Idea - Body Language

"Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, which consists of body posture, gestures, facial expressions, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals subconsciously.

John Borg attests that human communication consists of 93 percent body language and paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves; however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings.  Others assert that "Research has suggested that between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior."

Body language may provide clues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For example, it may indicate aggression, attentiveness, boredom, relaxed state, pleasure, amusement, and intoxication, among many other cues."

Definition from wikipedia.org

“When a frightening event occurs, there might not be time to look for the fearful contortions in an individual’s face, but a quick glance at the body may tell us all we need to know.”

“Human and non-human primates are especially sensitive to the gestural signals made by other primates, and use these signals as guides for their own behaviour.  Fearful faces signal a threat, but do not provide information about either the source of the threat or the best way to deal with it.”

De Gelder, Beatrice. "Towards the neurobiology of emotional body language."

     Nature Reviews Neuroscience 7.3 (2006): 242-249. Academic Search

     Complete. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.

Abstract from above article:

 “People’s faces show fear in many different circumstances.  However, when people are terrified, as well as showing emotion, they run for cover.  When we see a bodily expression of emotion, we immediately know what specific action is associated with a particular emotion, leaving little need for interpretation of the signal, as is the case for facial expressions.  Research on emotional body language is rapidly emerging as a new field in cognitive and affective neuroscience.  This article reviews how whole-body signals are automatically perceived and understood, and their role in emotional communication and decision-making.”

other helpful websites:

http://changingminds.org/techniques/body/body_language.htm

http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/psychology/body-language/body-gestures.asp

http://www.usingenglish.com/articles/speak-english-with-body-language.html

http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Van_Marwijk.html

The idea of body language became of interest to me after being introduced to Laurence Demaison's work.  Since all of her work is composed of distorted and abstracted self portraits, her body plays the most important role in each photograph.  As I stated before, her pictures are beautiful, sad, frightening, etc., all depending on the composition and lighting effect.  If effective enough, portraying a certain emotion through body language could potentially also affect the viewer, which is what I hope to get across.  I have been experimenting with long exposure self portraits including objects with history, and am continuing to look back to my Concepts project from a few years ago with the different situations, text, and mirrors. 

http://www.positivepersonality.blogspot.com/

Artist - Laurence Demaison

http://www.laurencedemaison.com

Galerie Esther Woerdehoff

http://www.ewgalerie.com/

REVIEW OF WORK

http://www.galeriebmg.com/revdemaison.html

BIOGRAPHY

These wonderfully quirky and artful photographs are not made with digital tricks. Laurence Demaison plays — delightfully — with film photography and with the idea of photography. Taking full advantage of showing what the camera sees (sometimes over long periods of exposure) compared to what the human eye cannot or does not see, she pre-visualizes each photograph up to a certain degree, and then lets chance and intuitive performance intervene.

As a result, her photographs seem to bend light and time, distort the appearance of her own human body, and hold secret coded messages in their multiple reflections, refractions, visual repetitions, and semaphore-like gestures that become smears of light in darkness.

Her technical virtuosity leads us to art that revels in the extremes of visual  perception. Demaison’s photographs remind me of the distortions of Kertesz, the inventive playfulness of Man Ray and Moholy-Nagy, and the multiple perspectives of the Cubists — but her work is clearly her own.

-Jim Casper, lensculture.com

QUOTES

“Through the various series, she tries out the means which photography offers to dissimulate, to transform, to deteriorate her own image. There is in her work, a sensitive and singular course, almost obsessional. And her steps are perhaps a lucid and reflected search for identity whose complexity is only a sequence of questions, which Laurence Demaison is asking herself. She maintains an attraction-repulsion to her own body, which generates a strange fascination in the spectator. “

From a Press release, by Robert Delpire

http://www.ewgalerie.com/+TEXTS/PRESSE/Demaison_en.pdf

“The Indian saint Ramana Maharshi achieved enlightenment by asking “Who am I?” over and over. Demaison asks the same question, but not in words. Meanwhile, her body changes and ages. Her photographs become a journal of inquiry.”

Sparrow. "Damsel in Distress." Chronogram Magazine. Luminary Publishing Inc., 30

     Apr. 2009. Web. 8 Feb. 2011.

Originally, Demaison worked with a model, but she eventually began taking photos only of herself, partly to limit expenses. "She doesn't feel that they're self-portraits at all," notes Bernard Gerson, director of Galerie BMG. "They're not about her. She's using the reflecting and distorting qualities of the water or the glossy paper to make phantoms, ghosts of herself. She disappears from the image."

Sparrow. "Damsel in Distress." Chronogram Magazine. Luminary Publishing Inc., 30

     Apr. 2009. Web. 8 Feb. 2011.

The complexity and ambiguity of Laurence Demaison's work intrigues me.  Her work is made up of self portraits, all of which her identity is stripped.  She tells stories, evokes emotion, and forms an image of a being that is distorted, beautiful, repulsed, praised, and everything in between.  She has the ability to make many out of one form, which is an idea I would like to continue with.  A lot of the ideas that I wish to work with are personal, and yet I have not been able to find a way to make it objective.  Demaison has successfully removed her personal identity from her work, while still allowing her ideas to flow through. Some of her work is beautiful, while other pieces are frightful, and evocative. I would like to experiment with creating images in a way that Demaison does, and possibly solidifying them on metal to tell a story that what has been done cannot be changed, yet all emotions and events create the being that you are today.

Aqua bon – 2006-2007

Images seules

43 x 58 cm

Saute d’humeur, la sequence – 2004

4 x 20 x 30 cm

Petites bulles - 1998

Series of 16 images

16 x 8 x 8 cm

Les eautres - 1998

90 images

8 x 9.5 cm

Idea - Photographs in Enamel

ARTICLE

James Doran’s article discusses the emergence of the enamel process in the middle of the nineteenth century, and how it was quickly replaced by snapshot cameras and prints on paper. He explains the invention of the process and also how to make the prints.

Doran, James. "Fused Photographs in Enamel." Glass on Metal. Thompson Enamel

     Inc., Apr. 1994. Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://www.glass-on-metal.com/

     pastart/photographic-doran.htm>.

QUOTES 

“Then, as if to answer some Bourgeois cry for enamel miniatures, a process emerged whereby photographic portraits of loved ones could be immortalized in enamel.  These were not fuzzy reproductions like those seen in old newspapers, but were exquisitely detailed, subtly shaded, genuine photographic prints fused permanently onto enamel (or onto porcelain and glass, for that matter).”

Doran, James. "Fused Photographs in Enamel." Glass on Metal. Thompson Enamel

     Inc., Apr. 1994. Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://www.glass-on-metal.com/

     pastart/photographic-doran.htm>.

“Thousands of portraits on enamel for home viewing were made well into the beginning of the previous century. Perhaps 99% of the enamel photographs made today are displayed as memorials on cemetery monuments.”

"Enamel Photography." Enamellers - Beschrijving van diverse technieken. N.p.,

     1985. Web. 6 Feb. 2011. <http://www.enamellers.nl/

     tech42.php?a=enamel_photography>.

Sealing photographs in enamel is yet another way of solidifying an image.  It seems as if this technique requires a more exact concentration on each step than photo etching does.  After researching the topic, I have found that I am currently more interested in the photo etching.  This process is a more exact representation of the photograph, it is just covered with a solid case.  Although, I am intrigued by the idea that these photographs that are made today are mainly used as memorials on cemetery monuments, especially since I have been working with old family photographs.  Yet, I still really like the idea of the process of etched metal, although I would still like to experiment in order to get an actual, educated opinion.

http://www.enamellers.nl/tech42.php?a=enamel_photography

Artist - Eleanor Moty

Eleanor Moty does not seem to have her own personal homepage, but her work can be found on:

http://www.artfulhome.com/artist/Eleanor-Moty/527

Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery

http://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=35120

BIOGRAPHY

"Moty was drawn to jewelry and metalsmithing as an undergraduate student at University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana. She was particularly interested in electroplating and photoetching. While at University of Illinois, Moty became acquainted with an expert technician in photoetching that worked in a well-equipped engineering lab. Moty worked with this equipment to produce high-quality photoetched plates and combined it with her electroformed and fabricated pieces. Eleanor Moty is noted for bringing the photoetching process into the metalsmithing field and integrating the process into her work. During her graduate education at Tyler School of Art she researched and developed photoetching equipment for the studio. Her first major electroformed and photoetched piece was shown in the Goldsmith 70 exhibition at the Minnesota Museum of Art. This research and development of the photoetching process was the basis of her entire professional development. Moty found a new direction for her work and uses rutilated quartz as a focus for her pieces.

Moty is the recipient of numerous grants and in 1975 the National Endowment for the Arts Craftsman Fellowship. She is published in several publications and has lectured on photoetching and her work. Moty is a distinguished member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the American Craft Association. Her exhibition record includes over one hundred solo, group, international and national exhibitions."

http://www.temple.edu/crafts/public_html/mjcc/local/history/biographies/b128.html

ARTICLES

Clowes, Jody. Metalsmiths and Mentors. Madison: The Board of Regents, 2006.

     Google Book Search. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.

The following is a review of a show at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which is also the same show that the book listed above entails.

Lewis, Frank C. "Metalsmiths and Mentors: Fred Fenster and Eleanor Moty at

     University of Wisconsin-Madison." Metalsmith 27.2 (2007): 57. Academic

     Search Complete. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.

QUOTES

“Edges, geometric volumes, diffractions, and reflections create a hyper-modern sense of order, but without the coldness of so much modernist design…an aesthetic grounded in the artist’s sensitivity to the formal qualities of materials.”

Lewis, Frank C. "Metalsmiths and Mentors: Fred Fenster and Eleanor Moty at

     University of Wisconsin-Madison." Metalsmith 27.2 (2007): 57. Academic

     Search Complete. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.

“She also continued to experiment with industrial processes, and her work from this period collages imagery, materials, and techniques in poetic, densely interwoven layers.”

“Moty set up a small lab to investigate electroplating and electroforming – and while still an undergraduate, she pioneered the use of photo-etching, photo-electroplating, and photo-electroforming processes in the studio environment, transferring photographic images onto metal to create surprising, evocative effects.”

Clowes, Jody. Metalsmiths and Mentors. Madison: The Board of Regents, 2006.

     Google Book Search. Web. 31 Jan. 2011.

I am drawn to Eleanor Moty's work because of her exploration of the photo etching process at the beginning of her career.  She obscures images and creates interesting, wearable items using multiple processes.  Although not all of her work includes the etching process, her compositions and techniques are always interesting and intriguing.  I enjoy the small scale of her work, while allowing the viewer to want to look closer and wonder what is going on.  Her selection of images is interesting, and am excited to continue to research her work.

Fan Brooch

1981

Photo-etched sterling silver, abalone shell, silk thread

4 x 3 ½ in 

Mirror Image

1974

Sterling silver, brass, amethyst, leather, mirror

2 ½ x 3 ¼ x ½ in

Dual Image Brooch

1974

Photo-etched sterling silver, quartz crystal, obsidian star

3 x 2 ¾ x ½ in

Interrupted Vertical Brooch

1990

Sterling silver, 27k and 18k gold, topaz, rutilated quartz

4 x 1 ¾ x ½ in

Idea - Etching

Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal (the original process—in modern manufacturing other chemicals may be used on other types of material). As an intaglio method of printmaking it is, along with engraving, the most important technique for old master prints, and remains widely used today.

www.wikipedia.org

Nik Semenoff and L.W. Bader’s article, Intaglio Etching on Aluminum and Zinc Using an Improved Mordant, explains different metals and chemical combinations used in the etching process.

“Since the seventeenth century, artists have etched intaglio images on metal, first using mainly copper and later adapting zinc…while other metals and alloys can be used for etching plates, they are not often used by the average printmaker.”

“The handling and disposal of spent etching solutions, or mordant, has become a problem in the environmentally concerned society of today.  Because of these reasons, we began a search for a simple, environmentally safe, inexpensive and readily available mordant that would be useful for today’s etchers…the cost…has created a financial burden for most students...therefore, we decided also to search for less expensive  materials that would react much like traditional metals for short printing durations.”

Semenoff, Nik, and L W Bader. "Intaglio Etching on Aluminum and Zinc Using an

     Improved Mordant." Leonardo 31.2 (1998): 133-138. JSTOR. Web. 27 Jan. 2011.

     <http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576516>.

Gabor Peterdi’s article, Experiments in Contemporary Intaglio Printing, deals with the more creative and innovative aspects of the process.

“Experimentation then was not a premeditated program, but the spontaneous expression of an inner necessity to create broader and more flexible means to accommodate our changing visual concepts.”

““As long as creative people handle tools and materials, unexpected things will happen.  Artists invent, not by intent, but by necessity.”  Art is a means of communication to me – my concern is the image, the technical means are only related to it.”

Perterdi, Gabor. "Experiments in Contemporary Intaglio Printing." Art Education

     17.4 (1964): 9-12. JSTOR. Web. 27 Jan. 2011. <http://www.jstor.org/

     stable/3190456>.

As I stated in my last entry, I have been experimenting with the chemical process of photo etching.  This process has been around for many years, and began as a technical process which transformed into a more artistic, creative movement.  I'd like to experiment with different types of metals, such as zinc and aluminum, to discover the possibilities and limitations of the materials.  Etching creates a concave image, which in the process that I have worked in, can relate to a positive or negative image, depending on which portion of the image is eaten away by the chemicals.

photograph of an etched image on copper from:

http://www.evilgenius.net.nz/gallery/album/Copper-Etching

Artist - Bettina Speckner

http://www.bettina-speckner.com/

GALLERIES

Deutschland: www.rosemarie-jaeger.de

Luxembourg: www.galerie-orfeo.com

Nederlande: www.galerie-ra.nl

Japan:       www.deuxpoissons.com

USA:          www.siennagallery.com

Australia:   www.galleryfunaki.com.au

REVIEW OF WORK

http://www.bettina-speckner.com/41332.html

OR

http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?hid=119&sid=6efbeea6-de24-44e2-b98b-d3cecc8ff684%40sessionmgr110&vid=3

Latter link was found on Academic Search Complete. It is the same writing, yet this one includes photographs of work.

BIOGRAPHY

“Bettina Speckner doesn't like to talk about her work. When pressed, she speaks of process, or of the parts that compose the whole, in terms of universals of form, color, and structure. Not an unusual response from a jeweler, except that most of Speckner's work involves mediation of psychologically super-charged photographic images, preciously worked materials, and carefully considered comments on adornment. Photographs inevitably invite speculation and interpretation and each piece offers seductive opportunities to communicate narrative or suggest emotional content. However, in most of the work the image is her subject only as it functions related to its own disruption and abstraction.”

Wagle, Kate. "Bettina Speckner, Deliberations and Negotiations." Metalsmith 26.2

     (2006): 34-41. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.

Kate Wagle is a metalsmith and head of the Department of Art at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

QUOTES

“The photographically based work, particularly those pieces that incorporate portrait ferrotypes, reflect Speckner’s primary struggle with the inherent authority of the photograph. In The Power of Images David Freedberg speaks of the power of the “accurate image” in reference to legends surrounding portraits “unmade by the human hand.”… The existence of these images is proof of the miraculous, conferring credibility. As the direct heir to this phenomenon, the photograph allows us to believe in events, visit sites and enter spaces occupied by people we have never met. More than evidence, the photographic portrait is a document, bearing witness and demanding respect.”

“While the ferrotype was a common product of the industrial revolution, it may have accrued some of Benjamin’s famous “aura” in the last hundred years or so. The specific identity of the individual has been lost over time, becoming instead a signifier of a lost culture. Our response to these images may also reflect a conditioned nostalgia, generated by films and romantic literature and filtered through the mechanisms of popular culture. Speckner’s approach to her “loaded” materials has to contend with both implications.”

“Each piece is the record of a complex negotiation between the artist and the shifting elements of a visual conversation. Her tools are formalism, abstraction, and a strong sense of visual integrity. She is aware of the documentary authority of the photograph and works with that quality in very specific ways”

All quotes are from:

Wagle, Kate. "Bettina Speckner, Deliberations and Negotiations." Metalsmith 26.2

     (2006): 34-41. Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.

There are many well known people in the photography world mentioned in Kate Wagle's writing.  I find this very interesting because Speckner is in fact a metalsmith.  People such as Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Diane Arbus, etc, are all mentioned, and I have looked into their works, whether that may be photographs or writings.  I have become very interested in the idea of mixed media and creating something that could not be created without the other medium(s).  I have personally worked with photoetching, and am proposing an independent study with the metals department in order to explore other ways of combining metal and photographic processes.  I think what I find most interesting about Speckner is that she works with materials that have loaded connotations.  Placement, product, process, etc. is all incredibly important in her work.  I became interested in photoetching because I found that solidifying an image into metal and redesigning and redefining known images to be powerful and therapeutic.  I have also been considering using images that I am not connected to, such as found images at thrift stores.  Speckner uses images such as these, yet usually relates it to her homeland (landscapes).  The interesting difference between Speckner and myself is that she is mainly a metalsmith, and I am mainly a photographer, so I am intrigued to see what I can produce with more technical knowledge in the photography world.

Brooch 2009
Ferrotype; Silver; Diamond Beads

Brooch 2009 
Photoetching/Zinc; Silver; Amethyst

Brooch 2007
Ferrotype; Gold 750/000

Brooch 2007
Ferrotype; Silver; Coral;
Maple

Neclace 2007
Photo in enamel; 
Silver; Lapis lazuli; 
Quarz

Idea- Materialism

In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena (including consciousness) are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance. As a theory, materialism is a form of  physicalism and belongs to the class of monist onology. As such, it is different from ontological theories based on dualism or pluralism. For singular explanations of the phenomenal reality, materialism would be in contrast to idealism, neutral monism and spiritualism.

wikipedia.org

“Materialism, as traditionally conceived, has a contingent side and a necessary side. The necessity of materialism is reflected by the metaphysics of realization, while its contingency is a matter of accepting the possibility of Cartesian worlds, worlds in which our minds are roughly as Descartes describes them.  In this paper we argue that the necessity and the contingency of materialism are in conflict.  In particular, we claim that is mental properties are realized by physical properties in the actual world, Cartesian worlds are impossible.”

Levine, Joseph, and Kelly Trogdon. "The Modal Status of Materialism."

     Philosophical Studies 145.3 (2009): 351-362. Academic Search Complete.

     Web. 3 Dec. 2010.

“An empirical relationship has been documented between gratitude and materialism, such that stronger feelings of gratitude are associated with lower materialism. Building on Fredrickson's (1998, 2001) theory that positive emotions 'broaden' and 'build' we sought to expand upon this finding by (1) examining satisfaction with life as a potential mechanism for this relationship, and (2) exploring the causal direction of this relationship through experimental means. Study 1 (n = 131) demonstrated that satisfaction with life mediated the relationship between gratitude and materialism. Study 2 (n = 171) showed that that experimentally induced gratitude resulted in higher satisfaction with life and lower materialism in a high gratitude condition compared to an envy (low gratitude) condition. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.”

Lambert, Nathaniel M, et al. "More gratitude, less materialism: The meditating

     role of life satisfaction." Journal of Positive Psychology 4.1 (2009):

     32-42. Academic Search Complete. Web. 3 Dec. 2010.

“Materialism, as traditionally conceived, has a contingent side and a necessary side.  The contingent side is reflected in the claim that the mental entities in our world are “ultimately physical”.  The most popular understanding of what “ultimately physical” means is that mental states (properties and events) are realized by physical states (properties and events).  That mental phenomena in this world are ultimately physical is not meant to imply that mental phenomena are physical in all possible worlds.  In this sense, materialism is a thesis about our world alone.”

Levine, Joseph, and Kelly Trogdon. "The Modal Status of Materialism."

     Philosophical Studies 145.3 (2009): 351-362. Academic Search Complete.

     Web. 3 Dec. 2010.

“Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment.”

Mark Twain

“Oh, what a void there is in things.”

Persius

“What difference does it make how much you have? What you do not have amounts to much more. Epictetus, c 200 AD.”

Seneca

The idea of objects, of materialism, became of interest to me because all I have left of numerous family members is their objects.  I have become attached to this objects, yet they do not tell me that much about their owner.  Materialism is usually described as a negative thing, as objects become of more importance than life itself, but when you die, your objects outlive you.  I really enjoyed the last 3 quotes I added, as they describe a temporary fix with a void.  These objects really don't tell me that much, but I know that they were precious, and I am grasping materialism and figuring out what and why these objects were so important, or perhaps creating my own, possibly false, importance.