Independent Project Planning

For my Independent Project I would like to do some sort of collage with all different people (men, women, children) of all different ages, from different places coming together. I got the idea from my "Girl Power" collages that I was doing for a while. It was something in my sketchbook that I was making that I enjoyed a lot.  For my project I hope to accomplish something fun that uses many different materials besides collage. I want to make something with different material that all look good together. I hope to also make people think about all different types of people coming together and being able to be live in the same world. That is my idea so far, I may change it up or add different thinks to my final project idea.

Sketchbook Archeology

When I first started my sketchbook I didn't spend a lot of time working on it. I would make some picture that turned out messy on a page in pencil and say I was done. Once my teacher Ms. R told me to add more color in a comment on my blog process I decided to try something different and add paint, collage, colored pencil, and even quotes. Once I started doing all of this I started getting really into my sketchbook and looked forward to turning in my sketchbook to see what Ms. R said about it. I think my sketchbook has played a huge part in my artistic development because it has really made me think about the types of things in art I am interested in, like making collages, or painting an whole spread a pretty red purple. My sketchbook was also a great place for me to get my ideas out on paper and a way for me to try different things with different material that looked good together.

Materials:
-Pencil
-Colored pencil
-Pictures and words from magazines
-Paint
-Glitter glue
-Paint markers 
Themes
-"Girl power"
-Quotes and drawings
-Body part drawings
-Objects, such as fish bowl, shell, water cap, ext..

Inital Reflection

At the begin of art this year I tended to struggle with some of the drawings from observation. I had no idea where to start my pictures and it was normally a challenge. Now at this point in the year I am not struggling with drawing from observation challenges. A strength for me this year in art class has been doing the magazine collages. I have had lots of fun making the collages and I got many different ideas for them that I hope to continue to explore. Things that I will leave class thinking about is how art doesn't always have to be perfect, you can turn a paint splatter on a page into something beautiful. I have had lots of fun with the project that we have done, like the sculpture from trash. I never got to finish mine, but at some point I will. The brainstorming in the sketch books has been a very helpful thing that I will continue to use throughout my years in art classes. Just being able to look at what I planed to make before I made it was very helpful for me to be able to make changes and see what I was thinking visually. Art class this year has influenced my life by making me think about the project I do and how I am able to add different materials to a project and make it work. I would like to go to college to photography and I realized that I need to have different art skills to get me there. Art this year has shown me the importance of different types of art and using all of your ideas to make one big great one.

Artist 21 videos

Jeff Koons: Is an artist who uses many different materials and objects in his work. His work is different from other artist I have scene because he uses many different bold objects in his work that send a message and work with his style. He is a very exact artist, so many of the things that he does happen for a reason. I can relate to his work because I think that using different materials in one piece of art work can make a great piece for the artist. Jeff Koons is trying to get different messages out with each piece of at work. One time what he did was put a big blown up lobster in a room and said that if you looked at it for a long period of time you would begin to picture something being burned by the stake. 

Marry Heilmann: Is an artist who started to create art in hopes of getting some sort of response from the people who look at it. She was someone who wanted the artist to think about what they where looking at and ask themselves questions. She wanted some responses that would make her look at her work and make her think about what she was doing. She became an abstract painter. One thing she tends to think about with her work is scale, titles, and possible music that may be playing in the background. One thing I liked is that with some of her paintings she wants to tell a story. As apposed to Jeff Koons, who uses lots of different mediums in his work, she mainly uses paint. Marry Heilmann tries to get emotions across in her work. I can relate to some of aspects of her work, like choosing a title that fits, but other parts I can relate to because when I am making a picture or taking a photo I just do it and don't think about what other people may thing about it. 

Symbolic Sculpture

For my Symbolic Clay Sculpture I have decided to make an Elephant to represent my mom. An Elephant is an animal that has strong family ties, is extremely smart, has a great memory, and they can show emotions such as grief, joy, anger and play. My mom is one of the smartest people I know who has very strong family ties and a great memory. I think that the Elephant would be a good animal that would represent that type of person my mom is.

Symbolic Portrait- Julia Perez

For my symbolic portrait I have decided to do a piece of my aunt who is a big part of my life. I chose my aunt because she is a person who has always supported me and I know I can always count on her. My aunt is currently facing many health problems that she has to deal with everyday. I am planing to use different objects that describe my aunts life, for example, my aunt came over to the states with my abuela when she was a little girl and and came to live in New York.  For my portrait I want to make the paper the shape of Puerto Rico, where my aunt grew up, and make it kind of like road map of my aunts life. I will add things that are important to her, like her writing, and things from her childhood that got her where she is today.

Visiting artist: Hamlett Dobbins

Hamlett Dobbins is an artist who makes his paintings abstract in a way that works with the materials and style he uses. My favorite piece of his art is a painting he did called 180 Finger Collective, Spring 2009, Memphis, Tennessee. This painting was something that stood out to me because most of the paintings are more colorful with not as clear figures as apposed to this painting that has a clear figure of a dragon and a person. The quote is also something that stood out to me that says, " I am in love with the world (to be whispered without a hint of irony)." I enjoyed the fact the the quote said I am in love with the world, while the dragon is flying over the world with the person on its back.  I also like how he made the background all one color and the dragon and quote are something that my eyes are drawn to. This piece fits in with the rest of his work because he uses his same abstract/fantasy concept when he is using the dragon, as well as the quotes that he has used in a couple other paintings he has done. One question I would like to ask Hamlett Dobbins is why do use tend to go with more abstract work as apposed to more figure or drawing from observation?