UWM- Mixed Media- Found Objects
"Realistically"
Clairefontaine Canvas
(x in)
January 2018
Clairefontaine Canvas
(x in)
January 2018
Exhibition Test
For my mixed media piece I decided to go with the idea to make people aware of an outsiders viewpoint and a Native American of the social norm of association with cultures. And of what a modern day Native American could have a form of discrimination against what our community is supposed to look or consist of. But, also a form of actualization of what we could do and how we live.
Artistic Inspiration
Sandra Chevrier
Comic book portraits by Sandra Chevrier
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Sandra Chevrier is a modern day Canadian artist that has done a series of collages of women covered in comic images. I had used Chevrier for my inspiration to form the same kind of inferences of making a powerful statement. Although her work is mostly consisted of using comic images upon the body and using it to make a daunting expression of emotion. From her work I had decided to use the same form of the collage and cover my work with political cartoons that showed Native American discrimination issues. I like how her pieces are singular and focuses on the emotion of body language. Which I had took into consideration when formulating my body language with my model.
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John Craig
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John Craig is a illustrator who has created pieces that were to be seen as out of the ordinary. This piece specifically perfectly matches the definition of to be"out of the box," which is specifically why I had choose to be inspired by Craig and take on the same emotion by presenting such an odd piece of material we see and present it in a different way. John Craig is known for creating prints that involve objects that you might see daily and uses it in a normal situation. Which I had took and tried to tie it with my artwork. Although with my piece I had took newspaper from my reservation and used it to make an illusion of a girl.
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Meaning
The meaning behind my piece was to push the idea of making people aware of some of the social identification people make with Native American's. I also wanted to show the viewpoints both the Native American woman and a outsider's view. As an Native American myself I took it upon myself to use this advantage and express myself through this piece. I just feel that some people are unaware of the things that actually happen with these "social norms," that are somewhat related in culture, which they forget that the connection is unfair. Although my piece is about Native American's specifically I also wanted the same reaction to apply to all people to show what the media is actually paying attention to.
Process
Brainstorming
Sketch #1
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For my first Sketch I had managed to use my sister as a model and referenced her body position as I had drawn. My initial impression was to have the girl kind of relaxed and looking up with her eyes closed peacefully. Which contradicts the true emotion that is happening within the peace with all of the political cartoons showing the uncomfortable emotion of discrimination on Native American's.
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After coming up with my ideas I decided to add some more evident qualities to my sketch to make it seem more like a Native American woman. Although I still wanted to keep my piece more modern in the sense that this is a situation that is still occurring today. So, I added a "Tablita," which is a Native American Tiara that is given to girls when they go to formal events, such as a powwow.
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Sketch #2
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After applying the tiara I did more research and found a modern artist John Craig. After viewing his piece I was infatuated with the same idea that you can take a daily object and give it a more announced meaning. I then found these deck of cards that I had laying around and decided to see what I can do with the cards. I cut a card into pieces and applied it onto one of the sketches I had and made it into a crown with the cards.
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Sketch #3
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Step-by-step of process
Materials
- canvas board - acrylic paints
- political cartoon print offs
- newspaper
- political cartoon print offs
- newspaper
Follow Through
Step #1- When I had got my canvas I put a coat of Gesso on my board in order for my paint to not hold onto my board.
Step #2- I used pencil to sketch my drawing onto the board so I have a better outline for creating my painting Step #3- After laying my outline down I had created dark and light blue tones for my girl's hair and applied the dark tones first. Then went back in with various of blues and greens. Step #4- I had some conflict with blending on my canvas so I decided to let the paint dry and went back in to blend. Step #5- Once I was done with the hair i cut pieces of articles and pictures from my grandma's newspaper from our reservation. In which i made it look as if it were apart of her body. Instead of the initial idea. |
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Skills and Techniques
When I was within the process of doing this project I had learned how difficult it is to use newspaper. Although the shapes throughout this piece is fairly easy I had to conduct highlights and shadows as if they were block like. If a spot on the body was a shadow I choose a photo that was dark from the newsprint. I had also added pieces from magazine and some scraps from previous artworks for the background to make it look like a magazine mashup.
Compare and contrast
When I was looking at my inspirations I was very attracted to the idea of using odd objects to create a wholesome piece. With that I used most of my inspiration with John Craig. His piece "Poker Face," had drawn me to using news pieces all over my girl in my piece. Although Chevrier led me to my idea with the political cartoons, but I had a hard time finding a lot of options. And most of the ones I had found were very consistent in theme. So, I used both news pieces and the three political cartoons I found. I also used John Craig's use of shadow with the objects such as how he used the ace card and placed it where the ear would be. My influence with Chevrier had mostly been with how she laid her comic pieces on her portrait of girls. In which she had made the pieces look like a mask over the face. Which is the look I tried to go for when I was putting my news pieces over my girls body and face. On my own I decided to add to the background I found these magazines that my grandma has recently thrown away and used them to make the background look like its supposed to be a cover of a magazine.
Reflection
Critique
Overall after creating this piece I learned a lot about using different mediums in a whole piece. I found that some parts of the process were difficult to do. For an example I used a strong stick glue over a liquid glue I was initially going to use. I did a small test to see how the paper would react to the liquid glue. And it didn't look as presentable as how the stick glue looked. Before this project I was mostly in my comfort zone and stuck to paint. After doing a mixed mediums I am more confident with doing art projects I may not be confident with. I am also very knew to the idea of expressing my self through my artwork and I do feel more comfortable of how my pieces will now be conducted in the future.
Experimentation
As I was looking for images in this newspaper I had found an article about how my reservation uses the land for resources. In which I purposely used only important parts in the newspaper. The images included how the reservation looked and the types of things that provide for the people. Which I had thought was an important component to making other viewers aware of what an actual Native American lives. Without making a big title stating what the piece means, in which the viewer has to look at the piece and figure it out. I had later on started to include my background from pieces of magazine and scraps I had found to imitate a cover of a magazine.
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ACT Responses
What is the overall approach ( point of view) the author has regard to the topic of your inspiration?
The point of view the author has regard to the topic of my inspiration is to inform the viewer about who the artist is and how the artwork is presented.
The point of view the author has regard to the topic of my inspiration is to inform the viewer about who the artist is and how the artwork is presented.
- What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc, while you researched your inspiration?
- The generalizations I have concluded about the people and ideas while I researched had been that the artworks people were doing with found objects had been produced to influence the audience. Which I had been taken back upon because I wanted to do the same.
- What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research? The central theme I had for my inspirational research was to take pieces of the objects I used and put them on this board that will show my audience an old concept that is not spoken upon and put it to use.
- What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research? The inferences I made while doing my research was mainly how other artists had also done some kind of relevant idea, but did a different form of artwork. In which I had thought was important for my use because I needed that kind of inference to build my inspiration.
Bibliography
“Native American Headdresses: Facts for Kids.” Native American Headdresses: Feather and Horned Warbonnets, Porcupine Roaches, Beaded Headbands, Basket Hats and other American Indian Headdress, www.native-languages.org/headdresses.htm.
“Sandra Chevrier.” 81 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/sandra-chevrier
“John Craig.” John Craig | Artist Statement, www.johncraigprints.com/mbr_statement.php.
“Sandra Chevrier.” 81 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/sandra-chevrier
“John Craig.” John Craig | Artist Statement, www.johncraigprints.com/mbr_statement.php.