Items

• 
  2021-11-11

  Every story matters – International Professor's Perspective

  As an international student, I believe international professors also had it rough during the pandemic. For that reason, I interviewed Dr. Cortina, a professor at St. Mary's University. To show students that we all have a story to share with the world.
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  2021-11-03

  Oral History: Clare Acosta

  Through this oral history, Clare Acosta and I develop a conversation about both the Community Engagement office work and the program of Empower: Ecuador. The conversation was specifically focused on the before and after of COVID-19 and also what was learned from the process. It is a very deep conversation that I really enjoyed and know that Clare also did.
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  2021-10-05

  Nate LeMonnier Oral History, 2021/10/05

  It was fun to ask my son about his experience during the pandemic. He handled the whole thing really well which comes across in the interview. I've transcribed the text in the attached Word doc.
• 
  2020-10-26

  Who are you?

  It has been weird. A time where the words “pandemic” and “quarantine” are not just being used in a book or video game. Isolation is a weird thing too. It is good in moderation, but what now draws the line between too much and too little? An hour can seem like days and a day can seem to be the same over and over again. I have been delving further into art and music as the days pass. It seems strange that sometimes exploring art and music has the same effect as isolation such that time does not seem to exist in the expected way. I sometimes forget that we are in a pandemic when drawing or alone as if it were already in the past. Art and music have always been in my life, so I expanded on them by trying new genres and mediums. It is not always easy to try new things or to be forced into new things. Often times, I did not appreciate or even like what I attempted in art. It would be quite hard to count the number of drawings I have thrown away or canvases I’ve painted over. Somehow, over the course of quarantine, I have found myself to be more critical of the things that I create. Perhaps it is from being isolated which gives me more opportunities to overthink. Perhaps it is the constant comparison to other people on social media. Perhaps my disgust is not a new development at all, but it seems more pertinent since it is difficult to focus on other things. Of course, this disappointment is crawling into other aspects of my life. The drawing is one that I used to think was decent, but I find myself only critiquing it. It depicts a human floating and wrapped partially in fabric. In October of 2020, I erased most of it and tried it again, but the results stayed the same. Art is interpreted on an individual basis, but I personally found it to be about identity. Everyone wearing a mask made me think about who we really are. I have certainly run into people where I did not recognize them at all with a mask. Part of the identification process is how people look and how they act. If we don’t know who they are, do they act differently? Does this make an individual, a different person?
• 
  2020-03-19

  Fighting Creative Blocks During Quarentine

  Of course the pandemic hit everyone's motivation and zest for daily life pretty hard, but as an artist whose social circles are mainly comprised of other artists, I noticed an especially hard hit to the creative output of my peers. I've heard before that suffering and despair is supposed to bring out the best artists have to offer, but in reality the inverse is often true- Van Gogh painted the Starry Night while he was getting specialized care in a mental health facility, after all. It's hard to find your spark when it feels like the world is caving in on all sides, but I was determined to find a way to keep myself from falling into a months long creative drought I knew I'd find myself in if I didn't do something about it. I didn't have the energy or desire to touch full sized pieces, but I reasoned with myself that I could stand to go smaller scale to save on both energy and time without sacrificing the feeling of accomplishment that comes with a finished piece, and so the day before every non-essential business in town shut down, I ran to my local Michael's and picked up the cheapest acrylic paints I could find and 3 packs of six 2 inch square canvases. I tried to think of a subject that could easily be captured on such a small surface, but was also sure to spark joy in myself and perhaps others if i chose to share them, and landed on the topic of pets, since they were easily one of the biggest comforts for myself and everyone else I knew during our prolonged stints sitting at home. It was a good move, I think- looking at an an image of an animal for long periods of time never hurts your mood, and sharing photos of the finished paintings with my friends who own the animals pictured brought a boost of serotonin to both parties involved. More than one person suggested I start an etsy page and sell them, but I think I'm content to just let them be a quarantine hobby and act of kindness during a deeply depressing time.
• 
  2020-07-07

  Canvas from creative places

  Here's an artist who got stuck in Peru due to COVID. He couldn't go out to buy paper or canvas, so he used the cardboard from toilet paper rolls. I'm even slightly surprised his toilet paper had cardboard rolls, because a lot of times that part is left out to save costs. Anyway, the digital art he created is pretty interesting, but it's hard to find out more about the artist because he's a self-described as: "@burst_ is an anonymous cryptoartist with an emphasis on post-neoexpressionism and digital art 🖼👾 he creates dystopian-hybrid-organic abstract artworks as well in a digital as physical form..."
• 
  2020-04-08

  Innovation Keeps Studio Art Classes Vibrant

  Studio art classes would seem to present a particular remote learning challenge. Yet professors like Audrey Goldstein are sharing ideas in nationwide online forums and then implementing ideas for maintaining a vibrant educational experience for student artists. One way students and professors stay connected is through one-on-one video critiques that follow Zoom class meetings
• 2020-05-04

  The Burdens of Online Classes

  Hi everyone, As I write this I feel as if this is like a time capsule that future generations will see or read and learn about our experience. For me, it goes like this, my name is Vianney Ruiz and I am a student Tempe's Arizona State University, I am currently studying Mechanical Engineering as well as French. Why French you ask? I seem to have a passion for languages, but I can't just study French so I decided to combine it with Engineering. Now I am back in Texas, I had to give up my new job as an ambassador for Microsoft and online classes do not live up to the standards that universities say they do. On the other hand, it is me who has the problem, why can't I seem to live up to my own standards when I appear to have more time on my hands? Did I have a class in ten minutes? It is one hour past the time. How could I have forgotten? I reminded myself ten minutes before class. I tell myself there is nothing to be done, I simply send an apology email to my professor. I go on with my day, when suddenly I panic did I have a quiz today? I hurry to Canvas. Phew, I am good, no problem. On other days it's, oh no I missed th quiz. I read the announcement, told myself I had a quiz, why did I forget? Once again sends email apologizing to the professor and even decide to ask for a retake. The professor replies back granting me the permission to retake it. Oh, thank God, I feel such relief. Now, what about my C++ class? I was having so many problems with the professor's teaching style before, how will I do it now? I decide to contact my fellow classmates and see if we can work together on assignments. They say yes, I feel relieved. How will I do my final project? This is something I have to do alone. I ask my dad if any of his co-workers if they have any experience with coding. He says he will ask. The next day he forgets, what will I do? Should someone do it for me? No, that's not like me, I will do my best and assume responsibility. Finally, my dad remembers to ask, someone, contacts me, do I know arrays, vectors, structures? I do not know how to answer. I answer honestly, I laugh at myself and say, my current professor, is a student himself, he has a long way in his teaching career, he went over them, but I found it hard to understand him.
• 
  2020-04-26

  Space

  This image can mean multiple things. As you can see with the model it is floating and is isolated by a simple background. The negative space represents the social isolation and the model is trying to make the best of the situation. #REL101