Assignment 6: Winter

I can't believe the semester is over. 

For this series I was influenced by the work of Maggie Taylor. Her art work is created out of scans of antique photos and other things she's found. she creates these surreal, fantasy-like scenes that leave the narrative up to the viewer. She said she wants to make it so the viewer feels they can walk into each piece. I really enjoyed her work and I think me and her have a similar aesthetic.  I like her way of making an illustration in a different way, besides drawing or painting. 

To create my pieces I made scans of pipe-cleaner trees, granny squares, and a few other crocheted things. I took pictures of the trail leading to campus, and a few images from internet sources. I cut things out and tried out different looks for each pieces. I really didn't have a blue-print for any of them, so I flew by the seat of my pants and experimented with photoshops tools. 

 I used certain motifs repeatedly, the cardinal and the tiny trees, so that all three pieces go together. Nature is a pretty dominant factor in Maggie's work, so I incorporated trees and landscape to match that. I wanted to convey the feeling of winter and magic without being too obvious or referring to christmas. So I used the knitting, snowflake-like sparkles, pine trees; things that feel like winter. I wanted to make sure that there was enough in the picture to give the viewer tools to make a narrative, but no actual imposed story from me. I also put in some personal touches; the red cardinal is my favorite bird, and all of the knitted stuff is made by me. Overall I was going for a handmade but believable look. 

The pictures I used that I didn't take came from internet archives of old photos (top image) and mogue-file.com (bottom two). I made sure to alter the photos used enough so that they don't resemble how they looked before. 

I decided to print each piece on semigloss photo paper at a medium size. This is because there's three of them and I wanted them all to fit grouped together on the wall as if they're a framed photo cluster in a house. 

-Avery Violet

Self portrait

I made this with photoshop's mixer brush on top of a photo so it looks like a painting. 

Now I am the woodland animal I really am inside. 

-Avery Violet

Not your 'bae' series

This is a series I made about feminism and women's right to say no to anything they are uncomfortable with (dates, catcalling, creepy men at bars, etc.). "No" is a complete sentence. 

There will be more to this series when I make more.

-Avery Violet

Work in Progress: Assignment 6

Hello! So what you see above is my work in progress for my final assignment of the semester. These pieces are inspired by the awesome Maggie Taylor and her body of work.
I like her use of old photos and odd elements to create surreal scenes. However in my work I adapted feminist undertones in the message of each one, and arrange my images more like a scrapbook.
I hope to clean up the rough edges and solidify the images. I want them all to be more like the last picture when I'm finished.

-Avery Violet

Have a cat

I made this.

-Avery Violet

Assignment 4: Technoscope

Project 4:

Hello! My idea for this project was to show how the television affects my anxiety when I sleep. The TV is like my security blanket. Everywhere the light touches is safe from the creepy monsters that hide in the darkness, making me feel safe enough to sleep. This piece clearly has a lot of personal meaning, but I know that a lot of other people who sleep the same way can relate. 

To begin the project I tried a few methods of creating the bedroom space. Digitally painting it did not go well, so I switched to a media that would take less time to create and I was more comfortable with. I used watercolor and prismacolor pencils to create the ghosts and background, and then scanned those in with a flatbed scanner. I first animated the light from the TV to make it clear that it's on, but very abstract. All that is is tampering with the opacity at key points. Then I used a scan of water color splotches to make the ghost-like shapes and animated them hovering back and forth. The tentacles and the black drippy sludge I animated by hand using the onion skin feature. It took a while but I'm pleased with the end result. 

The television effects the way I feel comfortable falling asleep in the landscape of my room. Without it I feel nervous and exposed. It's much easier to think about the anxieties, represented by the ghosts and tentacles, in my head without the distraction of a television occupying my mind. I wanted to show how protective technology can be in a setting that was once peaceful without it. 

-Avery Violet

Assignment 4 proposal; Technoscape

Hello!

So for this next project I really want to draw something. Most of my projects have been strictly photo based and using appropriated imagery, and I want to step away from that and put "evidence of hand" in my pieces. 

My idea is based around the way I fall asleep with the television on every night. I'm not the only one who does this, I know that two of my roommates do the same thing at night and both my siblings. It's probably not good for your sleep patterns and eyes, but the anxiety of trying to fall asleep with out it can be  enormous. It's sort of a security blanket. 

So this technology has somehow convinced me that I need it's company to protect me from whatever is hiding in the dark silence while I'm sleeping. 

Here's a sketch of what I want it to look like and the color scheme:

All the creepy shadows are only where the light can't reach, giving you a sense of protection from the TV. I plan on drawing the scene first and then animating on top of it. (not sure how well that will go but it's worth a shot!). I want to be very detailed but not distract from the piece. I'll have to play around with light and shadow effects. 

Now the second aspect is the animation. I'm not so sure how well this will go, but I wanted to make subtle movements happen all over the piece. For example, the breathing of the person under the covers, the dark "monsters" quivering, eyes blinking. It's can all be small and subtle gestures to give it a creepy stalking feeling. 

My inspiration for the creepy shadows comes from this gif:

My inspiration for the rest of the piece comes from multiple digital illustrators but I really like the scene background's Natasha Allegri created for the new Bee and Puppycat (7 MORE DAYS!!). It's very detailed but still remains cartoony. And freakin' adorable. 

-Avery Violet

Hottea.

Bum bum tisss.

My Halloween costume

Yes hello I am feminist icon and Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo!

This is plan A, but knowing that it's not a popular costume on a college campus I have a plan B (Banana suit). I didn't add the full unibrow because it looked very odd on me, I guess I just can't pull it off like her. But I will try it and post a picture when I can. 

I tried to get her cold powerful stare down. Feminine and strong. 

Happy Halloween! :)

-Avery Violet

Assignment 3: A Visual Timeline of How I met Your Mother

Hello! 

For this project I wanted to focus on the passage of time in one of my all time favorite television shows How I met Your Mother. This show has been an influential force in my life, teaching me about friendship, love, and bars. (For the record, I've never actually been in a bar). I've always wanted the group of friends they've had on the show and the relationship Marshall and Lily have. They are second on my list of favorite couples just below my parents. In short, I love the show and I wanted to pay homage in some way given that the show ended earlier this year. 

The first piece is called "The One", based on the fact that the main character, Ted Mosby, is in constant pursuit to find the love of his life. Throughout the series ted dates approximately 40 girl friends, give or take a few one-night-stands. I compiled pictures from the internet of all of the girls (at least those who had a good picture), and layered them on top of each other. I set the opacity low so it's possible for traces of each girl to be visible, and I lined their jawbones and eyes up. It was important to find pictures where they were all facing a certain way, slightly to the left, and nothing was obstructing view of their face. Things I didn't really care about were if they were smiling or whether they were stacked in chronological order. However, I did put Victoria, ted's first girlfriend of the series, on bottom and the mother, Tracy, on top. Overall, Ted's "perfect woman" is blonde, white, and has great eyebrows. 

The second piece is titled "The Big Moments", because during season nine the gang starts to drift apart and Lily makes them all promise to get together for the big moments. The two images are from the first and last season, shot the same way. The yellowish tinted photo is actually from the title sequence, and the blueish photo on top is from season nine during the last episode when ted finally gets married. I wanted to show how the group's "big moments" have evolved sense they were younger. Instead of hitting the bar every weekend just to celebrate nothing, they make deliberate time to celebrate only things of importance. These photos are also one of the coolest aspects of the show; their persistent continuity and attention to detail. 

Finally, the third piece is simply titled "MacClaren's", named after the bar they always go to and featured in all the pictures used. For this one I was still trying to show the passage of time for the characters and the show itself. The background image is a still from the first episode were the toast to the future and each of the sections are from each season beginning with season two. The lighting changes, you can see christmas lights, and Victoria in a wedding dress (long story). I picked out episodes that encompassed a turning point for the show, and made sure certain things stuck out. I wish I could say they lined up perfectly but because nothing is perfect, they did not. 

For this assignment I really let my nerd flag fly and spent a lot of time watching the show and taking screenshots. But really I don't mind at all. I hope fans of the show can admire it and not-yet-fans will look at these and spark interest. 

-Avery Violet

Assignment 3: proposal

My idea for Assignment 3 has something to do with the lists from "How I met Your Mother". The way the show is done there is a lot of reoccurring jokes that carry on through the series.

• One idea is mapping out all of Ted Mosby's girlfriends from the beginning to end of the series (40 total). I was thinking of layering their faces to show his possible "ideal" women.
• Another is somehow showing all of the times Barney says the word "legendary" or "legen- wait for it- dary". 
• Mapping out all the high fives Barney's given out by tracing their hands.
• In the same way mapping out the five slaps of the "slap bet".

I also think I can do the same sort of thing with a few of my other favorite TV shows, but I know "how I met your mother" better than any TV show. ("the Office" is a close second).

I like this idea because it displays my love of comedy and television. The show itself constitutes it's own color scheme and design, yellows and reds, very poppy. It presents the shows running gags in an interesting way, and the inside jokes are something very unique to the show.
I will need to use imagery from the show, mostly screen grabs of scenes, to create my pieces. It shouldn't violate copyright law as long as the overall meaning is changed. Layering the women's faces creates a new image and a new meaning.

Jason Salavon, the artist featured on our class website, inspired my first idea with the way he layers images to show the "average" of the images. I've seen a few other artists the do the same thing, but I can't remember their names unfortunately.

Assignment 2; "Battle Armor"

This series is called "Battle Armor", where I manipulated images of classes superhero comic book characters to show more skin much like their female counter parts. It's a look at femininity in "nerd culture" and the double standard there is about women showing skin. 

All too often we see female superheroes in scantily clad costumes showing a lot of skin. It's not that I think showing too much skin is a bad thing, and I'll be first to admit that superwoman looks awesome in her costume. It's about the practicality of their costumes. I would assume it'd be pretty hard to fight off super villains in a tiny tube top and booty-shorts ensemble. Not everything will stay in place (if you catch my drift). Also, if  they are going into any kind of battle against any kind of villain, they'd would want to be as protected as possible. So why don't female superheroes get full body costumes?

Drawing the female heroes this way perpetuates the ridiculous belief that women must show skin to be "desirable" or "feminine." It's not practical at all for them to be half nude doing what they do. 

But why should I be upset if this is all fictional people in a fictional world? I know that superheroes aren't actually real and people don't literally fly off into the sky to fight giant lizards in their underwear. But what bothers me is that these expectations for women are reflected in real life. Women are seen as sensual if they wear revealing clothes, or in the opposite way they are seen as "slutty" or provocative. Either way, if you don't show skin you're "frumpy" or "prude". And when those judgements are made they have little disregard to the way the woman thinks or what her career is. Those facts are sometimes tossed aside. It effects the treatment of women real or fiction. 

For these pieces I used classic renditions of comic book superheroes from Marvel and DC comics, as my main subjects. I chose older versions partly because I like the way they look, and they are all aesthetically similar and unified. Also the periods they originate from was a time where there weren't many female super heroes. I cut out sections of their costumes but still managed to keep that comic book style, and stayed true to the original costume. I chose the slogan "ready for battle", to be a sarcastic dig on the belief that women could possibly fight dressed that way. I placed the words strategically around places that are accentuated on the female characters the most (butt, thighs, leg, etc.). I kept the background white so that the images have a stark presence in the image. 

To create the pieces I had to use images that are appropriated. However, to make it fair use I changed the image enough to make a different statement out of it. The message of the images was changed from "here's regular Captain America" to "this is the 'feminine' Captain America." The way their uniforms have been drastically altered changes the initial meaning of the subject matter. 

- Avery Violet

Jeff Murphy's show at the Pearl Conard Gallery

Jeff Murphy "Funnel"

Jeff Murphy "Ferris Wheel"

Earlier this week I had the chance to meet Jeff Murphy, the artist who created the work displayed in our gallery here at Mansfield. Here are some thoughts on the show and the "art talk" we got to have with Murphy;

The two that stood out the to me most are the ones pictured above. They're both apart of the series he calls "dig", a series about our need to dig literally and metaphorically through memories and the past. The first piece stuck out because to me it looks like the skeleton of a giant sea monster or a tentacle reaching over a boat at sea. It emits an ominous feeling through his choice of color and composition. I have a slight "phobia" of giant things, towering over smaller things or myself. When I was little I'd get freaked out by the king triton exhibit at COSI, it was just so much bigger than little me. This piece gives me the same uneasy feeling, but I still like it very much. It makes me wonder if the skeleton-monster-tentacle is really there, or if it's just a memory. 

I really liked the second piece because of how simple it is. The top half is mostly sky, and the bottom is covered by a scene of a big wave and in the corner is a tiny ferris wheel. The texture layered over the piece makes the scene stormy and a little ominous. It's like the ferris wheel is about to be swallowed by the wave. Maybe he meant it as a memory about the be lost. 

Jeff Murphy describes his work as showing how "we are constantly picking away at the surface of things". He said he was inspired by his sons and his own impulse as a kid to dig at the ground. For his other body of work "Convergence", Murphy says he was inspired by Catholic and Islamic relationships in Spain. He pairs catholic sculptures and buildings with animals to present irony in some pieces. 

It was good to hear the artist speak because he answered some questions that were left unanswered in his artist statement (bat dog). It was good to have my questions answered and it made it seem like I was looking at it all with fresh eyes. I like to know who the people are that make art that I like. It makes it easier to look out for their other work and make connections. 

It was kind of funny because I pictured him with a beard. I was thinking of Jeff Murphy the baseball player apparently. 

- Avery Violet

Assignment 2: the proposal

To be honest I'm not really sure where I want to go with this, but I've got a lot of ideas so I guess that's a good thing.

1.) My idea for this project is dealing with the ways famous women are portrayed in media, specifically the way their looks/fashion choices/bodies are more often reported on despite the amazing things they are doing. A few examples I'm thinking of include Emma Watson and the UN speech, Scarlett Johansen and almost every movie she's in, and Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables. All of these women were doing incredible films and playing challenging roles (or in the case of Emma, speaking out about gender equality), and all reporters wanted to know was what their diet is and what they're wearing.

2.) This interests me because I'm tired of it happening, and it doesn't stop at celebrities. It's frustrating to see what I would call artists being treated that way. Male actors don't get the same questions, they get the interesting ones. I feel like this makes people look at these women like they're just mannequins for clothes and not the interesting smart talented women they are. I feel this is happening to women everywhere.

3.) I'm not really sure what I want it to look like. One idea is to depict male actors put in the position these women are. Maybe a red-carpet scene with men in the dresses and answering the "rabit-food question". I like the idea of role-reversal. Like when artists on tumblr switched Black Widow and Hawkeye's positions on the covers of their comics. Black widow then got the heroic battle pose and Hawkeye got the boobs and butt pose. I'd like to do something humorous like that.

4.) I would use images in the public domain, and websites provided that house them. I think my idea is heading towards being parody of something, so it would be considered fair use.

5.) I'd say a lot of voices from the growing feminist community have helped shape my ideas. I'm a Frida Kahlo fan and I'm inspired by a lot of her work and the powerful feminist messages she puts in her art.

Assignment 1: Anatomy of a Russian Nesting doll

When I started this piece I wasn’t sure where it was going to go, but I knew that I wanted it to be adorable and also have little nods to my sense of humor and personality. I’m a collector. My room is cluttered with little trinkets and tiny decorations, so I wanted to use them for this project. It is a compilation of things that I have collected physically and personally.

I photographed my Russian nesting doll taken apart and separated, almost like it cracked apart, with my digital camera. I thought I could make an interesting composition with that. In my wardrobe, I like to rock a lot of floral print so I took some pictures of a few floral dresses and skirts of mine. I digitally cut the flowers out and put them into flower arrangements and placed them freely around the piece. I did the same with the birds at the top and fish at the bottom. I kept the edges looking a bit rough and I think that give the piece a hand-made feeling, which I like. It would have been nice to have some very small flowers tapering out around the bigger ones, but it was too difficult to cut those out. I also photographed the pins and the little blue gnome, affectionately named “Tyrone”.

I scanned in the watercolor washes seen in the background using the flatbed scanner. Then I digitally cut them out and layered them, then played with the opacity of each layer so that they would build up like watercolors naturally do. I also scanned in the bracelet, so that it would be extremely detailed. 
Overall I’m pretty pleased with the outcome of this project. I think it portrays how quirky and whimsical I am with a touch of humor (“Is it friday yet?”). I named it "Anatomy of a Russian Nesting Doll", because much like the doll, there's a lot of things inside of me. Interests, ideas, passions and talents. The nesting doll also hints to my love of different countries cultures and of course flowers. Watercolors are beautiful and they’re my favorite medium to work with, so I knew they’d be a good fit in this piece. I like that it embraces girly things, but also stays very organic and quirky. It is kitsch, pastel, and glittery, all things I appreciate.

(credit: Audrey, for making me the lovely bracelet a few years ago.)

- Avery Violet

Optimism v.s Pessimism