Posts

The Painting

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  I think this painting was successful in terms of combining mixed media in the way that I was envisioning. If I were to do it over again, I would change my ability to describe my piece during the process. A lot of the time, when discussing the direction of my piece, I never had the right words in mind to describe the idea I was trying to convey in my piece. In my practice as a multimedia artist, I am limiting how much feedback someone can give me. Despite my inability to describe the idea behind my work, I was still able to receive some great feedback from the professor. For example, the reminder to add mediums with intention. In The Intersection of Fine Arts and Digital Media: Blending Traditional and Modern Techniques, posted by RMCAD points out that among other things, “Mixed media artists can avoid these pitfalls by clearly defining their artistic vision and by selecting harmonizing techniques that complement one another.” This was yet another reminder on how important it is f...

Experimentation with Glass Beads

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 While adding to my physical painting, I experimented with different ways to apply glass beads that I had bought for this project. Initially, I knew I wanted some sculpted elements in the piece, but I didn't know exactly what I was going to sculpt or with what. One day in my painting class, the professor brought in some roofing tar. Other oil painters have used it before as a base for their shadows. But, since it was a very thick substance, I tried to sculpt with it. I sculpted some hands in a sign language position that meant "reflect". My plan was to paint over these hands that looked like poop smeared on a piece of paper at this point, but the tar never dried completely. So that option was scratched. My next experiment was how I was going to work with these glass beads. At first, I mixed them with a transparent oil paint, and the beads had a nice look to them, however, they were hard to move around, they couldn't be stacked, they took way too long to dry and they j...

My new role model

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  As I am diving deeper into the world of multimedia approaches, it has lead me to look for artists that have worked in a similar way. My absolute favorite overall has been Nancy Graves. Her approach to sculpture, painting, and the combination of the two is truly inspiring. In her sculptures she uses, "  unusual materials such as fur, burlap, canvas, plaster, latex, wax, steel, fiberglass and wood ". She was the youngest artist, and only the fifth woman, to be selected for a solo presentation at the Whitney Museum of Art. Graves was also among the first contemporary artists to experiment with bronze casting. 

Silver Screen Research pt 1

 Funny thing is, whenever I heard silver screen be mentioned to me as a material, I never really understood what it meant. I got it confused with silk screen and thought that silver screen was used for silk screening-who knows what I thought. So, this is where I began. After meeting the artist Elle Hendrickson, and seeing what they have made with silverscreen, I became pretty entranced with the process. They did briefly explain that silverscreen is what is used to make the lines on our road reflective and that it uses tiny glass beads... But did I understand how they used it? - absolutely not.  So, essentially, you can buy paint with silverscreen already mixed into it and it has a ton of uses. That's not what I want though. You can also buy the glass beads themselves, which I found to be surprisingly particular. Sites that sell the beads list their many specs with anything over 1.93 being sought after because it means it is the most reflective. These sites are also arguing the...

Transparent Materials for Painting

      In my painting practice, I have been interested in the use of layers and painting with transparent materials to create compelling pieces. I work with oil paint, so trying to find a compatible material became rather difficult.  My painting professor, Jordan Morgan, suggested I research Mylar. I tried to research what other people did with this material, but it was never exactly what I was looking for. The material was either opaque or the examples I found didn't even use oil paint. I found out that even though oil paint is a pretty durable medium, overtime, it is quite fragile. It is prone to cracking, yellowing, and with all of the new materials being created for oil paint, we don't know what it will do to the medium overtime. I found out that if I paint on a material that is not stiff enough, it will crack; If I paint on a material that is too smooth, the paint will crack off. Then, I finally came across Duralar. It is basically the same essence of Mylar, just...

An Introduction to my Capstone

I welcome, with an artist statement…           My work investigates the emotional and atmospheric language of architecture. Through photography, video, and multi-media processes, I explore how built environments shape perception, memory, and behavior. I am particularly interested in the difference in comprehension between spaces we inhabit daily and those that are spatially and experientially removed from our everyday lives.           In my photographic practice, I often remove the human figure from the frame. By doing so, I allow structures, surfaces, and light to carry emotion independently. I am drawn to architecture not as static form, but as an active presence – something that regulates us quietly and persistently. We are inseparable from the environments that shape us, yet we rarely step outside of them long enough to recognize their influence. When spatially removed from a place, like photographing London rather than Lo...