Artwork; Block Print
Title: Disconnected
Size: 23 x 15 cm
Medium: Block Print paint
Completion: October 2017
Exhibition Text:
Disconnected is a block print that was inspired by the German Expressionist movement and the theme of self image. It portrays how many of us try to be accepted by the standards that have been made by society. I got inspired to create a piece that was able to reflect with everyone because everyone at one point tried to fit in. Some of the artist that inspired me to create this piece was Käthe Kollwitz and Karl Schmidt- Rottluff.
Size: 23 x 15 cm
Medium: Block Print paint
Completion: October 2017
Exhibition Text:
Disconnected is a block print that was inspired by the German Expressionist movement and the theme of self image. It portrays how many of us try to be accepted by the standards that have been made by society. I got inspired to create a piece that was able to reflect with everyone because everyone at one point tried to fit in. Some of the artist that inspired me to create this piece was Käthe Kollwitz and Karl Schmidt- Rottluff.
Artist Inspiration
One of my main inspirations would have to be Käthe Kollwitz this was because we had learned about her last year so I had prior knowledge in her work so I decided to choose her as my main inspiration. She was also one of my main inspirations because most of her artwork delivers that emotion aspect of art. I really wanted to incorporate something similar in where I deliver almost like a touching to the viewer's eye. Another artist that had inspired me was Karl Schmidt-Rottluff particularly the Head of a Woman that was a big inspiration because it portrays a woman in the front and that really had me thinking as to what I wanted to do and because the theme that I had chosen was self image I decided to also portray a woman in my block print. So I decided to also incorporate The Widow by Kathe Kollwitz and I wanted to portray that feeling you get when you see her german expressionism I mostly wanted the people to react similarly to my block print as to when you see her german expressionism. I chose these two particular artist pieces because they both correlated to my piece that I had in mind.
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Planning
Once we got introduced to the project I was really nervous in the fact that how was I going to come up with a theme and relate it to all my other art works. So I decided to research a couple of themes and one that I felt would be a great theme was self image. Once I had decided that my theme was going to be self image I decided to look at some of the kathe kollwitz german expressionism pieces. One of the pieces that always impacted me with a rollercoaster of emotions was The Widow. I had my inspiration but not quite what I wanted to do so I kept looking and another german expressionism that had inspired me was Head of a Woman by Karl Schmidt- Rottluff. After viewing that piece of art I had in mind of what I wanted to do it was a woman crying while applying makeup.
On my First sketch I decided to do start of with a crying woman and half of her face with makeup and the other half of her face is bare. On the side with make up she would be crying and would also be frowning. On the other side of the sketch she is bare face and she is smiling. I saw this sketch and was happy with the outcome but I decided to create more sketches to see where this sketch would go to.
On my First sketch I decided to do start of with a crying woman and half of her face with makeup and the other half of her face is bare. On the side with make up she would be crying and would also be frowning. On the other side of the sketch she is bare face and she is smiling. I saw this sketch and was happy with the outcome but I decided to create more sketches to see where this sketch would go to.
On my second piece I was going to disregard the whole idea of the woman crying and was going to do a hand with a beauty blender. Which a beauty blender is basically a sponge that is used to apply makeup. I was also going to go with this idea because it was simple and it also delivered the idea I had about self image.
On my third sketch I was a little frustrated I was not able to get the sketch that I wanted as far as to represent what it was that I wanted to do. So I decided to combine my first two sketches so that way I can incorporate both of the ideas I had and this made my sketch far better than I had expected.
Process
First I began with tracing my drawing onto the block print plate, then I started to carve out my drawing. Do to the fact that my drawing contained hair it was a bit tougher to draw stands of hair so I decided to carve out the shadows the hair had. This way the hair itself would not have looked so plain. For my carving process I did use a variety of tool sizes it went from the biggest size for the face portion to the a small edge carving tool for the shadow of the hair. Once I was done with all my carving I placed block print ink to the metal tray, I had spread the ink evenly so one side would not have been heavier than the other. on the first try of the inking my print I had realized that I had added way to much ink. So I washed out my print plate and then I repeated the process except this time I had I added very little ink to the tray and it came out patchy. I was going for a little patchy but only the background not the face portion. I had made about 6 prints in total until I reached my desired look.
Some of the new skills that I had acquire were the ability to carve in a block print plate. This is a new skill for me because I have never done something like this. Another thing was being able to handle the tools, at first it was kinda hard to be able to handle the tools because I had to work carving away from me. This was some what of a challenge because it is something that I am not used to and once and a while I kept carving towards me. The inking process was the easy/hardest part this is because even though it is easy to put ink on the plate and them stamp it on the paper but when I was pushing in the print it moved a bit and now I had a two reflector on my print. I t took me a couple of times to actually get the hang of printing the block print on to a paper.
Some of the new skills that I had acquire were the ability to carve in a block print plate. This is a new skill for me because I have never done something like this. Another thing was being able to handle the tools, at first it was kinda hard to be able to handle the tools because I had to work carving away from me. This was some what of a challenge because it is something that I am not used to and once and a while I kept carving towards me. The inking process was the easy/hardest part this is because even though it is easy to put ink on the plate and them stamp it on the paper but when I was pushing in the print it moved a bit and now I had a two reflector on my print. I t took me a couple of times to actually get the hang of printing the block print on to a paper.
Experimentation
For my experimentation since I had my desired print ready I decided I wanted to experiment a little and I did this in a couple of ways. The first way was to double print it, I wanted to see what would happen if I were to double print it and it gave out a like a double image it looked great but it wasn't for the image I was going for. I repeated this twice and they both came out very good. The next experimentation I used was with color ink now I was a bit skeptical because I thought that if I had done it with color ink it was not going to come out looking nice but instead very patchi. I was wrong it came out even better than my original print the only difference was that my original piece.
Reflection
My block print was inspired by Kathe Kollwitz but not only that it was also inspired about the raw emotion she delivers in The Widow. I wanted to deliver more of an emotional aspect so I decided to create a piece with a message that most people can relate to. Yet at the same time I needed to connect to my theme of self image and it was pretty easy because everyone tries to fit in with the crowd. Once I can up with what I was going to do The process was really simple and a great experience to try out new things. Some of the things that I struggled a bit was keeping the lines crispy and clean, also I had problem with the carving although it wasn't the biggest problem it was still an issue. Some of my strengths were the fact that I was able to get my to look like my sketch this may sound silly but I was feeling nervous because I had some details and the block point is carving large areas of the board but I was able to finish my piece. Something I would improve in is the inking part this is because for most part it was either to heavy in ink or too little and this was the problem I was looking for a specific look which I did get but the outlines were not as crisp as I would like them.
Critic / Compare and Contrast
Critic
When doing my block print something that I had notice was that I could have been cleaner with the edges of my print. Also something that I noticed was that I didn't carve that deep and you are able to see some of the places that I did not carve to deep in where the ink got through.
Compare and Contrast
In the Head of Woman it is obviously that both Karl Schmidt- Rottluff and I used the head of a woman as part of our piece. In The Widow it is also noticeable that both Kathe Kollwitz and I used emotion to deliver our message. In the head of woman was more of an abstract look to it as for me I had more of a anime girl. In the Widow you can see that she uses the grief of an after a husbands deaths as where I use the emotion of society standers and the feeling with it.
When doing my block print something that I had notice was that I could have been cleaner with the edges of my print. Also something that I noticed was that I didn't carve that deep and you are able to see some of the places that I did not carve to deep in where the ink got through.
Compare and Contrast
In the Head of Woman it is obviously that both Karl Schmidt- Rottluff and I used the head of a woman as part of our piece. In The Widow it is also noticeable that both Kathe Kollwitz and I used emotion to deliver our message. In the head of woman was more of an abstract look to it as for me I had more of a anime girl. In the Widow you can see that she uses the grief of an after a husbands deaths as where I use the emotion of society standers and the feeling with it.
Connection to the ACT
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Due to the fact that I used as my inspiration Kathe Kollwitz I was able to deliver that emotional aspect in my piece. Another of my inspirations was Karl Schmidt-Rottluff I was able to use his piece as an inspiration as to what I wanted to do which was a woman to portray social norms.
2. What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
My overall approach with my block print was to be able to connect with the people who are viewing my work. To relate to the fact that the social norms that we have set for ourselves do affect us.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
With the research that I made I have found out that with German Expressionism ita all about showing emotion to be able to use your work to create almost like a reaction from the person.
4. What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
My central idea or theme would be self image, because self image is a vague theme I like to stretch it out a bit and with that being said I perceived this piece as almost like a thing that people go through to fit in the social norms.
5. What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
One of the inferences was that most of the time Kathe's work showed a poverty theme. It also showed the surrow one feels and for most part you can because you see her art work and you can almost feel that sorrow.
Bibliography:
1. Käthe Kollwitz. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.artsy.net/artist/kathe-kollwitz
2. The Widow
Kollwitz, K. (n.d.). Käthe Kollwitz. The Widow I (Die Witwe I) (plate 4) from War (Krieg). (1921-22, published 1923) | MoMA. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/69685
3. Head of woman
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff | Head of a Woman (1915) | Artsy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.artsy.net/artwork/karl-schmidt-rottluff-head-of-a-woman
1. Käthe Kollwitz. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.artsy.net/artist/kathe-kollwitz
2. The Widow
Kollwitz, K. (n.d.). Käthe Kollwitz. The Widow I (Die Witwe I) (plate 4) from War (Krieg). (1921-22, published 1923) | MoMA. Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/69685
3. Head of woman
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff | Head of a Woman (1915) | Artsy. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2017, from https://www.artsy.net/artwork/karl-schmidt-rottluff-head-of-a-woman