Diego Morales

  For this assignment, we were tasked with creating a four-seven minute video that utilizes three unique perspectives. In retrospect I'm not sure how strict the length was given that some projects utilized a shorter runtime effectively, but I decided to tackle a four minute film. I had recently gone through some tough times in my personal life, and so the idea was born to explore a vague "loss" of a loved one. In brainstorming, I knew I wanted to incorporate some animation. This ended up being a game of working smart and cutting to narration when appropriate, as completing a fake cartoon in a week was a big challenge. I'm pleased with the integration of it, with the characters on a CRT TV reacting in shock to the student abruptly leaving his room. Voicing the characters and making the audio sound vintage was also a lot of fun! I'm less of an on-camera actor than a voice actor, but I tried to do my best with the storyboards I had made and the idea in my head. I fil...

 I was tasked with creating a 30-45 second long short film that “turned a perspective inside out” and “ended where it began”. I decided to document a day in life at different points throughout, with a shift from first-person to third-person perspective occurring halfway through. The film starts by getting out of bed and ends by crashing back into bed after a long day.

       For this project, we had to do a performance piece surrounding the theme of generosity. By creating a prop, we were to engage our classmates in a performance that gives back to them in some way. I was inspired by the idea that simple acts can make big differences. In a stressful day, something as small as a compliment and a high-five means a lot! Therefore, I decided to construct a big hand for high-fives.     The base was a firm piece of particle board with multiple thin strips being glued together to form the handle. Paper towels were then bunched up and taped on to create the volume of the hand. A few layers of paper-mache secured the 3D shape, and the final layers of acrylic paint for the base and shadows sealed in the paper and created a smooth surface.      While the layers of paper-mache and paint dried, I worked on the second component of my piece. After thinking back on the projects made by my peers and looking at their blogs,...

  For this assignment, Three of us were put into groups and instructed to find the spot right in the middle of the dorms we were living in. It was here that we needed to collaborate on an art piece and install it. I was paired up with Mia and Diego C., who live in the GLC and Van Kampen Hall respectively. I live in Armington D, which means we lived very close together and found our point right by the directory in the Van Kampen parking lot. Instead of doing our full piece here, we decided to turn the directory into a treasure map. Using vinyl to mark an X on the spot, we found a perfect bush in the river hiking trail. We then constructed a treasure chest out of firm cardboard, with each of us taking turns cutting pieces, attaching them, and painting them. The final result was a chest that blended in well with the environment and made for a satisfying hunt. Within this box is not a traditional treasure. Anyone who finds it has the chance to leave a treasure of their own or take one ...

Stress Pile Notebook paper, pens In recent weeks, my schoolwork and social life has kept me busier than ever. Because of this, I wanted to explore how fast stress and priorities manifest each day and how they can leave you just as quickly. Stress has its time and it doesn't feel nice but it will pass and people who experience it will make it through in the end. For me, a week at school feels like "controlled chaos" and I wanted to perform an exercise that let me control it even more. I found a private space in a tunnel underneath a bridge on campus and returned here over the next five days. Every day, I wrote down each stressful thought and feeling on individual pieces of notebook paper. I then crumpled these papers up and threw them into the corner of the tunnel. Some days I would only write about three things that were making me anxious, and others I would write six or seven. The pile started small, but got bigger and bigger each day. This symbolized how it feels when s...

  Dad’s Life Foam board, artist tape, hot glue, cereal boxes, cereal Ever since he was a child, my Dad has loved cereal. He grew up surrounded by Kellogg’s commercials on the television which has stuck with him into his adulthood. When I had the assignment to make a piece that measures time, I knew I wanted to represent the years of his life with a certain amount of his favorite cereal. It’s fitting that his favorite cereal is Life! I purchased 62 cups worth of cereal, one for each year of his life, and overfilled a big bowl with all of it. This alone conveys the time element, but I wanted to make the piece more personal by creating a “call and response” portion above the bowl that used inside jokes we share. My Dad’s favorite cereal says, “Respect the process!!!” Which is a quote from a Gillette Labs commercial my Dad and I are obsessed with. On the right, my favorite cereal Captain Crunch responds, “It’s too much!!!” Which is a quote from a Taco Bell breakfast commercial starring...