I Am Me

In unit 1, Individual, we learned all about different psychological evaluation tests that help individuals discover more about themselves. These tests measure how much we truly know about ourselves and the way we function in society. This brought us to our action project, making a self portrait and artist statement about what we've learned about ourselves. We were given free reign of how we wanted to represent ourselves in our self portraits from concrete to completely abstract concepts using whatever medium we wanted. I decided to do a more abstract drawing that shows both the tests I took and my true self. I had mixed feelings when creating this project. On one hand I loved the creative liberty given to us and that we got to share more about ourselves with others. On the other hand it was really hard to express who I am as a whole in a single image. It was challenging and took me a while to decide on an idea for the project. I knew I wanted to incorporate eyes in some way and went from there. In the end it turned out to be something I loved and am extremely proud of, I managed to capture the basics of my essence in this drawing. Please enjoy my self portrait and artist statement below.

TS. "Through the Eyes of Me". 2017. Chicago

"Through the Eyes of Me"
Computer Printing, Sharpie, and Colored Pencils on Card Stock
H 9" x  W 12"

I had taken a multitude of psychological tests in order to have a better understanding of myself. Out of all the tests the two I think represent me most were the Enneagram and Myers-Briggs. In the Enneagram test I ended up being a six, otherwise known as the Loyalist, meaning that I will do anything for what I believe in and for those I care for. Sixes are the committed, security-oriented type and are known to be “reliable, hard-working, responsible, and trustworthy. Excellent "troubleshooters," they foresee problems and foster cooperation, but can also become defensive, evasive, and anxious—running on stress while complaining about it. They can be cautious and indecisive, but also reactive, defiant and rebellious. They typically have problems with self-doubt and suspicion.” (“The Loyalist Enneagram Type 6”, 2016). It freaks me out how spot on my test results were. I tend to try and solve problems before they happen and am constantly wary of others and their intentions. The reason being is that I’m afraid to be forgotten and left behind once again; to not have the security and support that I need when life gets tough is terrifying. So when I decide to put my trust into a person or idea I make sure to defend it with all my being. If you ask anyone who is close to me what the most predominant trait I have the answer will always be my loyalty. This is represented by the eyes and the tree. The eyes are the physical representation of my loyalty, one being human while the other being a wolf, an animal that is immensely faithful and that I am compared to quite often. The blue color of the irises is for my true eye color and the color symbolization of devotion. Trees are known to be sturdy, unmoving and to solidify this thought I wrote “security” in Tagalog, my native language. For the Myers-Briggs test I was placed into the ENTP group, which is also called the “debater” or “visionary”. They are “quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert, and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems. Adept at generating conceptual possibilities and then analyzing them strategically. Good at reading other people. Bored by routine, will seldom do the same thing the same way, apt to turn to one new interest after another.” (ENTP Type, 2016). This is fairly accurate, but not exactly me. The problem with this test was that it was very black and white; there is no grey area. You’re either an extrovert, who thrives off of being action oriented, preferring frequent interaction and getting energy from spending time with people, or an introvert, who prospers from being thought oriented, favoring substantial interaction and receive energy from spending time alone. I am neither of these, instead am an ambivert, a person who exhibits qualities of both introversion and extroversion. I don’t prefer one way of functioning over another, rather I’m a jack of all trades doing well in any situation be it social or secluded setting. To show this I have two different skylines portraying my interactions with my surroundings, twilight for introversion and dawn for extroversion. The silhouettes of the people are manifestations of me and how I can easily blend into each trait.

I looked into other psychological assessments and case studies to gather a better understanding on human and, ultimately, my behavior. I first delved into an unofficial, but quite accurate, assessment: Pottermore. I took the test that places you into a Hogwarts house; I ended up being sorted into Slytherin. Their traits are cunning, ambitious, resourceful, shrewd, loyal, and determined. This strongly backed up my results in the other tests with certain traits being repeated. For instance loyalty makes another appearance due to Slytherins constantly looking out for eachother. Though many believe that being a Slytherin means that you’re evil. This is not true it just so happens to be that there were recently many infamous dark wizards that came from Slytherin, the other houses have had their fair share in producing dark wizards but no one mentions it. Merlin, the most famous wizard ever who was the definition of good, just so happened to be a Slytherin. The Slytherin house is just frequently misunderstood. A case study that we analyzed that connects to the Pottermore test was the Stanford Prison Experiment. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo designed a prison simulation where students played the role of a guard or inmate. The experiment ended early due to the severity the guards treated the inmates, causing them extreme psychological torture. In this case the power the guards believed they held went to their heads despite being picked randomly from the same group as the inmates. Proving that anyone has the potential for evil given the right situation.

The thought process behind my piece was confusing and didn’t have a final form until I finished. I knew that I wanted eyes to be incorporated due to their unique beauty and doors to the soul. From there I figured that a concrete portrait wouldn’t get my whole message across so I went with an abstract piece. Deciding on the medium had been the last big hurdle that needed to be determined before I could let loose my creativity. As a kid I loved to use colored pencils so I opted to go with that. Keeping the tests in mind I filtered through different ideas that I could integrate the eyes that I wanted. Once I thought of a semi-concrete idea I began drawing, but as I continued to draw new ideas kept coming causing me to add something last minute. The colors of everything was decided at the end based off of what I thought would best express both the tests and who I am. When talking to a professional photographer on the process of creating art accompanied by an artist statement she told me this: “Art helps people change the way they look at things without realizing it.” This really made me think about why I created this piece. What view was I exactly trying to change? Eventually I came to this conclusion - go out into the world to learn more about yourself and don’t be afraid to show who you truly are. The world is constantly trying to put people down and make them feel bad and embarrassed about what makes them different. This is causing people to lose touch with themselves. I want people to go express themselves, be unique, and make sure that to have fun while doing it.

Works Cited:

Berkers, E. (2017). Enneagram Tests (free). Retrieved January 18, 2017, from https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/dotest.php

Briggs Myers, I. (n.d.). The 16 MBTI Types. Retrieved January 18, 2017, from http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/the-16-mbti-types.htm

ENTP PERSONALITY (“THE DEBATER”). (2011). Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://www.16personalities.com/entp-personality

ENTP: The Visionary. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22, 2017, from https://www.truity.com/personality-type/ENTP

Hogwarts houses: Slytherin. (n.d.). Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.pottermore.com/collection/all-about-slytherin

On Ambiverts: Why Distinguishing Between Extroverts and Introverts is Inadequate. (2013, June 08). Retrieved January 23, 2017, from https://www.diplateevo.com/on-ambiverts-why-distinguishing-between-extroverts-and-introverts-is-inadequate/

Sol, M. (2016, November 03). Ambiversion: The Lost Personality Type. Retrieved January 21, 2017, from https://lonerwolf.com/ambivert/

Type Six - The Loyalist. (2016). Retrieved January 19, 2017, from https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-6/

Zimbardo's Stanford prison experiment revealed how social roles can influence our behavior. We look at how it was conducted and what we can learn from it. (n.d.). Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://www.psychologistworld.com/influence_personality/stanfordprison.php

KING OF GODS!

In unit 2, Are You A Game, of Game Changers we delved deeper into the processes of how games are made and worked on creating our own games. For our FEs, we had talked to many people who have a successful career in the game industry. This had helped us significantly while creating our games since we had professional advice from people who have been in the industry for years. We had gone to Chicago Toy & Game Fair to compete in the Young Inventors Challenge where we had presented our second prototypes. Our action project was to create a final prototype of our game, show its process, and make an elevator pitch. My game is called King of Gods; it is a battling race game. I really enjoyed being given such creative liberties over this project, being able to come up with a unique game of my own without any restrictions was amazing. I had so many ideas, but the one about mythologies was by far my favorite. However, I didn't enjoy feeling rushed while making it because in total we only had about two weeks to finish three prototypes. Despite this emotion I put my head down and worked hard to get everything done. Please enjoy learning about my game below.

Pitch

One day, gods from four different mythologies got into a fight about who was the most powerful god and you have been tasked to help one of them win the battle. You will travel through the Underworld, Middle Earth, and Overworld. Along the way you will encounter monsters and fight other players. Your aim is to survive through the battles to reach the Overworld throne to become the king of all gods.

Going into the project, I was fairly confident. I had not realized how truly difficult it is to make a game. Coming up with the theme and type of game I wanted was fairly easy, but making it a reality was much harder. There is a lot of trial and error involved in making a game. In order to have a successful game, you must make it virtually unbreakable (meaning everything needs to be clear cut, easy to follow and solid mechanics) ,  all the while still having it be fun, aesthetically pleasing, and marketable.

The way to achieve this is through multiple rounds of play, testing. By having people play your game, you can learn what things need to be fixed and how to make it more enjoyable for the players. For example, when I had people play my first prototype, they weren't following the path, were battling wrong, and didn't have a lot of fun. They told me my boards were confusing and the battle mechanic had many flaws; overall it was not a lot of fun to play. From there, I made the borders clearer and made changes to the battle mechanic. When I had the same people playtest my game after the changes they had a lot more fun, actually laughing and enjoying the game’s theme. They had found the board’s paths to be clearer and easier to follow.

I think my favorite part of making a game was the experience of going through the stages of game design and watching your game grow.. Seeing what it is like to make a game that is appealing to the public, but at the same time functional, is amazing. You have to put in tons of mental and physical work in order to achieve this. This class has given me a whole new appreciation for games and their designers.

'Real' Chicago

In If These Walls Could Talk, Unit 2, we learned about revolt murals, different types of mediums and techniques. Artists who were inspiring that we studied are JR, who uses different media - mostly wheat pasting - in each country he visits, and Banksy, who uses spray paint and the trompe l'oeil technique. We practiced the mediums and techniques of watercolor, block-printing, wheat pasting, gels, acrylic paint, and more which helped in deciding what to use in the action project. For the action project we were put into a group of five to sketch a mural idea, and then each member chose a media to use to recreate two parts of the mural on swatches. My medium, watercolor wash, was fun to use but became difficult when it came down to small details. Another problem I faced was with my group when we had to come up with a finalized sketch. Eventually we were successful and with the help of our teacher we were able to create a mural conveying the message we wanted. It was a lot of fun experimenting with different mediums and techniques and to create a mural of our own. I'm definitely looking forward to creating this mural full-scale. Please enjoy our sketch, my swatches, and my artist statement below.

TS
'Real' Chicago
12/15
11" x 3.5" and 11" x 3.5"
Watercolor Wash

AJ, JM, MS, TS, TC. Sketch. 12/15

In our groups sketch you see the skyline of Chicago and five tears with something different inside, burning money, the CTA train map, gang signs, the bean, and signs/flags. This is meant to be what people see as the 'real' Chicago and what actually is the real Chicago. Each tear has a different meaning, three good and two bad. The two negatives are the one with burning money, which is supposed to be a representation of the corrupt politics and brutality, and the one with gang signs, which represents the gangs and violence that is present in the city. The three positives are the one with the CTA train map, showing the great public transportation system we have, the one with the bean, proving we have more beautiful architect and culture then what is popular, and the one with many signs/flags, representing the acceptance our city has regardless of race, religion, or sexuality. We were strongly inspired by Banksy and his use of trompe l'oeil and our unit 1 action projects. The aspects that had been taken from our previous action project had been the skyline, trompe l'oeil, and CTA train lines. It took a long time to finalize our sketch since there had been so many aspects we wanted to cram in. The only idea that we originally wanted that ended up not incorporating had been the use of chains AJ used in her previous action project. It was a really great concept, holding Chicago down to what outsiders want it to look like, but was unable to fit in the piece in a fluid way. We did love the skyline and the trompe l'oeil like tears. Since there had been five tears we gave one to each individual to come up with something to represent the tear. It gave us the freedom to include something each of us wanted adding a unique touch to it. This mural is both a revolt mural against the steriotypical view of Chicago from an outsiders perspective, and tribute mural of the true essence of Chicago and who we are as a city.

TS. Swatch One. 12/15

TS. Swatch Two. 12/15

The material I chose was watercolor wash because I have past experience with it and I've seen beautiful watercolor paintings. It gives bright vibrant colors and adds depth, very important to our piece, to the image. In class we learned how water colors are best for giving a painting or drawing depth and texture, also its ease to mix is a great asset. It helps convey the message through its depth which shows we are more than what is on the surface and the colors that blend show we are one. The swatches ended up looking messy and with smudges in places that had lots of detail. It was very difficult to control my medium because of how easy it is to blend and I did not have a small enough brush for the small details. In the end the swatches did not turn out how I hoped because the colors weren't as bright as I hoped and the details were far to difficult to paint. I believe if I had a smaller finer brush I think it would have worked. We will not be using this in our final mural because of the lack of bright colors and difficulties with the detail, which is a major part of our mural. It also didn't present the realistic look we were going for with the skyline.

JM. Swatch One. 12/15

JM. Swatch Two. 12/15

AJ. Swatch One. 12/15

AJ. Swatch Two. 12/15

My group decided on using wheat pasting with a laser print image and stencils with sharpie oil based markers as the final medium because those seemed to of worked best out of all the mediums chosen. We are still doing the trompe l'oeil technique because we believe it is the best way to get our message out. The wheat paste will give the realistic feel we were going for and would be used for the entire skyline and water. Since the image would be laser print the colors would already be there bright though slightly matte. Stencils would then be used for the small details that were too difficult to do with watercolor, pumice gel, or acrylic paint. It would create a clean cut images for our representations and tears with eye catching hues. We highlight the city for what it is with the skyline and positive traits in bright and vibrant colors while the negative traits will be in darker more matte like colors.

Ή τάν ή επι τάς (Either We Win or We Die)

In If These Walls Could Talk, Unit 1, we learned about murals from Prehistory to the Renaissance. We observed the changing styles throughout time and identified the reason each culture had for creating murals. For our FE we went on a tour of the Pilsen murals to both tie together what we learned and to see how murals still affect people today. This lead us to our first action project, pick a neighborhood in Chicago and create a sketch for a mural addressing an issue of that neighborhood. I choose Greektown which has, like many other neighborhoods, been a victim of gentrification. Originally I planned on doing a neighborhood in the south side, but wasn't inspired causing me to bounce from neighborhood to neighborhood forcing me to rush to complete the action project. I am very satisfied with the neighborhood I chose and my mural portraying their problems. Please enjoy my mural and artist statement below.

TS
Ή τάν ή επι τάς, 11/20/15
11" x 14"
Digital Image

 
The first Greeks in Chicago arrived during the 1840s becoming food peddlers, and naturally became restaurant owners. Around the turn of the century many Greeks were found in, what was originally named, Deltaîbut which was defined by Harrison, Blue Island and Halsted areas. It was later renamed to Greektown and during the 1960s was moved north a few blocks in order for University of Illinois and the Eisenhower Expressway to be built, shrinking the size of the neighborhood. In 1968 gyros and saganaki were introduced instantly becoming a big hit; starting a chain of success for the neighborhood. Most businesses and restaurants opened from 1970 to 1990, and the summer festival, Taste of Greece, became a tradition. The city of Chicago finally recognized Greektown's contributions to the city in 1996 and, with the Democratic National Convention being hosted in Chicago, poured millions of dollars into renovations for the streets and to create a traditional Greek temples and pavilions.

Today, Greektown sustains many old world traditions, prevalent in the establishments throughout the neighborhood. The language is still heard, and the people of the community have strong pride for their heritage, coming out full force during the annual Greek Independence Day parade, the Taste of Greece and the days around Greek Easter. Chicago's Greektown has grown into a renowned attraction, being the place to go for authentic food and culture outside of Greece. Though I don't want to focus on positive of Greektown's outstanding success, but rather the gentrification of the residents of the neighborhood it has caused. Due to the rising popularity it became extremely expensive to live in and many residents left and have spread out across Chicago and the suburbs. This issue is apparent and seen not only in Greektown, but across the city.

People should not be forced to move from their neighborhoods just because they can not afford the growing rate to live there. I wanted the mural as a revolt against gentrification. In the sketch I drew an outline of the city of Chicago with a Greek soldier holding a spear fighting a businessman holding a one hundred dollar bill. The businessman represents the success places has that cause the higher cost for living in an area. They hold the one hundred dollar bill as a weapon showing that in order to still live in the neighborhood they must pay. You then see a traditional Greek soldier who represents Greektown and the want to lower the house fees so they can remain in the neighborhood. Underneath these two people a silhouette of the city can be seen to show that this is a problem around Chicago. The main color theme of blues and golds was inspired by ancient Greek murals; the colors are meant to bring in a reference to water since it is such an important part of their culture.

This mural would be located in the heart of Greektown's businesses, the place with the highest influx of people guaranteeing that a large amount of people, both Greek and non-Greek, would see it. For this mural I want people to realize that we can fix this gentrification, whether it be by talking to the mayor to lower living costs in these business dominate areas or by extending neighborhoods by a few blocks to get back that missing residential factor. People will be able to live comfortably in a community that supports them, that is my hope.

Survival of the Fittest

In Rhetoric, Unit 3, we learned how to use our voices to gather for a cause. To understand how this is done we studied multiple forms of artwork that expressed messages about different topics. This brought us to our final action project: to create a piece of art that would "break the sound barrier" on an issue that we found important. My issue is war, however I took an uncommon stance on it. I believe in anti-glorification, not anti-war, meaning that we shouldn't hate war, but dislike how its perceived. It was difficult to express everything I wanted in my drawing. It was also quite strenuous to display logos and ethos into an image. Originally I wanted to create a song or poem, but due to last minute personal problems this was not feasible. Despite these setbacks I am very proud of my artistical representation of war. Please enjoy seeing and reading about my piece below.

War - a state of armed conflict between two groups. War - used to build up an audience in movies. War - a term we've grown up with and have seen in theaters. We sit in our seats shocked at the graphic scenes oh-ing and ah-ing, then leave to talk about how "wicked that was", or how "that was so cool", or "there should have been more bloodshed". People don't seem to realize that, despite being raised around war and violence, war is actually, literally and completely real. This means that real, living, breathing people die in pointless conflicts everyday. Government officials sit back and watch as their twisted chess game come to life. They are not afraid to start a war because they remain safe while others go out to die for their WANTS. For example when President Bush started a war with Iraq for oil. There were 4,475 American soldiers that died and 32,220 were wounded (Wihbey)because one man behind a desk desired oil. People all around the world must realize that war is not some game or event on a movie screen.

We must pay attention to how war affects not only our countries, but also the families of those who were lost. When I say "lost" I don't just mean physically - I mean mentally. There are many soldiers who come back from war with no physical alterations; however, their minds are never the same. I have a grandfather who served two terms in the Vietnam War for the Navy. He left fine,but came home with a severe case of PTSD. Almost 31% of Vietnam veterans have PTSD and this can be from multiple different stressors - the most predominate was being shot at and seeing dead bodies("PTSD: A Growing Epidemic" 10-14).

Soldiers with PTSD would often become alcoholics, abusive, and suffer from high anxiety(Price, Jennifer L., PhD. "PTSD: National Center for PTSD."); my grandad was a veteran affected by this. His disorder destroyed my family, forcing my mom and aunt to grow up with basically no parents, since my grandmother had to work three jobs to support them. This is why I chose to sound off artistically on war - it tears apart families causing pain and sadness. My goal is to have people understand that even though war happens - it's human nature - but we shouldn't glorify it. Humans fight for survival and status like any animal it's instinct and we can't help it. Though it is when we desensitize war through glorification that we, as a species, have crossed the line.

The medium i chose to express my viewpoint on war was a drawing. There are two things in this world everyone understands - music and pictures. You have the ability to show others how you feel without words. This image depicts three points of view - the family, the soldier, and the world. The family is seen as gray shadows standing at a funeral watching their loved one being buried. The soldier is being lowered in his casket into a battlefield where he took his dying breath. While all this tragedy and sadness goes on, the world is watching it all play out, seeing every moment the soldier had and every moment the family spent without him.

My piece expresses strong pathos because it shows the death of a soldier and the pain of those attending the funeral. Death is a very sensitive topic that makes people feel an intense turmoil of emotions. You can see an allusion to a war, no specific one, below the casket. Ethos is prevalent since I am the granddaughter of a Navy veteran and close friends with a Marine veteran. I have extensive knowledge on what war is really like due to conversations I've had with these two men. The logos of my piece is unwavering for this is an accurate representation of a battlefield. War happens all the time and people do die because of it. It will be difficult to disagree on anti-glorification of war after seeing these facts.

I want this piece to be posted and painted on sides of buildings all around the city of Chicago. In the age of social media, people will take pictures and post my image causing it to spread like wildfire around the nation and, hopefully, the globe. This way the general public will finally be aware of the reality of war, not some Hollywood version of it that they can walk away from when the movie ends.

Materials:

• iPad
• Drawing App
• Stylist

Works Cited:

"PTSD: A Growing Epidemic." NIH Medline Plus Winter 2009: 10-14. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Wihbey, John. "U.S. Military Casualties and the Costs of War: Iraq, Afghanistan and Post-9/11 Conflicts - Journalist's Resource." Journalists Resource. N.p., 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.

Price, Jennifer L., PhD. "PTSD: National Center for PTSD." Findings from the National Vietnam Veterans' Readjustment Study -. N.p., 17 Aug. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2015.