Block Print
Exhibition Text
The Elephants On Top of The World was inspired by German Expressionism and by old, vintage elephant circus posters. It represents the abuse and cruelty all elephants have to go through. Elephants are near extinction due to the mistreat in circuses, the killing for their tusks and many more. It shows the mother elephant on top of the world, dark and sad and her child in the end following her to the end of the world, but dead since all of this has killed it. If the baby were to be alive, it would have its trunk around his mothers tail, but he can't anymore.
The Elephants On Top of The World was inspired by German Expressionism and by old, vintage elephant circus posters. It represents the abuse and cruelty all elephants have to go through. Elephants are near extinction due to the mistreat in circuses, the killing for their tusks and many more. It shows the mother elephant on top of the world, dark and sad and her child in the end following her to the end of the world, but dead since all of this has killed it. If the baby were to be alive, it would have its trunk around his mothers tail, but he can't anymore.
Planning
Inspiration
My favorite animals are elephants and I wanted to demonstrate the cruelty they're going through. These are all circus ads, but I tried incorporating something more positive that would try to at least make a change. These circus ads would promote the elephants and bring in people to come and watch the shows because elephants aren't something you see everyday. They only outlined the happy parts about them and not the sadness they portray in the cells they are put at night. Critical Investigation
Elephants are most of the time the big thing for circuses; thats what people are attracted to and excited to go for, at least thats why I used to go to circuses. Elephants are taught to do tricks and if you see closely to the images on the right side of this screen, the elephant stands alone. They get separated from their families and are taken to be slaves for their rest of their lives until they are useless and can no longer do tricks. Elephants are the "big show." |
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Sketches
This is the sketch that I came up with for my block print and it represents elephant cruelty. The mother elephant is on top of the world facing the horror the world has to offer and as the baby, it will always follow her but again he's a baby and he can't keep up. The baby's trunk is usually around its mothers tail, but since its dead, it doesn't have a trunk due to the truck being made out of muscle and not bone.
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Process
After I got my sketch approved, I then colored the back of the sketch with a lead pencil so I can trace the outline of my sketch onto the block print. When I finished tracing the sketch onto the block print, I began carving all the areas where I wanted them to be white. I did not carve the areas that I wanted to stay black. After I finished carving, I then got a piece of paper and set my block print there. Then I grabbed a tray and applied some ink onto it. I smoothed the ink with a roller and then rolled the ink on the black print. After rolling ink a few times on the block print, I grabbed the white paper where the image would be imprinted and positioned it as best as I can. I grabbed another long paper and put it on top of it. I then pressed force with one of the utensils shown below.
Experimentation
I printed my block print four times, and the fourth one was the one that came out the best. The first image shown above wasn't traced well and had many lines on the elephants body, so I did more carving. I then got better results, as you can see above. The second and third image had some white spots on the elephant and I didn't like that, so I did one more and the one I chose has no white spots. You can see the image on the top of the page.
Meaning
The meaning to my piece is to demonstrate animal cruelty and more specifically on elephants. They are treated recklessly and are being poached to the end of the earth for their tusks. That explains why the earth is on my piece. The elephant on top of the world represents the mother elephant and its dark due to the poaching and sadness that has slowly consumed her. Her baby is dead due to all the destruction the world has contributed in and now elephants are near extinction. It's like when a mother loses a child, but the world takes that more into consideration. Obviously, since they're humans but they should take animals more in consideration because they don't consider them at all. I just wanted to make an art piece that would reflect that.
Reflection
My block print came out like I wanted it to but with a little extra detail. At first I wanted it all the white spots to be white, but I saw the black stripes and I thought that gave it a good effect. I also messed up on some of the details, for example I tried carving and it kind of went a little off. Also, I made the four prints and the final one I chose was a little not well positioned, but good nonetheless. Overall, I think this block print project went well and was a success, to me at least.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
My inspiration, which was the vintage elephant circus posters had a lot of effect in my painting due to its meaning and representation. I believe that this block print will probably not make a difference to anyone, but to me it will because I understand how careless this world was. It's a way of representing elephant cruelty.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors overall approach regarding the topic of my inspiration is that it covers elephant cruelty and lost humanity towards animals.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some generalizations and conclusions I have discovered about this certain topic is that people and organizations have been fighting for the lives of elephants, but poachers don't understand the effect they are making on the world by eliminating one by one.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was melancholy, death and animal cruelty.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I believe that animal cruelty, specifically on elephants has had a major impact on the world but not on us humans. We are blind to this.
My inspiration, which was the vintage elephant circus posters had a lot of effect in my painting due to its meaning and representation. I believe that this block print will probably not make a difference to anyone, but to me it will because I understand how careless this world was. It's a way of representing elephant cruelty.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The authors overall approach regarding the topic of my inspiration is that it covers elephant cruelty and lost humanity towards animals.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Some generalizations and conclusions I have discovered about this certain topic is that people and organizations have been fighting for the lives of elephants, but poachers don't understand the effect they are making on the world by eliminating one by one.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was melancholy, death and animal cruelty.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I believe that animal cruelty, specifically on elephants has had a major impact on the world but not on us humans. We are blind to this.
Bibliography
@peta. "12 Things Ringling Doesn't Want You to Know." PETA. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
"Vintage Circus Posters." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
@peta. "12 Things Ringling Doesn't Want You to Know." PETA. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
"Vintage Circus Posters." Pinterest. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.