Guess what??

I got into the BFA program!! 

I'm excited to have that to come back to after my mission.

New Genre: Installation

For my latest New Genre project I decided to do another installation piece. I was inspired by Andy Goldsworthy and his site-specific nature installations. 

I went to a park close to where I live and I found this tree that is huge, awesome and had a lot of pine cones that had fallen on the ground underneath it and then I just started going for it. It started out as just a formal, aesthetic piece similar to my first installation with all of the prints, but after I created it I realized that there was a lot of personal meaning in it as well. The title is Passing Through and it came to be a representation of noticing the world around us and a type of journey that we all pass through.

New Genre: Sound

For my New Genre class we had to create an art project that was mainly based on sound. This is what I came up with. Just as fare warning, to appreciate it you will definitely have to keep an open mind. The title of the art piece is Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk (Listening to The Way it is).

My inspiration for the piece was my dad and how we would always listen to the song The Way it is by Bruce Hornsby on long road trips to Utah and my dad would never let us blow bubbles in our milk when we were kids. It's kind of a funny tribute to those two strong memories that I have from my childhood. I put headphones in and am listening to that song while I try to blow bubbles in my milk to it. I think it turned out pretty cool. 

Hope you enjoy :)

New Genre: Installation

 I'm in a New Genre class this semester and it is an awesome class! We deal with "new" types of artwork like installation, sound, performance and video. My first project was an installation project that I decided to use printmaking in. I created 9 different aquatinted intaglio plates that I printed around 35 prints from. This is what my hand looked like about halfway through the printing process...ink everywhere. I love it though :)

Here are what the 9 different prints look like. They are all very simplistic and abstracted representations of things that we see everyday. For example, the mountains, tree bark, sidewalk, the blinds, an iphone, and the moon.

Then I strung all of the prints on white string and hung them from the ceiling to create a space that the viewer could walk through to see all of the prints. I wanted to create an aesthetically pleasing installation that was about the process and time it took to create it. 

It took a lot of time and work but I really enjoyed doing it. Printmaking is so fun! I love it!

Figure Drawing

I'm in a figure drawing class this semester and I've really been enjoying it. I've never taken a figure drawing class before, or really ever drawn the figure in an observational way, so it has definitely taken some getting used to and lots of practice. It's cool to see the improvement, though. At the beginning of the semester we started off with very quick gestural drawings, ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Here's an example of a quick 2 minute gesture drawing:

We then moved on to longer drawings and some subtractive drawing as well to get different values and shading. Here are examples of some 10 minute drawings:

Last week we did our first large-scale drawings and they took the full 3 hours of class. It's crazy how time goes by so quickly in the class. We draw for 20 minutes then take a break so the model can move around a bit and then we get back to drawing again. These are 22x30 inch drawings.

It's cool to see how much I've improved from the beginning and how I am much better at figuring out proportions just after some practice. This is my last drawing that I did. I think it turned out pretty well.

Sculpture

I was excited to finish all of my sculpture projects from Fall semester. The class seemed to fly by so that I felt like I did all of the projects in the time span of about a week. It got a little crazy but I'm pretty happy with the outcomes and I feel more confident in all of the art forms.

So this is what my stone looked like at the beginning. It was rough and big, weighing about 35 pounds. During and outside of class I would go and sit and chisel away at my stone while listening to pandora. It was pretty cool. I am even more impressed now with awesome marble sculptures by Michelangelo because let me tell you...it ain't easy.

safety first!

Here's how it turned out after it had been sanded, smoothed and polished. I wish I had had a little more time to work on it because I feel like it might not be completely finished, but thus is the life of a busy student. It looks different at all different angles, which is kind of cool.

The stone itself had some really pretty colors in it.

This is how my steel project turned out. Not going to lie, I was really nervous for this one because the requirements were welding and forging. If you're not familiar with either method, I'll just say that they both involve extremely hot temperatures and danger...especially welding. Once I got going with the welder though it wasn't too bad. I'm really happy how it turned out! It looks totally different from all angles, which is awesome. I was influenced by some of my work I had done for my printmaking class and I wanted to try to use some of the ideas I was using before and creating it in 3-D. 

I LOVE how my bronze turned out. It is such an interesting process to cast a bronze as well. I loved learning about the process and getting to actually do it. 

First of all, I made a wax figure of the object that I wanted to be cast. Then I attached it to multiple sprews of wax to a cup covered in wax. Then we dipped it in a slurry and sand 9 times with 6 hours in between each dipping. After that, we put them in a kiln that melted away all of the wax and poured 2,000 degree liquid bronze into the casts to fill in where the wax was. After cooling for a day, we chipped off the cast and there was the bronze statue. We had to cut and grind off the sprews and then I put a liver of sulfur patina on it to give it the rich dark brown color. 

Now Max has been immortalized. Pretty cool.

Ceramics

I finally took pictures of all of my ceramic pieces that I made this past semester. I had ceramics for the first block so it was from the beginning of September until mid October. 

The first day of class we made spoons out of porcelain. They were fired at a cone 10, which means that they are food safe so I could actually use them. They aren't super practical though, I was going for more aesthetics and a progression from a simple baby spoon to a ladle.

Man Made Project: We had to recreate an object that was man made. I decided to try to make something that I love to make and have made in real life out of clay to see how the process would be different. I made a pie. 

I made each individual apple and connected them and laced the crust on top.

It even opens up so I can put things inside. Unfortunately it is not food safe, but it'll be cool to just have around.

Organic Project: We had to make a sculpture that felt organic, so this is how mine turned out.

I sprayed the glaze on with an airbrush, which was a cool new technique to learn.

Basic Shapes Project: I had to create a bunch of hollow pillow and tube shapes and then connect them in an aesthetically pleasing way. I like how it turned out looking like bones.

Final Project: I had to incorporate things I had done before and things that I liked from other people's sculptures. I like the delicate folds from another girl's sculpture so I used that idea and I carved deep into them to give it texture. It has lots of pretty detail when you see it up close. 

This class proved to me yet again how much I love ceramics.

Ceramics Update

Here are some sneak peaks of my latest ceramic pieces. I will post more about them when I can bring them home and take pictures. 

My final sculpture: It had to be at least 20" and it had to combine aspects of a past project and someone elses' project.

My recreation of a man-made object: I decided to make a pie out of clay. I think it turned out pretty cool.

Ceramics: Basic Shapes

In my ceramics class our first project included making basic "pillow" and "cone" shapes out of clay and then attaching them into a sculpture. This is how mine turned out and now it is in the kiln getting fired so we can start to glaze it next class. It's been great getting back to doing some hand building with clay. I hadn't done it since high school and I've been reminded how much I LOVE clay. It's just so fun to touch, smell and get my hands dirty with. More clay updates to come soon. 

"But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." -Isaiah 64:8

Printmaking Final

Today I finally finished my printmaking final. What a relief! I've loved this class, but I have also dedicated so much time to it that it is almost ridiculous. This last project was tough, but it's over now and I'm really pleased with the result. This time we had to make an edition of 8 prints plus a BAT, so 9 prints in total. We also had to make a portfolio box to put our prints in. 

Here's how my box turned out:

Open it up and you find my prints.

Here's what the print looks like. It is a 9x12" Intaglio print using line etching, aquatint and some dry point. It was inspired by the architecture in Alcalá where I stayed in Spain.

2 finals down, 4 more to go!

An Art Update

Some things I've been up to for the past couple weeks.

Here is a test print of my latest intaglio print. It looks different than this because I made some changes, but you can get the general idea.

My painting hanging in the Student Show.

Still life paintings for my painting class. 

Can't believe that classes are over and that finals start Saturday. The semester has flown by. I still have a lot to do before I'm completely finished by the end is in site and then I get to hang out with these guys!!!

Send motivational thoughts my way! 

Woohoo!

The Student Art Show is in the HFAC from April 2nd-20th so go check it out to see some awesome work!