get creative

My project is pretty simple. To spread creativity! Living in Irvine, I often get suffocated by the never-ending monotony of school work school, the business tie too tight around my collar. I don't see enough uniqueness and creativity running rampant in the world. Thus the need for creative chaos.

My project is called getCREATIVE. These are the items you'll need:
-Glitter
-Small plastic bags (preferably jewelry bags)
-White adhesive labels (same size as bags)

First, fill a ridiculous amount of bags with glitter. I only filled mine halfway, but feel free to stuff them til they burst.
Next, gather a number of meaningful quotes on creativity. The ones I used are as follows:
"Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts."
~Rita Mae Brown

"The chief enemy of creativity is "good" sense."
~Pablo Picasso

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun."
~Mary Lou Cook

"You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."
~Jack London

"Trust that little voice in your head that says "Wouldn't it be interesting if..." And then do it."
~Duane Michals, "More Joy of Photography"

"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge."
~Tuli Kupferberg

Taking your quotes, print them onto the adhesive labels. Be sure to print enough for each bag to be labeled. Stick these onto each bag (neatly, please!)
Next, grab another sheet of labels. These go on the back of the glitter packets, and they're going to be printed with the link to the website I created for this project:
http://www.wix.com/dropsyfox/getcreative
I also added a signature pawprint on the labels, but you can either replace it with your own signature clip or go without it completely.
After you print these labels out, stick them on the opposite sides of the bags. Your weapons of artistic chaos are now finished!

Now, place them anywhere. You can put a number of them in a small box with a "take me" sign, or you can just place each bag conspicuously in a random spot where someone will find it (and hopefully take it home).

Once finished, sit back and let creativity and chaos spread!

Colour Me Your Colour

I am greatly influenced by beautiful & simple lyrics from songs because they can either go straight to the point or have a deeper meaning within them. For the final project, I wanted to create a happy message that can brighten anyones day. It is simple itself but I felt the message can relate to anyone with an open mind and willing.

I took a photo of a friend holding balloons over a sky and cropped it as a square. I am intrigued by balloons because I feel that there is life present within them. The colors are just so vibrant and I felt this was perfect with the lyric I chose. One day when I was driving to San Diego, I was listening to Blondie and the song "Call Me" went on. The first lyric was stuck in my head and I immediately knew this is perfect text for my photograph. The lyric is "Colour me your colour". This message can go anyway you want it to, but for me I felt that this single lyric by itself can mean to have an open mind and to understand different sides of people. I myself try to listen to other people and their ideas and it becomes a bit of inspiration to my work.

I wanted to initially create a sticker, but I felt that is a bit simple so I went over to Office Depot and found these window decals and I knew they were perfect because I like the idea of putting my work on a clear surface that can be facing with the sun.

I wanted to create something cheerful and hopefully everyone will take this message as much as it has affected me.

:] Charlene Fulgencio

I uploaded a PDF version online, you can download it here:

COLOUR ME YOUR COLOUR

1. Buy window decals at Office Depot (10 for $13) or use regular paper if you want.

2. Download PDF.

3. & Print!!!!

Write a Letter

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In this day and age, it is rare to receive a handwritten letter in the mail from a friend. Everyone is so caught up in their hectic daily activities so we make a habit of texting and emailing to stay in touch. We never actually take the time to sit down and write out a thoughtful note to the people we love. In my final project, I want to make people think about their friends and loved ones in the place that most reminds them of keeping in touch, the old fashion way.

I want to inconspicuously post my piece at different mailboxes. I have chosen a variety of quotes by famous writers about friendship that I hope will make people reflect on the importance of their relationships. I printed out these quotes on shipping labels so that they could be stuck anywhere on or near a mailbox. I chose to have them be clear so that they wouldn’t stand out so much at first, but over time, they would be seen, like the importance of a friend.

Although the quotes I used are by famous writers, I didn’t want this to simply be about a quote on a wall. I wrote out the quote, and then I ended it with a closing valediction such as “Yours Truly” or “Regards”, followed by the author’s name. Instead of using the commonly known name of the writer such as William Shakespeare, I have changed it so that the name sounds more like an everyday person, like Will S. I want people to read the quote as if it is a short letter, so that they may get the idea to sit down and write a letter themselves, then send it in the mail.

Things You Will Need:

• Ink Jet Shipping Labels

• Printer

• Quotes

In the name of Art

For my textual intervention final I chose to make stickers that have a very direct message yet was actually quite vague. My basic stickers say "FUCKART" and are made in the most resourceful way. I feel as though the stickers can be placed in just about any place or setting and are able to coexist with the surroundings in which they are place. I feel as though the viewer's response to the text (based on the location) will have a different interpretation so in a sense it is still Art.

How To:

-Adhesive paper, preferably pre-cut label stickers
-Black ink stamp-pad
-Gel or rubber letter stamps

Use the rubber stamp letters to create a text on the adhesive label and gently seal the message wherever is desirable to you.

Useless Information Enclosed.

For my final art project I was inspired by checking the mail today. I love getting meaningful mail, which also means I despise getting junk mail that I end up throwing in the trash- a lot of this junk mail ironically says "important information enclosed" or something to that extent. I think it's wasteful of environmental resources and energy, and wasteful of the time it takes to open it and throw it out. I decided then, to create junk mail.

I purchased a box of envelopes from the nearest Kinkos, the type of envelope with the clear film strip to see the addressee's name. I decided that I wanted to have the junk mail come from UCI, so I looked up UCI's logo and funnily enough they put all of them on a webpage for you to choose from. I downloaded a simple logo, shrunk it down to size, and printed out 40 envelopes with the logo on the top left hand side. Then, I took 40 sheets of regular printer paper and typed "Fellow Anteater" in the middle, as the addressee. I don't want to ruin the project by saying what I wrote inside and why I addressed it from UCI, so I'll leave that for tomorrow. My reasons for what I wrote inside are also to be revealed tomorrow. After I folded up all the papers, I put them in the envelopes and distributed them out into the real world. I live in VDC Norte and there are little clips on the doors where Norte puts up notices, so I put four of my envelopes on four different doors. Then I took two to Norte's mail room and two to the post office at the University Town Center.

My project is a mechanical reproduction of the junk mail we see in the physical world via standard snail mail as well as online, digitally in the form of junk email/spam.

HELLO my name is… Health and Exercise

In today’s busy society, it is easy for you to forget about the simple things in life that actually will help you out in the long run. Holding down a job or two, attending college, playing sports, and spending time with family are more than enough to fill up your entire schedule. However, it is necessary to take care of yourself before you should help others. Taking a few minutes out of your day to relax, get some exercise, or make a healthy home cooked meal can be all that it takes to stay healthy and in shape. For my text intervention project, I am promoting good health and exercise by labeling water bottles, (obviously you can’t get anymore healthy/ necessary/refreshing than that!) with motivating quotes to get you off the couch and into shape. If you are interested in contributing to this project, here is how I have done it.

1.Buy some water bottles (It is usually cheaper to buy a whole case at stores like Costco, Albertsons, Fresh and Easy, etc)
2. a. Purchase some printable name tags (If you go to Office Depot you can get a pack of 160 stickers for $8, if you buy the Office Depot brand)
b.Or you can go online and buy a pack of Avery name tags for $3 in a set of 100
3.If you buy the Office Depot name tags you will have to download the template of the specific packet you have bought on to Microsoft Word, and then cut and paste to Adobe Illustrator and use the pen tool to trace the Avery: Hello my name is… badges.
4.After getting the template for either brand of name tags, set up and type in the word “Health” or “Exercise” as the name, and include a corresponding quote to go with the word.
 Here are the quotes I have selected:
o If it weren't for the fact that the TV set and the refrigerator are so far apart, some of us wouldn't get any exercise at all. -Joey Adams
o People say that losing weight is no walk in the park. I beg to differ.
o The speed at which stress can’t keep up, is simply forward motion. But it has to be self-propelled. Note that people in cars are still stressed. -Jef Mallett
o We do not stop exercising because we grow old - we grow old because we stop exercising. -Dr. Kenneth Cooper
o The health of nations is more important than the wealth of nations. -Will Durant
o Every human being is the author of his own health or disease -Buddha
o The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don’t want, drink what you don’t like, and do what you’d rather not. Mark twain
o Living a healthier lifestyle will only deprive you of poor health, lethargy, and fat. –Jill Johnson
5. Then take the extra badges and type of the words, “Commit to be fit.” In circles that are the same size as the water bottle cap.
6. Cutting out the badges and the circles, place the stickers onto your bottle.
7. Lastly, spread the word of exercise and health by placing the made water bottles in public areas. Feel free to take pictures of it and post it to this blog or email me at: aschlack@uci.edu
I would love to see how far this project can go!

Here are some examples of the locations I have placed my water bottles:

Stamp It Out

"Ohh, UCI, good school. What are you studying?"

"Art."

"...Ohhhhh...."

As an art major we hear it constantly- this less than impressed reaction in learning what we've decided to do with our lives...or to them, decided how to throw it away.

But why are art, drama, dance, music, women's studies, psych, etc, majors looked down upon?? Because they're not a sure-fire way to a successful career? But what is a successful career? One that brings the highest income? Or one that brings the most happiness?

Don’t take it anymore. Change our culture’s way of thinking. Make a stamp.

I carved many different stamps, the main one stating "It's okay to be" with various other stamps stating things normally taken with a grain of salt, as something negative, as something strange, etc.

List of Supplies

• Any old eraser (White art erasers are best, but traditional pink erasers work too. The eraser should be at least 1” by 1”, or bigger)
• A cutting tool,anything with a sharp edge. (This can be a razor blade, and X-acto knife, a sharpened pencil, a creepily filed nail, anything that can cut through eraser!)
• A marker, or stamp pad (to ink up your stamp!)

Step 1. Pick a message! What do you want to say? Your message can be nice, rude, loud, impacting. In my case, I used a more friendly approach by making an “Its okay to be…” stamp initially, then smaller stamps that read “art major, happy, nerd, etc.”

Step 2. Whatever message you want, pencil the mirror image of it onto your eraser (this is necessary so you don’t stamp it backwards! …I did this many a time, don’t be ashamed.)

Step 3. It’s carving time! Following your pencil marks, carve out this gray part from the rest of the eraser.

Step 4. Ink it up!

Step 5. STAMP! Spread your message wherever you want- the arts plaza, ring road, the unsuspecting hand of someone passing out flyers, anywhere!

I placed my stamps all over the arts plaza, in the hopes that those with "lesser majors" would take notice, and question all the scrutiny society has for the arts.