B.A Portfolio: week 3 reading

Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland pg 1-36

Through out this weeks reading the authors talked about doubting ones self and their art work. This is something that every artist struggles with during the process of creating their works. Its easy to feel self doubt when one doesn't entirely know where they want the work to go or what they want people to get out of it. What jumped out for me while reading was the statement "not many people continue making art when - abruptly- their work is no longer seen, no longer exhibited, no longer commented upon, no longer encouraged." I think many of us as students tend to quit making art work once the semester is over because there's no one their who is critiquing the work or telling us to continue creating more works. With out that some what of a support system to keep pushing and encouraging us to create more, motivation gets lost because there's no one to show the work to who would make comments and suggestions. Even i have felt this as the summer begins and I become busy with family, friends, and working. Though this summer I tried to encourage myself to continue creating art outside of the classroom environment.

B.A Portfolio: week 2 critique

During the first critique not much was said about my work. One said this was because there wasn't much to go on due to my images just being simple black and white portraits which is a medium everyone has seen before. It was suggested that I try doing photos of inanimate objects and use lighting to have the objects provoke emotions. In the beginning I was asked whether I wanted to continue with portraits or do landscape photography, something I would like to explore going further. 

B.A Portfolio: Week 2 works

Process:

 Finished Works:

Reflection:

For week two I wanted to start off with some simple black and white portraits that portrayed emotions. I had no clothing showing with in the image as to not distract from the emotions of the subject. To me doing this as photographs rather than a drawing or painting gives a deeper level of emotion because photos capture a moment in real time rather than an artists interpretation of the moment.

B.A Porfolio: week 2 reading

The Critique

In the reading the author suggest the way to acquire any value from a critique is to detach oneself from their artwork. During a critique, the audience gives their interpretations of whats placed physically in front of them. Whether these interpretations reflect the message the artist is trying to portray doesn't mean the artist is bad or the piece doesn't work. Peoples' interpretations of the art work stem from their own knowledge and past experiences. The meaning the artist intends the piece to have could be miles apart from the audiences perception of the work but hearing these other interpretations can help the artist to further clarify their intentions. It is good for the artist not to just react to the criticism given and be defensive but to take what is being said to further the piece. The reading also mentions the argument of originality. Within art, artists usually give references to other artist or seems cliche whether intentional or not. Everyday we are surrounded by millions of images that influence art. It is thought that being conversed in art history helps achieve this originality though with this it is hard not to be influenced or elude to an-others' art work. Everyone is bombarded everyday by millions of images that give examples of what is thought of art to be. With these references embedded in ours heads it is difficult to steer away from those and be completely original especially when trying to clarify the meaning of the piece.

Final Project

For my final project I continued with illustrating different mythological creatures as well as illustrating poems. Three of the hanging balls contain illustration of mythological creatures from different cultures with the colors used reflecting the flag of the country of the culture. The other two hanging balls illustrate the poems I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Mia Angelo and A Red Red Rose by Robert Burns. Two of the background drawings illustrate mythological creature and the other illustrates Annabel Lee by Edgar Allen Poe. The drawings were drawn using pencil on tracing paper with the test of the poem and the story associated with the creature showing through.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-red-red-rose/
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings/
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174151

Drawing on Objects

Using clear plastic ornaments I illustrated different mythological creature. I chose to do three different cultures of mythologies. The colors I used are associated with the colors of the flags from the countries of the cultures. The blue one illustrates creatures from Greek mythology. The creatures I chose from Greek mythology are the Pegasus,  the Kraken and Cerberus. The green one illustrates the Irish mythological creatures; a dragon, a kelpie, and a banshee. The red one illustrates creatures from Egyptian mythology. Shown are the phoenix, gryphon, and the god Anubis.

Quick Challenge: Transparent

For the transparent challenge I experimented with creating different layers with tracing paper that would create a drawing when but together.