Week 1!

This week in life drawing we studied shells and did two different types of drawings of them. The first drawing we did was a blind contour drawing in which we could not look at the drawing while creating it. This drawing was particularly challenging for me because I was very tempted to look at the drawing and correct the mistakes. My group members said that my lines had varying weight and had a good use of thickness and thinness. They also said that the use of layers was beneficial and mentioned that while some lines were carefully considered, some needed to be slowed down.

The other shell drawing that we did was the continuous contour drawing in which we could not lift the pencil off of the page.  With this drawing it was a relief to be able to look at the paper, however it was also challenging because I constantly had the urge to lift my conte pencil off of the paper. Not being able to do this produced an interesting result. It was also difficult because I was unable to erase an mistakes that I made. 

My favorite part about these activities was looking at and discovering different things about my shell. Every time I looked at my shell I noticed something new. I enjoyed paying attention to the slightest details in color and texture. 

The class period on Thursday was very informative and interesting for me. I learned a lot about the spinal column and the different section in it. I also learned how to quickly draw the most important parts of a subject. 

Introductory Blog Post

I am a junior in the Studio Art program at UW-Stout.  I first decided to major in art at the end of high school after having great experiences in my art classes. I am getting a concentration in ceramics along with minors in psychology and math. My work that I am most proud of is my 3-dimensional works, including ceramics. Currently one of my favorite pieces, "Cancer" is in the Furlong Gallery.  

As time has passed I have found that I love complex surfaces. Another one of my favorite projects was the cardboard animal project in 3-D design. I made a porcupine, which was particularly intriguing to me because of the complex texture of the quills. Though making the thousands of quills was redundant and exhausting, the result was impressive. 

My favorite course so far at UW-Stout has been Ceramics 1, closely followed by 3-dimensional design. These courses were favorites because I like working in 3 dimensions and the projects assigned left room for me to put my own spin on them. When I graduate I hope to go on to graduate school for art therapy and pursue a career as an art therapist. 

My favorite materials include my camera and clay. When I work with clay, I am reminded that as humans we are shaped and molded by our environment and everyone in our lives.  I enjoy using my camera’s viewfinder as a way to extract beauty or emotion from a scene.

                              When people see my work, I want them to in a sense lose some of their naivety about the world.  I want them to be able to see the truth rather than the lies that we are fed every day. I usually begin a piece, that is not photography, by looking through photos that I have taken in the past or going for a walk outside for inspiration.