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Signing up for my classes, I knew I wanted to take an art class. Intro to Visual Arts, sounded very straight forward; it was a right choice.

In the beginning of the semester I was ecstatic to be taking an art class. I had high expectations for this class. I though I would be drawing or painting every class period, working on projects that would take a lot of time and dedications. However, on my first day of class I was met by my teacher who seemed very relaxed and worry free. I believe he gave us a lecture about what art is. I was taken aback at his style of teacher. He didn’t teach in a traditional manner. Yes, there were lectures, but the context wasn’t something that can be taught in a book. It was more fluid in a sense that the teacher asked debatable, opinionated questions that vary from one person to another. I would almost to never raise my hand during class, but would think about his question. This class helped me to critically think about topics I normally don’t question.

Furthermore, through my multiple of artist conversation write up, I have learned to not take art for granted. Art presented in museums or presented on the side of the street have a meaning behind it. I used to think, “Oh! Look that pretty,” or if I didn’t like I would just walk away and forget about it. Every piece of art has a personal meaning to the artist. It can show their experience, personality or an underlying message they want their audience to see. Talking to the artists gave me a sense of that. If I didn’t talk to them personally, I wouldn’t have learned what their art truly meant. For instance, I met a photographer who dripped assault onto her pictures for a 3D effect. I thought it was really cool. To her, she wasn’t to showcase how the environment is negatively changing and we must do something to change it. She wanted people to become aware of how our surroundings are changing right under our eyes and we simply do not notice it. I learned to have a great time observing other peoples artworks. It made me think about what it was trying to tell me. I started analyzing them more rather than taking a glimpse at it. 

In my future career I want to become a creative director. In order to get to this high position I must have experience in advertising and marketing. I believe that art can be used with my sketches, layouts or models that I will need to present to the company in order to get my ideas across. The best way to show my skills is through a visual aid. Speaking will confuse my audience. A diagram is what’s best. I plan to create designs and ads for companies, which means I must be proficient in programs such as indesign or adobe photoshop. I will need to be using my creative side a lot as I need to keep up with the high demand and changing market. 

Art 110 was a class I do not regret taking as it has taught me to see the bigger picture in all aspects of life. I didn’t realize you can look at anything and realize its art in its own way. 

For my environmental portrait, I used my iPhone camera because I didn’t have my DSLR Canon camera available at the moment. I was going for an art environment and printed out all my artworks I have done throughout the years. The art I have presented are digital drawings, sketches, and paintings. They’re all original work that I am very proud of.

I believe I was successful because it shows a headshot of myself and with an environmental background. However, looking at the photo now I think I could have done a lot better.

For instance, instead of my art hanging on a wall, I could have placed myself in an art studio with my work surrounding me. The background is very simple but it doesn’t seem like a great environmental portrait.

On a small island, isolated from the world, lived a village. In between the mountains, a temple laid home to pandas. Living in peace with one another, it was a perfect environment. But one day, a fox appeared. The pandas took him in and treated him as their own.

As years past, the fox realized he wasn’t like them. His orange and black fur seemed different that the pandas black and white complexion. Filled with self-loss, the fox went out to search for his family.

Year after year, he walked through the forest looking for at least one person. It seemed as if all hope was lost. With nothing but himself and the quite whispers from the trees, he laid on the ground, silently crying himself to sleep.

The next day, he caught a glimpse of light. He saw visuals of orange and white, ones matching his fur. He walked into the light and was met with old village. Tears of joy dripped down on his face. The family he was looking for was standing right in front of him.

I LOVED this assignment! Personally, drawing it my favorite hobby and I’m glad I was able to do an activity like this during class. It was not frustrating at all. I find drawing to be very soothing and calming. It helps me to relax. Would I do it again? Of course!

My 6 drawings include 2 cups, 2 people, and 2 trees. My first cup is my hydro flask that I normally bring to class, whereas the second cup is a ceramic cup I have in my room. With my two “persons,” I drew my own hand holding the ceramic cup, and my brother. Lastly, the two trees are my favorite: a banyan and palm tree. I did all my drawings on my ipad using Procreate.

If I practiced for 100 or 1000 hours I would for sure get better at it. Practice does help and if I were to draw everyday I would find little errors to improve on. During my next drawing I would most likely change what I did wrong to be better.

My major is Business Marketing and I want be in Advertising. In my future career drawing and art is very important as I will be coming up with new ideas for the brand I will be working with. In order to get my ideas across a drawing or diagram is highly helpful!

In my video I was going for a travel log diary type of video. I’m not a big fan of blogs so me speaking in a video and saying what I’m actually doing doesn’t seem normal for me. At first, while creating my video I did put a little of my voice but while editing it I didn’t like how it went into my video. I really didn’t like the whole sound and the way it flowed. With the video that I uploaded I am very happy with it.

I did accomplish what I was going for but I am not so sure if I did the assignment correctly. I finished my video during spring break and knew I needed to make a video. However, I didn’t read the requirements thoroughly. I’m not so sure if my video is okay since it doesn’t involve me speaking.

What I would do differently is actually add my voice and a little snippet of myself in it. I like to take photos and little videos but my family doesn’t, so it would be hard for me to get actual footage of myself.

Personally, I would do this again since I had fun making the video. It was kinda stressful putting all the footage together and making it work frame by frame. None the less, I loved this assignment! 

Artist: Stevan Dupus
Exhibition: Queery
Gallery: Gatov East Gallery
Website: StevanDupasArts.com
Instagram: n/a

Stevan Dupus, an undergraduate student fulfilling his degree in the MFA Studio Arts program, has made buzzing noise in the LGBT community here at California State Long Beach. Originally from San Diego he commutes daily to Long Beach solely for his education. Dupus is very passionate in his identity and wants the share his viewpoint to the world.

Presented in the Gatov Gallery, seven pieces originally created by him are presented: Robin’s Egg Blue, U-Haul, Last Labrys, Glitter Is The Herpes Of The Gay Community, Flaggots, Dragging You Out For A Night Cap, and Friends Of Dorthy.  Each art work beautifully presents the gay community in an intimate way. Out of the seven pieces Last Labrys was my favorite. In my own eyes, this painting explicitly shows a daytime bar/cafe filled with men and women. This painting in particular was different that the rest of his artworks: it didn’t involve glitter and very colorful stripes. This painting was the only one with a daytime setting, and the colors are muted with green being the overpowering color. 

Back in the 80s, Dupus worked for a gay bar and lived in San Diego majority of his life. His paintings showcase his experience of being in the environment he grown up in: bars. He wanted his paintings to consume the audience and make them feel like they are a part of the scene. For instance: his use of glitter. It wasn’t by accident, merely a work of art! At first, the only painting that had glitter was on a person with drag makeup. Later he incorporated into two other painting. They’re like a shield, separating people or it can bring someone in and look a little bit deeper. Through all of his paintings there are little symbols and codes that only someone from the LGBT community can understand. For instance, there are various pride flags presented in majority of his paintings, bear paw prints, a lipstick print representing lesbians, and code dorthy. Dupes wanted to showcase the decreasing amount of gay bars in California. Connecting to my favorite piece, it is actually the last lesbian gay bar open in California. Dupus wanted to being awareness to this news as bars have an impactful and special meaning in his life. 

Myself, not being a part of this community had some insight into what an LGBT person experiences. I cannot say I truly understand, but I simply have an awareness and soft spot for it. I was not aware of the many symbols are associated with the LGBT community. Talking to Dupus had gotten me interested in researching the whole history as it dates back to centuries.

This assignment was a bit difficult for me. I always thought the idea of graffiti was cool but never got the chance to actually do it. In class we were told to go to Venice art walls but I didn’t have the time nor money to get an uber and travel there. Instead I went to home depot and bought two colors of spray paint and a packaging box I used as my canvas.

Graffiti, at first, did seem simple to me as it was just putting down paint onto a canvas. However, I found it difficult to use the nozzle. I couldn’t control the size of what I wanted my lines to be.

The piece I made is a part of my name in white with a beige outline. I didn’t want to write my whole name because I though the “S’s” look weird. I kept it simply to “Aly.D.” It was very difficult to make the piece exactly how I wanted due to the nozzle size. I wanted the outline to be a little thinner but I didn’t know how to do so. I first spray painted the inside of the letters then worked my way outside. When I grabbed the second color I didn’t realize how the colors will mix into each other because my white paint wasn’t dry. Also, I added too much paint and it started dripping. I then waited a couple minutes for it to try and tried to fix it up. In my attempt to make graffiti art it didn’t work out so well in my opinion.

Compared to other graffiti pieces I know my piece isn’t great but it is a great first start. Perhaps if I had a bigger canvas I would have done better. With graffiti I had to work quickly because if I didn’t the paint will layer on top of each other and will be much more difficult to dry. Overall, my experience was great as I was trying something new for the first time. I would do this again as I know better on how to use the nozzle on the can.

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Life as a Creative Director

Being a creative director is my top dream and aspiration. For a long time, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in the future. I wanted a career that would allow me to show my creative side and I believe that being a creative director is the perfect job. It’s very difficult to get this job as it is very competitive and will take a lot of experience. During the summer of my first year of college, I plan to intern at a company back at home. I plan to work with media advertisement. While studying Marketing in college I will also minor in graphic design while also looking for a job in print companies. I will then create my own website featuring my artwork by the time I graduate. This will showcase my experience and allow other companies to look at my work easier. I will most likely begin with a low paying job, but I plan to rise to the top and finally become a creative director. This will probably be until I have kids, but this future is worth waiting for. Drawing designs for other companies and planning out all of their media, also with the knowledge to understand their target audience is what I would love to do in the future.

Life as a Marketer

At CSULB I am majoring in marketing and it makes sense that I become a marker. I plan to intern at a company and completely understand how this job works. While working for my bachelorette degree I plan to get a part-time job. Four years later I will eventually get my graduate degree to obtain a higher paying job. I have some connections in this career as some of my uncles are working for companies as marketers. They can help me jumpstart my career and eventually I will do things on my own. Becoming a marketer is alright. I do enjoy talking about what I’m passionate in and also love coming up with new ideas around the block. This job may not be very stable, I understand that. However, the excitement of coming up and always bring new ideas to the table seems like a life I would enjoy.

Life as a Nurse

A lot of my relatives are in the medical field and it wouldn’t be that difficult for me to obtain a job at a hospital due to the connections I have. My parents originally wanted me to become a nurse. If my life as a Creative Director or Marketer doesn’t work out I will start my medical school and become a nurse. This life is very stable and makes a lot of money for me to survive on my own without my parents always worrying about me. For this life, I will most likely move back to my hometown, Hawaii and work at Queens Hospital as a registered nurse aiding for patients. Although this isn’t the life I would particularly enjoy doing my whole life, I am very contempt with it if all else fails.

Through a detailed contemplation of my future, I have concluded to these three options. With whatever path I take, I know I can be successful if I choose to spend my time while in college wisely.