Project II: What Are We in the Beginning?

Words:
Growth/Life/Living
Contemporary
Metal

In this piece I wanted to create a connection between the viewer and the artwork. I am fascinated with the similarities in the early stages of life in all living things. The embryos and early fetal development of chickens and humans have striking similarities. I wanted to create a scene where the viewer looks at the representation of a human embryo and views his/her reflection through the image; viewing themselves as the growth and life of a living human being. I wanted to contrast this personal connection with a connection to a chick embryo. I chose to present the chick embryo in the same form as the image of the human embryo, where the two would be difficult to distinguish next to one another. I would like the viewer to have the same connection with the reflection in the chick embryo as with the human embryo. Therefore, the viewer is intended to see their reflection both as the growth of a human as well as a chicken without immediate realization.

Unfortunately, I don't think I was as successful with this project as I wish I could have been. I felt limited with metal as my material. I would have liked to place the image directly onto a mirror so it would be easier for the viewer to understand the concept of the piece, but I opted for a subtly reflective piece of metal instead. I was able to adjust the piece slightly after critique and removed the distracting "pie" aspect to the piece I showed in class. I think it is a bit more successful, but I would like to find a better transfer method to make the image clearer. I would like to re-visit this piece at the end of the semester and re-work it using a mirror.

Critique Project 1

I was very pleased with the feedback I got from the class critique. I enjoy doing large group critiques with the whole class because I like to hear the concepts and processes of the drawings from each person in the class. I feel like most of that information is missed out on in small group critiques because the teacher usually isn't there to help stimulate conversation and I think students always like to hear what the professor has to say about their work. I think people get better feedback from the students and the teacher where in small groups there are less ideas expressed since there are less people discussing the work.
That being said, the class understood my drawing and received the feel that intended for the piece. I tried to create a lush, vegetation rich atmosphere with the feeling of overgrown chaos. The photographs I chose to work from came from the plants I have growing in my house. I have always been intrigued with the idea that we take nature from outside where it grows freely and then confine it to a pot and display it in our home to make it more comfortable. I addressed this concept last year in Drawing III, but I wasn't very successful in visually presenting it in an interesting way. I think I was much more successful this time around. The drawing is much more abstract and I liked the feedback I received about the use of peacock feathers in the piece. I was told that they add to the idea of ornamentation of the home, which I found to be a nice conceptual aspect that I didn't initially intend for the drawing. All in all I'm very pleased with the final drawing and a I think I've got a good start to the beginning of the semester.

Art Lessons Preface-Ch. 2 Review

I found this to be a fairly interesting read. I enjoyed learning about the author's backgrounds, beliefs, and interests through her writings in the preface. I always think it is easier to listen to someone and take them seriously when you are introduced to their background and line of work. I thought it was interesting that she was a critical thinker from a young age. I also thought it was interesting to learn that she originally was an artist but later ended up being an art philosopher.
I also enjoyed the aspect that the book has no pictures, but she invites the reader to have a pencil at hand to be engaged in the reading. She asks questions that the reader can reflect and write on, which allows for the reading to be much more interesting. I think this book will help to address some of the issues that we don't get to discuss in class. She asks philosophical questions that jump-start critical thinking, which I think will have a great affect on the work I produce in this class.

Introductory Post

Hello Drawing III round two! I am Sarah Leslie, currently a junior here at Stout. I am a studio art major with a concentration in drawing. I took drawing III last year and it was a pretty open ended class, which I strongly enjoyed. We pushed our conceptual capabilities as artists in the last section of the class. This was the first drawing class I had taken that really pushed me into making art that means something, rather than just aesthetically pleasing. I decided to take the class again hoping it would be similar to last year so I could continue to work creatively and push the conceptual aspects of my work. I was a little bummed to find out that this class would be much different than my initial Drawing III experience, but I am glad to hear that it will be much more drawing based. I hope that this class will help me improve my creative thinking skills and allow me to create a drawing that is both aesthetically pleasing and conceptually strong.