Week 14: Artist Conversation- Makable Palmer

DAWN

This final week I interviewed Makaila Palmer in the Gatov East and West Gallery and her art was not the only one in the gallery because art from other students were also showed at the gallery and the art gallery was titled “Transference”. Makaila is a student here at CSULB and is majoring in Drawing and Painting and is from Laguna Beach. She mentioned that she is a super senior because she is in her 6^th year. After graduating from CSULB she plans on opening her own studio so she can portray her art.

“DAY”

Makaila painted three paintings and named them Dawn, Day, and Dusk. She used an oil type of paint to do her artwork. She also used her favorite colors to draw her paintings. She said her paintings took three months to complete because the type of painting she wanted to compose consisted of 5 to 6 layers and she would have to make sure that the oil paint did not come off, she also said she spend at least 10 hours per week on her paintings.

Her message about her drawings was amazing and I am pretty sure everyone can relate. If you want to see more of her art work you can visit Makaila’ page: makailapalmer.com

“DUSK”

Week 14- Conversation with a Classmate:Jacquelin Tester and Rosanna Ramirez

Our classmate conversations, hanging out at the art galleries and having the chance to look at great art, and just hanging out and chatting has come to an end. I just want to say that this class has been the best class I have ever taken. Professor Glenn is an awesome professor and I hope to continue to stay in contact with him :). (Just look at how awesome his hair is… one of a kind. Now his hair is art hahah!)

Anyway this week I had the chance to interview an awesome pair of girls who I believe are George Estephan’s friends because they were all together. I might be mistaken but I just wanted to point that out in case any of you fellow classmates see them together. The first person I conversed with was Jacquelin Tester. Ms. Tester is 19 years old and is a pre nursing major. During her spare time she enjoys watching movies, listening to music, going to concerts, running but only once in a while because she does not always feel like running and the most interesting facts about her is that she has sky dived and she has also flown a plane which I believe are awesome because it takes a lot of courage to jump off a plane that is hundreds of feet off the ground and it also takes courage to fly a plane because she is risking her life and others as well. Either way I still think that is incredible and awesome. She loves photography, and I would say it is her passion because the way she stated her statement about loving to take photographs gave the impression that she truly enjoys it and loves it. Hansal Adams is her biggest influence as a photographer and as a person as well.

Lets start off going left to right. To the far left it is Jacquelin Tester, Rosanna Ramirez, then of course me, and lastly the lovely George Estephan at the right.

The second person I interviewed was Rosanna Ramirez. She is 19 years old and is an undeclared major although she is interested in film and studio art but as if right now, she is still unsure. An interesting fact about her that I found cool is that she has a twin. I think it is cool because I usually do not hear that often and her twin is also older than her by 2-3 minutes. Her hobbies include hanging out with friends, going to the beach, eating, spending time with family, playing the guitar, and going to Mexico. She really loves going to concerts that take place in Mexico and she also stated that she is planning her next concert, which she will be going alone. I think its awesome going to concerts out of the country but it also terrifies me personally because I often hear a lot of stories about people abducting young girls in Mexico, and I have to consider going to the border just to eat tacos. She has gone many other times to Mexico for concerts, so I am pretty sure she will have lots of fun and she will return back safely. She said that music is her favorite type of art because it has introduced her to new people and friends and it has also helped her express how she feels.

Week 13- Artist Conversation: Tyler Turett

This week’s artist conversation was with Tyler Turett. He is currently finishing his last semester at CSULB and he is passionate about animation. He first started his education at a Community College in drawing illustrations but he realized he was not all that excited and passionate about what he was doing. He then found what he enjoyed doing the most and later transferred to CSULB.

He has always admired Disney films, which are now his inspirations because he aims to create animations similar to those of Disney movies. Tyler knows that his work is not similar like the illustrations of Disney because they share different characters and Tyler portrays visual comedy, which makes his illustrations a bit different.

Tyler used to sketch his creations on paper trying to create something like a flipbook then he started using cintiqs instead of paper. He now uses cintqs because it is easier to use and it is less work because he is able to do multiple sketches without having to go through the process of transferring his final work.

Tyler started as in inter at Trip Tang and he is now an employee for them. Something that not all artists have the opportunity to do is to go on MTV show because like Tyler, because his work is amazing.

Week 13- Classmate Conversation: George Estephan

This week I had the chance to talk to George Estephan. I love meeting new classmates every week and chatting with them because you learn so much about a person’s life. It might not be a whole lot, or it might be simple facts but it is still fun and it is amazing what great goals and expectations people have for themselves. George is 19 years old and is a second year at CSULB and commutes to school because he lives in Downey. He is an undeclared major at the moment because he is not sure what he wants to study however he is figuring out if he wants to go into Communication or Fashion Design. George mentioned that if he does not continue to go to school at Long Beach State he will go to Cosmetology School because it is something he sees himself doing.

George enjoys playing billiards/pool, going to the beach with friends and hanging out, going to new restaurants and tasting different food, and going to the club. Something interesting I found out about George is that he works on his own music. With that being said he writes, produces, and records music which takes a lot of time and patients. George is working on a project and is soon going to release an album of his own titled “The Revelation” and the album is about everything George has opened his eyes about and major lessons he has learned throughout life. The topics his songs are about include love, shadiness/backstabbing, hate, religion, sex, social issues and other topics. In 10 years, George sees himself working in a profession that he truly enjoys and living a happy life because without these two major goals are more important than being married with kids because without happiness, nothing isn’t right. “My definition of art 13 weeks ago was any form of expression that you portray to people. I would say that my definition of now is pretty much the same, since I really have learned that art can be any form of expression, material, and any meaning.

Week 12 Activity- ePortfolio

For this activity we had to create our own ePortfolio. To do so we had to change our website to create a web page that showcases our aspirations, interests, or major goals. Something I am extremely passionate about are sports that have to do with water like water polo, swimming, surfing, kayaking, paddle boarding, and so on. I have also worked with mentally disabled, impaired communication and social interaction, and physically disabled kids by giving them swim lessons and therapy. I decided to turn my website to a blog/business site.

Working with mentally challenged children is an honor and it feels amazing working with them because most of the time they are in bed all day. I say it from experience because I use to work with them either by lifeguarding while they were in the pool or actually instructing them and after each lesson I would feel so proud because I helped them and made a change in their life. I would like to change my website’s appearance and add a bubble/ocean theme in the background and post pictures of the children who have made improvement and give them a reward. Not only pictures of children who have improved but all the children and their parents.

I want my website to serve parents who have disabled children because offering water therapy and swim lessons might be the only exercise they get and can help calm the children’s anxiety or nervous system. I will change the theme of my website later and I will actually continue to use this website later in my future.

Week 12: Conversation with Artist- Christopher Linquata

What’s up guys! This week I got to talk to Christopher Linquata at the Gatov-West Gallery. The name of his gallery was “Sacred and Profane.” Christopher and another artist had a joint gallery but unfortunately the other artist was not able to make it to the gallery. Chris is 38 years old and is majoring in Representational Drawing and Painting, finishing up his last semester.

I was surprised about how much time it took him to compose his art. Chris stated it took him 5-6 months to prepare and get everything together and in addition a few more months to do the actual paintings. What I really liked about his gallery was that his paintings were extremely big and very vivid. The setting of his paintings seemed familiar like Venice Beach or something because of the graffiti wall, but I asked Chris where the setting of his pictures took place and he said it was in Sunken City in San Pedro. Christopher said his paintings represent mythological and religious stories, but they are representational meaning they are subject to interpretation of the audience.

I really enjoyed walking through Christopher’s gallery because it had so much detail and expressed a message of joy and adventure. Christopher’s paintings remind me of times when I would hang out with my boyfriend and friend and friends at the beach just being goofy and having a good time. We were all practically beach bums this past summer and were their almost every weekend. Here is his Instagram link to check out more of his beautiful art work: https://www.instagram.com/icon5350/

Week 17: Conversation with Classmate- Kim Phan

Hello everyone, meet my buddy Kim Phan.

Kim is on her second year studying Health Science. She decided to major in Health Science because it is a bit more easier than Nursing. She mentioned that Nursing is a very difficult major and there aren’t many jobs except nursing, in contrast to Health Science, which have a variety of jobs and opens doors to other jobs like being a doctor or a pharmacist and many other jobs. She said she can get any job that is related to the medical field, and she does not have a preference at this moment, but that is the good thing about being a Health Science major because there will be endless opportunities. Ever since she was a little girl she always knew what she wanted to study and build a career in, and now that the intense, vivid doctor show came up, referring to  “Grey’s Anatomy”, has sparked a bigger interest in the subject she is studying. Kim does not have a job at this moment because her parents are lenient and supply her with everything she needs, as long as she goes to school and gets good grades. I can relate to that because at the beginning of my first semester in college, my parents said the same thing but I also have an older sister that goes to college as well “JenRod” and I knew there were just too many expenses to cover, so I decided to find a part time job that eventually turned into a full-time job and it has saved my life by paying house bills and paying off my expenses. Anyway this is not about me its about Kim, so lets get back on track. Kim is the youngest of 3 siblings, 2 older brothers and one older sister. Kim hates hiking because the first time she hiked, was a 10 mile hike with converse shoes, and if there are any hikers out there, you guys would know in how much pain her feet were in, but on the other hand she loves traveling and eating at new restaurants almost every day because she does not like eating at a restaurant twice. So if any of you guys want to try out a new restaurant, make sure you check with Kim first because I am pretty sure she knows almost all the restaurants around campus or in West Minister because that is her hometown, which is not too far from CSULB.

And as for the questions of the week: What color calms you and what color activates you? Kim said that green and blue calm her because green is the color of mother nature and the grass and trees. All of these elements are green which makes her want to lay on the grass and just relax as well as for blue because the sky is blue and when she lays on the grass and looks up at the blue sky, she feels calm and very relaxed. She said that the color pink activates her because she feels girly, happy and makes her want to go shopping which I totally agree with. Neon colors also activate her because it reminds her of dancing at music festivals which she also loves. Hope you guys enjoyed learning a few facts about Kim and make sure you talk to her before the semester ends.

Week 11 Activity- LBG Extra Credit

When there is an activity to do in Professor’s Glenn class, the little gang as in “Calexico”, “JenRod” and me (Stef) all go together because it is way funner to do it as a group than alone. So after I was finished with my first shift, working on campus we all decided to go on a little geocaching scavenger hunt. We were all excited because this was our first time doing an activity like this. So the first geocache we found belonged to Professor Glenn. It was a bit confusing and hard because Jen’s phone kept redirecting us and I tried using my phone and it was doing the same thing. Finding the first geocache only triggered a feeling of excitement and determination to find many more.

If we thought the first geocaching was challenging, the second one was super challenging because the coordinates were listed wrong. We did not know that until “JenRod” clicked on the “more details” link on the app and she read on the comments below that other people had posted. We were searching at the parking lot near Merriam Way which is across from the blue pyramid, but we later found out that it was actually inside the parking structure down Merriam Way to the left hand side. Because we all know how hectic it is to walk around campus and the heat on Friday noon was a bit heavy, we just drove there, got out and looked for it. “Calexico” was the one who found this geocache. We were all pumped and ready to find as many as we could.

For our third geocache we searched for one called “CSU- ET”. I know where the ET building is on campus and I assumed it would be near or inside that building but the map indicated that it was hidden under the pyramid. People posted pictures of the location and how it was suppose to look like. It was a black box, looking like a “key” box but unfortunately we never found it. We spend over half an hour searching for it and I had faith we were going to find it because we had luck with the first two but we did not have luck for this third one. Although we did not find it, I thought I should still record it for proof.

We (Calexico and I) still felt motivated to continue with the search but “JenRod” on the other hand took a seat under the pyramid because she was upset and disappointed because we couldn’t find another geocache. “Calexico” and I were off to the side doing dumb stuff as always, and as were standing and talking we hear Jen say something and yell. She claimed she had found another geocache and as she reached down to pick it up “Calexico” and I ran towards her. Indeed, it was another geocache and this one was not the one we were looking for before because it was named differently. The one we could not find was called “CSU-ET” and the one Jen found was named “Money Box” which belonged to one of our classmate named Calvin Ho Nguyen. Just as we were all ready to give up, Jen found one and the moral of this activity is “NEVER GIVE UP”, and it does not only apply to this activity but we should also apply it to our personal life.

We were all a bit tired from the searching of geocaches so we went back to the app to check if there was another geocache near us and luckily there was. It was named “Long Beach Computer Science Building” and it was near the engineering building in the science building which required us to walk a little so we just decided to drive there because Jen had somewhere to be. We read the “About”, “Activity”, and “Waypoints” so that we can get a better location of where the geocache would be placed. After reading and gathering some hints we knew where it would be so we all walked there. Sadly the geocache was already removed and a lot of other people had written the same thing in the app. We came to the conclusion that the geocache was taken by someone else because it said “xoxo” so we just called it a day and went back to “Calexico’s” dorm because she was going to get her stuff so she can sleepover our home. This has been an eventful week and hope to get many more. After all, we only have 5 weeks left of school which means our time with the best professor is coming to an end (SIKE), we will still visit hm and bug him. TOODLES! 

Week 11: Conversation with Artist- Kathy Yoon

Kathy Yoon’s gallery was titled “So Many Me’s” located in the Gatov East Gallery. Kathy is a Ceramics major and she has been in the ceramics department for 3 years and is currently a senior at Cal State Long Beach. Sadly, she did not take ceramics during high school because it was not offered, it was in college when she discovered ceramics. She was originally going to  major in math but after her first couple of years in community college she felt that it was not what she really wanted to do.

As some of my classmates have mentioned, the work of Kathy reminded me of the movie of The Nightmare Before Christmas but the her art work was more captivating than the movie. Kathy says that all the characters that were in the gallery reflect her different moods and each character is a different memory and time in her life as well as a different mood from happiness to sadness to even anger. Each of Kathy’s art pieces took about 2 to 3 weeks to compose. She used two different colors of clay (red and white), and stripped coil.

It would be common for the audience to think that Kathy’s art pieces were always captivating and capture so much emotion, but she actually started making animal figures however she was not satisfied with what she had been composing because she did not feel the direct connection between her and her artwork. I enjoyed visiting Kathy’s gallery because she conveyed her meaning and emotions through her art and it gives me the chills when I can feel what the artist was feeling while composing her artwork. 

If you want to check our more art work by Kathy you can always follow her on Instagram: Kathy.C.Yoon

Week 11 Activity- Fiber Art

Hello guys. So this activity was not as simple as it seemed because for one I do not know how to embroid and it was also time consuming because it was my first time. My mom does a lot of embroidery while she watches her “novela” and drinks her cup of tea or coffee. I asked her if she can teach me how to embroid and she was surprised and confused at the same time because she knows I do not have time for small hobbies or pastimes because I am either working or doing homework, I then explained it was for an activity for my art class assignment. She did not have any plain white cloths, all she had was a white cloth with blue embroidery on the edges that she had done. I used four different colors to do a flower and the more colors that are used, the more difficult it gets. I used pink for the leaves and part of the steam, green for the seam, yellow for the middle of the flower and black for outlining parts of the flower. It was a bit confusing at first but as I did more of it, it was starting to become easy and I would commit less errors.

My parents try to be resourceful and put things together that will be necessary in our home like a tortilla holder hahaha sounds funny or pathetic but a tortilla holder is essential in a hispanic home. I embroided flowers onto the piece of cloth so that it won’t be so plain and boring, and when guest come over to our home, they actually acknowledge embroidery because it can be hard and it is something cultural. I actually learned that not everything needs to be purchased at a store, you can make it out of your own hands but many people like myself who do not have free time will prefer to go to the store and buy it. I think it was a pretty successful intent because the results came out as I wanted them to come, and it is actually not that hard it simply demands for dedication and time, like any other art. I think the idea of Fiber Art is unique and will always be viewed as a women’s hobby or even profession but I think it shouldn’t be viewed that way because many people regardless of gender can compose a Fiber Art. People mainly view it as a women’s “thing” because Fiber Art increased during the ear of War World II and that idea remained in many people’s thoughts and beliefs which I think is not right because activities should not be labeled only for a male or a female.