Documentary

Students begin by selecting a subject to document. Topics can include a type of people, group of people, or activity. Below are some examples. One student chose to photograph behind the scenes at the restaurant where he works. Another chose a sculpture park on Chicago's North side. The idea is to photograph the topic on several different occasions. With the idea that each occasion will yield new insights into the chosen topic.


Marvin Gutierrez


Marvin Gutierrez


Marvin Gutierrez


Amanda Marco


Amanda Marco


Leif Novak


Leif Novak


Leif Novak


Marcelo Penaherrera


Marcelo Penaherrera


Deja Richardson


Deja Richardson


Deja Richardson


Maritza Vales


Maritza Vales

Like the concentration portion of the AP portfolio, this project asks the students to use all of their photographic knowledge from the school year. They must pick an interesting topic; one that they want to spend some time with. They must consider how light, color, time of day, and weather affect the meaning of their documentary. And like the concentration, they are now asked to consider how photographs fit together in a series.

Gallery 37 Spring Open House 2010!

Please join us in celebrating the
eleventh annual Chicago Public Schools

Gallery 37 Advanced Arts Education Program
SPRING OPEN HOUSE!

PERFORMING ARTS SHOWCASE
Featuring performances in Vocal, Dance, Theater & Jazz
Wednesday & Thursday, May 26th & 27th - 2010
Shows at 2:15 & 5:30 PM - 1st floor Storefront Theater
&
VISUAL ARTS EXHIBITION & CULINARY SHOWCASE
Featuring visual and media artwork and culinary delights
Opening reception Friday, May 28th - 2010, 3:00-7:00 PM
5th floor CenterSpace. Gallery exhibition runs from 05/24/10-06/08/10

all events are located at:
Gallery 37 Center for the Arts
66 E. Randolph St.
Chicago IL. 60601

Please contact us at 312) 742-1461 or rherlo@cityofchicago.org if you have any questions or to RSVP for any of the Spring 10 Performances

Diana Oropeza

Through my concentration, I am able to capture a variety of vivid colors within different neighborhoods all through out the Chicago area. Each mural is able to tell a different story about each community. Many people have a negative view of street art/graffiti but with my concentration I show how street artist are able to beautify the city with a variety of panoramas. The biggest challenge I had was working with a different color pallet due to the fact that I have always worked with black and white photographs. I strive to produce photographs with excellent quality and composition .My goal is to capture this in order for others to be able to discover a whole new world.

Ross Citron

My art reflects who I am. I challenge the rules of reality when my art is expressed in visual forms such as photography, video, graphic illustrations . As a species on this planet we have the tendency to imprint a cultural landscape on this planet, my art is a part of this landscape. Big or small. Art to me is about expressing and exploring certain abnormal and unknown boundaries. Life is art in abstract form. Literature is another art that can duplicate and grow exponentially forever, art is like this in the sense that through advanced technology we can evolve through at. Art will expand so will our understanding of why we are here. In a way you could say art will lead us to the ultimate answer-Why is it we are here?

Leif Novak

Photography has been a long time interest of mine, and as I’ve recently become more serious about it, I took this class to help push me further and explore new techniques. During the past school year we put together a portfolio including photos concentrated around a central idea. The three large prints were taken at an abandoned mill here in Chicago. My primary goal was to help show the beauty I see in often overlooked decrepit buildings such as the mill. The other three photos were created for another project, in which I chose to document and explore a junkyard.

Ivette Contreras

My central idea of my concentration is to develop a variety of shapes and colors in a form of abstraction. From my past work, at Gallery 37, I had a better understanding on the design and color usage in the abstraction assignments. I am a person who visualizes ideas and finds a way to interact shapes and forms with colors to create an environment of abstraction.

The work in my concentration demonstrates the exploration of my idea by the items I used to create abstraction. All of the items used were part of me that camouflaged "My Rainbow Life" for say; which is the title of my concentration. In my first photograph for example, i used my math book which had a circular image and a bead toy with pieces of paper.

Diana Martinez

The central idea of my concentration is documenting abandoned buildings, and by using the building as a canvas to reinvent a new life to an abandoned structure. All of my photographs are colored because I feel that they bring an urban beauty within the building. The main setting I photographed was in the Chicago Brachs Candy factory located in the north west side of Chicago, and the other location was in the Valspar Paint factory Located in the south of the city. The work on my concentration accurately displays my initial idea because i photographed the artwork made by people that linger in abandoned places.

Khalid El-Amin

The central idea of my concentration was meant to be a documentary of the increase of poverty with the expansion of industrial companies. The photographs that I shot were all in the south Chicago area or Indiana. With the downfall of the economy, a lot of the small companies and homes became abandoned. The overwhelming abandonment makes the area seem “derelict”.

Marlene Arteaga

Having an attraction for bright and bold colors I was easily attracted to the sensation of the changing of colors from winter to spring. The feeling of plants going from dull, dead colors to vivid eye catching colors. Being able to capture and portray this feeling within my images and my concentration was my main goal intrigues me.

Bethany Berlanga

The central idea of my concentration is abstraction of the human form. Put in simple terms, showing the beauty of the human body beyond the confines of its intended uses.

Deja Richardson

The central idea of my concentration was to capture statues and monuments using light and shadows illustrating contrast. Living in a big beautiful city like Chicago, I am surrounded by amazing statues and monuments. The challenge was making art out of art. Every photographer's eye is different. So every interpretation of these artistic elements are just as different.

Sannya Munir

I isolated the subject in their environment by putting a frame around it so that other people are removed from the picture but not necessary absent from the location. For example in Image 11, the bride's new husband and the wedding photographers were a few feet away from her. I moved my camera a bit to the left I isolated the bride in the picture. My goal is to emphasize the solitude of the subject in urban landscapes and thus play with the viewer expectation of the public locations.







The first few shots I took were cliché, and as I reviewed them I realized I did not want to use the textbook definition of solitude. Someone huddling in a dark corner was not really what I thought of when I heard solitude, and I wanted to show that in my photographs. I photographed in color in daylight using one and two point perspectives. As humans, we see in color and are usually more active during the day. The most common vantage points we see are one and two perspectives – except in the construction and architecture fields where one might encounter three point perspectives more often. I incorporated concepts such as irony and surrealism to kept my pictures interesting. In Image 06 the irony is expressed by the contrasting tone of the young man is sitting alone while the two characters from the picture on the wall are kissing. Image 12 is surreal to me because on our commute to/from work/school among countless individuals, if we take the subway, we are alone; we have not connection to them except that we took the same train to work. The color, texture, and lighting help create a environment in which the surreal is possible. The fact that the Red Line train station is underground adds to this effect.

Marcello Penaherrera

The city is my playground; it is the place where I invest my time and energy towards creating interesting pictures. I pay attention to all the different shapes and colors that downtown Chicago has to offer. In my photographs, I look to incorporate colors that ‘pop’ and capture peoples’ attention. I try to give my photographs interesting compositions so that my audience never loses interest.

Cooper

My concentration involves the textures of Colorado: the petite creeks, the miniature waterfalls, the landscape, the rocks, the growths, the wrinkles, the shadows. Every stone tells a story. I noticed the liveliness of the Colorado landscape as I hiked along its grooves. I tried to show both the natural and the man-made phenomena. From a highway that reaches under a mountain to a hint of red among green foliage, I try and capture any unspoken beauty I can.