Link to presentation:
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Inspirations
INSPIRATIONS
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While editing this post I realized that the link leads to a dead end because the slide presentation was somehow deleted from my google drive. This is a redone version of my original presentation and post.
After giving my presentation and seeing others I realized how much I left out of my own. Somehow I left out one of the most important influences in my life who is my dad. My dad is a violin maker and repairer of stringed instruments and I spent a lot of my childhood playing around in his shop varnishing little pieces of wood. He grew up playing the violin and attended violin-making school in Utah, took apprenticeships under other luthiers, and eventually worked for Christie's Auction House for 14 years, working on instruments that could be over a hundred years. He is someone who encouraged me to pursue a life in the arts and has always believed in my talents and ideas.
I first got my hands on clay in elementary school while visiting a family friend who had her own pottery and sculpture studio in her basement where I made my first ever sculpture, a frog sitting on a lily pad eating a fly. I loved her abstract animal sculptures.
As far as pop culture goes growing up the usual influences such as Disney and Pixar movies have certainly impacted me as well as it is Nickelodeon's Spencer Shay from iCarly who really got me interested in sculpture and how fun and outrageous art could be.
Ashley Lyon! NJCU professor who has helped mentor me through my interests in realism and large-scale sculpture. Her own work focuses on large-scale realism as well and she has been a wonderful person to learn from. 
Meteor, Ashley Lyon
Meteor, Ashley Lyon
Developing as a sculptor began with realism to attempt to prove to myself what I was capable of and is now turning more toward an interest in experimental play. What I have made resembles the work of the artists in my presentation like Kelly McLaughlin and Russell Wrankle. I love their clear imagery, techniques, concepts, and surfacing.
Second Guessing the Seconds, Russell Wrankle Your'e Both/And Kelly McLaughlin
But I would like to step away from what is recognizable and might already carry preconceived meaning to an audience. Focus on form, function, and the space it exists in and what it can specifically evoke in people. I enjoy looking at the work of graphic illustrator Nadiia Pliamko because of how she creates an entire environment and then fills it with such playful maximalist shapes and colors to convey a full concept or even just a feeling. Similar to the work of graphic designer Joe Mortell, who also creates a digital space and fills it with a fantastical setting around a somewhat contemporary display of humanity like a dinner table or living room. It is an idea where function meets fantastic that I would like to incorporate into my work moving into more abstract furniture-like forms. Arlene Schechet is an artist who I found in the Art21 homework and took inspiration from how to begin translating this idea to the ceramic medium because of her shapes, gazes, and interesting ways of displaying her work in a space.
. . Nadiia Pliamko Prarie Garden, 2020, Joe Mortell
Moon in the Morning, 2022, Arlene Shechet
My Work:
Heart, 2022
Draped Pedestal, 2022
Kassandra B Artists who Inspire Me
Travelers of the Sun
BFA Show
Part of the Character Card Collection
By the Fire 2022
Into the Forest 2022
Presentation Link:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DWlrdDlXZ2KanzZYist4pKRZcuVZUALxfbebVFo7Xsk/edit?usp=sharing
I grew up watching anime, reading manga and comic books, absorbing anything and everything magical and fantasy. So for the artist I chose that inspired me, my biggest would be all the movies made by Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki uses color to show emotion, wonder and imagination to give beautiful story-telling. My BFA show, based on a Dungeon and Dragon’s campaign I played with my friends, also uses color to set the mood, show the world a bit of the fantastical journey for these characters for my illustrations.
Looking With Intention - Sarah Ferreira
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| "Hmm?" |
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| "It Fits!" |
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| "Thank you." |
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| "Untitled" - Louis Wain |
These images I created were inspired by an artist I have currently been obsessing over named Louis Wain. Wain was known as the man who made cats a household pet as normally, during the 1800s, cats were seen as pests and not as pets--until Louis began to illustrate these sweet cats! I've fallen in love with his work but his life story and a recent film titled "The Electrical Life of Louis Wain" is what truly made me become obsessed with him as a human being. His life was filled with such tragedies but he was able to create such joyous work during such difficult times. The final image he created during his lifespan was an image I am planning to take to heart as I suffer with anxiety and depression and it's always a nice reminder to know you are also loved and should feel happy just as your own house pet.
5 Art Influences
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| Abigail Ostorva: Sleep Paralysis 2020 |
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| Abigail Ostorva: DIVE Promo Poster 2023 |
For my influences I often find myself looking towards paintings from history for inspiration. I enjoy trying to pull different techniques that artists from the past used in order to apply them to any of the work I'm making, whether it be illustration or graphic design. I especially like to look at things like form, color, lighting, composition, and emotion when looking at the work of my five art influences Caracaggio, Alphonse Mucha, Leon Cogniet, Edward Ruscha, and Chip Kidd. I picked these artists specifically not because I enjoy every one of their works, but instead because I remember having a big reaction to at least one of their works. This is usually how I find myself remembering art, instead of by the details of what I am seeing I categorize them by the emotions that I am feeling when I see the work.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Kinfolk
Danielle Scott: Kinfolk
This type of spiritual connection to history is perfectly translated in the way she makes and presents her work. She explained how she has had conversations with every single piece in the collection, some more than others, to guide and even contradicted her on how best to tell their story. The three girls featured in the piece Celestine argued with her about how they should be dressed but received an attitude specifically from the center girl about having the halo above her. This halo has three rings representing the energy of each girl. They sit in a line dressed in brightly colored fabrics with papers stacked in layers behind them. What looks like weathered wallpaper against the torn pages of the old books containing the names, ages, and occupations of registered free slaves. I found it particularly interesting when she mentioned the piece that didn't even make it to the show. A large work that she had been fighting with for a long time, something about it told her that this piece didn’t want to be made or be exhibited but she continued the fight to make it anyway. After months of hard work, she reached the last step of the process, after applying the resin she started to torch the bubbles and the entire piece burst into flames. I thought it was a kind of beautifully powerful symbolic message which could speak to how the history of some images or stories should respectfully rest in peace. Another work of hers I found compelling was King Constance where a group of three younger children are shown in a room constructed from rich colored papers and fabrics with walls lined with the text of their history. The youngest-looking child sits in the corner next to the doorway dressed in golden flowing fabrics which seems to be a swatch of a detailed embroidery patch. The other two children stand next to each other in bold patterned fabrics, the oldest child is adorned with a golden cape and dramatic crown and the smaller one has a glowing halo. Behind the two standing children, there are two figures cut out of the paper with gold auras highlighting their shape. This calls attention to the people lost and separated from their loved ones and may never be reunited.
Celestine, 2022
mixed media and resin
King Contance, 2022
mixed media and resin
This is my selfie inspired by Danielle Scott's exhibition. I chose to play around with a baby picture of mine while it focuses on the theme of history and cultural identity in a way that is personal to me. I honestly don't know if I have or could define my cultural identity. My ancestors on either side of my family immigrated to the U.S. from Italy and wanted to fit right in with the "All American" culture and attempted to erase their own. My grandparents only knew a few words of Italian and the only real traditions we observe are over the holidays. I do wish I had more of a connection to my bloodline and culture but unfortunately I do not. Therefore it seems I can only look within to find my identity and this picture is part of how it started. My childhood wasn't the best but I'm not about to air out my dirty laundry. But living with ptsd and coming to terms with it all in order to heal is a difficult process, so looking at this picture of myself smiling big and sipping a juice box brings up mixed emotions. I wanted to give her more color and light which is why I chose such bold and playful patterns with two halos for who she is and will become. Behind her in the white foam of the waves are excerpts from the children's story Peter Pan, a child who never wants to grow up. In the darker part of the water part of a photo of mosaic tiles I saw on a trip to Italy, to give a nod to that part of me. And the rocks are taken from another picture I took from a hiking trip years ago, rocky path symbolism things and such and such.
"Apple Juice"
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