Title: Adulting Hardships
Now the answer you have been glancing over to figure out. No, this isn’t real money. I got this money from dollar tree; however, it looks real and does what I wanted it to do.
I wanted to depict a scene that represents the struggle that every single person that is an adult and doing the act of adulting can relate to this image. I also wanted people to stop and think “No! What in the world are you doing burning money”. The instant realization of money being burned and that you can clearly see the faces of the five, ten and fifty dollar bill brings instant shock and disbelief.
As we become adults and throughout our entire lives we worry about money and what bills we need to pay. How much did we get paid? What expenses do we need to pay for? Rent, mortgage, car insurance, life insurance, utilities, car problems, groceries, and the list goes on. This is all before we can figure out how much money we actually have to either spend or save for the next catastrophe in the horizon. The simple fact is that we earn this money and before we can relax, something else burns a hole into our pockets and the money that we think we have, quickly gets blown into the wind.
As we meander through life we ask ourselves, do I need this? Would it be okay to let something lapse for a month? How can I save money? Part of the ongoing struggle to be an adult is learning how to make difficult decisions in order to survive and fight another day.
Title: Walt Disney
Media: Yarn, Wool and playing cards
This piece is a biography of Walt Disney using a weave fiber art technique. This piece took 80+ hours to complete but I would have to say it is one of my favorite art pieces. The ideology behind this is that each section represents Walt Disney’s life chronologically. Starting from the bottom you have a music note and the red cross flag. He was born in 1901 and when he became a young adult, the first World War began and he wanted to join the army but because he was too young, he was not allowed to; alternatively, he was allowed to volunteer in the Red Cross providing help where he could. The music note is that classical music and music in general represented him as we can see later on with Disney musicals and Fantasia.
The second section is his career. Everyone recolonizes the loveable Mickey Mouse character but did you know that it wasn’t his first cartoon character. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was his first character which was received really well; however, Disney soon realized that he didn’t own the rights to Oswald but Universal did. So Walt Disney decided to create a similar character Mickey and thus was when his career really took off.
The final segment is close to his end of life. At this point, Walt Disney was already established and have created Disneyland in 1955. In addition, he started making full length animated films the first one being Snow White in 1937. The playing cards on top are a representation of Alice In Wonderland in 1951. If you notice that all the cards are from the Hearts suit and the longest one leading the charge is the Queen of Hearts. This followed by the decent of cards on both sides.
Title: Jamming Out
Material: yarn, music sheets, records, cassettes, earphones, headphones, handheld radio, bell and music stand
This was a project in my fiber arts class. The project was to create an abstract concept that we do everyday using crochet. So I chose to expand on the concept of listening to music. The concept of listening to music turned into reading music, playing music and creating music. When I stated this project I knew what my basic material would be but I didn’t see how it was going to go together just yet. I went to different thrift shops looking for anything that related to music and found most items. However, what really made the idea complete is when I found the music stand on Facebook marketplace and I immediately knew how to make this concept work.
Title: Camera and Tripod
Material: Wool and clothes hangers
This project is mostly made up entirely by wool. The Camera is 100% wool and the tripod is made up of wool but the legs I used clothes hangers to make it more sturdy and stand on its own.
This project literally was made up with my blood, sweat and tears creating this. I used the Felting technique in Fiber Arts and its fascinating to see how wool can transform from being soft to rigid. However, the many many times I pricked myself with the needle makes me want to never do something like this again.
Title: The Dark Tower
Metal: Copper
This is a bookmark that I made in my metal and jewelry class. It is based on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. In the series, the dark tower is in the center of the universe, which the main characters take a journey to get to the tower. The rose is what guides the characters to the tower, representing the balance in the universe. The tower is also surrounded by these roses which Stephen King both describes and has an art illustration in the book to help visualize it.
Title: Sköll and Hati
Metal: Silver, Brass and Copper
These are earrings. They are functional earrings; however, they are a bit painful due to my design flaw.
These two wolves are my interpretation of the Norse Mythology. Sköll and Hati, the two wolves, chase Sol and Mani, Sun and Moon, around the world until Ragnarok when they catch and devour them.
These may not be my prettiest pieces. I do not claim to be a metalsmith. However, I do like how they turned out and I enjoyed the process of creating them.
Title: Photography Studio
Metal: Copper and silver
This is a functional pin that you can put on a shirt, a bit heavy but you are able to wear it. I wanted to do something that screamed photography and what I came up with was a photography studio. The umbrellas on both sides move slightly, like you are adjusting the lights in a studio. There is a soldered metal widget where the viewfinder is located; as well as, the copper plate underneath to give the impression of the led screen being displayed.
Title: Wolf Vase
Material: Clay
Technique: Coil Method
The project was for us to make a vase using the coil method. I will fully admit this is not the most graceful looking piece I have done but it was pretty fun creating it. This project was to get us used to the coil method. I experimented a little bit with this project. How wide and/or narrow I can create the shape. I made a cool pattern leading to the top of the vase and I carved a wolf into each side of the vase. My professor made a comment which I feel like accurately describes my work. She said: “It gives me a gypsy vibe”, when she told me that, I was like I can totally see how it gives off that feeling and honestly was pretty happy about that comment.
Title: Werewolf Transformation
Material: Clay
This piece is a self portrait of myself. Half of it is a human face while the other half is a wolf face. I have always been fascinated by werewolves and for years I have wanted to do a mid transformation piece but couldn’t figure out what medium or how to accomplish this task. The opportunity to do this project like this landed straight into my lap. In my ceramics class we had to create a piece that had some form of human element to it. I ran this idea by the professor and she liked the idea.
I started building it up using the coil method and it was fun but a little tricky since I was doing half of one face and half the other. Looking at each side by itself to make sure it looks like the creature I was intending it to be.
Title: Unseen Beauty
Media: Collage of photographs
This project is called Take a Stand. With this project we had to create a statement that the image says something that motivates the viewer to do something.
The concept I chose was cell phone distraction and seclusion. As you can see there is a row of people in their own world, lost in the cyber universe except for one person. That one person is staring directly at the viewer, inviting them to join her as she enjoys life and the nature around her. To further push that statement I have the four seasons in the background, filled with some amazing beautiful imagery that you can only see if you take a second, look up and enjoy life. It also shows the passage of time between the butterflies and snowflakes giving more of an urgency that time is fleeting .
Title: Wolfman
Media: Collage of photographs
With this image I was wanting to take a more horror movie vibe. I used the quote from the original 1941 The Wolfman movie. I made it look like there was blood being shed in every direction and that the beast was scratching everything in sight. I also took an image of myself and an image from the 2010 wolfman movie placed them beside each other and sewed them together
I think this turned out really well and I also printed it on a fiber paper which gave it a little bit more texture
Title: Taking The Shot
Media: Printmaking
Technique: Linocut
The linocut technique is carving an image from a linoleum block and whatever is sticking out gets covered in ink and pressed on a sheet of paper to be printed.
With this project I wanted to do a James Bond theme but with photography. On the left is a photographer lining up the shot about to take the picture. The top right is the iconic gun barrel scene in every James Bond films and then the bottom right is one of the titles of the James Bond films. However, in this instance avoiding being shot by shooting someone else.
Title: Race Against the Ages
Media: Printmaking
Technique: Etching
With this technique, you take a copper plate and cover the copper plate with a thin image and have it soak in acid so that it eats the copper surrounding the image.
The text I typed in photoshop and printed it on the transfer paper so it can get soaked in the acid. The two images below are my photographs that I have taken. The one on the left is a train and the one on the right is a horse. My take on this was essentially a race between old world travel: horse, and new world travel: train. I further make it more like a battle because having the train facing the horse and vice versa.