End of the (1st) Marking Period

This marking period proved to be a very productive one for me. I had the chance to work on my drawing skills and completed a collage project based on the upcoming election. I also had some time during my study hall period to work on a piece for my portfolio that will eventually find it's way into my book at the end of the year. I'm really excited for our new lamp project and many of the other upcoming projects this year. 

Here's the piece that I have been working on for my portfolio. I really like it so far. I still haven't done anything with the teeth and I need to shade a little bit more but I just felt like sharing a picture while in the process...

next president collage

My collage was about how the U.S. should stop it's involvement in Middle Eastern countries and how the continuing conflicts and wars are killing more and more of our troops. I conveyed this message by using images that pertained to my topic (bombs, soldiers, blood, etc.). The over all tone of my collage is very dark consisting of blacks and reds. Sometimes it was hard to figure out what to do next but I almost always ended up either covering-up certain areas or ripping-off certain things to make it better. I wish I had kept some of the images of the original background uncovered but I think that that it turned out alright.

shoes!

I'm actually really happy with how my drawing turned out. My favorite parts of my drawing are the heel of the high heel and the side of the boot. The one thing I would have done differently is either zooming in closer on a specific area and filling the whole page or by moving the drawing slightly over to the right to cover up some of that open space. But overall, I'm happy with how it came out and I really love the shading that I did (especially on the left portion of the drawing).

The first blog post of the final year!!

I'm very excited to be back in art class for my final year at HTHS. The three things I'm most excited about are the ceramics unit, the collage unit, and the creation of paper lanterns (the last of which is a totally new experience for me). This past summer I made the decision that I was going to to pursue a career in art instead of architecture. Some of my top interests are design, sculpture, film, & photography. My goal for this year is to improve my skills as an artist and build up a strong portfolio along the way.

Here's a sampling of some of the papers i have been making in class for the past 2 weeks: 

Reflection Post

Going into this year I had many advantages and a few disadvantages. One of my major advantages coming into this class was my overall interest in creating art. Another one of my advantages was that I had taken an art class, Art Affects, in 9th grade. One disadvantage I had coming into the year was that I had taken a full year off from taking any art class in our high school. Throughout last year I found myself doodling all over my notebooks of various classes as a result of having no set time during the day to express my artistic side. This year has helped me push my artistic capabilities to new heights. Before this class I, had never put together a book before or made a place setting out of clay or worked with any type of metal. I hope to continue making art up until the day I die and I believe that the various skills that I learned this year will aid me along the way.

2011-2012 portfolio // slideshow

**If you click on the YouTube button on the video, it will allow you to enter into full screen on the YouTube site.**

Ceramic Place Setting

In class we were told to choose a person that meant something to us and make a place setting for that person. I chose the artist Salvador Dali. Over the past month I've been experimenting with many different forms of clay in hopes of finding something that would work for the bowl, cup, and plate that I will be making for a breakfast in May. We started off practicing with the clay by making a ton of bowls for the Empty Bowls event for next year. Then we started to brainstorm ideas for our own unique creations to represent the person of our choice. You can view the bowl and cup that I have created for my project below:

My unfinished bowl :

My finished cup:

Finished Medals Piece

It seems like it's been such a long time since we all finished our medal projects in art class. I was really happy with the end result of my medal piece. I loved all of the different colors that emerged out of the medal when I used the torch. I also really love the leopard-like print that appears on the right side of the piece. I'll most likely end up using this on the cover of my book at the end of the year.

Decorative Metal Panel

This is what my work space currently looks like in art. My design that im currently creating is in the middle, on top. The paper model I constructed to simulate the different colored metals is on the left . On the right is the main piece of my design. It's the biggest piece and is also the piece that everything will blossom from. At the bottom of the picture are some scraps that I thought looked really cool and could get inspiration from.

Identity Collage

I ended up with 2 collages by the time I was finished with the project. I decided to start over after creating the  first one, since my first one was more focused on the future instead of my identity. The first one, the top picture, I created by using a picture of a pile of Lego's, some magazine pictures, different colored tissue paper, and blue ink. The second one,  the bottom picture, I created by using magazine pictures, sharpie marker, a cut up picture of my eye, and some buttons.

Self-Portrait Tempera Batik : Finished Product

Well...this is my finished self portrait. I've been done with it for a while now but never posted about it. After posting my last post about the portrait(http://zombiezebraz.blogspot.com/2011/11/process-of-creating-our-self-portraits.html), I painted the whole thing with different variations of the color green. I then inked & washed the painting which gave a really grungy look to it. Finally, I went over portions of the inked painting with colored pencil to give a more dynamic feeling to those particular areas.

Marc Chagall

Self Portrait

I love the color in this painting and the fact that he gave himself seven fingers on his left hand. 

I also liked the little cloud coming out of his head of what he was anticipating on painting.

I chose Marc Chagall as my 'Artist for Research' because I love his painting style, his use of color, and the stories that he incorporates into his paintings.

Marc Chagall (born 1887 in Vitebsk, Russia) grew up in a poor Jewish family where he learned all about Russian folklore, Jewish mysticism, and life in the village. his mother urged him to attend art school and in 1910, he was offered an allowance to study in Paris. Chagall was exposed to many different art forms while in Paris. In his paintings, there are often images depicting farm animals and the village where he grew up in as a child. A lot of these images hover in space or are superimposed the way there are layered in memory. His paintings are intensely colorful and often cubist looking. Chagall also illustrated many books, painted a ceiling of the Paris Opera Building, and fabricated stained glass windows for multiple churches and for the United Nations in NYC. He died in 1985 in France.

The Dance

I love the craziness in this painting, it's kind of like everyone's dancing around just as the name suggests. I also like how some of the figures are defying gravity and how the green girl is outstretching her arm dramatically  towards the red creature.