3rd week reading response

As this section of reading was shorter compared to the previous, it also took on a much different idea of art, to the first and second sections where the idea was about how and why in the way art existed. The writer really only uses one artist for example, which is strange given how many examples and quotes from artists we see in 'The Primal Scene of Drawing'. The idea reminded me a lot of Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way" with the thought that art can become more about getting the idea down/out into physical form, than super in depth. The writer uses the artist Bruce Nauman as an example who uses so many different mediums to get an idea down. I liked the fact that she stuck to one artist, as multiple examples was a bit much.

The Primal Scene of Drawing Response

     While the first section's idea was that the natural world is your set of art materials and that it is a natural habit for a human to unconsciously start producing 2 dimensional images over a 3 dimensional surface, this section is more about the purpose. The writer explains to us why we may draw not tell us that we draw. I liked this section because it seemed like a description most artists could relate to somewhat. However it was also following the same trend the first reading section's theme had, where I ended up feeling like I was being justified/ having to justify myself as an artist. But to me this section felt a little less awkward than the "introduction".

'To Draw Is To Be Human' (First Section) Reading Response

The first section did a good job introducing the idea of the whole text itself: about drawing and its history as the topic of discussion.  Though I do think this section is a statement that I can overall agree with, some of the ideas were difficult to perceive, such as the world being a human’s “canvas” as they’re just naturally “born to draw”. I understand this because it is true, but maybe just don’t understand in the sense that I wasn’t very fond of the wording or context it was assembled in. I think the writer is describing drawing as a habit much more than an interest or hobby- being the name of this part, “to Draw Is To Be Human”. However I think of art as a developed hobby; sure it is a habit, but only few go on to improve it, and realistically in our particular situation, a modern Western society, it is clear to see why so few have developed this habit when it is looked down upon.

Hair Identities project statement

The idea behind this Hair Identities project was to "feed our obsession with hair". Understanding the way hair moves and how it's look changes was an important idea to keep in mind when doing our quick sketches. It was nice to have a choice between Mylar and Rag Paper, Conte Crayon and Graphite Powder- to which I chose Conte Crayon on Mylar. I knew from the beginning Id want to use Mylar, and exploring with the materials, I didn't  really like the look that was being created on the Rag Paper (not to say some people weren't able to create beautiful art on the Rag).

I was very anxious to start this project, because one of the subjects I struggle to draw is hair; I can't do it. I've always examined hair itself and the changes in light, but am never able to capture that in medium. I was hoping this project would rid me of this. Because of my "struggles", I was scared my piece might not turn out so well as my other peers I had confidence in.

Working along the 18th century French Aristocracy look, my wig was from a collection of the costuming teacher's from this past years musical, a loose bun with curls framing the edges. I was particularly invested in the look of the bun- the way the light hit it in particular. The curls were another part that drew me to this wig.

I'd say this project moved along very quickly and at a good, progressive pace. I don't really know how to explain my process because by the end of the first studio day, I'd made so much progress on my drawing. The technique was a lot of short stroke, because the thing about Mylar that I learned was that, it's hard to erase, so that made imitating where the light hit the wig pretty difficult. Even using a plastic eraser, which have the intended reputation to give you clean cut lines, couldn't do justice for the look of the actual wig compared from the drawing itself. Another issue I came across was layering the crayon on Mylar. I mean in the sense that if I wanted to create darker lines, the crayon ended up almost scratching the surface because so much was already layered. This made the areas I wished to appear darker actually have a metallic-y, stainless steel surface look to them. Not very happy.

In the end of this project I think my hair drawing looked very good and that feeling didn't dwindle (a lot) when it was put next to the other students. This has probably been one of my most productive art work weeks in a while. I'm very excited to put this piece in my portfolio because I think it really shows what my abilities are capable of.

Inspirational Hair Post

Hair Identities

Hong Zhang

Yanni Floros

Brittany Schall

Overall the theme I liked about all these artists is their art holding an intentional lack of "identity"- focusing on the nature and gravity of hair as an element. Zhang put hair in strange but interested situation, and showed it off by displaying long scrolls of hair drawings. In nearly all of Floros's pieces, the subject is wearing a pair of the same headphones. Brittany Schall's pieces looked as if inspired by classic fairytales, and everything including hands and upper body were skillfully "drawn out".

Cultural Hair Post

18th century France (Marie Antoinette's reign)

Marie Antoinette (2006) Directed by Sofia Coppola 

"The second half of the 18th century is an era particularly identified with hair and makeup, as these became such potent symbols of aristocracy during the Enlightenment and French Revolution.  France and (to a lesser degree) England were the fashion leaders of this era, and it is to these countries that this article looks to identify the changing trends in hair and makeup."

"Wigs were introduced in the 17th century, when King Louis XIII of France (1610-43), who had let his own hair grow long, began to bald prematurely at the age of 23.  Courtiers were quick to emulate the fashion, which spread to England during the period of the Restoration of Charles II (1660s-80s)....However, women rarely wore whole wigs.  Instead, they increasingly hired professional hairdressers (coiffeurs) who added false hair to their natural hair. "

In 1775, Queen Maria Theresa of Austria-Hungary wrote to her daughter Marie-Antoinette,

“Likewise I cannot help but touch upon a point that many of the papers repeat to me too often: it is the hairstyle that you wear. They say that from the roots it measures 36 pouces high and with all the feathers and ribbons that hold all of that up! You know that I have always been of the opinion that one should follow fashion moderately, but never carry it to excess. A pretty young queen full of charms has no need of all these follies. Quite the contrary. A simple hairstyle suits her better and is more appropriate for a queen. She must set the tone, and everyone will hurry to follow even your smallest errors…”

Marie-Antoinette responded,

“It is true that I am a bit occupied by my hairstyle, and as for the feathers, everyone wears them, and it would look extraordinarily out of place not to” (quoted in Hosford).

http://demodecouture.com/hairstyles-cosmetics-18th-century/

Into Modern Hair...

Modern French Hair Fashion

Braids(As it turns out, "French" braids aren't French at all.)

"If we're looking for the origins of modern-day French braids, Eurasia isn't even the right continent. Instead, the place to start is North Africa. People have been wearing the three-strand gathered plait for thousands of years, and the earliest evidence of the style comes to us from the Tassili n'Ajjer mountain range in Algeria. There, rock art depicting women wearing rowed braids dates back almost 6,000 years."

http://www.popsugar.com/beauty/History-French-Braid-22404991

More Modern Hair

                     

Boards Sculpture Piece

I got this idea from a sort of strange, surreal music video that had a lot to do with rocks and natural movement. There was magma and sand moving in sort of a collage-like fashion. The spastic movements of each prop was so neat to me. The coolest ting was, it reflected the human relationship (whether it be love, friends, or even relatives). The rockets were sedimentary which was in a way symbolic.

first I took a costume mask that I found at Hobby Lobby. Originally i was going to make the mask from layers using foam-core, but i didn't think that the features of a human face would show up so distinctively, so I used a mask instead. The eyes were supposed to be closed, so I took masking tape and cut it into rectangle, inserting it into the inside of the mask and pushing it into the sockets of the eyes, creating the dome shape that an eyeball would have. I was going to use foam-core over the entire face, but again, decided that would hide the facial features, so i used hot glue and made lines across the face for the "smaller". From my references, I looked at the more distinct layers of rock, and used foam-core to create those layers. Hot glue was used to smooth the around the foam-core layers.

My teacher suggested Gesso as a good paint primer for this project (as I was using Acrylic, which is impossibly hard to cover dried Hot Glue with -_-). It was especially helpful for the eye lids, because I put masking tape on the front of the mask to make a more realistic eyelid. Before actually painting the face, I inserted glue below the mouth, coming out of it, to make it appear as magma spewing out of the mouth.

The total duration to paint this mask was about 2.5 hours (and then another hour to paint touchups the next day). I am not very pleased with this photo: its not the best representation of this mask, as it appears more shiny  in the photo.

I really regret not having taken progress photos of the main body of the sculpture. So instead, Ill just discuss it. I used 16 gauge wire from the wire sculpture conversation piece project in my 1st semester  material studies class, to create a frame. Then, with a monstrous amount of paper mache mix and newspaper, i paper mache'd the frame. It was quite difficult because I had large spaces between the net like frame, since I didn't want the frame to start the sculpture off super heavy with just metal. 

This photo is actually from after spray painting the foam body of the sculpture. I decided that (hot) gluing the shredded foam around the  base of the mask/face would make the mask look more natural when attached to the rest of the sculpture.

This is the final piece. Im hoping when/if it is displayed, it will hang a little lower, more at like average human height. originally it was supposed to look like a volcano, but with the teal accents (especially in the yarn), it looks more like an underwater volcano. There are always improvements i want to make, and this was no exception. I am still trying to figure out how to use hot glue in a cleaner manner.

I think doing these sculptures are important especially since I had 3D art this semester. I don't think it would make much sense to do 2D artwork, because it doesn't show what Ive learned this semester; and its not like I would turn in a sculpture for a semester of 2D art.