The End...?

Sadly, it is time for class to come to an end. Well, maybe not sadly, but it is certainly coming to that end.
This term I expanded on the ideas I had been exploring for the last year, and I think I made a lot of progress with my ideas. Between this class and the drawing class I took, my ideas were focused but exhausted, so this break is certainly welcome.
I expanded the materials I use quite a bit this term between the two classes. I did barely any painting and started moving more into mixed media. The one thing I'm especially excited about exploring more in the future would have to be the doll making and the sewing aspect. Its' something I have always wanted to incorporate into my work, and I feel like I'll definitely be able to more in the future.
All in all, the experience I had with my classes this term was difficult but productive. No matter how productive, I still need a nice break from all the work. I look forward to Fall term!

Artist: Misaki Kawai

I don't know why I haven't posted a Japanese artist yet, since I'm so influenced by modern Japanese art.
I was recently introduced to the work of Misaki Kawai and her colorful sculptures and paintings. I don't really care much for her paintings, but her sculpture installations are incredible.
I am really drawn to how colorful and child-like her work is, as well as how intelligently the spaces are utilized. When I look at pictures from her exhibitions, I feel the desire to learn how to better use paper maché.
"Space House" '06-'07
"Airshow" '02-'03

Event: Drawing Critique

Tonight, I had my final critique for my drawing class. I arrived early and installed my work, and was eager to start at 6:30pm. A number of students showed up only minutes before the start of class, delaying the beginning of the critique.
The critique felt like it was one of the better ones we had in class. However, that isn't really saying much. It seems like every critique we've had in this class has devolved into talking about politics or society rather than about the work in front of us. I feel like I did a lot of work in this class. However, the only reason the quality of my work was so high was because of the freedom of materials. It was really nice to see what everyone finished with, though.

Event: Disquieted Fieldtrip

A couple days before the last day of Disquieted, our class took a field trip to see it. I was very interested in what the exhibit had to offer me, but I hadn't made the time to go before then. I regret that now, since I was only able to go once because of my hesitation.
I didn't know before I showed up at the show that two of the artists were Japanese artists whose work I had been looking at for a couple years: Takashi Murakami and Chiho Aoshima.
Of all the work on display, these who artists' work were the ones that effected me the most. I didn't realize that Murakami's work was so incredibly large. The metalic shine on the larger of his pieces made me think that it was printed on metal. I was shocked to read that it was actually just really carefully painted canvas.
A while ago I bought a book on the art of women from Japan, and Chiho Aoshima was a featured artist in it. I was very impressed by her work, and on occasion, I still go back and look at it. I was amazed when I went upstairs and found two pieces by her. The first was a sculpture, and the second was a very long print with a shiny surface on it. It was amazing.
I wanted to leave and go work on my own work after I looked at the work of the artists featured in the show. It was very inspiring.

Moi: The Writing On the Wall

Of all the decisions I made when working on my project, I think writing on the wall was the best.
When I started the installation, I was just going to have a lot of framed pictures and the wall was either going to be painted a color or left blank. While brainstorming for the project, I was using a large piece of paper attached to the wall. In our first critique, someone remarked that they missed my drawings on the wall, and that I should try to incorporate them into my final project. After some thought, I decided to run with it, reducing the number of frames, and buying some wallpaper to draw on.
I decided to write as well as draw on the wallpaper once it was up on the wall, referencing my old diary for ideas. I ended up writing a number of things that sounded like they could have been things I would have written in my diary at the age of 11-13. Actually, a couple of the things I wrote are very similar to actual entries I made. The drawings are mostly based on the things I wrote, but are also stand-alone images.
The end result is a clusterfuck of words with a few drawings, and five frames on the wall to break up the images. I'm very pleased with this decision.

Moi: Making the Doll

For this class, I have been working with a few items that I haven't worked with before. Though I have a lot of experience with sewing, before this class I had never made a doll. It was a large motivator for this project to figure it out.
My idea was to make a life-size rag doll of the character I was illustrating. I searched for patterns for ideas for making the doll, and in that search I came across tutorials made by a Japanese dollmaker. Using her patterns as a jumping off point, I started on making my doll.
I used a thin ivory-colored cotton and stuffing. I sewed the large parts together with green and red thread on a sewing machine. After stuffing the parts, I hand-sewed the openings shut and attached the parts together. I chose to leave the joints exposed with the exception of the legs, which I covered with a pair of children's opaque tights.
The hardest part of putting the doll together was by far the head and the hair. Initially, the head was too small for the size of the doll, so I had to remake it. Sewing the four parts of the head together proved to be a tricky thing on the sewing machine, but once that was done, it was pretty easy to stuff. I used almost an entire ball of yarn making the hair. The yarn was hand-sewed onto the head in multiple pieces, and then cut for styling. The face was drawn on with fabric markers.
I finally found the shoes after going to about three different Goodwills, and the dress was hand-drafted and made by me.
Making this doll got me sparked on making smaller ones for friends. I made this doll as a going away gift for a friend. Everything on it is hand-made or customized. These are incredibly therapeutic for me, since they take a lot of concentration to complete and make perfect. I'm planning on making a lot more of these in the future.

Event: Paint-Off!

A couple weeks ago, PSU hosted a Paint-off! I just got around to extracting the pictures I got from the event. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stick around till the end, but I did make it to the end of the third quarter.
I arrived before the event officially started, and was treated to some dancing mascots in costume and some Rock'em Sock'em Robot fun. The teams were in their corners getting ready to go, all looking like they were already having fun. The schools involved were PSU, PCC, and OCAC; each were in their own colors and hand-modified uniform shirts.The American national anthem on electric guitar was played over the loud speakers, taking a good three minutes to finish up. Then, the painting began.
I started on the PSU side. The students dove right in in a group, laying down the base layer of paint. There was a real team effort going the entire time. The team had a number of items on hand already to make the painting process as quick and efficient as possible. Spray paint and added sculptural elements set PSU's work apart from the other two schools. Overall, the work appeared to really capture the various styles of each of the students, rather than make them uniform. The piece took on a mural-like quality because of this choice.

OCAC felt the most promising on my first pass. The colors they were laying down were bold, bright, and abstract. It really left me wondering what they were going to do as the event went on. However, I noticed that they were going about the event very differently than the other teams. Rather than tackle the event in a group, rushing the canvas with every hand that could fit, they were going up in small groups of thee or four at a time, working separately. Over the course of the event, I could feel the work lose its promise, with all the work at one point being completely covered up with a brown-gray coating. By the time I had to leave, the work was rather uninteresting. The colors left something to be desired, the students were still working rather separately from each other and the work just felt too much like a still-life.

Before I even rotated to PCC, my impression of the work they were doing was already tarnished. I peaked over the PSU area to see them pasting a ready-made painting onto the canvas. A number of people were booing their choice of under painting. However, by the second quarter they were painting. And not just a couple people, the entire group of students were up at the canvas. It was very difficult to take pictures of the progress because there were so many students painting at the exact same time. The under painting was almost completely covered in the process, and took on a very mural-like look. Of the three schools, PCC definitely felt like it had made the most progress in creating the work.

Overall, it was fascinating to watch three different teams working to create three separate paintings by working together. Whether it was unifying a style, working with the separate styles of each student, or simply attacking the canvas with everything the team had, it was an amazing thing to watch. I didn't get to find out who "won" and who "lost", but it felt like it was a huge learning experience for each of the people involved, including the audience. In that, everyone came away with something.