Academics

Creative works at the student symposium

06/08/2018 by afuller

The EWU student symposium is an annual event where students gather to present the research they have worked on through the past year. This year I went to one TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) presentation and a few journalism presentations.

TESL—traditional vs contemporary learning

Renee talked about the benefits and challenges of learning a new language through traditional and contemporary (new) learning styles.

Traditional learning involves collaboration. Students get together and learn a language in groups during class or after school.

This is what you may have experienced in language classes in school, where you learn in a physical environment with other students and study in your free time.

Contemporary learning involves learning online by speaking with native speakers. This type of learning can add onto classroom learning, or help non-students learn.

ESL students will usually feel more comfortable speaking to English students who want to help them learn than talking with classmates or teachers. Online learning is considered a safe ground where students can be more confident in their abilities.

Journalism—social media use in journalism

Grace talked about enhancing reader engagement through social media. She interviewed two people and researched Facebook and Google analytics to find well-received posts.

Grace found that good social media use involves being conversational, knowing the audience, and giving a reason to engage others.

Professional journalists encourage users to visit their website and use word filters on Facebook or other social media sites.

Did you know that Twitter changed journalism techniques? Journalists use Twitter to get news from across the globe minutes after something happens!

Finally, younger journalists can use Twitter to create their own brands. Twitter can be great for a new journalist’s portfolio.

Photo manipulation in journalism

Erica talked about photo manipulation and journalism. Photo manipulation should never be used to change the story of the photo. She said that modern journalism uses only photos with minimal editing.

Erica said that people send doctored images to journalists! These photos are edited to look real, but a few tips can help tell the difference between real and fake images.

Erica also discussed how to identify doctored images. First check the shadows and lighting. If shadows don’t match the light source, the image is probably fake. She says that it’s important to be skeptical of images online and to use common sense. If something looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Erica also talked about reverse google searching an image. If you drag an image onto google, you can find if that image has been used in other places. Don’t use an image that can get you sued!

You can also verify photos by checking the metadata, information on the photo’s location, camera, and date. Unlike photos, metadata is fairly difficult to alter.

Finally, Erica said that photo manipulation should be used as a tool, not a weapon.

Verifying videos online

Dayana had a similar project: verifying videos. Dayana said that with the rise of citizen powered news, doctored photos are more common.

Verify videos by contacting the video author, using geolocation, and checking temporary details (including shadows).

Dayana then talked about geolocation. She showed us a video with a man stuck in his car during a flood in 2007. When she reverse image searched him, she found he was from a different flood. That doesn’t sound too bad, but journalists can get in a lot of trouble for using the wrong image!

Sports podcasts

Michael talked about how to create an interesting sports podcast.

Michael says that there are a few factors including: Fan engagement, forward thinking, strong advertising interest, and serious talks about culture.

One thing that Michael mentioned was that advertising was on the rise and podcast creators are making more money. Podcast creators also can use Patreon, a website that allows people to donate money to support podcasts, art, or music.

Apple podcast analytics can help podcast creators see which episodes are watched and where they are most popular.

More about podcasts

My presentation was up last. I worked with Sam to develop a rubric for successful podcasts. Presenting was a little intimidating at first but we got through it!

Good podcasts need interest, journalism in the field, schedules, and music transitions. We reviewed a few podcasts including Serial.

Wrapping up

The student creative works symposium happens every year in May. All EWU students are invited to participate, and the events are open to the public. This is a great opportunity for future Eagles to present and put in their resume.

Comic Creations: comic artists talk at Get Lit!

05/17/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

Get Lit! is an annual festival in Spokane where local writers talk about their experience or run workshops to help with writing skills. Each year is a little different, with topics this year ranging from poetry slams to writing workshops and panels.

One of the events I went to was called Comic Creations. A five-dollar purchase got me a four pack of posters made by the panelists. As far as events go, this one was decently sized with about twenty people attending.

Before I went to the event, I didn’t think comics aren’t just about superheroes or political cartoons. Many of these comic artists drew scenes from their own life or created a story that borrowed from literary themes such as character or setting (I suppose that’s why they were at Get Lit!).

Derrick Freeland

Derrick is the leader of Spokane Sequential, a group of comic artists who design a monthly magazine. Derrick talked about his upcoming graphic novel and how the novel reflected his own life. He brought in examples of characters and how they were symbols of his parents, himself, and the parents he always wanted.

Derrick’s art style was the most realistic of the four styles I saw that day. His work was shaded and even his fantastical elements seemed as though they would fit in the world he created.

Tiffany Patterson

Tiffany talked about how she started out as a painter and moved into creating comics. She talked about her paintings and talked about how she started to move away from her perfectionist style by drawing messy lines in the background of her works.

Tiffany’s work had a surreal aspect to it. The main comic she discussed had a Where the Wild Things Are feel to it, with monsters and a child who travels to a magical forest. Her other artwork had fantastical elements with a few femurs and plenty of bright colors.

Chelsea Martin

Chelsea started out as an artist and began to create long descriptions for her works. She then moved into writing and finally became a comic writer. She worked with human interaction and awkwardness.

Many of Chelsea’s comics featured people looking at the floor, awkward silences, and vague relationships. Some of the awkward pauses were uncomfortable in a way that felt realistic and interesting. Her art style was very realistic and had few if any instances of fantastical elements.

Simeon Mills

Simeon talked about how he created his comics. Simeon took photographs of himself acting character expressions and then drew the character in sharpie on the reverse side of the photograph. He redrew each face to make each panel of his comic.

Simeon’s work was completely two dimensional with no shading. His drawings were very detailed with mustaches made from individual lines and highly expressive characters.

A bit about Get Lit!

While this year’s Get Lit! festival has ended, you can check out the website in spring of next year and view the schedule for 2019.

Four Yurt tapestries you'll want to see

05/01/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

Have you ever wanted to curate your own art gallery or exhibit? Anthropology student and artist Angeline Nesbit has by curating the “Song of Silence” gallery in the EWU Downtown Student Gallery, displaying tapestries that once hung in yurts across Kyrgyzstan.

What are yurts?

Yurts are large hide buildings held up by wooden poles. They aren’t as pack able as tents, but are sturdier. Basically, a yurt is a house that can be torn down and put up somewhere else. Central Asia has extreme weather, so nomads keep moving with their flock.

Why these tapestries?

I was able to talk with Angeline about the tapestries and I learned a lot about tapestry creation and designs. She said that “I also have a background in weaving and more traditional craft like quilting, knitting, all that kind of stuff, so I have an interest in textiles.”

Angeline picked eleven tapestries from over a hundred to display, and her choices show that she carefully studied the tapestries to find variety in technique and color use.

The tapestries themselves range from 19^th century (really old for a fabric) pieces to more recent works that give insight into the Soviet control of Kyrgyzstan in the 1950s. Designs range from simple mandalas (circular flower shapes) to the large Soviet star and symbols.

Let’s take a look!

This tapestry is a great example of a finished tapestry. It’s about five to six feet tall and ten feet wide and has all three sides and two triangular pieces attached. Most of the tapestries depicted in the gallery were incomplete, missing either the middle piece, or one or more of the sides. They took up to ten years to make so it’s not surprising to find incomplete ones!

This piece was made in the late 1800s and shows off the different fabric used at the time. Red was one of the rarest and most valued colors, but as time went on, red dye became more available.

This appears to be a side piece and a top piece. Nothing new to add, I just think they look cool!

This is one of the triangle pieces that either detached from the main tapestry or was never attached to a completed piece. The birds and the intricate flowers here look really complex. Whoever made this tapestry went through the trouble of stitching the bird wings in a shape that separate them from the body of the bird. Although the fabric is faded, you can kind of see the different colors used in this tapestry.

I did say four images but I really like this one too. I’m not sure where this panel fits in a tapestry, it may be part of a side piece or it might be a complete piece.

A little from the cast of Heathers

04/17/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

Woman falling over, Holly and Scott in back

I loved Heathers so much that I decided to sit down and chat with the cast and crew to see what it was all about. I spoke with the director Jeff Sanders, the male and female leads Scott Worley and Holly Kirkman, and the stage manager Sierra Peck.

So why Heathers and not another musical? There are two followings of Heathers out there: the people who saw the movie when it came out, and a generation of younger people who know about the play. Jeff picked this play out because of the musical numbers from an off-Broadway production.

Most of the actors were theatre students, but some weren’t. Eastern students will definitely get a little priority when selecting cast members, but cast and crew can be picked out from anyone. In fact, a non-theatre student had a major role in Heathers. One great thing about EWU is that the theatre program is a little smaller than the largest universities; anyone can get the opportunity to play a lead role!

Heathers was incredibly well-received. It outsold Avenue Q by 200 tickets and may have even outsold Romeo and Juliet which had 97% capacity. That’s a lot of people!

A little about the actors

Holly and Scott ended up learning a lot about acting.

Playing as Veronica gave Holly a much better understanding on where her limits were, and what limits she thought she had that she was able to surpass. Scott wasn’t able to connect with the troubled JD on an emotional level, so he mastered a technique from Theatre 1 called the Chekhov technique.

Most everyone in the play knew each other beforehand but there were definitely some new people. Scott said “with every new actor, you learn something from. I want to work with as many new actors as I can.”

Holly added that “we really are a family. In theatre we grow really close. We do these kickbacks where we run scenes, run monologues, and give critiques and feedback.”

What if I don’t want to be on stage?

Sierra was the stage manager, which means she helped manage the crew who helped put on the production. These are people who move the sets, put on costumes, and make sure the lighting and sound work properly.

A good crew is vital to getting a play to work. According to Sierra: “a good run crew and good crew overall is integral to having a good show. So many working, moving parts happen backstage that are super important to making the show good.”

Stage crew really is important. After a few weeks to get the lines down, the crew showed up and started putting up and taking down the set an hour before and after the cast. That shows a lot of dedication.

How can you join the crew? There are addition sheets during auditions for students who audition for cast parts. You can also get in touch with the theatre department and email them. Sierra says that she picks out people based on interest, so if you really want to get in, make sure to send out emails.

How do I get started?

If you want to get into the plays, start off by going to the plays. The Fall play typically has a call for auditions and you’ll be able to learn how to apply.

VCD and Mechanical Engineering Expo

04/10/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

Twice a year STEM holds an expo for engineering students to show off what they've built over the year. This year, the engineering students invited the Visual Communication and Design students to show off their work as well.

By the way, the expo was packed with people and there was free food. Is there a better place to be? Probably not.

A little about the VCD groups.

VCD capstones don’t just teach students how to build logos and a brand, students go out and build projects for actual companies. Imagine getting through college with some work experience and professional projects in your portfolio!

One thing that I noticed with the VCD projects is that they’ve only gotten better every year. I spoke with Colin, the capstone professor, and he said that one recent development at EWU is a growing emphasis on human-centered design. These student’s aren’t just designing logos and branding, they’re designing for people. When I see these posters I can definitely see the effort these students are putting into designing for humans.

This project was for a non-profit called Free Rein Therapeutic Riding. Free Rein uses horses to help treat physical and emotional injury or disability, so it’s already a pretty cool company. VCD students took that idea and helped build a professional looking brand off of it. I went ahead and grouped some of my favorite images by project so you all could get a good look at the work the students put in.

What about mechanical engineers?

Engineering students had a huge variety of projects that they could work on. Students had crazy projects ranging from geothermal heat pumps to mechanical chess!

First up was the team of Helping Hand, a forklift addon that allows people to operate a lifter independent from the forklift and remove some of the human heavy lifting that has to be done. It reminded me of a claw grabber, but this one won’t drop the stuffed bear as the design is rated to lift up to 700 pounds.

The second mechanical engineering project shown was the Chess, Anyone? Chess board. This chess board can automatically move pieces and even play a physical game of chess! Computers have been able to play a strong game of chess for years but engineering students have made it so that a game with chess can now be physical instead of on the computer.

Students also tested the heat transfer of a geothermal heat pump. It’s a bit like how people pump water out of the ground, but this time it’s pumping out heat. Geothermal energy can save a alot of money on heating and cooling.

Another group developed five mechanical Prusik brakes for climbers. I can see where they made some huge improvements! Most Prusik brakes will damage the rope if the climber falls. The brake that these students developed can keep the rope safe for up to 100 falls.

Larger cars are definitely more difficult to change tires. Unlike a typical compact car, large wheels can be a real pain to lift and move around. Engineering students built a bumper tire carrier that can help carry and re-install large spare tires easily.

EWU Bazaar

03/12/2018 by afuller Leave a Comment

As a design major, I would meet new people every quarter in both design and art classes. When I heard that there was a bazaar for design and art students, I had to go check it out.

The bazaar had about thirteen installations with 9 current students and 4 EWU alumni. It feature all kinds of artworks, from the types of things you'd fine in a downtown gallery to the types of things you might fight at one of Spokane's summer street fairs. The alumni assisted the new students with picking out art for the show, pricing pieces, and even managing their own inventory. Students got firsthand experience and training with selling their art.

Show me the art already!

In no particular order, I’ll present some of the fantastic artwork done by students and alum. I really enjoyed the pottery, but I’ll be sure to show off some of the paintings and prints too!

These are all made by one student, Amanda Caldwell. Check out the variety of pottery she has, from small cups to canopic jars (let’s be real, I saw the canopic jars first).

Rebekah Curtis did all of this work.

Yes, all of it.

I keep getting drawn back to the two large paintings in the middle. I’m sure everyone who sees a painting like these sees something different but I keep thinking of them as the eye and minotaur paintings.

Mike Haynes is an alumnus of the EWU art program. One thing I love about his work is the unity between pieces I see here. The pottery is styled with either the black and grey snakes or the multicolored line pottery in the front. I feel like I could get all of my bowls from Mike and they’d all match up with each other!

The bazaar had much, much more but I’ll just go over the pins, prints and zines. It’s exciting to see how much students at EWU made and were able to show off!