What Do You Get When You Cross Art and Technology?

Mentor Groups Round 2- Silk Screening

Is there a better project out there that combines art and technology than silk screening? Thanks to our beloved educators D.Danger and Fran, zeummasters now have the chance to experiment with silk screening.

We spent the morning discussing silk screening 101. The possibilities are limitless. We could silk screen any image on shirts or paper. David showed us a virtual silk screening demo on an Andy Warhol website and gave us some pointers on what kind of images to use. In a couple of weeks, we will be going on a mini field trip to Babylon Burning (a close three blocks away from Zeum!), a store that centers on top quality silk screening, so we can see how the process works.

The next week or two will be focused on finding and adding personal touches to images we want to silk screen. We have ideas flying everywhere from spoons to faces to the Great Wall of China. The best part? You never know how the images will turn out and it could come with the perfect surprise!

Whatever we decide to make, they will probably be put in display at Zeum so that visitors can be exposed to the world of silk screening. Who knows, our project could inspire future Andy Warhols. All anyone really needs is some time and imagination (and silk screens and ink and paper and blah blah blah). What will you create?

-T

TWJN: Traci Wendy Jule Nicole blogging

PODCAST PODCAST PODCAST.

Our project is centered on producing podcasts regarding the budget cuts in California. These cuts initiated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger are severely crippling the education system in all over California, including the bay area. Our project aims to inform the public about these budget cuts in order to make an impact on the situation. Our belief is: Knowlege Can Lead to Change. If people know about these cuts, they will start to work together to make a difference and change our current situation.

We have spent the past couple of weeks interviewing average San Francisco citizens about the budget cuts. Not only have we learned how to approach strangers without looking like a creep with a recorder, but we also learned how to affectively interview people. We learned how to come up with questions as well as create related questions on the spot. We're planning on asking our teachers, students, and parents about how the budget cuts are affecting their lives. Our project is still in a rough draft state, but we're moving at light speed to deliver this podcast series to the public and stop the budget cuts.

Censorship In Our Media

Long time no blog. This morning at Zeum we had a World Savvy workshop about photography, censorship & the media. When I first heard the words: censorship and the media, I immediately thought of human rights, the Iraq war, and Google. The news informed us of China trying to limit search results on Google, and the US government trying to cover up the current situation in Iraq. But today we focused on things a little closer to us, like censorship of our school newspaper or artists we listen to. By seeing censorship in a new light, I got to learn more about how it affects me everyday.

When I got to the workshop, we started doing the agree/disagree activity. A situation was presented to us and we chose whether to agree or disagree. After all the situations were presented, we would discuss each one and why we made the decisions we made. At first, everyone stood firm on their side, but once we discussed each one, "what-if situations" were thrown at us, making us question our choice. In the end, it was clear that it was hard to draw a line between censoring to prevent offensiveness and profanity, and exploiting censorship as a way to manipulate the public. Our next activity was an experiment to see how much of what we see in the media is controlled by one big corporation. The results were mind shocking, showing us that though we may get our sources from a couple different places, most of them are owned by one big corporation that could possibly be just showing us a side of the story that they favor.

Through these activities, I got to see how censorship is closer to me than I once thought it was. Censorship, like most things, has a good and a bad side. It all depends on what you limit and where you draw the line. But once you allow one thing to be uncensored, it opens many other doors and controversies over what else should be uncensored. Often, different people will view one thing differently. Some people may be offended but some may see it as perfectly fine, and wrong to censor. Even at school, you may think it's right to have the school censor things like profanity on the school newspaper, but what if one teacher thought that a certain article was inappropriate and the writer didn't? The battle of censorship rages on, and the decisions towards what should be censored is affecting our view of the world everyday. Sometimes what we think is the truth, could be just one big corporation showing you their favorite side of the story to try to get you to think a certain way. In a world where everything is controversial and the truth is debatable, where should censorship in the media stand?

The Sky's the Limit: Considering Photoshop

So...this is my first entry as a ZeumMaster, but definitely not my first time reading this Blog. I first came across this page when I was applying to become a ZeumMaster back in marchish aprilish. What really drew me into applying in the first place was the opportunity to work with arts and technology. I hail from a long line of photography lovers, and I myself take a photography class at my high school.

Its quite amazing how art and technology can both be meshed together, and I think photography is the best example of that. At school, we mostly worked on dark room stuff (for now at least), and my mother, being from the olden days and all, never worked with digital photography. So I saw Zeum as a wonderful chance to get into different aspects of digital photography, like photoshop.

Basically the only thing I can do with photoshop is open it. ... ok, thats a lie, I can do some basic things on the program. But my experience with photoshop has barely begun and I'm totally ready for 20 more tons of it to smack me in the face. Here at Zeum we have a "space" called Digital Workshop, which is where people can take a picture of themselves on the computer and use photoshop filters and brushes to change it up. ... Sound familiar? Maybe some of you Myspace freaks out there (ugh!) like to go to the apple store and change up your picture too. For those of you who deny you like to take pictures of yourself, don't worry, cause theres plenty of photoshop out there, it's just camouflaged. How else do the stars hide their blemishes? Why do you think everyone in advertisement look sooo beautiful? one word: photoshop (well actually this computer is telling me photoshop isn't a word...).

Photoshop....the root of evil, the reason why we're all living a lie? or a miracle of a program that was the best thing that ever happened? This all depends of course on how you use it. Unfortunately photoshop is used to perfect everyone in the media and set unhealthy goals for 12 year old girls, but this program also holds so many different opportunities! Photoshop itself could be considered a form of art, a way to exercise your creativity. The ability to change the image of reality and beautify everything is so powerful and fun. And that is exactly what I want to do with photoshop here at Zeum.

I want to learn how to use this program to change the ordinary to extraordinary, and I'm so glad that Zeum is providing this program to its many many visitors. This is a chance for so many people to learn about this great program, not just how it can turn people into sticks, but how it can be just a fun tool to use, a tool that could create wonders with a couple of clicks.

I feel like Zeum is giving everyone the chance to see that photoshop is accessible to all , and everyone can be an artist. The sky is the limit, and photoshop is here to help. I am so excited to learn more about the program and I'm so thankful that Zeum is giving me the chance to do so!

Watch out, one day I'll be working my photoshop like no other at some big magazine company, and you'll say: wow, I knew her back when she was a ZeumMaster, look at her now...shes a pro. And I'll be like: thats right....