Final Project

For my final project, I wanted to work with this idea of how a dancer interacts with their stage as well as other dancers.  Using the XBox Kinect I tracked my movements while dancing to "Let It Die" by Feist.  I had then created a patch using Max5 that would both draw my movements within the space as well as constructed a code that I can then manipulate in an infinite amount of ways.
Below you can see the illustration that Max5 has drawn out that mimics my movements as well as the code that was created.  I eventually would like to take this image into Illustrator and manipulate it into a more complex and interesting design, which I would then have printed using a Laser Cutter.

Let It Die -- Feist

Max5 -- Code


0, 418.402466 59.056759;
1, 18.468525 1.765296;
2, 55.445435 5.236507;
3, 92.621475 8.723568;
4, 130.054245 12.355735;
5, 167.655945 16.134167;
6, 205.41803 20.1632;
7, 243.329803 24.481215;
8, 281.417969 29.117886;
9, 319.669617 34.082958;
10, 358.030762 39.40432;
11, 396.499329 45.070389;
12, 416.588257 49.310776;
13, 418.233398 52.202194;
14, 419.657562 55.314213;
15, 420.696106 58.679764;
16, 421.405945 62.373253;
17, 421.741547 66.359711;
18, 421.685974 70.639687;
19, 421.192535 75.247574;
20, 420.302917 80.163788;
21, 419.13974 85.173492;
22, 417.582153 90.529617;
23, 415.626709 96.225777;
24, 413.33194 102.250626;
25, 410.706818 108.964798;
26, 407.959625 115.98597;
27, 405.167725 123.206833;
28, 402.374847 130.561249;
29, 399.678772 137.791595;
30, 397.036438 145.018051;
31, 394.428528 152.208069;
32, 391.839996 159.534927;
33, 389.433655 166.756271;
34, 387.251892 173.812439;
35, 385.25769 180.675415;
36, 383.598389 187.062088;
37, 382.19281 193.185028;
38, 380.998444 198.924011;
39, 380.035889 204.380096;
40, 379.22287 209.749115;
41, 378.670471 214.759766;
42, 378.429108 219.439606;
43, 378.400604 223.677002;
44, 378.612061 227.421906;
45, 379.080933 230.744232;
46, 379.732056 233.628082;
47, 380.539368 236.046356;
48, 381.646637 237.985046;
49, 383.059021 239.684525;
50, 384.869934 241.01683;
51, 387.270142 241.946167;
52, 390.095978 242.557465;
53, 393.167175 242.92662;
54, 396.657318 243.231323;
55, 400.49881 243.487335;
56, 404.657623 243.742615;
57, 409.189331 244.036377;
58, 414.059448 244.43985;
59, 419.198303 244.990814;
60, 424.400848 245.544617;
61, 429.410278 246.110199;
62, 434.057404 246.789566;
63, 438.465515 247.582275;
64, 442.735901 248.441071;
65, 446.697327 249.299927;
66, 450.44165 250.165436;
67, 453.988159 250.992279;
68, 457.326904 251.766449;
69, 460.53418 252.469238;
70, 463.463684 253.053558;
71, 466.265747 253.581604;
72, 469.148041 254.058456;
73, 472.105438 254.390594;
74, 475.134064 254.582397;
75, 478.225525 254.66864;
76, 481.338257 254.671097;
77, 484.442566 254.596817;
78, 487.472534 254.444855;
79, 490.440002 254.19812;
80, 493.168213 253.835648;
81, 495.552795 253.377625;
82, 497.619019 252.837509;
83, 499.107178 252.224503;
84, 499.986328 251.609985;
85, 500.455811 251.066742;
86, 500.308655 250.552124;
87, 499.493073 250.012299;
88, 497.662415 249.408905;
89, 494.596252 248.754883;
90, 489.967926 248.110519;
91, 483.862305 247.507767;
92, 476.875 246.932617;
93, 469.256653 246.385284;
94, 461.558044 245.942902;
95, 453.862488 245.580185;
96, 445.974365 245.178757;
97, 438.185425 244.720108;
98, 430.575073 244.229004;
99, 423.315735 243.71405;
100, 416.738586 243.15744;

Cultural Event #3

Santa Fe Art Walk

            This past Friday I went to the Santa Fe Art Walk with my mom and sister.  My mom was visiting Denver so I decided that it would be fun to take her the view some art.  Another one of the main reasons I wanted to go was because some of the students within the eMad graduate program were doing a series of installations along the street.  Unfortunately, at the time I arrived one of the student pieces was not working correctly.  However, I was able to get a sense of what he was doing.  He had projected a video of what I am pretty sure was a scenery of a house onto a brick wall that lined a very narrow ally way.  I loved where this piece was displayed and how he decided to use video projection as his means of display the work.  The alleyway hard to find and not a place anyone would normally think to wander into to view art, and I think that is one of the reasons it was such a successful piece in my eyes.

Another artist I loved was John W. Wood.  He used mixed media on paper to create these amazing flower-like images.  One of his pieces in particular was titled Look Toward the Sunset.  This work was 59 x 59 x 2.25, so it was very large.  The colors used were incredibly bright and made my entire spirit wake up and become giddy.  It immediately brought a smile to my face.  I actually had a hard time leaving this particular gallery because I loved Wood’s pieces so much.

             This was only my second time attending the Santa Fe Art Walk, however, I wandered into a couple of galleries down there from time to time whenever I get a chance.  I have found that each time I go to Santa Fe there are always new and different types of art featured that pull on my emotions in ways art never has before and really opens my eyes to the kinds of art that exist.  It is a great place to gain insight and draw inspiration from.

Cultural Event #2

Changing Landscapes

I recently went to the exhibition called ‘Changing Landscapes: Themes in Nineteenth Century French and American Painting’ that is taking place in the Victoria H. Myhren Gallery right now.  I was really blown away by some of the art that was featured.  Because I have never been a strong painter I have always really admired people who can create beautiful painted works.

One of the pieces I really connected with was one done by Curtis Chamberlin.  It did not have a title, but he used watercolor on paper to paint a beautiful and slightly somber image of a huge autumn tree with cattle grazing around it.  What I loved most about this painting was how Chamberlin used a large array of colors to create the shadow and the shading underneath the tree in the forefront.  Looking at the picture takes me back to my hometown of Sun Valley when I was around eight years old.  I lived near a field where they would let cattle graze in it every fall, and this image reminds me of the times I would walk with my mom to the field and watch the cattle as the sun would set.  

Cultural Event #1

Ballet Hispanico

I recently went to Ballet Hispanico, and it was absolutely amazing!  For starters, I love dance, I grew up dancing and it is a huge passion of mine, so I knew that I wanted to go to this performance just because it was dance.  However, I did not expect what this ballet gave me.  It was so different from any other ballet performance I have been to.

            Ballet Hispanico was so upbeat and exciting.  The Latin music gave the performance something very different than an American or French origin ballet.  The mixing of Jazz and Modern choreography with Latin drums and trumpets made me want more.  One of my favorite parts about the performance was how much more erotic or sexual it was in a way than say something like Swan Lake.  In a way it reminded me a little bit of the movie Chicago.  It had so much emotion that was tension filled, and almost sexually driven.

            My favorite dance was I think a Tango.  It had two men and one woman.  She was caught in between these two men who both want her.  There was so much tension throughout the whole dance.  The woman was an absolutely amazing dancer, and her presence on stage made you keep wanting more and more.  She made me really want to learn Tango, and study abroad in Central or South America.

            The movements and routines are Latin inspired, so there is much more use of the hips and free flowing movements.  It was not as structured in many of the dances.  However, at the same time the performance was graceful and beautiful.  For me, Ballet Hispanico really found this very happy medium between a ballet and street performance-esque quality.  I wish that I could go again!

Incredible!

The new UK Honda Accord.  This video was created to showcase the new car and its features.
It took the ad team over 650 tries to finally get the final video.  They did not use any computer graphics or special effects, this is amazing!

Enjoy!

Inspirations 11/13

#1:

Inspiring? Baffling? Wrong? Depressing? Needed?

#2:

This video depicts how media has been used, and how it will be used and distributed in the years to come.  I found it a little disturbing...

Kinecting Ideas

Kinect Photography
While trying to find some inspiration for my final project, this female photographer popped up on Google.  Audrey Penven uses the infrared light from the XBox Kinect to take amazing photographs.  I have attached the link to an article done by CBSNews about an installation she recently did in Emeryville, CA.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-501465_162-10009547.html?tag=page

XBox Kinect Installation in Munich, Germany