My original intentions of this project were to create a circular globe with red film covering it with a lightbulb inside. Then I would research the countries that consume the most energy per year, and the countries that consumed more would have less film covering them, allowing more light to shine through, and the countries that consumed less would have more film covering them up, allowing less light to shine through. I then changed my idea of a circular globe to a wooden cube (seen above), due to it being an easier 3d shape to make, and also having be more abstract. The ideas meant to be displayed in this project were supposed to be showing something statistic while also having an abstract art piece of the world; I wanted to explore the beauty of abstraction of information.

Growth and Destruction Sculpture

Consider our goals for this project:  Group collaboration, audience participation/interaction, 

Create a blog post.  Images collected are on the server for you to use as visuals.

There are three parts:  

1.  Reflection of the Process 

A.  describe the initial concept.  

The initial concept of our group sculpture was to create one that was interactive, attractive, and made the viewer think about what their actions caused. We wanted a sculpture that could be used by more than just the sense of sight; we wanted one that could use touch, sound, smell, and even taste. 

B.  What surprises came up for you in the process of creating this piece. (Interesting or inspiring Ideas, insights, opportunities that emerged in the process)

The transferring from our initial sketches to the final design. I think that the inspiration used from Rube Goldberg machines helped us a lot in where we landed with out final design. While creating the piece, it was surprising to see how a larger sculpture is created differently than a ceramic piece or something else much small. Doing things like digging holes, using exact measurements, etc. as opposed to just creating it from the mind shows the difference in a larger sculpture that requires may working components to a simpler one that does not. 

C.  Reflect on your participation in a group collaboration:  How well were you able manage and organize your work as a part of a larger collaborative team? To what degree were you able to assert your creative voice into the group?  What creative opportunities emerged as a result of collaboration (ways of working you would not have tried on your own.)

Having the initial meetings about what we were actually going to create was helpful with collaborating ideas. Being able to create a sketch and use it to give others inspiration while gaining inspiration from their ideas helped in creating a refined piece. Managing what one group or person would do in that class was relatively easy with the size of the class, and would normally be figured out at the beginning. With a group, we were able to create a piece much larger than one that would be created by myself. Using inspiration and help in construction of the piece from the group resulted in a collaborative effort. 

2.  Analyze the overall success of the product - conceptually, formally, aesthetically.  Consider observations of audience interaction during FAB as well as any direct responses.    

While watching the responses to the piece at FAB, it was generally successful in what we were trying to convey. Conceptually, the final result of the piece nearly matched our intentions, with almost all of the same core concepts(hammers almost hitting window, causing water to spill on a plant). At FAB, many people realized after swinging the hammers that they would not hit the window, and that they would cause the pitcher of water to splash some onto the plant. Aesthetically, we could have changed it to hide the watering can and plant, but the simplicity of the final design also caught many people's attention. 

3.  Consider your creative practice as a whole.  Compare working collaboratively to individual project development:  which is more comfortable?

Collaborative work allows for different ideas to be spread around and enables larger and more difficult creations. With smaller pieces, being individual is good because you are able to work on your own with something that can express only yourself. With a group, you are trying to express all of the groups ideas, which can be more difficult. I think being individual is more comfortable overall.

Where do you want to go in your artistic study for the remainder of the year?  What medium?   To what degree are you engaged conceptually, formally or expressively in your artistic practice (which areas are most important to you)?

I want to continue to explore with clay and the wheel. I like the idea of pottery and ceramics because the malublity of clay and the variety of the pieces that you are able to create. I enjoy working with the wheel because it is something that you need to learn and work on to be better at, and allows for the creation of many common items(plates, bowls, cups). Becoming knowledgeable in many different mediums of art is something I desire, but I would most like to continue working with clay. 

All of my selections were chosen because of the very perfect form. The "bulb" shape and nearly perfect circle attracts me because of the simplicity.

Artist Choice Blog

I chose the Holocaust Memorial by George Segal. I like this piece, and especially the expression and posture the man has. I feel a sense of hopelessness, and the quote "To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable. Faith means believing the unbelievable. Hope means hoping when everything seems hopeless." by Gilbert K. Chesterton

BEAM Project

The first idea I had was very similar to the final result, a slightly humanoid figure that is very abstract, while being three dimensional. The addition of a cylinder representing a head reinforced the idea of a human even more. When deciding to pain one side of it while painting the whole head, it was meant to represent being clean on one side while rough behind, while the head was meant to be what all humans aimed to be in their head, perfect and smooth. The conflicting colors of black and white represented good and evil in human nature, black being core good beliefs while the white being the evil poking off of everyone.

The idea to make it more clear that I was trying to demonstrate contrast on the back of the sculpture compared to the front. I liked the idea of making the back stained and roughing it up so it was more apparent on what I was trying to do. My idea of a humanoid figure with contrasting colors was reinforced of others, and the idea of making the rough background more apparent is something that I'll keep in mind in the future, that I should try to make subtle things more apparent if it is not very clear at first.

My work overall was successful in displaying what I wanted to show, and I think I was able to craft to the best of my ability. I used a multiple of tools, whether it was to sand, carve, or cut out the wood. My final concept on paper almost exactly matched my final result on wood, which I was happy with. My personal expression through sculpting was successful because of the way the sculpture flowed and had directional moment, similar to my desires of what I wanted it to be.

Year In Review

one. looking back over the course of the year, and your blog posts, which project or projects were the most engaging for you? Where did you fully own your process as an artist? where did you get lost in the material or the making of work? 

I feel as if the final, relief print project, was the project that fully exemplified my skill as an artist, mostly because I had the most experience beforehand.  The relief project and the charcoal were both engaging because of the way we subtracted the black instead of adding it on. The most difficult project was most likely the photography project because it was hard to have light shine how you wanted. 

two. you have had a year of tremendous artistic growth. where do you see that you have grown the most? think about the studio habits as you answer and explain--observe, stretch and explore, craft, express, understanding the art world, reflect. which of these areas do you feel the most comfortable with? how do you see that comfort showing up in your creative practice?

I feel the most comfortable in my ability to stretch and explore different ways to display what I want on the material. This comfort shows in my work because I enjoy making many different drafts to see how they work differently. This exploration helps with discovering how to do something. 

three. think about the things we've studied this year--line, form, shape, color, pattern, texture, positive & negative space. discuss a few of these terms that are the most engaging for you. what have you learned about them? how do you have a better understanding of them?

Negative and Positive space are the most engaging because they change the mood of a piece drastically. If a piece is mostly dark, it has a sad mood , where if a piece has a lot of whites, it has a lighter mood. Texture is also engaging because it can change the look very 

four. course evaluation. which assignments were the most successful? which assignments were the most frustrating? What are one or two things that Mr. O/Ms. Seal do really well? What is one important peice of advice that you would offer your teacher so that they could make this class better?

The most successful projects were the charcoal and relief print projects. The most frustrating project was the value photography because of depending on the time/type of day the lighting could change, and it was very hard to control the lighting. One thing Mr. O does well is explain how to convey what you want on the material. One bathing that could be better is more options during each project besides just what you want to draw/paint/photograph, such as in the sculpture project, when we could decide between clay and plaster. 

Carving project

I arrived at my image by first starting with very few and thin lines, which represented calm water. As more carving went on, I decided to make more rough and intense water because I felt it was more visually appealing, as well as making thicker lines on the canoe to make it easier to see. I enjoy making intense pieces of art with lots of directional movement and things happening.

Printing on paper from the cork that we carved out was an interesting experience because of the way you can only make lines, no real texture inside the whites, only around the edges of the carvings, for example making rough lines to represent rough water, and smooth lines to represent calm water. Although it took a while(and was messy) to apply the ink to the block each time you wanted to print, the printing experience was better than just drawing directly on a piece of paper, because you can carve away the black very precisely. This form of printing, with no grays available, made the image a lot simpper, but even so, you could use directional movement to move the lines in a certain direction. I learned how to represent the movement of water, which was by overlapping lines in different directions. 

The way the three images read left to right, first on a simple white, second on a bright yellow, and third to a mellow gold, work well together because the background is transforming from one color to another. The group agreed the water was very well represented, and that there is not much to change about it. They recommended maybe trying to fit the boat more into the piece, where as now it seems sort of placed on top. Because the boat is the focus of the piece, it should be more clearly defined.