Final Blog – Mikehyojan

For my last blog, I would like to share the paintings I have done so far. First is a pair of paintings of a bookshelf with a flower in a vase located next to it. Inside the bookshelf, I drew Korean traditional elements including a brush and a roll of paper. As you can see, I need some final work in painting the Westtown lamp and Westtown clock and I am going to add some decorations inside the circles of the bookshelf in ‘W’ shapes to symbolize Westtown. As I mentioned in the first blog, I intended to harmonize western elements influenced by Westtown and eastern elements from my background in Korea. Furthermore, the two paintings are both traditional and modern by keeping Korean flowers, bookshelves, and brushes while inserting the modern clock, lamp, and bench.

Hello, Goodbye – Tray

Hello everyone! You may or may not be able to guess from the title, but this will be my last blog post this semester. Therefore, this post will be somewhat of a look ahead.

Introduction to Neural Networks – Kevin

In my last blog post, I detailed the implementation of machine learning models in iOS applications using the Core ML and Vision frameworks. As you probably remember from the tutorial, I implemented the Inception v3 model to give the app the ability to classify 1,000 common objects in the world. While it is true that you can easily download the model from a Github repository, have you ever wonder where it came from? In this blog post, I will introduce the “brain” behind the Inception v3 model––an artificial neural network (ANN).

Growing – Natalie

Thanksgiving break was a welcome and necessary reprieve for me. Although I did not get as much actual painting done as I had wished, I got an incredible amount of planning and idea generating done. I now have a clear vision of my path in preparing for my gallery show, and an idea of what my finished body of work will look like. This past week, I finally dove in to creating this body of work. Yesterday evening I had Gwyneth sit for me, and the Alex painting is almost done. Finally, the fantastical elements are beginning to incorporate themselves into my serious portraiture. I will be beginning my self-portrait soon, and have an even better idea now of where it is going (especially seeing as I got quite a few spider-slug studies done over break).

Below is the sketch and imprimatura for the Gwyneth portrait. I’ve included the imprimatura in both warm and cool light, because I think each holds the space a little differently, which is interesting to me. I haven’t yet decided which direction I will go with my color palate, but it is good to be able to see both possibilities. In addition, there is a close up of the face detail. As can be seen in the sketch, I am planning on giving her a dragon.

Gwyneth’s hair is certainly going to be the most difficult (and most fun) aspect of this one. I am not incredibly familiar with painting hair, so I have compiled some references for myself. First, is the work of Alphonse Mucha, one of the most prominent artists in the Art Nouveau movement in the 1890’s and early 1900’s He has an incredible knack for the silhouette and shape of hair (you can find some examples here). Second is a portrait of Alice Guérin done by Paul César Helleu. This one I had not previously known of, but found in my investigating. The hair is nearly identical to that of Gwyneth’s, although not quite so curly (here is the painting). Third, we have the famous Lady of Shalott, by John William Waterhouse, another example of beautiful long red hair (find it here). Fourth, comes the work of Sandro Bottecelli, who very much enjoyed his depictions of goddesses to have long curly hair. The one painting of his which I have singled out is Pallas and the Centaur, which can be seen here. And finally, there is the work of Gustav Klimt, another famous Art Nouveau painter. I have chosen the painting Danae, which features another woman with long curly red hair (here).

To finish up this blog post, here is the progress on the Alex painting, which is getting very close to done.

Some unique little dudes have wandered their way onto her painting, and while not originally intended, I think I like them, so they will be staying.

In the light of these new paintings and plans, I think I am certainly going to revise the background of my Maggie portrait to tie in these fantastical elements and creatures.

I am excited to see what I will get done over the coming month.

I’ve Scrapped All of my Sketches-Cleo

…and I’ll tell you why. This semester a key part in every piece that I have done is improvisation. The guitar line and drum beats in the song were improvised. Much of my dance was choreographed in a trial and error improvisation method. I went in with a clear head, and allowed art to happen. I’ve never thought of visual art that way. It’s always been something carefully planned or meticulously copied from reality. But when I was gathering sources for my project’s Works Cited, I gathered lots of sources focused on creating visual art using musical improvisation techniques. As someone who primarily identifies herself as a musician, this speaks to me. And since reading these articles I’ve become infatuated with the idea. And so I’ve decided to try something entirely new to me. I want to improvise my final drawing.

The fate of all the other Shimenkans- Perline

For this last blog post, I want to trace back to the beginning of my project and think about the future for China’s reconstruction plan for impoverished areas.

One of the initial reasons why I conducted this research project is that I felt a loss of identity after continuing my education in America for several years. I remember feeling a loss of connection to the city I grew up in, and I realized that I was forgetting the culture I was born into. Trying to remember and reconnect with my culture, I decided to conduct an independent research project on Shimenkan. Growing up in Kunming in an upper-middle-class family, my life was confined to a small circle. My research project would allow me to learn more about contemporary Chinese politics and the socioeconomic diversity of my province.

Assistant Teaching- Alec Barbera

As my observations wrap up, and my time in middle school is coming to a close, I have realized many things about the whole teaching process, the students in the class, and especially about myself. I have seen many classes and have a strong understanding of what it means to be a teacher for  young adolescents. Because of this journey that I haven’t even hit the halfway mark in, I have found what it means for me to find a career, and I believe I have found that career in its entirety.

The Importance of Networking -KC

The saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” is one of the most accurate cliches. In any field, it helps to know people. And the benefit of networking is rarely given full credit. To those who are aspiring to build a business or start their own community group, networking is your key to success. You may not have full funding or a team of 100 people, but having a coalition of people across fields will help make up that difference.

Planning my End-of-Semester Work -Gwyneth

Since I am planning to continue my independent project next semester, during which time I will write my final paper, there was not a natural answer to the question of exactly what I will produce as my demonstration of learning for this semester. While meeting with T. Margaret a few weeks ago, we decided that I should create an extensive annotated bibliography to turn in at the end of the semester.

Investigative research in Uruguay- Peirce

Over Thanksgiving break I did some of my own research, in an attempt to find some historical connections between government, soccer, and politics in South America. Using information from the corruption I learned about Argentina, I searched online for similar topics, but rather than in the late 20th century, the early 20th century. I had no luck with obvious stories because there simply wasn’t as much media coverage on soccer during that time.