Before the critiques even start, I would first like to admit that I do not have any natural artistic abilities.  (So please keep that in mind as you explore the site.)  Throughout the semester, it was unclear to my instructor and classmates as to what my “artistic voice” was and what I was doing to find it.  And looking back, I realized that I knew what my voice was the whole time; I was just unsure of how to present it for the assigned projects in a way that I showed understanding of the objective and idea.  On my free time away from work and science, something that I love to do is scrapbook.  I really enjoy taking a memory or feeling and finding single words, quotes, pictures and objects to represent it.  This is the one way I know how to be creative.  For each individual project there is a small explanation offered which may help in understanding the project and how I tried to apply my skills in accomplishing the task.

This class achieved one of its purposes to be a real eye opener to new media for myself.  My relationship to the “new media” changed drastically throughout the semester, mostly because I never had a relation with it ever before.  I have always been content on the outside not really understanding the technologies and what they entail.  I come out of Theater 216: Introduction to Visual Interpretation with a much deeper appreciation for the everyday art that surrounds us.  Everything from magazine covers to billboards, and TV commercials to Hollywood produced movies have been digitally reformed thanks to the new generation of technology.  Along with the saying “Don’t believe everything you read,” now I will be able to look at things with a different, more critical eye, not believing everything I see.  After this class, it was clear to me how easily manipulated images can be and I was able to learn a few of the tricks that artists can use to make a realistic picture of an event or scene that never actually happened.  As technology progresses, it will become easier and easier for artists to deceive the audience visually and to challenge the critic. 

Theater 216 has also altered the way in which I watch movies.  Before, I would watch a movie for the storyline, or actors and actresses, but now I have a new understanding and admiration for the kind of detailed and involved work that goes into making films.  I cannot even image the hours that directors/producers spend in perfecting the movie and how each little detail is taken into account while filming.  The technology available to amateur college students is enough to surprise me, I cannot begin to image the kind of software that the big boys play with.

To conclude this brief statement on my relationship to new media, I would like to media events required for the class.  We were able to choose any art gallery or event pertaining to new media and were asked to reflect on it.  The first I chose was an online art gallery, which that in itself says a lot about the way we are able to view art and the new universalism of it.  People from all over the world can be viewing the same original work of art from their own computer chairs which is a profound statement of our new technological society.  The second event I attended was a students art gallery, to which the first place prize was awarded to a DVD.  On the gallery wall there stood a small flat screen TV, which was hooked up to a DVD player.  Art is no longer just a painting on a wall.  It is all around us in every shape and form digitally mastered ready to be watched.

Please enjoy my scrapbook pages of the semester…