Mixed on Campus #11 – Grace Sirman

Alice Conner Leave a comment

Name: Grace Sirman
Mix: Mexican & White-American
Major & Year: Art; Junior

Disabled and queer

Q: How has being mixed affected your campus experience?

A: It was a bit of culture shock coming to the Midwest, coming from a small, predominantly Latinx neighborhood. I get homesick very often, and my mixed identity made me a bit insecure about engaging with Latinx campus organizations initially because of my upbringing and my appearance, but many of the Latinx individuals involved are very welcoming and I appreciate all the acceptance I’ve encountered.

Q: What do you wish more people knew about the mixed experience?

A: The mixed experience is very unique for everybody, and there is a vibrant perspective many mixed identities can offer! Everyone is approaching their mixed identity differently, and mixed people should not be forced to choose or represent one ethnicity/race or the other. There are many complexities that come with a mixed identity!

Q: What is your proudest moment?

A: As a Latina first generation college student who struggles with disability, making it to college in the first place is something I will always be proud of myself for achieving. My parents had no idea how any of the application process worked, and neither did I. But somehow I figured it out, and now I’m here!

Q: What kind of person do you aspire to be?

A: I want to be unapologetic about myself. I’m not quite there yet, but I want to be someone who owns their personality loudly, especially with bold makeup, a colorful wardrobe, and who doesn’t care what others have to say about myself.

Mixed on Campus was inspired by the Humans of New York project. The purpose of Mixed on Campus is to give a voice to this university’s mixed community and shed light on its members. Being mixed means to be multiracial, multiethnic, and/or a transnational adoptee. Through Mixed on Campus, mixed students have the opportunity to have their portrait drawn and share their experiences!

MediaScape Musings #1 : iBrush

dsuart 2 Comments

Hello everyone, this is DSU. I’m excited to share my first article here. I’ll be diving into exciting topics like media arts, interdisciplinary performance, audiovisuals, photography, and more. Let’s embark on this creative journey together!!

Today I’m going to share a motion capture piece I just finished, iBrush:

iBrush is a prototypical concept in gestural control, utilizing inertial measurement units to transform a common smartphone into a virtual brush for painting and adjusting background music. This system is accessible to users through seamless integration with standard Wi-Fi networks and can be displayed on common platforms such as projectors or laptops, allowing for intuitive movement-based interactions 

Various approaches have been explored in the domain of interactive digital brush painting. For instance, virtual reality (VR) technology allows users to create artwork within a 3D virtual environment using corresponding handheld devices. However, VR adoption remains limited, with many individuals still unfamiliar with this emerging technology. Recognizing that smartphones are ubiquitous digital mediums carried by nearly everyone, we advocate for a more straightforward approach involving simple connections and motion instructions. By harnessing the capabilities of Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) that operate without location constraints and capitalizing on the convenience of smartphones, we can achieve remarkable levels of flexibility, adaptability, and user-friendliness in our interactive experiences. In essence, iBrush fulfills a pressing industry need by providing a user-friendly and widely accessible solution to the world of interactive digital brush painting.

Welcoming Whimsy: Salvation

Vaishnavi Katta Leave a comment

Salvation

Lately, I’ve felt a heavy weight,

Colors I cherished have lost their vibrance,

In the backdrop of mundane existence.

My spirit drained of vitality,

The zest for life I once championed

Now withers within

This ordinary existence.

My soul a weary traveler,

Yearns for a tranquil respite.

Bottled up, perhaps,

I’ll find salvation.

In that vessel, I hope to find

The cure to my melancholy.

A secret place away from the world,

Where I can set my magic free.

Frame by Frame: Light

thimai Leave a comment

I decided I wanted to add an extra scene to the first section of my animation to improve narrative cohesion. I wanted to show the light from the house physically interacting with the character, that way when it appears later in the animation, it can serve as a visual representation of being ‘haunted’. This also gave me a chance to explore how I want light to look as it moves. I used a brush with lower opacity to have reflections of the light shifting against the character as well as the environment. Being a non-physical entity, I wanted the light to change shape in every frame to give it that quality.

I have also been getting used to keeping better track of my layers, and how to get the most use out of each frame that I draw. For instance for this scene, I created two backgrounds of grass, and alternated between the two while adding new movement to the light. This gave the impression of the grass blowing in the wind while still maintaining focus on the light. I was able to finish the first section of my animation this week! My progress is shown below:

Capturing Campus: October

EKArts Leave a comment

Pajamas

Fear is a strange thing–
turning your hair on end
it pokes your shoulder on your walk home
but there’s nothing there when you turn
to face the dark
and there’s nothing there
as you sit on your bed late at night
but you feel hot breath down your neck
and you live alone so you turn on the light
The electricity bill gets higher these days
and you might have to take a night shift
to cover the cost
the cost of living alone
but will you be alone forever
found after a neighbor calls the cops
over a smell that curdles the mind
curdling your mind
you try not to think about it
so you think back to home
Scared in dinosaur pajamas
of that thing in you closet
You don’t wear them anymore
but you keep the closet shut
the lights on
your eyes open
and it’s dizzying
with disco lights
shallow breathing
The older you get
the more there is to be scared of

People Watching: First Post!

Isabella Brown Leave a comment

Hello everyone! This is my very first post on People Watching. I actually struggled a lot when trying to come up with who/where to draw for my first post, so I ended up going in a pretty simple direction. Each of the students I drew was spotted walking (or skateboarding) in front of the UMMA and Union on Wednesday October 18th, 2023. I really enjoyed just using marker here but a goal for the future is to branch out into more colorful illustrations that still feel consistent with my style.