REASONS WHY I LOVE Printmaking:
1.Starting with woodcuts all the way to lithographic prints, is the first art form that carried in itself the possibility of reproduction. Never before had an original work of art been copied, staying true to its original feel, as many times as desired. Those copies however are also originals since they are reproduced through mechanical/chemical procedures- the hand of the artist is still there!


INTAGLIO
Etching on Fiberglass
(The letter P as an object)

Copper Plate

-Hand touching something unusual- I am holding a cactus, like the ones where Tuna grows, a fruit that is delicious and sweet but very dangerous to pick. This describes the complexity of relationships because they hurt but enrich our lives at the same time.

We hanged art on the bus! 

On October of 2011, me and some good friends took advantage of the open call for events that Culture Days Canada put out and made a mobile gallery out of a bus.


It all started with running into a friend of mine, Kira Koop (awesome coincidence). She mention that it would be a good idea to put some art on the bus, take it out of the gallery (DEMOCRATIZE ART) and at the same time gain exposure as art students. I was terribly excited since I believe taking art and inserting it into the streets should be done more often -yes, I am a fan of graffiti.


Art should be accessible to all. To a degree, through the advancement of graphic design and technology, it is safe to say that almost everybody actually has access to it. The problem is that the computer screen (or any other screen for that matter) and the glossy pages of a magazine don't quite cut it. it is a completely different experience than viewing original art with your own eyes, being there in person in front of a hand drawn piece of art, of a photographic print, of a rich textured painting. Being surrounded by its 'aura'.


The idea of transforming the bus riding experience was also interesting. It has been done in some other parts of the world, like here, where public transportation serves as the gallery walls.


So we made the phone calls, spend tons of time hanging out on Google+, sitting on a corner table at Stella's eating chocolate torte, emailing and texting, and IT HAPPENED.  On October 1st we collected the works from young artists, some of them had shown their work publicly before, but most hadn't. By the evening we hanged all the works from the bus windows and we let it run! 
The overarching theme of the show was Transit, all of them talked about the experience of traveling from A to B, capturing the experience quite nicely. Here are some of them:

Megan Wilson- Photographic print

Francesca Carella Arfinengo- pencil and ink drawing

Megan Wilson-photographic print

Megan Wilson-photographic print

Kira Koop-painting

Alicia Di- collage

Courtney Gregorchuck- Photographic print

This project turned out good and definitively gave us tons of things to learn; one of them is to document the process and the show itself better!!-although what I like of our crummy pictures is that they were taken fast, glancing at the artwork-just like the people who rode the bus experienced them.


The only disappointing thing was that Winnipeg Transit refused last minute to lend one of their buses for the project because our art, with its 'dangerous pointy corners' could hurt the passengers so they sent a Beaver bus (private contract) instead; which of course wasn't exactly what we had set out to do. It reflects once again the power of art interventions in public spaces (oh is it scary for those who manage those spaces!!!) and the lack of interest when it comes to support the arts- no news here.

utterly disappointed (breakfast, lunch and dinner)

Assignment: Present a model and/or drawing for an original public sculpture or mural

Response: Homelessness is one of the biggest social challenges of the city of Winnipeg. In the almost three years I've been here I have seen what some organizations are doing to solve the problem and how many people don't even care or are disappointed money is spent in redeeming these "lazy" people. As hard as it is, I wanted to create a project that will help us identify their hardships. Here

I will place reused kitchen tables in various bus shelters in downtown winnipeg, more specifically on graham street one per shelter, full of party platters with food made entirely of felt. The strength oh this piece definitely relies in numbers.

As you approach the shelter your mouth will water, your tummy will rumble, anticipation will build, FREE LUNCH! FREE DINNER! just to be utterly disappointed and maybe curse at the world for your bad luck or the idiot who played this evil joke on you. And hopefully your eyes will meet with those of a homeless person and you will understand.

Here some links:
http://www.salvationarmy.ca/
www.­mainstreetprojec­t.­ca/­shelter.­htm
http://www.siloam.ca/

Getting into someone's drawers

Assignment: Present a proposal for a movie or a video or present an original movie or video or present a movie treatment or a short screenplay.

Response: I grew up in a house where 'everything was yours' but you couldn't touch anything. Right now where I live the rule is the same, and I decided to break it.


Produced by: Francesca Carella Arfinengo
Song by: James Blake "Don't you think I do"

TIME and clocks and carpet

Experimenting with carpet
why and how? Well it is an assignment that evolved from Duchamp's revolutionary concept of the readymades. I picked an object that called my attention for less than three bucks.



It is one of the clocks that are now designed, with cheap plastic, around a square box that contains all the clock mechanisms, a.k.a thousands of years of engineering and discovery. I mean this one:




For me this clock is an example of how our society (because of the need of simplification and efficiency) reduces everything to its minimum, sacrificing the beauty and richness of objects/concepts/beliefs=
Here is the carpet clock:

and more pictures

PORTFOLIO part 3

pencil drawings

PORTFOLIO PART 2

submitted to the University of Manitoba

portfolio
PART 1: these are part of the portfolio I put together that got me into the School of Art