Bringing it together

Water is ridiculous...a metaphor for ANYTHING. except possibly tartan warriors, but I bet if I thought long enough even that would work. This week I'm trying to settle one part of the water conundrum and I'm trying to tie it together with other images, so I've done more collecting of other stuff and some work more than others. Mostly I'm still looking at the shapes made by the top of the water, with some consideration of layers and the different types of water, fast slow foamy smooth etc. Still too much but I will have it culled down to five things of my own by the presentation tuesday.

Windnie Pan

I'm posting pretty early because i'll be spending the weekend in Venice.

Since studio on Tuesday I've been trying to figure out my plan of action for this project. After a lot of mindmapping and list-making I was able to connect the intertwining form found in my images to the idea of the self. There are two things I noticed about my images. First, that they are very convoluted and made up of various parts that wrap around eachother to form a single thing. I related that to the idea that my identity is made up of numerous different aspects: my heritage, my family, my friends, my experiences,etc. Second, that my images evoke a sense of security/warmth/embrace in the way that the objects are tightly knotted together or tangled up. I related that to the idea that my identity is something that will always be with me no matter what and is also a source of comfort and security.

From there I finally came up with my first idea for this project. My plan is to gather rope/string/fabric that represent different aspects of who I am and physically knot them together in the same kind of form that appears in my images. After that I plan to do a detailed drawing of the knotted object (zoomed in) in a way that represents the security that I feek or seek out in the idea of my self. After that I was thinking of creating a Klimt-like drawing in which figures are intertwined in much of the same way as rope or string would be to represent the feeling of warmth I found in my images. This would also tie in the one figural image I have in my set of 5. So far, I've spent time in fabric stores collecting different types of rope and have begun playing with them. I've done a lot of tying and untying and am not quite sure how I'm going to get this to work. Images of the final product will be posted next week.

Adell

After using ink, marker, pen, charcoal, acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, tracing paper, cut paper, and pastel to render out voids, I decided that I'm most interested in extreme three-dimensions, paper that seems to come out at the viewer as well as voids that go on forever, all rendered in a flat technique but making an incredibly dynamic flat space. I'm going to take to the best extreme that I can the illusions that artists have already been using for centuries - colorful and simple compositions that, from across the room, seem to jump and recede and break.

Emily Gordon

Last week I focused on gathering images of water and fountains and during class I narrowed my form down to the basin of a fountain which I think of as a kind of vessel that is generally rounded and can hold something. I have been working with this form in studio and have started to explore both an actual fountain as well as the bottom part of a boat, a large vase and a sink. I've realized that my personal connections to fountains has caused me to make particular choices of materials in my representations of the actual fountain but I am still trying to understand the form for what it is physically in my representations of the other photos.

lee graf | week 4

For the past week, I’ve continued to look at light and rays of light as they represent rhythm, but it’s a difficult thing to portray when taken from a still image. Since a photograph is so static, while the actual “thing” that I want to represent is so active and mobile, it’s hard to get to the true essence of the rhythm and repetition that I want to portray. In order to really try to understand the type of rhythm that is within my form, I took two videos of streams of light in order to see what is actually happening as the light pours in, but even with that it’s difficult to capture, and is still relatively static. I’m kind of beginning to wonder if it’s the actual rays of light that are of interest to me or if it’s the reflection of light on different things that yield the rhythm I’m looking for. For example when I was interested in the bicycle wheel reflector, I liked how the light shone off of it based on how fast the wheel was turning, and the kind of marks that the light would make on paper if it were recorded as a pattern.

My photos for this week are a couple of my attempts at transcribing the images of light as well as capturing the rhythm that have been of interest in terms of light.

Meredith Nelson

After looking over my photos and drawings from last class, my shape appears to be 'bundles' or the kind of cinched shape you get when you tie a lot of small things together in the center. Originally the idea came from my drawings of a bunch of lavender, but now I'm also looking at things like ponytails and curtains that share that kind of shape. I like the idea of a lot of small things tied together, both because of the form and because of the connotations of intimacy, being stuck together, etc.

Alessandra Perez-Rubio

On friday night i was out at this club called x-mode somewhere near santa croce, and came across these amazing black and white design patterns on the walls; and it finally occured to me that i was inherently attracted to patterned layers. Sadly i didnt have a camera with me so i couldnt take any pictures, and to be honest, I had completely forgotten about this stroke of genius idea untill late yesterday evening when i was about to fall asleep. In any case, I feel like i have been attracted to all along, but didnt realize the actual form. I have been reworking some of my mixed media projects and taking alot of pictures, hopefully by thursday my ideas will be alot more concrete. ps. i hope the blog link works.

Katey Albro Week 4

So this week I basically decided that the thing that I am the most interested in with the doors is the proportionality and the separation of space. Not only do the doors literally separate different spaces, but the actual forms themselves are often divided into sections by decoration, and often the basic shape of the door is used to separate spaces in Renaissance artworks. The physical form that I have chosen is the arch inside the rectangle (and each of the arches has within it another rectangle...etc)I also am looking at the idea of the golden mean, and the proportionality in relation to my shape. I have been trying to explore these ideas in my gathering and making of images this week. I have posted both gathered and made images this week. Enjoy :)

Katey

Abbey Teller

This week, in class, we started exploring recurring formal themes in our previous weeks' work. I found that I had been attracted to masks, which have a pointed oval shape. Once more, I gathered images that had such a shape, like fingernails, pebbles, meat, coats of arms, and eggs. Furthermore, as I edited down my fotos, I realized that I was attracted to a composition with two of the mask-shapes in close-up. However, as I have begun drawing my shapes, I have begun to realize that I am mostly drawn to the concept of a portrait on something that is more craft than fine arts. As I continued to draw, I also discovered that I am also very interested in the empty eye shape, which is also very simmilar to the original pointed oval.

Kelly Diehl

This week it is my goal to distill the form that so attracts me in the Ognissanti sculpture. In class, after comparing similar pairings in other artworks, we decided that my form is a collision. A messy, smushed collision of two bodies. I'm working sculpturally, using white clay sketches to get to the gut of the sculpture. Since the piece resonates in my shoulders and abs, I think of the form as round, almost like a series of disks. Hopefully I'll find a way that they fit together that captures the pit in my stomach or the force of my fists smushing together. I think of the collision as slightly painful.

Zoe Hillenmeyer

Last week we focused on finding a form. I started with Flora, and built from there, going with a gut instinct sort of plan, that was sort of haphazard and only half-worked. But, none-the-less, we go on. I ended up landing on the form of my mother's jawbone, as it relates Flora and me together. I've started some sculptures trying to understand the attraction I have to this form. It has brought me full circle back to floral patterns (sort of where I started), as well as experimenting with hard vs. soft, rough vs. plush. The sculptures I have started are generally wire, or glass based, with a covering of silk, thread, orange peel, or another plushier texture stretched across the base. I don't have any photos of these up yet, because my camara died (so sad). But, I did include the gathering photos that are assisting me. I find I am interested in the one solid-ish graphic line that is supposed to denote an edge of something edgeless, something that is round, soft, and fleshy - like florals or flesh. I've been working on some drawings, I'll put those up next week too, as they arent quite there yet. I will be visiting the Uffizi and the floral wax museum to do some sketching this week and weekend. I also am planning on attending La Specola. It's all a big whirlwind of these scientific-y analysis of organic materials. I feel it tugging somewhere, I'm just not where sure yet.

Ciao ciao.

Sam Washburn week 4

This week has been spent working towards the definitive design and shape of my object. Through the research I have been doing I am finding that bursting relates most, in terms if the body, to the abs and stomach. as a result, the majority of my work has my shape moving in that type of direction. I'm a little confused as to how to proceed now, but I'm having fun with the work I'm doing. Up next is some sculpting to try and narrow down things some more, and then I'm not sure what, but I'm looking foward to it. Also, I made my way back to the museo specola this morning and snapped a picture of the walrus- which has proven to be a defining item in my stay here in Florence.

Cassie

that arch-hump-dome thing that surrounds you.
today i built a fort out of bedsheets and chairs in the corner of my room. it was cozy and exciting and i remembered how fun it was to make these in the living room years ago. it felt very homey, if you will. it was my own little secret place, where i could read if i wanted to, or draw, and be in my own world. it wasn't really an escape, but more of a private happy place, maybe like a treehouse or a tent in the woods. the sheet diffusing the light from the ceiling made it seem magical. i wanted to leave it up so i could draw and do homework in there later, but i was afraid that my hostmom wouldn't like the furniture being moved around, she likes everything in order....
this weekend i went to venezia for carnevale, and realized that bridges also fall into my category. i like the spaces that form where the bridge meets the water...probably where the troll hides before he jumps out to eat the goat. speaking of bridges, i went down to sit on the waterfall at ponte vespucci last sunday, and underneath the bridge a homeless man had constructed for himself a fort-like shelter of boxes over a cot bed. that got me. after sleeping (or trying to sleep) at the train station in venice this weekend, i have a new appreciation for those who don't have anywhere warm to go at night.
i wrote about umbrellas on the way home, how they offer protection from the rain, but not from the cold, and how they only keep the top half of your body dry, if the rain's coming straight down. and also how they get in the way and poke people and are just plain inconvenient when you're in a crowd.
when i am at home (my non-school home), my cat frankie sleeps with me every night. he plays a game we like to call "under" - if you put the blanket over his head, he will immediately calm down, start padding with his paws (like a kitten does when it is nursing), curl up, and go to sleep at your feet. he is normally very skittish - it's amazing how "under" calms him down, makes him feel safe. also, when he is afraid (if there are strange people in the house, etc) he runs and hides under my parents' bed, which is covered on all sides by the overhang of the comforter. that's another one of his safe places.

Joey

Change of idea...no more arches, no more tripods. NOW: meandering lines, aka: nature - real nature and my nature. I don't know where this will go..I have no grand plan. In fact, I had a fight with my dad yesterday about how grand plans go against my general philosophy of life. And art is life, is it not? To me it is. So yes, my meandering line will go where ever it is that my meandering hand decides it should go, like my meandering project will go where ever my meandering mind decides it should go, like my meandering life will go where the meandering world decides it should go, and on and on and on. ALSO....meandering might not seem to fit in with Past/Renaissance art but think again! Because the truth is that you can find meandering anywhere, and I have. Most certainly in drapery, if you must know, and more recently in a bunch of cracked pottery in Arezzo. Meandering lines are the world we live in. They are not IN the world, they ARE the world. You just have to trust me on this.

Allison Shellito

This past week in class I worked on choosing a shape within my image: hair. I found that I am most interested in the spiral shape, so these past few days I have been searching for the shape and have found it often in unexpected places (see photos). I am looking forward to printing my photos to use as references for my work.

This weekend, Catherine, Windnie, and I went to Verona, Vicenza, and Padova. We had a great time and it was nice to go to northern Italy. It is so beautiful there. A presto, Allison

Allison Glazer

Over the past few weeks, reflections throughout the city have been catching my attention. I find it interesting to see the different ways in which a reflection is made in the water, in glass, etc. For my project, I was originally going to find ways in which reflections are made in small objects. I looked for reflections that were broken up in between spaces: the sunglasses and earrings are examples of these. As I continued working, I realized that I found the reflections of architecture in the water to be the most appealing to me. The photos I am using are similar in that they all revolve around the idea of buildings or bridges reflecting in the river, yet they were taken with different degrees of light for various effects. On Flickr, I included possible ideas for projects. I thought I could do a case study of one area, drawing it at all times of the day so that I can capture the changes in reflections. Another idea I thought of was cutting out the reflections in the water to create a collage of a cityscape without using any real photos of buildings.

Catherine Hite

this week i had a great time collecting images for my project especially after i changed to angel wings from piazzas. i found a great variety of wings and ended up favoring the ones that went upways as opposed to the normally downward oriented ones. i have begun the assignment and have so far used charcoal and ink to create many images based on the photographs and i also want to explore using conte and markers.
this week i continued to collect more images of angel wings especially on my trip to verona, vicenza and padua.
-Catherine

Jessica Rogen

I started out by focusing on a the painting "Judith beheading Holofernes" by Artemisia Gentileschi. At first I confused the assignment and was thinking conceptually rather than formally. I realized this but couldn't quite stop myself. I tried to think formally and decided that the formal attribute that intersted me abut the painting was the contrast built into it and in my gathering assignment I tried to focus on that. However, once I was in class and actually drawing (and with the helpfull comments of my fellow students) I realized that it was more about the overall form of the three figures in the painting. I connected this with some of the photographs that I had taken in the gathering assignment and worked on combining the two. As I drew I started using some of the same combination of in wash with line work that I had been working on in the previous weeks. In my meeting with Jana she pointed out some other connections with my previous drawings--I had used the same basic form in the drawing of my home. Fancy that.

Amy Scott

This week we were supposed to pick a form and make connections between that specific form and other things you found around the city. After over thinking things I noticed a common connection among some of the images I was most attracted to in my decay images. The form I am doing is things within other things. For some reason I like shapes to be within other shapes and organic shapes that are trapped within geometric shapes. My photos are some of my sketches about this idea.

Delicate deli-cut

Thinking the forms over, I realized why it is that I'm attracted to certain feautres found in certain faces, most of them( the faces) being statuary- it's the shadows. I love the way that a hard shadow can appear to be soft around the edges. My waves for these feautures has a link...I have two muses as artists. We went to highschool together but they were older than I and thus a big influence. It was in those drawings of theirs that I saw a mastering of the soft/hard shadow combo.

I've been told that my style is "drama queenish" and I've gotten the craving to learn how to draw with softer lines. So, I started a set of drawings where the white space becomes just as important as the mixed media oozing onto it. My forms are the tops of eyelids, the grooves of the lips and sometimes the chin. These are places that can be cupped by the lips, not merely the hands whose sensory perceptors aren't as acute. They aren't as delicate. Check out the photo of the graffiti guerilla art- it's a pretty good example of having hard and soft in a nice functional mesh- like hotdogs. Hotdogs with cheese in a nice sweet bun where the cheese meshes with the dog and forms a glop in your mouth that can only be washed down with a Coca light. Delicate but harsh simultaneously.
~Nicole

Jane Philipps

Our assignment for last week's class was to pick a theme to focus on and connect it to painting/architecture here. Because I carry around so many different keys, I became interested in their unique shapes and other things they are associated with such as doors, locks, gates etc. I compiled a bunch of photographs and bought some postcards with images that I thought I could tie together formally. I've worked narrow down my images to find what exactly the form is that I am drawn to. The images that I've linked to this post are fragments of larger paintings (and one photoshop drawing over a photograph) that I can see a formal connection between. I am currently working on fleshing out the formal aspect of this assignment with smaller pen/ink drawings and will post images of some of those upon completion. So far I've found this to be a very different exercise because I am breaking away from conceptual thought for awhile, but I am curious to see where I can take it.

Rachel - Week 4

So I FINALLY picked a topic. I was looking through my photos and some drawings, and then it hit me: crackage. I am really interested in the organic, branching shape of cracks in the sidewalk. Suddenly I started seeing it everywhere - not just in sidewalks, but in tree branches, leaf veins, creases in skin....it was pretty crazy. Anyway, I took a bunch of photos and did some exercises in class exploring the shape abstractly. Now my assignment is to draw from specific photos I find. Should be fun.

Oh, and hopefully the link works this time - it should lead to the pictures from this week and last week (hmmm, can't make sets anymore - not sure what to do about that).

Windnie Pan

I have really enjoyed this gathering project. While I started out looking for fastenings or connections, I eventually found myself attracted to weird knot-type things that weave together. I’m not really sure what the form is called. It was also interesting to see that form appear in a lot of the ink and charcoal drawings I did in class without knowing it. The 25 sketches due this week have been a little difficult though. I haven’t quite figured out what about this form attracts me so much. However, I did continue to find it throughout the weekend during my visits to Verona, Vicenza, and Padua. It will be interesting to see where this form takes me. I also took a lot of pictures of hearts I’ve been finding in nature. It’s something I just remembered I used to do at home. Those are included for kicks.