NCMA

1. I loved this painting immediately because it's a beautiful landscape piece and it's a lot like the art I wish I was able to do. My own art is similar to this, but not as breathtaking and detailed. My favorite thing about this is the water and the clouds.

2. I didn't like this piece at first because it seemed too simple and not enough thought was put into it. But after I read the description, I realized it had more meaning behind it. The piece represents the way that children especially are forced into a sedentary, boring education. I can relate to this message a lot and I believe that most people who have gone to public school would.

3. 

I have no appreciation for this piece. I don't believe that it was well done, and it looks like it was a thoughtless work. I don't like the abstract feel because to me, it was not well done or polished. 

The description of the piece did not explain the artwork at all or its meaning.

Never Got A Chance To Say

I chose to do a landscape picture of Naples, Italy because that city holds great emotional significance for me. My dad was raised there, and my family still lives in Naples. I will most likely only get to visit a few more times in my life, and its significance to me will always be hidden away. I chose to do use acrylic paint on canvas because it is the medium I enjoy the most, and I wanted to have fun with this project. My print is a simplified image of my painting. 

Non-Traditional Materials

        Sugar, Spice, and Everything Nice

For my non traditional material project, I knew I wanted to do something with trees. It was fall and I was already thinking about thanksgiving and holiday food, so I got the idea to use spices. The woman is in a wedding dress to show her femininity. Her dress is made up of the sugar. Her skin is made up of an onion spice, and the trees are made up of nutmeg, pumpkin spice, and a few other spices. For the ground, I found that thyme leaves worked well and made it really look like dry grass. I used spray on glue to get everything to stick to the paper, and it was really difficult to keep the spices from spraying everywhere. I ended up having to redo the project once because I made the woman's dress out of salt and sugar first to avoid attracting ants, but the glue had a weird reaction with the salt and bled through the paper.

Post-Modern Principle Project

       Post-Modern Principle Project

I chose juxaposition for my principle because I think it allowed a lot of creativity. I put chickens behind the register at McDonalds and cows were the customers and I love how out of place this seems. The theme of money in the picture depicts the corruption of the food industry, particularly with the mistreatment of animals.

The Best Art Supply Store Doesn't Sell Art Supplies

The great thing about not using traditional art supplies is it leaves a lot of doors open. Potentially anything could be considered an art supply, and it's up to the artist to decide what to use. I personally don't like creating sculptures however, and most of the projects shown in the article were sculptures. I prefer using my creativity to paint and create 2D artwork and I don't feel that I should be considered less creative because of this. 

Here are some art pieces made from non traditional art supplies like candy and wood: 

This piece of art is really cool because it uses creepy doll parts to make a head. This project wouldn't be nearly as interesting if it was made with traditional art supplies.

This Marilyn Monroe was made with candy although r it may not look like it. It's so well pieced together that it sets it apart from all of the other mundane artwork done of her. 

This non traditional piece of artwork is really cool because it incooperates nature. Using rings from trees is a unique idea and are not available in traditional art stores. 

Here is another piece made from candy because making art from candy seems to be a standard for non traditional art. I like how the sweet candy contrasts with the deathly theme in this piece. 

It's sort of hard to tell in this picture but this is a sculpture created out of nails. I like this use of non traditional art materials because it's not clear what medium was used, and it seems that there is a reflection off of the piece that makes it look like feathers. 

Art without meaning is decoration?

To me, art is any expression of creativity. If art isn't meant to be looked at, what is it meant for? Art is meant to be seen, and appreciated, which makes most art decoration by definition. However, in cases where artists are poked and prodded into doing a very specific theme, the creativity in the work melts away, and it no longer is art; it becomes decoration. 

Essential questions

Is it good or bad to be lost? I chose the word lost because I think it's a vague word that all humans can relate to. Is being lost mentally or physically a peaceful or sinister thing? In my painting, the path disappears, becoming the trees. Whoever is walking on the path has nowhere to go, though it may look like there is an end destination at first glance. 

Olivia Gude

Olivia Gude does not want art to be confined to a few elemenets of art, but she does want people to recognize new postmodern principles that are emerging and changing the way we look at art. My favorite is Juxapostion and Recontextualization because they both create a new idea using old ideas or creations. I like the symbolic meaning that can be put behind these two elements and I think it contributes to the beauty of art.

Color Project

For my first Art 3 project, I chose to use color as my theme. Color is such a vast element that the door was wide open to to create whatever I wanted, and I could make something lively and vibrant. I chose to use acrylic paint because I've always enjoyed painting more than any other medium and I feel that I am most skilled when using it. Paint is a great medium to create any color one can think of, so it went with my theme. I had intended on painting a beautiful scenery picture that reminded me of fall, my favorite season. However, the painting ended up looking a bit apocalyptic, and I went with it. 

Melt Illustration Friday

Final Project

• Has your definition of art clanged since from the beginning of this class?

My definition of art has evolved throughout this class in a variety of ways. The most significant difference in myself and the way I view art is in realizing that art does not have to be perfect. I prefer to paint and draw rather than to sculpt, and I like precise, "perfect" looking art. Sculpture is not my best area, and this resulted in many projects turning out to be less exact because I had much less control over my piece. My dwelling project is the best example of this change, because it is an abstract piece that is not nearly perfect, but is unique art. 

              Dwelling Porject 

Do over: If given the opportunity, which project would you do over? Describe why and how you would redo this project. Reasons might include choosing a different theme, using a different medium or creating a different idea completely. Include photo.

                 Human and Nature

For this project, I came up with what I think is a unique idea that wasn't carried out well. I made a vase containing a human heart/rose to match the theme. The rose/heart looks a little messy, but overall I think it looked okay. The sculpture ended up exploding in the kiln because I didn't hollow out the case and it must have contained air bubbles. Now that I have more knowledge on how to work with clay, I'd redo this project and use my new knowledge to successfully create this sculpture. 

 

                      

                      

Choose 1 piece of art that you used skills and techniques learned from previous projects.  Discuss your growth as an artist and how you incorporated these skills and techniques to create the piece.

           

                     Animal Head

I have already explained that I don't particularly enjoy working with clay, so I dreaded having to use this median again. However, I found that making my fox head was much easier than I anticipated. The skills I used in the Human and Nature Project (picture above this one) really helped me out and taught me how to work with clay more delicately. I learned how to correctly hollow out my piece so it wouldn't explode in the kiln. Although this piece isn't perfect, I believe that I improved so much in my use of clay. 

•  Which project was your most successful? Describe the theme and or topic and the process you went through to complete the project. 

                        Free Project

This project was the most enjoyable and the most successful for me throughout this class because I was allowed to choose anything I wanted. I love dream catchers and have always wanted to learn how to make one. I used a recycled hoop, beads I already had, string from the classroom, and only had to purchase feathers; all of this was roughly 3 dollars. I spend an hour on YouTube learning how to create the inside of the dream catcher, which was tedious at first, but when I finally caught on, it was easy and fun. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to do this project because I now know how to make something new that I truly love. 

•  What is a technique you used in your artwork that worked well? Explain what technique it was and why it was successful.

                     Pit Firing Piece

I loved learning the foil sagging technique throughout this project. My ability to create out of cray had already improved so much, and learning to pit fire helped me create new and unique pieces that were so vastly different than the artwork I had created before. The pit firing technique to bake the clay create strange and unique colors on my price, making it interesting and distinct as art. Learning this technique helped me to improve as an artist, giving me more options in the future to use while working with clay. 

Pit Firing

                 Bowl of Strawberries

Although I am not a big fan of clay, I really enjoyed this project. I wanted to create something that I could put in my room or bathroom and still use, so I made a simple bowl. To make my project more interesting, I made some little strawberries to put inside. Shaping the strawberries took the most time, and I wanted to get them just right. I never had the piece fired in the kiln regularly ,and I was excited to see how it would turn out after the pit firing. I put my bowl and the strawberries seperatly in aluminum foil with sticks and leaves. Because I didn't fire the piece beforehand, it my bowl has a very dark look on the interior, which I love. I wish that the strawberries had turned out darker, but I love the parts of them that turned out red. I enjoyed learning a new method to bake clay, and I would definitely pit fire again.

Dadaism Extra Credit

                    Block of Cheese

When I first heard that we were going to be working with plaster, I was dreading this project. I began carving into the plaster, desperately trying to make some sort of interesting shape or form out of the hard white block. I realized that there was no way I could create an interesting curved figure out of the block with the clay tools available, so I decided to make something much simpler. I felt my plaster, and realized that it had the same texture as cheese; smooth and soft. I then decided to make a slice of a block of cheese, and carved downwards, adding big holes as I went. At the end, it didn't look quite like cheese, so I painted it yellow to make it more obvious. I did not particularly enjoy working with the plaster, but I did enjoy learning this new method. I have worked with plaster before; back in middle school, I made a human figure out of strips of player, which I did not enjoy. This project made working with plaster easier and more enjoyable than my past experiences with this medium.

Dwelling

    What I liked about this project was getting to chose whatever medium I wanted to create a dwelling. We were given limits on how much clay we could use if we chose to use clay, and I didn't use cardboard or paper because I didn't want to work with a hot glue gun. I got the idea to create a transparent house with a deeper symbolic meaning. The wire house is all connected, and I like the abstract, even eerie feeling it gives off. The house seems sturdy; it has four walls and windows, but inside, it's empty. I love the 3D representation of this house. The house is not perfect; it has wire spirals and twists but that's what makes it unique. It was too difficult to create the house without ever cutting the wire, but I did so with different sections of the house to create that abstract effect. I wouldn't change anything about this project; it does a good job representing its given meaning and has a unique feel. 

What is pit firing?

1. What is a pit firing? What is a foil saggar? What is a paper saggar? Include pictures for all. 

Pit firing is the original method for 'baking clay' that dates back thousands of years ago. The pit fire puts color and pattern on the pots during the process. It is done by making a pit or hole in the ground that is at lest a food and a half deep,  and filling it with a combination of saw dust, grass and wood shavings as the first layer. Then, newspaper can be put in to protect the pots or ceramics. Then, it is light on fire. The ceramics put into the pit will get unique imprints from the pit firing, adding a lot of character to the piece. 

A foil sagger is a container in which ceramics can be placed in during a firing, or a covering that goes over them, such as aluminum foil. Saggars trap the smoke in with the ceramic, so it can be absorbed by the piece. This process is to drastically change the look of the piece. 

Ferric Chloride can be put on the piece during the process. I even read aboutone technique that involved the use of sugar.

 

Paper sagging is the same as aluminum foil sagging in concept, but typically newspaper is used for this type of sagging. The newspaper is wrapped tightly around the ceramic piece to trap in the smoke, and imprint the pot with a unique design. It's like putting 'mummifying' the piece.

2. What makes these techniques special?

What makes these techniques special is they can always be adjusted by the artist. The length of time that the piece is in the pit fire, and what median is used for sagging the piece greatly influence the overall look of the piece. Any minuscule change in the process can create drastically different results that may be difficult to recreate. This makes every piece special and unique in its own way. There can be a 40% breakage rate with pit firing, making it a very risky process for artists, but one that is rewarding if the cernaics do come out in one piece. 

Free Project

I love dreamcatchers and had a really strong urge to make one, but I didn't know when the opportunity would arise in a sculpture class until the free project. This dreamcatcher cost almost nothing to make; I used a recycled wooden ring that Ms.Sudkamp found, and the string and yarn I used from the classroom cost virtually nothing. I used beads I already had, but I had to purchase feathers (plucking them for free off of birds would've been too gross). The limitation of $3 or less wasn't a problem for me. Learning to make the dream catcher was fun, yet challenging. I watched at least 5 videos on Youtube to figure out how to make the pattern in the center of the ring. I feel that the end result is very successful. 

Vessel

http://pinterest.com/sabrinadz12/vessels/

When I began this project, I had a very different vision than how the final project ended up.  I had wanted to create a unique shape with the wire, and have the spider-webby wire pattern be filled in lightly with tissue paper, creating a see through sculpture.  This was alot more difficult than it seemed, and the wire was not as bendable as I had hoped.  The tissue paper tore if I only put a thin layer on, and this resulted in me being forced to add more until it was no longer see-through like I had originally envisioned.  However, I'm proud of the final project due, as it took alot of hot glue gun burns to create it.  I still succeeded in creating a sculpture out of wire and tissue paper, although it ended up different than my goal had been. 

Animal Head

 This project was pretty challenging for me, because I had difficulty making the head hollow, yet still sturdy.  I like how my fox head turned out, although I would go back and smooth it out if I could.  The biggest challenge was the eyes, and I feel that they could be improved to create a more realistic feel of the overall piece.  Painting my animal head will be fun, and hopefully will improve the look of the sculpture.

Styrogami

Relief

This was the hardest mini lesson for me simply because of the x-acto knives. I hate working with dry mediums and I hated scraping through the cardboard. I feel that the final result is good, however the process was tedious. 

To me, the clay tile mini lesson was pretty easy and fun because it was on a flat surface, which is easiest for me, and I enjoy working with clay. I liked my idea for this lesson and it was enjoyable to create. My biggest challenges with this lesson was the dryness of the clay, and I failed to smooth the clay at the end. 

My final piece was inspired by the theme Human and Nature.

How did you use your own unique ideas in your work?

I've always been fascinated by the human heart and doodle it all over my papers. I wanted to combine human and nature in a creative way, and when I sketched my project it came out just as I imagined it. The heart was drawn to resemble a rose, to be a heart/flower in a vase. 

What is this art intended to say? 

When I was creating this piece, I did it with the idea in mind of the connection humans have with nature. I didn't want to simply mush together a human and nature theme, so I used the idea of the heart, a symbol for human capacity for love and soul, to combine with a plant that lacked that capability. The work is intended to show the contrast between intelligent life and nonintelligent life, while highlighting the greater beauty in a simpler life form that cannot be achieved by humans alone.