Tribute to Logan Square

This is the first Action Project for my "If These Walls Could Talk" art course. The purpose of this project was to select a neighborhood and identify a specific need and address it by creating a mural solving that problem. I chose to do Logan Square and the need that I personally found was that the culture of the graffiti in that neighborhood was being overthrown by more organized murals and installations. I learned a lot about the history of Logan Square and how graffiti has shaped Logan Square as a neighborhood. I am very proud of my image because I feel that I went out of my "normal" art expertise and I still made an illustration that I am very proud of.  I am really proud of the art piece that I created for this Action Project because it will most likely go on my art portfolio for college.

BKJ

Tribute to Logan Square

11/18/2015

11” x 14”

Bristol paper

I chose to do my illustration about Logan Square because I saw a need that lies with the people that go unknown everyday, graffiti artists. In the 80's and 90's, graffiti was a big part of the culture in Logan Square and the neighborhood was filled with graffiti artists. Today, Logan Square is a graffiti desert and is overrun with organized art such as murals and installations.

When graffiti first started it was more integrated into gangs than it is today. Chicago’s gangs began in the 1920s with Al Capone, and by the ‘70s, they grew to include minorities with 600 gang factions with 70,000 gang members. ABC crew was one of the first graffiti crews to start in Logan Square. In 1983, a movie called “Style Wars” showed the graffiti elements broken down. The movie also emphasized the movement created around hip-hop, which included the 5 elements: graffiti, breakdancing, music, DJing, MCing, and Knowledge.

. Perez and a man named Berto became ABC: the “Angel and Berto Crew.” Later, a man named Chris joined, so it was “Angel, Berto and Chris.” This grew to be the “Atomic Bombing Crew,” and, finally in 1985, it was the “ Artistic Bombing Crew.” Flash ABC, a graffiti artist from Logan, said that people created their tags because they were tired of gangs. ABC crew was one of the first graffiti crews to spawn out of Logan and today, members are still respected as legends. Graffiti was first done on the Mega Mall in Logan and became the practicing wall for graffiti writers. As styles grew so did their range of spots. They started spanning all over public transit and soon, ABC crew had 22 spots spanned all over the blue line.

The purpose of my mural is to pay tribute to the old graffiti artist that grew up in Logan Square and to the new-era graffiti artists that still thrive there today. The image is also a revolt against organized art and pushing artists to create at like they used to, which is on the streets and for the most part illegally. I did this by sketching The Eagle statue in Logan Square is the focus of my image because in the 80’s up until today, it has been deemed “The Writers’ Bench.” In the late 80’s until now, the eagle in Logan square has been a meeting point for many writers. Back in the day the eagle was where all the graffiti artists would hang out, sketch, share photos, talk smack and just have a good time. This, in my opinion, is one of the most significant locations, to graffiti artists and that is why I chose it to be the center of attention. To show the importance of the eagle I mimicked the gilding technique used by artists during the Renaissance. The technique is used to show importance and to emphasize the subject  To further emphasize the importance of the Eagle, I’ve added light yellow spots on the eagle to symbolize the sun shining on it showing a bright future. there are cracks on the base of the statue to show that the past is falling apart. Finally,  the banner that spans across the page reads, “Take it back to the streets” because I feel that we need to create art like we used to and move away from more organized art such as murals and installations.

A Photo Says 829 Words

This is the first project for my journalism class. The purpose of this project was to act as if we were journalists and go interview someone on the meaning of life and do a 800-1000 word essay including a picture on their responses. I also feel that the main purpose of the project was the picture because the project is “a photo says 1000 words.” I learned a lot about different skills when taking photos and I also learned a lot of things about my mom that I never knew and feel like I’ve gotten closer to her now that I realize how much she has sacrificed for me to make sure I live a good life. One of the most difficult part of this project was the writing because I was brain dead for almost 2 days and had no idea what to write.

BKJ, Praying box. (2015)

My mother, Mrs. L. Johnston, was born in Havana, Cuba during the 1960s, but was brought with her sisters to Chicago on May 5th 1966. She was raised in Chicago in uptown. Growing up, she says was awesome because it was different growing up in Chicago and she said that's all she knew because she went through grammar and high school in Chicago. She said she had a great childhood because they were always outside having fun and everything was great. She has good memories of holidays and long summers mostly the summer days when they would open the fire hydrants and they would all play and all the neighbors knew each other and were like family and there were a lot of other kids on her block. Mrs. L. Johnston also recalled some of the not-so-good things about Chicago at the time including the winter weather because she came from a tropical island and in 1966 it was her first winter and there was almost 23in of snow. Eventually, though, she adjusted and we now survive the Chicago cold together; we’re all used to it.

What I have learned from my mom in the past few years is that she is a very strong and caring woman who still finds the light in everything, even when hard times arise. In her own life, she’s experienced some hardships and continues to face certain challenges, especially with her health, but my mom does so without complaining. Despite having her own problems to deal with, including a serious illness, she finds the strength and patience to take care of her children and grandchildren and always has. My mom has spent over three decades taking care of her family and sacrificing her time and health to make sure that her children are clothed, fed, schooled and taken care of. Even though all of her kids are almost fully grown she is now going out of her way to care for her grandchildren.

Clearly, my mom values family more than almost anything. I asked my mom what the meaning of life was and at first she just said “life is to be born and continue living” but then I made her think more in depth and she thought the meaning of life is knowledge because you start learning from birth and never stop learning until you die. My mom has lived a long and hard life and I have witnessed some of the struggles she has gone through. I asked my mom if her meaning of life has changed and she said that it happened when she had her kids because it taught her compassions and to care for others not just herself. My mom said all her life she did not care about anyone else but herself. She told me that she would see bad things happen and even homeless people and wouldn’t pay much attention and basically only cared about herself but when she had her kids it showed her that life is not always just about yourself, sometimes you have to care for others and show love and compassion to others. she said that sometimes happiness comes from making the people you love happy.

At one point during the interview, we both began laughing hysterically, showing how funny being with my mom can be. Out of nowhere, while responding to one of my questions my pet chicken makes a loud continuous squawk that last for about 20 seconds and me and my mom then look at each other and burst out laughing, the laughing continued for about 2 minutes before we both gathered ourselves and continued the interview. Moments like these show my mom's true personality. She is a fun loving person and a strict but caring mom.
 

I took a picture of the buddhist praying box because it is something that my mom values a lot and practicing Buddhism has, in her words, made her a better person. My mom said that when she started to practice Buddhism her life became better and she started to find light in even the worst situation. My mom said something in the interview that made me think. My mom said “I feel like the purpose of me living is to be a guide, teacher, and mother/grandmother because she can guide the next generation of kids in the right directions and be a role model and mother figure for her kid.” When I chose to take my picture I chose to take a picture of one of the things that changed my mom’s life (buddhism). I chose to make it darker to show the bad times of her life and chose to take a picture of the book and buddhist prayer box to show the life change she went through. I feel that my photograph would be a lot better if I had a better camera but in general it gets to the point and shows exactly what I want it to.

The Comfortable Distance

 

BKJ, Bike Sketch (2014)

This project is my second project for the Design And Engineering course. The purpose of this project was to design a bike to fit a certain user’s needs. At the very start of this project we got a persona sheet which explained the user’s needs, how far this person travels, and where they live in Chicago. We learned about many types of bikes like electric, cargo, Divvy, etc. and also how all of those bikes work and what's unique about them. I was personally proud of our initial design because I feel that we took everything into consideration when designing for Travis and I feel that we really fit his needs. The purpose of this assignment was to design a bike for a persona that was assigned to us. The assigned persona came with needs that you had to meet and certain obstacles your persona had to overcome. Then we had to take all that into consideration and design a bike for that persona.

When we first started designing our bike we looked up parts on the internet but then we learned that we don't have to do something that has already been done. We also learned that it doesn’t really matter how the frame is set up as long as it still has the components to make up a bike. Another important thing I learned is that handlebars can make the bike more aerodynamic. An example would be the drop down handlebars which would make you sit in a crouching position and make you more aerodynamic. When designing the bike for our assigned person we had to make the bike fast, comfortable, and stable for the ride. My partner interviewed Anne and she said “I need to be able to ride fast, comfortable, and stable when I’m riding.” which is basically exactly what our persona needed. Our targeted user is a 17 year old high school student named Travis. Travis lives on the third story in the South Side of Chicago. His day includes carrying a bike up and down three flights of stairs and traveling 10 miles to school and back on a bike. With that being said we knew that he had to have a bike that was fast, aerodynamic, and light.

The bike that we came up with is great because it is ultra light which makes it easy to carry. That is important because our persona lives on the 3rd floor and has to carry his bike down the stairs every day. Our bike is also extremely easy to lock because it has a retractable lock that is built into the frame. The lock is five feet long so it is easy to wrap around the whole bike so people can't even steal individual parts. Our bike has built in shocks under the seat and by the front to make the ride even more comfortable. Another reason the ride is comfortable is because we added a memory foam seat that is still slim enough to be aerodynamic.

Our bike holds some unique benefits. Our bike is a road bike with shocks, a storage compartment, and a built-in, retractable lock. The shocks combined with the road bike type frame induce a very comfortable ride while keeping it aerodynamic. The carbon frame and wheels make it extremely light and easy to carry up and down three flights of stairs at the end of a long ride. The retractable lock makes it extremely easy to lock up anywhere. For more comfort we added a bag to the frame that is slim but can still hold everything our persona needs for school. Travis should believe in this design because it is made to be easy to carry up and down three flights of stairs, is aerodynamic to fly against the wind, and is easy to lock up when he gets to school. The road bike type frame allows him to travel at high speeds. On top of all that he doesn't have to carry a book bag on his back anymore, he can just store it in the compartment attached to the frame.

We did run into some obstacles while designing the bike such as, we had to make the bike light and fast. To fix the speed part we wanted to make the bike electric but when we were on FE we learned that electric bikes are very heavy so we quickly ruled that out. Another thing that made the process harder is that we wanted to add drop down handles. However, one of the considerations was that the bike had to be comfortable and those type of handlebars force you to sit in a crouching position, which is not very comfortable at all.The estimated time that it would take our persona to get to school from his house is about 56 minutes to an hour. Travis is travelling 10 mph 4.47 meters per second. The Comfortable Distance Tire’s diameter is 31 inches. The circumference is 97.34 inches around. The Comfortable Distance’s wheel will rotate 6501.46 times from Travis’s house to his school.

 

BKJ, Bike Terrain (2014)

Be Proud of Your Race

This action project is for my Rhetoric class. The purpose of this project was to take a speech that you think everyone should read and to write a reflection using the 3 rhetorical modes Ethos Pathos and Logos. I learned a lot about race pride and also that speeches that you have never heard of are often the best speeches. I am proud of all the work I did on my speech and also I really liked how I summed up Ethos Pathos and Logos. I had a lot of difficulty writing this piece because I am Hispanic so I have no personal experience being African American but I do know the importance about having race pride because I feel that your race is something that you will carry with you for the rest of your life so you might as well accept and love your race. I also had trouble actually writing my piece because I am not vey good with grammar or punctuation but I feel that I did very well. Please read my reflection below and please if you have a chance take a look at the book. ENJOY

I am not an advocate of racial segregation. I do not approve of having laws enacted which prohibit a person from living where he pleases in a democratic country. On the other hand, I do not approve of a statement of this kind: “Just as soon as I can get enough money I am going to get out of this trashy nigger neighborhood.” I feel that this is the most powerful part of the Goffman’s essay because it not only shows how little pride one can feel toward their race, but it also shows the extent they would go to try and change that and make themselves as far from their race as possible.

I chose the essay “Black Pride” by Kimbal Goffman because I feel that pride in your race is very important,  and while i was reading it, I was making connections to things that happen all around us. Race pride is important because if you don't have pride in your race then you are basically showing no respect to your culture or yourself. But on the other hand you also have to have respect for others cultures and races because I feel that that is one of the reasons that people are losing pride in their race. I believe people are giving up on race pride because people viewpoints are very negative towards certain race causing people to believe that their race is bad. I think the speech should be read by everyone because it opened my eyes to race pride and how pride in your race is being diminished and I feel that it could open others eyes, too. I feel that if everyone gets the same meaning as I did out of this then there will be less racial conflict. I feel that it is important to have pride in your race because when you have pride in your race I feel that you are also boosting your confidence. Although Goffman’s essay does show much logos, there are definitely some facts in the text.  For instance, she writes about how African Americans created the dance known as the Charleston. But, when Goffman’s sister did the dance, her mother was displeased.  Goffman wanted to know why dancing is commercialized,  but when the black race commercialize their ideas or a dance that black people came up with it becomes bad. Ethos is one of the more used rhetorical modes in this speech. Goffman is very credible because she has experienced her mother telling her sister “You act enough like a nigger now without adding that junk to it.” Her thoughts on that statement was that it denoted race pride and felt it was unnecessary. Another incident that she quotes is “Why are hair-straightening combs found in nearly every Negro? Why is the following remark made so often to a newborn baby, when grandma or auntie visits it for the first time? “Tell Mother she must pinch your nose every morning. If she doesn’t, you’re gonna have a sure ‘nough darky nose.” I feel that she is trying to tell the reader that it is fine to be yourself and to have pride in your race. In her incident she was describing a person or people that were trying to change their appearance to get rid of the unique features a black person has.

Goffman also has a strong appeal to pathos in her essay. For example, she talks about how the young black kid was ashamed of the songs that were being sung in class because they were songs about the days of slaves, and the songs were sung while working on the plantation. She also showed strong disappointment when she heard her Mother say “You act enough like a nigger now without adding that junk to it.” when I read her response to that statement I knew that she felt that the statement that her Mother had made was wrong and denoted race pride. Goffman uses description to express her ideas about race pride. She describes in detail how something happens or things that people say, one example I found in the text was “As long as the following sentences are spoken by ourselves we can not command respect:-

“I wouldn’t marry a dark person.”

“I don’t want a lot of black, nappy-headed children running after me.”

“I like her, but she’s too dark.”

“She’d get some if she wasn’t so dark.”

“She’s got brains, but there ain’t no nigger going to hire anyone that dark, and I know the white folks ain’t.”

“That man’s too black and ugly to be at the door; he’d drive the devil away.”

Those are just some of the descriptive and in depth points that she gives in the speech.  Another description the author gave was when she talked about all the features that define African Americans and how they are unique. She used examples such as “high cheekbones” “large nostrils” “large hands” “large feet” “kinky hair” “thick lips” and “dark skin.” and this, to me shows that you should be proud of you unique feature and not try to change them. Another rhetorical device employed by Goffman is cause and effect. For example, “The next song “Old Folks at Home.” The Negro boy again retreated into the covering of his book. I wondered to myself just what had become of all the race pride he had possessed the day before. The music which described the work and life of his ancestors he considered an insult and embarrassment. It was hard to account for such a sudden turn of character in our little champion of race pride. Perhaps the child had mistaken a case of personal anger for a serious insult to the entire race.”

The Revolutionary Cultivator



 This project is for my Math and Science class named Design and Engineering. The purpose of this project was to redesign a tool to make it more fit for the elderly to use. the reason we targeted the elderly as the user is because we learned that companies usually do not make products with the elderly in mind. We learned a lot about different tools for gardening and other tasks and also their use. I also learned that carbon fiber is commonly used in tools now-a-days because it is lighter than wood but it has more recoil when you strike a hard object. I am proud of our tool because we put a lot of thought and effort into designing the tool and I feel we also explained it very well

 

BKJ Cultivator (2014) 

The purpose of this assignment is to design a tool that would be easier for old people to use. Our users are old people and what makes them unique is that it’s harder for them to do tasks that may seem simple to us.

 We learned about the different purposes of different tools. For instance, a carbon fiber shaft may be more lightweight than a wooden or a metal shaft, but it also creates more impact shock on the hands. They also told us that the size of the handle can make a difference because some people cannot bend down without pain so the longer handle will make the job easier. Also the longer handle will make it easier to cover larger areas.

When we were at Home Depot we learned that most tools are not that sharp because some people will run their fingers across the blade and cut themselves by accident. When we did our interview HP's mom said "Hand cultivators need to be sharp so they can dig through clay soil or hard compacted soil." After evaluating both points we decided to add little rubber guards that you put on after each use and take off when in use to give the user protection from our sharp blade.

 Some things that we learned about hand cultivators are that the hand cultivator doesn't always have a short handle. It also doesn't always have a wedge on the back of it. The hand cultivator is sometimes pushed like a lawnmower.

Our tool is a multi-purpose hand cultivator that can not only stir up dirt, but it can also take out rocks and weeds from the soil. It does this by using its two different blades on the top to stir up the dirt. The flat side is used to break up the dirt into big pieces and the prongs on the other side are used to break up the dirt into smaller pieces. The claw at the top is used to pick up rocks using a rope at the handle that the user pulls. Weeds can also be hacked apart and then pulled out using the flat wedge on the tool.

Our new tool makes the task at hand so much easier for everyone because not only do we have add-ons but we also improved the parts that were already there. We added serrated edges to the prongs to cut up weeds and also to break down hard dirt into smaller pieces. We also made the flat side have a sharper end which allows us to cut into the dirt better with less force. Then we decided to add a claw on top of the tool to remove unwanted objects out of your garden such as rocks, glass, feces, etc. We also added it to transport dirt from one plot in your garden to another with less work and also less tools. It uses a wedge to get into the dirt so that it can be stirred up so that oxygen can get into it. It also uses wedges to get out weeds and rocks from the soil. A wedge is a triangular shaped object the goes from small to large and is used to insert itself into objects. In conclusion, our tool is better, stronger, lighter, and has more uses than most hand cultivators. At first we sketched up the design with ash wood for the handle but then realized that with all the add-ons it was going to be too heavy for an old person to use so we decided to use carbon fiber because we learned from the people at Home Depot that carbon fiber is way lighter and easier to use

BKJ Storyboard (2014)

 In the first slide it shows a picture of a person grabbing the tool for a garage. the second slide depicts a person using the serrated edges on the prongs of the tool to rip out weeds from the ground. In the third picture it shows a person picking up feces with the claw on top of our tool by pulling the rope which closes the claw allowing him to move it. In the fourth box it show the person using the flat side of the tool to loosen up the dirt to get air into the soil

 

BKJ Storyboard (2014)

 

The fifth slide show a person washing off the tool by running it under a sink with good water pressure. Last but not least the person is seen handing up the tool at the end of use.

BKJ Forces (2014)

In the picture above it shows the way the force is going by using and we decided that since you swing downward then all the force will be facing down