get ideas from our laptops, only our subconscious. Most of my ideas come from my laptop, which you can argue passed through my subconscious, but they still came for my laptop. I experience some of the world through it, and it’s all real. I do agree with the idea that you won’t have any creative ideas when you are rushing around trying to get things done. You have to create an oasis by creating boundaries of space and time, like giving yourself a start and and ends time. I also agree that the people in power can and do abuse that power to discourage creativity.

Susan Kae Grant

The way she does her work using a studio but only capturing shadows is new to me. I really like the way she portrays dreams. Her work reminds me of movies, but not any particular ones.

David Whyle

I really like the observation that we as humans can refuse to be ourselves contrary to animals. This made me think about my own art in which I alter nature. Maybe by doing so I am giving it a more human quality; I’m inserting some human qualities into the inhuman. I also like the quote about how we shape ourselves to fit the world, but the world also shapes us.

Chitrah Ganesh

I like the her art combines the surreal and explores feminine power. I definitely connected with the line about how our reality today resembles science fiction. Society has evolved to the point that the government is constantly watching it citizens, and AI, AR, and VR technology has advanced so far. Science has made cloning possible and genetic alteration is another ability humanity has, not to mention the high political tension in the country.

Miwa Matreyer

I love the way the story of humanity was portrayed in this piece. The transcendence is portrayed so well in her art through the dancing and the visuals. I felt like I needed to watch it a few times to appreciate everything that was happening.

Maggie Taylor

This might be one of my favorite artists that we have seen in this group. I’ve been a fan of surrealism for a long time and I love the muted colors and how she repurposes old photos to tell new stories. Her work is lovely and well composed and consistently edited. If I could meet her, I would ask her how she makes them look so consistent?

William Kentridge

His approach to his art is not one I’ve really seen done before. Before he said that he sometimes gets ideas and inspiration when he’s walking between the camera and the canvas, I was wondering why he didn’t just use a cable release to take a photo without having to walk back and forth. It is not seem something that I could relate to at first, since I prefer to work with digital media, and am used to a streamlined work process, but it made more sense to me once I thought about how taking a break from making art and then coming back to it gives me a new perspective.