Alejandra's final

-Alejandra and Martin teamed up to do a two part project. they would paint a mural and document it with a digital camera. the final presenting was both the viewing of the film in the editing office and the viewing of the painting in Alejandra's studio.


-As a studio art ed. major i have a concentration in painting. this made me really curious about how others incorporated such a traditional material with a newer one. Having heard Alejandra speak about her painting before i was very interested in seeing her work. I had some exposure to martin's work in another class we had together but that really highlighted his design skills. i was interested in seeing him paint as well.

-The Big Idea of the work on the surface were about cultural identity and heritage. with process and presentation spoke of a larger sense of identity with its cooperation and dual contributions and the sense of overlapping work methods. there was an instant compare and contrast between Alejandra and Martin.

-I am assuming that The presentation was split to even the work load. Martin presenting the film part and Alejandra presenting the painting. I don't think this was the best plan of action as i didn't really see Alejandra make a connection to the new media. The on film she was reluctant to speak. When she was being filmed martin was in dialogue with her so we were aware of him being involved. I don't remember any dialogue when martin was being filmed so i have to only assume that it was Alejandra that was filming it

- the imagery of the painting was very symbolic so there are many questions about the specific symbols used and how they relate to one another and the painter. I have various technical questions. how does one balance a project between two people. Who gets credit who gets blame? where do you stop controlling a project and let it be what it is?

- Alejandra's imagery was researched rather that drawing on a personal inventory. I didn't get the impression that either one was familiar with the process of developing a film before hand so i was impressed that such a task would be take on. To me a film in complicated and technically involved so to take on such a huge task is admirable. I think that the project was more about the collaboration than it was about the work produced. I would have like to know more of a "reality TV" version of how this came together. When addressing the class martin spoke about the completion of the project in plural term: we, us, our. although Alejandra referred to Martin and his part in the painting she spoke completely in singular terms; I, me, mine.

-my connection to the work comes largely from the realization that i would not consider many aspects of the work. I would never ask to work with another student nor would i agree to do so if asked. I would never consider making a film. I would consider it beyond me. I would never consider doing a mural sized painting in so short a time. These launch me into a whole set of "big idea" or through lines about myself and my work. Why am i limiting myself?

-The teaching implications are huge with this. any time that children can be documented as being children is valuable. the learning of cultural symbols, the learning to divide the work, the credit, the spotlight. one of the first art teachers that i had said that the masters work was beautiful at every stage of its development. being able to track the development of a piece of artwork is huge!