Final Project Reflection

This is the paper that I wrote for Walking/Looking/Making about my final project.  Just thought I would share...

     Although I did completely chance my idea of my final project, I feel as though this concept came more from the heart, and would have been less tedious than creating a papercut forest.  This project was about taking actual leaves that had fallen from the trees in places where our class has hiked and recreating them to illustrate their rich textures and colors as well as to show how different each and every leaf can be.  Autumn is my favorite season, and studying these leaves was a way for me to create archival copies of changing leaves.

     On class hikes, I made sure to pick up leaves that looked as though they had fallen recently.  I was looking for leaves that were filled with reds, oranges, and purples.  I was especially drawn to leaves that were in the process of deteriorating.  The tiny, intricate skeletons of leaves are something that I have not noticed before, but the complexity of them is just astonishing and filled with texture.

     I was trying to be experimental in how I put together these specimen drawings together in a way that would focus on the color and texture.  Originally, I was preparing to use layered vellum for the drawings, but past experimentation with watercolor and vellum did not turn out as I wanted.  I opted for tracing paper, which is traditionally used for sketching and practicing, not final drawings.  Two layers of tracing paper, one with the colors similar to the actual leaf, and the other with the Micron pen textures, were cut into the shapes of the actual leaves, and glued onto a plate of glass.  The plate of glass was intended to have candles back lighting the drawings, but tea lights did not do the colors justice.  I was nervous that I was unable to capture the essence of autumn because when staring straight onto the drawings, the white of the tracing paper was overwhelming.  I then dyed the layered paper with coffee in order to make them seem warmer, but it did not do much difference.  The drawings curled and wrinkled when wet, and after ironing them they retained tiny wrinkles that I found quite lovely.  After hanging the framed pieces on the chain link fence where they were presented, the setting sun cast a golden light on them.  When night fell, the natural glow was replaced with two spotlights that did not look half bad.

     By putting deteriorating leaves on display, this piece demands that the viewer notice the fallen.  These are the leaves that have fallen early in the season and the leaves that people do not notice in the crisp, autumn evenings.  These are the leaves that the class tramples over in their hasty finish to the hike.  My purpose in making this piece was to show others a part of nature that is often forgotten.

"Make each day of the week like Friday and your life will take on new enthusiasm."

—Byron Pulsifer

My Friday was just so eventful. 

I had my last art history class of the semester (woo hoo!) and then hurried back to my disastrous apartment to finish up my project for George's Walking/Looking/Making class.  At about 4:30 I headed over to the Art Alley, where we were displaying our work in a Get Green show.  The alley is such a mysterious, magical place.  Tucked away behind the Engine Room, St. Michael's Pub, and Paul Putkovsky's artist studio, this is a place where inspiration and nature intertwine.  This alley is often frequented with drifters and the homeless, who both respect and sometimes add to the art that is installed by FSU art classes.  

So Catie, Cody, and CJ came to help me set up my work.  I did Micron pen (of course) and watercolor studies of changing leaves, mounted onto class.  They came out surprisingly well—I initially was not excited to show them off.  However, the setting sun cast such lovely shadows of the chain link fence behind the drawings.  The watercolors were intensified with the golden light, which made me extremely pleased.  

Cody and me hanging the frames on the chain link fence of the Engine Room's roof.

Left: My favorite watercolor job of them all—the purple and oranges were incredible in the dusk light.

Right: Me cutting twine.  Photo is compliments of my lovely sister, Catie.

All hung up!  Catching the last bit of sunlight.

The sunlight was replaced by spotlights at night.  Showtime!

After my class had our critique, Catie and I left and went bowling with the boys.  BUT THEN, there was an intense snowball fight on the Union Green.  Yes, I said snowball fight.  Twenty tons of ice was brought down from North Carolina and shaved into snow and spewed out over students as a very dangerous, but very delightful, snowball fight commenced below.  These pictures are from my phone and definitely not noteworthy, but you do get the feeling of happiness when the "first snow" of the winter has fallen...

We thought that this was going to be it...

After so much more ice was shaven, a ridiculous snowball fight ensued.

Ahh, I can't say enough how much I love this time of the year.

Classes are over, and I have one installation for drawing on Tuesday, and an art history exam on Friday. I see a lot of catching up on due drawings and online TV in my future.

Walking/Looking/Making 4x5's

These are 4"x5" cards that I made for George's WLM class.  Each person in the class was to make a card that represented them as an artist—however, many strayed away from those guidelines.

Anyway.

These are the images on the back and front.  They are recreations of much larger drawings I have done and the mirror images are printed on separate sheets of vellum.  A piece of paper is sandwiched between those four layers with splattered red watercolor on one side and dripped India ink on the other.  The vellum and paper are fasted together with eyelets.  They come in a set of 20.

As for the meaning behind them, there is nothing too incredibly deep.  The animals depicted are ones that show up often in my work.  I used my favorite pens to draw them originally.  The mirror images create a Rorschach ink blot effect, which I find intriguing.

I am hoping to do more of these in different sizes—I am very happy with the outcome.

"Man's heart away from nature becomes hard."

-Standing Bear

Midterm for George's Walking/Looking/Taking/Making/Talking class.

This idea spawned from an array of materials I have been wanting to work with for quite some time-- egg shells and wax.  I wanted to recreate the constant struggle between the natural and the manmade, and how technology was sweeping over the human population.  However, my original idea was nixed, and that was when I decided to try out sculpture.  

I am in no way a sculptor (obviously), but air dry clay seemed to do the trick.  I call them "creepy baby heads", because they were originally supposed to resemble youth.  As the faces progress, the presence of nature is soon shut out, and technology is overwhelming.  The last face is a comment on how we become numb and "plugged in" at all times.  They were created with white clay, leaves, artificial flowers, and wires.

The two panels of drawing were done with micron pen, Sharpie marker, and India ink.  It is a depiction of the push-pull relationship of the natural and manmade.  They sometimes resemble each other, however it is inevitable that the manmade is a stronger force and is overpowering.  A grey smog is the top most layer of the drawing, representing how it does not care what is in its path.

The two outer panels are 12"x40", and the middle panel is 9"x40".

"Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation."

-Unknown

Well, what a long long 48 hours it has been.

Only three hours of sleep.

And of course I slept through when I was supposed to go to class.

Anyway.

Here is what kept me up until the sun rose this morning:

Unfortunately, the bottom face kept falling off.

And in the process of trying to fix that problem, the third face fell off and cracked.

RIP Third Creepy Baby Head.

I think it came out fairly well.

Thoughts?

The concept behind it began with the idea of how fragile a child's psyche is and how much the media is affecting the youth. They eventually have no choice but to succumb to modern day technologies and they get sucked in (cue nature to technological creepy baby heads). The two-panel drawing is just an illustration of the constant push-pull struggle between nature and manmade and how the manmade is taking over.