Sasha Waters Fryer studied and focused photography and documentary traditions, along with non-fiction films. Soon after all of her schooling, she began working in documentary film. During the later part of this schooling she was part of a large and lengthy project, Razing Appalachia". She would say that her education came "full circle". She was and is able to incorporate certain things she learned at not always expected times and phases of her life. She had previously wanted to focus on other's stories , which led her from documentary photography to documentary film. She currently teaches at VCU but continues with many outside projects, some being solely personal. One of her current focuses is experimental, personal film. This is more of an avant garde, almost poetic form of expression. Sasha Water Freyer considers herself a slow filmmaker and editor, meaning the creation of these film and more public projects can take a very long time. She mentioned that lots of the time put into the creation of these pieces goes into the financing-what I assume to be the not so fun part. One of her most recent projects was Winogrand. This film focuses on a famous photographer and is one of the most mainstream of her past projects.
I found this lunchtime lecture quite interesting and enjoyable. I really feel like I learned a lot, while also being inspired. She was very honest about her schooling, past experiences, and current situation/goals, which I find very helpful as a young student. Prior to this lecture, I knew very little about film making. I found this lecture so compelling, that I now want to conduct some of my own research and dig deeper into the topic/field. Even if this isn't something I would want to take up myself, I could of course enjoy others' works. I think a good place to start for this is Sasha Waters Freyer's website. I really liked the experimental film she showed us and want to watch more. I really had no idea that this type of film really has a whole culture surrounding it - they're so cool! I can't wait to find out more about all of this, including Sasha Waters Fryer herself! here is a link to her personal website - where samples of her work can be found here is a link to the trailer for Winogrand
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Once I knew I was happy with my background, I wasn't sure where to go. I knew I wanted to incorporate an element of geometry, so I decided to add some zips. I first added three thin strips to the left side of my painting. I actually really liked how this ended up looking but knew I needed to add more. It was a hard decision but I added to add some more stripes elements. Some of my new stripes had much more organic and uneven strokes to add some variation. To balance the piece, I put another, thicker stripe, on the right side. All of the stripes were painted in shades of a dark bluish-green. These additions led me to flipping my piece, so it now has a vertical orientation. I actually still want to thicken the bottom stripe, so this is not actually my final picture. I will finish up and post a final picture as soon as possible.
I started my painting with a solid color, however i did choose to let some of the brushstrokes show through and left a few spots why. I chose a light blue because it is one of my favorite colors and I thought it would serve as a good base, since it is fairly neutral. Next, I added some bolder colors over my first layer. I went with almost a lime green and a pinkish orange. I applied large splotches of these colors pretty much all over the canvas, leaving very few areas of the first layer exposed. Then, I used the first light blue color again for the third layer. My goal with this layer was to cover up the canvas with blue brush strokes, while also still allowing the pink and green to shine through. I achieved this by holding my brush perpendicular to the canvas. This created an almost chunky, uneven affect. I think this added some depth and dimension to my piece.
The first step we took in creating our Abstract Expressionist paintings was actually creating two practice paintings. My first painting was very minimalistic. I focused on using the zipping technique, which I thoroughly enjoyed, I also experimented with incorporating a bold color, in this case, neon orange. My second painting was very very different than my first. I used many techniques and bright colors to create various layers. The first layer was just a smooth application of neon pink paint. Over that, I used a palette knife to apply grey paint. I really love how the neon pink only shows through the grey in some places. Next I added a few more colors with the palette knife and some neon yellow pastel marks. I do not love how this painting ended up all together, however, I do really like some of the individual techniques I used. Making these practices was extremely helpful and really a learning experience.
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