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
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!
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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.
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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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