Week 6- Piece 2 "Miss Appear."

Following my morphed panther/woman piece, "Miss Panther,"I created this drawing "Miss Appear." It is a chameleon girl. Chameleons are known for having the incredible ability to change their appearances whether they look camouflaged or intensely bright amongst their surroundings. I must have used around forty different Prismacolor colored pencils and spent about nine and a half hours working. The dress is a solid pink to contrast from the vibrant scales. The dress also has an unravelling tear on the right side for a more dramatic look. It is as though she may come apart and blend into the leaves behind her.

Week 6- "Deathy" art exhibit

Thursday, September 24, I went in to the library around noon and viewed the 

"Deathy"exhibit. I was blown away. The paintings were all very bright, clean, and neatly composed. I also noticed that many books around the art were about famous artists, such as Jackson Pollock. My favorite piece was the very first image that I posted above. The yellow and orange figure is absurdly morbid. The outstretched, severed, arms and dark areas of shading in the body really speak to me. All the works in general had nice color shifts and great use of line. It is always neat to see fellow SXU students artworks honored in our school. I hope to see more art around campus in my time here, perhaps even my own! 

Week 5- Art Expo Top 10 artists

1) Artist Jen Ray created "Untitled, 2015." This is such an elaborate piece. It is watercolor and ink. I love the detail and the tiny people on the bottom edge of the paper. Up close the viewer is able to notice the great, clean details in the faces of these smaller individuals.

http://jenrayart.com

2) Mona Kuhn took this lovely photograph, simply entitled: "woman." It is a c-print. The model's relaxed pose makes her look completely comfortable and natural. The space above the model helps the image feel very spacious. She is so close to the edge it is as though she might fall right off the bed.

http://monakuhn.com

3) "Kneeling," by Gerald Peters, is a $68,000 sculpture that looks so real you would think she was breathing! It was created using resin and oil paint. There is so much detail. The sculpture's chest features slim collar bones and a shiny texture. The eyelashes are all straight and even. You can even see teeth inside her half open mouth.

http://www.gpgallery.com

4) Cuban artist Vicente Hernandez blew me away! He illustrated several books and has won several national awards for his work. The painting, "Tobacco Island," is filled with bright colors and swirling lines. The swirls are enticing and tie in the entire image from both the left and right sides.

http://www.cernudaarte.com/artists/vicente-hernandez/

5) Joseph Paul Vorst died in 1947. This oil on masonite piece, left untitled, depicts the labor-intensive lives of slaves. A man in the right corner fills a majority of the space. He first caught my eye. As I looked more into the work, I noticed the other slaves gathering what appears to be food or hay for  farm animals. The shading in both the people and landscape is moody. The stormy sky is ominous as well.

http://mormonartistsgroup.com/Mormon_Artists_Group/Joseph_Paul_Vorst_prospectus.html

6) The set of portraits all entitled "Deadly Friends," by Patrick Lee shocked me. Lee captured serious emotions on the men's faces, as well as an expletive phrase on this man's forehead. The graphite looks so smooth it is impressive.

http://www.western-project.com/artists/patrick-lee/


7) "Circuito Cerrado," Which translates to closed circuit in Spanish, has so much going on. It is an oil on linen piece created by Daniel Lezama. There is a man lying on the ground with a big belly. A light seems to be erupting from the man's gut, as a girl peers into it. I wonder what is going on inside that bright light. Is this maybe some form of alien activity? This painting really makes you wonder...

http://www.daniellezama.net/ing/home.html

8) Tom Birkner's oil painting "Early Morning," really reminded me of some road trips that I have taken. The foggy, faded trees are highlighted nicely within the foggy sky. I have driven through many rural areas similar to this-with run down diners on the side of the road and shadowy weather.

http://www.tombirkner.com

9) The tall oil on linen entitled "Diego del corral y arrelano," drew me in. It was in the exhibition of Robertis & Tiltan. The flowers encompass the man and even flow over his modern American Eagle t-shirt. Is he standing in front of a moving wall paper? His pose seems confident. The highlights on his neck are also striking and somewhat glossy.

http://www.robertsandtilton.com

10) Last but not least, Jiri Georg Dokoupil's "Untitled #4" was made with soap lye and pigment. The bright jelly fish are just transfixing. The jellies appear to be floating around everywhere- just as they naturally do. Jelly fish are super interesting because they do not have hearts, bones, or brains, which makes them such an interesting subject matter. The yellow, light blue, pale, and peachy colors are quite complimentary.
http://www.paulkasmingallery.com/exhibition/jiri-georg-dokoupil--new-paintings

Week 5- My first piece "Miss Panther."

 A classmate suggested that I humanize animals or animalize humans. I love this suggestion so I decided to take it. This idea never occurred to me! I made a drawing mixing a person and an animal, based off my previous piece "Morphed Madame." This new creation, "Miss Panther," transformed the original distorted grid drawing in several ways. The lady's head turned into that of a black panther's. A curved tail, legs, and hand also resembled the fine fur of a panther. I used Primsacolor colored pencils and picked select colors to enhance the dress, while maintaining bright white highlights that were featured on her entire figure. I texturized her hair by adding specks of bright white amongst the dark curls. Adding color added depth and a more intense feel. My shading was more organized and clean this time around, which helped me feel more confident.

Week 4- 3 Hour Drawing on Procreate

Above is the video of my work during the three hours I was at the VAC on Sunday. Below, is the final image I was left with after the three hours. I did a lot of playing around with brushes. I even drew the cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland at some point... It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! I was thinking I would have more difficulty using an iPad since I do not have one and have only used one once before. 

Week 3-My Top Ten Favorite Pieces

A PLEASANT SURPRISE

This was a breadth piece in my AP studio art portfolio. It is a still life of a flower bouquet. I assembled them on my wooden kitchen table at home and went to town creating different lines. Flowers can always brighten my day. These flowers were from my Birthday.

My media was pen and ink. 

Created in 2014.

DOGS OF WAR

This was an assignment for my set of 12 concentration pieces in my AP portfolio. Here, two African wild dogs sit hunched over a muddy puddle. The dogs represent the strife and war terrorizing a beautiful continent.

Created in 2015.

OVER THE OIL SPILL RAINBOW

This was an assignment for my set of 12 concentration pieces in my AP studio art portfolio. A narwhal lies helplessly in water contaminated with oil, whilst a ship is nearby creating more chaos for the creature- disrupting its environment. Ironically, there is a rainbow. Many people think narwhals are as magical as unicorns. Again, these animals are endangered and face many threats. 

My media was Prismacolor colored pencils.

Created in 2015.

FLEETING FOREST

This was a breadth piece in my AP studio art portfolio. I mixed tons of colors and tried to incorporate both bright and more mysterious hues such as chartreuse. I made the right side of the rain forest dreary and dark to resemble the growing rate of destruction, diminishing loss of important resources, and loss of habitat. There are tree stumps and withering branches scattered about. On the other side, there is still some beauty and happiness clinging to life. 

My media was Prismacolor colored pencils.

Created in 2015.

MINIMAULED

I was reflecting upon the fact that so many shopping malls and buildings have taken over, and are continuing to take over land. Humanity is paving over the homes of wildlife. The beaver has a worried expression, holding its paws up to its face. The duck is resigned. In the distance, a turtle is without his home.  

My media was Prismacolor colored pencils.

Created in 2014.

MORPHED MADAME

For this piece, I was assigned in my drawing class to create a grid drawing based on a picture we found interesting. I chose a model from a magazine. I changed the proportions of her body by making her head larger and her body drastically smaller. She looks bizarre, moody, unnatural, and grotesque. 

My media was graphite on paper.

Created in 2013. 

FROGGY ENJOYS THE SETTING SUN 

I created this piece for fun, based off of multiple photos I took out and about in nature. I had one photo I took of a small frog, one of a deep blue sunset, and another of a hibiscus flower. I compiled all these images to create one whole scene. 

My media was Prismacolor colored pencils.

Created this summer, 2015.

BARREN BARN

In my photography class, I was assigned to take a series of photos with similar color schemes. I chose dark sepia. I felt that the sepia made the barn look very aged, as though it was not taken now but back in the olden days. The barn was out in an open field so close to the road that I pulled over and had to take a couple shots. 

My media was inkjet print.

Created in 2015.

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

This was an assignment for my set of 12 concentration pieces in my AP studio art portfolio. It is commenting on the growing issue of pollution, specifically in our air. Pollution affects the entire earth- not just humans but animals as well. 

My media was Prismacolor colored pencils.

Created in 2015.

HELP 

This was an assignment for my set of 12 concentration pieces in my AP portfolio, and it is honestly one of my favorites. The four animals are depicted with hair and letters in their mouths that spell out "HELP." At first glance, the image probably looks like nonsense. Yet, I based this off the Beatles hit song "Help," because all of these animals are endangered and could use some help. (Hence, the Beatles hairdos.) It's definitely playful with a more serious underlying message.

My media was Prismacolor colored pencils.

Created in 2014.

Week 2- Gallery Post Jim Eichorst

Jim Eichorst is an artist and musician who looks for scraps on a daily basis. He is very down to earth, and I was able to chat with him... Out of all the pieces he made that were featured in the gallery, I would have to say my absolute favorite was his sculpture entitled: "Buddhavision." I enjoy readings on Buddhism and the Buddha. (I actually have a Buddha bobble head in my car.) The glass in front of the Buddha statue, which he said was just "sitting around," caught my eye the most. It is a magnifying glass from an old 1940 TV set! In this work of art, there are many ways in which craft, composition, and concept come into play. His concept was surreal, showing the Buddha in a 3D way that amuses the eyes from the very front. The shininess demonstrates clean craft. Eichorst carefully carved an image of bamboo onto the platform under the Buddha. This fine detail was a really nice touch that also exemplifies craftsmanship. The entire composition is complex; a person simply cannot look at it in just one direction. I felt an urge to walk around it a couple times to see every possible view point. From a side view, the Buddha has an elongated, linear shadow as seen in a picture I posted below.

Week 1- Introduction

My name is Karisa Brake. My major is art. I should graduate in the year of 2019. I plan on being a member of the Art Club, as of now, but I may join more extracurriculars. My senior year of high school, I was awarded student of the year in the art department. It was a huge honor! I really loved and looked up to every single one of my art teachers. They motivated and encouraged not only myself, but everyone else in the classrooms. My goal is to maintain good grades in all my different classes the way I managed to in high school. I aim to get a bachelors degree. In the future, at some point after school, I would like to move away and become a middle school art teacher. Middle schoolers go through significant changes and have to learn how to prepare for bigger and better things that should come in high school, which is very exciting. I feel that I could help kids transition and possibly discover talents they did not know they had. (Below is a picture of me sitting on the edge of a cave in Cave Point Park, Door County, Wisconsin.)

There are many ways to define craft, composition, and concept. First and foremost, craft is utilizing a "combination of tools." Craftsmanship ought to give viewers a sense of the ability and skill level an artist has mastered. Concept is what should move people. It is "self reflective," of what the artist truly feels and wants to reveal... Perhaps there is a hidden political viewpoint expressed, whether blatant or discreet. Finally, Composition is a matter of creating a harmonic balance. It encompasses both elements and principles of art and design. Beneath are two photos that I feel exemplify craftsmanship and composition. The self portrait done by Frida Kahlo to the right is quite symmetrical and feels balanced, although her head is slightly tilted to the left. This thoughtful balance proves the piece is composed well. I feel at ease, and I don't have to look in different directions to see everything featured. The painting to the left done by my favorite artist, Salvador Dali, illustrates craftsmanship! The baby head is extremely realistic, it is as though you can almost hear the baby laughing. It takes some serious prowess to be able to paint so articulately. The baby's face is also a map, as if the fact it was floating in space with no other appendages wasn't strange enough. Overall, every great work of art ought to incorporate concepts, crafts, and some sort of composition.