End of Term Reflection

This term was a challenging term but one that I learned a lot about my abilities and the way I approach and think about my artwork. For my theme I would base all my projects around I chose Identity. I worked with both a more personal interpretation of the theme, and a broader interpretation. For my Note cards I chose broad and personal aspects of Identity to work with. When doing the images from images project I used a lot of the methods that I had worked with in mixed media last term. After having taken that class my mindset has changed. When approaching a new art work I don't think to just use pencil or just use paper, I see all the different medias working together to make new textures. I also used some cutting paper methods from last term. For my symbolic still life I decided to paint 3 masks. This was my most challenging project, but the one that I learned the most from. Per usual, I began by sketches on newsprint, I didn't use my sketch book for brainstorming, I worked better on the newsprint. Getting started was tough. But after deciding to just get paint on the canvas I was able to get started with shaping and shading the masks. With this project I was able to let go a little bit and move forward with out a full plan. This is still a challenge for me but doing this painting helped me realize that not only did I really enjoy painting, but I was better than I thought I would be.

This class was a bit of a challenge after having taken mixed media because I was just starting to feel a little comfortable with the freedom of ideas and materials and then in this class it was more concept based.

I still have to work on motivating myself to get work done, and being able to try new things with out a firm plan.

symbolic still life

For my still life I placed together 3 masks to represent my theme of Identity. For my other projects with this theme I had taken a more person approach to Identity, taking aspects of my own life to compare. For this project I wanted to capture the broader theme of identity. The masks represent people covering up their identity, but also having different aspects of their identity that they can put on when they feel like it. To really capture the essence of the masks I decided to paint them. I stretched and gessoed my first canvas. I began by drawing sketches of the masks on scrap paper just to get the shapes right. I then moved to lightly sketching on the canvas. This became a stressful and very frustrating. I decided that I just needed to start to paint. I began by getting a layer of blue on the canvas that would eventually become the fabric that the masks are sitting on. Finally getting pain on the canvas was encouraging. I proceeded to shape the masks with the paint then worked on getting the shading right. I was feeling pretty good about this painting until I started on the third mask (the one on the left). I could not get the color right, or the shading. It was SO frustrating. This mask was very intimidating and made me hesitant to begin. I worked on the other masks, refining the shading and colors. In the end I'm really glad I decided to paint for this project. I hadn't really painted much before and I really liked it. This painting will probably never get finished, but it was a really great starting point for my painting. I learned that I enjoyed painting and that I could do it better than I thought. It helped me learn to face things head on when I had to just jump in to the painting with out a firm outline.

Images From Images

This was the larger image of a 1"x 1" cut out square from an index card. This card was the word "Rose" which came off the card with my signature "Kayla Rose". I picked this because a signature is a very personal/unique aspect of a person's identity. Personally, I am very attached to my middle name so it was important for me to incorporate it into the projects using my personal Identity. To make this I wrote out the signature part with a hot glue gun. I then Spray painted it red (like a rose). I then tore the hot glue off and re-glued it slightly above the original like a shadow. This technique I had experimented with when doing the tiny pictures project on the index cards.

This image is of a blown up version of an image on an index card with another index card image cut out. Dancing is a really important part of my identity, as well as Judaism. Dance is basically my life, which is what the hebrew letters mean, life. First I painted the paper blue, my favorite color. Then I used an xacto knife to cut out the "chai" and cut out a large silhouette and pasted it on.

This is an image incorporating an index card into a larger piece of work. Recently I have gotten into target shooting as a hobby and hobbies are an important part of a persons identity. The gun is a xerox transfer that I then cut out. The vertical image in an index car where I drew with a glue gun, spray painted over it, then tore off the glue. This is supposed to be the smoke coming out of the gun. The part on the left is a xerox transfer of a bullet and the air around it after having been shot. Last term we did some work with xerox transfers and I really liked the look of it. I have been incorporating this technique into my other works.

planning for symbolic still life

Describe briefly your plan for The Symbolic Still Life project. Explain what kinds of objects you think you will use and why...how do they relate to some aspect of your theme. How will you arrange them and why? What materials will you use for this project and how big will you be working and why?

For my symbolic still life I am going to try to capture the broader theme of Identity. I plan to place masks arranged together possibly in front of mirrors. I want to try to show the more questioning side of what is identity. I think masks are symbolic of people trying to hide their identity or possibly wearing different identities. There is always something more behind the mask just like there are multiple faces to a person's identity. The masks will be places closely together or possibly laying on top of each other to show the different forms an identity can be. I will be using charcoal and pencil for this project because I like the smudginess and messiness of charcoal. It can make things blurry, just like an identity can be blurry, and pencil can be definite and clean like other forms of identity can be. These two materials show the different sides of identity. It can be clear cut like having brown eyes, or more uncertain like beliefs.

Tiny Pictures

My theme for this project was Identity. To represent this theme I showed the broad theme of identity through community(the people holding hands). I also showed the physical parts of your identity like finger prints. I showed more abstract personality traits like the rings a person chooses to wear or the astrological sign. I have a picture of a signature, which is an individual expression of ones identity. Another aspect of identity is the communities to which one belongs like a religious group, a camp, or a country. I included also hobbies, becuase those represent a persons passions.

Planing for Opposite Project

For my opposite project i am planning to compare sports, like soccer or volleyball, and dance. Some people think that dance isn't a sport. It is, but it's just different than a sport like volleyball. I want to show the differences but also show that they have things in common too. I hope to juxtapose equipment, clothing, hair, posture, positions, and other qualities of each activity. This relates to my theme because I play both volleyball and I am a dancer too. Identity includes different parts of you, and sometimes those parts seem to oppose each other.

statement of purpose

What questions can you formulate about your theme (at least 4)?

what is identity?

what defines who you are?

self-identification vs. how others see you?

physical characteristics vs. personal qualities?

This theme connects to my life because there are many aspects of my life that make up my identity. There are still aspects that are works in progress, or that I'm unsure about. There are others that I know are very important pieces of who I am. There are the physical things like brown eyes and hair and more personal things like family and hobbies.

Theses things pertain to everyone around the world. Everyone is different and they see themselves differently. Everyone has an identity, some are more sure about theirs than others, some change.

When I think of identity I think first of faces. Then of peoples passions like soccer or dance. I see the clothes that people wear all around the world. I see the different religions and cultures.

The media is constantly trying to tell people what they should look like and what they should wear. It is important that people stay true to who they are regardless of what people are trying to make them think that they should be.

I chose this theme because there are so many ways to think about it. It can be very personal or very global. There are so many little things that go into a persons identity.