HIV is a major virus...........

This action project is for my class named disease. The purpose of this project was to make a patient profile on someone, it could have been a made up person or a real person, but what we needed to accomplish was to show how the disease we chose affects the persons body and life. Not only did we have to explain the impact in words but we also had to create a life size illustration of a human body and map out the areas of the body that are affected by this disease. The part of this project I was most proud of was the illustration because I liked the concept of doing a life size piece of art and it was also fun to map out the areas and learn about what areas the disease effects. I learned so much that I would have never learned if it wasn't for this specific project. I learned about how you can contract HIV/Aids and also I learned what parts of the body HIV/Aids effects.

PATIENT PROFILE :
 Patient name: James (Fake)
Sex: Male
Sexual orientation: Homosexual
Symptoms:

Fever ( Described as the "worst flu ever")

Swollen glands

Sore throat

Rash

Fatigue

Muscle and joint aches and pains

Headache

Community Area: Rogers park

Patient "James" experienced extreme flu-like symptoms, fatigue and muscle pains. About a week later Jason decided to come into Chicago Health Clinic for a routine check up. We did all the basic procedures and came up with the assumption that he had the flu because he had all the signs of the average flu. James came back into the clinic two weeks later and unfortunately his symptoms got worse. Now James has rashes all over his chest, Migraine headaches and swollen glands. This time he came into the clinic we decided to preform a blood test, and when the results came back it was very hard to read the results. the doctor confronted James with the news that they had found the HIV virus in his white blood cells which make up your immune system which would explain why James was so weak and had all of those symptoms.

Later that week James heard about a HIV center located in a building called Center on Halsted, so he thought, since I have this disease I might as well get educated so he decided to visit this center. Later that week James visited the Center on Halsted and asked to speak to Jill Dispenza. When he got into the interview he immediately asked Jill if he was going to die, Jill said its not the HIV that kills you its the other diseases that kill you. After she said that he asked "well how do you get those other diseases" Jill said HIV attacks your CD4 cells which make up your immune system, and that makes you more vulnerable to catching diseases or infections and since your immune system can't fight off those diseases you can get really sick." James then asked "The doctors did a test on me, how did it work?" Jill replied "we test how your body reacts to the virus not the virus itself." Later on in the conversation James asked "how did I get this disease I was perfectly fine a month ago" Jill said " the reason you were at more of a risk than others was due to where you live, Education of diseases. Another reason may be because of you sexual orientation because when two men engage in sexual activity there are a few factors that could cause it , the reason why is because when engaging in anal sex there is only one layer of skin cells, and during sex that layer could tear and fluids could be exchanged causing you to contract HIV." The interview went on for hour and after, James went home and was a little more educated on what he had.

Equality in Chicagoush

This action project is for my humanities class named, Forbidden Books. The purpose of this project was to use the Socratic method, which is to ask questions to make someone examine their beliefs.

 We were given a subject, in my case I was given equality. For the dialogue we had to have two characters, one that would question and one that would go through the process of examining their beliefs. Before we got to work on the action project, I went around and asked 10 people what they thought of when they heard the word equality. I used this information to write the dialogue. It helped me because I had some opinions to write down for the second person, and it gave me more opinions than only mine. Some people might think the Socratic method is dangerous because asking questions could make people get defensive and want to hurt you, because they feel like they are being interrogated or challenged about their beliefs.

-2. Hey Brandicirus would you like to sign my petition banning women from voting?

1. Why do you feel women should not vote, don’t you think that all people are equal?

-2. No because men and women are biologically different, so no we are not equal. men were made to be better at everything.

1. But making decisions is all about opinion and preference, so don’t you think that making good decisions depends on the specific person and not the gender of the person?

-2. No, because men are made to be more dominant and more intelligent than women, therefore they should make the decisions.

1. How does dominance affect how someone makes decisions. like I said previously making decisions is about opinion and preference.

-2.But people who are dominant always make the decisions, such as the president or people with political power

1. But that does not mean they will always make wise decisions. What proof do you have that women are bad at making decisions, if we have never given women a chance to make decisions. think of it this way, if men are only voting men are going to be the ones in power!

-2. Well, our country is fine the way it is, and that has been because of men making the decisions, so why should there be equality? For example look at our specific city everyone has homes and there is plenty of stuff to eat!

1. You’re just looking at the positive, what about the parts of the country that are in poverty and sickness. Have you ever seen a mother leave her child hungry or sick? don’t you think everyone should have the chance to live well.?

 

-2. Well yes but just because women can make good decisions in their own home, does not mean they can make good decisions for the state

1. Well if they can benefit their own home with their decisions, don’t you think they can make decisions to benefit all the homes in the state. You said men and women are biologically different, you were right when you said that but, what you fail to notice is that women show more compassion. don't you think that compassion will help us in the long run, because women will care more about the country and maybe could help EVERYONE in the country not just our small city!

-2. If you put it that way, I guess women should have the same set of rules and boundaries, and no one should be treated different because of their race or gender *tears petition* thank you for helping me realize this Brandicirus…

1. No problem, i'm glad you came around....

  

Let Your Art Live Publicly

This project was for our final action project of the You Are Beautiful class. This action project was all about installing your own public art pieces. The art pieces that we had to install was the stickers we had made for our second action project for YAB. The second piece of art we had to install was the collaborative You Are Beautiful bus shelter. This specific project had to do with a lot of documentation because we had to make a movie that included the people you gave the stickers to, the places you put the stickers, the people you gave the stickers to and the YAB bus shelter. The reason it was important to document the piece of art was because a lot of the piece got taken down or changed in some way. I think art changes when it is in the public because it gives people a way to access art without having boundaries. When installing the stickers it went very smooth because each sticker only took about 30 sec. to install and document, but as for the YAB bus shelter it was a little difficult. the reason it was difficult to install the bus shelter was because it was such a big install and it was difficult to get it to the place we were going to put it because we had to roll it there on a cart. Another part that was rather difficult was moving it in thick mushy snow because it would get stuck a lot and since it was cold it was hard to hold onto the cold metal cart. I learned a lot from this project such as how easy it is to make and install your own pieces of public art and also how fun it is in the process over all i love this project out of all the projects I've done so far at GCE. I am not only proud of the work i did, but i am proud of the whole class and how we worked as a team to get this install done. Please watch my video below and see the pieces of art we created. ENJOY!

 

Closed Loop Graffiti?

This project was for my science and art class called Bioneers. For this project we had to pick a product to improve on. The outcome we wanted to achieve was to make the product more closed loop. Closed loop is when a cycle will flow and eventually get to the beginning again and start all over with the cycle. For example closed loop is when nothing is wasted so let's say we have a flower and a worm eats the flower and a coyote eats the worm and the coyote dies and decomposes letting nutrients go back into the earth to help another plant to grow.

The product I chose to make closed loop is Ironlak acrylic aerosol spray paint. I chose this product because I am a use and I wanted to learn more about what I am using and if there is any way to make it better and change the waste produced by the product. Currently when you buy Ironlak spray paint or any other spray paint you throw it out after you use it. When you throw out the spray paint it is going to a landfill to sit there for a long time and since their cans are made of steel and steel does not decompose then the steel with just be wasted and will just sit in a landfill forever.

I am proposing a way that you can recycle your old and empty can while also getting something out of it. I am thinking of a way that Ironlak can buy back the empty cans and for every can you get a spray paint cap, but if you turn in five cans you will get a free full can of paint. By us doing this we will reduce the steel waste and the waste of all the other materials that you throw out. It can benefit Ironlak too because then they wouldn't have to buy more materials they can just reuse all the materials on the old cans.

Spread The Word

This action project is for my art class called You Are Beautiful. The purpose of this action project was to collaborate on a class public piece while also creating out own sticker with a message of our choice on it. For the collaborative piece everyone had to come up with a design idea that was inspired by a art museum we went to as a field experience. Then we all got to choose one of them based on budget and time and also creativity. After we chose the design we all got to pick a letter out of the phrase "You Are Beautiful" Then get to work on designing our letter in our own unique way. Then comes the second part of the project, our own personal piece. We had to think of a message we wanted to turn into public art some people chose a message that had a deep meaning and some just had fun and did a happy message. As for me I chose the message "stay strong". After we have chosen our message we had to either screen print it into stickers or make stamps that can be turned into stickers. I am personally proud of how my stickers and letter came out. I learned so much in this project for example how to use a jigsaw.

BKJ 2013

BKJ
Stay Strong
Materials: Wood, Stickers, Markers, Paint, Rubber, Paper, jigsaw, Carving tools, Doors, Nails, Screws.

Written messages in public art are important because it makes you think about the meaning behind the message. Written messages also make you think about how the message applies to your own life. For example we studied the art piece, You Are Beautiful by Matthew Hoffman. This big message is presented to the world through a small silver sticker. In the words of Matthew Hoffman " I think everyone should hear this at least once a day." The message of this simple little sticker can mean so much to someone. It can brighten someone's day when they are feeling down, or even stop someone from taking their life.


My personal piece that I created is a small white sticker that has the phrase "stay strong" on it. I picked this phrase because many people who take their own life or have depression need motivation to stay strong. The aesthetics are very simple so people pay attention to the message yet colorful to catch your attention.


The process of making this piece was first, to think of a message and then, to draw out what we wanted the message to look like. Then we were assigned to either do screen printing or creating a rubber stamp. I was assigned to create a rubber stamp. First, I drew what I want my message to look like on paper. Then I pressed the rubberstamp onto the drawing to create a outline for what I am cutting. Then, I cut out the message. Lastly, I rolled paint onto the rubber stamp and print the message onto the sticker paper.

The second part of this action, we did the You Are Beautiful collaborative project. For that part everyone had to pick a letter in the phrase You Are Beautiful and carve out the letter however you want. Then we decorated our letter with recycled materials. Some people didn't choose to cut it out they just painted the letter. The letter I chose to do is the letter "R." The process of making the letter was we went on a field trip to The Rebuilding Exchange and picked up wood and materials to make the sculpture.

The sculpture would eventually be turned into a bus shelter with the phrase You Are Beautiful inside of it. The reason why it took the form of a bus shelter is for people to have a place to go when there is harsh wind or bad weather. The picture of the letter below is the letter I created. Since this class was a lot about graffiti I decided to do a graffiti "R." I also chose to fill the letter with other classmates messages and original graffiti stickers.

BKJ 2013

Color Change

This project is for my science and art class named Bioneers. The purpose of this project was to make a design based on a certain animal adaptation. First we had to pick an animal with a unique adaptation. Next, we had to come up with a design that mimicked that animal's adaptation. Lastly, we had to make a collage of what we wanted it to look like a how it worked. For this project I chose a chameleon and its ability to change colors. I learned a lot about what allows a chameleon to change colors and why. I am proud of all the work I did on the chameleon and my design. Please read more about the chameleons design and my design below. Enjoy!

current design:

The current design of a chameleon is very complicated but amazing. The chameleon has 8 layers of skin and the first layer is transparent. Under the first layer of skin are pouches of different color pigments that come out for camouflage or other reasons. Most people think chameleons only change color for blending in, but they also change to show emotion or heat signatures. The reason the chameleons change colors is cause the color packets burst letting a certain color come to the surface of the skin and change the chameleons skin color. If you look at the image below you can see what the skin of a chameleon looks like up close.

Minette. "Chromataphores." Wikimedia Commons, 24 Nov. 2007. Web. 22 Nov. 2013

(Re)Design
My design is a skintight latex suit that has a transparent top layer that acts like a chameleon's skin. It also has a clear belt with a very tiny camera attached to the side that picks up on your surroundings and changes the color of the suit. The suit covers your whole body except for your eyes making it less likely for you to be spotted. Under the transparent layer is hidden color packets that come out when needed just like a chameleon's design. We can use this design in such places as war or just when we need to be stealthy and hide. I think this design is better than original camouflage because camouflage is mainly forest colors which only give you select places to hide. With my new design you will be able to hide anywhere without being detected. Also the suit is much lighter than wearing camouflage clothes and it will allow you to move quicker. The reason you are able to move quicker is because it has less resistance and less weight than a regular camouflage outfit.

If you look at the collage below you will see that the figure is blending in with the background. That happened because of the camera that picks up on the surroundings and changes the color of the suit.

Citations

"Chromataphores Help Chameleons Change Colors." Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR), 27 Jan. 2005. Web. 22 Nov. 2013.

The Amazing Hood Orchid

This project is for my science and art class called Bioneers. The purpose of this project was to pick a plant to research and write what we could learn from it or build something that could mimic the function or structure of the plant. In this unit we went to a conservatory and looked at a bunch of plants and I decided to study the hood orchid (Pterostylis). I learned a lot about the hood orchid while researching it and I also got to see it up close and to see all the unique features.

The process of this action project was first I had to research my plant and find out 5 interesting facts about that plant. Next I had to think of what I could learn from this plant such as finding shelter with few resources to work with. I learned about shelter because that is one of the most unique things about the plant; because it has a leaf behind the flower which acts as a hood for protection and trapping flies and other small insects. Three things I think we can learn from the plant is use what you have as shelter I think that one explains itself. Another is patience because the plant cannot just get up and get what it needs it has to wait for it. The last thing I think we can learn from this plant is to adapt because when it rains the plant adapts to using its leaf as a hood.

When I was asked to apply this to a human design I instantly thought of a hoodie. I designed a hoodie with a rubbery outside to keep the rain off and a soft inside to keep you warm throughout the year. In the pocket of the hoodie it has a built in reusable bottle that connects to the strings in the hoodie that you can drink out of. It also has a long hood that automatically activates when hit by a raindrop. a scarf built into the side pulls around the face protecting it from strong winds and rain. Most people would say that my idea is a rain coat, In some ways it is but my design is mimicking the genius design of the Hood Orchid. Most rain coats are very thin and need a layer under it but my design can be used by itself because it has a thick and fluffy inside. My design looks like a normal hoodie when it is warm outside but when it rains it converts itself into a very stylish coat. In addition most rain coats are made out of plastic mine is made of rubber which is much more durable and can be kept for many years. Please see my illustrations below to better understand my design. ENJOY!

 

 

Citations

 

D.L Jones. "Petrostylis." Wikipedia, Feb 26 2013. Web. Nov 19 2013