Artwork: IMAG(E)INE MIAD Silk Screening #1
Title: Different Together
Size: 91.44 cm x 91.44 cm Medium: Digital Manipulation and Silk Screening Completion: November 2nd, 2018 Exhibition Text:Different Together is a piece created by using Autodesk Sketchbook, Adobe Photoshop CS6, and screen printing. This piece represents the unity found in the community and how diversity plays a major role in the community. Different Together was inspired by Sunrise Over the Lake by Robert Lenz and Todos Son Migrantes by street artist, Teak.
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Inspiration/Research:
In my research I found many connections between my inspiration pieces and what I believed community meant to me. In the Sunrise Over the Lake by Robert Lenz, I loved the simplicity and brightness of both the colors and hues along with the meaning. The overall meaning of the piece is about a "new day." The white portion represents unity and the blue bars represent the three rivers. Since Sunrise Over the Lake is used as the people's flag of Milwaukee, it is not hard to find a flag, sticker, or anything featuring the piece. I love that this piece is widely accepted because then it makes it more meaningful and connects a lot more of the city together than the original flag of Milwaukee. I felt that the acceptance and prominence of Sunrise Over the Lake is why it perfectly represents the unity I wanted to depict in my piece. From this piece I decided to use the bright hues and shapes in my own work.
In my research I also fell in love with the piece Todos Son Migrantes by the street artist, Teak. The images of many different looking people united as one common group inspired my first piece the most. Although the image is crowded, it adds to the idea that the people in the mural are all interconnected and "one" in their community. I learned that Milwaukee is one of the most racially diverse cities in the state of Wisconsin so I felt that featuring many different people would emphasize that diversity is our greatest strength. I didn't use the varying color like Teak did, but I used the crowded, connected people figures centered at the middle of my piece. Also, in Teak's mural, the people featured in it are prominent figures in the community from the past or current times. I decided to take a different approach and picked random people, who would be people who live in our community because the unity of the community truly depends on the ordinary, everyday people. |
Planning:
Using the ideas that I had been inspired by in the pieces above, I created a planning sketch for each of the pieces, including my idea of what I wanted the stencil to look like on the piece itself.
For piece #1, I wanted to use Teak's overlaying color on the diverse array of people along with his use of bright hues to stand out. I used the people in my piece to represent the diversity in Milwaukee and how even though were are all different, diversity is our greatest strength. I planned to overlay the image with the colors of the Milwaukee flag instead of coloring people different skin tones in order to incorporate the idea that despite out differences, we are one city. The phrase "DIFFERENT TOGETHER" will be silk screened onto my digitally printed image. |
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Experimentation:
In Autodesk Sketchbook (app)
For these images I experimented with the placement of each part of the piece. I had a hard time figuring out the positioning of the people. In the first image was my original idea but I decided not to go with it because of how crowded the piece looked. The second image, I played with the placement of the people and tried to see how it would look if I put them inside the sun to further represent the unity of the community but I thought it would be harder to see the people from the street if I were to make them smaller. The third image, I tried to get rid of the blue in the picture in order to make the people bigger within the sun but the overall balance of the piece was thrown off by the lack of the blue. The last image is one of the the final ideas of mine. Talking with other people, they recommended that I got rid of a row of people and left the people in the center of the piece where i had them originally. I decided later on to add the white sun to the image also, in order to keep the idea of unity represented.
In all four of the images directly above I applied a filter called Darken to the layers that had the drawings of the people on them.
At MIAD while silk screening
Before starting the silk screening process on my actual piece, I started by testing one of my stencils on newsprint paper. I tested pressure, and the amount of ink I put on the screen.
Process:
For this piece I started out by using the Autodesk Sketchbook app. I selected the ink brush tool and set it to draw in the size 11.0 and the Copic color 110 Special Black. I began to draw the people on my first layer from my planning sketches. While I was drawing I used the Predictive stroke tool on level 4 in order to ensure that my lines were bold and not shaky because I was drawing with a stylus.
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I created a new layer and clicked on the little eye on the corner to make sure that the layer with the people would not be in the way of the next step. On the new layer I used the Ruler Guide tool to color half of the new layer with the Copic color Y06 Yellow. Then, using the same Ruler Guide tool, I colored the other half of the new layer with the Copic color B28 Royal Blue. For both colors I used the Ink Brush tool on the size 160.0.
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Then I used the Ink Brush tool and the Ellipse Guide tool in order to draw the white sun in the piece. The Copic color I used was T0 Toner Gray No.0 and the size was 76.5. After I drew the sun, I applied the Multiply Filter to the Layer with the sun and colors and added the Darken filter to the layer with the people. To make sure I had my image at the right resolution and size, I uploaded it to Photoshop CS6. The image was then printed out on a 91.44 cm x 91.44 cm piece of Tyvek®.
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Before we went to MIAD, I created stencils for the silk screening on parchment paper. I drew out the stencils with pencil on the paper sides of the parchment paper in a reverse image to make sure they turned out. I cut the stencils out using an X-acto knife. Once at MIAD, I attached the stencil to a silk screen using tape so that the paper side was facing down. I placed the stencil and screen where I wanted on the Tyvek® print of my digital image. I then used a plastic spoon to scoop water-based acrylic screen printing ink onto the screen above the beginning of the cut-outs on my stencil.
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Once I carefully lifted the screen straight off of my print, I took the Squeegee and flooded the screen by taking the ink and pulling it across the screen again as I held the screen away from my image. Then I took the stencil off of the screen and threw it away and then took the screen into the wash room and cleaned it off using the hose and the scrubbies that were in the room. When the screen was completely clean, I took a hairdryer and a dry towel and dried the screen before starting my next stencil.
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Reflection:
Compare and Contrast:
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Critique:
I believe that my piece turned out exactly the way that I wanted it to. The dark text draws the viewers attention, but if I redid the project, I would emphasize the people in my piece more. What I could've done is bring the layer with the people on top of the layer with the sun. Also, when up close on the piece, you can see the sketch-like appearance of the lines that I used for the people in my piece. It is fine leaving it that way for now because people will be looking from a distance but if this piece was to be viewed up close then I would probably go back and smooth out the lines. I would also take more pictures of my process in order to reflect on each separate stencil and how they turned out individually versus as a whole.
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ACT:
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Bibliography:
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Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Robert Lenz's use of bright hues and geometric shapes inspired me to create more geometric text and use brighter hues of the colors I used in the background of my piece. Teak's work inspired me to use dark lines and bright hues to create more of a sense of balance and unity between the crowded people on my piece than if it was just the people. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration? Elizabeth Rosales evaluates the uniqueness of Teak's mural and other street murals and how it both reflects and impacts the community that it is in. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration? I concluded that many communities are unique and that one of the best ways to celebrate the uniqueness and unity of a community is through art that is widely accepted by the community. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?. The central theme of my inspirational research is unity and uniqueness of the community of Milwaukee and other communities. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research? I inferred that street artist or common artists in a community seek to showcase the best parts of the community through their art and want to find a way to represent their community in their pieces. |
“Praying Hands.” Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer, AlbrechtDurer.org, 2018, www.albrechtdurer.org/praying-hands/.
Rosales, Elizabeth. “Artistas y Personajes De Tijuana En Un Mural Del Pasaje Rodríguez.” ERIZO, 12 Apr. 2016, erizo.org/artistas-y-personajes-de-tijuana-en-un-mural-del-pasaje-rodriguez/. Wyatt, Rick. “Milwaukee, Wisconsin (U.S.).” Milwaukee, Wisconsin (U.S.), CRW Flags, 25 July 2018, www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/us-wi-mw.html. |