hey meghan! sorry, i have been in and out of studio, but i have forgotten to get it from you everytime! i will be there tomorrow around 6 am so anytime after then is cool!

Jose, i will give you the new file in studio. do you want it on a cd or can i just have it on my jump drive?

okay everyone, let's be sure to touch bases and trade files tomorrow--monday--so we can keep this moving along.

Stephanie I am not sure if you saw my message earlier this weekend, but I have the mural to pass along to you from last week. Sorry it is so late. Let me know when I can meet you to hand it off!
thanks

Who's Swapping with Whom:

Here's the swap order:

Ronna --> Heather --> Meghan --> Stephanie --> Jose --> Ronna

We should probably each just try to remember who we're swapping to and from so that we can contact each other individually for swaps.

Meghan's Original with Stephanie's Add-On

Here is the finished revised sketch for today's meeting! The red looks a bit darker in my original, but it is the basic idea.

missed swap time

I am also not going to be able to attend today. I have a review and am not quite finished with what I wanted to accomplish on the mural. I would be willing to meet somone tomorrow for 5 minutes to swap, or anytime after today. I will be around all weekend and am flexible. I am not sure who I am swapping with, but I apologize to the group and especially whomever is supposed to receive the mural that I am currently working on.

missed meeting

hi folks
I am out sick today so I will miss the image swap but I can have a disk with the images ready for monday.

Sketch V. 2

Here's my updated sketch from Ronna's image.

revised sketch (stephanie's original with jose's mess)

here is an update on the sketch that stephanie created for monday, which was handed off to me.....

monday's sketch

here is my sketch from monday's meeting (stephanie now has it and it is being reworked).

Round One

Here is round one of the image that I put together for our meeting on Monday! It looks very washed up for some reason, I can't quite figure it out, but this gives you an idea!

First Round

I tried to upload all of our first round images as JPEGs but it was taking way to crazy-long. So I recommend each of you save a copy of your first round image as a JPEG [I also shrunk mine to 6 x 7.(some fractional number) to make it less ginormous] and post it to the blog individually. If you have any problems posting an image, let me know and I'll see if I can figure it out!

Swap-Schedule

So we met tonight and looked at each other's pix and set up the swap schedule. Image swapping with happen every Friday, every other Friday we will meet as a group.

Swap Cycle: Ronna --> Heather --> Meghan --> Stephanie --> Jose --> Ronna

Our meetings for the project are as follows:

9/28 - 11:00 meeting and swap. Decide on which image(s) will be up-graded to the large mural? Demo on the path tool?

10/5 - Swap

10/12 - 11:00 meeting and swap.

10/19 - Swap

10/26 - 11:00 meeting and swap.

11/2 - LAST SWAP!

11/9 - 11:00 meeting and wrap-up. Discuss printing and exhibition for spring?

11/16 - Tentative 11:00 meeting and post-wrap-up wrap-up.

Saturday Meeting

The posse (minus 1) met on Saturday and discussed primarily how to proceed. We also have a quick workshop of Photoshop Masking skills. Here are the important dates/items/things:

1) Next meeting, Monday, 9/24 (yes, tomorrow!) at 5:30 in the Macy Lab.
2) Bring with you one 11x17 (300ppi) sketch/draft, also bring the digital file. These can be very rough, don't worry, we just need to get something started.
3) We will walk about these and then swap them and the files. We will also discuss designating one of two of these for the large mural (although we might also do another swap and then see.

Try to keep a list of any photoshop questions you have that you might want a workshop on; we can more mini-workshop workshops anytime you all want. Also, we should probably start posting our source photos/scans to the blog as well, so that others can access them. If these feels too slow for some, I can try to set up an ftp site. Last, I'm going to see if the lab manager will be able/willing to set up a secure server space for us in the Macy Lab for this project.

Thursday Meeting

So Thursday we had the other small group meeting; present were Heather, Stephanie and Leah. So that's our posse!
We looked at each other's photographs and had also discussed some of the ideas that came up at Monday's meeting.

There was a lot of support for the idea of smaller collaborative swaps in conjunction with the large unified collaborative mural. It was also suggested that we even have two large murals going around. (Ah, the beauty of digital!)

There was also a question about whether the focus should be on latina communities in Charlotte or on more broad demographics within Charlotte. There was also a discussion on the nature of the "landscape" and what that really means. One thing I pointed out is that, traditionally, a landscape image is really defined by the strong horizonal of the horizon. (We looked at Ramon's images on the blog, and also, at the digital landscape of Jeff Murphy... www.Muttkingdom.com.) But we also talked about how a landscape can be many interpretations of a physical area (noting the solution the Woodbury students found in their mural) and also taked about how one could create a landscape of a dense jungle that could be completely devoid of the horizon...direct parallel to possibilities in the "urban jungle". So this is something worth still thinking and talking about I think.

Last, we talked a little photoshop shop and if there is interest, I can have a couple of crash courses on techniques that might be useful/brushing up on basic skills, etc. I could do the same for Illustrator if there is interest, but Photoshop's my first baby. :)

Also, if folks have technical questions as they go along working on their images, these could always be posted to the blog and open for anyones answers. VIva la bathroom wall!

See you all soon. H.

saturday meeting time and place

okay folks
again, we will meet as a big group this saturday at 1pm in the computer lab in macy. be there and be square!

oops

I labeled the images incorrectly--the upper image is ramon's piece, the lower image is the student piece.

Up and running

okay folks
the blog is in full swing and I suggest that we use it to upload images for comment. this way the woodbury folks can "listen-in" on our conversations and chime as as they deem necessary. and, we can start sharing our "data"--raw images on the blog for all to react to. I am also going to post the two other paintings that were produced last spring at woodbury, which round out the discussions that they had.

the first image was created as a "sketch" piece that tested student ideas (each student worked on this piece at various times, sometimes in concert). and, then, ideas would migrate from this image to the larger "flatlands" image that heather previously posted.

the second image is one that ramon collaborated on with a graffitt artist called ski; ski tagged the canvas and then ramon did his painterly thing. this painting served as the generator of ideas for the overall discussions that ramon and the woodbury students had.

Okay, slowly learning blogger.

Embarrassing as it is, I've never used blogger before so I finally just figured out how to add everybody as authors. You should be getting an e-mail about that shortly. If you don't get an e-mail indicating you've been added as an author, send me an e-mail and let me know!

Ramon, if the Woodbury peeps want to be added as authors, just have them send their e-mail address to hdfreema@uncc.edu and I'll sign them up!

H.

Hopefully it'll work this time!

Sorry, I've been trying to post an image of the Woodbury Mural through some other methods that just making it a post, and Blogger's been resistance. I will conform.

Next Meeting Dates and Times!

In case you didn't see it under the comments, here's the latest:

We will hold two meetings next week—one on Monday night at 6pm with José in the architecture building in the salon and one on Thursday night at 6:30pm with Heather I think in Macy 106B.

If you are interested in the project you must attend one of these meetings.

Then we will all meet on the Saturday following these meetings as a big group (time and place TBA).

We will use the head count from the Monday and Thursday meetings to determine who is committed to the project and going to participate (and, therefore, who will be eligible for the stipend).

So, do some documenting this weekend/week and come to one of these two meetings with images in hand for a brief discussion.

First Meeting

Image: "Small Scale Turbulence" by Jeff Murphy and Heather Freeman. An example of a Photoshop collaboration, where the artists swapped the file back and forth until they were happy with the result."

Our first meeting was on Friday, September 7th, at noon in Macy 106B. Present were José Gámez, Heather Freeman, Meghan Meyers, Ronna Gardner, Leah Salzyn and Josh Harding.

The rough idea behind this project is as follows:

"A Tale of Two Queen Cities will explore the impacts of Latino immigration upon the cultural landscapes of two distinct but related locations: Charlotte, NC and Los Angeles, CA. This project will organize a group of UNCC students to create set of resources and visual representations a parallel to those of a group at Woodbury College in Los Angeles, California. The UNCC group, along with Professors Heather Freeman (Art and Art History) and José Gámez (Architecture) will develop material for the project (photographs, videos, observational writings), which will culminate in a series of digital murals. The murals will create a dialog between the bi-coastal groups focused upon common themes and potential differences that arise given the distinct urban contexts of Los Angeles and Charlotte. Funding for this project covers student expenses related to the production of both the research data and the visual art. The resulting resources and murals will be exhibited at the College of Architecture Gallery. A panel discussion including all participating faculty and UNCC students will accompany the exhibition opening. This project is funded by the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund though the Council on University Community."

We determined the following course of action:
Students will start collecting/gathering/taking photographs relevant to our concept of the "cultural landscape" of Charlotte, particularly as it explores the influences of Latino immigration. When we next meet up, will use these photographs to help determine the physical nature of the digital mural(s). Students may also want to start small collages, just to get the wheels turning and to give each other a sense of their own individual design aesthetic.

Outstanding question to keep in mind:
Will this be one, large (tiled) collaborative mural, or a series of smaller collaborative murals?
We plan on exhibiting these works in the College of Architecture Gallery. But where else (outside, public spaces) would we like to see these? How might this define the physical design of the mural(s)?

Summary:
This project should take roughly 10 weeks. Students will work primarily on their own time, but must avail themselves to occasional (biweekly) meetings. Students can, of course, organize meetings themselves, any time they want! The finished digital mural(s) will be printed at the end of the semester and exhibited in the spring. The stipend will be determined by the number of students who commit to the whole project and by how much materials end up costing. Students who are fully on board should make every effort to go to the next meeting with their photographs.

Question for the group:
Realizing we need to meet more often in the beginning, when do we want to meet again? Should be try for Friday 9/14 at noon again? Or would you all prefer another day/time? You all dictate! :)