"Pisces" block print 22 in by 17 in September 2019 EXHIBITION TEXT: My intention with this piece was to give myself a break from the hustle and bustle and create a peaceful work that is a part of my own identity I do this by carving a block print on blank and using blank black water based ink. I was inspired by Japanese prints and Astrology. Pisces is my own zodiac sign. |
Critical investigation
In my practice sketches for one of my summer projects, my second self portrait. I made a sketch with swirled clouds and a classmate told me it looks like japanese prints so i took direct inspiration from the most famous one I knew about. This one is so beautiful so I just had to include it on my website.
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My main inspiration was astrology. Around the time I was creating this there was a big change in astrology. The zodiac sign dates shifted. Making my "true" zodiac sign an aquarius. I dont believe in that so this piece is now a reclaiming piece. I am reclaiming a piece of my identity. While I have never really completely followed astrology and its tellings. I have always known i could identitfy with this, now its changed. Just being pisces and going with this flow, flying through life like the sky in my piece.
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Planning Drawings
This is my first sketch. Even though its my first sketch, its the sketch that I used for my final piece. This I felt wasnt just some doodle I made to fill a requiement for an art project. It was a part of my identtity. Whether zodiac signs are real, fantasy or not, its something that can apply to me.
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This was one of the sketches I had done before deciding on a final idea. I didnt like this one because I had already done so many "self portraits" and I feel kind of narcasistic now. I did like the swirls in the back idea though. I used that towards my final idea.
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Process, Ideas and Intentions
Process
Before you begin working with carving, color your block print black, this helps you see what you are carving, you can also plan out with pencil first
Make sure both block prints make sense.
take a good scope of ink
use barren to apply to paper
cut paper to make even
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Using the thinnest tool, carve the cloud designs spread apart
double check areas where they connect
spread a line of thick ink
peel off
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be careful and steady while carving. You want to turn the block print around to have equal pressure.
Here are all your materials
use brayer to spread ink evenly
compare and evalutate
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These are the tools i used while making this pisces
This is the ink you use on the print
apply ink to block print
clean and redo until you like it
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Experimentation
I needed to experiment with my black and white rice because i didn't have a food coloring for those colors. I ended up using acrylic paint instead of food color and I hoped for the best. It worked out but it wasn't the same texture of the other rice. I really struggled with this project as it gave us a lot of freedom and I was accustomed to just being told to do something and copy it. My ideas were very nature centered because I really admired Andy Goldsworthy but after this project I realize that I do not enjoy making art as Andy does. These are three examples of my attempts at being Andy. The first being, getting rocks to glue together so I could make wings, the second being putting lines onto a tree with the iron oxide of the creek nearby and the last being sticks put together to make a circle on the water.
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When I had started working on the base(box) I tried to use the coil method. This method did not work at all and I had to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to make this project work. My brother eventually gave me the idea to get the box out of cardboard first, which makes the piece even more mixed media. |
Reflection
I am extremely proud of this project. This was one of the hardest projects to come up with. I am very grateful for all the things I learned from this. I now know you cannot glue rocks together and that I do not like creating things like Andy Goldsworthy. I also remembered that I really dislike working with clay since the bad memories from creating coil pots had resurfaced. However, even with all the dislikes and struggles I managed to come out with a very nice piece. It came out exactly as I had wanted it to. The bright hues and the texture is perfect.
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Critique
I feel that my piece came out better than I had anticipated it to be. I originally thought it was going to look really childish and slapped together but that's not what happened. It does look like a cake instead of a clay and rice sculpture but I still think it looks very neat. The texture is perfect and the shape is perfect. I am so proud of myself for creating this piece. The unity of all the rainbow hues and the travelling of the eye from one area to the next by color is perfect. I love it!
Compare and Contrast
Similarities between my piece and Call for Couture :
Similarities between my piece and Final Phone:
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Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and it's effect upon your artwork?
Each of my inspirational pieces had a effect on my work in one way or another. For example, Since i had been inspired by odees collages it had effect on my work by giving me the idea of and ocean for my foreground and background
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
So Odee was describing himself and how he describes his art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas,culture,etc. While you researched your inspiration?
One generalization from Odee was that he didnt want to be associated with the typical artsy people and their sterotypes.
What is the central idea and theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea and theme around my research was to put feelings in my piece, from Salvador Dali and don't think about it too much, from Odee
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Odee wanted to visually express himself instead of making art.
Each of my inspirational pieces had a effect on my work in one way or another. For example, Since i had been inspired by odees collages it had effect on my work by giving me the idea of and ocean for my foreground and background
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
So Odee was describing himself and how he describes his art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas,culture,etc. While you researched your inspiration?
One generalization from Odee was that he didnt want to be associated with the typical artsy people and their sterotypes.
What is the central idea and theme around your inspirational research?
The central idea and theme around my research was to put feelings in my piece, from Salvador Dali and don't think about it too much, from Odee
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Odee wanted to visually express himself instead of making art.
Bibliography
1.“I Create Digital Colleges To Express Myself Visually.” Bored Panda,www.boredpanda.com/digital-collage-art-from-iceland/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic.
2. “15 Things You Didn't Know About The Persistence Of Memory.” Mental Floss, 21 May 2018, mentalfloss.com/article/62725/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-persistence-memory.
2. “15 Things You Didn't Know About The Persistence Of Memory.” Mental Floss, 21 May 2018, mentalfloss.com/article/62725/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-persistence-memory.