Assignment 6.2 - Landscape Collage

 Title:

Dimensions: 18.25” x 28”

Rationale: For my portrait collage I chose to work in the style of Jiří Kolář, focusing on his technique of rearranged paper strips of an image and the use of text in his collages. My landscape is a fictional one, based off of a dream that I had. The dream simplified was about trees growing out of human hearts that were all connected together with veiny roots. I chose to only put one tree because I felt that three would crowd the image and so I have lose words coming out of the other hearts instead. The tree is made entirely of words, and the veins are embroidery floss. The strips of paper for the background are cut up paintings of a daytime and night sky, with both having flecks of gold to connect the similar to how the hearts are interconnected. 

Materials: construction paper, mixed media paper, acrylic paint, gold glitter acrylic paint, embroidery floss, cardboard, ink pens, magazines text, white glue, glue stick.

Assignment 6.1 - portrait collage

Title: Memento Mori... The Best of Me.

Dimensions: 22” x 14.5”

Rationale: For my portrait collage I was inspired by Wangechi Mutu’s work about the black female body and the style that she used to address her subject matter. My piece isn’t about the same things as Mutu’s work, but I did my best to try and use her style to convey a different subject matter. This collage is about the mortality of our selves and how the knowledge of inevitable decay impacts the mind. This piece is both a memento mori in itself (a reminder of death) but also an artwork about how such remembrance both motivates and torments the person in life. The title/message Memento Mori... The Best of Me speaks directly of an idea that it is this consistent subconscious recollection (although conscious on occasion) of our own limited existence that makes us who we are through the drive it gives us in life. I chose to make my piece dedicated to Memento Moris because the idea of death - and how it’s uncertainty of when but promise of sometime - is both threatening and motivating to the human mind is something that has interested me for a long time, although I only learned the proper term for it recently. As such I was anxious to create a piece expressing my own thoughts on the topic. 

Materials: black construction paper, magazines, flyers, movie ticket.

Assignment 5.2 - Still life painting

 For my still life painting I was inspired by Dutch still life’s, particularly the work of Balthasar Vander Ast. I took a reference picture of objects I was able to find around my house and posed them for the painting.

Dimensions: 18” x 24”

Done on Mayfair paper with acrylic paint

Colour palette used:

Reference Photo:

I changed around my reference photo to fit my colour palette better. I made the sheet darker to incorporate my brown hue more, added a new background, and changed the colours of the cups designs.

Assignment 5.1- Colour Diary

 For my colour diary I chose to take pictures of simple, everyday objects and views inside of my house and pull three of the most exciting colours out of each for a more vibrant view of each scene. I used acrylic paint to mix my colours, and bound my book using Japanese four-hole stab binding. I printed off the pictures and glued them in next to the palettes for better matching and comparison of the colours. 

Book Dimension: 9” x 6”

Front Cover

I glued this assignments palettes (done on parchment paper) onto pieces of card stock to make the front and back covers of my colour diary. Through this I wanted to show my process of colour mixing and also use it as an introduction - or title - to the colours that are present inside of the book.

Side View

Back Cover