cave writings 3- exhibit#2

On Sunday, my boyfreind and I went to see the Cave Writings III exhibit at Brown Univ. It was an amazing thing to have seen it on the Advent DVDs and then to go see it and use it for myself. The Virtual Cave is comprised of 4 screens, 2 on each side of you, one in front, and one on the bottom under your feet. we took off our shoes and put on special 3D glasses (just like the ones you get at IMAX, except a lot more high tech), it was nice that there weren't very many of us, just 6. the demonstration is about an hour, and we were able to see different projects that Brown students had done.

Cave Writing was created using text edit, but now it has its own text edit specifically for cave writing, which is accessible from their website for free, so you can download it and play around with the world thats already created, they obviously don't give out the source code, but I think its pretty awesome of them to allow people all over the world to access the program for free to enjoy.

My favorite part was the piece about memory, which was on Advent DVD, 3 different memories came up in white text on all of the black screens. They were read aloud for us, since only one of the 3D glasses had a mouse attached, we all took turns as words starting coming toward us, we had to bounce back the words with the light that emitted from the mouse, but when we bounced them back, they landed in different spots within the other memories.

also, a very cool thing was that Damon Baker, the guy who demonstrated cave writings, seemed eager to help me start up a cave writing class at Mass Art. I think that having a class like that really puts us at the forefront of virtual new media. The Brown Students did some awesome things with the program, but I think students at Mass Art could skyrocket it into something unique and amazing. So this was my interview, we want to get a cave writing class at mass art.

gears are expensive

I am trying to get in contact with christy georg, our resident kinetic sculpture artist/teacher, I cannot afford the gears I have found, and definitely not the gear motors that I need. The ones I need are well over $200. and I need 5 for one shape! so i need to ask her if some other gear motors that I found will be alright for me to use, I found some very inexpensive ones, but I need help finding gears that will fit them. I know she would be able to help me. I hope she gets back to me tomorrow. I went to see her after her kinetic sculpture class, and she wasn't there. I guess class ended early. so i have emailed her. The gears definitely won't be ready for Thursday, but probably for the Thursday after that.

I recieved an email back from the boston college physicist from "Fracas over Fractals". He advised me to contact him after may 15th since the end of the semester is so hectic, which is fine, i will be happy to do it. Im glad he emailed me back though. I really feel like i can reach my goal with his help.

artist statement ideas

Materials I use

Plaster
Wood and exterior materials
Found objects
Colored pencil
Watercolor
Paper ( bookmaking)
Fabric
Computer

I make art through experimenting with different media and with what works, how different surfaces adhere to other surfaces, sewing, coloring, speaking through my own language of patterns

Triangles within triangles, loud and bold colors, also colors that create atmosphere, and historical elements appear in my art repeatedly. Politics appears in my art, socio-economic issues, architectural elements, interior design, linear Japanese elements of design,

I like creating my art because It allows me to express myself, to learn how to do new things, to meet new people, to figure things out on my own, keeps my mind busy all the time, makes me excited to be doing, and be so busy, It is a chance for me to excel, It allows me to research, through this I find the things about life that interest me as well as new things that I never even knew about__ all making me a more well rounded person, more interesting to myself. I like creating my art because Its something about myself that I can contribute to my world, even if just one other person understands the importance or sees the beauty, at least I touched someone, every time I do, I am making a connection to my world, and I am living in the moment for myself and my well being.

My most recent work: what makes it exciting is that it is so intricately beautiful and primitive and yet so machine-like and strict in an architectural sense. I am expressing myself in patterns, not words that can be construed and misunderstood. My language has very clear words to convey and definitive opinions and yet you perceive it from your own viewpoint, my patterns react just like a good listener who can always see the opposite side of the argument or be bettered from the contribution of others. What’s also exciting about my most recent work is that I am making math accessible to myself, whereas it was a very intimidating subject to approach before.

I prepare for an artistic session thorough research, Internet, library, and conversations with the people around me. I write down all my ideas, I experiment with my ideas, I look at what other artists have done, I write lists, list of things to do, lists of things that I’ve always wanted to do, have or make, tons of lists., I read books, I go for walks, I meet new people, I consciously interact with my environment more. All of this takes a great deal of time. My life is a preparation for artistic sessions.

I use the materials that I do, which is basically everything except oil paints, because I like experimenting with a variety of media. The reason why I prefer media that is dry as opposed to paint that does not dry for a very long time is because I like to have the option of being either subtractive or additive, and its easier with dry media, as well as the fact that I like to work under pressure and that doesn’t happen when your medium is too slow.

Right now, the most technically challenging medium I have tried to use is machinery. I am at a severe disadvantage when it comes to figuring out gears and mech. Engineering type things like that.

My shapes are something I have been working on for about a year now, I am trying to understand who I am through my artwork, I have a goal of being able to mathematically identify my mind’s system of mark making, or rather patternmaking through the randomness of my shape art.

Things I make:
Books, pattern-shapes (2d), jewelry, clothing,

Who am i?
Ashley Simone Marchetti-Burton
Grew up in potowomut, East Greenwich RI, on the water
Horses, trees, water (beaches), meadows, all influence my art

What do I do?
I do 2d and 3d work. I like to work in a series because I like to research in depth, and analyze through many different media and/or concepts, I like to work medium sized, its more ergonomic for me, I like it to be displayed where you can’t miss it. Somewhere where you work and will be interacting with it. (Near doors, in your hand, watching it move, etc.)

I make art in my room/studio
My environment impacts my art, as far as memories and how I perceive my world. I make art at all times of the day. I like to work in the morning. Pieces usually take me a month.

Important messages to communicate:

Even though you are ignorant about your world, at least try to care, thinking that it’s ok to not give a crap is so much worse than at least trying understand your world.

Be who you are, because who you are is who you need to be in order to be happy, and happiness is the key to everything.

Understand that you are disposable and vital. Physically we are frail beings with highly complex and delicate systems, but in the war against machines, humans will always prevail because we can love and have compassion. Those things are too powerful to be reproduced or stopped.

breaking progress

I have been working on my shapes of earth, venus and mars. I havent ordered the gears yet simply because everytime i try to, I never know what i am supposed to order. So I emailed Harry Avakian, an Assistant professor of engineering at wentworth, and i asked him to possibly help me figure out what i need to specifically identify my parts to order them. I thought about making my own gears, but conceptually, the gears would seem more like a piece of my art to me than indifferent machinery, which is more what I am going for with my statement. I also read a very interesting article about the controversy over the mathematic fractal analysis of Jackson Pollack's work. Fractals basically identify through mathematics the system one uses in their methods of mark making, specifically pattern making. This is exactly my goal for this semester, one which i have tried to go about in the only ways i currently know how. But there is a physicist who teaches at Boston College, who I have also emailed, who is working on Pollack's fractal analysis. I have asked him to possibly meet with me to discuss how he goes about this analysis. So that I might try to do it for myself, or at least get to a new plateau of my research. The article was in Art News Feb. 2007, called "Fracas over Fractals."

last project

I am working on 3 shapes. They are Earth, Mars, and Venus. I have started Earth and finished the drawing for earth. I now need to find the gears. I need an engineer of some sort to help me with purchasing the gears. I need some with motors and some without. The piece starts with the general theme of humanity and its delicate balance vs. machinery. It goes right along with my schindler's list piece. I find this theme extremely prevalent in todays society. we are being replaced by machinery all the time, every day a new job can be done more quickly and efficiently by a machine. It is just as important to note that even though the fear is among us that someday machines will take over. That could truly never happen. The essence of humanity can not be reproduced. that is what my piece is about. the earth is fragile, our solar system is fragile, and so are we as humans, both physically and mentally. Both function in very particular ways to support the existence of our life. I am also doing mars and venus because earth lies in between them both and has a very particular space. also earth has a planetary harmony of 3:4, which is produced by mars and venus. i am using a book called a "little book of coincidence".

where I want to take my next project

After the painting, I have decided that I am not a huge fan of paint with my shapes. I like the cleaner, more architectural look of my shapes, i think it makes them more hypnotizing. I want to draw them on Masonite or something substantial to implant gears in the place of some of the circles. I want them to move and engage people in their movement and intricacy, as well as the concept of how they were created, the mathematical language of visual randomosity. I want spur gears, they are perfect for what i am doing.



I think that the gears give the impression of machinery and the idea of people vs machines is a very interesting topic for me. This is an issue people have been dealing with since John Henry. It is still a very real political, economic and cultural issue. will people overcome the machine? or will the machine oversome us? In my opinion, the machine can never be equivalent to human life or the compassion and spirit of life. no matter how complex computers will be made, they can never replace humans, but they will change our progress, they have , are and will change our lives. So it is important for me to address this issue, seeing as how i am vastly unfamiliar with many aspects of the computer, They kind of scare me a little bit, like a tarantula caught under a glass, they fascinate me and yet i will probably never lift that glass. It is important for me in my life to know that i am unique and cannot be recreated and manipulated, as if i were a dime a dozen.

that is the intent of my next piece. to address this topic of humans vs machines.

proogress on new project

My project for the moment is to paint a pattern/shape for myself. I had been working from a basic system to recreate the saved jews from Schindler's List, but now i am more interested in creating a system to i dentify my patterned shapes. I have come up with these numbers:
3,1,7,22,6, 5.2,12, 34.23,132, 11.41,10, and 18

These numbers were gathered from data that i know about myself.

Physical Data:

my height= 5.2
my weight= 132
my shoe size= 7
length of my hand (thumb to pinky)~ 6

I decided to factor in the fact that making the painting would be a "happening", and so I am documenting it by using:

The Time i started the painting: 10:18 am
and the date of the happening: 3/1/07

in taking in the nature of much of the work i create, I realized that i have an aesthetic infatuation with the ratio of 3:1

I figured out that my weight(132) divided by my age (22)= the length of my hand (6)

to me time can be represented visually through expansion of circles.

On a wall clock, 10:18 is equivalent to 178 degrees.
178 degrees divided by my height (5.2)= 34.23

Using the 3:1 ratio, ----> 34.23:11.41