Tradition is a huge part of our lives. Even without realizing it, we create our own traditions over the years. When I was a little girl, I spent a lot of time with my grandma. She taught me many things that I still remember to this day. She would teach me songs and games all the time. She brought my imagination to life every time we were together. I’ve grown up a lot since then, but I have little siblings and cousins that are younger than me. My grandma has done all these little things with them, the same way she did them with me. I see my youngest cousin learning all the things I did and that is where my idea grew from. I wanted to capture the innocence of the child and grandmother on a normal day together. The black and white of the photo is meant to rid of all other distractions and focus in on the story being brought to life. I took the imagination of a child and applied that to my photograph also. I drew out the flowers and colored them the way a little child would, not knowing enough to stay completely inside the lines. After scanning these into the computer, I added them to my original photo, showing the simple things a little imagination can do. The drawings also represent the way that a child sees these memories while growing up. They have their own perspective on the traditions they experience and therefore everyone in the world does things a little differently when it’s their turn. My traditions are memories that I will carry with me forever and more than likely continue with my own children. To me, traditions are all about continuing a memory, no matter how little it may seem.

Above It All

I recently entered the 2012 Congressional Art Show. My Artwork was picked as the grand prize winner! I will be going to Washington D.C. in June for the ceremonial ribbon cutting at the next show. My piece will be hung in the Capitol Building for the next year. The theme of my painting was bullying. After ripping out numerous newpaper articles, I applied them to my canvas and glazed over it with acrylics. The yellow popping out of the newspaper is meant to represent the good coming out of the bad. The girl in the upper left hand corner is meant to represent how we should not let bullying bring us down, but instead soar above it all. This piece turned out the way originally pictured it to and  I was very happy with the final image.

"Getting Phyical" Gallery Review

            The Springville Center of the Arts held an exhibition called “Getting Physical” from February 9^th through March 10^th. It showcased the artwork of Max Collins. The photographs he placed in this exhibit show off his own style and approach to photography.

            Using his own photographs, he applies them to objects in order to show the physical process of his work. He enlarged many of his photos to have a big impact on their viewers. Some of the photos are applied to fences, while he is also known to apply others to buildings. One of the fence pieces was actually in the exhibit, showing a sobbing baby that was the entire size of the fence. Using Photoshop, he edits the pictures to his desire. Afterward, Collins wheat pastes them onto the object that he wants. He displays these objects as they are, no matter how big. This creative approach is what makes Max Collins stand out in the photography world.

            His portraits are far from traditional. He doesn’t always take the most direct route either. Whether he is trying to evoke some type of emotion or show a theme through his photographs, he finds a unique way of expressing his ideas. Each photograph was able to tell a story. This made them very successful. The photographs were taken with specific lighting and composition techniques in mind. Positive and Negative space, along with point of view, were used often to intensify the photos.

            There were quite a few of Max Collins artworks that really stood out to me. All of the work in the show was very intriguing though. Of the ones that stood out to me, was called “Installing Billboard”. This photo of construction workers was black and white and taken from below. The point of view of this photo is what truly made it, along with the selective focus on the people. Another photograph that truly stood out was “No More Talking Part III”. This portrait photo was another non-traditional photo. The way the light hits the figure that was staring just past the camera, was right on. The edited eyes stand out and become the focal point of the whole piece. This photo tells a story with its positive and negative space. It draws in the viewer with the mysterious look in the eyes of the figure and the dark color scheme that was chosen. You can see this story telling quality in every single photo. The messages he incorporates in his photos allow a viewer to go deep into his thoughts.

            Overall, this show truly showed the artistic skill of Max Collins. Giant photos and photos on fences are not something that someone sees every single day. His distinctive approach to photography and the way he takes it farther than just snapping a photo is what makes his style his own. Max Collins truly exhibited his best in his “Getting Physical” exhibition.

Alice Neel

I found Alice Neel's work to be very intriguing. After looking through it all, you can see that she has her own definite style of painting. I am one for realism so her work is kind of new for me. Alice Neel is a cross between realism and expressionism. Her style is distinctly her own. I really liked this about her. Since I just finished up an impasto piece I've been working on, I have really liked painting loosely. Neel shows her loose and not completely precise work, but also includes detail and her proportions are always correct. I would love to loosen up the way she does.

Here is a recent sculpture I created! it's meant to describe who we are and where we stand in our community.

El Museo Gallery Review

                During the month of December and January, an art show was held at the El Museo Gallery in downtown Buffalo. Submissions for this show came from the Police department and any direct relatives, along with all Buffalo public schools. People of all ages were allowed to register and submit two pieces into the show. Entries were organized into categories such as kids, teenagers, and adult groups spilt into amateur and professional.

                There was a large variety of all different types of work in this show. It ranged everywhere from abstract and realistic paintings, to drawings, to photography. There were also a few sculptures and mixed media works in the show. The show was set up so that nothing was clustered or over powering the work next to it. Larger pieces seemed to take up walls of their own and everything circled around the gallery so that your eyes were continuously attracted to the next piece. Work from the same person was commonly put right next to their first piece. The variety of the work was able to grasp the attention of every person there and delight all. There materials used in the art process were quite interesting. One young girl drew on a large plane of wood and then painted with acrylics on it also. Another person drew a self portrait with red lipstick. There were pieces that were very realistic and portrayed scenes such as landscapes. Another piece revealed an abstract scene that showed a series of connected lines. If one looked hard enough, the figure of a woman would appear, amongst other things. A mixed media piece that was shown included earth tone paints, newspaper, cut out letters, and images that were added to a canvas. Other works were of portraits and still lives. Younger kids submitted prints, collages, and even small, painted canvases. All the contestants really showcased themselves in each of their works. 

                In each category that entered the show, there were prizes awarded for first, second, and third place and there was also an honorable mention handed out for each category. Two prestigious people in the arts judged the show and picked out the winners. Best in show went to the Principal of a Buffalo School for her photography. I was personally involved in this art show. I submitted two pieces to the teen division that were landscapes and would be considered realistic. I was awarded first place for my landscape painting of a barn and tree that I created with oil paints. I received $75 and a blue ribbon to hang on my piece. One of the judges even pulled me aside to tell me how great my work was and to keep creating art.

Overall, I believe this show was very good for the community and really got a lot of people involved. Many teachers submitted the work of their students and were there to support them during the reception. It is a show that was able to represent the community as a whole and show the diversity in the art world. This show was very successful in the end.

Fabric Drawings

drawn in graphite

I recently tried drawing fabric during my art classes. I didnt realize how addicting it would become though! I think its a great skill builder and really wanna keep doing more of them and possibly some other still life drawings. These are a couple of the drawings I did.

drawn in charcoal

Seagull...

This is a painting from the begining of the school year. I took the picture of the seagull and instantly fell in love with the eye color and the beak. i know i need to work on animals, but i think it tuned out farily well!

New Painting!

This is my newest piece! After doing this one, I realized I need to pay more attention to spacing and proportions. I'm going to work fitting my scenes on the canvas better so they dont go off or go right up against the edges. This was a commissioned piece so the main image needed to be of the truck. Other than that, I was super happy with the overall image!

"Memories"

We just learned Digital manipulation in photography and did a project called "Recreating Reality". This is my photo named "Memories". My inspiration for this was the concept of time. The aspects of both then and now are intertwined in this photo. For my first experiment with manipulating photos, I feel as though this project came out very well and my message shows through the photo.

These pictures are beyond awesome! The artist, Darren Pearson, sets his camera with a long exposure so that when he draws with LED lights, it will capture the image he traced through the air. As a photography student, I'd love to try something like this! It is such a cool form of art and something I never thought of before. To read a little more check out these websites:

Darren Pearson 

Daius Twin Flickr 



Chris Piascik

I saw Chris Piasick's work on Doodlers Anonymous. He is a graphic designer and illustrator. Knowing I'll be taking a graphic design course next semester, I found his work very inspiring. I really love the way he takes what's on his mind and turns it into art. He brings his own creativity into each piece he does and thats what matters the most to me. To check out more, here's his website:

Chris Piascik

After looking through even more blogs, I came across Roger Bansemer. He does many landscape paintings and is featured on a PBS television series called, "Painting &Travel with Roger & Sarah Bansemer". After looking through some of his blogs, I found that not only does he share his paintings, but he gives his feedback on what works and what doesn’t and also tips on how to make pieces better. I really enjoyed reading over his comments about his work. He mentioned that details aren't always the most important thing if everything else is strong. I would like to keep this in mind because I always go way into detail, which works for most of my paintings, but can be very time consuming. I’ve suggested detail in some of my paintings and I have found that it works well. If you’d like to see more paintings done by Roger Bansemer, the link is below:

Robert Bansemer on Blogger