Only a week and a half into summer and the memory of school has already dulled and frayed at the edges. For the first few days, I sketched on sheets of loose printer paper, but I have - regrettably - already fallen out of that habit. With these sketches, though, I began to formulate possible designs for the two artworks I have been assigned to create for Art IV. I am nervous about these projects because my available resources are appallingly underwhelming and disappointing in comparison to those of the Maggie Walker Art room. I have been dragging my feet a bit because I am not looking forward to meticulously planning out my materials; I will likely have to sacrifice quality for affordability. Anyways, I know that once I truly commit myself to the process, I will enjoy challenging my artistic abilities and exploring the depth of my creativity. It will be a nice outlet for me to be productive with my time while also taking a break from "real - world" stimuli.
The most difficult part of the whole process has been finding a place to start. Many people would immediately advise me to simply take one idea - even if it wasn't something I was particularly fond of - and expound upon it. But, that isn't exactly my style; I crave purpose, clarity, and decisiveness from the very beginning. I do not want to feel as though I have wasted my time with the details of substantiating a mere idea into a tangible artwork if there is a chance that I will, on a whim, abandon that course of action and explore something else. Instability and unpredictability are daunting. So, I have been brainstorming. I take my dog for daily walks around my quiet suburban neighborhood, listen to my Spotify playlist, and contemplate: 1) What the heck is my Artistic Vision and 2) How the heck will I convey it. I really enjoyed editing the pictures I had taken of my brother's makeup for my Head and Heart series, so I would like to incorporate an element of digital enhancement in one of my works. I was mulling over this possible route when my mom, my sister, and I went to my grandparents' house for a few days. My grandparents live in Altavista, a stereotypical southern town near the Appalachian mountains. My grandpa owns approximately forty hunting dogs, a handful of guineafowl, a rafter of turkeys, and a plethora of chickens. He has a whole room of his DIY ramshackle shed devoted to the storage of deer skulls and antlers. I spent the better part of two days cleaning debris and rusted tools from the shed, and so the sun - bleached bones hovered in my peripheral for the duration of this time period. I began to wonder about the potential symbolism of creating Art with these artifacts of untamed wildlife, a sort of ode to the lifestyle (the perpetuation of the circle of life) to which my grandfather has proudly dedicated his whole existence. I find it fascinating that I have become desensitized to these bones dangling from decades - old ropes; as I run my fingers along the grooves of the antlers and crevices of the skulls, I am merely filled with a sense of awe at the raw beauty of this most fundamental part of a being, stripped clean of sinewy muscle and bristly hair. I took some of the bones home with me with the intention of incorporating them into one of my artworks. I am currently entertaining the idea of painting one pair of antlers in a sparkly, metallic color. I would then draw realistic feathered wings and attach them to my sister's arms. After dressing her in a simply outfit and adorning her face in comically deer - like make - up, I would mount the painted antlers onto her head. I would then take her photo and edit it to my liking. My second idea is to paint the antlers I brought home that are still attached to a skull in style indicative of vegetation, abundance... life. Then, I would support the composition with flowers styled to appear dead, dying, and / or decayed. It would be a juxtaposition of the embodiment of death (a skeleton) and life (flowers) decorated in deliberately, confusingly contradictory styles. So far, I am pleased with both of these ideas, so I hope to refine each one a bit more before deciding whether or not both of them are feasible - and meaningful enough - for me to pursue. |
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