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
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.
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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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