Title: A Look Within
Size: 14X17 Medium: Pencil, black sharpie, green colored pencil Understanding Art Worlds: James Gulliver Hancock is the artist we studied which inspired this piece. He integrates language arts into his works by telling a story through drawings and few words. Explore and Express: In this work, I explored what makes me the person I am. Defining myself is something I've struggled with and so I found the creation of this piece to be helpful in exploring my identity. Points of Integration: This work combines visual art with language arts in order to tell a story through both images and words. Studio Habits of Mind: I used the studio habit of expressing while creating this piece. I had to explore what makes me me, and express that through a number of different facts about me. Creative Strategies: In order to express who I am as a person, I used the strategy of mapping. Combining arrows, words, and images, I was able to explore who I am and express that through the work. |
Title: Geometric Bloom
Size: 14"X17" Medium: Colored construction paper Understanding Art Worlds: The artist that inspired this piece was Louise Despont. She uses geometric shapes and symmetry to create complex patterns. Despont has stated that her goal is to make art that "vibrates". This vibration was the inspiration for, and goal of, my piece. Explore and Express: In this piece, I explored how different shapes can work together as pieces of a whole. I used an exact knife to cut colored construction paper into geometric shapes created using a compass. Taking inspiration from Louise Despont, I allowed the vibrations of the piece to guide me in my arrangement of the shapes. Points of Integration: This piece integrates visual art with math in every aspect of the project. The creation of the shapes incorporates geometry, as well as the symmetry required to successfully create the mandala. Studio Habits of Mind: The studio habits of mind I used to create the mandala were envisioning and reflecting. In order to let the art's vibrations lead me, I had to create with an open mind and allow for change to occur throughout the process. Creative Strategies: In creating my mandala, I used the creative strategy of layering. Nearly every shape I used was layered with a different shape of a different color in order to create an interesting and eye-catching piece that vibrates with me. |
Title: A Bridge Between Worlds
Size: 8X12 Medium: Green and brown construction paper Understanding Art Worlds: The artists we studied to inspire this piece were brothers Eric and Martin Demaine. The brothers use math to create paper structures that represent architecture inspired from cultures around the world. The goal of this piece was to do a similar thing and create a structure representative of architecture. "A Bridge Between Worlds" was inspired by the architecture of the sky bridge between buildings on the NMU campus. Explore and Express: In the creation of this piece, I explored the process of construction of a building-like structure. I used green and brown construction paper to mimic some of the colors I find representative of the Marquette area. Points of Integration: This piece integrates visual art with math in multiple ways, most notably in the math skills required to accurately measure the strips of paper needed to create various sizes of cubes. Studio Habits of Mind: The studio habits I used in the creation of this project were developing craft and envisioning. I had to used materials and tools in a new way in order to create these cubes, and also had to practice envisioning the building I desired to create in order to guide my work. Creative Strategies: The creative strategies I used to create this piece include juxtaposition and changing scale. I created two different sizes of cubes in order to allow for a more creative outcome. I also added two arches on top, which juxtapose the otherwise cubic building. |
Title: A Home Away From Home
Size: 7X4.5X7.5 Medium: Cardboard, Stock Paper, Popsicle Sticks, Aluminum Foil, Pipe Cleaners, Paper Clip Understanding Art Worlds: In order to create this piece, I took inspiration from Do Ho Suh and his installations embodying the themes of home and identity. These are the themes I kept in mind while creating my own model version of a home using the given materials. Points of Integration: This project integrated social studies by modeling the way culture shapes homes and communities. After the creation of each of our own homes, we came together as a class to create a community containing all of our homes. We added everything that we considered a necessary part of a community as well. Studio Habits of Mind: While creating this piece, the studio habits of mind I drew upon were envision, reflect, and engage and persist. To begin, I had to envision what my model home might look like. I had a couple of ideas in mind, and after struggling with the materials for a little bit, I had to reflect and change the concept as I went in order to make the materials do what I wanted them to. Throughout this trial and error process, I had to engage and persist in order to continuously make the seemingly random materials not only work together, but work for me. Creative Strategies: Throughout the creation of this piece, I used the creative strategy of elaboration. I tried to use as much of my given materials as possible, adding on to my original vision repeatedly. With the surprise edition of one extra material, I was forced to elaborate further, adding the green pipe cleaners to the roof. I also applied the creative strategy of distilling by creating a simplified model of my friend's actual rental home. A specific example of this within the piece is the "spiral staircase" that is not so much a stair case, but a representative spiral. |
Title: The Last of the Pink Balloon Birds
Size: 14"X17" Medium: Black fine-point sharpie, pink, brown, and blue colored pencils Understanding Art Worlds: The inspiration for this drawing came from the artist Fred Tomaselli. He draws inspiration from patterns found in nature. In my piece, I tried to do the same by incorporating patterns found in nature, specifically stripes, spirals, and waves, to create the island landscape of the bird's habitat. Points of Integration: This project integrates the natural sciences by asking students to not only create the image of a fictional bird, but to think about where it would live, what it would eat, how it would evolve or become extinct, etc. This allows students to express their knowledge of evolution, biodiversity, and natural selection in the form of visual art. We also integrated language arts into this project by writing a story explaining the bird's existence. Studio Habits of Mind: The studio habits of mind I utilized throughout the process of creating this piece included envision and stretch and explore. In order to design this fictional bird and root it in science, I had to envision conditions and ecosystems unfamiliar to me. I also had to stretch and explore my understanding of the current world as well as the past to create this drawing and the bird's story. Creative Strategies: The creative strategies I used to create this piece included extend, project, and elaborate. I had to extend my thinking beyond reality to imagine the fictional bird and how it might live and operate in its ecosystem. I also had to project by envisioning what is not there and creating a world around that fictional idea. Last, but not least, I had to elaborate on the idea and drawing of the bird to include details like the landscape it inhabits. Story: The Pink Balloon Bird lived before the dawn of man on an island which contained few predators. These birds primarily fed on bugs and worms, as their beak was very small and their wings were too small to lift their heavy bodies. Despite of their small stature and weak survival skills, these birds dominated the sea shore, depleting the bug and worm populations dramatically. Because these birds could not fly, they stayed on their island year round, diminishing their food supply constantly. Soon, other birds, which migrated to their island in the winters, proved far more competitive, making it difficult for the Pink Balloon Bird to find food given their many limitations. Their population began depleting rapidly as their island's food chain became more and more competitive. Eventually, these birds went extinct through natural selection as more and more species better adapted to the newly competitive ecosystem. |