3/28/2018 1 Comment Impact on Community sculpture piece
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3/26/2018 1 Comment Copper Enameling
3/26/2018 0 Comments Sculpey clay Lungs Exercise
3/26/2018 0 Comments Bird Wire ExerciseThis week, one of our objectives was to begin creating small-scale exercises that would help us in the creation of our final sculpture pieces. For my first exercise, I decided to create a small bird out of wire. First I used the stronger metal wire to create the base of the bird. Then, I used smaller wires and electrical cables to wrap around the frame of the bird, creating dimension and even adding color. I enjoyed this piece a lot, but it was kind of challenging to manipulate the flimsy cables. I had to think of the wire as a drawing material, only a new way of creating lines. I also made a metal branch for the bird and put it in Mrs. Whitney's birdcage as its new home.
3/14/2018 0 Comments Art Critique Paper- Kate MacDowell"We do not want merely to see beauty, though, God knows, even that is bounty enough. We want something else which can hardly be put into words--to be united with the beauty we see, to pass into it, to receive it into ourselves, to bathe in it, to become part of it." – C.S. Lewis.
This piece is by Kate MacDowell, titled "Canary". MacDowell's work explores how our ideal union with the natural world conflicts with our contemporary impact on the environment. She expresses the impact of environmental stressors including climate change, toxic pollution, and gm crops on the natural world while incorporating ideas from myths, art history, and figures of speech. In many pieces, she explores one aspect of the human figure and unites it with nature. Other times, she creates figures of creatures from nature and gives them safety equipment as if they are trying to protect themselves from man-made environmental threats. In each case, the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort, showing that "we too are vulnerable to being victimized by our destructive practices." Kate uses porcelain for her pieces, generally creating a solid form and then hollowing it out. Smaller forms are created petal by petal, branch by branch, allowing her to become familiar with the individual figures and aspects of nature. As said by Kate, "I see each piece as a captured and preserved specimen, a painstaking record of endangered natural forms and a commentary on our own culpability." This particular piece, "Canary" is a clear display of Kate's incredible craftsmanship. This piece is a carefully shaped pair of lungs made out of porcelain. Kate hollowed out the inner chamber of the lungs and created figures of canaries within the lungs, as well as on top of and below them. When it is dark, there is a light glowing within the lungs to illuminate the figures of the birds within, creating shadows. Because of the light, the viewer is able to see intricate veins and what appear to be branches and leaves within the lungs. The light also emphasizes the outer texture of the lobes, which seems to be a circular, patterned texture. There are also creases on the outside of the lungs, including two creases on the right lung (the viewer's left) and one crease on the left lung (the viewer's right). In the middle of the two lobes is the trachea, which Kate created with incredibly accurate ridge-like texture. The size of both lungs seems accurate to real human lungs, with the left lung seeming slightly larger and of a different shape than the right lung. The porcelain remains its natural off-white shade without color, but when it is dark the illumination within the lungs creates a pleasing mixture of gold with gray and black. The piece as a whole creates an intriguing, but aesthetically pleasing effect. The viewer almost feels uncomfortable looking at an organ that is within their body, united with nature through the presence of canaries within the lungs. Kate's use of light to create dimension and color in her piece is stunning to me. Although she did not add any color to the set of lungs themselves, she skillfully manipulated light and shadow to create dimension in the piece. This gives the piece an almost eerie feeling, yet causes the viewer to see the human lungs through an eye of beauty. Without the light to illuminate the inside of the lungs, the birds within would not be visible. While the figures of the birds are clearly recognizable, the veins and structures within the lungs seem to take the form of branches and leaves in the light. Kate also uses shape within the piece through the precise design of the lungs to accurately replicate a real human organ. Shape and lines have also been utilized in the exterior texture of the lungs through the circular pattern and the creases in the lobes. This use of three-dimensional texture adds an element of realism to the piece, capturing the viewer with incredible detail. It's almost as if the piece had been created from a mold of real human lungs, achieving impressive depth within the piece. Kate's design for this piece, as with many of her other pieces, effectively draws the attention of viewers and conveys a visual mood that some would define as strange, uncomfortable, or carnal. Her ability to create the figures of the human lungs and of the birds effectively conveys this almost dark, eerie feel to the piece. Kate's artist statement encompasses her beliefs surrounding all of her pieces. Concerning her cohesive body of artwork, Kate has stated the following: "In my work this romantic ideal of union with the natural world conflicts with our contemporary impact on the environment. These pieces are in part responses to environmental stressors including climate change, toxic pollution, and gm crops. They also borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones. In some pieces aspects of the human figure stand-in for ourselves and act out sometimes harrowing, sometimes humorous transformations which illustrate our current relationship with the natural world. In others, animals take on anthropomorphic qualities when they are given safety equipment to attempt to protect them from man-made environmental threats. In each case the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort with the disturbing implication that we too are vulnerable to being victimized by our destructive practices. I hand sculpt each piece out of porcelain, often building a solid form and then hollowing it out. Smaller forms are built petal by petal, branch by branch and allow me the chance to get immersed in close study of the structure of a blossom or a bee. I chose porcelain for its luminous and ghostly qualities as well as its strength and ability to show fine texture. It highlights both the impermanence and fragility of natural forms in a dying ecosystem, while paradoxically, being a material that can last for thousands of years and is historically associated with high status and value. I see each piece as a captured and preserved specimen, a painstaking record of endangered natural forms and a commentary on our own culpability." In relation to this statement, Kate's piece "Canary" could express various meanings as interpreted by the viewer. I believe that Kate purposely placed birds within the human lungs as an expression about air quality and how the pollution we are creating not only damages our lungs, but also infringes upon nature's right to breathe free. Just as in the piece the birds are living within the human lungs, intruding on the natural respiratory process, so we are intruding on the health and freedom of the natural world with our destructive behavior. But what we do not realize is that we are not immune to our own damage. I was initially drawn to this piece because while considering a topic for my sculpture piece, I have been considering both birds and lungs. Birds, because to me they symolize freedom, and lungs because my uncle died at age 15 from lung disease and I have been wanting to create some sort of tribute to him. The two seem to go strangely well together, and when I found this piece incorporating the both of them in a 3D design, I was intrigued. This piece reminds me of the quote by Emma Lazarus that says, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..." because to me the birds within the lungs represent the ability to breathe freely and express yourself with your own breath. But not everyone has this freedom. So many even in our country are powerless to stand up for themselves, including refugees, those suffering in abusive households, children aborted in the womb, and orphans who do not have a home. It is our job to be their voice, and to use our lungs and our breath to lift our voices for their sakes. There are also those who can no longer breathe free because of the physical ailments on their bodies. For example, because of my Uncle's disease, he could not breathe freely or live life without the restraints of his body. Another example of this that I saw this week was when a man living with the ALS disease came to Beta Club to talk with us about ALS. His muscle function was failing and no longer was he able to speak or even breathe for himself. Instead, a machine was literally keeping him alive there in front of us. Seeing him really moved me and challenged me to be the voice for people like him, who cannot breathe free. Looking at this artwork brings to mind all of these thoughts, even though MacDowell's purpose for creating the art is very different than my own interpretation. While her methods for creating a porcelain set of lungs to express the fragility of human life and life within the natural world, emphasizing the idea of our destruction of air quality, my interpretation of the piece is different. And that is what makes art so incredible- because every person sees the piece with a different perspective based on their own character and beliefs. To me, this piece does hold intrinsic value- firstly, because of the aesthetically pleasing element of the work. The craftsmanship of the piece is intriguingly excellent, and the overall design of the sculpture, along with the detail and realism of it as a whole, automatically gives it value in my eyes. Secondly, because of how strongly and effectively the message of the piece is conveyed. While it is generally clear or can be determined what Kate's meaning is behind this piece, it also leaves room for the viewer to develop his or her own ideas and interpretations. The piece is imaginative and also, in some ways, unnatural or disturbing. Some viewers may feel uncomfortable with the image of a human organ displayed so realistically, and then paired with the figures of birds. However, that unusual element to the piece is a defining characteristic of Kate's piece and is vital to her message. I think the uniqueness of this piece in particular will capture the attention of the viewer and begin discussion about the union between humankind and the natural world, as well as the impact we have had on life in our environment. Overall, Kate's piece "Canary" is a work of incredible craftsmanship. Through her use of shape, line, color, light, and shadow, she created a piece with incredible three-dimensional depth and realism. The elements of art are working in her favor, and her manipulation of her resources and design tools show great skill. She successfully expresses the values and purposes she discusses in her artist statement, drawing the attention of the viewer and making them aware of the relationship between humans and nature. That relationship can be beautiful and seamlessly beneficial to both the human and the natural world, but it can also be uncomfortable and damaging. We have come upon a time when our presence on the earth is, in many ways, infringing upon nature's ability to breathe free, enslaving animals through pollution and captivity. But what we don't seem to understand is that our destructive activity is taking a toll on our lungs and our bodies as well. Other meanings of this work are often up to the interpretation of the viewer, as it was for me when I first saw it. It reminded me that not every human being has the ability to breathe freely, either because of physical enslavement, persecution, or abuse, or because of a disease slowly killing their body. Whatever the case, it is vital that we speak out for those who are not free, acting as the voice, or as the "breath" of those who have none. You give life, You are love You bring light to the darkness You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken Great are You, Lord It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise We pour out our praise It's Your breath in our lungs So we pour out our praise To You only All the earth will shout Your praise Our hearts will cry These bones will sing Great are You, Lord Works Cited
http://www.katemacdowell.com/index.html Jaume Plensa Spanish artist Jaume Plensa was born in 1955 and studied at the Llotja School of Art and Design and at the Sant Jordi School of Fine Arts. A significant area of Plensa's work is sculpture in public space. Many of his pieces are installed all over the world, including one titled "Nuria & Irma". This piece is made out of stainless steel and is installed in an outdoor environment. The piece is meant to be a depiction of a mother and a daughter, facing one another and created with a mesh material. Plensa's sculptural work as a whole is focused on turning the human figure into a sculptural image. I love how he manipulates mesh material and cast iron to create the human face in 3D. Perhaps I could use my inspiration from Jaume Plensa to create a mesh wire or clay piece, learning how to create the figure of the human face with one of those mediums. Celia Smith Born in 1974, Celia Smith studied Fine Art Sculpture at Wimbledon School of Art. After experimenting with many mediums, wire became her favorite. She uses wire as a drawing material. She collects all different types of wire, including rested wire, thin wire, electrical cable, and anything else she can find. Each piece is like a treasure to her. Generally, her work focuses around depicting the figures of birds, and she often goes out on drawing trips to nature reserves and islands. More recently, she has began to incorporate wooden pieces into her wire figures in order to give them some context. A lot of her time is spent drawing and studying the birds in order to capture their movement and character before turning them into 3D figures. I love how each of Celia's pieces are so delicate, depicting the characteristics of the birds perfectly. I have actually been thinking about including the figures of birds into my sculpture somehow, and I would like to experiment with Celia's wire technique. http://www.celia-smith.co.uk/about/ Janaki Lele
Janaki Lele is a visual artist and designer with an Indian background, based in Australia. Through her work, Janaki hand cuts paper into exciting visual stories and explorations. She enjoys working with words in her pieces, using pages from books to create her art. One of her projects have focused on creating 3D paper mache sculptures out of newspaper and pages from novels. Each of her pieces is incredibly detailed, using the words on the pages she cuts apart to relate to her subject matter. I love how she bases her sculptures off of books or ideas and uses the pages from those books to create the sculpture. Paper mache sculptures are something I would like to explore more. After some experience with the technique in Art 2, I would like to continue to explore the concept. Perhaps I could use my inspiration from Celia Smith and from Janaki Lele to create my sculpture using a mixture of paper and wire. http://candidcuts.weebly.com/paper-mache-sculptures.html This week I finished my political art piece, inspired by work done by Brazilian mural artist Eduardo Kobra. I used watercolor and watercolor pencils for the hair, and colored pencils for the face. My technique was simple: first I drew the image of myself onto the paper and divided sections of my face using a ruler. Then I used colored pencil to fill in the various skin tones and the flag colors. Then I used black, brown and gray to create shadows on the face. Then I cut out the neck and shoulders and glued the tan parchment paper on from the back.
The text within the shoulders are quotes from our Founding Fathers, quotes about immigration, and Scripture that expresses my identity and my personal passions. To make this, I compiled all of the quotes into a Word document and printed it onto the parchment paper before cutting it and gluing it onto the back of my art piece. I wanted to express that our nation was founded on diversity, each person of every race and ethnicity created uniquely by God. The political identity of each person relies heavily on their cultural heritage, and a general acceptance of the origins of other people is essential. When we understand that every tribe, language, and nation is loved and created by God for the purpose of glorifying Him, we will learn to find acceptance and even respect for all people. I really enjoyed making this project, and the only thing I would change is to possibly add a background to the piece. This week I was able to complete the sketch of my political commentary piece. I did the sketch mostly with an HB pencil to keep the marks light enough that they wouldn't interfere when I went back in with colored pencil. After finishing the sketch, I dove right into the coloring. I was able to complete the bottom half of the face, creating a mosaic of the various skin colors and ethnicity. This process took awhile just because I had to continuously switch pencils and work on shading everyone out to be smooth and aesthetic. At first I wasn't sure that I liked how it looked, but after seeing it continue to come together I have hope that it will be successful. I am hoping that when I do the american flag and the colorful pattern on the forehead, the designs will mesh together rather than clash. Overall, I am excited about how this piece is coming along and I hope to accomplish a lot this weekend and going into next week.
3/2/2018 0 Comments Altering a Figure ChallengeThis week one of the challenges in class was to find an image of a person in a magazine and alter their identity using shapes, patterns, and color. I found the black and white image in a magazine an thought the man looked interesting, so I started by cutting him out of the magazine. Then I used the pattern of his tattoo to create lines on his body. Then, I found the background image in another magazine and used it as the mirror image of the man. However, the two versions of him contrast through bright colors, and the lack thereof. Then, I used the pattern of the cross design once again to cut out around the man in the background. Although I wasn't certain of the meaning behind this piece when I was creating it, I now see that it appears as though he is back to back with himself. His tattoo reads "Only God can judge me," indicating that he has liberated himself to do whatever he would like under the basis that only God judges. And he has turned his back on his own self-convictions, perhaps unwilling to face the person he truly is.
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May 2018
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