Interview

I interviewed a senior, my mother, and a teacher at this school and surprisingly received very similar responses to certain questions, and very different answers to others that were more personal questions. All three of my interviewees answers agreed with each other that most people spend their time on technology today. Whether is be in the form of an ipod, the Internet, video games, or texting. Not many can go a day without using the entertainment benefits of technology. In comparison to 100 years ago, the majority of people spent their time with family, and went to live theater performances. Recreational activity has changed greatly over the past 100 years, and continues to change with new technology discoveries. All three of my interviewees also agreed generally on where happiness stems from. They first initially responded with family and friends, but the senor student went into more depth and responded with music. He explained how music is involved in his everyday life, in particle with his activities at South. The other question that had similar responses to was the definition of art. Even thought they all used different words to explain, they all had similar main components to describe what is art. Art must be something original, something created with creativity. Art should be a way to express oneself according to ones emotion and experiences. Art create a reaction within, provoke some type of emotion. There is no concret defintion of art because art is comes in many forms and is different for everyone.
After conducting these interviews it gave me a general idea what our group should strive for and some guidelines in creating our sculpture. The sculture needs to capture the new and old age trends of art. We should not forget to include the works of art created in the past because it is what layed the foundation for the creation of future art today. Such as the art of calligraphy in writing letters has influenced and transformed into texting. This sculpture should represent different meanings for each individual according to one's personality and interests. For example how the senior student explained how his happiness stems from music, while my mothers happiness stems from family. To each person, these are what are most important in their life, and most involved. This scultpure should have the ability to relate to everyone and one's different likes and dislikes, it can not have just a single focus on one interest. The sculpture should fit the individuals definition of art, and be orginal. It should draw some type of emotion or response out of the viewee, and if the sculpture can do so, then it is a true piece of art.

Through the process of these interviews, I came to realize that life a hundred years ago was much simpler than it is today.  I never really gave it much thought but I realized that people spent more time outside enjoying nature and having discussions with family and close friends.  Reading books was also a big part of their lives.  Today, instead of reading a book, people are more likely to watch TV or a movie or go on the computer.  In fact, instead of actually having a conversation with someone, they are more likely to talk to people through Facebook or Skype.  The people that I interviewed had different definitions of art.  My mom’s definition of art was confined to pictures and sculptures in a museum while my friend’s definition included creative expression.  The role models also varied amongst the people I interviewed.  My mom and coach cited role models as those in their profession while my friend talked about her role models coming from the media.  Finally, what makes people happy seems to vary depending on people’s stage in life.  For example, my mom thinks people are happy when others are nice to them, my coach believes that friends and family make one happy while my friend thought that people who are successful in their careers are the most happy people.   

As I considered the responses to my interview questions, I couldn’t help but notice that the responses seemed to vary based on one’s generation.   My friend who is a sophomore in high school is impressionable and takes her role models from a combination of the media and her family.  My coach and mom are both established in their careers.  As a result, their perspectives are a little bit different because of their experiences.  For them, they have met a lot of people many of whom are successful and therefore, they can see that success doesn’t necessarily equal happiness.  Finally, I noticed that all of the people I interviewed find colorful and exciting artwork the most exciting!

Jessica's interview

For this interview I interviewed three people, a parapro, a freshman, and a member of the community that I work with. They all had very similiar answers. They agreed that people nowadays spend most of their time worrying about the media. My co-worker said "we use to be more worried about things that matter, now it's about the next Hollywood scandal". Hollywood is also where most people get their role models. Many get their role models from the internet amd the music/movie industry. When asked where our happiness stems from the freshman and parapro answered friends, family, and overall life. My co-worker said our happiness comes from material things; it use to be from your job and/or family. The outlook on life and happiness can most of the time determine what appeals to us. The freshman shared that she likes art that has a lot of color and is pleasing to the eye and different. The parapro said she likes pieces of art that mean something that calls for abstract thinking. My co-worker implied that he does not enjoy looking at paintings, sculptures, etc. He said he does not understand what makes one piece better than another. It's basically the name of the artist not the actually art that is focused on. Finally, when I asked them what their definition of art is they said it is an individual or group of individuals that create something that is good. Something that is put down that looks appealing. The parapro stated that "life is art". You can get an idea of what the artist was thinking when they created the piece.

When my group and I came up with the questions, I thought I had an idea of what each person would say. I did get some expected answers but they did say some things that I didn't even think about. Our values have changed over the years but now we have access to everything as oppose to twenty years ago. We can find out everything we need know about a person in five minutes by just using the computer. The media has made more of an appearance in lives, I don't think it's a good thing but times are changing. People are changing. I never thought of how the name of the artist is what sells, and its true. Most people would choose the dull looking painting that was by a very famous artist than the pretty painting that what created by the new artist. I think that is because of bragging rights. Personally I would rather say that I have a Monet than a no name. People are more interested the scribble on the bottom right hand corner, it's sad but true.

What we bring...

Haley: good with hands, creative

Michelle: designing stuff and making things look good

Jessica: comming up with ideas

Prestige Worldwide

Saving the world one structure at a time

Roles

Jessica: Keep up appearance on blog

Michelle: Manage time in class and on projects

Haley: Keep group on task and make sure everything gets finished