Update on Research and Tumblr Site

Outside of my control, my research and findings are no longer available through the Tumblr website Room3130 as mentioned in TAEA's TRENDS magazine in the article titled, "Technology-Savvy Art Teachers".  Only portions of what was on Tumblr between 2010 and 2013 is available here. I am working to re-build a new Tumblr page that will contain an archive of previous research and share current research and teaching practices.

Please check back here or visit the new Tumblr page, "Room3130" in September of 2015. A copy of the my graduate thesis titled, "The Value and Use of Historical-Based Processes in a Contemporary High School Photography Program" which inspired my use of social media as mentioned in the TRENDS magazine article can be downloaded at http://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00013342/00001

Contemporary Fairy Tales

Student creates a photographic series of 6 - 18 X 24 inkjet prints as part of her high school senior photography portfolio (2010. The images are examples of her own experiences and interpretation of popular childhood fairy tales. This project took approximately 8 weeks to plan, execute, and print. She is currently a student at Savannah College of Art & Design where she is majoring in photography with a minor in printmaking.

Self Portrait by the Artist:

Liza's Corset

Received this the other day: decided to post project.

Because of "The Darkroom Diaries" once again I am able to give support to a former student.  This was created during a Photography II class in 2010 by a student who was interested in fashion. She wanted to use images taken by herself as well as images from pop culture. The prints were sewn together by hand and by machine then enhanced with ribbon as trim. This pieced received an award in the Scholastic Art & Writing Competition.

Hi Ms. Brock! I hope all is well and that everything in Texas is great! I miss you so much! I have a question, I was wondering if you still had those photos you took of my paper mache corset that we submitted to scholastic art competition? I am trying to apply to help at this runway show on FSU's campus and they want pictures of past work!

Photography & Drawing: Idea

Photographs can be used to encourage and help students continue practicing their drawing skills. In class I show the work of William Wegman, but not just the photographs of his famous dogs!

He has a body of paintings in which he incorporates photographs on the canvas and then finishes the image using paint.  Students are often inspired by his work and develop various ways to apply his techniques in their journals and in final projects.

(examples of his paintings and drawings incorporating photographs can be found here: http://www.wegmanworld.com/gallery/works.html)

 Here is an example from a Photography I student.

Student Reflections: E.H.

From Assignment on Surrealism in Photography (see handout on Surrealism Project page)

What I discovered I could do in the darkroom, only recently really, despite spending a year in
it, was like discovering a whole new realm of possibilities. The darkroom is the art.
Fixer and developer are paints and light is your paintbrush. While often these fixer and
developer experiments are unpredictable and may end in a multitude of ways, they are
no more unpredictable than a Jackson Pollock. Sure like him, you plan a general design
for your work, but who knows how your paint, fixer, or developer will fall in the end. The
end design is like film photography itself, a waiting process.

I started experimenting in the darkroom by blocking parts of images with fixer and
then speeding up the development of others by placing developer on the images.
Sometimes I would do this with a negative image projected onto the paper, sometimes I
would coat hands, lips, faces, or natural objects in fixer, all in an attempt to create
something out of the norm, something that might need a few minutes to decipher, or
may never be deciphered. So thus began the birth of “Fixer Painting.”

I originally came up with this process when creating the three-frame palm tree
image located in the "Fixer Painting" area of my portfolio. The middle image has long
white streaks that were created by literally painting fixer onto paper and then printing
onto it. I eventually subtracted the negative and started working only with the fixer and
paper itself. “Shedding Skin” was created by coating parts of my body in fixer from the
top left to the right the body parts are as follows, lips, palm, hand. The bottom row from
left to right is as follows: hand, lips, face. I am currently working on a project based on
phosphenes in which I paint and spray fixer to mimic the retina flashes I've always found
fascinating.

~E.H.

    

     

Student Portfolio Links

At the end of the year, students in Photography II, III, IV, V present their works through the creation of online portfolios or websites. All work was created by students in room 3130 using film, 

historical-based, and/or digital processes.

Here Are Some Examples:


Jessica Margulies

www.wix.com/shanajess/jessicamargulies

Statement:
Over the past two years as a photography student, I have learned not only the basic funamentals of taking photographs, but also the true meaning of photography as an art form.  Photographs present a unique glimpse of reality that can never be recreated, which almost makes photography surreal.  When you look at a picture, you are looking at time being frozen and displayed on a surface.  That fraction of a second has the potential to hold messages capable of changing the way somone views the world around them.  This has been my main focus as a photorapher: to capture a moment in time and present it in a way that proves some significant meaning to others.  I have found that I love experimenting with surreal images and processes, mainly putting this interest to use in the dark room.  I find that I enjoy combining strange and seemingly unrelated images to form one complex, engaging, and fascinting piece of art.  My favorite aspect of photography is that it holds no limits: the "perfect picture" will never exist. It is up to each individual photogapher to use their creativity and originality to capture their own perception of perfection.  I believe that this infinite range of possibilities gives photography an unquantifiable value that I will learn to appreciate more as I grow as an artist. 


Laura Grau

http://warriorforwarriors.carbonmade.com/projects/4327836#1

Daniela Alejaldre

http://dalejaldre.weebly.com/index.html

Surprising answer to parents question about films longevity

There is so much to write about this week that I'm not sure where to begin. Presently I am in New York for the National Scholastic Art & Writing events. Over dinner last night with some of the students from my own classroom I was asked by a parent whether I believed the art of black and white film was dying. Before I could answer, one of my students who graduated this year said, "I'm so upset, my school (that she will be attending for college) doesn't have a darkroom. I'm going to miss it so much! I wish there was something I could do." I told them all about another student graduating this year who will be attending med school and who had the same desire. When she expressed it to the college where she will be attending, they told her that there was an old space (now closed) on campus that once was a darkroom and if she wanted to clean it up and get it going it was hers! She is so excited. She asked if she could start a photography club so that others interested in photography could also have access. The university said "Yes"! and on top of it, they said they will fund it! This inspired my student at dinner and she immediately began asking how she can start a club, who should she talk to etc. at her college next year. We all listened to her brainstorm ideas of what she could do. Yes, my heart was singing and I didn't have to answer the initial question by the parent, it just was!