Fireside Chat

The Fireside chat was such an inspiring experience. It was really eye-opening to hear what our class had to share. When I read through the assignment, I thought we would end up hearing a lot of the same stuff we are used to hearing at church and in Sunday School. Being at BYU, we all have very similar beliefs for the most part. But as we listened to each of the presentations, I was excited to hear some really cool and unique ideas. My presentation about happiness was pretty simple. Plain happiness. It was interesting how there were a couple others who had similar beliefs to mine. Kelton's song about being happy as you sing a song was one of those.

When I planned out my presentation, I planned on just expressing by feelings about happiness. Where it comes from and how I believe happiness is gained and lost. The morning of the fireside chat, I woke up thinking 'tonight I am giving a presentation on happiness, so I better be happy!' I listened to the song 'Happy' a cover of Pharrell Williams by BYU Vocal Point and it definitely started the day off on a happy note. Throughout the day, I found myself looking for things to do that I knew would make me happy. I helped people with anything I could. I texted my mom just because. I did all kinds of little things. Throughout the day, as I was doing these things, the more I learned that the happiness I was experiencing was so tangible and so available for me to create for myself. I got to thinking. Why don't I do this everyday?

So my presentation changed a little bit and I decided to emphasize on that. I also realize that there are very serious and very real conditions that make it really difficult to be happy. For those people, I hope they can recover. Depression and other emotional disorders are definitely real.

The song is by Vocal Point and the writing on the board thing I did kind of reminds me of their Brave music video. I decided to use their version instead of the Pharrell Williams version because I know a lot of those guys personally and they are super happy, good guys.

Thanks to everyone for an awesome semester!

Concerened Citizen

"If our higher purpose is to develop societies securely

grounded in possibility, compassion, and connection, our

task is to collectively imagine these things. There is no

more powerful way to do that than by making art that

rehearses the future we wish to help into being."

-Arlene Goldbarg

When we sat down with James Christensen I was immediately intrigued by his artsy personality. He was creative with his words, with the style in which he conversed, and wow! His house was full of such interesting artwork! When it comes to highly influential people, I think there are two different types. First, there are those who set out to change the world, have energy and a desire to make a difference in the community by getting involved in certain jobs, volunteer positions, etc. Then there are those who are quiet yet exemplary. They are fascinating in their own way and usually very humble. I didn't get to know James Christensen as well as I would have liked, but he seems to fit into the second category.

As a renowned artist, Christensen creates pieces of art that don't follow the norm. He said in his interview "I didn't follow the New York City standard, I just painted what I liked." As a film student in a very mainstreamed and standardized culture, it's inspiring to hear an artist like James Christensen. Of course, he was influenced by northern renaissance painters, but in the end, he was able to create his own style.

It's interesting-I haven't gotten so caught up in editing a film like this one for a long time. I found myself in a completely different world, really excited about making this a quality short documentary. I wanted it to be perfect. It was something that I wanted to be proud of for years, and I think I can attribute that to the level of respect I have for James and his artistic example, which is why I decided to name it Artistic Resonance. His personality and example of spiritual and artistic maturity resonates both in his art, with his viewers, and especially with me. We hope that this film does the same for those who get to see it.

I looked around at a couple different artists with similar videos about them and this one about Audrey Louise Reynolds and her fascination with color stuck out to me. She takes colors from plants, rocks, and other natural resources, and uses them to color more artificial things such as clothes.

What I take away most from Christensen's video we made is his last comment that encourages artists to immerse themselves and find out what strums their heart strings. What a cool metaphor and what a great idea!