Ben Volta & Photoshop Painting and Layering

Ben Volta does a lot of work in schools. He has worked with 8th graders in North Philadelphia schools in math classes creating coordinate grids relating to their lives. He has also done and anti violence project at Conwell Egan, which was installed in the PMA. He has made murals with teens on an old row home.



For my photoshop painting and layering project I used images of myself as well as images of nature, paintings, and hobbies of mine.

Photoshop & John Thompson

This week's assignment was to take one of my own photos to edit. I used a photo of Diamond Head in Oahu from my trip to Hawaii over the summer. I edited in a volcano and smoke, as well as a tourist and an aloha sticker with a plumeria flower.

This weeks lecture was given by H. John Thompson, a carpenter. He works in the basement of his grandfather's bakery and likes the lying Dutchman. He lives in Trevose, PA and that is where most of his inspiration comes from. He created a chain link fence for the University of the Arts and updated a mini version of a neighbor's house in Trevose.

Photoshop & Media

This week's assignment was to use a cultural image and change the meaning. I used landing on the moon in 1969 and added aliens and a frightened astronaut to change the meaning of this image.

I think photoshop does not particularly belong in the media. Especially the news. We should be given unedited images in the news because an edited image can most definitely change the image's meaning and the way we interpret it. Photoshop is fun to experiment with, but those experimental images frankly have no place in news papers and periodicals.

Doug Bucci & Scanner Face

Doug Bucci works in jewelry and metals. He has worked with CAD CAM printing to create many interesting compositions. He uses his diabetes as a springboard for much of his recent work.



For the Scanner Face project, I had been inspired by the movie Waking Life. I used this inspiration in my project to create a more abstract and animated version of myself.

Warning Label & Marianne Dages

Our assignment this week was to create a personalized warning label for ourselves. The label I made is referring to how loud I am. Friends have often told me that I have two volumes: loud, and louder.




Marianne Dages is a book artist and print maker. She talked to us about taking advantage of different media while we are here at school. She told us about the options of community studios, collaborations, partnering up, and applying for a residency when we graduate. Her words were very helpful and I will certainly remember her advice for when I graduate.