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Event 5- Toxics in Everyday Life

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     This was an interesting event since it was about the environment. In this class we never had the opportunity to discuss the environment that much. The main speaker I saw was Dr. Katie Pelch who works at Tedx. She talked about the Endocrine System and how it can be impacted by the environment. (Screenshot of the Confirmation Email)     Tedx is different than Ted Talks and is more medical and environmental. Their mission is to, “prevent damage to individuals from the moment they are conceived through the balance of their lives by chemicals that can alter how their bodies are formed and function” (tedx.org). This is interesting in that rather than looking at people who suffer with this, they are trying to find ways to prevent it. This will help other future generations and will save more people. The endocrine system works with the nervous system and includes many glands. Dr. Pelch mentioned that some problems that those with unhealthy endocrine systems face are: Reproductio
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Event 4- Intersex

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            For this 4th event, I went to a talk on intersex and listened to Dr. Georgiann Davis from UNLV and Dr. Vernon Rosario from UCLA. This was interesting because I do not know much about intersex. Intersex, according to insa.org is, “variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male” (insa.org). This would be like someone born with a male appearance, but having female anatomy.  (Sign at the Event)     Dr. Davis is very knowledgeable on this topic as she has written many works on intersex. Some of the things she mentioned are: It is hard to mark This makes sense because how will the parent know what gender the baby is and feels? The parent should not have to make the choice for the child If the child is born intersex, they should have the choice to choose later It is a slower process for transexual people as they need to prove A transgender person
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Event 3- Graduate Art Center

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For Event 3, I visited the graduate student center in Culver City. This was an interesting experience as I was able to see so many different types of art. I was most fascinated by the glass andceramic works by Maccabee Shelley and Alex Anderson. (List of Artists) One sculpture by Mr. Shelley is a picture of a melted computer part in glass. It was interesting as Mr. Shelley explained that in such high temperatures, only some metal can be solid, the others melt and this creates a certain color depending on the material. I had thought his work was painted, but the colors were from the melted metal from the small computer part. We also briefly talked about the difference between glass and ceramic works. This takes an understanding of science because one needs to know the temperature certain metals melt art and the colors they produce. Ceramic art is created by forming the object through clay or some other form of paste (difference between). However, once it is heated, it is extremel
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Blogpost 8- Space and Art

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Space and art are two vastly different fields. With other technology, art can make sense, but with space, it seems more far-fetched. However, due to performer Guy Laliberté, it has become more intertwined.     If the name Guy Laliberté sounds familiar it is because he was the one who founded Cirque du Soleil and is a billionaire. In 2009 he went to the International Space Station or the ISS (Foust). He claimed to go because he wanted to reach people through an art perspective and he claims that he is "an artist, not a scientist" (Foust). He claims that it was seeing Apollo 11 that influenced him into deciding to go to space.  (Guy Laliberte)        Alan Bean, is the opposite, he was an astronaut who then became an artist and creates his art based off things in space. He was the lunar module pilot and the 4th person to walk on the moon. He has at least 50 paintings on the Earth and the Moon (Foust). Rather than studying space, he has taken the time to create paintin
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Blogpost 7- Nanotech and Art?!

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Nanotech and art are needed to understand one another as seen in paintings by Christian Orfescu and from the nanotech exhibit at LACMA in 2003. Christian Orfescu uses nanotechnology in his art that he calls nanoart (Feder). This is interesting when one considers that nanotech is with objects that are 100 nanometers or less. For reference, the average circumference of a strand of hair is 80,000 nanometers (Feder). Orfescu has annual competitions for artists interested in creating nanoart. These artists have to rely on nanotechnology to create it as there is no other way. Orfescu’s goal is to spread awareness to nanoart. To influence those competing in his art competition, he sends them microscopic images so they have an idea (Feder). (Example of a painting by Orfescu) In 2003, LACMA had an exhibit where people can use art to understand nanotechnology. This exhibit was created by some experts from UCLA including Dr. Vesna. In the exhibit they have buckyballs and a sand mandala
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Blogpost 6- Neuroscience and Art

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(Neuroaesthetics)     There is the study of art and the brain called Neuroaesthetics. This is studying art while using neuroscience (Noe). This is the idea that art is made in the brain and that there may be science behind art. Researches look at events in brains to have an understanding of art (Noe). This is interesting as I sometimes wonder why some are more artistic than others and this can help explain why. This seems like an interesting field to go into for the final. (Recognizing Faces) (Baby looking at his face in mirror)     Another article I read was by CNN and it goes into what the brain recognizes in art, mainly lines, faces, and color. Line drawings are an outline that one can picture without the lines. For example, someone drawing a picture of your room, your brain can tell it is your room even though the objects in your room are not outlined in black (Landau). They are the same neural networks we see in the real word so it is easily recognizable (Landau). N
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Event 2: What is Next for Plant Earth

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(Lecture Hall)     I recently attended a lecture hosted by Linda Weintraub called “What’s next for Planet Earth” and there were UCLA professors giving short presentations. Since I was seeing this talk for a bit between classes, I was only able to see Dr. Charles Taylor give a presentation on birdsongs. In an article by the Daily Bruin, “ [Taylor] hopes to identify what birds are trying to communicate when they sing. ‘If we understand what birds are saying, then we have a window into their mind’” (Somani). I found this to be interesting as Dr. Taylor wants to understand the reasoning behind birdsongs. (Dr. Taylor's Powerpoint)      In his lecture we saw videos of Dr. Taylor and some of his students recording and playing birdsongs to see what would happen. Interestingly, we heard birds chirp back or fly somewhere. He later played a little bit from some music he made which incorporated the songs from multiple birds. Before attending this presentation, I knew that birds ha
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