I have seen some incredible photorealism while surfing the internet (unfortunately I couldn't find it again so this piece will have to do) and am always very impressed.

Banksy is an amazing artist, despite the illegality of his work. I'm not one for street art (I think graffiti is incredibly overrated) but his work is actually planned, thought about, and demonstrates artistic skill unlike just tagging.

Fernado Botero -- LOVE his art and his style, especially his massive rotund horse sculture.

I get a lot of inspiration from comic books. NOT manga. Straight up comic books. I am always thoroughly impressed with he shading comic book artists are able to get with just ink like in the Sin City series and in this series called RASL.

The Pixies are a band I often listen to while doing art. They are very....inspirational and...odd.

Reflection

Some of my biggest successes this term was finishing a project. I am incredibly satisfied with all of my projects I have produced. I don't know if it was the group or the environment or what, but I was really able to focus and produce work that I am proud of. I didn't have many challenges this term (besides folding the cranes) as I enjoyed everything. I tried to challenge myself with the layer project which turned into the text project. I had been itching to try mixed media (even though I don't think I have the eye for it) but am very pleased with the result of the text project (it frightens my mother although she'll never admit it). Doing the layering-turned-text project changed my view of how I do my work. I loved working with the text and also on a different medium. Most of my pieces produced were in pencil with color highlights. Although I like those pieces very much, this one was radically different and I ended up enjoying it immensely. After doing that piece (and this class as a whole) I have a different outlook on art and art class. I hope to have such an intense class next year, and I enjoyed it very much!

Source Material & Inspiration 2

Massive picture! But you knew this was coming. Horses have influenced my work since I was little. Even as a got into humans and their anatomy, I was able to place certain bones and muscles I learned from horses on the human body.

Source Material & Inspiration 1

Anything by Alphonse Mucha. The art noveau style is very influential to me and I would love to be able to recreate something of his.

Influences 2

One of the influences the I have in my art is actually an author, Chuck Palahniuk. He is the author of several well known books including Fight Club. His books are always very weird and quirky and sometimes take on a dreamlike quality, which incidentally relates to my theme in art this year. One book of his, called Diary, centers around a failed artist whose husband, a carpenter, had attempted suicide and fell into a coma. She started getting calls about people's rooms in their houses going missing. It was a very weird and, like most of his books, had an amazing twist at the end. I've worked my way through almost all of his works by now (I started in Decemberish) nad he continues to inspire me.

Influences 1

When I do my art, whether it be on my own or for this class, there's a few songs that I will play on repeat, all of them completely different. Subconsciously I incorporate them into my work. Some of them are abstract (like Hey You) which relates to my theme of dreams. Here's the ones I can think of off the top of my head. There's more but I usually am on shuffle when I hear them and then will play them over and over.

Hey You - Pink Floyd (Pretty much the whole of The Wall album, but this is the most played)
Sail - Awolnation
Let Go - Frou Frou (an Imogen Heap band)
A Better Place, a Better Time - Streetlight Manifesto
Gouge Away - The Pixies (And the whole of the Doolittle album)
Kids - Sleigh Bells (And the whole Treats album)

All of these song are very easy for me to listen to while doing art and are each inspiring in their own way. Absolutely none of these bands are similar to each other in any way, which is interesting. The constrast from Streetlight Manifesto (Ska, which is punk with horns pretty much), to Sleigh Bells (heavy electronica), to Pink Floyd is very large.

Sketchbook 2

Sketchbook 1

Critical Feedback

thought bubble

• not tinfoil?
• reflective of other people
• tissue paper
• watercolor
• shoes in color

background

• neutral
  
• darker
• gray

shoes - fading

Statement of Purpose

How does your theme connect to your life?
How does your theme connect to the world around you?
What kinds of art or visual information (advertising, tv, film) have you seen that relates to your theme?
Why did you choose this theme and how can you envision exploring it through works of art over the course of the term?
Generate at least two big questions that will help guide your work?

This theme connects to my life because I zone out and daydream a lot, especially in class. Day dreams and regular dream are also really interesting to me because they distort reality, which is fun to explore in art. This theme connects to the world because the whole world dreams or fantasizes about the past, present, and future, and also what can never happen. I started this project thinking about Dali and his clocks and distorted reality. I also really like mixing pencil drawing with ink, collage, watercolor etc. I think I was inspired for that by some art I found online. I chose this theme because it can be explored in many different and interesting ways. I really like the idea of distorted reality through dreams. Day dreaming can also help explore yourself or to bring new ideas. I also like the idea of nightmares, and how they bring out what your subconscious is really afraid of, what lurks just outside your mind while you're awake. A lot of symbols that came up in my notecards were trees, feathers, and thought bubbles.
How do dreams, day dreams, and nightmares interact?
How does this appear to not just me, but the world?

DayDreaming Web

Essential Questions

How do artists develop content and ideas for their work?
In the past, artists have developed ideas for their work through social revolutions and political turmoil that was happening around them. This definitely holds true for today, but many artists are able to find and develop ideas using the internet, because it is such a unique resource. Artists can also develop ideas through their own personal experiences, and their surroundings.

What kinds of techniques, behaviors, and habits allow artists to turn their ideas into meaningful works of art that engage the viewer?
Artists can use a variety of techniques to turn their ideas into engaging works of art. One of the more "out there" artists I think, is Andy Warhol who used silkscreens of photos and painted them ridiculous colors. There are many other ways to engage one's audience including color, size, content, the addition of words, and movement in a painting/piece of 2D art.