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.