At Last...

You've seen it before, but now in it's physical form.  Well, a photograph of its physical form.  

-OLIVE

A Bit of Writing...

Did a bit of writing for the poetry category of the senior project.  Doesn't rhyme, doesn't have a certain form.  Is it still a poem? Totally.  I typed it up, but I also wrote it in cursive in my sketchbook because my project deals with the notion of joy.  I truly enjoy writing in cursive for no reason.  It is one of my favorite things to do.

I can not figure out what could make you so unhappy in this place.  

I do not mean to preach or push.  That is not my intention here.  

I have heard it described as living by example, although that phrase seems equally pretentious.  

It is more along the lines of acting on a philosophy in the hopes of a spiritual revelation.  

Not a religious revelation.  I do not plan on you seeing God, and in fact if you do I might have failed miserably.  

I am suggesting the term spiritual in reference to the experience of an individual’s spirit, soul, or inner-self.  

Would you not feel more purposeful, motivated and content if you acted in accordance with your own desires? 

You continue on this path for security, for status, for money, for your parents, or for your alternative to the fear of failing.  

This is a call to stop wasting your life on careers and “friends” and experiences that do not lead you somewhere you want to go.  

Why live if not to love? Why press on towards death in a miserable manner? Let us say there is nothing beyond the here and now.  Why not take chances and strive for the ultimate existence? 

You are only here to discover you own ideas, opinions, and interests to amuse yourself and love those who you feel deserve it.  

And I can expect that the typical human being does not wish to deliver a negative effect on the world around them.  It is so exciting that the world’s happiness could benefit more from focusing on one’s own genuine satisfaction.  

Essentially, enjoy your days. 

Because that is what I’ll be doing.  

-OLIVE

Sandy's Vegan Collage

Emma's BP Rebranding

 

Everyone is well aware of the recent oil spill that has had a major negative impact on the environment recently. The full damage of this oil spill cannot even fully be comprehended and will have effects for years to come. In further researching BP, I found that this problem is so large and widely covered by the media, which actually reflects attention away from the numerous other shocking things that BP is responsible for. In the last few years, BP has received the largest OSHA fines over all other companies, for reasons like the closing of public schools due to toxic emissions from their refineries (multiple times at the same schools) and fires at oil refineries that left many dead or injured–and that's just the tip of the iceberg. In the simplest terms, when I think BP I cannot help but think dirty money.

GDP v. Happiness

b

Collage that demonstrates how the media-fueled American Dream is not conducive to happiness.
by Anna O.

Ji's "identify who I am" zine

 

- Ji

Investigate, Gather, Assemble

The idea behind my senior project is how we explore curiosity and the "unknown". How looking closer, to the micro level can distort our perception enough to change our connotations of the subject. To explore that idea i created a zine by investigating images and seeing them through a new lens, literally. With my G11, I took photos through my grandfather's late fifties Kodak Duaflex camera, an image making process that distorts and alters the subject. I complied bits and pieces from these images into assemblages that have an appealing outcome. The main idea being that when we get lost in curiosity, we retain specific pieces of information, later to be put back together in our minds as unexplainably stimulating experiences.

Mary Smudde

We vote for a seat, not for a candidate: Mary/Tiimo

It Is What You Make It Zine

The idea behind what I'll be creating for my senior project is joy.  The notion of not taking everything so seriously, finding happiness in all aspects of life, creating, seeing value in all things, and pursuing what strikes inspiration and contentment.  Through my creations, I want to show positivity and point out the beauty and excitement that the world holds.  This zine was extremely fun for me, and I think perhaps my own satisfaction through creation is the first step to moving towards my goal.  

                                                       

-Olive

Paul Cooley | "You are a Demographic"

The whole sustainability thing has really gotten to a point of annoyance for me. I am not about to say that it is not an important discussion to have in our society, but I think in recent years the commodification of the "sustainable" worldview is built on cutting corners masked as "small personal green choices". What is the real cost of these products? How sustainable are these fancy bags everyone from Trader Joes to Ralphs has been selling? What are they really doing with the profits from said bags?

Regardless, people that just want to be a part of something without really understanding or fully engaging in whatever community they are lumping themselves into should really reconsider their motives and their contributions to supposed causes, because I swear to god if I see another "Go Green" sticker on the back of ANY Automobile...I just might douse myself in gasoline and jump in the ocean.

Sandy & Wei-Jerry Brown

Paul Cooley | "To Our Despair" Installation Mock-Up

Synopsis
The above image contains two posters positioned in a public space with 3 pieces of paper. Both posters pull quotes from 2 opposing texts. The black poster is from Georges Bataille's written response to Sartre's critique of Bataille's writings on Religion and the white is from C.S. Lewis' succinct treatise on the Christian faith, "Mere Christianity". Each poster's quote is an argument regarding each author's position on the idea of Religion/God, both of which end in the word "Despair".

The point of having the posters large and high on a wall with tiny text (The quote text is set at about 30pt.), is so that people literally have to find a way to get closer to the posters themselves, and even closer to grab one of the publications/documents. They have to use their surrounding to access the information...otherwise he/she is left simply with the ambiguous headline text. This is based on the concept of reversing the "despair" inherent in any existential pursuit, and actively engaging in the on-going dialog within Religious/Philosophical theories.

The pamphlets/publications attached to the wall originally started as a reference to Martin Luther's nailing of the 95 thesis to the church wall, but was not really explored beyond that initial idea. In general, I see the attached papers as an even further explanation of the positions presented in the posters, once again requiring added effort to reach the depth of the content, literally and figuratively. I left the idea of the publication slightly open, as I see myself exploring this idea for next week's assignment.

Locations

I would see this piece as an idea that would be created in multiple locations, possibly with a variety of different posters, yet the same free publication, functioning in a similar way to the free newspapers that you find all over los angeles. Obviously areas of religious or intellectual interest would be the main spots that this would exist. Churches, Universities, Libraries, Graveyards, are among a few that come to mind first.

-P

Plastic Pollution Collage by Jenn Pluta

For my collage I wanted to illustrate some of the research I have found regarding the ocean and plastic pollution. Plastic makes up %80 of the trash found in the ocean.

Many people have the misconception that the plastic pollution in the ocean is literally an island made out of trash, clearly visible on the surface. However, this is not the case. The plastic in the ocean breaks down into smaller pellets of plastic which is fairly hard to see until strained out of the water.

I wanted to use this collage to show what is truly beneath the surface of the water. In this case I used the leading types of plastic pollution which are the single-use plastic products such as plastic bags, water bottles and plastic utensils.

Fabiola and Ji's Prop 26 poster

Prop 26: Stop the Hidden Tax. (Protect the Polluters)
It passed from last elections. So, its consequencies are tax payers have to pay for the companies who make the environmental pollution.

-Fabiola and Ji

Sandy's Trash Project!!!

Paper or Plastic, A Sustainability Project by Sean

Paul and Yongmin's Prop 27

Yongmin Park-Sustainability Project

I chose the word, "Greenwashing" from the reading.
Greenwashing means the concept that pretend to be eco-friendly product.
I think that it is a kind of "Fake." I analyzed that the concept has duplicity.
The surface of the concept shows being environmental friendly, but the inside of that has the opposite characteristic.
I focused on the aspect, and tried to express the duplicity.
The red transparency paper means the clear aspect of the concept's surface.
And the inside trash shows the real aspect of the concept that is dirty and not eco-friendly.    

After Prop 21

by Cole Moss and Anna Olinova


Proposition 21 would have charged California vehicle owners an $18 tax onto their annual car registration. That money would have been set into a fund to upkeep the State Parks, and in exchange admission for the park visitors would become free. Voters did not go for this one (58% of voters disapproved).

We personally feel that State Parks, nature in general, and the important exchange and necessity humans and nature share with each other, should be a priority. The proposition's premise may not have been the solution, but we hope that voters did not weigh the immediacy of the tax over the urgency of the need to fund the parks. Even during the financial dry spell this funding is important because the well being of the parks is fundamental to our planet. Moving forward, we believe that a more successful approach to achieving this goal is to remind people that the State Parks are there for them and encourage visitation. This would propel visitors into more immediate contact with nature and the money from the admission fees would go back to the park. This way everybody wins!

(close-up of text)

SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT: GEODESIC DOME

For this project I wanted to explore the form of a geodesic dome. I was excited to experience the object off the page and as a three dimensional design. I built this geodesic dome out of sticks I found on the ground and trash. I also used hot glue to attach the sticks together into the necessary shapes and covered some of the hinges with string to try to conceal it. I chose the word RESTORE because the word reminds me of rebuilding or the regeneration of something. The act of building a structure that was heavily influential in the past with discarded materials, to me, illustrated my idea of restoration.

IN RESPONSE TO THE REJECTION OF PROP 19 : BY STEPHANIE & ROBYN

We chose to respond to the rejection of prop 19 which proposed to legalize marijuana. The results were 46% to 54% in favor of the prop to not pass. We discussed and decided that the aftermath is not that impacting.  Sure, the crop would bring in millions of dollars to help our economy, but at the end of the day, pot heads will still be pot heads and they'll smoke the stuff regardless of whether or not it's legal. In the truth of the matter, most people who believe pot should be legalized are more in favor of the way it makes them feel rather than to save the economy and within this event this same population probably got too high to get to the poles to vote.

We wanted to speak the language of that population and got influence from rolling paper packaging and some psychedelia. The entire poster is hand drawn by the both of us and is 22 x 34 inches.

Tastless Complacency (brennah/blueprint)

Art work: "The Ocean is the Underlying Basis For Every Wave"- Derick Melander

Song: "Never Going Back to ok"- The Afters

Movie: "Marnie"- Alfred Hitchcock

Book: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - Steig Larsson

Food: Grilled and Seasoned Artichokes

Person: OJ Simpson

My Final Proposal: A public piece that changed over time due to how many people got involved, it would be a poster or maybe even a walkway of posters that started off with lots of small simple pictures and as people pulled them off it would reveal the truth of the pictures or individual in the picture. It would go six layers deep on some images and would get very disturbing. At the end it would show the crime scene photos of women who got seriously abused. 

-Brennah