Final Project

I’m finished!!!!…… Sorta. It feels strange to say that because the final project I undertook was so massive that really, I could never completely finish it in the time allotted. It’s a work in progress and it’s difficult for me to hand in something that is a work in progress, but at the same time it feels good to be able to close the laptop for a day or so and get on with other things in my life (sadly, like working). The process was very laborious and often, at times, tedious. My wrists and back are killing me and I can’t wait to get outside and enjoy the warm weather!

The Project

So, I decided to create a virtual museum as my final project. I really wanted to use an online software program, but I truly couldn’t find anything fitting. Most online software that is free allows one to create a virtual tour that is almost like a photo album. I really wanted to have something 3-D and I wanted the appearance of walking through an actual museum. I found an example that I loved and is actual a museum that I spent a lot of time in when I lived in Amsterdam. Van Gogh’s Van Goghs: Masterpieces from the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam is an excellent example that uses a 2-D floor plan that allows the visitor to cruise around a 3-D room and click on images (paintings) that when clicked on, enlarge and give more detailed information. There are other great virtual museums online, but I tend to find them difficult to navigate through and just learning how to get through the museum often takes up more time than seeing the works. So, I decided to mimic the look of the Van Gogh Virtual Museum, but since the software was limited, I chose to use PowerPoint. This was one of the only ways I could go due to limited software and limited funds to purchase any software and it may have been a bad choice in terms of accomplishing what I envisioned. I think if I were to create a virtual museum again, I would take the time to learn a program that really allows me to develop my vision. I wanted to apply my background of architecture to building the actual 3-D rooms, but in PowerPoint, it was a long and arduous process. The program itself is actually quite easy to learn and having no previous experience using it, I am pleased with how quickly I picked up on the procedures.

I really wanted to showcase artists who are practicing in my home town of North Bay. There are so many great artists in the community and it was a real opportunity for me to learn more about what has been going on since I moved away in 2000. Two of the artists featured are former teachers of mine and it amazes me how interesting and complex their work is. As the project is a work in progress, I have only fully developed the room of one of the artists. I used hyperlinking between slides to allow the visitor to move easily through the museum and also to connect with other sites on the internet that will provide more information. Ideally, I would include this information right in the museum (for now, in PowerPoint and hopefully, in the future, online using different software). Likewise, in the future, I would really like to further develop a museum such as this to include biographical information on each artist, information on the community in which the artists live, links to community sites, links to artists webpages and blogs, a museum blog, a teacher section in which lesson plans for each of the artists or each of the artists’ works could be implemented, podcasts, videos, news updates, among many other things. There is so much that can be done to a virtual museum and there are so many educational benefits to having such a tool online for others to use and learn from. I also believe that creating my own museum, whether on PowerPoint or any other program, will be extremely useful and applicable in my own classroom (hopefully a visual art classroom) in the future.

The benefits to this project far outweigh the tediousness and frustrations that such an endeavour proposed. I wish I had more time and different software to further develop my virtual museum. It’s a great springboard to curating online and I can’t wait to delve deeper into a program that will allow me to fully realize my vision.

50 Ways to Tell a Story

I created this movie using xtranormal. It’s called When Kahlo Met Toulouse.

I actually really enjoyed making it. I got to revisit my French skills, as well as learn a new skill of movie making. It was a really simple process, but took some time to get the right look with camera angles and movements of the actors. I think it’s a great beginner program to help people new to digital technology understand how to create movies using different software.

I hope you enjoy this little film. It’s based on the lives of my cat and dog. They are truly in love and constantly make my laugh!

iTunes Podcast

What’s a podcast?

It’s all new to me.  But already I really like them. They’re like watching teev or listening to the radio, but you get to choose what you want to watch or hear. You might even learn something. Like I did from Tara Stiles. Watch her podcast on iTunes. She’s all about yoga.

I was really into her podcast Handstands Everywhere. It totally reminds me of myself. I’ve even got a picture of myself doing a handstand on the streets of New York in front of the MET. Totally LC. Totally brings me back to my years as a gymnast. And it totally comes in handy when trying to master the art of yoga. Here’s a really good podcast for all you with Facecrack issues: Yoga for Facebook Addicts. Get doing some yoga before you develop kyphosis!

And drink lots of water. Mmmmmmmm.

Tech Tasks, Final Project, Social Learning and My Complete and Total Meltdown…

My computer is too slow. Since I’ve been home I’ve had the luxury of using my sister’s or my mum’s computer to accomplish all my class tasks. My computer is a senior citizen in the world of computers and her walking aids seem to all be broken. Get my computer a wheelchair already! I’m working on my final project on PowerPoint and it’s giving me such a headache just because it takes about thirty seconds to activate anything I click on. I’m going to take a break now and start working on my Pecha Kucha project. Well, I was going to until I started trying to view the examples of others and my computer decided not to play any of them. This is so frustrating as my mum’s husband just spent three days cleaning everything off my computer to make it run faster. Argh! I’m starting to save for a Mac right NOW!

Social networking has not been going well for me. I do read my classmates blogs a few times a week, but with all the time mentoring was taking up, I really didn’t comment on anyone else’s work. I really should have because I know how important it is to feel like someone is actually taking a look and appreciating what you have to say. I have to give shouts out to Larissa though, who was excellent at writing frequently on her blog, commenting on other’s blogs, and commenting on my own blog (she always has a way of making me feel loved!). Perhaps when the class winds down I can start to take a look at what everyone else had to say throughout the course. A little late, but better than not at all!

So writing this entry was a means to keep me from a total meltdown. I’ve already had a crying fit today that was unrelated to the course work, but nevertheless, I’d like to keep those at bay if possible. I’m going back to work on my tech tasks and hopefully my computer will be less of a jerk as I do so.

Technology in my Future Classroom

I have been so naive to believe that since I will (hopefully) someday become a visual art teacher, I won’t need to know how to incorporate electronic and computer technology into my classroom. I have been stuck in an old school way of thinking for far too long. The further I move along in this course, the more I realize how important it is to understand current technology and how vital it is to incorporate this technology into the classroom setting- not only for myself as teacher, but also for the students. I keep looking back on my high school education and my experience in visual art and the fact that my teachers only stuck to the mainstream media within the subject-painting, sculpture, drawing- and rarely learned or experimented with any other technique or media. I didn’t even get experience with photography and I went to an “art school”. Granted, I was in high school before computers became as important and popular as they are now and no one had cell phones or even cameras, but I still feel a little ripped off. So, it’s not something I plan on doing to any students I may have. Computers have expanded the realm of the arts exponentially and to not use them would be a disservice to any student. In my own studies, I would have loved to have had access to the Internet to research topics and gain ideas for my own works. That is something I will strongly encourage my students to do- research for both written and visual arts projects online. As well, I would really like to get some more experience with digital photography and film in order to use it in the classroom. I bought my first digital camera a few months ago and plan on spending some time this summer learning how to use different software programs that someday I will impliment into my classroom. My first degree is in art history and architecture and both subjects have gained so much from the advance of technology. Right now I am creating a virtual museum in PowerPoint and hope that this will form a basis of knowledge in which I will later learn how to create a virtual museum in more advanced programs and maybe even publish online. The knowledge that I am currently acquiring would have been so been so beneficial to have when studying art history. I have become a curator from the comfort of my own desk at home! As I will likely incorporate a major art history component in my future classroom, using such technology to create virtual museums will be extremely rewarding for the students and it can even help them plan their own student shows. Likewise, for me as a student in high school, it would have been so helpful to have had some experience with AutoCad before entering into my degree in architecture and I would love to spend the time to fully learn Cad programs, among other design programs, in order to teach them in the classroom. Too many students aren’t given the opportunity to experience subjects such as architecture and the exposure to such software and technology will allow students to develop artistically in realms that are beyond the traditional academic or arts based programming in schools across Canada.
Digital art has become an extremely important form of visual expression over the past years and understanding computer graphics software, digital photography technology and computer assisted painting to create art is essential and I will hope to use them in my visual art classroom.
There are so many ways that I hope to use technology in my future classroom. There are so many benefits to using technology that this post could go on and on. Of course, I do plan on striking a balance between traditional media and the new computer-based technology and hope that the combination will serve my future students well!

Fun With Friends

I’ve been meaning to explain the story behind this post. Well, I suppose it’s pretty self explanatory. I’m selling myself. In four slides. My love for pets was born the same day as I was and it continues to grow all the time. My current best friends are Kahlo and Toulouse. Both were dirty, smelly, almost-dead babies living on the mean and hot streets of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Both were rescued and ended up in my loving care. Now I can’t go anywhere without them. These two have flown more than some people and have seen three cities and two continents in their short lives. They have super adaptability capabilities (this should be a superpower cause it’s something I certainly don’t have and admire anyone who does- animal or human) and are just happy and grateful to be alive. How could one not love these two? Or other pets like them, for that matter.
Oh, best friends.

Elizabeth Gilbert on TED: My New Hero

I just finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert about a month ago. I have to say it was one of the most influential books I’ve read in a long time. It also came at an extremely important point of transition in my life. Like Elizabeth had, I find myself unaccepting of the life I have created for myself and want more. I need more. And through her words I have understood that the only way to get more of what I want in my life is to make change. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” Mahatma Gandhi.
Elizabeth Gilbert talks about nurturing creativity and the assumptions of creative people that they must live in eternal anguish due to fear of failure. She questions whether this is acceptable. I have to admit it’s something I have always felt. Elizabeth discusses the social constructs throughout history that explain why artists have felt this anguish. Up until the Renaissance, people believed that creativity came from an external source, a divine power, something greater than the individual- the Greeks believed in daemons and the Romans in genius (genius being a divine power). It wasn’t until the Renaissance that the idea of genius as an individual, something a person could be, rather than have, came into existence. And in the last 500 years since this idea became mainstream artists have felt the pressure to be the genius. However, Elizabeth discusses the idea that if we, as artists, believe that our creativity comes from another source, as if on loan, then we release the pressure that is put on us to create the ultimate every time we create a work. She advises that we not be afraid, but rather just show up and do our dance. And to keep showing up. Allow the creativity to come or go, but always keep pushing because it will come.
I think this is great advice for my life and my work as an artist and will-be teacher. I think it’s great advice for anyone. Just keep showing up and doing it. Living life. Don’t let the pressure get you down. Don’t give up. The more you give, the more you will get out of life.

Digital I.D.

So I googled my name. Yes, I’ve done it before. Yes, I’ve googled others before, too. Is that cyberstalking? I don’t know. It seems ok. Sorta. Anyway, I’m pleased with the results. There is a musician called Leigh Cline who lives in Toronto and he happens to take up most of the ten pages I searched through (there are more). The only results for me that came up in all ten pages were my Facebook and Friendster pages. I never used Friendster (I just registered, added one person and never looked at the account again) and my Facebook privacy settings are pretty tight. I also googled myself with my middle name to see if anything would come up that way and there was nothing about me. That makes me happy, since I wouldn’t want others putting up photos of info about me that I don’t know about. However, I have seriously been considering how important a marketing tool the internet can be. Why not take advantage of it? I ultimately want to work in the arts and if I can market myself effectively as an artist or someone making a difference in the arts community, then I should. I’ve always thought of the internet as something I will only use for pleasure or personal use, but I think I need to shift that perspective and think of other ways in which I can become recognised.

Leigh’s New Perspective:

Internet= Good marketing tool when used correctly.

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern: Taiwan

Google Map of My Old Hood in Taiwan

Here is the Google Map I created on my neighbourhood in Taiwan and all the places I went on a weekly (or sometimes daily) basis. I miss my home in Kaohsiung!

View Larger Map