The Visual Arts Studio: 2016

Sunday, October 9, 2016

EAST meets WEST

Grade 7 and 8 Project: Artists utilized the elements of art shape, color, value, positive and negative space, and texture, principles of design pattern, rhythm, and balance, as well as drawing, painting, printmaking, stenciling, and collage to create symbols of their identity.

Adinkra symbols of West Africa were combined with each student's own unique symbols and Amharic stencils to create the final collaged works. (CLICK HERE to see the process for the project.)

EAST Meets WEST (process)

This is a project in which students study how artists use symbolism to create images of their identity. Grade 7 and 8 artists studied the Adinkra symbols of the Akan people of West Africa and combined that imagery and process with Amharic of Ethiopia.

Students utilized the elements of art color, value, positive and negative space, shape, and texture. Each artist also applied the principles of design pattern, rhythm, and balance. Students also engaged in drawing and designing the compositions, creating blended gradations, printmaking and stenciling, and collage of the final works. (Click here to see the final works)

Gradations using color and value

Carving original symbols using linoleum blocks

Cutting of Amharic Stencils

Printing and Stenciling

Experimentations with Pattern and Rhythm

Printing the Original Student Symbols

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Mural Artists

Mona Caron, San Francisco based Mural painter embraces the community in which she works with very site-specific work.

From her website "Taking Root, A mural featuring the first tiny wild flower that made it back to the once barren piece of land that it stands on, after its rehabilitation from industrial pollution. Its roots contain detailed paintings represent the land's history and community" Read the full story here.

Manifestation station -- Utility Box

The Market Street Railway Mural Shows the history of the area through Time.

Make sure to check out her website to view the mural in detail.

W.K. Interact's D-DAY MURAL

Click here for His VIDEO about the D-Day Mural

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Comparative Study: Performing Identity Through the Portrait

From the Exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Art: PERFORMING IDENTITY THROUGH THE PORTRAIT. Excellent for Comparative Study.

Excerpt from the gallery catalogue: "...The artists represented in this gallery confront and disrupt our assumptions about perceived identities by manipulating the genre of portraiture: photographing, on a massive scale, a woman's designer heels caked in mud, appropriating caricatures as a comment against stereotypes and racism, and recreating a self-portrait of Frida Kahlo using one's own body. These 'portraits' thus become complex portrayals of contemporary life and identity and encompass a more holistic representation of our time."