Aloha Sunday: James Tull

May 3 -Aloha Sunday in North Park

Artist: James Tull

Dream Machine

           This art show was small had a total of three artist. Yet the vibe that was in this small 60's feel surf shop was refreshing. The artist, James Tull is a very talented photographer, and my husband. I am inspired by his ability to capture moments that last. They speak volumes and tell stories. In this photo he used film but the fact that I have a connection to it is so much more joyful. James went to a surf spot in San Onofre, called Old Man's, he had never been there before. I told him that it is a great place to long board, and relax in the sunshine. It is a place where I grew up going with my dad. When James came home that day he was more than excited to develop his film. When he received his film back there were images that were stunning. I love this picture because James and I always have wanted a VW bus and this nostalgic photo makes me want to go back in time and live this life. It has contrast, and character, and speaks to me and it relates to my passion, Sol y Mar.

Visting Presentation: Precious Knowledge

April 21st- CSUSM

Artist: Dos Vatos Film

Presenter: Pricila Rodriguez

Precious Knowledge

The video that was presented was shocking and alarming. I thought walking in to class that day was similar due to the fact there was an overwhelming amount of students from other classes in the auditorium. There was a brief introduction and then Pricila Rodriguez unveiled her high school years in a dramatic and heart-wrenching documentary called Precious Knowledge.

            Precious Knowledge was about a high school in the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona. There was a program established to teach students an exciting and relevant history. The program was called Ethnic Studies. This program helped many struggling Mexican American students about their heritage and culture. Students that were in this class began showing up to school and actually for the first time enjoyed learning. The students in this class were not only learning but they were advocating love. This advocacy of love stemmed from them wanting to make the world a better place starting with themselves their families and communities. But because of political reasoning and the Arizona boarders so close to Mexico many started to hear about these students learning about their heritage and thought it was un-American. Superintendent, Tom Horne did everything in his power to shut down this program. The students fought back in a silent non-violent way and they still had no voice. Tom Horne shut the program down and had many followers that were against this school, students and their learning. 

           This video presented in my foreign films class was not foreign, but it showed something that was going on in our world. The fact that as artist we should be politically active in our community is something that is wonderful. It is wonderful because as artist you can impact people and want to make a change. I feel that we all have passions and this film showed that passions exist even to the extent of education. Which is something that we have talked about all semester long.

Visting Filmmaker: Travis Wilkerson

April 18th-CSUSM

Travis Wilkerson

A fast speaking yet incredibly intelligent filmmaker came to our class to present various films from his personal collection and another. We watched segments of a newsreel from his inspiration and friend Santiago Alvarez, to a film that researched the mining town of Wilkerson’s hometown, Butte, Montana. His insight on history, his passion for change inspired and caused a stir within. Travis Wilkerson’s filmmaking style is one that is set out to cause an emotional uproar. That feeling comes with truth being exposed. The term 3^rd Cinema refers to an aesthetic political movement that engages the world to want to make a change. I know that after viewing Santiago Alvarez and Travis Wilkerson’s films I was left in a vulnerable state and many images that sat heavy on my heart. They spoke to me, causing me to want to make change and not be ignorant of the world that is happening around me.

This film was at its very essence 3^rd cinema. The feeling after watching really makes you re-evaluate what you had just seen. It is a film that makes the audience make a decision on the type of change they want to make. It was one that caused me to really think about political situations in the world and especially America. I know that after watching this film I need to truly be more aware of what is going on in my generation because it will be someone else’s history one day. 

This filmmaker used many aspects that I found to be relevant in our class. He used text, and pictures to create his film. There were many new ideas through his film that inspire me to think about how people (the audience) perceives one's work of art. I feel that in class we talked about much of this. Also the fact that he related to the world around him is something that artist should talk about. 

Artist Statement

My topic of passion, Sol Y Mar, translates to English as The Sun and the Sea.  My intention for expressing Sol y Mar is to admire our beautiful world.  I chose this topic because most of my life experiences have happened with the sun and sea nearby. I love color and the way the sun glistens on the water. Much of my inspiration came from travel and life experiences. These works of art began with an interest in exploring what I can do as an artist. However, all along my inspiration for this work started with my connection to Sol y Mar.

The journey to discover what Sol y Mar meant for me was at times difficult. Not difficult in the way that I didn’t know what it meant to me but there was a challenge in the programs used in my work. These new tools created a new world for me. But through this challenge I learned that I could make art and visually express Sol y Mar. My research impacted my topic by creating inspiration for each piece. Through investigating, exploring, and examining my work my passion has created a new discovery which encompasses Sol y Mar and gives it new meaning.

Reflecting on each piece of work allows me to see improvement as an artist. From my first piece to my last I am able to see growth in my works. Learning new skills and techniques allowed my work to become a new experience. Teaching me that I can express how I feel not only in my thoughts but also with an actual piece of art. Through this experience I am proud to share my thoughts and begin to find their passion through experiencing what Sol y Mar means for me. 

Sol y Mar

88 Keys

Ansel Adams

Ansel Refined: Credit

The saying goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, and I can say that after viewing the documentary on Ansel Adams the saying is true.  From viewing his journey of being an artist, photographer, experimentalist, father, husband and political activist for nature, Ansel Adams is without a doubt lead a very interesting life.  What specifically spoke to me, as a future educator was his non-traditional education. Ansel’s father loved him very much and realized that his son had a gift.  So instead of giving his son a formal education he let him explore the world around him. His father allowed him to experience the World Fair at an early age of 12 years old.  This is where Ansel was able to be educated in another light, the light of art and culture.  Later on he would visit Yosemite National Park with his family where he fell in love with its beauty. From there he began to explore this vast “playground” where he learned through experiment what photography was. He captured beauty and made every shot count. He thought about how what he was looking at would be altered and he wanted his audience to see exactly what he was seeing.  In his dark room he spent countless hours and days making his film become real, exquisite and meaningful.  In his darkroom he adjusted films with dodging and burning methods, he would lighten and darken images in certain places so that image would have form and contrast.

            Ansel Adams was first and for most a musician, a pianist. Another place where I can relate. Growing up playing the piano I learned that each key plays a note but if you play a key in a different octave it is the say key but a different pitch or sound. Just like a piano, photography has dynamic range. In the same light the piano has black and white keys and the best way for him to play music was to play every key in the same manner his photography needed to have dynamic range and each tone of light and darkness needed to played and used.  I love that he was a musician and that he carried that passion to his photography. His photographs speak to me just like a song speaks to me. He had the ability to make a melodic composition in each piece of work. You can see each key of a piano being played when you look at the contrast between black and whites in each of his photographs.

            When thinking about Ansel Adams I have a deep sense of awe. He was a simple man with an amazing sense of knowledge. He wanted and helped keep beauty in America, he allowed Americans to be proud in their country and through his photographs he showed me what he saw and that made me feel patriotic and proud to be from this beautiful country.  I think that what he did politically was great. . He allowed our environment our most precious land to be saved, and through this we are able to enjoy Kings Canyon National Park. His photographs spoke to many and still do to this day. I am thankful that we were able to have such a great man in history that had such a gift, and he shared that gift with us.

Tetons and the Snake River  Image Date: 1945 Print Date: 1970

The Ocean

To many people they look to things to make them feel whole. Some look to a higher power, some look to others, and some look to nature to feel complete. For some the feeling of wholeness comes from the ocean. There is something about it and I still cannot put my finger on it. There are so many aspects to its vastness, that I cannot name one. So I took it upon myself to seek out what others think of the ocean. I “googled” quotes about the ocean and I clicked the first link, which actually turned out to be a good one. The first quote I read was from Gandhi he said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” -Mahatma Gandhi (Good Reads) When I read this I thought people, really important people have also found something about the ocean. They have compared it to humanity, and still having faith in people, as constant as the ocean is people will always be drawn to it one way or another. This site that I found it really neat, it compiles  many different people with many different ideas of the ocean and what it means to them.

But in this search I have still not found what it exactly means to me. I am okay with that only because the ocean does not mean just one thing for me. I have recently started to surf again. Surfing was a staple growing up. My dad got me surfing at an early age but as time went by I stopped. So the memories that I have with my dad are shared at the ocean, and now that I am surfing with my husband they are shared again. I have many memories that are shared near the seaside and I will only continue to make more. I think that is the greatest part, knowing that as deep and wide the ocean is my experiences and my memories can fill the space the ocean possesses. Which in the end makes me feel whole and complete, and just happy.

"Quotes About Ocean." Good Reads. GoodReads Inc, 2012. Web. 5 Mar 2012.       <http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/ocean>.

Pinterest My Interest

Have you ever imagined about having a pin board where you can just put pretty, inspiring quotes, pictures, ideas all in one organized place? Where you can dream about the places you would like to travel? Well thanks to a new website called Pinterest you can virtually build inspiration boards for all the things you like.  Pinterest is a social media site where you become a member and follow other people and they can follow you. You ask what does following mean? Well they can see what you put on your inspiration boards. These boards can be characterized by what books you want to read, or music you like. There are many boards with home decorating, and travel. Some have boards that are their dream wedding, with colors, dresses, decoration, food, and venue. Pinterest allows you to make your own board, and it can be geared to anything you like. There are boards with recipes and fun foods there are DIY9do it yourself) crafts on there, that are actually fun and cute. Pinterest is for young, old, male and female. It’s fun, you pin photos from off the web, anywhere on the web, if it’s something you like and can pin it to your board. Pinterest complies all those pictures to make something beautiful.

This website is awesome. I have a Pinterest, and have lots many hours of my life due to browsing around the site to try to find new photos to post to my boards. I have a few inspiration boards. I have a few favorite ones, but the name of one of my boards is Sol y Mar. It is an inspirational board for my VSAR302 class. I had to choose a passion and I love the Sun and the Sea, and what those two things mean to me. So by looking at my inspiration board people can see images that help my passion have an identity. This pin board is not finished and I don’t believe will be, it will be a work in progress, but I needed to find a place where I can dream a little.Take a look at my site Sol y Mar :)

Blue Skies

What Makes the Sky Blue?

Have you ever wondered what makes the sky blue? I know that it seems like a question a child would ask but do we really know. I always thought the sky reflected off the ocean and that is why, but I am wrong. According the website Science Made Simple it explains the question through explaining the atmosphere, light waves, colors of light, and even why the sunsets are red, pretty awesome information given. So you are probably wondering well I will tell you.

            According to the site the sky is blue because, “The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue” (Science Made Simple). Hope that explanation helps here is a photo to clarify. The sky is blue because of light waves and how they are absorbed. With this science it make Earth so beautiful. How lucky are we to see a beautiful blue, because we have an atmosphere we have a blue sky. The website said that because space has no atmosphere they have nothing moving around and that is why it is black. I never though about that, but here on this spinning ball we are apart of a special universe and ours is extra special. So now if a child asks why the sky is blue we can tell them.


Science made simple, . "WHY IS THE SKY BLUE?." Science Made Simple. N.p., 2003.    Web. 18 Feb 2012. <http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/sky_blue.html>.

The Attraction to Water

The Attraction to Water

            The plane boarded, there were people from all over the world. The languages being spoken were unusually beautiful but all of us were headed in one direction, the South Pacific. The thought of beautiful beaches and a cultural difference causes most to want to travel and experience another life style. The article, “A History of The Human Attraction to Water” does bring to light why people have always been so drawn to water. Through the joys of recreation to the fact that our bodies are made up of the water element this article gives a short but insightful perspective on the attraction to water.

            What is it that makes people so drawn, is it the fact that our bodies are made up of mostly water, or that we need it to survive. According to the reading it states, “we can not normally go more than several days without it before we become so dehydrated that we can not function well or at all.” Is this why we are so drawn to water?  This made me think that there has to be some sort of magnetism between it and us. Just today my husband and I walked out side in search of the ocean. I know that he is drawn to it for reasons than drinking but the pure enjoyment of surfing the waves that this vast sea produces.

            Recreation is another reason why people are drawn, the surfing, boating, swimming and just basking in the sun on a white sand beach sounds pretty amazing. Though how did it begin, how did people all of a sudden learn to swim well the article made a very clear description of just how it may have of became, “they needed to get to the other side” simple enough. Whatever that body of water may have been there was probably some sort of enticement for those that swam across the first body of water. From there boats, and surfboards have been made, and perfected and now people purchase these expensive toys to fully enjoy what they have always been attracted to.

            This article was a great way to shed a little more light on my discovery of why the sun and the sea are so perfect together. Sol y Mar is an attraction with fun attached to in in everyday.

The article: A History of The Human Attraction to Water

Yoshida, Rachel. "A History of The Human Attraction to Water." Articlesbase 2008. Web. 12 Feb 2012. <http://www.articlesbase.com/nature-articles/a-history-of-the-human-attraction-to-water-551057.html>.