Block Print |
Exhibition Text |
Title: Blurred Vision Size: 22.86in x 15.24in Medium: Block Print Date: 01/22/19 |
"Blurred Vision," the the title of my piece, is inspired and influenced by "The widow I," a block print by kathe Kollwitz and "The Scream", an Oil, tempera, and pastel on cardboard by Edvard Munch. These two art works really contributed to creating my piece as they influenced the background and figure in my piece. The figure and background in my work hold meaning as the figure represents hard thought and confusion. The background represents a blurry vision on how I see my future, I see it not clearly.
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Inspirations
The widow I by kathe Kollwitz (1921)
Kollwitz, Käthe. “Käthe Kollwitz. The Widow I (Die Witwe I) from War (Krieg). 1921–22, Published 1923 | MoMA.” Lee Bontecou. Untitled. 1959 | MoMA, www.moma.org/collection/works/69685. The Scream by Edvard Munch (1893)
“The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch.” The Scream, 1893 by Edvard Munch, www.edvardmunch.org/the-scream.jsp. |
When creating my artwork there where two inspirations that influenced the development of my work. The first inspiration that I looked into was kathe Kollwitz and her piece "The widow I." The second inspiration that I then looked into was Edvard Munch and her piece "The Scream." Kathe Kollwitz and her piece "The Widow I" Inspired and influenced my work due to all the meaning the image holds, being a simplistic image were not a lot is going on besides a figure placed in a sad position. Looking at "The Widow I" may look simplistic but is not, there is a lot of meaning to it. I wanted to a similar style were my image may look simplistic but holds a lot of meaning. Also "The Widow I" is a block print, which also is my piece. "The Widow I" is a good inspiration and example of what a good block print would look like. The figure on "The Widow I" has also influenced my figure in my piece by holding a lot of meaning. "The Scream" by Edvard Munch is my second inspiration that influenced my piece. The main thing that I took from "The Scream" was firstly how Edvard Munch uses such wavy organic lines to represent the meaning it holds. I did something similar to my piece but instead of using organic lines incorporated circles put in strategic places to illuminate the sense of a blurry vision, in which you would see blurry circles. These blurry circles represent how I see my future. "The Scream" really helped me influence a strong meaning in my background. Over all both of my inspirations have influenced me through having a strong meaning in the figures,how they are positioned and the expressions they hold. Also how one uses organic lines to emphasize a meaningful background. |
Planning Sketches
Here are three of the planning sketches that I made to get an idea on how I wanted to go about creating my artwork. All of the sketches hold the same theme I was heading for, just showing it in similar but different ways. When creating the sketches I was looking for meaning in the figures but also in the background, which is why these drawings have a strong and abundance of shapes in the background.
In this image there is an image crouching with this hands by his chin and a bunch of circles in the background. The crouching figure represents thoughtful and confusion. The circles in the back are not just random circles but circles put in strategic places to illuminate the sense of a blurry vision. These blurry circles represent how I see my future,which is in a blurry way.
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In the second image there is a figure looking away to show confusion and a strong sense of thought. The background similar to my inspiration, "The Scream," it depicts wavy and organic lines to show and emphasize the sense of loss and confusion within me. Both the figure and background work together to depict how my thoughts are.
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In the last sketch there is an image of a figure with his head on his head with a sense of confusion and a lot of thought. For this last and final sketch I wanted to incorporate both of the sketches before this one as I really liked both of the other two sketches. Similar to both other sketches the background symbolizes a sense of how I see my future, in a blur as I cant depict my future because I don't know what to expect.
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Process of Carving Image
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The very first step in creating my block print is 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 drawing my 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 and had safety gloves so I don't injure my self. After prepping everything I could finally start carving. I started carving the figure first from top to bottom. After completely carving the figure I then moved on to the circles. The circles were a little challenging to carve but I found out that going in a curricular motion when carving them was very efficient. Lastly after carving the whole linoleum block, I then went over anything that could need a little more carving. |
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, gloves, metal rectangular plate, a baren, brayer and water 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. The second step 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 water 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 3 times until I have a good print. , . |
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Critique
In my art work there were many similarities and differences towards my two inspirations, The widow I by kathe Kollwitz and The Scream by Edvard Munch. A similarity between The widow I by kathe Kollwitz and my piece were that both pieces show meaning through a figure and that figure is simple but packed with meaning. Also another similarity is that both of the art works are represented in a more of a negative way as The widow I by kathe Kollwitz shows the tragic of world war 1 and my piece shows a lost and confused, sort of suck person. A difference between The widow I by kathe Kollwitz and my piece is that The widow I is only one figure in which holds meaning as in my holds meaning in the figure and background. Moving on to a similarity between The scream by Edvard Munch and my piece would be that both express meaning through the figure and also hold meaning in the background. A difference would be that The Scream by Edvard Munch expresses a stronger meaning and background story then mine due to the color, as in my piece doesn't have a variety of color.
Here we can see a drastic differences as The Scream by Edvard Munch expresses a stronger background story due to having a variety of color.
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Here we can see that both pieces are very similar despite just being block prints. They have simple figures that hold strong meaning.
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Experimentation
For my experiments I first experimented with different poses, in were I could find the best pose to represent and express the theme of my piece. Secondly after picking the pose and then creating the block print, I experimented with the amount of ink I added to my prints to see which would look as I have pictured it, clean and looking pleasing.
Here are my experimentation's that I did when I started to print out my image on to the water paper. The one on the left I experimented with adding more ink as suppose to less. I did not turn out looking how I wanted it to look so I did it again but this time with less ink. The image on the right is the print when I added less ink to it. I looks faded, not how I wanted it.
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Here are the very first experiments that I did before even thinking on how i'm going to print. I experimented with different poses to try to find the best pose that fits well with my theme. The one on the left is me looking away to show a sense of looking off in the distance, thinking, what awaits? The middle pose shows a more me think very deep and a sense of lost. The one on the far right shows confusion and a sense of thought.
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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 new tools and how to use them such as the 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. I did learn 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.
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 two different artist with different art medians, the first one being The Widow I a block print created by Kathe Kollwitz and the second one being a tempera and pastels on cardboard medium, The scream by Edvard Munch. Both works inspired my piece by inspiring meaning through simple figures and The scream by Edvard Munch inspiring me to create a background that holds meaning like in his work.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The over all approach the author has regarding The Widow I, was to show and express meaning of the tragedies of wold war 1 through the sad and sorrow image. The over all approach the author has regarding The Scream, was to show emotion of how he feels due to a situation that has occurred to him. He shows this through the sad image and wavy background.
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 two inspirations would be that for both inspirations, the figures in the works had a strong meaning behind them. Also for The scream had strong meaning in the background in which it inspired me to do the same, create a meaningful background in my piece.
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 strong meaning through simple figures.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
An inference that I made while reading my research was that The scream by Edvard Munch and Widow I a block by Kathe Kollwitz was that both pieces expressed tragedies through simple but yet heavy packed meaning within.
I was inspired by two different artist with different art medians, the first one being The Widow I a block print created by Kathe Kollwitz and the second one being a tempera and pastels on cardboard medium, The scream by Edvard Munch. Both works inspired my piece by inspiring meaning through simple figures and The scream by Edvard Munch inspiring me to create a background that holds meaning like in his work.
2)What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The over all approach the author has regarding The Widow I, was to show and express meaning of the tragedies of wold war 1 through the sad and sorrow image. The over all approach the author has regarding The Scream, was to show emotion of how he feels due to a situation that has occurred to him. He shows this through the sad image and wavy background.
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 two inspirations would be that for both inspirations, the figures in the works had a strong meaning behind them. Also for The scream had strong meaning in the background in which it inspired me to do the same, create a meaningful background in my piece.
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 strong meaning through simple figures.
5)What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
An inference that I made while reading my research was that The scream by Edvard Munch and Widow I a block by Kathe Kollwitz was that both pieces expressed tragedies through simple but yet heavy packed meaning within.