Ethan Dorer

Shelby Rodeffer's work centers around the way various styles of text can enhance the effect of the words themselves. Rodeffer's pieces blend text and image to provide commentary on different social issues such as gender roles in society. Coming from a background in sign painting, Rodeffer uses her knowledge of lettering to shape her text in a way that mirrors the message of her illustration. Her use of traditional sign making is interesting due to the way it is both practical as well as artistic While she often works on traditional surfaces such as signs and windows, she also takes her lettering to surfaces such as silk. These silk banners are reminiscent of masonic banners and she makes use of her lettering to bolster the odd and somewhat ambiguous feel of the banners she is referencing. Though she often relies on work as a sign painter to make a living, she mentioned that recently she has begun to get work producing her art. Artists often face the difficult reality o...

In making this video I was inspired by the language in McLuhan's quote "We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future". Somewhat ignoring the meaning behind the quote, the notion of simultaneous forward and backwardness led me to want to use a split screen yet still give my piece the connected feeling of being in the same space and time. Despite this, the appearance of both sides of the screen being concurrent creates an environment where time has folded over on itself to create a unique depiction of this space. I chose the imagery of the path because of the ambiguity of which way is forward. I tried to keep the fence in the right side of the split screen and the forest on the left because of the quality I felt each subject lent to the feeling of setting. The trees have a timeless quality to them while the fence feels more rooted in the present.

Xiaohong Zhang's art acts as a conversation between eastern and western mediums and subjects. As McLuhan states, "The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village" and I feel this global approach to art is reflected in Zhang's use of both eastern and western influences. This fusion is best exemplified through Zhang's landscapes. While these works are reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape paintings, Zhang replaces the trees of the landscape with construction cranes as a way to show the western influence on both her art as well as the landscape of China. In addition to this, she uses her art to provide commentary on the many environmental issues stemming from human expansion such as deforestation. Zhang also presents this same subject matter in a more modern medium by creating landscapes populated by cranes in the 3D environment of Maya. Here she contrasts the old medium of painting with the new medium of 3D modeling by ...

I'm Ethan Dorer, a Film Studies and English major. While I express myself primarily through my work with film I do enjoy photography and drawing as well. I've found that certain subjects lend them selves better to being captured by moving rather than still images and vice-versa. I love the ability of film to shape the reality around me whether that be through editing or the composition of my shots. Many of my films emphasize the beautiful details in ordinary objects. I enjoy being in nature and much of my work features either natural subjects or their interaction with man-made structures. As McLuhan said  "The extension of any one sense alters the way we think and act--the way we perceive the world". The film camera extends the reach of the eyes, ears, and the mind due to its ability to capture moments in time. This in conjunction with the information sharing capability of the internet give us an almost unlimited ability to perceive our world. As a filmmaker ...