Exhibition Text:
Pregnancy
23cm x 15cm
Block Print
September 20, 2016
For this year , I wanted to start off differently from last year. I wanted this piece to show how mature I've gotten throughout the summer. Therefore my topic was pregnancy. I thought of this because someone I know recently gave birth. She went through many obstacles before and after birth, but she said the experience was worth it and how she loves her baby. Again I felt semi connected to what she was going through. A huge part of my childhood was me babysitting and spending time with my siblings. In which they are approximately 12 years younger than me. Even though they affected my lifestyle, I learned a lot, such as skills and how beautiful having a kid is. And honestly watching them grow, learn and change was the best part.
23cm x 15cm
Block Print
September 20, 2016
For this year , I wanted to start off differently from last year. I wanted this piece to show how mature I've gotten throughout the summer. Therefore my topic was pregnancy. I thought of this because someone I know recently gave birth. She went through many obstacles before and after birth, but she said the experience was worth it and how she loves her baby. Again I felt semi connected to what she was going through. A huge part of my childhood was me babysitting and spending time with my siblings. In which they are approximately 12 years younger than me. Even though they affected my lifestyle, I learned a lot, such as skills and how beautiful having a kid is. And honestly watching them grow, learn and change was the best part.
Process:
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My process was very smooth since I had my idea all figured out. I had the sketch in my head already which made it easier to sketch it on paper with pencil. I tend to like short stories , that are very simply told, with good images/cartoons, but with a loud message. Therefore that was my aim, to make a story using block prints about a controversial topic. I didn't express my opinion on this topic because I didn't want to offend anyone with my art project. I started off by sketching my story , the first one was of a baby/ developed fetus, a pregnant women, and lastly of two balloons with symbols of the baby's gender. Afterwards I drew it on the block print and carved. Once carved , I started . I put black ink on a tin dish then spread it out using a roll. Once the roll had black all over I passed it onto the block, until it was completely black. Right away I put a piece of white paper on top of the block and pressed so the black ink could transfer onto the paper. I repeated many times, until my results looked decent. |
Inspiration:
My inspiration came from Rene Magritte's painting The False Mirror. I did this painting back when I was a sophomore,. It was highly challenging for me therefore I decided to try again but with a different medium. Magritte did a lot of shading to have her eye pop, look more realistic and it was all done with paint. For my project, I manipulated lines to make my art piece look more realistic. Around the sclera (white part of the eye) I used vertical lines to replace how realistic she made the tear duct look. The art movement I was inspired from was German Expressionism. I used forms and colors for emotional impact. From this art movement, I focused more on Kathe Kollwitz's art work. Her's really caught my attention, specially Hospital Visit. The way she used line to show white and black was magnificent. I tried using her technique of multiple lines in my art piece, where as around the eye. |
The False Mirror, Rene Magritte, 1928
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Hospital Visit, Kathe Kollwitz, 1867- 1945
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1. The connection between my inspiration and art piece is the "frame", the picture of an eye. False Mirror by Rene Magritte is of a person's eye and they're looking at sky, specifically the clouds. In my artwork the person is a relative of the pregnant women, they're watching her and the baby.
2. My overall goal was to make a series from a person's point of view. That's why all three of my pictures were somehow related to pregnancy. 3. As I was researching I found many opinions on pregnancy. The amount of variation was crazy. This topic can go really far, to unwanted pregnancy, abortion, rape, and diseases. 4. My central idea was to forget the problems surrounding this controversial topic and to focus on the beauty of being pregnant . 5. My ultimate interest was to find more information and make an art piece off it. I wanted my audience to look at my art piece and forget the negativity of this topic . |
Reflection:
Once I was done with my art piece, I reflected back. What I liked most was the experimentation I went through. I didn't like the first results , because it was too plain. I also didn't want my art piece to be identical with Magritte's The False Mirror , therefore I added eyelashes. I didn't have eyelashes on my first try, it was plain, therefore I made it more dramatic. As I was researching I saw many artists playing with lines. After my research I found many techniques on how to use the carving tools. However this helped, because I learned more and I feel more familiar to this type of project. Now for next time I'll know what to do.