Block Print |
Exhibition Text |
Title: Neighborhood
Size: 12in x 9in Medium: Block Print Date: 9/1/19 |
Neighborhood the title of my piece was influenced by three German expressionism prints. "O Moon Above So Clear!," 1912 by Ludwig Meidner, second being, "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," 1917 by Kirchner and the third one being, "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller. My piece is a landscape of my neighborhood I've lived in for most of my life and I represent it with the influence of my inspirations, which they influence the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale within my piece.
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Inspirations
O Moon Above So Clear! 1912 by Ludwig Meidner
O Moon Above So Clear!1912“Ludwig Meidner. O Moon Above So Clear! (1912).” MoMA.org, https://www.moma.org/s/ge/collection_ge/object/object_objid-34554.html. Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn, 1917 by Kirchner
linseyodom, Posted by. “Introduction to Studio Topics.” Studio Topics, 24 Nov. 2014, https://linseyodom.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/introduction-to-studio-topics/. Zeichner vor Dresden ,1930 by Felixmuller Conrad
Felixmüller, Conrad. “Zeichner Vor Dresden by ConradFelixmüller.” Zeichner Vor Dresden by Conrad Felixmüller on Artnet, Bonhams New York, 1 Jan. 1970, http://www.artnet.com/artists/conrad-felixmüller/zeichner-vor-dresden-JrsXhPDSdi9N4vPXDf-d6A2.Zeichner vor Dresden , 1930 |
There were three inspirations that influenced my work, all are German expressionism work. The first inspiration being, "O Moon Above So Clear!," 1912 by Ludwig Meidner, second being, "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," 1917 by Kirchner and the third one being, "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller Conrad. Formal elements from these inspirations that influenced my piece were mainly line, balance, shape, form and scale. "O Moon Above So Clear!," 1912 by Ludwig Meidner the first inspirtion to influence my work. It influenced meaning and formal elements. Ludwig Meidner with his piece "O Moon Above So Clear!," he highlights the city in which he grew up in, this influenced me to do something similar and highlight my own neighborhood were I grew up in most of my life. The formal elements of line and scale mainly impacted my piece were, "O Moon Above So Clear!," clearly shows, within the background figures of buildings and the figure closer up. "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," 1917 by Kirchner being my second influence. "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," 1917 by Kirchner depicts a landscape in Tinzenhorn. This piece influenced my piece with the formal elements of line, balance, form and shape. Thin and some thick line influenced my piece, while the balance, form and shape within "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," emphasized the structure and detail of my artwork. My last inspiration, "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller, were it is a print of a city. What I took from this artwork was the formal elements of the thin form, organic shape with flowing and simple line and also followed by balance within the whole piece. I kept balance within the white and dark spaces in my piece. Similar to,"Zeichner vor Dresden," I used flowing and simple line and shape, but still keeping detail with in the images I created with line. |
Planning Sketches/Experimentation
For experimentation I experimented with different amounts of ink I added to my bored and then printed. An example of this would be all of the prints shown above. On the left side are prints were I added more ink to them which caused less detail to show because on the amount of ink I added, it covered spots it shouldn't of. However on the right side are prints were I used less ink. The use of less ink caused the dark spots that were supposed to be dark to appear not dark.
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Here is the planning sketch I used as a guide to guide me in creating my piece. Not all of the figure within the image were added to the final, like the cars or the facial features. This sketch when printed was opposite to the sketch which I did on purpose in order to have the accurate image of my neighborhood.
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Process of Carving Image
The very first step in creating my block print was to first carve out my image. I did this by first picking the image I was going to use and then drawing it onto the linoleum block. After complete some of the image onto the linoleum block I then was able to start carving. The carving tool I use was a speedball carving tool, with large, medium, and small blades for me to carve with. For this process I drew a little and then carved.I did this because my image had little small details in it which just worked better if I drew a little then carved. The images of the houses in the background had small detail so I had to use the small blades of the speedball and I had to be careful not to pass or mess up the little lines I had to make so the background would have that detail. After finishing up the details on the houses I moved on to creating the clouds. The clouds would mostly be black when printed with some white marks. When creating the clouds I had to remove a lot from the bored, which left a lot of open space which would come out as white. This separated the clouds from the houses which it came out looking good. I finished up with completing and carving out the right side of the bored. It was mainly adding small details to. When I was done I was ready to move on to the printing phase. |
Process for Printing Image
After carving my image onto the linoleum block, I was then ready to start the printing phase.
The first thing I did was prep everything I was going to use, which included: a mixing tool such as a spoon, metal rectangular plate, a baren, brayer and paper, and lastly the speedball water soluble block printing ink. After prepping everything the first step was mix the ink up to get it nice and ready for printing. Next was to set the metal plate and spread a line of ink on to it with the spoon. After spreading the ink I then used the brayer to roll out the the ink all around, but I rolled it in a certain pattern to have the same texture all around. I then placed my linoleum block on a large piece of paper and the used the brayer to roll on the ink all around the places that were not carved out. After that I then placed the paper onto the linoleum block with my image and then used the baren to put pressure all around so that all the ink would go on to the paper and have a good print. After that I removed the paper from the linoleum block and I had a block print. I did this many times until I had a good print. |
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Critique
There are many similarities and some differences between my piece and "O Moon Above So Clear!," 1912 by Ludwig Meidner. A similarity between both artworks would be the use of line and shape. Both use simple line and shape to portray a landscape of there own. Ludwig Meidner in "O Moon Above So Clear!," he depicts his city were he grew up, similar to me, my piece represents my neighborhood where I live for many years. A difference between my Piece and "O Moon Above So Clear!," would be space. My piece has less open space then "O Moon Above So Clear!." I took away less negative space while Ludwig look away more space.
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There are similarities and differences between my piece and "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," 1917 by Kirchner. A similarity between both artworks would be the use of the formal elements of balance, line, and form. My contains balance with in the background just like in "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," were it has balance within line and form. A difference between both art works would be meaning, mine holds meaning to me with "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," is a landscape of a city in Tinzenhorn.
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There are similarities and differences between my piece and "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller. A similarity between both works would be the use of free flowing line and shape. Mine holds free organic line and shape as "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller hold as well. A difference would be the positioning of figures giving different meaning. "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller is a depiction of him drawing or writing something on paper looking at a city. My piece holds meaning of me expressing my neighborhood were I lived in for almost my whole life.
Reflection
Creating my block print piece was very fun, and I learned many new skills and techniques, when sketching, planing and then printing my block print. I learned to better my skills on using the tools: baren, speedball and brayer. I also learned how to create good prints by learning how much ink to add when creating my prints. Caving my image was also a new experience as I never carved anything before with a bigger platform with my image having more little detail to be done. I also learned form my failures and grew to correcting them and making them successes. For example when adding ink, the first time I added to much and then to little, but at the end I finished out with a great print. Overall I say I really enjoyed creating a block print, messing around and learning new things and also bettering my skills with the already known knowledge.
ACT Responses
1)Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
I was inspired by three different works within the same art movement of German expressionism. "O Moon Above So Clear!," 1912 by Ludwig Meidner, second being, "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," 1917 by Kirchner and the third one being, "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller Conrad. For the most part all works inspired my piece in meaning through simple figures and landscapes of city's. They also inspired the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The over all approach the author has regarding the topic of all of my inspirations would be giving meaning to simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A generalization that I've discovered while researching my inspirations would be giving meaning to simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
A central idea or theme around my inspirations research was really the idea of expressing or giving meaning to simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
An inference that I made while reading my research was the idea of expressing simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
I was inspired by three different works within the same art movement of German expressionism. "O Moon Above So Clear!," 1912 by Ludwig Meidner, second being, "Stafelalp mit Tinzenhorn," 1917 by Kirchner and the third one being, "Zeichner vor Dresden," 1930 by Felixmuller Conrad. For the most part all works inspired my piece in meaning through simple figures and landscapes of city's. They also inspired the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The over all approach the author has regarding the topic of all of my inspirations would be giving meaning to simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
3)What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
A generalization that I've discovered while researching my inspirations would be giving meaning to simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
4)What was the central idea or theme around your inspiration research?
A central idea or theme around my inspirations research was really the idea of expressing or giving meaning to simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
An inference that I made while reading my research was the idea of expressing simple figures and landscapes of city's through the formal elements of line, balance, shape, form and scale.