Lanie Vevasis Portfolio 2017
Art Blog
"Dealings with artists requires great prudence; they are acquainted with all classes of society, and for that very reason, dangerous..." ~ Leopold I
Work 1: CheckmateThe theme of this piece is Perspective, taken literally; you can see it differently from every angle. I developed skills in creating this project, because I worked with cutting and sizing cardboard to make a 3D piece. My measurements are not spot-on, but it helped me to grow in my three dimensional building skills. I created original art by taking the idea of an optical illusion and twisting it to the game of chess. This piece inserts the comparison of king and queen, black and white, and winning and losing. Comparison begs for taking sides and establishing a perspective. Work 2: East meets WestThe theme of this piece is Identity; juxtaposition displays two cultures in apparent opposition. I utilized global awareness, because I considered the factors of eastern and western mythology and lore. For example, western dragons are known to be antagonistic, have wings, and breathe fire, while eastern dragons are spiritual beings, that lack wings, but control the wind or rain. I developed skills with this project, because I hand-made this bowl by molding it to a base. I had never made a pottery piece like this, so it was a new experience. I also learned that painting with acrylics on glazed ceramics is very hard to keep from scraping off, but I made it through. Work 3: Unhappiest Place on EarthThe theme of this piece is Observation; these are the true emotions shown by people in the happiest place on earth. I communicated through my work to give a small summary of the authentic, family experience of travelling to Disney. I have made the same face of every single person in those photos while at Disney. I solved problems- I originally wanted to make a print of the girl with the balloon, but I decided to make a stencil that aligned more with Banksy's work, my partial inspiration for this piece. I also ended up changing the colors around to give it more depth and interest. Work 4: The Final Frontier?The theme of this piece is Comparison; no matter how much we explore, we may never know the extent of these vast expanses. I took risks with this piece, because I had never worked with encaustics before. I enjoyed the experience, but I was very upset to develop a migraine, which I assume originated from working do close to the fumes of the wax. If I did not have such a severe reaction, I would definitely work with encaustics again. I solved problems with this piece by making a collage instead of an encaustics second-half of the project. I created the second half, the ocean, using a block of wood, sand, shells, and collaged paper. Work 5: Alternate HistoryThe theme of this piece is Time; what would happen if our ancestors saw unicorns?
I created original art by taking inspiration from cave paintings and altering their common creatures into unicorns, minotaurs, thunderbirds, and aliens. I reflected upon the original cave art and thought of new ways to interpret the people, horses, and bulls. I incorporated frequent symbols in the background that can be seen in cave art.
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Time!This is my final idea for my project. I came up with the theme if time awhile ago, but I didn't know how to portray it. In this piece, I chose to emulate the style of art from a different time: the stone age. Cave paintings have always fascinated me, but I didn't want to simply recreate their drawings, I wanted to re-imagine them in an alternate history. In several cave paintings, recurring things or animals appear, like horses, or the outline of a handprint. I wanted to create an alternate history, one where horses have horns and/or wings, and humans have webbed hands. Below is a simple sketch, as well as the paper used for this piece: I wanted to give the impression of drawings on a cave wall, so I found some brown paper, and I crinkled it up to give it a rocky-looking texture. I used charcoal and pastels to create the drawings I have created so far. I am not very far along on this one, but I know exactly what I want to portray in the final result. I plan to complete this over holiday break. Below is an inspiration as well as my current piece: My final piece includes several mythical creatures like a unicorn and a minotaur. This piece explores what may have been if our ancestors' lore was true. I used real cave art sources to inspire my work. The true inspiration can be seen in my unicorn and the alien creatures.
November: I do not have completely fleshed out ideas of my next three projects, but I have a good sense of what mediums with which I want to work. ~Encaustics ~Printmaking ~Photoshop For my third idea, or third theme, I want to do another social commentary piece. Even though it has been awhile since a large oil spill plagued the news, it is still a visible reminder that we must keep our environment clean. I had the idea to create a diorama of a beach, but with sea creatures and birds that are beached and covered in oil. For the base, I would use a piece of wood. I can use real sand to recreate the beach, and I thought of using shredded/cut blue water bottles for the ocean. The animals would be smaller, only a little bigger than a quarter for most of them, so air-dry clay may be the best route. Finally, for the oil, I would use black, blue, and purple encaustic wax to create the illusion of real oil. I had also thought of doing photography for my next project. Over holiday break, I am visiting Disney World, or the so-called 'Happiest Place on Earth'. I would do a series of photos featuring not-so-happy families on their vacations. I also considered doing a print inspired by my travels, but, as I stated earlier, I do not have everything pinned down yet. These are simply a few brainstorms for my next endeavor! December: Observation!For this project, I had the idea of taking pictures in Disney World on my trip from late November to early December. I did not catch many quality photos using my iPhone 7 plus (the camera doesn't live up to expectations), but the pictures I took could serve as the background for my idea of a print. The print was going to be inspired by Banksy's Girl with a Red Balloon. I quickly changed my mind about the use of printmaking for this, and instead settled for a stencil, more in tune with Banksy's art. I combined the photos of crowds in several Disney parks or the background in the generic shape of the Disney castle using an app similar to PhotoShop. On top of the crowd images, I displayed my better photos, some of which are seen below, as a collage. I edited my photos using this app to make them grayscale to allow the viewer to focus on the forefront, the stencil, not a distracting colorful background. Besides the grayscale, I wanted my pictures to be natural, and I took them discreetly to ensure the image of the authentic theme park experience. Along with the prime examples of my pictures below, I included the inspiration for my stencil: My original plan for this project was remotely different; it was going to focus on the capitalism of Disney over the concept of happiness. I was going to make a print of a one hundred dollar bill with Mickey Mouse's face, and then still feature a crying child whose tears become the money. You know the phrase, 'money can't buy happiness'. This concept was trashed because there was too much going on, and the viewer would struggle to focus on the true meaning behind the art. Here is my original sketch: The stencil for my new plan was the girl with the balloon, but the girl was wearing Mouse ears, the balloon was a Mickey balloon, not a heart. This is a subtle change which really implies the meaning behind the piece. However, the viewer can still interpret this piece as a metaphor for capitalism (those mickey balloons aren't cheap) or just another piece of anti-Disney propaganda. The title for this is "The Unhappiest Place on Earth". I have used red acrylic paint to create emphasis on the stencil. I need to add another layer or two to embolden the stencil. Here is my current state: Update: I changed the colors! The black was too saturated and distorted the images within the castle. Instead I went for a lighter blue for the castle, I made the girl in black, and the balloon in red. I placed these on a black background which really brought out some depth within the piece. Over all, it became my favorite finished piece. Opposing Places!This project is my first chosen theme, opposing places. I first had the idea of doing another social commentary, and utilizing encaustics to represent an oil spill. However, my second idea appealed to me more, thanks to its concept of opposition and, in a way, competition. Space has nearly always been referred to as 'The Final Frontier', but we have explored less of our own ocean than we have our solar system. Therefore, the ocean is the true 'Final Frontier', although it is not recognized. I wanted to do an encaustic diptych, with one representing space, and one the ocean. I would print out images similar to the ones in the sketches: a satellite, a shark, etc., but I would also draw a quick sketch of one of the objects to make the piece more 'my own'. The drawn item for the space is a UFO, and for the ocean, it will be an octopus tentacle. This was my first experience using encaustics. Although I did enjoy the form of art, the smell of the wax gave me a migraine which sent me home for a few days. I completed one of the pieces, the space one. I first did a layer of a dark colored wax to imitate space. On top of that, I placed some wool from orange yarn to create a galaxy effect, as well as a few silver beads to act as stars, and covered it with translucent wax. I then played with splattering color to create a sort of nebula-cloud look. I then took my images and placed them in between layers of the translucent wax. On the top layer, I added more color to avoid an issue with the depth of the images in the wax. Using the opposite end of my brush, I made indents on the wax to emphasize the images. Below is the completed product for space: As for the ocean-half of the diptych, I am thinking about possibly making a collage instead of another encaustic. I do not want to risk another migraine, and for cohesion, I think collaging would be my next best option.
Update: I created the ocean half using a block of wood, collaged paper, paint, and sand. I wanted to give a similar, mysterious look to the space piece. In my independent study, I was given three topics and left to decide two more for myself. For my first two topics, I went with two given themes: perspective and identity. #1: Perspective!My first project represents the theme of perspective. It is a three-dimensional piece with two-dimensional images. It is an object that resembles a set of stairs laid on its side; from the left, you will be able to see one image, and from the right, another image. The images will be of chess pieces: a black king and a white queen. Along with the theme of perspective comes the theme of opposites due to the juxtaposition between both the colors (black and white) and the objects themselves (king and queen). So far, I have created the base out of cardboard, with four panels for each image. I then decoupaged some brown paper bags with a glue and water mixture. Next, I will paint the base black, then add a chessboard pattern. I will create the images of the chess pieces using cut gray scale paper and an X-acto. I will then cut the images into four strips each using an X-acto, and adhere them to the base. When finished, this piece should be interesting to look at from all angles, even the sides with no chess pieces. Update: As of the week before Thanksgiving break, I have most of this first project finished. I have painted the checkers, using painter's tape for precision lines. I painted the checkers on all faces of the base besides the front where the images will go. I also cut out the shapes of the king and queen chess pieces. I will eventually use cut pieces of gray scale paper to add accents on the chess pieces. On the plain black and white backgrounds, I hope to draw a pattern of smaller chess pieces (knight, bishop, rook, pawn, etc.) to alleviate some of the negative space. Once I finish that, I will only need to cut the images of the chess pieces into four panels, and then glue them to the 'stair' base. Update #2: I am finished with the project, and I am satisfied with the result. The view of the pieces is a bit wonky from the front, but overall, it portrays the correct image on both fronts. Pictured below is the finished king and queen images, as well as the final result of the double-sided piece. The title is officially 'Checkmate', a blatantly obvious reference to chess that can even be respected by those bored of board games. If I were to change anything, I would try to make my cardboard measurements even more precise, because the paper goes slightly over the edges on some of the panels. #2: Identity!My next project represents the theme of identity, or more specifically, cultural identity. I wanted to have an East meets West vibe, and combine the beauty of Eastern pottery with representations of both the East and West. I planned to make a small serving bowl, and decorate it with a blue Eastern Dragon (these are wingless; it will be either Chinese or Japanese-influenced for the design) and a red Western dragon (these have wings, and often breath fire. They will be portrayed in turmoil, to represent the vast differences between the identities and cultures of both sides of the world. So far, I have wedged my clay and molded it to a base ceramic bowl. It is ergonomic due to its size - it fits in your hand at about the size of the average palm. I need to smooth the edges and make sure it is symmetrical, as well as thick/thin enough to survive the kiln in all areas. Once I have done this, I will leave it to become leather-hard, and then paint the background white, and the dragons with blue and red colored slip. I will cover it all with transparent glaze. Then, It will be ready to be fired, and hopefully all goes well from there! Update: For this project, my serving bowl is ready to be fired. Once it is fired I will apply a double coat of white glaze and fire again. Once it is finished in the kiln, I will paint the dragons onto it with acrylics. It was suggested to me that I do more than one bowl, so I was given a brief demo on the wheel. The bowl from the demo may be my second bowl, as I have not had an opportune moment/enough time to try the wheel for a second time. When I return from holiday break, I may attempt to use the wheel again to create my own, bigger bowl. I do not have any updated pictures of my current bone-dry bowl, or the larger bowl that was made by Mrs. Maclay. This project will likely take the longest to complete, with the process of firing involved. Update #2: I have the small bowl glazed and I have painted the first dragon on it. For the bowl, I only need to paint the second dragon and then varnish it to keep the paint from scratching off. The paint job so far still needs a few touch-ups, but for now, it gives the general idea of the style I was going for with this topic. I never made a second bowl, so to compensate, I was considering to make a tapestry with a similar image of the two dragons. That idea, however, is still brewing and it may never come into fruition. For now, here are two images of my glazed bowl with the first dragon. The project title is 'East meets West'. Update: I added the red western dragon, and I created a warm-cool contrast with the red and blue colors. Unfortunately, a lot of the acrylic paint tends to scrape off. The main concept of the piece is still there, with the fusion of two cultures. On the inside of the bowl, I made a yin-yang of fire and wind, the two elements that the western and eastern (respectively) possess.
In portfolio, I was given a chance to relax (even though it is first thing in the morning). It is very nice to have a class that is relatively low-stress as a Junior with four AP classes. As for grading, writing blogs about our work is ten times better than cramming for an art terms test. That is exactly why I asked for an independent study.
Through this class, I have learned to find a strong idea early, and then adapt it as you go along. The concept of not marrying an idea really resounded with me, as I tend to try to fix what I have, even if it can go no further. My issue is that I try to go big, and my time management skills before this class couldn't even spell out procrastination. However, this class has helped me to spread out my work to finish it on time, even though I've had some setbacks (such as sick-as-a-dog days). I really, thoroughly enjoyed this class, the students, and the teacher, and I can't wait to continue in an independent study! For my social commentary, I had a tough time picking a topic in today's tumultuous world. I went from the environment to immigration, and disaster relief to my final choice: the issue of possibly impending nuclear warfare. The United States and North Korea have been butting heads lately over issues aplenty, yet the most frightful is the hydrogen bomb sized problem in the hands of two questionable people. This is why I chose it as my social commentary. It feels as if starting a nuclear war is as easy as playing rock, paper, scissors (or Rochambeau, if you're French). Once I decided on my topic, I struggled with how to achieve the final result I had in mind. My sketches were full of the idea of having a canvas that was cut to reveal two explosions. There would be two gloves, one per country, which would be used to play rock, paper, scissors; the winner gets to 'blow up' the other country by revealing the nuclear explosion through the canvas. I wanted to make this piece interactive, because one of the best ways to make people aware is to involve them in the subject. Eventually, the spaghetti that stuck to the wall was the concept of a collage canvas. I first acquired a 12 x 18 canvas. I painted my canvas with matte medium, and then made a mixture of water and glue to stiffen the areas of the canvas where I would be cutting later. My under painting was blue for the areas representing water, and green for each of the countries. It looked... pretty awful. Luckily, I started to collage over some of the water and parts of America. The collage paper I used for the ocean were pictures of water, parts of maps, and images of sea animals and boats, to show the separation between the countries. I decided no to include countries like Canada, Mexico, South Korea, China, or Japan, because, while they are neighboring countries, they do not play a major role in the rivalry between the US and North Korea. Therefore, the water is to represent the fact that we are an ocean apart. After a bit of debating, I chose to paint the countries instead of collaging them. I did this to avoid indecipherable barriers between the countries and the water. I found the green that I used for my under painting to be intolerable next to the bluish water. I painted the countries like targets, with the base for America being blue, and the base for North Korea, red. Each middle color was white, and then red for the top of America, and blue for North Korea. This 'dartboard' look gives the effect of a targeted zone, and makes it a good place for a nuke explosion. In the middle of each top circle, I put a smaller white star, because each country has a star/stars in their flag. I also painted the underneath of the canvas in the case of seeing the underside of the flaps where I cut the canvas. I don't get scared a lot, but when I do, it's because I have to cut into a perfectly stretched and completely painted canvas. Fortunately, I was able to make fairly even cuts with my trusty X-acto knife. I scrapped the idea to make separate explosions for the canvas, and instead I chose to paint explosions on the gloves, and use the gloves as the explosions. (I will explain further with pictures below. Words don't do this justice). I got these garden gloves off of Amazon and in bulk; they are not the best quality, but they stay together. I under painted these gloves white to cover the imperfections within the stitching of the gloves. I then painted the back of the gloves with the flag of each respective country, and painted the palms with small nuke clouds which read, "BOOM". Finally, I connected the gloves to the canvas by stitching the gloves to the cut flaps. To play, the people must simply stick their hands through the canvas to wear the gloves. They must play rock, paper, scissors, and the loser has to open their palm to reveal the explosion! It is a simple game with morbid implications, making it a fun, political argument for the whole family. I had issues with a lot of this project. Besides being absent due to sickness for about three class periods, many other problems seemed to plague me. One of the main issues was my lack of nice white paint. Halfway through painting the white on my canvas, I ran out of white paint, forcing me to resort to a four-year-old bottle of Anita's acrylic white. It was not up to par with the rest of my paints, and it gave me several issues with adherence and cracking. However, after watering it down, I managed to harness the paint. In the end, this project came together, even after changing drastically from the initial plans. I had no formal art inspiration for this project, but I was instead moved by recent foreign politics. Being alive during the second figurative cold war is spooky, especially when you are aware of history being made right before your eyes. I highly doubt I will die to a nuclear explosion, yet the threat is still there, silent, but deadly. That is what inspired me to bring light to the fact that, yes, a nuclear explosion could end the world as we know it. Also, who doesn't love to poke fun at Rocket Man and Tiny Hands?
For my metamorphosis project, I was challenged transform one object into another. I had to have a series of six changes to meet the requirements. I decided to model a black cat, often seen as bad luck in western superstition, changing into a Maneki Neko, or the beckoning cat, a Japanese symbol for good luck/good fortune. I call it 'A Change in Luck'. Below are images of the stereotypical black cat and a Maneki Neko. To start, I sketched out my ideas for the cats, as well as the background ideas. I decided to avoid super realistic cats to allow for a smoother transition and better cohesion among the cats. For the backgrounds, I wanted to retain the concept of bad luck to good luck, so the backgrounds behind the black cats resemble broken mirrors, and behind the Maneki Neko, there are coins. The colors also change from a dark purple to a golden yellow, showing the cooler colors (green, blue, purple) with bad connotations, and the warmer colors (orange, yellow) with good connotations. For my next step, I redrew the cats onto gray-scale paper, and cut them out using an X-acto knife. I traced their features with a sharpie to help me define the lines when painting. Switching to the backgrounds, I cut out 5.5 x 4.25 rectangles. I then watercolor painted the backgrounds their respective colors: purple, blue, green, yellow-green, yellow, and golden-yellow. Once I finished my watercolor backgrounds, I started painting my cats. I used acrylics as well as sharpie for smaller detail. The cats went from having fur to being made of plastic, so I painted the black cats with hair and the Maneki Neko without it. Lastly, I used chipboard to elevate the cats off of the background to give depth. I used sharpie marker to color the sides black to eliminate the unsightly brown of the chipboard. This gives the cats an element of finality and a three dimensional look. I secured the cats to the board and the board to the backgrounds using glue. The last element needed is the matte board around each cat. This is the result of my metamorphosis project. For this project, I was not inspired by any art in particular, but instead by the concept of luck. Before I started the cats, I had several other ideas, including turning a spiderweb into a suspension bridge. In theory, this would have turned out to look aesthetically pleasing, but there was no meaning behind it. I felt a lack of purpose in making the spiderweb bridge, so I moved on to the cats. Below are some sketches and the concept of a stencil for the spiderweb bridge idea. Overall, with the amount of time I allotted myself to finish the cats, they turned out almost exactly as I had planned. My strength in this project was in the design of the cats. I progressed the piece by having the black cat lift its arm up into the position next to its head. I developed its coin and collar through a gradual change in colors. These aspects made up for the fact that cat was changing into a different cat, and not into an object with a completely different silhouette. My weakness in this project was the painting (as usual). I do not paint often, and I sometimes struggle with patience when painting. With this project, I did not have a brush small enough to create fine details, making most of my lines large and unrefined. If I were to paint them again, I would use a smaller brush, especially on the faces of the cats. If I made this entire project again, I would make it out of clay to give the cats a more realistic aspect. I would be able to give the cats texture, which would have a more visually appealing effect.
This three-dimensional piece was created by Banksy, a well known yet anonymous English street artist. He is best known for his graffiti that commonly expresses key elements of social activism. His common stenciled work is not seen here however. This is a sculpture made of a recycled kids' playground dolphin as well as several other items that represent trash. This is a statement against pollution and the disrespect of the environment. It has no words, yet it conveys a clear message, making it a strong example of social commentary. This image was created by a social activist artist by the name of Ricardo Levins Morales. This seemingly simple piece carries a heavier meaning when you look at the words; the building that the skeleton figure is pouring into the jail is a high school, and at the bottom, it says 'Budget Priorities'. This brings to light the uncomfortable truth that the cost of education is more important than the quality of the education/ the environment of the education for most schools in the United States. Besides the message it gives, the art style of the piece is reminiscent of a print (I could not find the original medium for the piece). Some other works that I appreciate are shown below. From left to right:
Poster from We The People Series, Shepard Fairey, 2017 Music Video for Moby & The Void Pacific Choir's Are You Lost in the World Like Me? , animation by Steve Cutts, 2016 Artwork by Pawel Kuczynski, 2013 For my self portrait, I came up with the idea of using fingerprints to create my face on my substrate, canvas. I did not want to use traditional flesh tones, so instead, I went with several shades of blue. To accomplish this, I printed a blue, simplified version of my face. I then did an under painting on my canvas orange and projected the blue image to trace onto the background. Once I traced it, I started to paint in the values of my face before I did the fingerprints (I may have gotten a little carried away...). After the underpainting, I put my fingerprints over the entire face. The lines within my fingerprints did not show up properly on canvas, but if you approach it, you can see individual fingerprints. The facial features, like the mouth, nose, and eyes, were painted with a brush to show detail. Once I completed the painting, I decided to stitch yellow embroidery thread into the background to give the piece more interest. The intention was for the embroidered background to resemble my fingerprint, but it can be interpreted differently as well. The final result is only slightly different from my original plan, which is a success in my book. I took risks by using materials I am not familiar with; I do not commonly use acrylic paint, and I am new to embroidery. My color scheme was chosen to compliment each other, and it was inspired by my blue hair. In the final painting, the blues were darker than I wanted them to be, but otherwise, I have very few qualms about my piece. If I were to do it again, I would start with the fingerprints instead of the face under painting. Also, if I had left more room, I would have made the bottom into a bar code, to insinuate that our fingerprints are the human version of bar codes. The image below is of my final product, but it lacks the canvas frame. My piece is original, and the only reference I used was my own picture. However, as I progressed further into my piece, I discovered Chuck Close's fingerprint portraits, and I drew further inspiration from those, even though he used ink. I made mine original by using myself as the subject matter, and by using acrylics and thread as materials. Below are some examples of Chuck Close's art: (From left to right) Georgia (1985), Phil (1979)
This piece, called Yes/No, was created by Markus Raetz, a Swiss sculptor and illustrator. It is a metamorphosis piece in the sense that if you are standing on one side, the sculpture says 'yes', but if you move to the other side, it says 'no'. I appreciate the effort it took to make this piece look like the actual letters instead of mangled lines that form barely cohesive words. Other than its complex design, its color is just plain black to emphasize the simplicity behind these two words despite the large impacts they can have. This painting was created by Russian surrealist painter and sculptor Vladimir Kush. This piece, aptly named Metamorphosis, portrays a cloud that acts as a hot air balloon. The transition from the cloud to the cords of the balloon is fluid, which gives the piece good cohesion. I also like the dulled colors and the two onlookers that are not the main focus of the piece, but they add interest as well as a story. This is a painting I would hang on my wall, because at first glance, it is a simple piece. However, upon further inspection, it is a highly detailed surrealist work.
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Lanie Trudiana VevasisI am a current Junior at Shippensburg High School that loves all aspects of art. I am in no way an expert; however, I am constantly looking to expand my knowledge and experience. Archives
January 2018
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