Analogy Assignment January 26, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Analogy, Analogy Assignment, Class Assignments.Tags: Analogy Homework, NPR This American life
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For your next assignment you are going to create an analogy for one or more of the following stories (audio) from NPR’s This American life:
18: Liars (11.01.2002) http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=18
396: #1 Party School (10.18.1999) http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1330
Bring in at least six different sketches, on separate sheets of paper, not in your sketchbook, either Horz. or vertical (base it on 8 X 10) . Each of these audio episodes contains a few stories so either pick one story or the overall theme. Your finish will be in color.
I would like you to write notes. What is this story really about? Create a list of adjectives to describe characters and themes in the story. Some questions to ask yourself to get started:
- Try sketching using the 3 different types of analogies we talked about in class; logical analogy, affective analogy and a paradoxical analogy.
- If this story involved animals what kind of animals would they be?
- As a machine/object what kind would it be? A fairy tale /fable?
- Look at something totally unrelated and force yourself to have it conform to your story like the xerox sheets we did in class.
- As you’re sketching be aware of clichés. Can they be avoided? If you’re thinking about using a cliché is there a twist you can add to it?
Research, Research, and Research
Analogies January 21, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Analogy, Class Topics, Handout Sheets.Tags: Analogies, Concept Trigger
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An analogy is a comparison between different items usually with the idea of explaining something unknown by something known. Analogies provide insight. They can suggest that some how similarities exist between things that might seem to have nothing in common.
Analogies are every where, In literature; “U-boats prowled the coast of the island like hungry sharks…”, or ”He 
was a tall as a mountain and as strong as an ox”. In music, for example Prokofiev’s musical symphony for children- Peter and the wolf (Peter youtube link) . In PATW a range of Instruments represent different characters in the story; The Duck is an oboe, Grandfather is a bassoon, the bird is a flute. Philosophy is frequently conveyed in analogies; “be like the sapling in the wind, bending but not breaking…”. For Many years people in business studied “the Art of War” by Sun Tzu and the book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. Both books, detailing strategies for making war on your enemies were seen as analogies for business tactics (think hostile corporate take over’s and getting ahead of the competition).
(Above) The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) By Miyamoto Musashi 1645
Below are three types of Analogies:
- Logical analogies; Seek similarities between things that are different but have some trait in common. i.e.: a duck to an amphibious boat, or the branch system of a tree to the vascular system of the human body.
- Affective Analogies: Are emotional similarities, ie: a pretty girl is like a flower or someone evil is a snake or a skunk. A timid person is a mouse.
- Paradoxical Analogies: Illogical combinations of images that evoke powerful emotional responses; our minds tell us no logical reason exists for these images to be together, yet since they are together we‘re forced to reconcile them. (also see class exercises).
Analogies not only are a way of explaining a complicated phenomenon or situation in terms we are already familiar with, they also excite our creative spirit. Here is a link to Pete Seeger’s 1967 song Waist Deep in the Big Muddy. This song was recognized as a metaphor for the increasingly escalated war in Vietnam, so much so that CBS censored the song prior to it’s broadcast on the Smothers Brothers show.
My Favorite Analogy
Okay this might be a little self indulgent but this is a blog after all. My favorite analogy (paradoxical if I’m being precise) is the “This is your Brain on Drugs ” PSA first aired in 1987. It was used as part of an anti-drug campaign by the Partnership for a drug Free America ( a non-profit initiated by the American Association of Advertising Agencies) . The spot invited a number of spoofs and there actually is a Fried Egg Message website.
Here is the original spot as aired. In 1997 Rachel Leigh Cook performed in an updated version.
Manny Vega/Un Artista Con Alma January 13, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Artists, Guest Visits, Public art.Tags: Manny Vega, mosaics, murals, Public art, Subway art
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As you step off the train at 110th Street and Lexington in the NYC subway, you find yourself face to face with the art of Manny Vega. four panels, each approximately four feet high depicting scenes of life in the barrio lovingly, painstakingly crafted in mosaics. Un Sabado en la Ciento Diez (A Saturday on 110th Street). Manny took some time out to stop by class this last spring semester to talk about his work, and the process of creating art for the subway and the public. Manny is a self taught craftsman but also an obvious sponge for any knowledge of his craft. In terms of the 110th st. commission I was struck by the relatively short time frame it took him to accomplish such a laborious process. Months versus what I assumed would be a minimum 2 year process with execution and installation.
(Above) 110th street station (6 train) 2 of 4 mosaics , Un Sabado en la Ciento Diez (A Saturday on 110th Street)
A characteristic of Manny that comes out when he speaks and that is also evident in all his meticulously crafted work is Corazón, passion, and a commitment to truly public art. Manny spoke about, what he felt was was his responsibility to represent the community that his work was appearing in. Manny spoke about working on the Portrait of Julia de Burgos mosaic in a storefront and having people in the community stop in and take part in placing tiles. The mural was completed in Oct. 2006
(Above) Portrait of Julia de Burgos. East 106 Street between Lexington and Third Ave. Julia de Burgos was a Puerto Rican poet and civil rights activist who died at 39 in 1953.
(left) Mosaic El Rey Del Pollo at El Malecon Restaurant
Photos by Librado Romero of Manny and his work and audio of Manny speaking about his mosaics and philosophy.
(please note. this is an older post spring 2008 which was reposted – thanks Les)
Shockheaded Peter January 13, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in 3-D work, Music, Puppets, Theatre, Visually Cool & Relevant.Tags: Cautionary Children's Story, performance, Shockheaded Peter
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(Above) Julian Bleach, Co-creator of Shockheaded Peter and the M.C.
(Above) Julian Bleach (in background) and Tamzin Griffin (on ground, also a co-creator of SHP). Photo by © Joan Marcus (from the site New Partisan http://www.newpartisan.com/home/a-glorious-gory-grotesque.html )
Shockheaded Peter is a musical adaptation based on the German children’s book, Der Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter) by Dr. Heinrich Hoffmann. The original book was comprised of 10 stories about children, who, because of their bad habits or misbehavior meet dire consequences in gruesomely moralistic fashion. Shockheaded Peter chronicles those stories of bad children in a wonderfully disturbing production that incorporates pantomime, puppetry and elements of Grand Guignol theatre, children get their thumbs cut off (for sucking them), are burned as their comeuppance for playing with matches and much worse. There really aren’t any survivors. All this to music by the Tiger Lillies. Shockheaded Peter on You Tube
(Above) Anthony Cairns (left co-creator) and Tamzin Griffin. Photo by © Joan Marcus (from the site New Partisan http://www.newpartisan.com/home/a-glorious-gory-grotesque.html )
(Above) Interior illustration from the 1917 edition of Struwwelpeter
Above) Struwwelpeter and Other Disturbing Tales for Human Beings Illustrated by Bob Staake Published by Fantagraphics Books 2006.
(Above) Struwwelpeter: Fearful Stories and Vile Pictures to Instruct Good Little Folks Illustrated by Sarita Vendetta. Published by Feral House Books 1999 Out of Print. Sarita Vendetta’s illustrations for Struwwelpeter.
(Above Left) Slovenly Betsy by Henry Hoffman ? Published 1911. (Right) Struwwelhitler by “Dr. Schrecklichkeit” Published 1941
Separated at Birth? January 2, 2009
Posted by leskanturek in Frankenstein.Tags: Lynd Ward, Separated at Birth
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Lynd Ward’s poignant illustration of Frankenstein’s creature reflecting on his inhuman form in a pool of water, and the newspaper ad for Darren Aronofsky’s film, “The Wrestler” with Micky Rourke portraying an aging professional wrestler.
Two characters reflecting on their place in the world? The Lynd Ward illustration is from a 1934 edition of Frankenstein, published by Harrison Smith and Robert Haas (New York). The ad is from the Village Voice.
Les' Illustration Concepts Class 
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