Ideas Continued

26. Modernize a story in Greek mythology*

27. Children and their imaginary friends

28. Sculpture critiquing pollution*

29. America's contribution to obesity/ fast food

30. Create a kitch piece on saturation and celebrities*

31. Recreate an awkward family photo--the 'perfect' family

32. Show how flowers can take on different meanings in different atmospheres. (weddings, funerals, etc.)

33. Hoarding: what is precious vs. junk?

34. Addiction spiraling out of control

35. Cityscape of the future*

36. Cyber communication and false identity

37. Isolation (internally and externally)

38. REM cycles through abstraction

39. Ink blot tests/ psychology

40. Linking religions

41. Spirits and ghosts

42. Survival of the fittest

43. Daredevils

44. Approaching death: moving towards the light

45. Can money buy happiness?

46. The mysteries of the sea/ mermaids

47. Prostitution and self-worth

48. Handwriting and identity

49. Keys: unlocking

50. Stopping time and skipping time

No. 7: Narrative

In Bird's passage about narrative, he talks about how art can tell a story in a different way. An artist chooses how they wish to present a message visually by making artistic decisions. Art can shine light on a particular story, or communicate through a new perspective. A narrative can be told through a series of chronological images, or through a single composition.

I want my work to intrigue viewers and invite them to look for the narrative behind the art. I am interested of the idea of storytelling without words. How can I twist a well-known story to create a new narrative? How can I develop a narrative in a series by creating a beginning, middle, and end?

No. 95: Globalization

Globalization is about ignoring the boundaries that separate the different locations of the world. In Bird's passage, he describes globalization in the art world as an exchange of ideas. It is an adoption of foreign style, culture, and belief systems used for inspiration and collaboration between artists internationally. Art serves as evidence of the globalization process.

How can I integrate other cultures' ideas into my own artwork? Can I create a color palette specifically inspired by another region in the world? Could I explore gender roles in other countries and compare them to America's through my art? How can I modernize artist styles that existed in ancient times?

25 Ideas

1) Demoralize a well-known fairytale by revealing its "dark side" in a watercolor and ink piece.

2) Create a collage about society's pressure on young women pertaining to the ideal body image.*

3) Create a satirical cartoon critiquing gun violence.*

4) Create an assemblage sculpture of a "memory box" representing the moments in time that shape someone's life.*

5) Invent a new code or language using shapes and create stories through a series of abstract pieces.*

6) Appropriate the work of Andy Warhol by modernizing his Marilyn Monroe prints and choosing an alternative iconic figure.*

7) Show a personal daily ritual through a collection of photographs.*

8) Create an ink drawing linking humans and nature by personifying trees as people.

9) Show how a single colors can convey a certain emotions through a series of monochromatic nonobjective paintings.

10) Using only line, depict a lifespan of a person and the different "frequencies" one experiences throughout life.

11) Explore the power of repetition to show a type of social conformity.

12) Create an idealized fantasy world using mixed media.

13) Create a dream series of watercolor paintings.

14) Create a textured oil painting of a phobia and the emotional stress surrounding it.

15) Paint a collection of "ugly" objects with beautiful execution to comment on different perspective.

16) Explore how different fonts alter text's connotations through a typography piece.

17) Evoke the feeling of love/hate through a blind abstract painting.

18) Turn language into image by capturing the main idea of a poem or song through a single scene.

19) Create a diptych portrait of what someone looks like on the outside vs. how they feel on the inside.

20) Create an oil painting depicting silence.

21) Show how technology is consuming society through collage.

22) Play with gender roles by staging a male in a "female environment" and visa-versa through photography.*

23) Using photoshop, create grotesque glamour shots through excessive editing to show how advertisements mislead.

24) Represent a choreographed dance through a painting.

25) Create an artistic book about secrets.

Idea No. 91: Conceptual Art

Conceptual art, according to Bird, is about turning objects into ideas. Rather than imitating an image and reproducing it, conceptual artists use their minds to personify ideas through art. It is about looking deeper into a composition and discovering a meaning and purpose beyond the literal object.

Creating conceptual art is something that I am striving to do in all my work. As an art educator, it is especially important to teach students about this type of meaningful art making. Finding big ideas in art is essentially what conceptual art entails. It is certainly a challenging task, but I hope to explore rich conceptual ideas such personal identity, memory, and isolation this semester. I will contemplate how to communicate through metaphors and abstraction in my artwork.

Idea No. 47: Series

In Bird's passage about series, he emphasized that in a series, an important relationship exists between the artwork. When isolated, a work of art's meaning can stand alone and be contemplated. However, once it is viewed next to its counterparts as a whole, the viewer has a clearer understanding of the unifying concept or "narrative." I see this is as a visual story.

It would be interesting to explore this in my own work through perspective. Perhaps having a series of a gradually zoomed in or zoomed out object or scene would lead the viewer to discover something that they would otherwise overlook. I also like the idea of creating an alternate world or environment where artwork within a series would show scenes of activity and creatures that exist in this atmosphere.

Teaching For Studio Thinking: Introduction

I feel that this piece of artwork of mine best represents my artistic style. I painted this using watercolor, which is one medium I am drawn to at this point in my artistic journey. The fluidity and whimsicality of this type of paint is what excites me. When painting with watercolor, I force myself to work loosely and intuitively with my brushstrokes. I enjoy playing with color mixing in my paintings, and I let the colors help convey mood. I am also interested in depicting emotion through the human figure. Personal identity is a big idea that I intend to further explore in my artwork.

I still feel that I am in the beginning stages of discovering my full potential as a meaningful artist. There are many things that I am inspired by, and I look forward to finding ways to create a content rich body of work. 

My artistic process: 

• I use running outdoors to get my artistic gears turning. I love being able to space out and let my mind wander while I move through nature. 
• Listening to music while I work helps ignite my creativity. I choose to play genres of music that I think compliments what I'm working on at the time.