Sara Greenberg

The Line: Final Group Project

saragreenberg — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:46:08 +0000

For our group project we decided to do a performance piece. Our words were History, Forgotten, Fragile, Symbol and Holistic.

First, we brainstormed how we could combine these words in a piece to make them make sense all together. This was probably what took the longest. After this, the ideas started flowing and we were able to narrow down what we really wanted to do. We will have images of the line projected in the background of our piece, with the sounds of flipping pages, as I sit atop a set of stairs and rip pages out of a book. There will be a fan blowing the paper on the ground, and two members of the group will be waving around nets of paper. The fifth member of the group will be flicking flashlights on and off across the stage.

The Line: The Word: The Focus

saragreenberg — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:39 +0000

I spent a lot of time exploring the wooded area of the line. I did not want to research, I wanted to find.

I found a lot. I found rocks, I found leaves, I found trees. I found history that was expanding. History is always growing. But what is history but a documentation of an event or occurrence? I began to think about what I could take photos of in order to illustrate this.

As I continued exploring, my focus changed, but my lens stayed the same. History in nature. History is everywhere, and it is constantly being built upon. Similar to written history, where, when new evidence or information is found it is added to previous knowledge, in nature, things build upon one another and grow and feed off of each other.

I also made some sketches, however, I do not feel that any of them can really convey what I want.

One of them though, along with two lines, works, I think.

(Text reads: Remember who has fallen before you.//You are not alone.)

The Line: The Word: History

saragreenberg — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:55:29 +0000

I explored the wooded part of the line without my camera in an effort to use my other senses, (other than sight), to find examples of my word on the line, and different extensions of that word.

All around me, of course, history was. The trees. The trees are filled with history. Were I to cut one down, the rings on the inside would tell me so much. They would tell me about the way the seasons were – whether they gave the trees enough nutrients or not, and whether or not there was enough rain. Were I to dig into the ground, the dirt could tell me the same thing. It could tell me about the creatures that have previously walked over the spot where I was digging, or it could tell me about the way that the glacier thousands of years ago moved and shaped the earth beneath it. There were leaves. So many leaves. So many leaves that have not only fallen this season, but many from other seasons past. They are a reminder that things are cyclical. So are the tree trunks from fallen trees. They are soft and filled with decay, but finding bugs inside is a reminder that in the past, many ancestors of those creatures were doing the same thing.

Then, I explored the stream behind Cohen Studio. Adhering to the definition given to me by UrbanDictionary.com, (History is something that repeats itself over and over and over), I made a video out of photos that I took. You can watch that HERE. (Click “More Info”).

I walked down the stream to see what was further down, although it was not on the line. I did this so that I could see what was flowing INTO the part of the line that I was exploring. There was a bridge crossing the stream, and some rock … formations.

The Word

saragreenberg — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 03:10:15 +0000

History. How to define history. I decided to use one of the “official” definitions, along with two from a popular site that allows users to give common definitions to terms.

The Oxford English Dictionary says:

“1. A relation of incidents (in early use, either true or imaginary; later only of those professedly true); a narrative, tale, story. Obs. (exc. as applied to a story or tale so long and full of detail, as to resemble a history in sense “

Urban Dictionary says:

3. The events of the past, filtered through the minds of the present.

5. What repeats itself over and over and over again.

The Line(3)

saragreenberg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:31:07 +0000

I explored man made light from the viewpoint of the stream bed. It was more of an experimentation with light and dark and enjoying being outside with my camera in the dark. I think that the way that the camera reacts to the lights in the dark is fantastic.

It was very dark, and I did not intend on using the flash on my camera very much, so everything immediately around me remained very much dark.

The Line(2)

saragreenberg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:05:55 +0000

I didn’t take any photos on my trip alone down the line. I wish that the reasoning for this was more philosophical. However, truth be told, I forgot to bring my camera with me, and by the time I realized that I didn’t have it in my bag, I didn’t want to turn around to get it. I feel, though, as if maybe this helped me to “connect” more with my surroundings. Instead of perceiving through a lens, and trying to capture what I was feeling or seeing or hearing in an image, I felt it and made it a part of me, even if only for a moment. I felt the leaves rustling, and I felt the crunching beneath my feet. I saw the wind. I heard the sun.

The colors of the fallen leaves were beautiful. Brown, yellow, crunchy. Yes, crunchy is a color. You can tell when a leaf is crunchy by just looking at it. The air was filled with the smell of fall. The leaves and the trees, and the wind kept moving things, keeping the air from going stale even remotely.

I did take some photos on the initial walk that we took with our class, though. I feel that they might convey some of what I am talking about.

The Line(1)

saragreenberg — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:56:31 +0000

We were told to investigate the line from start to finish. As I moved around in the forest area, I was inspired by all of the natural light shining through the trees, and I appreciated the sun. The sun allows for growth in a natural way. It also allows for man-made objects to be solar powered. This beauty made me think about man-made light. So, after traveling the line in the daytime, I waited until it was dark outside, and I visited the stream bed, because I figured that the lights in the dark there would make for some interesting photographs. Man-made lights are differently colored than natural light from the sun.

Personal Territory(D)

saragreenberg — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:30:42 +0000

I decided that as my structure/map of my territory, I would approach it simply. I chose to use few words and basic drawings to illustrate how I want the viewer to move about the space.

Personal Territory(C)

saragreenberg — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:17:12 +0000

(1)Experiences:

Experience #1:

The metal stairs and brick buildings seem to act as a wind tunnel sometimes. The wind rustled through the pages of my sketchbook and set free a couple of loose pages.

Experience #2:

As I was sitting on the cement steps, the wind blew some leaves around my feet. My feet interrupted the winds path for them, which would have led them to the corner of the steps and the ground, where they eventually did end up.

(2)Things I Hadn’t Noticed When I First Sat Down:

The brick of the building looks old up close.
The cement wall on which I am sitting is just big enough to sit on. It was conveniently created.
The way that the green grass contrasts the brown leaves is funny.
The clouds are wispy-er and less menacing than they previously appeared.
There is a dead and dried worm next to where I am sitting on the wall.

Personal Territory(B)

saragreenberg — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:10:43 +0000

There is a growing collection of leaves at the bottom of the concrete steps, huddled together in a corner.
A lone leaf shuffles across the cement.
The grass shakes violently in the wind.
The metal staircase is a dark brown color.
The brown of the staircase cuts into the blue and cloudy sky.
A bolt is missing from the staircase. Somehow, this doesn’t seem safe.
The light shines through the cracks in the steps.
The shrubs are succumbing to the cold weather – browning, drying, and losing their leaves.
It’s funny – right behind the shadows underneath the stairs, the evergreen is basking in the sunlight and is bright.
The bricks and the cement on the ground are covered in dirt, showing that perhaps many people walk in and out of the building.
There is a dried worm to my right.
Everything seems dry, the ground, the grass.

The water on the metal manhole covering reflects the bricks of the building and the sky, and it ripples in the wind.
The sun is warming everything.
The worm is gone. Nature.
The grass is soggy.
The leaves are still in the corner, though they’ve grown in number and they’re a bit more wet.
The leaves on the pathway are flattened with water and stick to the ground.
The sky is a brilliant blue color.
There are some clouds in the sky, but they are not menacing. They are fluffy and white.
This is a great spot for observing people. You’re pressed up against a wall, and people are walking past Powell on your right.
A kitten came from around the stairs and then ran.
A group of 3 friends walked past, laughing loudly.
A boy with a very long trench coat blowing in the wind walked by my territory.
The air smells clean and fresh.
The wind blows a couple of stray leaves down the stairs and swirls them around.
A drop of water fell on my hand from the stairs.
The red bricks on the wall look very worn.

I can hear the wind when it sends the leaves scuttling across the ground.
The wind rustles the pages in my notebook.
The wind sends my hair flying across my face so that I cannot see.

Standing underneath the steps, I feel trapped in a corner. The metal feels confining.
The metal of the stairs is cold to the touch, because the outside weather is chilly.
The paint on the stairs is bumpy in some places.
I like the way that the light shines off of the paint on the stairs.

The brick on the wall is rough to the touch.
The brick is also cool, though, not quite as cold as the metal.
The clouds look painted.
On the top level of the stairs, there is a metal-x underneath the platform. But only on one side. I wonder if this helps to make sure it is secure.
There is a stain on the cement near my feet. It’s a bit darker than the rest of the dirt.
You can tell that it has rained because the pavement is a bit darker in some areas. It just looks saturated.
The cement that I am sitting on is very cold. You can tell it has been cold a decent amount of time, because the cold reaches very far down into the cement.
One of the leaves plastered to the walkway is torn up, suggesting someone walked on it.