EXHIBITION TEXT |
The main motive of this project was to achieve a certain level of understanding on linoleum block prints through process and experimentation. By doing so I was able to create "One Different Moon" and reflect on the process. This piece focuses on Mexican immigrants and their struggles. It relies on symbolism and the idea of "perspective" expressed trough expressions. Its inspired by two artist and their different use of technique as well as concept which include, Elizabeth Chalet and Martha Kelly. Through the use of line and value emphasis was incorporated within the piece. The material/ medium used were all purchased to create this piece.
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INSPIRATION
Boyhood- Martha Kelly
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Martha Kelly was my main source of inspiration for technique whose use of emphasis was incorporated within my project. When analyzing most of her block prints I noticed that for the most part she used emphasis through the different use of value and movement. She would have a central focus on he price and surround it with different lines and patterns creating movement in the background. I liked this concept therefore I knew I would incorporate it in my own piece.
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I liked the stories told from the artist Elizabeth chalet she focused a lot on representation of African American women and their struggles. I knew I wanted to connect my piece to something personal, when I explored her pieces I decided to focus on immigration and its struggles. I wanted to create a portrait that reflected feelings through facial expressions to have the viewer wonder what it meant. This specific piece of Elizabeth chalet is what pushed me to create something similar, thus decided to focus on expressions and portraits for my piece. I use both the technique of Martha Kelly and similar concepts of Elizabeth Chalet to come up with my piece .
Sharecropper 1952- Elizabeth Catlett
PLANNING
It was hard to come up with a set idea, to begin I started gathering information about artist I could potentially use for inspiration. I gathered some pieces and wrote a couple of their general concepts/techniques.
I then began to look into more specific pieces. Some pieces were not related to the past artists but were just pieces that would help me pull my ideas together. I gathered these pieces in categories that helped me organize my ideas better. By doing so I was able to efficiently annotate them. Continuously I added specific ideas onto my planning and looked at specific parts of these specific pieces that would help me form a more narrow list of ideas. I was able to create my first idea for the final piece as seen below . I reflected on my ideas and noticed that most of the pieces I enjoyed were focused on death and had the form of skeletons symbolize this, which is why I decided I wanted to use skeletons thus coming up with this idea. The skeletons represent the deaths of immigrants, walking to the end of their path which symbolizes their life. Although the skeletons didn't have any form of facial expression I expressed their emotions through their body movement. I use emphasis by placing the moon behind the figures of the skeleton to symbolize a form of light in their darkness. Despite liking the concept of this piece I ended up not completing it due to the aesthetic aspect of the piece I was not satisfied. FIRST IDEA: |
For the following idea I began by just sketching a portrait of someone. I knew I still wanted to focus on emphasis and movement. I decided to use the same concept of the moon to represent light in darkness, and I still wanted to focus on immigration. I decided that through different expressions I would create the idea of perspectives and bring awareness to immigration. I wanted to have two people facing upwards to the moon with different expressions. I really wanted to focus on portraits and expressions like Elizabeth Chalet did, so I thought the by doing this, I would clearly express my focus. I could create different expressions to symbolize different perspectives. One would be an immigrant with a worried expression not wanting the day to end knowing that any day could be the last, whereas the other would be a regular citizen having a carefree expression looking and admiring the beauty of the moon. Despite the contrasting expressions they would both be looking at the same thing in this case being the moon. The piece focuses on the contrast between two people and their different perspective towards the same concept.
PROCESS
side to side comparison of some block prints:
CRITIQUE
Similarities:
My piece along with Martha Kelly both share similar use of movement in the background through the use of lines. Elizabeth chalet and my piece both share the concept of scale struggle and expressions. despite the lack of professionalism in mine it is clear to see where the similarities within both these artists. Another significant similarity between both artists and my work is the use of black and white along with the clear fact they are both block prints.
Differences:
Martha Kelly's piece uses silhouettes and usually only focuses on her background which is something I did not do. I used facial expressions instead of just silhouettes to bring emotion to the piece. With Elizabeth Chalet it is clear to see that her piece incorporated a lot more detail and hatching. It is a much more focused piece as it has one single focus and is throughly detailed. She creates a very well form of value as she applies different thickness to her lines. In my piece my expressions are a lot more simple and general. I focus more on the eyebrows and mouths and angles to create different expressions as it was hard to work in detail knowing that there was more to the piece that just the two individuals.
My piece along with Martha Kelly both share similar use of movement in the background through the use of lines. Elizabeth chalet and my piece both share the concept of scale struggle and expressions. despite the lack of professionalism in mine it is clear to see where the similarities within both these artists. Another significant similarity between both artists and my work is the use of black and white along with the clear fact they are both block prints.
Differences:
Martha Kelly's piece uses silhouettes and usually only focuses on her background which is something I did not do. I used facial expressions instead of just silhouettes to bring emotion to the piece. With Elizabeth Chalet it is clear to see that her piece incorporated a lot more detail and hatching. It is a much more focused piece as it has one single focus and is throughly detailed. She creates a very well form of value as she applies different thickness to her lines. In my piece my expressions are a lot more simple and general. I focus more on the eyebrows and mouths and angles to create different expressions as it was hard to work in detail knowing that there was more to the piece that just the two individuals.
EXPERIMENTATION
REFLECTION
Looking back at my piece I am able to understand my mistakes and recognize how I could improve. I believe my biggest mistake was not being focused on one specific idea since the beginning. By not having a concrete mind plan I wasted a lot of significant time. I would go back and forth on what to do and would find too much stuff that would cluster up together leaving sloppy ideas. Despite that and taking into consideration the process of making I would say I would focus on finding the correct tools to utilize for different aspects of the piece. For example when working on the expression of the individuals using a smaller and sharper tool might have helped create better detail. When creating the small lines within the lines in the background perhaps using a sharper instead of round tool could have helped create the illusion of fading as the thickness of the small lines would narrow down. Overall asa whole the project helped me gain a new experience. Despite never working with this medium before it was interesting to see what the medium is capable of creating along with how different tools and techniques can create different looks and styles. As I reflected back on my individual work and of others I was able to gain knowledge and understanding of how this medium works and how it can be used in the future.
ACT QUESTIONS
1) Clearly explain and describe how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork
By focusing on social struggles and implication of emphasis I was able to incorporate new styles on my artwork and experiment with these different approaches. While focusing on something personal I was able to find artists to relate to and apply similar concepts onto my work.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Despite both Artists not directly speaking about immigration they both focus on similar aspects. Elizabeth on one hand focuses on social struggles. Martha Kelly focuses on more broad themes and generic ideas like the concept of a family or the feelings of joy, sadness/ etc. through her pieces however she is able to transfer emotions through the use of her backgrounds despite having no form of facial expressions and rather just silhouettes.
3)what kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc, while you researched your inspiration
I came to realize that ideas can be expressed in various ways through different techniques there is no right or wrong. It does not matter how it is expressed, each artist has their own perspective and each apply their knowledge through different aspects by doing so it helps create a larger audience left to interpret its meaning.
4) What was the central idea of theme around your inspirational research
My central idea of theme around my inspirational research was generally Mexico, I just wanted to incorporate Mexican culture/ struggles/ art/ etc. within my piece. In some way shape or form I wanted my piece to reflect on Mexico and because that is such a broad topic it was hard to choose something specific and narrow dow my ideas. This made it difficult to come up with one central focus.
5) what kind of inferences(conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that there will aways be something to express, for instance immigration the theme I focused on. It can be expressed through different categories and ideas despite various pieces falling onto this general theme each can look completely different and no matter what a piece focuses on the way it is expressed is what makes it distinct.
By focusing on social struggles and implication of emphasis I was able to incorporate new styles on my artwork and experiment with these different approaches. While focusing on something personal I was able to find artists to relate to and apply similar concepts onto my work.
2)What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Despite both Artists not directly speaking about immigration they both focus on similar aspects. Elizabeth on one hand focuses on social struggles. Martha Kelly focuses on more broad themes and generic ideas like the concept of a family or the feelings of joy, sadness/ etc. through her pieces however she is able to transfer emotions through the use of her backgrounds despite having no form of facial expressions and rather just silhouettes.
3)what kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc, while you researched your inspiration
I came to realize that ideas can be expressed in various ways through different techniques there is no right or wrong. It does not matter how it is expressed, each artist has their own perspective and each apply their knowledge through different aspects by doing so it helps create a larger audience left to interpret its meaning.
4) What was the central idea of theme around your inspirational research
My central idea of theme around my inspirational research was generally Mexico, I just wanted to incorporate Mexican culture/ struggles/ art/ etc. within my piece. In some way shape or form I wanted my piece to reflect on Mexico and because that is such a broad topic it was hard to choose something specific and narrow dow my ideas. This made it difficult to come up with one central focus.
5) what kind of inferences(conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I came to the conclusion that there will aways be something to express, for instance immigration the theme I focused on. It can be expressed through different categories and ideas despite various pieces falling onto this general theme each can look completely different and no matter what a piece focuses on the way it is expressed is what makes it distinct.
CITATIONS
Elizabeth Catlett. sharecropper. 1952, published 1968–70: Moma. The Museum of Modern Art. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2021, from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/88189.
Figures. MARTHA KELLY ART. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2021, from https://www.marthakellyart.com/figures.html.
Category: Exhibition. BANDOLERO PRESS. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2021, from https://www.bandoleropress.com/propaganda/category/exhibition.
Figures. MARTHA KELLY ART. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2021, from https://www.marthakellyart.com/figures.html.
Category: Exhibition. BANDOLERO PRESS. (n.d.). Retrieved October 2, 2021, from https://www.bandoleropress.com/propaganda/category/exhibition.