Self Eval:Activism

Sorry this is a few minutes late. I keep getting my passwords confused and it always takes me to the process of trying to log on...set new password...or wait to they email me and then I remember. anyway, evaluation. I feel as though I could have been more instrumental in preparing the flow and attitude of the group. I should have suggested that we run through it a few times with extras (friends) just to get a feel for what we were doing and develope our condfience and group moral. I also have to confess that I held back some and I should not have done that. Some times you have to stick out like a soar thumb for a minute to get things going. The prep work went well...everything came off well...the blind folds...the black windows...and sound affects. We just needed practice and a physical walk through in the space to help us out. During the last half it probably showed on my face that some things could have been better, but I should not have let that come through to my teamates. I think we did an OK job overall. I still feel like we picked something a little over our heads and we should have done a little more due dilligence on our message and educating facts but, we learned. I asked Wallace what did she think of the performance and she said that having the class to participate in doing things and antimidating them was effective but, sitting them down to watch a movie segment and also asking them aloud about how did they feel wasn't the best way to execute our purpose. She suggested maybe we should have let them write a short response or pair in groups to discuss the experience. I agree now after rethinking the process and the next time we as a group or individuals choose to do something like this we will have measure to go by.

--Signing off,

Garlana

Self Eval: Identity Project

I am very happy with the way things turned out, but I think that my presentation could have been even better. The performance part with Matt was just one of those happenings where you happen to be in the right place at the right time. As we all sat in class I kept trying to decide when would I go for my turn, but something kept me feeling like I should wait...wait. And as I sat there I kept trying to think what angle did I want to come from with the audience and I was trying to zone out and remember a poem or line or a song that would break the ice for me to make the presentation more intimate. We got in the circle to participate in Matt's piece and before they got started all of a sudden I remembered this poem I love from years ago called Naked (by Gayle Danely) and the lines came back to me and then I realized, "Oh, this could work and mid way through their piece I realized this could work together, so I asked if I could jump in. It worked out and it was great, it reminded me of college when I used to do stuff like that all of the time with other performers and the energy just works out.
But...I think overall, it could have been better if it were completely planned out. I would have liked to incorporate music and a few more interactive elements. My overall wearable piece could have been better in construction and even more elaborate if I had made my mind up from the beginning. The entire time I kept going back and forth about keeping this and trashing that and I almost ran out of time. I prefer to be consistent and ahead of the game with my creative works. This time I will do a better job of executing the concept.

project notes: Identity

Identity project:
I was really excited about this project, I had all of these elaborate ideas of how I could combine dance,poetry into my wearable art piece. Initially I had 3 ideas. The first one was based an environmental tone, I wanted to create this mother earth art piece with several different removable layers and dramatizations. I went back to find inspiration from one of my favorite sitcoms, music videos and recordings of previous award show entertainment. I enjoy doing this because it gets mind working on surprise elements and features for costuming. Soon after my initial sketches then I decided to move to this wacky two sided costume that was based on the idea of mainstream beauty (plastic this, plastic that...fake boobs...fake eye color..fake nails, fake hair)and the consumption of cosmetics made with synthetic ingredients and how it affects the body, versus naturally enhanced beauty. And somehow I was going to introduce this beautiful natural beauty jumpsuit that played on just being you. After another set of drawings and a different performance outline, it came down to the jumpsuit and this fantastic nature hat. The hat was to be the centerpiece for the integration of all of those different elements. I knew that I needed a layer of performance to bring it all together but I didn't work out all of those details until the morning of the critique in class 20 seconds before my turn to present.