Artwork: IMAG(E)INE MIAD Silk Screening #2
Title: Holding Us Together
Size: 91.44 cm x 91.44 cm Medium: Digital Manipulation and Silk Screening Completion: November 2nd, 2018 Exhibition Text:Holding Us Together is a piece created by using Autodesk Sketchbook, Adobe Photoshop CS6, and screen printing. This piece represents the unity of a community and the role it plays in recovery after tragedies and holding the community together. Holding Us Together was inspired by Sunrise Over the Lake by Robert Lenz, Milwaukee flag by Fred Steffan, and Praying Hands by Albrecht Durer.
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Inspiration/Research:
For my second piece I decided to incorporate the city scene from the original flag, but modernize it a bit more to show what the modern lakeside city look like.Even though the original flag is way too crowded and busy, the idea of using the city as a central aspect of the piece to represent the city really made me think of how I could use it in my piece. The lakefront depicted in the piece is what inspired me to create the water and cityscape that is in the hands of the people in my piece.I really liked the color theme and hues used in Lenz's piece and wanted to use that as another aspect to represent the unity and community of the city. I also was inspired by Albrecht Durer's Praying Hands because of how simple, yet complex his use of line and sketching-like the lines made the drawing look. His use of dark, black line also created an emphasis on the actual hands vs the background of the piece, which I liked at first but decided not to use in order to create a more connected feeling between the water, the rivers in Sunrise Over the Lake, and the people of the city since Milwaukee depends on Lake Michigan and the lakefront. I also wanted to make the hands and water seem interconnected because of the idea of unity and that the people of the city are what hold it up even after the bad times that may hit our city. Because of recent tragedies that occur in our city or other cities I felt that the lakefront would represent out community really well. Even though there may be storms or big "waves" that impact the community, there is always a new day and the people of the community are the ones who are most likely to help the city recover from the bad times.
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Planning:
In my second piece, I decided to focus more on the events that take place in Milwaukee. Over the years there has been tragic events that have, in turn, shaped our community. Despite these events, we have been able to, as a community, come together for different causes in order to support others and help our community to grow. I took the aspect of the three rivers in Milwaukee on the People's Flag and molded it into three hands, representing how different people of Milwaukee are the one's that hold up the community and support it, as long as each other. The city on top of the water in the hands will be silk screened onto the image.
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Experimentation:
The dark lines made the piece look too showy and obvious, but once I made the blue lines to emphasize the water-like aspect of the hands and the lake it looked way better than before. I also made the sun in the background bigger in order to fit the whole city stencil inside of it.
Process:
Then I created another layer under the layer with the outlines. On the new layer I used the Ink Brush tool on size 28.0 and the Copic color B28 Royal Blue to color in the water. I also used the Ink Brush tool on size 7.0 and the Copic colors 110 Special Black and T0 Toner Gray No.0 to draw/color the small sailboat, and add accents to the water so it was not just one whole color.
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After the boat, I clicked on the little eyes on the two previous layers and created a new layer. On this layer I used the Ruler Guide and the Copic color Y06 Yellow to color half of the layer. Using the Ruler Guide again I colored the other half of the layer with the Copic color B28 Royal Blue. For both colors I used the Ink Brush tool at size 157.0.
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Then I clicked the little eyes on the layers with the lake and hands so that I was able to see them above the background. Using the Ink Brush tool in the size 25.0, I took the Copic color in B02 Robin's Egg Blue and colored in the hands. For this step it was important that I had the layers in this order from front to back:
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Like in my first piece, I created a stencil using Parchment paper and and X-acto knife. For this piece I only decided to create one stencil for the buildings in the city. Before we went to MIAD, the digital image I made was printed on Tyvek. Once at MIAD, I taped the stencil ,with the paper side facing down, to a silk screen.
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Then, I carefully lifted the screen off of my work and moved away from my piece before flooding the screen (pulling the ink back over the stencil without making a print). After I flooded the screen I took the stencil off of the screen and threw it away before going to the wash room to clean my screen with a hose and scrubbie tool. Once my screen was clean, I dried it using a dry rag and a hair dryer.
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Reflection:
Compare and Contrast:
Similarities:
Differences:
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Critique:I was really happy with how this piece turned out until I did the screen printing. The buildings did not print properly and came out fuzzy in some parts. It is also not centered on the sun or parallel to the bottom edge of the piece.
If I were to redo the screen printing and have more time to work on it, I would do each building separately so it would be easier to distinguish where one building starts and the other one ends. I would also apply more pressure while doing the prints so that the ink distributes more and creates a cleaner image. I rushed to finish this last stencil and print, so more time would've probably helped to create a better print. If I redid the piece, I would allocate more time towards making the city stencils and prints. |
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 and the Milwaukee Flag's use of geometric shapes and bright hues inspired the background and cityscape print on my piece. Albrecht Durer's image of hands inspired me to include the hands in my piece as a symbol of people supporting the unity and community in general. 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. She believes that Teak's mural is a good symbol of unity in the community. 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 ideas in my piece and research was the unity in the community and how the people are what helps keep the community going, especially after tragedies. 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. |