What the Future Holds- Studio Project

You do not have to include yourself or a human of any kind if you don't want to.

Our studio this week is to depict your own idea of What the Future Holds hundreds of years from now, the sky’s the limit. We are going to start out with an idea worksheet to organize our thoughts. Questions to ponder are: How do you think technology will advance and what will be created? What will happen to our environment, to the trees and wildlife? Will natural devastations continue to occur and change how we live? Where will we live: under the sea, in the sky like the Jetsons or will we resort back to living in trees due to natural devastations?

Our next step is to draw some thumbnail sketches of what we imagine the future will look like hundreds of years from now.  As a refresher, what is a thumbnail sketch and what is its purpose? That is right, it’s really rough and helps us set up our composition. And a composition a fancy term for our picture right? I want you to create at least two thumbnail sketches within your sketchbooks. Within our drawings, we are going to be including both organic and geometric shapes. A square, triangle, circle, etc. are considered geometric shapes. Squiggly, jagged, and other irregular lines are considered organic. We are going to be overlapping these different shapes and using value to give our work a sense of perspective and depth. Value refers to dark and light shading or colors.

To create our final work we are going to draw our futuristic landscape on a 8.5x11 piece of paper with pencil and color our pieces using fabric crayons so we can iron our pictures on white t-shirts I picked up for all of you. I want you to fill most of the page, however if you want to keep some spaces white that is fine. When using your pencils make sure you press down lightly. However, the fabric crayons we want to press down hard to make sure our design transfers well when we iron them on our t-shirts.  Make sure to brush off any flaking. Have an adult iron your drawing on your t-shirt. Look at the back back of the Crayola fabric crayons for tips.  To intensify your coloring upon your t-shirt go back into, further color your drawing upon the t-shirt with fabric crayon. Once your done with the crayon place a blank piece of paper on top of your design and use the iron again. You may also wish to use fabric marker to intensify color as well. 

Reframe from using letters and numbers. However, if you really wish to use letters or numbers write them backwards so when you iron your design on the t-shirt they will come out right. Ask an adult for help to make sure you have the words right.

Supporting Artists for What the Future Holds

Lori Nix: The City (Two different works--Aquarium and Library)

            Within her small dioramas made of cardboard, foam, glue and paint Lori Nix contemplates what the future holds for humanity. While she starts by constructing these dioramas her work is not complete until she obtains a satisfactory 8x10” photograph of her scenes of devastation. Her fascination with natural disaster and a world without humans was derived from being born and raised in western Kansas known for its tornados, snowstorms, and droughts. She started her career with Accidently Kansas, a series depicting that which she is most familiar (Edelman, 2010).

            Later, after several other series she moved onto The City, city without humans. She states, “I have imagined a city of the future, where something either natural or as the result of mankind, has emptied the city of its human inhabitants.” Within her works, walls are deteriorating and ceilings are falling in leaving only bare structures in some of her works. Mother Nature is slowly taking back what was once hers, filling spaces with insects, trees and other foliage. Her work displays her fear of what the future might hold as well as a fascination with changes that may ensue (Edelman, 2010).

Matei Apostolescu: Section 13 and/or Full-spectrum

            Matei Apostolescu was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1983. Since he was a child, Apostolescu knew he wanted to be a digital illustrator. Within an interview with Ed Ricketts, Apostolescu talks about inspiration being ones courage to explore the world. At first glance, some of his works seem chaotic and disorganized, however this is not the case. In fact, his works are very structured and full of intricate detail with wildly complex shapes. Within other works, Apostolescu proves he has the ability to tone down his works and give a sense of focus to his pieces (Ricketts, 2010.). Within his works Section 13 and Full-spectrum among others, Apostolescu narrows his focus and takes on What the Future Holds. He plays with how technology may advance and how our world may one day appear. These works follow his belief in challenging information throughout the world by taking it a set further and transforming it into something new (Ricketts, 2010).

Last lesson-- What the Future Holds

Again before you read the information below i want you to come up with your own narrative for this piece. What do you think it is about? This time i will not be posting my interpretation, I want yout o do it on your own with little guidance.

Main piece-- Thomas Cole's The Oxbow 

      Thomas Cole (1801-48) was an American landscape painter born in England and moved to Ohio, United States in 1818 (Lagasse, 2010.). In October of 1825 Col. John Trumbell, an aging history painter stumbled upon Cole’s work in the window of a New York frame shop. Amazed by his work, Trumbell rushed to get his friend William Dunlap, a newspaper journalist. Soon after, they had the pleasure of meeting the young artist and bought two of his works for a mere $25. A few weeks later Dunlap sold Cole’s work for a huge markup, however he more than made it up to Cole by featuring him within one of his articles in a New York newspaper. This exclusive on Cole led to wealthy clients; this allowed him to raise his prices exponentially from a mere $25 to a resounding $400 for his Garden of Eden. While his rates fluctuated throughout his career, they continued to steadily increase in value. As Cole continued to be praised for his work in numerous critical tributes, he was eventually labeled as the founder of American landscape painting. It is said that rapid shift of interest from portraiture and historical painting to landscape during this time was due to America’s wealth coming from the land, with the majority of population being farmers (Henry, 1994).

      In 1836, Thomas Cole created The Oxbow. Within this piece, Cole explores the sense of morality within humanity and expresses serious doubt in their expansion tendencies that lead to the destruction of the wilderness. If one peers at this piece carefully, Cole himself can be seen at his easel directly below the piece of cleared land that touches the cliffs of the dense forest (Arnason, 2010). By surrounding himself in nature, I believe Cole is trying to accentuate man’s ability to live harmoniously with an unaltered nature. Furthermore, the famous bend of the Connecticut River adds to the idea of questioning humanity's choices and what the future holds.

Out of this World: Studio Project

How many of you have wanted to escape at times, either wishing you could go to another world or wishing the world you lived in was different? Through their works, these artists, Edgar Arceneaux, Roberto Matta, and Leonora Carrington all express concepts of worlds different from our own. 

The first step toward our studio work for Out of this World is to hang a 15X20 piece of paper on your wall, or if you prefer since you are doing this at home you can just set it on your table. Upon this paper you are going to create a quick paintings of your monster on his or her world. We want to again, remember the different parts of the body. How many parts are to our arms? How many parts are to our legs? We all have necks, noses, tummies, feet, hands, ears, eyes, etc. I want you to pay close attention to creating eyes this week. I don’t just want to see dots, our eyes aren’t just dots. We have an upper ridge, a lower ridge and this inner corner area as well as an eyebrow.  (Paint eye as announcing part.)You may choose to leave your monster with no eyebrow, that is fine, but the eye should be as I just demonstrated. Our last step in our studio project is to create a three-dimensional realization of our monsters out of clay (make your monster our of clay).

History Part 3- Leonora Carrington: Figuras Fantasticas a Caballo

            Through self-exploration in 1937, Leonora Carrington developed her own personal mythology and pictorial vocabulary. She created both stories and painting of bestiary and imagined creatures stumbled upon by female characters. Within her works, she had a white horse alluding to mythic, transformative and sexual connotations. When formed into a rocking horse it represented nurturing and magical powers. Left by her husband, Carrington fled to Mexico to seek refuge. It was there she matured as a Surrealist depicting woman’s domestic identity and spiritual longings with her enchanted scenes. A quote I particularly enjoyed displays Carrington’s strength as a woman and her feminism declaring, “Most of us, I hope are now aware that a woman should not have to demand Rights.  The Rights were there from the beginning; they must be Taken Back Again, including the Mysteries which were ours and which were violated, stolen or destroyed, leaving us with the thankless hope of pleasing a male animal, probably of one’s own species… (Barlow, p215.)” (Barlow 1999.).

History Part 2- Roberto Matta: Disasters of Mysticism

Roberto Matta: Disasters of Mysticism

            Originally, a student of architecture, Roberto Sebastiano Antonio Matta was discovered by André Breton in 1937 and welcomed into the Surrealist movement.  Shortly after, in1939, he immigrated to the United States as an unknown artist. However, this did not last long. In 1940, in a solo exhibit held in Julien Levy Gallery he had an immense impact on American experimental artist. With American painter Robert Motherwell, Matta’s work helped fuse European Surrealism and the American movement to be identified as Abstract Expressionism.  Within his exemplary piece of 1942 Disasters of Mysticism, he ventures into uncharted territory alluding to the ever-changing universe of outer space. He achieves this utilizing brilliant flame-light to the left of the work and the black depths of space to the right (Arnason & Mansfield 2010.).

History Part 1- Edgar Arceneaux: The Gods of Detroit

Edgar Arceneaux’s multidisciplinary practice utilizing various media such as painting to sculpture and video has earned him praise since his 2001 graduation from Los Angeles California Institute of the Arts. Within his works, Arceneaux delves into cultural and personal memories, at times highlighting places of interest (Allsop 2009.). The interplay of artistic processes with psychology, physics, and philosophy intrigue him (Chang 2004). Within his newer works, he has begun to relate fears for our economic future with the historical ruins of our past (Kilston 2011.).

      Within his series of banners suspended from the ceiling, “The Gods of Detroit”, he addresses the social unrest and economic decline.  Horribly misspelled words such as banks, education, government, police, and libraries are attached to each banner implicating the Dark Ages’ lack of order within different components of society (Kilston 2011). 

      Clay, charcoal and enamel on canvas gives these forms a barbaric look of both proto and post-civilized eras (Kilston 2011.).  Mizota further elaborates on this idea of barbaric times calling the figures un-heroic lumps of clay or bones floating in space vaguely representing humanoid forms (2010.). 

My personal interpretation- DUE NOT COPY

Edgar Arceneaux’s The Gods of Detroit are a compilation of two pieces of loose canvas hung from a wire.  What appear to be clay-coiled figures take over the canvas to make a political statement.  This can be assumed by the sewn pieces of canvas that accompany the figures with the words “Puilbc siveercs,” public services and “Edcaituon” Education.  Highlighting the figures two muddy smudged lines stream across the center third of the background horizontally. Accompanying these lines are what appear to be random brown-gray outlined circles with varying amounts of plain canvas filling the center.  To me these circles resemble bullet holes.

      To the left hangs, the public service figure with a rather gangly and robot in physique with distinctive arms, legs, face, eyes, etc. His overall appearance reminds me of the tin man; however, he seems beaten, sad and disintegrating.  His arms are abnormally lengthy lacking hands. The right arm also appears to be loosely twisted as it dangles limply downward with no distinctive elbow. The left arm is more realistic in appearance with an elbow bend and thickening at the end for a hand, however a definite hand cannot be determined as the public services strip covers the end.  The legs appear as if the figure was in a bombing with a very thin right leg ending at the knee and a thicker left leg that appears to have a big chunk taken out of the thigh. The thigh tapers off as if the leg is going to end, however a small point attaches the rest of his leg.  There is no foot due to the leg of the figure going off the canvas.

      The Education figure is much more bulky. There is an implied figure; however, it is not traditionally presented.  The whole body is in knots almost as if the person tangled up its own appendages. The head is made of coils with no distinctive features. Hands project out of a torso wrapped and tangled by the figures arms. The legs are coiled and bulky as if the figure has cellulite with distinctive knees, but no apparent feet due to the Education strip covering an implied right foot and the left leg continuing off the canvas.

      These pieces appear to be taking a stance against our social struggles. Looking at the public service piece, I think about our government debt, the high unemployment rate, the downfall of US automobile manufacturers, the never-ending wars between nations and all the other misfortunes that have fallen upon our country. The education banner brings thoughts of educational budget cuts, teacher lay offs and the slow disintegration of extra curricular activities or the fees that have been tacked on to keep them.  Due to the appearance of the figures, specifically the robot like silhouette of the public service banner I wonder what our economy, our country is going to look like in the future.

            Further analyzing the piece, the abnormal alien like silhouettes paired with their unsettled appearance of floating in space makes them appear as if they are from another world. The representation and scrambling of the words makes leads to questions pertaining to the origins of the figures. Furthermore, the desolate background is unrecognizable which leaves me pondering the characters location. Are they here or on a distant planet or galaxy?

Lesson 3- Out of this World

So I went in a totally different direction than I initiall anticipated. Our lesson is titled Out of this World. The first thing I would like students to address and discuss is their own personal interpretation of this work.

What words appear upon his pieces? How would you describe the appearance of those words? What is public service and education? Make up a story for this world and give the work a title, what are some of your ideas? The actual title is The Gods of Detroit.

The next lesson we are going into is titled Urban Decay. I want everyone to think ponder what this could mean.  I haven't quiet figured out our studio project yet, however i am thinking it will be a mixmedia project utilizing trash... so start collecting. Not nasty thing that will literally start to decay, rather- wrappers, cans, bottles, carboard, etc. I am thinking this might be a 3D project as well so make sure you will be able to construct a free standing form with items you collect. You can also mix in found objects, sticks and rocks as well as dirt and clay. As I said not sure what the studio will be quiet yet you may end up collect these things and be asked to put them aside for a later date. I just wanted to prepare you for what I might have you do. So far our main artist for study is modern artist Edgar Arceneaux.

Accompanying Keepsake Box

Just as Ghana coffins have tell a story i want every student to have a deeper meaning accompanying this project. This explanation of why you made the artist choses you did needs to company your piece when you post or hand it in. For example a pilot may have a plane keepsake box like this Ghana coffin.

My personal inspiration for my keepsake model was a love for books and nature. I made the main form of my box a book then hand the tree which it was made from busting out of the top and piles of rocks formed its feet. The description can be very simple or detailed.

Vehicles to the Afterlife:: Studio Project

  

Inspired by Ghana Coffins, students will create a keepsake box. Students are to brainstorm objects that can represent a significant element of their life  that they would like to make into a keepsake box. Studio work will begin with thumbnail sketches where students will manipulate their desired item by coming up with a new way to represent the form while maintaining its recognizable qualities.  This means I have to be able to pick out what their item is without them telling me.  Manipulation can involve adding, subtracting or distorting the form.  Adding to a form, a student would complete the form in its entirety and add an additional element(s).  For example, if a student chose a book, they would create a hollow book out of cardboard and perhaps lay it on its side adding rocks to the base and a twig to the opposing side. The twig would serve as a handle for their compartment.  Subtracting from a piece would be only creating a portion of their desired form. They could create half of a coke bottle leaving the bottom jagged, as you would see on a broken glass bottle.  Distorting a form is taking a form and screwing its shape.  This could be a milk carton that has been squished and twisted.  Their 3D piece must also be functional containing a compartment to store desired object, keepsakes.  The size of their compartment is to their own discretion. Students must consider this within their sketch work. 

Vehicles to the Afterlife_ Part3: Terracotta Warriors

Terracotta Warriors and the Burial of China’s First Emperor

            The people of ancient China believed after death one lives on in a different world. Due to this, they believed the treatment of the dead should be the same as the living. Qin Shihuangdi, the first emperor of China, ordered his people to create a massive underground replica of his imperial necropolis so he could continue his rule even in death.  Located in four pits to the east of the underground city, outside its walls was the original resting place of the terracotta army.  This placement was to protect his city from the cities Qin conquered during his lifetime.  For more than 2,000 years, his city remained hidden.  In 1974, while digging a well, villagers stumbled upon the resting place of a group of life-size terracotta warriors. It has been determined that approximately 8,000 Terracotta Warriors were created as guardians for Qin’s city (Portal 2008). 

            These warriors were larger than life at the time of their creation; however, people were shorter back then.  The terracotta figures were manufactured in workshops by government laborers as well as local artisan workshops.  Artisans utilized models, coils and slabs within the mass production of warriors. Their original production is thought to have occurred in a factory line manufacturing the head, arms, legs and torsos separately, firing the individual pieces and finally joining them in a multitude of combinations.  Joining styles included pins or pegs, using local loess and yellow earth. Once assembled, artisans would add individuality to each statue with intricate features (Portal 2008). 

Some of these endless features would include costumes, hairstyles, posture and facial features.  Uniform, hairstyle and height were determined by the rank assigned to individual statures.  After close examination of terracotta figures it has been determined that eight molds were used to create their faces.  Then artisans would provide individual facial features by adding clay.  Once all clay work was complete, pieces were fired and assembled and the figures were painted.  The combination of a colored lacquer finish upon the statues, individual facial features and actual weapons and armor from battle gave the army a realistic appearance. Unfortunately, the coloring has intensely faded and robbers stole the original weapons and armor (Portal 2008).    

Accompanying the warriors within their final resting place are approximately 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses.  Other figures constructed for the city include officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians (Portal 2008).

            To ensure quality control, each work was stamped with the name and unit of its originator. The same varieties of inscriptions were also found on floor tiles and drainpipes found near the burial sight.  These stamping help archeologist identify ceramic works as mostly responsible for the creation of the terracotta army (Portal 2008). 

It has been determined that over a thousand people may have been involved in the creation of this massive terracotta army.  However, there is no record of the exact number of individuals involved in this mass production.  The absence of records is suggested to be a result of the project of laborers dying of overwork or perhaps being buried with their works (Portal 2008).             

Vehicles to the Afterlife_Part 2: Ghana Coffins

Ghana Coffins

            Many cultures believe when a loved one dies their body ceases to function but their life force, spirit or soul lives on, crossing into the afterlife. The Ga tribe of Ghana believes death is just the beginning of a new adventure leading to reincarnation. This African tribe doesn’t just mourn a loved one’s passing rather they honor their memory by celebrating the legacy left behind. The dead are honored and sent in style to the afterlife with an exotic brightly colored hand carved wooden coffin illustrating an aspect of the deceased life (“Coffins from Ghana”, 2010).

The idea of these exotic coffins evolved when a neighboring chief, inspired by the previous commissioned of a palanquin[1] in the shape of an eagle by the chief of Teshie, ordered one for himself in the shape of a cocoa pod. Regrettably, he died before he could see the work completed.  Due to this turn of events the people decided to bury their chief in his cocoa pod. Later that year when Kane’s grandmother died with an unfulfilled dream of flying he fashioned a coffin in the shape of a plane to send her into the afterlife. Kane then decided to take on an apprentice in his carpenter’s workshop to concentrate on the construction of intrinsic coffins (Fall & Pivin, 2002). Unfortunately, despite how talented he was the man who started this innovative coffin making, Kane Kwei from Teshie died before he could really enjoy the success of his product. Instead their apprentices are making huge sums of money with each exotic coffin retailing between $500 and $700 (Wiafe, 2000).

To the people of Ghana these coffins are not just seen as a way to bury the dead, but they are also seen as a place to house them in the start of their new life. The creation process of a Ghana coffin can take up to a month to complete. Due to fear of bad luck coffins are kept at the carpenter’s house and away from the family home until the funeral. Ablade Glover, one of the artistic creators of Ghana coffins, explains the belief of the coffin acting as a home in the afterlife to its resident. This idea adds to its importance of the beauty.   He further expresses the shame of such an artwork that took so much time and energy being hidden away and buried to never be seen by the living again (“Coffins from Ghana”, 2010).

Some save their whole lives to afford a Ghana coffin. There are people that see a funeral as just as important as a wedding, sometimes being just as expensive too. Ghana Coffins take on several forms displaying a person’s lifestyle or profession. A sewing machine may be carved for a tailor or a fish for a seaman. A man of wealth often has a coffin carved in the shape of a Mercedes Benz (Wiafe, 2000). It can also depict a vice such as a cigarette-shaped coffin expressing a deceased’s love for smoking. There are also coffins highlighting people’s favoritism of everyday random objects such as a Coca Cola bottle or an Air Jordan shoe. Dispositions can also be suggested with some creativity such as a pineapple perhaps depicting sweetness. (“Coffins from Ghana”, 2010)

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[1] A palanquin is a seat set on two parallel poles held on the shoulders of two to four people.

Next Lesson: Vehicles to the Afterlife-- History Part 1

     

Egyptian mummification and tombs

            In ancient Egypt, the concept of a world existing after death was of great importance.  They not only believed that your soul or “ka[1]and ba[2]” continued to exist after death but also pleasures once obtained in life were necessary in death such as food and liquid. Therefore, many possessions from life accompanied the deceased in burial (Carrol, 2007).

However, in order to continue life after death the ka and the ba must have a well-preserved body to re-enter. This necessity led to the development of the mummification process (Carrol, 2007).  The preservation of the mummy was extremely important.  If the body deteriorated or was damaged after burial the ba and ka would be no more, life after death would not be possible.  This was unacceptable to the Egyptians (Perl, 1987).  According to Dunn, the Egyptians theorized the best way to preserve the mummy was to remove all organs except for the heart.  This was due to the belief the organs would cause the body to deteriorate.  Following the extraction of the organs[3] they were placed into four vessels called “canopic jars.”  The stoppers[4] of these vessels were typically sculpted human heads.  However, during the New Kingdom era, Perl stated the stoppers being fashioned as the four sons of Horus.  Another difference at this time was some of the hearts taken out and mummified separate from the body.  In this case a scarab[5] shaped carved stone was put in the original resting place of the heart (Perl, 1987).  After the body was fully prepped it was wrapped and bandaged.  The wrapping also covered any jewelry or amulets that had been placed upon the mummy for protection and to ensure the afterlife (Perl, 1987).  A mask was then placed upon the face so the ba and ka could recognize its body (Dunn, 2010).

After the mummification process was complete the wrapped corpse would be place within a coffin.  Throughout Egyptian history there were several types of coffins.  The anthropoid coffin shaped as the deceased and thought to provide an alternate body in case something unexpected happened to the mummy.  The rishi or feathered coffin mimicked the textured representation of the ba’s bird form and was often used in combination with the anthropoid shape.  The stone sarcophagi took on a box shape resembling a shrine with hieroglyphic carved upon its surfaces. As Egyptians progressed they began using these coffins in combination placing an anthropoid coffin within a larger sarcophagus (Dunn, 2010).

At times varieties of ritualistic objects accompanied the mummy and its coffin within its final resting place, a tomb.  These objects would range from statues of gods, guardians and deceased. Statues of the deceased, just as the anthropoid coffin, were designed for an alternate body if something happened to the mummy. Other ritualistic objects included shabti figures, which were “magical” fieldworkers, Osiris beds which contained grain seeds[6], amulet vessels or modeled armies with knives and swords.  Believing they could continue their status in the afterlife Egyptians thought it necessary to be well prepared with the essentials of life. Due to this, ordinary items based on the deceased’s interests were also found within their tombs to assure deceased’s afterlife would be at the same level of comfort as he once lived.  Common items found within this category were clothing, shoes, jewelry, perfumes, cosmetics, games, musical instruments, writing materials, heirlooms, fine tableware, precious metals, pottery, glass and food.  Some of the food included varied from preserved meats, grain, fruit, wine and beer.  Furniture was also included such as chairs, beds, boxes, chests, baskets and lamps (Dunn, 2010).

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[1] The Ka was a twin soul that lived in the body until death. Once death took its body, the Ka would be restricted to its tomb where it would require food in order to live on (Perl, 1987).

[2] The Ba was second form of the soul. After passing it could leave its tomb and take on many different forms, the most common being a bird with the head of the deceased (Perl, 1987).

[3] The organs that would be extracted and placed in jars were the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines. (Dunn, 2010)

[4] Stoppers refer to the lid of the canopic jars.

[5] A scarab was the Egyptian symbol for immortality. This was due to their eggs laid in a heap of dung and birth of rising out of this pile seen as a miracle by Egyptians (Perl, 1987).

[6] Osiris beds are wooden trays in the form of Osiris, the god of the dead. They were planted with grain seeds expected to flourish after the tomb was sealed (Dunn, 2010).

Studio work

The studio work for Mysteries within Us is the manipulation of a self-portrait. I would like students to morph their self with an element that represents something they would like to reveal for about themselves. Edward Scissorhands by Tim Burton and Water by Howardena Pindell are examples of this process as well as the work I have posted below. This is not a literals representation this is going to be metaphorical that way it gets the views to think about what you, the artist is trying to reveal. Not all people may get exactly what your pieces are about, but that is art. Everyone’s interpretations of any given piece are unique and appreciated.

 

Posting Guidelines

These are a few guidelines I expect students to follow when posting.
http://www.screencast.com/t/K1vjC627

Two artist that related to "Meanings within Us" Our Theme for this Lesson: Tim Burton and Howardena Pindell

Tim Burton:   Edward Scissorhands

            Burton’s is known not only for his films, but also for his unique works of art. His works emote a morbid humor often accompanied by a violent punchlines in a dark classic fairy tale tone.  Burton not only draws for his own pleasure but often draws while filming to portray the type of character he want actors to emit.  He has a unique outlook on the world formed by several factors (Caldwell 2010).

            For a long time Burton had trouble touching people, this was due to growing up in a family that lacked physical intimacy.  This is often portrayed within his films having characters lack parental affection. “He sought solace from the ‘normal’ world… seeing monster movies and horror films (Caldwell, p7).” Within these movies, he related to the monsters seeing them as possessing the most soul and their persecution often unjust. Burton discloses being referred to as a weirdo in childhood and how he grew to embrace the term.  Although Burton puts a little bit of himself within everything he creates, the character closely portrays him Edward Scissorhands. He describes this Edward as the ultimate weirdo depicting him as isolated from suburbia literally unable to touch anyone without hurting them (Caldwell 2010).

Source:

Caldwell, T. (2010). Tim Burton: the exhibition. Screen education, (56), pp 6-12.

Howardena Pindell:  Water

Pindell’s Water is all autobiographical as well as political. It addresses feminism, racism, violence, slavery, and exploitation. It is also a means self exploration, this means of examination became prominent in her work after her 1979 car accident resulting in a concussion and memory loss. 

Lee Bontecou

In conversation with Mona Hadler, Lee Bontecou describes her passion as emotional responses evolving from political and social stances originating with her upbringing during World War II (Hadler 1994.).  She also denotes her inspiration for her earlier works as resonating from the Cold War arms race and Sputnik (Duncan 2004.).  “Bontecou has stressed that she sees technology through nature, pointing out the relationship of the helicopter or of Sputnik to the dragonfly (Hadler, p57.).” She presents her responses within an oppositional language of mix media sculptures and drawings utilizing organic and geometric shapes. Constructed of her sculptures consist of varying combinations of plastic, wire, canvas, welded steel, velvet and other clothes, while her drawings were of graphite, soot and ink & ink/prints (Hadler 1994.).

      “Bontecou has culled her imagery from life itself (Ashton, p1.).” This relates to the life of the mind as well as visual life. She not only perceives all the beauty in the natural world but also the cruelty.  The goal within her work is to emit emotions, not only her personal feelings, but to also get the viewer to give the work their own personal meaning.  Enhance freedom of interpretation is her neglect in titling her work.  Works can range from easily identifiable to abstract and open to viewer interpretation (Ashton 2005.). 

      Bontecou’s works consist of depict an array of objects, from airplane propellers, skeletal structure, fish, and cannons to black holes conveying “…a blank television screen, a camera lens, a cave, a wound, the pupil of an eye, a crater, a skeletal socket, a porthole, a periscope, a gun barrel…(Duncan, p152).” She began her career using conventional sculptural approaches, creating an armature and applying materials to create a freestanding form.  However, in the 1960’s she moved on to create her signature works as protruding wall reliefs (Duncan 2010.).

Ashton, D. (2005). On Lee Bontecou. Raritan, 24(4), pp 1-12.

Duncan, M. (2004). Catching up with Bontecou. Art in American, 92(6), pp150-159.

Hadler, M. (1994). Lee Bontecou’s warnings. Art journal, 53(4), pp 56-61.

Personal interpretation of Lee Bontecou's 1962 Untitled, Soot on paper

Ex: My Personal interpretation... DO NOT COPY PRESENT YOUR OWN ORIGINAL THOUGHTS.
Bontecou’s Untitled, 1962, soot on paper appears to be as it is describe soot on paper, perhaps she is referring to the use of charcoal.  It is entirely black and white, the white being the untainted paper. 

I am peering up through the winding staircase above and all around me starting at my feet into the blackened sky with the moon like a pebble in its darkness.  I relate the journey of my life to the stairs interpreting it as I have a whole adventure lying at my feet just waiting for me to take the first set.  Gazing upon the piece, I am overcome with sadness as elements of mystery and darkness rush through my thoughts.  At the same time, hope is in the air.  This sense emanates from a spot of light within the dark abyss overhead and rays of light coming out of the blackened sky reflecting off the structure above.

At second glace the image becomes an eye staring at me, judging me.  However, it is tired with bags surrounding its socket. It is tired of judging and being judged.  The rays act like the reminisce of tears that had once flowed from its gland.  There is sadness and frustrated in its gaze.  When looking at this piece my thoughts are filled with darkness, darkness of my past and current struggles.  However, I have to believe there is hope, hope for not only myself, but also the ones I love.

Me

Introduction:  My name is Samantha Morell. I transfered to Kent in Fall 2010. I'm a Art Ed major holding senior status, however i still have 1-1 1/2 years of schooling after this semester which I cant wait to complete. Right now I am in the process of working on my second lesson plan, the first in my practicum class. I chose to start my focus on one of Lee Bontecou's untitled works.

I still have quiet a bit to figure out however, I am already really excited to introduce my lesson to the 10-14 year olds I will be teaching later this semester.
 
The theme/key topic we are going to be working on for this unit is "Mysteries within Us." The first thing I would like students to address and discuss is their own personal interpretation of this work.What do you see when you first look at this image? What feelings does this piece evoke, if any?