i've been trying out new styles, including not using outlines and trying to just draw quickly on the spot without sketching things out first. 

​Portfolio Website: LINK

The first one is kind of "artsy", I wouldn't say it really represents me but not a lot of pictures I take of myself are really trying to. A lot of my selfies are kind of silly and don't really have any other meaning that just "hey, look at my face". The first one is one I took while I was out gathering pictures for my capstone, which is basically a photo portfolio. I felt like a regular selfie wouldn't cut it in the 'self portrait' area, so I took one through the rearview mirror. The second one is kind of the epitome of my 'selfies' it's me, with my cat, looking fed up and that's pretty much all it needs to say. The third one, I would say are my best selfies. The pictures of myself that I draw are always the more honest ones, even though these are just kind of dumb doodles. 

for a lot of these I used my tablet, I recently got a new art program called Mischief and used this as an opportunity to practice using it. It has a really different feel than drawing on paper and it got some taking used to with the coloring and all of the options it has. I still have a lot to practice with colors and blending, I'm not quite where I want to be. I practiced anatomy a lot with these, trying to get proportions right while still keeping my more cartoony feel that I like to use with my drawing style. 

1. Copy a character. I found the sharpie one the hardest to do, because I tend to go towards softer lines and I couldn't find a way to do that, so I had to be very careful in what I chose to do with the color and lines. 






2. Self portrait- Drawing myself is always really difficult, so I think this may have been the hardest one. I really liked working with the charcoal even though I can't help but smudge it absolutely everywhere.







3. Copy a master- I decided to copy characters from the film "The Secret of Kells" I love how that movie is animated, in motion it's even better than flat on paper. Again, sharpie was the most difficult, because there isn't a bunch of shading or anything I could do except flat lines and I think that was really hard to make look nice.

  

The process of creating our campaign wasn't the hard part. Lexy and I originally started it with a real simplicity, we were bored, and we had some good ideas. After the initial idea and the proposal of the idea, we stuck with the same general goals on what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. We came up with ideas on how to promote our campaign to shop owners (who were our original target audience) we wanted to get it out that all teenagers weren't bad and that we needed things to do. We thought about putting posters up near these places who banned teenagers, but we didn't really have a way to get them to listen to what we had to say. That in itself was a challenge that we couldn't seem to overcome. Our ideas were ok but they weren't anything that would make people listen, and they certainly weren't something that would change shop owner's and adults minds. About halfway through trying to come up with better ideas, we thought about changing our target audience, which in itself would sort of change our campaign. Instead of targeting the adults, we'd target the teens, and instead of promoting more places to let us in, promoting already established events and places for teens to go. We came up with the idea for a sort of database website, something that would have all of the upcoming events for teens to go to, places like south street to hang out and things like that. We wanted teenagers to know that there are things for them to do, if they just look for them. 

We created a website and put links in the sidebar to places like the Theatre of The Living Arts on SouthStreet. Free summer concerts, the electric run, and other events that teens could go to. I created posters with a slogan that Willie came up with (you should get out more). I kept them simple while still attention grabbing. I put them around school, around the city, and also around my own neighborhood. Willie made videos and Lexy created the website. We worked well considering we had changed our entire campaign in the middle. Since we did that, another one of our challenges was getting our stuff out into the world. Since we didn't have much time to leave it up, not as many people saw them and visited our website as we would've hoped, but we still did good for the time that we had. We didn't real assign each other any roles, we kind of just took on the ones we wanted and threw out ideas to help each other along the way. It really was a collaborative effort to get this done and I'm happy with what we've accomplished. 

by: Matt, Gabby, Tamatha and Roger

Dunn, Mike. Nutter Sets 9 PM Weekend Curfew For Minors In Center City, University City. August, 8, 2011.

In this article, the reporter talks about how Mayor Nutter is lowering the curfew in Philadelphia for minors 9:00pm on weekends. The curfew was put in place because of the rising mobs of kids joining in ‘flash mobs’. What I thought was interesting in the article was that it stated that Nutter himself said that it was only a small amount of kids joining in the flash mobs when there were many more than just the one they were reporting. 

The CNN write staff. Philly mayor hopes curfew plan brings back the love. August, 12, 2011. 

This article talks, again, about the curfew caused by flashmobs in Philadelphia, lead predominantly by minors. In this article, however, the mayor puts the blame on the parents as much as the children, saying that if they can’t control their kids then the children would be reprimanded by being prosecuted. The article states that minors caught breaking curfew would be sent home or to the police station and will be fined $100 to $300. 

Newall, Mike. Teen mod violence not a new problem. August, 8, 2011. 

This article speaks about the mob violence itself, specifically, flash mobs. It specifically says in the article that the kids, before the mob, had been roaming around West Philadelphia for hours. I picked out the article because it relates to what we’re talking about, how kids have nothing to do, therefore resort to their own forms of ‘entertainment’ which more often than not results in violence. 

Fiedler, Elizabeth. Officials In Phila. Plan Curfews To Curb Teen Violence. August, 11, 2011. 

This article speaks specifically on the topic that officials think that enforcing a stricter curfew will eliminate or at least drop the rate of teen violence. It also speaks about teenagers who were doing ‘anti-violence flash mobs’ where they just sit places and read books in large groups of kids. They’re tightening the curfew on Fridays and Saturdays, hoping to bring the kids in earlier and stop the violence that occurs later at night. 

Boyer, Dave. Philadelphia mayor talks tough to black teenagers after ‘flash mobs’. August, 8, 2011. 

This article basically reports on what the Mayor was saying to the kids that were in the flash mobs, telling them to stop acting like hooligans. He said he was adding extra police watchman to neighborhoods but made it clear that adding them and making a stricter curfew was not an excuse to harass any youth on the street. I added this because everything that’s a result of teens needing a way to spend their time ends up in more restrictions and keeping them locked away. 

Every single person has different values, I interviewed members of my family (and Lexy) to see their specific views on their family, what they think those values are, and why they’re important for the family.

 

During this project I learned more about my family and the people around me that I interviewed. I learned their views on my topic and saw that we actually had a lot in common when it came to family values. I was expecting to have very different values from my family and friend, but it turned out that what we thought was important was actually very similar. Some of the unexpected challenges during this project, for me at least, was actually hitting the target length for the podcast, and then after that, adding the affects to it. I thought it was difficult because I’ve never done something like this before, I’ve played around with garage band but never to this extent. Another unexpected turn was that I couldn’t get the interview I needed from my grandmother, so I had to talk to the rest of my family about it. I had wanted a certain interview (the one that made me want to do this topic) but it turns out that my grandmother couldn’t see me in time to get it done, so I talked to my mother, my brother, and my dad instead to get some of their views in shorter stories, instead of my grandmother’s one long story. The crossing boundaries in my podcast I think were kind of different. It wasn’t a huge thing my family did, but just little things that crossed some kind of boundary. Kids being bullied, that made my dad realize his own values, and standing up for the kid being bullied, in some small amount, would be crossing a boundary, not giving in to peer pressure. I think that boundaries that came up in my podcast had to do with the little things my parents did that maybe went against what everyone else thought, and stood up for what they believed in. That tied in with my theme because generally, when they crossed some sort of boundary, they realized a value that they hadn’t seen before. 

Over the years, I’ve been told, and I’ve experienced myself, how language gives you power. What you say and how you present yourself while saying it can make an immediate impression on the people your talking to. But what not many people realize is, that while language can give you power, it can also take it away.

I never really thought about the way I spoke. I always just assumed that I sounded normal, nothing out of the ordinary, and definitely not too far off from everybody else. My friends in grade school never mentioned anything about my way of speaking, and neither did my family. Everything went on as usual, until I began going to Summer Camp. People that went there were from all over the place. Everyone talked a bit differently. As we were all introducing ourselves one boy asked where I was from

“Oh, I’m from Philadelphia.” I said, assuming he was just wondering which region I was from.

“Really? I didn’t think people from there had any accents.”

“…What?” I thought it was odd, I didn’t have an accent. “I don’t have an accent.” I defended myself, but he wasn’t trying to insult me, so he just laughed,

“Yeah, you do. It’s cute.” Of course, I just thanked him, but it lead me to think about other things. I began noticing the way other’s talked more, and the way I talked. I now heard and recognized which words I may be pronouncing differently, I don’t know why I did it; it was just how I’d always talked. Throughout my time there, people had kept on mentioning it, I’d gotten used to it and just responded with a simple ‘I don’t actually know why I have an accent. I guess I just do.’

            As time went on, I began to notice it more, I noticed when I did it and what it sounded like. I realized I had an accent when I got angry or upset, and I realized when I tried to hide it. Accents, and just language in general can have a big affect on a person and those surrounding them. The way I speak and present myself entirely depends on who I’m with and where I am. When I’m with my family, I’m loud and less cautious of how I sound, but more cautious of what I say, and what terms I use. Around my friends, I’m more cautious of keeping my accent reigned in and less about what I say.  I think the cause of this is, while I can still be myself around my friends, I know I don’t have to impress my family, or try to gain their approval with anything. This lead me to realize the fact that my persona when I’m alone and my persona in public are so different. When I’m alone, or with close friends, I tend to be louder and less reserved. I tend to share my opinions more because I know that they will more or less not judge me on it. When I’m in public, or in a place where my opinions and what I say may be disregarded or I may be judged on what I say, I definitely take more time to think about what I have to say and make sure I sound smart when I say it.

 Now, sounding ‘smart’ to me meant enunciating my words, regardless of the accent, and making sure I know exactly what I’m saying before I say it. In society, a generally accepted idea is that having a voice gives you power. Speaking out and making yourself heard and having your opinions recognized are all things that gives you power. But I think something that isn’t often recognized is that a voice can also take away a lot of the power that you have. If someone deems the way that you speak to be ‘wrong’ it makes you insecure about the way you speak. I have been told that the way I pronounce some words are wrong, which ultimately leads to me trying to change the way I speak, or just not speak at all. I don’t want to be told that something I’ve been doing all my life is all of a sudden wrong and that I should change it, it knocks down my confidence and takes away any power that I had before.

There are many key roles in the way that we speak, one of them being the company we keep, and one of the others being our history. We don’t necessarily have to be from a certain place to pick up an accent, or a saying, or other ways of speaking from that region. My grandparents are Italian, and although even my grandmother doesn’t fully speak Italian, there are some words and phrases that she uses. From being around them so much, I’ve picked up some ways of speaking from her, such as the way I use an accent when pronouncing Italian foods. When we were kids, my grandma would pinch me and my sister’s faces and say

“Look at the faccia” ‘faccia’ being the Italian word for face. Throughout time, I began picking it up and found myself saying the same thing with my little cousins, that along with ‘bambino’ the word for ‘baby.’

            Although I’ve picked these things up and using them has become sort of involuntary, I’ve had to stop saying them in the company of people who don’t exactly know my background. People have asked me if I spoke Italian, which I don’t, and when I tell them that, they accuse me of faking it. This reminds me of a the writing “ If Black English, Isn’t a language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” In this story, they're arguing whether something is or isn't a language. They say that some people take speaking "black english" as just being wrong. But I don't think there is one right or wrong way to speak, and nobody has the right to take anybody else's speech away.

            I have seen this problem with many people, not just myself. The way that they speak is criticized to the point that they have to change everything about it. Something that once gave them power, is now a burden.             

​11-17-11

Gabby Santaniello
Monologue

Speaking. It shouldn’t be this hard. It’s not like I can’t. So just go on… speak! But of course, I can’t, my throat closes up and I’m silenced again my by own fears. Write a poem, Mrs. Kemp said, write a poem about what you feel, it could be about anything, don’t hold back, don’t edit, just write. And so we do, we pour out our souls onto this 9 by 7 inch paper and then she tells us to speak. To get up in front of the class and recite the most vulnerable parts of us. So naturally, I go first. ‘Melody, read us your poem.’ And my heart stops, and my blood runs cold, I shake my head as my throat closes up, such a frequent feeling. I open my mouth but no sound comes out, and all Mrs. Kemp does is frown and look disappointed. I’m not surprised, this has been going on for a while.  I think people have begun to forget my name, ‘The quiet girl’ they call me. I haven’t always been silent, they have to know that, I’ve spoken to many of them before. They ask my why I don’t talk like they don’t know, like they weren’t the cause of it. I used to speak. But not anymore, once you’ve been shut up so many times, you loose the glamour of it all. Expressing my opinions means nothing if nobody wants to listen. Or maybe I just don’t want to talk to them. Why should I have to share my thoughts? Thoughts are private things. My thoughts, my opinions, are mine and mine alone. Some people’s thoughts are nasty and mean, some people only want to tare you down, but what could you possibly hold against me if I never speak? 

I could lie and say I write to express my feelings, but I don't. I write to put down a physical copy of my imagination, of the things that I've thought of, the stories I tell to myself. I write because when I do, I create a world from my imagination. 

9/22/2011

Gabby Santaniello

“Are you doing this for a reason?” I turned my head to look at my mom from where I was sitting in the passenger seat. I could see our destination as we approached the hair salon.

“Excuse me?” is my immediate reaction

“Because,” she continues “you know we’ll support you no matter what.” Now I understood, but it didn’t make what she said any less wrong.

“Mom, I’m not a lesbian.” I clarified, feeling the situation getting very awkward, very fast. What she said got me to thinking…is that what people would automatically assume? I’m a girl getting a short haircut, so obviously it must mean something about my sexuality. I understood that’s what some people would think, people on the street perhaps, even a few of my friends had wondered when I told them about it, but I hadn’t expected my own mother to judge. I know people have certain standards and classification, and apparently girls with short hair fall under the category ‘Gay’.

 

My first encounter with this type of judgment was actually before I decided to cut my hair. Emma Watson had gotten her long, gorgeous hair cropped off. One of my friends had made a comment,

“She was so pretty, did she want to look like a boy?” The comment instantly had me getting defensive. One, because I like Emma Watson, two, because I don’t think people should be judged by their appearance.

“No. Maybe she just wanted some change, I think she looks great either way.” I didn’t really want to get into a fight about it, and my friend simply shrugged it off, but it kept bothering me. Obviously Emma’s intent wasn’t to look like a boy, she still dresses and looks like as much of a girl as she ever has. I thought about it, and found it to be quite empowering. It’s pretty much saying ‘look at me! I can be a beautiful female without the obvious sign of femininity!’ I was wondering what it would be like it I cut my own hair; it was getting a bit hard to take care of, after all.

 

“You look like a dude.” Lucia, my sister said as soon as I walked through the door. I brushed my newly cropped bangs away from my face to raise an eyebrow at her.

“No, I don’t.” I said simply, and promptly walked into my room to change out of my baggy jeans and jersey, and into my new white shorts and a pink shirt.  I felt bad; I had just gone against everything getting my haircut stood for. Admittedly, I was worried; I thought ‘if I don’t wear feminine clothing with this new haircut, people would think I’m a guy.’ Even the next day, when I didn’t wear particularly ‘girly’ clothing, considering it was field day, I still wore makeup, which I rarely ever did.

 

I began to wear sweatpants and t-shirts again, more out of laziness than anything else. Some people commented, but I didn’t really care. People had referred to me as ‘butch’ before I got my hair cut. That was mostly due to my tomboyish nature, and it didn’t bother me until people started using it to judge me by my appearance. I ‘looked butch’ not just the way that I acted. That’s when the confusion came back, people just assumed that I was something that I wasn’t based on how I dressed, and how I styled my hair. Their image of a female was obviously different from mine, their image of a lesbian was obviously different from mine. In some cases, yes, it’s true that you can guess someone’s sexuality by the way that they dress, but it doesn’t mean that you should go around deeming every girl with short hair a lesbian.

 

My element is Indium, this element is used to make mirrors and touch screen computers. I came up with the idea for my print because Indium is used in touch screens, so I decided to use and apple iphone. Once we had drawn the original idea, we copied it on to tracing paper. After that, we placed it onto the linoleum tiles so there was the outline on the tile. We carved out everything we wanted to be negative space, and left everything that we wanted to be positive space. Once they were all cut, we rolled paint onto the tables, and then onto our linoleum tiles, we placed paper on top of the tiles and made sure the paint got everywhere. Then we had our print. I thought the project was really fun, but kind of difficult. You needed to know negative space and positive space really well to be able to start carving, and when you did your drawing. I thought it just really reinforced what we learned about negative space. If i did this project again, i would carve the linoleum out more carefully, because i messed up on some parts of it.

https://docs.google.com/a/scienceleadership.org/document/d/1Jt4k14Ah33R_UJQx20yzk-UdJ88qrOrVJxul_NzGz_E/edit?hl=en&authkey=CJeR4P8D#

What is negative space?
Negative space is the empty space between objects, like the space between the cup and the handle.

Explain how you found negative space in 1. your cut out? 2. In your stool drawing?
1. I found it in the cut out after ms. Hull explained how it's basically just cutting it out, and flipping it over onto the other side. 2. I found it in my stool drawing by looking in between the objects and basically just looking wherever i saw orange (there was an orange paper hanging behind the display)

Why does it help an artist to see in negative space?
It helps an artist to get a better understanding of regular drawings if you also see in negative space. When you see in negative space you don't only just see the shapes of the objects you see the shapes between the objects, which enhances the drawing and makes the drawing not so one dimensional.

Does seeing in negative space enhance drawings, who or why not?
I think that seeing in negative space does enhance drawings because you notice more things about the drawing. Someone who doesn't see in negative space would just see a stool, whereas someone who does see in negative space would see the empty space between the legs of the stool and the metal loop around them. It just lets you see more than just the object.

First, we started out with drawing three boxes on different points of the paper, above, on, and below the horizon line. We drew a vanishing point and connected all the boxes back to the vanishing point. We then shaded in the part that we would see according to where they were placed on the horizon line. Like if they were placed below it, we would see the top, if they were placed above it, we would see the bottom, and if it were placed directly on it, we would only see the front.
Then we started drawing a room, we had to include things such as a door, a window and a rug. The process i used to complete this was just to go in a certain order, like i drew the tiles first, and then i would add other things.
I think the easiest thing to learn was the vanishing and horizon lines, because to me that was just easy to understand and do.
I think the hardest thing to learn was how to make things look not flat, like, to make them look like they were coming off the wall.

Kenny Le
I think Kenny's was a really good drawing. His lights looked really good and you could definitely tell which wall it was. I think all his points were good and that you could clearly see everything, it was just a good drawing overall.

Yo
i draw in english
write in english
estudia en español
read in english
love in english
detesto en español

Mi nombre es Gabby. Tengo quince años. Soy creativa. Casi nunca bailo, cocino y estudio. Es por eso que todo los dias dibujo y leo. Después de las clases paso con rato y mi amigas.

How to spell your name in español!

How to get someones phone number.

How to find out the weather at your next vacation spot!

Here'a a video example of how you would ask and tell the weather.​