Portrait Making

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LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology PORTRAIT MAKING | CRAFTING YOUR STORY by Anna-Marie Jubilo ([email protected]) start presentation >>> Please sit where you can see this font size comfortably.

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Page 1: Portrait Making

LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology

PORTRAIT MAKING |

CRAFTING YOUR STORY

by Anna-Marie Jubilo ([email protected])

start presentation >>>

Please sit where you can see this font size comfortably.

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“The true portrait of a man is a fusion of what he thinks he is, what others think he is, what he really is and what he tries to be.”

-- Dore Schary (qdt. in BrainyMedia, <http://tinyurl.com/dvad4>)

Good portraits reveal much about the sitter. If you could commission your own portrait, what would it look like?

PORTRAITS |

description: “portrait of danilo and bibiana jubilo” | artist: unknown | date: unknown |medium: chalk pastel | size: 12.5 (height) x 17 (width) inches | location: jubilo residence

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“I envisioned myself as a nomad, wearing a shamanic fur hat ornamented with talismanic feathers and beads, standing buffeted by the wind in a remote, steppelike landscape. Freed from the constraints of urban life, I longed for big vistas and sights beyond the reach of normal perception. If anyone even recognized me in the resulting portrait, they’d be puzzled by my getup. Still, I clung to it. I’d been given the rare chance to picture myself, or at least one part of myself, as I wished” (Jordan, 34).

ENVISIONING | In her article titled “Sitting Pretty”, author Betty Ann Jordan described

her ideal portrait as follows:

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Reading Jordan’s article made me think about what my own ideal portrait would look like and what this would reveal about me.

REVEALING ONESELF |

As part of this presentation about myself, I’d like to share some ideas of what my own ideal portrait would look like if I were to commission it today.

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For a long time, I thought my ideal portrait would be an oil painting on canvas, mainly because portrait paintings are so much more uncommon these days that I figure a painting would feel special. Also, being the visual and tactile person I am, I like the idea of an oil painting because of the rich colors and textures oils are able to provide.

The MEDIUM |black & white photograph

Then I thought I might want to hang this portrait of myself up one day. Oil seemed much to grand and luxurious for my own tastes, so I changed my mind to a classic black and white photograph.

description: “section of a rural landscape painting” | original artist: unknown | date: unknown | medium: oil on canvas | size of original:

22 (height) x 34 inches (width) location: jubilo residence

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Richard Avedon took many celebrated portraits during his lifetime. I, however, have always been attracted to the whimsical elegance of his fashion photography.

I love the way he is able to inject both creativity and fun into his work.

The ARTIST |

richard avedon (1923 - 2004)

title: “dovima with elephants” | artist: richard avedon | date: 1955 | medium: photograph | location: online image (see bibliography for full details) | copyright: avedon studio

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I figure something like 24 x 24 inches is a good-sized picture to hang on a wall in your home without feeling too weird about having to look at yourself all the time.

I guess, in many ways, size depends on the compositions… and since I haven’t quite figured this out yet, size for now is still to be determined.

The SIZE |

24 x 24 inches? … to be determined

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If I asked people close to me to think of a pose that seems natural and expressive of me, they would probably say that it would be with my head poking out of a blanket or wrapped in a cozy sweater. I must admit I enjoy the feeling of warmth, especially of the sun shining lightly on my face.

The POSE | wrapped | at a 45 degree angle

I think a picture taken at a 45 degree angle from the camera seems appropriate since I don’t usually like facing a camera head on (I’m actually quite shy some-times). I would also want to be sitting or standing erect, since I’ve always admired the wonderful posture exhibited by dancers.

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Although I’d like to have a kind of poised neutral relaxed expression on my face, without any direction I just tend to smile (then laugh). I think I’m a fairly open, friendly, and genuine person (when I’m not feeling too shy), so a smile or laugh on my face is an expression that probably defines me well.

The EXPRESSION | smiling | laughing

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I have always loved fashion. I especially love haute couture because of the creativity, imagination, texture, and colour infused in high fashion. I also admire the skill it involves.

Although I do not like to act, and I don’t like being the centre of attention, I have always loved dressing up in wonderful, fanciful outfits. I like the lack of restriction exhibited in high fashion and quality of otherworldliness it can often take on.

The COSTUME |

whimsical elegance | couture

To see a picture of a dress that I think captures the statement of whimsical elegance, click on the link below.

The link will take you to the Style.com Givenchy Spring 2003 Couture web page. Once you get there, select No. 4 of 39.

Be forewarned that the page might take some time to load. LINK

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The FRILLS |

family ring | glass necklace

Although my ideal portrait would likely be solo, I’d like to somehow acknowledge the people I love most: my family and my partner.

The ring belongs to my mother. It holds the birth stones of each member of my immediate family.

mother and father (sapphire) eldest brother (amethyst) second brother (blue zircon) me (alexandrite)

The glass necklace was a surprise from my partner. It typifies whimsical elegance!

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Like the description of Betty Ann Jordan’s ideal portrait at the beginning of this presentation, I, too, long for “big vistas and sights beyond the reach of normal perception.” I am tempted to picture myself somewhere unusual and far from the familiar. I used to read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy when I was younger because I loved to see the different worlds people created. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to travel our own world quite extensively during my young adult years.

The SURROUNDING | national geographic

subject: desktop image of steppe landscape | title: “steppe” | artist: unknown | date unknown | medium: photograph | original size: 600 (height) x 800 (width) dpi | location: online image (see bibliography for full details)

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The famous photographer Helmut Newton once said, “My job as a portrait photo-grapher is to seduce, amuse and entertain” (qdt. in BrainyMedia, <http://tinyurl.com/dvad4>).

I find surprising pictures have a way of sticking in your head and are often remembered later on with a certain type of curiosity and amusement.

I would like my portrait to be somewhat familiar yet have some element of surprise and fun in it.

The MOOD |

familiar yet surprising

subject: monica belucci, monte carlo | artist: helmut newton | medium: photograph | original size: unknown | date: 2001| location: location: online image (see bibliography for full details)

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I like getting things done early in the day, so I imagine I would want my portrait taken in the morning… which means I would have to get up pretty early. I don’t mind getting up early so long as I have the right kind of music to slowly wake me up. Maybe Eric Satie’s “Gymnopedie No. 1” or Boards of Canada’s “Turquoise Hexagon Sun” or “Aquarius”?

The MUSIC |

gentle get ups | lighthearted dancing

Once I’m up though, I like music that gets me going and makes me want to dance. In keeping with the whimsical quality I’ve been thinking about, I figure Juan Garcia Esquivel‘s album titled Space-Age Bachelor Pad Music would be perfect.

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cold mountain air | tropical humidityThe SMELL | Two of my favorite smells

are in a way opposites: cold mountain air and tropical humidity. The cold mountain air reminds me of walking out of my tent to the morning air and of snowboarding. The tropical humidity reminds of me of stepping out of the plane in Fiji or Hawaii.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be able to smell a portrait? Okay, maybe not all portraits! Anyway, if you’re on a Mac, here’s a short clip of my video tour of the Bloedel Conservatory at Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver. It’s where I like to go when I miss the smell of tropical humidity. Click on the larger picture above (not the picture of the bird) to link to the video. Click here to continue to the next slide.

QuickTime™ and aDV/DVCPRO - NTSC decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

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Oddly enough, although I’ve described many elements of my ideal portrait, I still can’t really picture it all as a working whole. I just keep thinking up new elements or variations. With no real limitations, there seems to be endless possibilities.

I like the following quote by the English writer Samuel Butler. In “The Way of All Flesh” Butler writes, “Every man's work, whether it be literature, or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself” (qdt. in

BrainyMedia, <http://tinyurl.com/dvad4>). It assures me that although my ideal portrait is constantly being recreated , each variation reveals much about myself -- the person I am, the person I see myself as, and the person I wish to be.

Thanks. I hope you enjoyed the show.

| The END Start Again | Bibliography | The Creator

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| The BIBLIOGRAPHY |

Start Again | The Creator

Avedon, Richard. “Dovima with Elephants.” 1955. Online image. “Richard Avedon dies.” British

Journal of Photography. Retrieved 30 Jan. 2006 < http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=193399>.

BrainyMedia, “Portrait Quotes”, BrainyQuote. 2005. Xplore, Inc. 28 Jan. 2006 <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/portrait.html> Follow links for “Samuel Butler”, “Helmut Newton”, and “Dore Schary”.

Jordan, Betty A. “Sitting Pretty.” Fashion Magazine. Date unknown: 34-36, 46.

Newton, Helmut. “Monica Belucci, Monte Carlo.” 2001. Online image. “Helmut Newton, Sex and

Landscapes -(Photobook S.) written by Philippe Garner and June Newton (Editor) - Illustrated book guide - Hot Books. ” Hot Books: the Review Portal for Visual Publications. Retrieved 31 Jan. 2006 <http://www.hotbooks.co.uk/book_details.asp?b_id=584>.

“Steppe.” Date unknown. Online image. “Desktop.” Birds of Central Siberia. Retrieved 1 Feb. 2006 <http://res.krasu.ru/birds/eng/desktop.shtml>.

Style.com: The Online Home of Vogue and W. 2006. CondeNet Inc. 1 Feb. 2006 <http://tinyurl.com/75aju>

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The CREATORThe CREATOR | | Anna Jubilo was born and grew up in Vancouver, B.C. She attended a bilingual French/English elementary school and then a small private high school in Vancouver.After high school, she studied in Quebec City for five weeks before spending her first year of university at Queen’s University’s International Study Centre in Sussex, England. She then returned to Vancouver to study at the University of British Columbia (UBC) for a year before participating in a summer Linguistics field school in Fiji through Simon Fraser University (SFU). She returned to UBC to complete most of her undergraduate degree in English Language and Linguistics before again taking off, this time to Australia in search of a co-op experience and to travel to Japan and Southeast Asia.

Although she has continued to travel within North America since she returned to Vancouver and graduated from university, Anna is eager to

experience living “elsewhere” again after the completion her MLIS degree at UBC.

anna jubilo

Start Again | Bibliography