Happy Holidays!

Our idea of decorating a Christmas tree at Target came from our intent to keep our last project light and fun! Our group decided to spread some holiday cheer and help the Target employees out by putting together a beautiful tree, although the Target employees may not have been all that happy with us! To our surprise, the shoppers did not pay us any attention....not one person said anything to us or even looked our way. By the end of our decorating we were attracting a lot of attention from the Target employees, but they never asked us what we were doing or to stop. I imagine you can still see our beautiful tree at the Target on Ben White and South Lamar!

http://www.twitvid.com/D6DSI

Happy Holidays!
Margaux, Megan, Victoria (our adopted member!), and Melinda

Gift Wrapped Trees

Every holiday season consumer trends go in an out of style. Some plastic toy that everyone rushed to purchase last year may be in the discount bin this year. There does seem to be a constant through out every year of holiday shopping, the act of wrapping the gifts. In nearly every mall and department store across America there is an area in which customers can wrap their plastic toys and clothing.

What we decided to stage for our performance art piece was a public gift wrapping session, very much in the same manner what a person may see at a shopping mall. Though instead of wrapping consumer nonsense, we've decided to holiday wrap trees in forest right off of campus.

Why Trees?

We felt that wrapping trees instead of something one might find in a mall would shed light on our American consumer culture, and in some way make the audience appreciate the gifts that are all around them throughout the entire year.

Life on the Go

->http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=087F70scXws&noredirect=1<-
Location: South Congress
Duration: constantly moving forward
Narrative: Walking through life focused on oneself trying to get by fast without noticing too much what her surroundings are. (dressing and getting ready for her day)
Sound: Song- No Sleep instrumental by Wiz Khalifa
Choreography: Walking forward but behind a walking mirror; getting dressed for the day
Props: Gabby-Girl
Mathew-Waddling Mirror
Shyanne- Cameraman/Editor
Costumes: Gabby- clothes changing (sleep garment to casual outfit)
Mathew- Mirror
Public Interaction: No, stares only.
Audience: pedestrians and drivers down South Congress
Content: Mirror, Clothing, Make-up
Live or Documented: Documented
Video time: 5:14 minutes

Gabryl McCune
Mathew Hernandez
Shyanne Diaz

Free Warmth on a Cold Day

"I will not play tug o' war. I'd rather play hug o' war. Where everyone hugs instead of tugs, Where everyone giggles and rolls on the rug, Where everyone kisses, and everyone grins, and everyone cuddles, and everyone wins."  -Shel Silverstein

For our performance art we wanted to offer some comfort and unexpected happiness to people during this time of cold weather and end-of-semester stress. We wanted to do it in an even more public setting, but did not want to compromise our safety (and it is windy out there!), so we did our piece in the Ragsdale building. Ragsdale could guarantee lots of passersby as well as a certain amount of comfort and security. We set up our office in the hallway with Patton and Bella sitting at their desk with a chair for potential participants part of the time, and part of the time they were standing and making themselves a little more obvious. Hannah was across from them secretly documenting the exchanges. We had two signs, one that read "Free therapy and esteem building (not a licensed professional)" and the other read "Step into my warm embrace."

We stayed in the hallway for about 45 minutes and received 7 hugs as well as countless laughs and a few scowls. The general reaction was that people were amused or uncomfortable. Many people stopped to ask about why we were doing this. No one really offered up any deep-dark secrets, which may have been for the best. Men seemed to be more willing to receive hugs than women.

Overall we had a lot of fun doing this project and we believe we succeeded in providing some warmth and joy for strangers.

"Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can."  -John Wesley

-Patton, Hannah, and Bella-

An Original Christmas

http://www.twitvid.com/D6DSI

Created by Margaux, Meagan & Melinda.

Cleaning up the Capital

The main focus around our presentation was to clean up the capital. With all of the occupy movements that have been taking place around the United States, we felt it would be appropriate to do something similar. We took a broom and a mop and went to the steps of the capital and began cleaning up. We even ran into a couple supporters of the occupy movement.

We were inspired by Milan Kohout and his work in China on August 10, 2009 when he mopped Tiananmen Square.

- Austin Thurmond

- Alex Bueno

- Christian Robles

"Popping" Colors in Nature

For our final, our group decided to to make a painting in nature to tie in our "Art in the Environment" Theme. We decided that we wanted to fill balloons full of paint and throw them from a tree onto a board to make a spontaneous painting.

Our materials:

1 poster board (filled with thumb tacks)

ten balloons filled with various colors of paint

a tree

an iphone (for pictures and video)

We found a tree on campus to throw the balloons from. Like all art, we had trouble with our initial concept. The balloons would not pop, despite our best efforts (and 20 thumb tacks), when we threw from the tree. Suddenly, we were very involved in the project. There was disappointment when the balloons didn't pop and extreme elation when they did. It was almost like watching your favorite sports team perform. Finally, we found that if we stayed on the ground and threw them at different angles they would pop. When the balloons bounced and didn't pop, they knocked pieces of bark and leaves onto the painting. We decided that it looked very unique so we left the pieces in the painting. Our title came from the inspiration how colors "pop" in nature. Like brightly colored flowers and trees. We wanted to choose bright colors for the painting to reflect our favorite bright colors from nature. The dark bark and dead leaves contrast nicely with the colors. Even though it was cold and raining, we had a lot of fun making the painting and are really happy with the results.

Here is a short, humorous video, revealing the trials and tribulations involved in throwing paint-filled balloons in ridiculously cold weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOw1KvaeWBA&fb_source=message

Happy Holidays Everyone!

~Sehaam, Tait, and Sam