Child
Exhibition Text
Child is a block print created to demonstrate the purity of a newborn. Newborns are babies that just came out of their mothers womb after a long journey of a duration of nine months. The purity of a newborn is that newborns are new to the world we now live in, their world is black and white and are yet to discover color. Color can mean anything, literally colors, people, experiences, adventures, mistakes, lies, nature, etc. A newborn has no knowledge whatsoever, besides naturally knowing by instinct to eat, cry and poop. Newborns are pure and this is why this piece represents newborn babies.
Child is a block print created to demonstrate the purity of a newborn. Newborns are babies that just came out of their mothers womb after a long journey of a duration of nine months. The purity of a newborn is that newborns are new to the world we now live in, their world is black and white and are yet to discover color. Color can mean anything, literally colors, people, experiences, adventures, mistakes, lies, nature, etc. A newborn has no knowledge whatsoever, besides naturally knowing by instinct to eat, cry and poop. Newborns are pure and this is why this piece represents newborn babies.
Critical Investigation
My inspiration was German Expressionism. According to a very reliable source, "German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s." A lot of work from this movement was created in block prints, where my inspiration comes in. Another source of inspiration was the famous Käthe Kollwitz, who was born in 1867 and died in 1945 in Germany. She created sculpture, printing and paintings. Two out of the four prints shown on the side, were by Käthe Kollwitz, and were some of her most famous work. MoMA stated that, "Käthe Kollwitz established herself in an art world dominated by men by developing an aesthetic vision centered on women and the working class. Her representations of women, including her frequent self-portraits, effectively communicated her subjects’ predicaments during a period when women were still negotiating ways to represent themselves in the arts. While her naturalistic style appeared out of touch in an era that witnessed the birth of abstraction, her depictions of universal human experiences, given depth and emotional power through her dense networks of lines and light and dark contrasts, were also reflective of her time. The loss of her son during World War I, for instance, led to a lifelong exploration of the subject of mourning. She also found many of her motifs in her husband’s medical clinic for workers and people in need." I plan to use her techniques and apply them to my work by using her type of inspiration and trying to find inspiration that provokes an emotion just like hers did. For example, she went and did something that was touching whereas I did something that hits close to home and that was my newborn brother. Kollwitz and I had the same style which was German Expressionism and used the similar techniques. However, her technique was more old fashioned due to her being alive and doing art around seventy years ago whereas my techniques may be considered more modern. The metaphor inspiration is that she made a print that idolizes or represents the stay in the hospital, whereas I have idolized newborns as calm and tender.
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Planning
My planning started off with one of my little brothers newborn pictures. For this, there really isn't a sketch, since I started off with scanning the photograph to the size of the block print. After this, I colored the back of the scanned picture with lead pencil so I can trace it onto the block print and that is how I started the process of my planning.
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Process, Ideas and Intentions
After I found the picture of my little brother when he was a new born, I scanned it and saved it on my flash drive. After I saved it, I printed it with the lengths of the block. 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 block 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 again and again. After eight times of doing this over and over, I got the block print to look black and white in all the areas where it is supposed to be black and white and got in the perfect position. After I finished with this, I cleaned the mess, washed my hands in case of any ink on my hands and then took the prints and put them on a drying rack. After a few days of drying up, I noticed there was some white spots that were not fully covered in ink with the roller, so I grabbed a brush and applied a little bit of ink and dabbed it on all the white spots that were supposed to be black. When I finished dabbing on them, I put it again on the rack and a few days later it was all dried up, and I scanned it. I had some ideas of using water color, like when you use water colors in dry points but the paper material for the block print was thinner than the paper used for dry point, so I didn't take that idea. However, some experimentation I performed that I had in my project was that since I had a few white spots, I covered them up with some ink from the tray. However, before I used ink, I used sharpie to experiment. When I applied sharpie, I was really reluctant to keep using it, since the ink of the sharpie and ink I used was not the same color or had the same ingredients. In the end, I decided to cover everything with the same ink I used to create the block print. The last product had a little of black residue that was dry but stood out from the rest due to the sharpie and extra ink applied to cover up all the white areas. My development of skills was that I learned to be quick when printing, because after eight times of printing, I learned that ink can sometimes dry quickly. Another development of skills was that I used a different type of tool that can apply pressure when trying to print it onto the paper; I used a dry roller which I learned can be more sufficient than the others. a technique I learned was that always have a lot of paper in hand, in case ink decides to spread around, so this would help clean easier. My reflection is that 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 on one of the fingers. Also, I made eight prints and the final one I chose was the best. In all honesty, I think this is the best block print I have made, not only because it is good but because there is so much meaning to it. In addition to this section, the critique went well due to having my piece done and website almost done too. The work of others were very well done, very efficient and well created. However, some did not finish. The evaluations between my peers was that I did a good job, but my printing can have more practice.
Critique
The difference between my process and my artist inspiration, Käthe Kollwitz is to a very high extent. I believe my process was a lot more different that hers because obviously, she was a professional artist whereas I am a student artist. However, we both have worked with block prints and ink so it was not very different. I believe she found her own inspiration from real life situations back in her time, where there were many troubles concerning the workers and the war time, whereas I do block prints that are more personal. She did art less than eighty years ago, so it was a very different process and material usage.
Experimentation
Some experimentation I had in my project was that since I had a few white spots, I covered them up with some ink from the tray. However, before I used ink, I used sharpie to experiment. When I applied sharpie, I was really reluctant to keep using it, since the ink of the sharpie and ink I used was not the same color or had the same ingredients. In the end, I decided to cover everything with the same ink I used to create the block print. The last product had a little of black residue that was dry but stood out from the rest due to the sharpie and extra ink applied to cover up all the white areas.
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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 on one of the fingers. Also, I made eight prints and the final one I chose was the best. In all honesty, I think this is the best block print I have made, not only because it is good but because there is so much meaning to it. My brother who is a blessing to me and my family has always asked me to do a block print of him and now I did. Now that I did, I feel accomplished and proud of my work.
Connecting to the ACT
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 german expressionism and Dana as you can see in my artistic inspiration section had a lot of effect in my project due to its meaning and representation. I believe that this project will have an effect on me because it defines the significance of newborns.
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 the innocence and purity of newborns.
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 there are not many artists on newborns, and the ones that do focus on babies are rare.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was newborns and purity.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I believe that newborns are filled with innocence and are loved by all people since the beginning of their birth. Babies are more than just eating, pooping and crying, they are hope and innocence; it is something you only see on newborns nowadays and people should appreciate that more.
Biography
https://www.portraitsbydana.com
https://www.moma.org/s/ge/curated_ge/
http://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=326833&p=2194181
https://www.moma.org/artists/3201
My inspiration, which was german expressionism and Dana as you can see in my artistic inspiration section had a lot of effect in my project due to its meaning and representation. I believe that this project will have an effect on me because it defines the significance of newborns.
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 the innocence and purity of newborns.
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 there are not many artists on newborns, and the ones that do focus on babies are rare.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was newborns and purity.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I believe that newborns are filled with innocence and are loved by all people since the beginning of their birth. Babies are more than just eating, pooping and crying, they are hope and innocence; it is something you only see on newborns nowadays and people should appreciate that more.
Biography
https://www.portraitsbydana.com
https://www.moma.org/s/ge/curated_ge/
http://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=326833&p=2194181
https://www.moma.org/artists/3201