link to Blurb Book

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Artist Statement - Time

          As I was brainstorming ideas for this project, I was having a very hard time coming up with ones and became frustrated because I was at such a lost. It wasn’t until I was doing my regular volunteering at Platte Forum, which host’s art camps for troubled teens, or children who don’t have art in their schools. While I was there I began to see objects that caught my eye, such as the red couch, the writing on chalkboard, and the clock on the wall. My brain started churning and I picked up my digital camera and started playing around with different angels. The words on the chalkboard were the most inspiring, for they were part of a long passage of a poem a girl wrote about losing her uncle. The artist in residency at Platte Forum currently is doing a segment on grief and was working with teens from The Joan Farley Academy, Third Way Center. She had each teen write stories or poems about anything they wanted, but centered around grief. This poem was extremely powerful and when I was taking the picture of my hand on the board I felt like I was touching a very sacred and heartfelt memory. The photo on the red couch was at the same place and I couldn’t help but take a picture with the couch being that magnificent bright red and the afternoon light coming through the window. Sitting on the couch, right after reading that touching poem and having the warm sun hit my face was a magical time for me. I truly felt something and stayed in that position minutes after the shot was taken, savoring that moment. The next two were while I was waiting for time to pass at the lightrail station and finally on the light rail. While taking these picture I realized that so much of our life is spent waiting for time to pass, when instead we should be living each minute to its fullest.

            

Time Pictures

 Wishing.. Wanting.. Waiting..

The Last Time I Felt You

Tranquil Time

Eight-thirty A.M

Passing Time

Melting Away

Cultural Events

Cultural Event #1- Aspen Santa Fe Ballet

At the beginning of the quarter when I discovered the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet would be performing at the Newman Performing Arts Center here at DU I immediately went out and bought my ticket. They’re a very well respected dance troupe and it is a treat to see them live. I danced all through high school and even through I wasn’t even close to the level these dancers are at, I can still respect ballet as the beautiful work of art it is. The performance consisted of three, 20 minute long pieces that mixed modern and contemporary ballet with more traditional ballet. These dancers had such amazing talent and were so in tune with not only their bodies, but also each other’s. They could bring tears to your eyes one moment with their sensuality and grace and a lighthearted, inspiring feeling the next moment as they leap across the stage.

Founded in Aspen, CO in 1996, by Bebe Schweppe, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is one of the greatest success stories in American dance today. They travel nationwide as well as worldwide, delivering amazing performances in each city. They also host schools and camps in Colorado and New Mexico for children to come learn ballet. They are a troupe of ten dancers, and represent many different ethnicities as well as countries. On stage though they all move as if they were one.

My favorite piece they preformed the night I saw them was one called “Uneven”. On the back corner of the stage there was a single cellist in front of a stretched, white, triangular fabric, providing the viewer with a sense of asymmetry. The piece was presented in a series of duets. Often male and female duets, the dancers proved in many different, unique ways, how two bodies together can move, intertwine, and be lifted. The way the men so easily lift the women and the way the women gracefully move and contort around then men is truly breathtaking. Their bodies seem unreal, with the muscles in the men’s legs popping out under the lights of the stage and the way the women’s limbs seem to bear no elasticity. All together the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and its dancers was truly one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen.  

Cultural Event #2- Denver Public Library Photo Exhibit

           Our field trip to the Denver Public Library was an eventful outing that provided a wide array of interesting pictures at their photography exhibit. Upon walking in the room you were immediately drawn to the array of different pictures conjured onto one large canvas. The pictures seem to be candid snapshots of mostly women in shopping malls and some of them are frankly quite hilarious. This was a very interesting collection, for it’s something unique, compared to seeing pictures of people posed.

The next photograph that caught my eye for one very main reason; it reminded me of my hometown. The photograph was in the country, with an old rancher sitting in a lawn chair between two trees. Above him there is rope strung high between the trees. Hanging from the rope is the dead carcass of a deer head. It seems the rugged looking man is in a way, keeping watch over the dear head, his prize. The reason it reminds me of my hometown, Hotchkiss, CO is because this sight would not be unusual to see at many of my neighbor’s houses. My town is in the valley, with ranches and farms covering the landscape. It is not unusual for there to be a line of traffic following a slow tractor down the main street, which is 7 blocks long. Old-timers and hardy ranchers make up a large percent of my town, most of which love to hunt every time deer season rolls around. Many people would probably look at this picture and see it as a little strange and extreme, but I look at and feel at home.

Cultural Event #1- Warhol Exhibit

 Color, color, and more color. The minute you walk into the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Denver University Art Building this is the first thought that pops into your mind. An amazing display of Warhol’s classic works of art fill the room, including the infamous Campbell’s soup can. Along with this soup can was a dress, made out of the same Campbell’s soup can. This was a very interesting piece, for it turned something that was usually perceived as hard metal into fabric that flows. All the pieces in the exhibit pop out of the walls, something that Warhol is famous for. The faces that were one color and the lips and hair another color is a signature trademark of his, with one of his more famous one’s being of Marilyn Monroe. His quote, “Art is what you can get away with,” is definitely very fitting for his avant garde style, but that is what makes Andy Warhol the art sensation he is. 

Annie Leibovitz

            When first seeing Annie Leibovitz’s Vanity Fair pictures flash onto the screen it’s an instant visual pleasure. Vivid colors, beautiful costumes, extravagant props, and of course the dazzling and familiar face of a celebrity in the middle of it all. She’s one of the most sought after photographers in the country and travels to foreign places to photograph the world’s most beloved writers, politicians, musicians and movie stars. The journey to this stardom wasn’t easy for Leibovitz though. Death, drugs and rehab were all part of her life, but these obstacles only made her into the strong and passionate women she is today. As a child Annie traveled all over with her family and dad who was in the Air Force. Eventually, she ended up in San Francisco living in a tiny apartment and studying painting at the San Francisco Art Institute. Work by Robert Frank and Henri Cartier-Bresson inspired her and she soon started taking pictures for fun, landing a few jobs here and there. Her first real job as a photographer was with Rolling Stone magazine, which was just getting off the ground at the time and had no idea it would become as big of a success as it did. Here she worked for 10 years, taking pictures of celebrities in the height of their fame. She captured not only the glamour of their lives, but also the hard reality of it, humanizing them. Drugs were very prevalent and Leibovitz hit her breaking point after going on tour with the Rolling Stones. She checked into rehab, sobered up and turned over a new leaf in her life.
            Her pictures became almost pieces of artwork and Rolling Stone readers looked for her signature work issue after issue. These pictures not only launched her career as a photographer, but also helped Rolling Stone become the famous magazine it is today. After her time with Rolling Stone, Annie began to work for a more high fashion magazine, Vanity Fair. Her amazing photographs with extensive sets quickly began making the covers. Around this time she met the writer Susan Sontag. They became instant friends, both drawn to each other’s work, critiquing and praising each other. Susan was often the subject of Annie’s personal photographs. Even when Susan was dying, Annie captured powerful and emotionally moving shots of her on her death bead and eventually in her coffin. Nowadays Annie can be found calling in whatever extravagance she may need to a photo shoot, ordering people around in a kind yet firm manner to get the perfect shot, and kissing celebrities checks. In the end though amazing works of art appear on newsstands around the world and Annie Leibovitz’s name lives on.

Artist Statement - Me Object, I Subject

Being in front of the camera was a significant change from being behind it. I was blind from the beginning. Not being able see what the picture was going to look like through my viewfinder was difficult. I had to put trust in myself as not only a photographer, but also as a model. This project helped me learn a lot about studio work and lighting and significantly helped improve my skills in the darkroom. I really learned how to dodge and burn, taking my prints from just average, to great. The long hours spent in the darkroom, producing print after print until it was perfect, paid off in the end seeing my prints hanging on the wall with my face staring back at me.

My final six pictures for this assignment were, “The Hair is the Richest Ornament of a Women”, “The Unbalanced Ballerina”, “The Insecurity of Being Secure”, “The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul”, “Love Me Tender”, and “A Dancer’s Grace”. I originally started with the idea in mind of doing the theme of dance in all my pictures, for that is such a big aspect in my life that I am missing doing so frequently. Eventually, I realized what was working the best were the close up shots to really captured the emotions I was feeling at the time. In each one I am trying to convey different emotions, to make the viewer feel different with each shot as I did when taking the pictures. 

Me Object, I Subject

“The Hair is the Richest Ornament of a Women” 

The Unbalanced Ballerina

The Insecurity of Being Secure 

“The Eyes are the Windows to the Soul”

     

Love Me Tender

A Dancer’s Grace