research for the movie

Just moved to Cincinnati to teach art, can't believe they pay me for this.

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Location: Cincinnati, OH, United States

I run the Art Foundations program here at DAAP in the University of Cincinnati

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

lego guys


lego guys
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

Josh made us into lego men. I am proud that he captured my usual plaid on plaid look so well. The one day he makes it I forget to wear a plaid shirt.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Cher


Cher
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

One of my student's first illustrator works. I think she could get money for this from a magazine. Seriously. I know I am not a great teacher when it comes to a program that I know little to nothing about, but this kid just rocked this assignment.

Some people just get illustrator more than others. I can't wait to post the image of AC ~ DC another student is making. The guitar alone has 200 characters inside it. These students must have realized when I showed them mine and said "This one, right here, that I did, this gets a C!" After that they all started getting serious about the project.

twain


twain
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

I stole my new assignment from the other Digital Lab teacher. Using only 7 letters and 2 symbols from the computer students are supposed to make a caricature of someone famous.

I did Mark Twain. Not too bad for my first time using illustrator in over 4 years. I took one Graphic Design course in College and now I teach the stuff. So wierd.

Thanksgiving was something I am thankful for. That and having an Aunt who helped me frame 15 new small works for an artsale this weekend. I need to make sure to give her a cut of the sales. Going to the National Portfolio day in DC and MICA for recruiting. Excited and Scared out of my gourd.

Busy week ahead to say the least.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Wonder showzen


Wonder showzen
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

I was at home over the weekend and stumbled onto the greatest TV show ever. A few years back I found the "Kids Show" video on the internet and raved about it for a week. Now this show is a reality.

In case you don't know about Wonder Showzen yet, just wait. I feel that in a few months everyone will be wearing their beat kids T-shirts, and saying "I can't pray the gay away" or "I wash my hands, and then I eat, and wash my hands, and sleep, and wash my hands, and then wash my hands, but the shame won't go away."

The premise is a kids show ala PBS but passed through a bar room, an opium den, and then spit out of a sailor's mouth. A raunchy, silly, absurd, wonderful time. The creator of the series was the voice of Towely on South Park, and now you most likely understand how absurd this thing must be. Puppets screaming about Cell Phones, Letters and Numbers having sex. Explaining where Hot Dogs come from, but being honest about it? Amazing.

Now I know the i need to stop soon show has a chance.

Saturday, November 19, 2005


ritchie, and some stranger
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

BTW.
cowboys are terrified of super heros. they can't stand up to the utility belt and they have mask envy. Remember the Lone Ranger? Classic Mask Envy Syndrome.

dad is the party


dad at the party
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

Found this photo on Mom's computer from the Family Fun Day at the facility where dad is staying now. I have to pick him up again for ThanksGiving this year. Not looking forward to the drive, but I know it will be good for him to get out of there for a few days.
That family day was a shocking experience, I noticed myself acting a bit like my brother Shawn, watchful, with arms at my side, looking about smiling, and speeking firmly but with a respectful calm. Sometimes I hear his voice in me and it is frightening because I understand where it is coming from. NOt for him, his reasons are his, and I love him regardless of his ability to deal with situations. For me the feeling is much more like running backwards in a forest. Being chased by something that I must watch yet I know to get away I have to run backwards hiting limbs and tripping. But in front, I smile, and try to handle the situation.

I never ment to develop this as a strategy for dealing with problems. A coping mechanism if you will to relate to situations that people sometimes spend their entire lives avoiding. But the phot says it all. Look at my face. I wasn't there for Dad at the moment. I was scared out of my mind that he was going to wet his pants, or start screaming. That some man with tubes out of his mouth in a motorized wheelchair was going to start calling us all devils. This building on the outside looks remarkably like a Home. A real home where real people live in suburbs. There are thre of these houses with garages and basketball hoops. If you pulled off of the interstate you would have no clue you were within 50 feet of a group of mentally challenge people most due to head trauma. You wouldn't know that in the house where my Dad sleeps there are 4 other men who have been in Car Accidents. One of them is walking. But this place, Learning Services, is so much better than anywhere Dad has been in the last two years.

I think some nights about the first house, and the Downtown hotel that I packed him a hotplate and cans of soup to eat while he slept in a HOtel. I put them in a blue plastic bag and couldn't bring myself to see where he was sleeping. Shawn and Chris told me I needed to see where he would be living but I couldn't handle it at the time.

The next place was a halfway house. My father, being a good christian, was trying desperately to convert everyone in the home. Six people and he was the only one who never drank or smoked. He would sit outside with them and try to be a good example by reading his bible while they were hanging out after working 8-12 hour days. He would walk to work at that time, or just ride his bike. No one in the office suspected anything. He could never cook and started to learn that very quickly while he lived on his own. His diet became Brownies and sandwiches. Dad is a choco-freak and seems to understand the science of brownies more than other deserts. This is still a mystery to me but I know for a fact that in one week at this house he baked 9 different brownie recipies. He picked up the cook book at Walmart and placed it along with that weeks groceries in his bicycle's front Rack. YOu couldn't miss him on the road. Yellow, almost hazard orange bike, wire rack on the front, streamers on the handlebars, and a bald head for a headlight. Somedays even after he moved out he would come by the Snow-Shack when I was still working for our family bussiness and he would ask if he could empty the trash or take the used waste water over to the dumping station. The shack was on his way home from Walmart. He shopped every day. One item at a time shopping. Most likely his complex functions were getting stressed and he needed to simplify. His associations with the Shack seemed to pull him there. Some days he would come to the window like a customer. Just to talk, he would ask for some water, he would even try to pay. I think once he moved in with Mr. Drezzer (the halfway house got too sick of his preaching) he would stop by the shack 3 or four times a week.
SO I let him take out the trash, throw it into the dumpster by the side of the Chinese Resturaunt, thinking it would degrade him, but he just wanted to help. Part of me thinks his brain was truely capable of blocking the memory that he didn't live in our house anymore for just such a time when he needed to still hold onto that idea of a family. It was like I found out I could love him by making fun of him and he could be near us by forgetting he ever left.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005


Untitled-1
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

Really nice before and after photo. I especially like the veins in the hand. the great shadowing of the jaw line, and the eyes clench the deal. This guy really understood layers and blending. he built the zombie up from the inside and it turned out great.


WillMiller1
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

another bit of zombie for horror fans.

zombies


zombie
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

Class today was both fun and difficult. Students were supposed to make zombies out of found photos. Some did great. Some looked like zombies, others looked like space creatures with lens flares and textured skin from concrete and lava. I showed them plenty of zombies. I told them what happened to a body that recently died, explaining in depth how the skin becomes cold, the veins start to show through as dark lines, how the ears become translucent, the eyes darken, the muscles start to give way and the clothes would be dirty from wandering around, falling, and wear and tear.
Two students picked people in love and I think this one stuck out because she doesn't know her brains are about to go. Or maybe she does and just doesn't care. Notice how the flower even looks dead. Nice touch!

Monday, November 14, 2005

Class



Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

Today they were supposed to have the assignment finished up and in my drop box at the start of class. One student actually finished his durring the critique of the work. I wanted to yell at him for not finishing on time like everyone else, but was too upset by his failed attempt to explain how the lab wasn't open for him to work over the weekend.
What a sad excuse.
Our assignment was to re-make an object to negate it's function. I stole it from Peter. I always loved this assignment. How great would it be to actually have this couch though in your home. A wonderful, useless object. Remind you of anything? Art maybe? We had a brief talk about why art is so amazing because it serves no function. I hope they got it.

Our new assignment came after thinking about photoshoped images for magazine covers. How faces and armpits and everything. SO now they are making people into Zombies... How fun.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Soon to go


tanglewood_mall_04
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

Been thinking about the trips I used to take to Roanoke to see my father in the home. Every time I would pick him up we drove by Tanglewood, my childhood mall and I thought long and hard about the old toy store in there that we used to split the price of G.I.Joes on. I always had enough money each month for a few figures and he helped me out by spliting the cost right down the middle. The last time I went there with Julia we helped Dad get a shirt for him to wear out and about in the home. I think he still has it, it should still be around seeing as how it was 35 bucks. I thought it was on sale, but he picked it out and therefore I had to buy it for him. God that was a great day. THinking now about the fact that he used to be able to choose his own clothes makes me realize how down hill he has come. We would eat out together and he would ask me if I could order for him because of his eyes. Now he doesn't even care what we give him to eat. He can't taste it and I just try to pick something that won't go all over him as he struggles with his dinner.

All this from a found photo about dead shopping malls.

Wait Wait


make art not war
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

This one tops the last one. Sorry. It is so simple, yet, the off yellow and the smart type from a Freshman? Yes in my class even on their first assignments I require a bit of creative thought! No coloring in old photos, making duotones, or tracing a photo of a flower for hours in my class. I took one class in Graphic Design at VCU and I now teach this stuff. Without any real world experience, or anything. College, where we only care if you can pretend you are smart.

make art not war


make art not war
Originally uploaded by Daily Assumption.

My students just turned in their first assignment. We looked at a lot of Shepard Fairey work and make posters using two found images and text. They all turned out better than I ever expected. Even the lady who thinks the computer is actually alive and can answer to difficult questions like, "why aren't you working?" or "Why do you keep beeping at me, are you angry?" And my personal favorite of all time, "Are you upset with me or something?" This is a poster I am especially proud of because I helped the student learn more about layers than anyone else, and gave ample direction on how to flip objects. I think total this is a 15 layer photoshop file. Well above any of the other students work.