Sunday, December 31, 2017

Using Color Interaction for Effective Design


“Using Color Interaction for Effective Design,” Solutio for T.R. McTaggart, 15 Sept 2017. Online.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

EJAHttSA App in progress

Screenshot of app in progress.


IFPB61 delegation to Palestine/Israel

Photos by Interfaith Peace-Builders delegates on May 2017 trip to Palestine/Israel. Trip co-sponsored by Defense for Children International – Palestine and CODEPINK: Women for Peace. Delegation theme: "Incarceration, Detention, and Political Prisoners." #ifpb61



Saturday, December 9, 2017

Heart shopping bag

Sweet Heart
"The first wealth is health"


Postcards pt. 4


The quality assurance stickers create an interesting juxtaposition between impersonally manufactured and revealing a human presence. The interaction is subtle. I hardly noticed the sticker and even put it through the wash before peeling it off. With the thread perfectly woven the sticker reminds me that this product was made by people. Although the communication with this textile worker was asymmetrical, I know a human put the sticker on and I took it off after I received the message that it passed inspection.


Alden B. Dow Home & Studio



















Alden B. Dow's house and architectural studio.

Danger

Animorphizing danger


Red-balloon card

I took a picture of Sacré-Coeur and Albert Lamorisse's film The Red Balloon inspired me to add a balloon!

Doctor's note

It seems weird to me that people need doctors' notes for work. Like, are we still in middle school and need a hall pass to prove we asked and were granted permission to use the rest room? It seems like by the time people become adults, and especially middle-aged adults, we should be past this by now.


Palestine/Israel presentation #1

Presentation September 17, 2017, at the Islamic Center of Midland. Photography by René Johnson.






Kufiya

Worn to support the Palestinian people

Pom-pom monsters

Made of yarn, googly eyes, felt, pipe cleaner, and pom poms.


Monday, November 6, 2017

Squirrel (La Ardilla) is playing in Grenada, Nicaragua, on Nov 30

Squirrel: The Movie
 
30 November at 19:0020:00 UTC-06
 
Pan De Vida Granada
406 Calle La Calzada, 3.25 blocks towards Lake Nicaragua
Granada, Nicaragua
 
A woman's life spins out of control when she promises her son that she'll get an evil cop fired who pepper-sprayed a baby squirrel. A dark comedy about living with male violence. Features Granada's own Dreamlander, Mary Vivian Pearce as the sleazy school principal. View the trailer here:
https://vimeo.com/164283185

In English with Spanish subtitles.

Come eat, drink and watch independent film with us!

La vida de una mujer gira fuera de control cuando ella promete a su hijo que ella obtendrá la despedida a un policía malvado quien rocía una ardilla bebé con gas pimienta. Una comedia oscura sobre la vida con violencia masculina. Cuenta con la propia “Dreamlander” de Granada, Mary Vivian Pearce como la directora escolar sórdida.
En Ingles, con subtitulos en español.
Ver el tráiler aquí:
https://vimeo.com/164283185

¡Ven a comer, beber y ver la película independiente con nosotros!

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Sanford native wins national truck driving competition


Midland Daily News, 10 Sept 2017. Online.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Palestine/Israel

151 photos
Interfaith Peace-Builders May 2017 delegation to Palestine/Israel. Trip co-sponsored by Defense for Children International – Palestine and CODEPINK: Women for Peace. Delegation theme: "Incarceration, Detention, and Political Prisoners." #ifpb61











Saturday, June 3, 2017

Interactions and Materials Affecting Environment

Originally published at http://www.ifpb.org/del61/report3.html.

Interactions and Materials Affecting Environment   |  Emma Johnson - Midland, Michigan

Military presence and eclectic reading. In Palestine/Israel, myriad soldiers with machine guns inhabit the public spaces. I wasn't used to the military in the forefront of my environment. With only 1 percent of the U.S. population serving in the military, national service seems abstract, out of sight and out of mind. But in Israel, everyone is required to serve for three years.

Young men and women, who oftentimes stand casually and look bored and ready to be off their shifts, become part of the background. Yet, you always know the military is there. The Israeli government projects a presence, a constant surveillance where you know they're looking and they know you know they're watching.

I saw a variety of magazines at a small shop at the airport in Tel Aviv: Fashion, home decorating, celebrity gossip ... and military equipment as just another magazine among them. Who is this customer? Of course, I want to read about the latest lipstick and then find out about the innovations for the next models of machine guns!




Concrete doesn’t equal permanence. Another visual in the environment is the apartheid wall. The concrete divides Israel from Palestine for miles, and more is planned.
The material of concrete suggests permanence.

At Dheisheh refugee camp in the West Bank, the Palestinians carry the mentality, and pass this mentality down to their children, that despite their concrete housing, the situation isn’t permanent. (In fact, they lived in tents and held off on living in buildings made of concrete.) In spite of its material, this is temporary housing and they will return home since international law recognizes the Right of Return. An enduring material doesn’t mean the situation will also last forever.

Driving, sometimes the road becomes monotonous. In Palestine/Israel, the tall concrete slabs that comprise the apartheid wall are the same rectangular shape repeated over and over. The wall is an ugly concept, but by repetition I get used to it.

But familiarity shouldn’t equal normalcy.



Thursday, June 1, 2017

By-Pass Roads

Originally published at http://www.ifpb.org/del61/report1.html.

By-Pass Roads   |  Emma Johnson - Midland, Michigan
It is serene watching the steady flow of cars,
blurry blue and white squares moving slowly from a distance.
But the by-pass road means the people inside are probably Israeli settlers.
Reading, intellectually I understood this.
Seeing it in real life,
I wonder about the people inside the cars.
Who are they?
Do they think occupation is wrong but inure themselves to the Palestinians' pain?
Or, are they clueless, just going about their day?
Do they tell themselves they just have to do what they can to survive, lines blurred?
I wonder about the people inside the cars.
I wonder what kind of people they are and what their lives are like.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Squirrel

I played Frances in the film Squirrel, directed by Thalia Drori Ramirez. The premiere will be on March 19 in Oakland, CA.


Information from Facebook:

Liberated Lens Film Collective presents a dark night of comedy shorts by Thalia Drori Ramirez and Cineastas de Granada.

An evening of comedy shorts by filmmaker Thalia Drori Ramirez, including a premiere of her latest film, Squirrel, which features Mary Vivian Pearce (Pink Flamingos, Multiple Maniacs, Female Trouble) as the school principal. Drori Ramirez will also present a comedy by the students of Cineastas de Granada, a video production program she founded for teen girls in Granada, Nicaragua. A discussion with the filmmaker will follow the screening.

Squirrel Trailer:
https://vimeo.com/164283185

Admission: Pay what you can. Nobody turned away for lack of funds.

Time: 7:00 p.m.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m.


https://www.facebook.com/events/388076091557924/

https://www.facebook.com/squirrelthemovie/

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Ida 2003-2017

Although this post isn't about my work, I wanted to dedicate a post to my cat Ida.


Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Church of Sainte-Geneviève

Jacques-Germain Soufflot
designed a beautiful church.
The Church of Sainte-Geneviève,
also known as the
Paris Panthéon,
has transformed itself like a
Madonna persona change.

In 1758
construction started.
Before the last brick was laid
the government took over.
Then it changed its mind.
The French did not sell.
They used it as a temple
under Napoleon (the) I
and buried heroes.
Aux grands homes la pat-
rie reconnaissante.

Then it became Catholic
under King Louis Philippe.
Napoleon (the) III said,
"Continue the church."

Nondenominational
was Sainte-Geneviève's next phase.

Next it was a physics lab.
Jean-Bernard Foucault
proved the world is spinning 'round
by hanging a pendulum
from the domed ceiling.
The world truns clockwise.

Marie Curie died.
Her ashes were scattered there.

Jacques-Germain Soufflot
designed a beautiful church.

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Neoclassical architecture and sculpture in France

Architectural influences
Seventeenth-century France
defies Italian Baroque,
says 'yes' to classical style.

Ancient Chinese art

The Middle Kingdom in China
'Qin' becomes 'China,' 
proclaimed the center of the world.
Port cities gleam but
Yellow River brings sorrow.
Yet, Nomads join anyway.

Friday, January 6, 2017

Pagodas

Watchtowers converge
(w/) pagodas stone and wooden.
What a handsome pair.

Work consulted: 
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. 1995. New York: revised ed., Harry N. Abrams, Inc., and Prentice Hall, Inc., 1999.