-2.4-

Kate Bush Assignment:

“Them Heavy People” by the singer Kate Bush. Listen to the song, watch the video and read the lyrics, etc. Find yourself in the song, find the song in you, and write another verse to the song that is your specific verse, that is about your connection to the work.




Now that I'm rolling, that I'm on my way

I've got to keep it up my newfound strength

Keep on building keep on filling

until I overflow then spill - on someone else. Haha!

-1.4-

A short artist's biography:

Born in China, Shiana Skye Mainarich is currently a senior at Herricks High School, New Hyde Park, NY. Since a very young age, Shiana has visited many art and history museums, sparking a wide range of interests over the years. However, there are three art movements that have heavily influenced her: Surrealism, Manga/Japanese woodcuts, and Mid-20th century Modern Art - specifically modern art with primarily geometric/biomorphic shapes such as the works of Mondrian, Rothko, and Barancusi. The school experience has also served as a theme in Shiana's work, especially in her animation Monday. Currently, Shiana is interested in the artist, Alphonse Mucha, and the voice synthesizing program, UTAU. Shiana has also been heavily influenced by the many hours she spent playing pretend with her friends, causing her work to be mainly fiction and have dream-like elements to it. Through her art, Shiana portrays the world in different perspectives, and allows others to appreciate the world in a new way.

At Herricks High School, Shiana is part of the gifted arts program, STAC. On her own, and through STAC workshops, Shiana has experimented with a diverse number of mediums including: painting, papercrafting, sculpting, drawing, dancing, acting, singing, playing the trombone, playing the piano, composing, writing, and filming. She has directed, acted in, edited, and written four films for Chinese class. She has also performed in the school musicals Urinetown and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, the former as first trombone, the latter as second trombone. Shiana has also completed a "365" practice, in which she utilized line drawing in order to draw a portrait every day for a year. Her most notable work to date is her animation, Monday, which follows the struggles and triumphs a student faces throughout one school day. Her current projects involve finishing a Mucha-inspired digital painting and mixing an UTAU cover of the song Scattered Cherry Blossoms -Elegant-. Over the course of the coming year, Shiana plans to create short films, create an abstract instillation using paper, and hone her drawing skills in realism.

-0.4-

Ah! A new year of STAC. And the final one.

Before I start off with our assignment/introduction, I'd like to reflect a bit on my summer (I didn't have a tremendous time to catch up with others, or reflect on the past few months, so I feel the best way to accomplish these two is to post on here.)

This summer was very busy. To start things off, my friends and I went into the city and attended the 2013 Gay Pride Parade! It was my first time going, and I gathered a lot of good material to share with the GSA here. I had to say, I wasn't as shocked as I was expected to be (what has the media done to me?!)

Since I am a senior, the summer was filled with college-related business. I took a physics class in Flushing in order to make room for Wind Ensemble, so now I know how to ride public buses. I also visited colleges in Ohio (Weslyn and Denison), New York (City College, Hunter, and Purchase), and Maryland (McDaniels). At the colleges in Ohio I sat down for interviews, which was scary, but I think I handled myself in a calm manner. I also studied a lot this summer for the ACT.

I'm trying to narrow down my college search, and finding a small, liberal arts program with a good bio program and low tuition/scholarships is ideal for me. Although I plan to major in Biology, continuing with band and the arts is a must, so the college must also have art programs and music programs available for non-majors! I feel that the Macaulay honors program at Hunter is promising. I also plan to visit Queens college and the University of Puget Sound this semester.

Besides school, I worked at the Women's Fund of Long Island, where I edited videos for them and wrote scripts for a possible PSA project (which I hope to continue this fall, if I have the time). I also attended a week-long leadership school geared towards creating worships for Unitarian Universalist congregations (hopefully I can use some of the more general skills to get projects done this year)!

I was so busy I felt a little stressed, but I had some time to wind down by drawing, mixing music, taking pictures of interesting outfits, watching a lot of art/science documentaries with my parents, and going to the bookstore. I also managed to hang out with friends by going ice skating and swimming three times...the only regret was that I never got to swim in the water (today I got to put my feet in when I visited my old town in the Rockaways, but I found an interesting way to photograph the beach via. the new telescopes they put up!)

I also attended "International Cosplay Day" with my friends, and we sang for a contest (we didn't win, but it was still exciting to perform)!

Not from the actual day, but this is what we wore

When my cousins from Texas came up to visit. We went into NYC and went to the Natural History museum (a special whale exhibit was on display, but we didn't get to go! I hope to go back soon...) Even so, I was fascinated by the hall of biodiversity...I had forgotten how expansive their collection was.

Overall, the summer was a lot of work, but I feel that I worked hard and played hard. I'm a little nervous about being a top dog, but I'm looking forward to carrying some of my summer experiences into STAC, and having a productive senior year (especially after all-things-college-related are done)!

...I'm pretty sure that I wrote down all that happened, but I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Add.3

A list of topics I wanted to write posts about, from last year, and I never really got to:

Thor review (Ok movie, but good casting)
Acting (It seems appealing, but I'd never do it professionally...that world is tough.)
John helping me with how to approach chordwriting (I have a sheet he wrote out for me with some tips!)
STAC live
Writing poem for UUU (The subject was love...I tried to expand the definition to all types of love)
Posture and changing it
Possible working w flash (Which I actually ended up doing for my QUEST project Link)
Pitt (a bit trouble hearing where notes are sometimes)
Bad art
Improv (Sometimes when I'm walking home I pretend to talk on the phone with friends/family. It's quite easy to improv, then.)
Making a gift for my friend Nadira (I love making gifts for people...it's fun finding a theme and making the envelopes and present for that theme ex. Nadira loves movies, so I printed out a picture of a clapboard and made it into an envelope that held the gift)

-52.3-

Trip2
In January, the Friday after break, STAC took a spontaneous trip into the city to see "The Event of a Thread" by Ann Hamilton at the Park armoury. After a few hours, we separated and explored the city until 7:30 where we met up at the Crane theatre (which is quickly becoming a STAC haunt) to see HorseTrade Radiotheatre's production of King Kong.
Park armoury:
My favorite trip. I loved the exhibit! The gentle movement of people swinging back and forth, and the curtain flowing by the mechanical breeze was quite calming. Many people were taking a nap under the giant curtain!
The constant movement and the large crowd made the exhibit very photogenic, too. I took a lot of pictures/video: Link (Note: Facebook albumn only friends can see)

Exploring:
I was in a group with Ellen, Danny, little Katz, Lex, Emily, Jessica, Ishna, and Scott. After we exited the armoury, we walked down 5th and looked at the post-christmas decorations, including the tree.
-couple of pics-
Then we took a train down to The Village, where Ellen showed us an authentic Ukranian restaurant (I've seen it before -the building across from 16 Handles- but I never knew it was a restaurant.) I ordered perogis and they were delicious!
After that we walked around and settled on 16 handles for dessert. By then, it was time to head to the Krane theatre to see the show!
King Kong production:
We've been to the Krane theatre to see a few shows from The Futurists, and from those experiences we were all eager to see how this show would be.
The show did have excellent voice acting, but...it was a bit too dry to taste that night. It was clever how the actors used a huge picture of King Kong, and let a lot of the scenes up to the viewers imagination, but I think we were all looking for something more...exciting.
All in all, it was a relaxing trip. A nice come back from break (I love doing spontaneous things...)

-55.3-

A short posting of my initial reaction to Hugo (I watched it about a month ago):

Hugo vs. The Artist
Hugo:
-made it fun for both kids and adults. Modern and ppl who knew old films
-focused on filmmaker and the joys of filmmaking/directing. Showed how old films inspired others, too
-also showed how great old films faded into obscurity
-but now are beig brought back and appreciated
Didn't try to be a silent film
Artist:
Was authentic in looks
Effectively conveyed a story through silent film techniques
Some creative points, such as the dream sequence (the main character dreams about sound ruining his silent film career)
Tried to be a silent film (both good and bad things about it)


Overall: I feel that Hugo paid the better tribute to silent films.

-54.3-

Earlier this year I started a fashion blog:
Link (Make sure to read the purpose first!)