Jocelyn Foye

While I was exploring Jene Robinson's sight I came across a colab with Jocelyn Foye...anyway what's important is that I linked over to Jocelyn's work and really liked her "mixed media" pieces.

Pole Dance, silicone rubber 34" x 31"

Backflip, urethane rubber 16" x 22"

I also found the "Roller Derby Project" that included both sculptural and photographic work, and while I absolutely love love love our local doll's this work really sealed the deal for me.

"For those not in the loop on her work, Jocelyn Foye captures the performances and actions, primarily by athletes, in clay and then uses those imprints to make sculptural works. Live performances/actions or photographic documentation of performances often accompanies the work."

I know i know so predictable of me right? Ah well... Check the link to the work its really interesting (and by my use of interesting I mean in a non-clique lets use this word when we have nothing else to say kinda way). Also the journal and event photo's lead to a certain ex lab-tech everyone loved to hate...could be fun

Three's Company

Last year some of us caught a small visiting artist lecture in the video lab, former CSULB MFA grad Jene Robinson. She has some beautiful video work I've been recently thinking about. Among my favorites video's where Beast, Outside, and Three's Company... what I love is her exploration into these moments she finds captivating or fascinating and her ability to hold and stretch out these moments.

"A contemporary interpretation of questions about birth, death, love, emotion and existence. A dual-screen projection of characters in profound contemplation."

Just hear me out

So my progression for 406 has moved to sound. Or I've started experimenting with sound as an alternative approach to image making. Staying close to my senor show project I started by recording sound in the gym. I was initially thinking about how we have the ability to mentally construct an image with our imagination. Then I started thinking about the confidence and the athletic mentality> this led to recording some of the athletes. Basically I wanted to hear their mental space or what they were thinking to themselves before competing or while practicing. I wondered if it was a lot like the same things I used to think about back in the day when I played competitively. And I got exactly what I expected ...a series of encouraging phrases repeated over and over (your own personal cheerleader). Then I started doing research into mental coaching. Mostly these techniques are used as self help- self esteem boosters. Psychologist and self help coaches have used these techniques to help people with confidence problems. The concept itself is called "self talk" and it is something that everyone does. Based on The law of repetition which is one of the three laws of memory...we have this internal dialog with ourselves in order to firmly convince ourselves of something we want to believe. By repeating it over and over to our brain it becomes true. Thus we boost our own confidence.

Now I know what your thinking "what the hell Stephanie what does this have to do with advanced digital" well... I don't know but that's a damn good question. This is more of my process as it evolves into a workable project.

So with all this information i started thinking about what i could do with these recording or if I really needed these recordings. I thought well maybe these recordings plus an image or multiple images as stop motion or video. But then it all led to a very clique like athletic based piece which I am sure it has evolved from. What I like is the intensity these girls have when they are "self talking" out loud it kind of becomes about that instead of the fact that they are athletes. So I went to a friend for a different perspective... a very good perspective. Who suggested I keep the intense and athletic type of self talk but apply it something/ anything else. Since i'm also interested in the build up or hype you get out of hearing this self dialog the idea was to apply it to everyday or mundane actions. So now i'm finally in a happy place. Excited about making this sound plus image work out.

Man she really kills me

Miranda July & Roe Ethridge movie extra's for vice. So funny...

Poppin' a pose

I was thinking a lot about the complexity of posing...If that makes any sense. Shooting young girls has become funny in many ways, it seems like every time one of them gets in front of the camera their body automatically holds a pose you know they've practices several hundred times before. I can't help but smile to myself because i know its something everyone does. This Miranda July video popped into my head and now every I see someone in front of a camera I picture them poppin a pose! It also reminds me of the way old school commercial photographers used to do their portraits...model's memorize a pose in relation to a number, a number is picked and instant photo! Haha I think i need to make a book of go-to poses and carry it around with me when i shoot. "hey you can you handle pose # 1,3 and 7?.. great thank you"

New Topographics

"While the original "New Topographics" artists all made work that was aesthetically aware, they were more concerned with clear-eyed, dispassionate documentation. This was a huge break from tradition; these were not Ansel Adams's bombastic peaks and canyons, enhanced by complex darkroom manipulation. These prints were smallish and somewhat dull, but that was partly the point. As Nicholas Nixon's artist statement succinctly puts it: "The world is infinitely more interesting than any of my opinions concerning it."

Although the exhibition came and went without much fanfare in 1975, "new topographics photography" has become a widely understood term throughout the art world, and the show is unanimously considered a turning point in the history of the medium. Artreview: New topographics

This show is incredible (still swooooning over the B&W prints)