The objects I brought in were a skull, miniature cannon, and a British pound. Since the skull involved hands and trees, and I couldn’t find any meaning to the cannon, I went with the pound. Half of my family is British, so it seemed like I’d be able to make something out of it. In 1760, King George III was and all the previous monarchs were sorely in debt to parliament. He surrendered the revenue his land made in exchange for his and the previous monarch’s debts as well as a grant of substantial money annually. Recently, the grant was changed so that the royal family makes 15 percent of the taxes generated in the UK. I don’t think that’s a very good thing. I think that any kind of monarchy is bad, be it British or otherwise. It’s essentially super-welfare.
My project turned into a piggybank with a slot going down the middle, and leading out the other side. The pig with the crown is the monarchy, and when one puts money into the pig, the money just falls out of the bottom and is wasted. I picked out a tiny crown for comedic value, and to show how large and fat the pig was my comparison. Working with the plaster was quite fun; it was mostly carving out the pig as my cast was just a big block with a slit in it. If I could redo this project, I would have made the pig more like an actual piggybank. I’d have made it more spherical as well as carving some semblance of a curly tail in the back. But, I think a pig with somewhat realistic proportions could work too.
My project turned into a piggybank with a slot going down the middle, and leading out the other side. The pig with the crown is the monarchy, and when one puts money into the pig, the money just falls out of the bottom and is wasted. I picked out a tiny crown for comedic value, and to show how large and fat the pig was my comparison. Working with the plaster was quite fun; it was mostly carving out the pig as my cast was just a big block with a slit in it. If I could redo this project, I would have made the pig more like an actual piggybank. I’d have made it more spherical as well as carving some semblance of a curly tail in the back. But, I think a pig with somewhat realistic proportions could work too.
Project 2
Project 3
My artwork is called the Torch of Knowledge. I made it, and it ended up looking like a torch, and fire can represent knowledge. The bottom pyramid represents one’s foundations of knowledge, like high school learning, critical thinking, and past life experience. The pyramind is stable, it is fit to represent the foundation of one’s life. As one goes on to college, the pyramid opens up, and the mind expands in knowledge, critical thinking, creativity, and life experiences. Each of those represents one of the four triangles expanding out from the base of the pyramid. Moving upward, the form comes to an almost close. College shapes and refines one’s life skills and major choice. The form does not completely close, as there is always room for more knowledge and experience. One can never simply be done learning and experiencing life. This artwork just ends after university.
Project 4
Project 5
The tool I chose to craft a box for was my laptop. As an artist, my laptop is use to create art in programs such as Photoshop and Illustrator, But I also use it for entertainment too; I plug it into my TV and watch movies, anime, and YouTube videos. However, currently it sits on top of a tall TV tray that is not very stable, and I was afraid I would kick the table over in my sleep and wake up to a broken laptop. I wanted to make my box something practical, or something that I would use every day. My box’s purpose is to house my laptop while it’s in “entertainment mode”. It has holes in the back for ventilation, and a hole on the side for everything to plug into it. I wanted to make a storage space to put my mouse, remotes, and nonexistent wireless keyboard in as well. Originally I was going to make a drawer come out of the box, however I was low on wood and botched the drawer piece in the first place. I think the side swinging doors work even better because there is more room to put things. The top also detaches like a lid for when I don’t want to stick my hand in the box’s doors and try to find the item I want blindly. This box is sure to protect my tool from myself.
Project 6
For my project I decided to make a video. I had never made a video before, either for class or for fun, so this experience was enlightening for me. I wanted to make a video so I could involve my pet bird, as I was trying to take this as literal as possible. I had some other thoughts on what to do with my bird, like buying a fake bird and putting it next to her, or filming her watching herself on video. However, I felt that these didn’t properly capture the ‘put a bird on it’ theme. So, I grabbed a few common household objects and a few interesting objects and started filming. I did not know whether my bird would go on any objects or not from the start. I cannot really explain my choice of music. I just felt that an accordion song would work. I looked up some accordion songs on YouTube and I was eventually led to Korobeiniki, the Tetris theme, performed by YouTube Olavsky. It was more or less a tie between that and The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird”. Using my bird’s reactions to the objects and Portlandia’s ‘put a bird on it’ skit, I conclude that the portlandians don’t really like birds, but the ‘idea’ of birds. The idea of freedom and spreading ones wings and doing whatever one wants. My bird, who shunned every object I showed her, does not care about trends or ideas, as she is a bird. I guess one could say that I was unable to ‘put a bird on it’.
Interview
I interviewed Ali Schiffner. She is an art education major, but is going to switch to illustration, as she aspires to become a tattoo artist. Her history and experience of art up until now, first started in high school. In her sophomore year of high school, she did mask making with Anthony Kosar, a professional mask maker. In her junior year she took a printmaking class. She took great interest in the intaglio variety, and went above and beyond spending most of her time on printmaking. In her senior year she taught a jewelry class and a foundations class. Her favorite medium to work with is paint. She says that it’s quick and easy to make pieces with. However, truly her favorite medium is scratchboard. She described to me the process, which consisted of taking clay board or cardboard and covering it in gesso. She would then cover it with ink and etch into it, forming an image.
What makes a successful artist? In Ali’s opinion determination is one of the large factors to greatness. Being willing to put yourself out there and being the one to ‘make it happen’. To be the one to but in the time, money, etc, is the one that is a successful artist. She says the successful artist does something new; something that nobody else has ever done before. She says not only should one think outside of the box, but they should think outside of the box over a box and think outside of that. Then one should create their own box for someone else to surpass, so art continually gets better and better. In Ali’s opinion, an artist with piles of money due to his or her art does not make him or her a successful artist. I asked Ali what she thought her most successful piece she made in class was. She said that the wire dolphin piece. That is her choice because she spent a lot of time and effort on it, and she liked how it turned out. A medium Ali would like to try that she has never tried before is glassblowing/glass sculpture.
I asked Ali what makes good art. She says that if the art is visually appealing to her it is good. But more importantly the concept behind it is what makes it great. The visual part is only the first part of greatness, but looking at it longer and having it invoke an emotional feeling is what makes it truly great.
I asked her several questions about her ‘put a bird on it’ piece, such as why she decided to burn her piece as a performance. She says what she took away from the original portlandia video is that when the real bird flew in they started smashing things their ‘art’ was not permanent, and neither was her piece. Also she wanted something to watch burn. When asked what up with the design, she responded she wanted the piece to be repetitive. In the portlandia video, they put a bird on everything, and it was the same bird. So she sat down and started making squares. She made the squares into a spiral shape to represent how twisted it was when in the video the people started freaking out when an actual bird showed up.
What makes a successful artist? In Ali’s opinion determination is one of the large factors to greatness. Being willing to put yourself out there and being the one to ‘make it happen’. To be the one to but in the time, money, etc, is the one that is a successful artist. She says the successful artist does something new; something that nobody else has ever done before. She says not only should one think outside of the box, but they should think outside of the box over a box and think outside of that. Then one should create their own box for someone else to surpass, so art continually gets better and better. In Ali’s opinion, an artist with piles of money due to his or her art does not make him or her a successful artist. I asked Ali what she thought her most successful piece she made in class was. She said that the wire dolphin piece. That is her choice because she spent a lot of time and effort on it, and she liked how it turned out. A medium Ali would like to try that she has never tried before is glassblowing/glass sculpture.
I asked Ali what makes good art. She says that if the art is visually appealing to her it is good. But more importantly the concept behind it is what makes it great. The visual part is only the first part of greatness, but looking at it longer and having it invoke an emotional feeling is what makes it truly great.
I asked her several questions about her ‘put a bird on it’ piece, such as why she decided to burn her piece as a performance. She says what she took away from the original portlandia video is that when the real bird flew in they started smashing things their ‘art’ was not permanent, and neither was her piece. Also she wanted something to watch burn. When asked what up with the design, she responded she wanted the piece to be repetitive. In the portlandia video, they put a bird on everything, and it was the same bird. So she sat down and started making squares. She made the squares into a spiral shape to represent how twisted it was when in the video the people started freaking out when an actual bird showed up.
Project 7
No trees were harmed in the making of this piece.
A wise man once told me that students from the Midwest always want to make their projects be either a hand or a tree. I didn't know what to make for my final, So It was either make a tree out of hands, or a hand out of tree. I had a ton of firewood ranging from thick branches to thin sticks, So i figured that would be easier and more convenient than finding hands, Originally this piece was not going to have any moving parts. But, as I was procrastinating, I happened to look at the back of my hand and see all the tendons moving around, and I thought it would be a cool idea to give this hand something similar. Using the knowledge gained from the previous wood project, I got to work, I really like how it turned out; It's creepy, interactive, and really fun to play with.
A wise man once told me that students from the Midwest always want to make their projects be either a hand or a tree. I didn't know what to make for my final, So It was either make a tree out of hands, or a hand out of tree. I had a ton of firewood ranging from thick branches to thin sticks, So i figured that would be easier and more convenient than finding hands, Originally this piece was not going to have any moving parts. But, as I was procrastinating, I happened to look at the back of my hand and see all the tendons moving around, and I thought it would be a cool idea to give this hand something similar. Using the knowledge gained from the previous wood project, I got to work, I really like how it turned out; It's creepy, interactive, and really fun to play with.