PAGE - Reflections

Here is a list of all the steps, in sequence, of how I accomplished this project:
- First, we had to choose a topic for the assignment
- Decided on a driving question
- Gathered and researched on the topic we chose
- Started on google earth
- Made a placemark on google earth
- Did a write up in our placemark using the researched we gathered on our topic
- Collected images off the internet, and used magazine and newspapers images to use for a slideshow or video for our placemark
- Copied and pasted the HTML code into the KML file
- Went through HTML code and cut out parts we needed to cut out, and copied our own work into the parts so it was our topic, not Peter's
- Uploaded our pictures
- Uploaded our links to websites
- Uploaded our video or slideshow

I am thrilled with my work because at the beginning of the unit, I thought this was going to be a hard task, but after getting help from people, it really wasn't as bad as I thought. I am also happy with my work because I think the final part looked pretty good.

I never thought I would be able to use google earth and make my own placemark and put my own research into it. I never knew you could put video's or slideshow's into google earth, and I had a fun time collecting the pictures and making the slideshow.

The thing that was most difficult, I thought, was going through the HTML code and cutting out the parts that needed to be cut out, and replacing it with the information that I collected. It was hard to go through and know what needed to be taken out, and what parts of the code needed to stay.

PAGE - Research & Gather Reflection

When I first decided to chose the topic of using totem poles for how they bring peace through art, I didn't understand anything about them. I initially thought that totem poles were just artistic sculptures made by native american's, to symbolize their families, and in memory if loved ones who have died. After reading up on totem poles from different websites and articles, I realized that they bring so much more meaning then what I thought. Some totem poles symbolize the great number of rights a person has aquired over their lifetime, to record and incounter with a supernatural being, or to symbolize the generosity of a person who sponsored a Potlatch ceremony. A Potlatch ceremony is a great and complex feast with deep meaning to coastal First Nations. I think the only trouble I really had with my research was getting different explanations for totem poles from different websites. They all told me different things, so I just used my judgement for which sources I trusted the most.

PAGE - My Driving Question

The topic I have chosen to base my Driving Question on is Totem Poles and how it brings peace through art. Totem poles are made by people in native tribes. They are symbolized for different reasons, some being for cultural beleifs, to recount familiar legends, notable events, to show the great number of rights a person had acquired over their lifetime, but mostly for artistic presentations.

My Driving Question is: Distinguish between how art brings peace to our lives, compared to how totem poles bring peace to native tribes.

PAGE - My Driving Question

The Face of Others

I made many changes to the origional image i selected. I first started off with a woman's headshot, then found other pictures and cropped them and added them to her face so there are many different people and colours to get the message across for racism. I think what pleases me the most about the technical quality of my work is that I have different sizes and shapes of the different facial features. The part that displeases me most about the quality of my work is that I used the same tool over and over again. I didnt use any of the more challenging tools like the lasso tool, I only used the crop tool. During this task, I learned how to scale down the sizes to match the image as close as possible to make it seem more realistic. I also had to find the right angle of the people's faces when i was looking for images so i could crop something out so it didnt look like it was on the wrong part of her face. The message that I hope to convey in this collage is that there are many different people around the world and different religions and inside we are all alike so we should't discriminate others for what we see. The emotional response I hope to elicit is to get the word across that we really need to do something about the way we look at others. To improve on this image, I would have liked to find a chin with a beard or something to make it more interesting.

Digital Artist's Canvas Proposal

I am aware that I will be evaluated on the final product and on my successful presentation of my concept or theme. I am aware that Peter must approve this project idea before I continue.

During my research, I learned that respect can bring peace in basically all aspects in life, and almost every disagreement.

Here are three ideas/topics that I have thought of:
1. Racism: Racism occurs in all countries and cities around the entire world. Whether it be racism towards black people, or racism between two different cultures. People who do not respect others for whatever, there will never be peace between everyone. If everyone, no matter what race or religion, had repect for eachother, it would bring peace between everyone and would eventually stop most of the wars around the world.

2. Gay: Many people around the world do not approve of gay couples, either between two women or two men. There are many anti-gay groups who go to gay pride parades and hold up innapropriate posters, yelling rude comments, and sometimes people even wanting to pick fights with people who are gay and want them dead. People who do not respect others for whatever, there will never be peace between everyone. I believe that if everyone agreed on gay relationships and marriages, and did not have a problem with peoples sexual orientation, then gey people would not be ashamed to go out in public together, and do not have to ask permission to get married.

3. Bullying: Every day, kids around the world are being bullied for many different reasons such as their siblings, someones background heritage, family and wealth and if people have a disabilities and who look differently. Children around the world, and even adults are killed everyday by bullying. I think that if the victim and the person who victimizes them, got along and respected eachother, there would be peace between them, and we wouldnt have gang violence around the world.

The idea I have chosen to pursue is:
1. Racism: Racism occurs in all countries and cities around the entire world. Whether it be racism towards black people, or racism between two different cultures.

I like being able to overlap images to make the picture look as real as possible. For this task, I used the magnetic lasso tool for the clouds and the plane, and brought it into the skyline picture. For the two clouds to look like the exact same, i flipped one of them horizontally so they looked like two different clouds. Then using different layers in a certain order, I set up the images where I wanted them to be. After they were in the right positions, I scaled down the pictures to make them look like the size they would really look flying over the city.