Dinoflagellate Dreams

After taking oceanography, I've been fascinated by the beautiful forms of phytoplankton, as well as the biological function of photosynthesis which they perform.  They are very tiny, yet can take nutrients and energy, and synthesize them into food.  This process, as well as the aesthetic properties of the form, draws strong allusions to Native American dream catchers in my mind.  Both make something out of nothing.  In these pieces, I'm trying to manifest the parallels and juxtaposition of the biological and the spiritual, in an attempt to show that both can intermingle at times.  These are sketches for a commission for Palmer Commons, where fiber will be used to make larger than life hanging phytoplankton/ dream catcher forms.

 

I'm also working on a large scale print to express this concept as well.

stuff that's been taking over my life

 

Water Project

So after about 20 hours of carving and 9 gashes on my right hand, here's my key block for my water portfolio project!

My plan is to either carve another block for the water inside the glasses, or use ink mixed with a high amount of oil in a monotype to create water like forms.  In terms of color, I would like to print the block in a light blue color, and have the water in the glasses be a darker blue, and possibly have some cups be red, with a cream background, or printed on cream paper.  It could also be very interesting to print the block twice on the same sheet, flipped in opposite directions. 

As for the noise in the background, I feel as though it could be a happy accident.  I'm not sure if it could make the print too busy, or just not print well, but the forms have the potential to be very interesting.  I will probably do multiple proofs in different colors and methods before I decide on the final print.  I am super excited for all of the potential that this block has!

40 days and 40 nights

Here's a quick little linocut that I did yesterday of loaves of bread in a desert. It is inspired by the story of Jesus wandering the desert for 40 days and 40 nights, of what Catholics now celebrate as lent.  At one point in the story, the devil tempts Jesus saying “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”Jesus says in reply, “It is written: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  

It is easy to fall prey to temptation.  Sometimes it is not a cut and dry as black and white, good and evil.  The things which tempt us can seem attractive, appealing, or even rational. But, in reality, they look as out of place as loves of bread in the desert.  It is a very interesting contradiction because bread is a symbol of salvation and sacrifice though the Eucharist, but in this context, it is a symbol of temptation. This piece is meant to serve as a reminder to the things which tempt us on a daily basis.

I would like to expand on this idea with a few different modes of output.  In the realm of printmaking,  I would like to make a larger, much more detailed woodcut of this image, with multiple colors. and possibly incorporate some sort of text which goes along with the whole theme of temptation.  Also, I would like to rework this image to make a continuous matrix.  It would be interesting to print the image side by side, and have all the images connect to make one large desert. I like the way which the image almost becomes abstracted when juxtaposed to its reflected image.

 
This image would also make a great oil painting with a Dali -type surrealist imagery and soft impressionist like brush strokes and color. The image which I photo shopped really grew on me. It almost reminds me of Monet's haystack series.  Portraying the bread in different lights and seasons could be very interesting in the context of a stream of consciousness and what it means in terms of temptation.

 

Water Water Everywhere

I am super excited for my printmaking class' portfolio! A body of print media work is typically contained in a portfolio, which is a collection of various prints by different artists centering around a common theme.  Our class's theme is water, which is the theme for the current LSA semester.

My initial response to this prompt was to do something which was great lakes related.  One thing that all true Michiganders are proud of is the 20% of the world's freshwater which sits in our backyard.  Although we appreciate what a beautiful and precious natural resource the great lakes are, the rest of the world looks at them as waste dumps, and fresh water for the taking. I am very interested in rendering textures of things in my work, so I decided to portray the great lakes as droplets of water, as to show how ridiculous it is to think of them as being so insignificant.  The lino cut I did of the image didn't really turn out too great, and I did a photo emulsion screen print of the droplets, which I accidentally did backwards.  After a few failed attempts, I decided that this idea was a lost cause, and went back to the drawing board.  Sometimes good ideas just don't pan out formally the way which you would like them to, and it is better to start from scratch than working with an idea which feels uninspired.

I am now interested in water's physical and spiritual qualities more so than in the context of being a precious natural resource.  Over my spring break, I went to Nashville with my church to do community service.  Although most of the work which we did was with refugees from foreign countries, many of the people which we worked with were effected immensely by the floods this past year.  Many people lost their homes, families, jobs, and businesses to the flood.  Although all of this unrest has come about because of the flood, the people of Nashville and surrounding areas came together to help each other out. I immediately drew the analogy of this flood to Noah's ark, and how water can be destructive, yet provide renewal and hope.  I find this dual quality of water to be very interesting in the context of spirituality and philosophy; good things can happen to bad people, and bad things can happen to good people, but in the end, all that matters is how we deal with the things that happen to us, and the things which happen to others, regardless of if it is good or bad.

                      
I found the metaphor of the glass being "half empty" vs. being "half full" to manifest this concept well visually.  I'm working with images of vessels full of water, and rotating them so that some are upside down.  I like having a variety of glasses to convey how this mindset is applicable to any situation, but I'm not sure if having a standard glass of water would make the concept be a little more clear?  Also, having the glasses which are upright reflected on the bottom might make a little more sense. I think that the final print will consist of a screen print, possibly a photo emulsion of a pen and ink drawing of the glasses, with mono type water forms in the glasses. I like the notion of contrast between the rigid, almost architectural forms of the screen-printed glasses with the fluidity of mono type water. 

Warp and Weft

So I think I'm finally done with my fabric paintings! I've struggled with giving the fabric the fluid quality of water.  My original concept was to draw an analogy between nature and humans through the way the fabric, a human made entity, flows like water, and also how the warp and weft of fabric resembles the molecular structure of water. But, since I've had so much trouble making the fabric look as though it flows like water, I've found that humans can never imitate nature perfectly.  Although synthetic, what we make can be beautiful, and problematic.

As an artist, sometimes you just have to be willing to accept that not everything goes according to plan, and sometimes you just have to roll with the punches, and pray that it all works out in the end.  If I have an unlimited amount of time, I could have probably worked into these paintings for months, and still not achieve my desired aesthetic.  Although my end result wasn't what I planned, I am still very happy with my piece.  It was an ambitious undertaking, and in the end it has made me a better painter.

Cellulose

Cellulose, Potato print/ painting, acrylic on canvas. Inspired by cellular structure of plants. Its nice to make a piece every once in a while which isn't the product of meticulous planning and sketching and evolves organically. Nature presents a strange paradox; it is the product of order and balance, yet somehow accommodates the unpredictable chaos of life.

More Prayer cards

Here's the proof for my newest edition of prayer cards, based off the scripture reading "you are the salt of the earth".  In biblical times, salt was used in an oven to keep a flame lit; the flame was the catalyst, but the salt kept it burning.  In my religious beliefs, we are taught that Jesus is the flame, and we are to act as the salt, to keep his flame alive. 

I wanted the image of the salt shaker to seem unexpected juxtaposed with the scripture passage.  Seeing an image not normally associated with religion makes one reflect on the deeper meaning of the passage by challenging the viewer to draw parallels between the salt shaker and the passage.

The context for this edition of prayer cards will be a little different than the last edition.  Rather than being a broad, anonymous call to service, they will be targeted to those familiar with the christian faith.  Salt is only effective when used in limited quantities on certain foods, thus I am only distributing these to a select number of people who will make the most of the message; parishioners of my church, friends, family, as well as my alternative spring break group.

I also intend to make a broader, more widely distributed version of this same message, using the same text, but the image of a salt truck rather than a salt shaker, to imply the idea of service and salvation in the context of a cold, snowy Michigan winter.

more painting

Almost done! just some more refinement and pushing values.  I'm thinking displaying it horizontally and adding another panel which alludes to the concept of water a little more.  I love how the movement of the fabric implies the flowing of water.  The possible other panel would be of the same fabric, but have less of the blue shadow, and connect to the rippling movement at the bottom of the piece, and resemble something of an abstract waterfall.

Potato Print Valentines!

Some potato print valentines for my favorites! Gouache prints and pen on paper.

alot more blue

base color and undertones

Getting a little too crazy with painting today! Needs some cerulean blue undertones possibly?

Painting still lives of white things

My figure painting professor once told me that when she was in a place where she felt lost in her art, she would paint still lives of all white things.  I've been feeling a little bit lost myself, so I decided to give it a try.  It is a lot harder than it sounds: there are so many beautiful unexpected colors created by the white, and a wide range of value. Here's my first two attempts.

I'm not super crazy about the second piece, I could not get the proportions of the kitchen timer right for the life of me! Never the less, painting these studios was very therapeutic.  I painted over a few canvases of paintings which I can't stand, physically white washing the canvas, as well as my negative sentiments about my art.  I was very inspired by the way which objects in a still life can be still, yet imply movement or the passage of time, particularly in the drapery of the fabric. My next part of the series is a large painting of draped white fabric, channeling the work of Claudio Bravo.

I am obsessed with the way which he elegantly handles the medium, and all of the different colors which are in the blue and green fabrics. 

Here's a quick acrylic sketch of my piece so far:

Shades of Ash

For my Context, Form, and Concept course, or CFC, we were asked to create a piece in response to an ecological disaster.  The disaster I choose was the emerald ash borer's infestation of the mid west and surrounding territories.

The emerald ash borer is native to southeast Asia, where it has predators which keep its population in check.  It is thought that the insect traveled on shipping crates from China, which were not properly radiated to kill vermin, insects, and bacteria.  It arrived in Southeastern Michigan in the late 90's, and because the absence of its natural predator in North America, has killed millions of ash trees, causing  gradual, but pronounced economic and environmental problems.

An adult ash borer lays its eggs in the bark of an ash tree.  Its larva then feed on the nutritious xylem and phloem, which act as arteries of water and nutrient transport in the tree.  With these vital lines of transport severely damaged, the tree is unable to move food and water, and eventually dies.
 The path which the ash borer takes through the tree is visible in the dead wood of the ash as these sort of beautiful wavy line forms.

I was inspired how destructive, yet beautiful these forms were. My work is a series of 15 prints, representing the 15 dead ash trees which my parents cut down in their backyard last year.  Each print represents a tree, but also a moment in time of the life of an ash tree.  They are arranged in a linear fashion, where the first print is healthy and green. The emerald ash borer eventually eats away at the tree, indicated by an increase of negative space in the print as well as the shift of the healthy green color to an unhealthy yellowish color, which eventually fades to black.

My intent was not to inform the world of how disastrous the ash borer is: most people are already aware of that. I wanted to take a cynical approach on the concept of an ecological disaster, and how we perceive and portray them.  Society likes to make us aware of ecological disasters in a glorified, sort of idealized way, yet negates solutions to the actual problem.  My piece does exactly that.  I highlighted the beauty of the corrosive forces of the emerald ash borer, and elevated the trees to a martyr-like status, but didn't suggest any sort of solution to the problem.

Screen Printing

My first attempt at screen printing! These are diatoms inspired by my oceanography book.

What I've been cooking up lateley...

This semester at the art school, I'm taking a political printmaking course, which focuses on printmaking as a means of output of a political message.  So far, we've studied prints which make very clear strong political messages, intended to be mass forms of propaganda. Mass forms of propaganda in contemporary society have become somewhat problematic.  The sheer volume of print advertisement, as well as an increased access to digital print mediums has desensitized us to this "powerful" vocabulary of propaganda. The most effective means of persuasive communication is the inverse of this visual language: instead of precise design and a straight to the point message, we are more apt to pay attention to something handmade, irregular, carrying an ambiguous message.   

My newest undertaking toys with this mode of communication.  I hand tore, and hand printed about 200 lino-cut "prayer cards" as I like to call them.  They are about 3 x 4", and have an image of hands tearing bread as well as the message "Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them, and do not turn your back on your own.", which came from the Catholic scripture reading from this past Sunday.

I placed the prayer cards in strategic places around campus, both expected and unexpected.  I put them in my own church, as well as a few other christian parishes in Ann Arbor.  I also put some in the chute of an ATM, under a random car's windshield wiper, in a pop machine, and in a stranger's backpack. 
My intent was not to be creepy, or to make anyone do anything, but rather a subtle, anonymous call to action, which the viewer can choose to head, or ignore.  The cards are an anonymous call to service, devoid of denomination and origin, and attempt to recognize the duty of service which binds us together as  christians, students, or just ordinary people. 

I haven't witnessed anyone finding the cards yet, but I will be sure to stalk them and see if they actually are influenced by the message carried by the card.