Back: Juan Silva, Jakeline Arceo Front: Samantha Griffith, Adan Rodriguez, Laurie Deanda

11/1/13

Left to Right: Adan Rodriguez, Jakeline Arceo, Juan Silva, Laurie Deanda, Samantha Griffith

10/25/13

Samantha Griffith

Juan Silva

Juan Silva I honestly thought this class was going to be boring. Out of nowhere the teacher starts telling everyone to board the bus. Everyone rushes in to get the back seats like a bunch of cattle. It’s raining a bit outside but not so much that it ruins your day. I don’t even bother to ask the teacher where we are going, I figured I’d just let this adventure play out. After driving for about 30 mins we arrive at a warehouse with a giant eagle painted on it. The eagle is being held down by a giant chain ball, I think the artist was trying to tell us that we are all not actually as free as we think we are, I don’t know, art has different meaning for each individual. As we all walk inside oblivious to what is going on, we are all immediately surrounded by graffiti in every direction imaginable. On the ceiling, on the floor, on couches, the whole shebang. I wipe out my camera phone and start taking pictures of the stuff I think is cool. The place looks like a tornado ran through and a bunch dudes broke in and just graffitied the hell out of it. It reeked of alcohol and smoke. If the artists weren’t high already off of the smell of paint they sure were with the help of the alcohol, for inspiration purposes I guess. The graffiti that inspired me the most was this graffiti of a tiger but the tiger had human like characteristics. It was dressed like a warrior and it really inspired me because I love that warrior/hero type of art. On our next quest, we arrived at downtown Houston which is like art itself. To me the skyscrapers were the main attraction for me, they were the art we traveled for. Especially when we went like a thousand stories high and got an amazing view of the skyscrapers. Overall both trips were an awesome experience. The class turned out to be pretty exciting.

First Video!!!!!

Our first trip the graffiti warehouse took me by surprise. I was so unprepared that I forgot to bring a small bag, so I was stuck carrying my huge purse. Luckily my brother had a back pack so I just stuffed it in there. When we arrived and got off the bus it was really humid outside since it had been raining a bit. Once we stepped inside I was shocked of how big the warehouse actually was, it had looked smaller from outside.

There was graffiti in all directions, I was amazed at the collection of hundreds of spray paint cans they had mounted on the wall from previous graffiti artist before. The ware house also had an upstairs section which was closed off at first but luckily they let us in. Hypnotic and other alcohol bottles were laying around and the whole warehouse had a slight smell of smoke. Almost every inch of the warehouse was covered in graffiti, except for the main entrance since the artist cleaned it up before we got there. They were going to start a new piece of art on it, which I wish I was there to witness but sadly we had to leave. 

In our next trip we visited downtown Houston. I never realized downtown had a lot of large street sculptures and other giant pieces of art everywhere. After what seemed to be like 3 miles of walking through the underground tunnels of a business building, our class took an elevator up 18 or so stories. The view at the top was a rare sight and beautiful sight. We were as tall as the skyscrapers, which was a cool feeling. 

street art

Raining and muggy, my first thoughts getting off the bus were, “don’t slip….don’t slip…don’t slip.” Once we entered the street art museum, I was overcome with an odd smell, weather it was B.O. or not I’m not sure of, the heat of the bodies in one room was unbearable. I felt like I was in a prison staying inside I was going to melt, going outside meant I was going to get drenched.  So I ventured off to other not so crowded  parts, while exploring I noticed very odd pieces of work some made me oooo and ahhhh, others made me think now would they go and do that to Daffy Duck. I met a women who explained to me how one artist finished a massive piece of work within an hour or so, when she told me on the outside I was shocked and amazed, on the inside I was thinking “yeah right lady,” she then went on and told different stories about different pieces, then within a split second she disappeared, vanished, gone in the blink of an eye. Some pieces I had to take a second glance at, why? I’m not sure, but some deserved a second look, the details many of the artist used were jaw jropping, some of the pieces looked as though the artist were under the influence but everyone needs a muse. I marveled at the creativity these individuals had, never in my life would I be able to even attempt such work. One picture covered an entire corner and half of two walls, this piece was a simple black and white piece yet the details were incredible. The eyes this painting had were ere, it had two large eyes, then multiple eyes above each, but it had an Aztec theme. The ere part was when the lady we had met told us the story behind the piece is what had given me chills. Once the rain had stopped we exited the museum and saw the pieces outside. One piece of a tiger blew my mind on how well this piece was done on such

 a large scale. I question how long these pieces took and how much time these individuals have on their hands. 

Day 1 Picture

Hugo

Two weeks ago, our HUGO class went on a trip to visit a warehouse with street art. The weather was terrible, it was raining and very humid. Especially inside the place, it was extremely hot and made the experience a bit unpleasant. My first impression of the place was that it was quite small, however once we went inside it was actually really big! There was multiple rooms with plenty to see. Many of the art there was impressive while others were a waste of space in my opinion. I thought it was cool how there were toilets that people probably use, and couches and chairs that were filthy and gross. The tent that was there was really suspicious and appeared to be someone's home because it had belongings inside, including clothing, pillows, blankets and other things. I wonder why that stuff hasn't been stolen yet. I enjoyed this trip, despite the bad weather.

Last Friday, we went to the "tunnels". I was very excited to go to a tunnel!! We were told we would see rats, which I was very happy about. However, when we got there, there was no tunnels...and seemed to be a mall of some sort. It was cool, but I wanted tunnels. The weather was also not so great, welcome to Texas, where it is hot 24/7. The most exciting part of this trip was going through the revolving door and watching an officer's horse drink from a fountain. The sculptures/art in this trip were very large and kind of hard to catch the full image on camera. There was either not much art, or I just missed it all. Overall, I had fun in both trips with some disappointments and excitements.