Express Yourself!

SELF PORTRAIT COLLAGES

BEGINNING 2-D ART

paper collage & misc. embellishments

I use this assignment for the 1st Quarter Final so that my students can put together all the 

Elements and Principles of Art within a Self Portrait Subject Matter.

They have so many hoops (requirements) to jump thru as they build these pieces,

so that a lot of critical thinking is involved.

The finished pieces are truly remarkable as you will see for a beginning art student.

When Oceans Rise by junior Hapshiba Kwon, 

is a great example of how wonderful these pieces turn out.

Check out the person she created and baked from polymer clay,

the build up of tissue layers, 

the strategically places beads.

And can you find the bit of text she was required to insert?

And how it all follows together for a unified piece?

We will see a lot from Hapshiba this year.

She is a natural who loves to create. 

Junior Katherine Ku has made this powerful piece and statement with

  Love in the Middle of a Firefight.

She has chosen a monochromatic color scheme which really makes the work pop.

Again,

 check out the layers of paper collage which gives the piece a bas-relief effect 

(another requirement)

One of my personal favorites,

Stitched Back Up,

was done by senior Melissa Lanto.

She has included all my favorite fibery things.

But Melissa, 

I believe,

 is using them as a metaphor for a deeper more personal message.

Junior Kyla Balquin spent countless hours building Under the Surface.

She totally gets across her message that she's drowning under all her responsibilities,

but that there is hope.

I feel this is a great assignment for the kids to express themselves.

Scatterbrained by junior Hazel Cruz is so visually pleasing to me.

Love the use of the two color schemes side by side 

(warm and neutral),

and that she felt comfortable enough to draw in her margins with pen & ink,

which adds a bit of quirkiness.

Here we have 8th grader Olivia Krueger with The Breaking of  Facade.

For one so young she is sending out a strong visual message 

through a gorgeous color scheme,

 text and embellishments.

Another 8th grader in the class,

Sara Ryave,

in Descent into Insanity,

is really showing us the inner struggles of our youth today.

Again,

a powerful way for these sweet young ones to express themselves.

The message in Sideshow Attraction by Lily To really broke my heart.

All I can say is "Wow!"

And that she has created a lovely,

yet sad and painful,

  glimpse in to her world.

Senior Cyrus Salvani in Lost in Translation,

 has created so many beautiful layers for us to enjoy through his piece.

Love his neutral color scheme,

the masks that float around the focal point,

and then how he rubbed charcoal around his margin for a striking effect.

Talk about a work that pops and grabs you!

In Risking It All by 8th grader Rochelle Serrano,

we feel her descent into the abyss,

but then look at how she's fabricated the beautiful lifeline thru feathers and twig.

These kids are really brilliant at such a young with their brutal honesty.

One of my new favorites 

(yes I know, no favorites)

 junior Bernice Lim,

gives us a fun lighthearted and yet

 dark and charred glimpse into her inner struggle in 

Look Into Who I Am.

I adore that she built her distinctive red eyeglasses

 and incorporated them into her work.

So the second you view this piece you know it belongs to Bernice.

And lastly we have senior Karisma Dev.

I asked the students to give me bas-relief.

Well Karisma delivered in Before All Else.

Love how she has designed a book-like structure with pages.

And on the last page a pix of she and her little sis.

What a beautiful Mother's Day gift this will make framed out in a shadow box.

Hint...hint  :)

2-D Self_Portraits - Student Work

BEGINNING 2-D 1ST QUARTER FINALS

Mixed Media Self-Portraits

My Beginner's have to jump thru so many hoops to pull this collage together.  

They have to use several of the Design Elements and Principles they've studied over 1st Quarter.

They have to create a story/message within their self-portrait.

Bring in text, a focal point, bas-relief elements, the list is long, which means it takes me forever to grade them, but that's ok, wait till you see what I got  :)

Above we have "Restless" by senior Jackie Manipon, a very talented young woman who came into the class with drawing and painting skills already.  She is actually in two of my classes this year.  Look closely for several layers of interest.

And below we have senior Yoo-bin Han with her incredibly sweet portrait entitled "Love Letter".  It's so Yoo-Bin  :)  Notice the text under the dried flowers?  Also notice that each of these works were done in specific color schemes.  Yoo-Bin used a Primary Scheme.

"My Wonderland" was created by senior Alice Choi, and I love the playfulness she had achieved with not only her colors but with her flying self.  Very pleasing piece to the eye.

And one of my favorites this year was made by junior Jessica Kang,  I adore all the texture she has brought into the background, the clever way she created the ladder, the cool looking buildings, and the little girl reaching to climb the ladder.  And all within a monochromatic color scheme.  Brilliant!

She calls it "Reaching for the Stars". 

These next two are so similar in color and diagonal flow, but couldn't be more different in content/message.

Above we have the work of junior Karen Malacon with "Castle on a Cloud", her message powerful and uplifting.  Below in junior Zoe Lin's "Shy", the message is so much critical, and introspective.

Senior Tim Creasy came thru big time with his "Seize the Day".  His visual strong and appealing.  Notice the broken glass shards he has collaged into the center area?  Really cool piece Tim!

And below senior Catherine Chiou has given us a much more somber piece entitled "Where?"  She has created a strong sense of perspective with visually appealing textures.  I am really attracted to this work.  Notice there are messages in the trees?  And she has collaged the tree bark so that it looks real.  Love it Catherine!

 This really dark one above called "No one Knows" by sophomore Elias Rodriquez is pretty darn scary.  He has built an elaborate focal point and really pushed the boundaries of bas-relief which I really love.  Elias is an up and comer here at Whitney.  He has guts and imagination and isn't afraid to express himself thru his art.  My other students and I always look forward to seeing what he will come up with next. 

"Forward unto Dawn" is another neat piece that came in from junior Michael Cantu.  He built an elaborate structure out of wood to house his focal point, then continued his design outward thru each level.  How cool is that?

And lastly I want to show off senior Vivian Huong's "Reach".  I love that she thought to bring in branches and worked in a neutral color scheme for a very effective work.

Pretty impressive pieces for Beginners, right?

Self-Portrait Collages - Student Work

Let's see, these were done as their final Project for 1st quarter, and gee, now we are almost at the end of 4th Quarter.  So behind....sorry young ones!

The beginning 2-D class made these intricate mixed media pieces.  They are only 4" by 4" but they are full of content.  The kids had to jump thru all kinds of hoops for this assignment, showing me they can put together the 14 elements and principles of design.  Understanding of good design is key. 

This top one above was done by one of my superstars this year, senior Alice Zhang.   All of these works are signed and titled.  Because Alice was in my 3-d class last year she has brought in some of her embroidery and wood-burning skills for a very decorative piece.

This next one by junior Alex Rendon had so much creative texture and layering for the eye.  And below his is junior Cathy Luo with her very powerful self-portrait titled "Don't let me disappear".      

This next highly expressive piece is the work of junior Saarika Bhakta.  I love how the woman is morphing into a tree, and just the joyfulness of the piece.

Next we have junior Judy Shih with this really thought provoking piece called "Underneath it all".  These kids are really soul-searching and reaching deep into themselves thru these works.

8th grader Nathan Lam brings us this gorgeous tropical setting, and below junior Curtis Cha gives us so much wonderful texture to delight our eyes.

The beautiful colorway above is "Sailing into Success" by junior Alex Lee, and senior Ashley Chowdhury, another of my top artists this year, is pulling out all the stops in her work "Sweet Misery" below.

And lastly we end with senior Sheila San Agustin's heavenly piece.  I have to apologize to Sheila, her piece was supposed to be presented on the diagonal, with the corners at top and bottom. Sorry I took the pix wrong kiddo.  Sheila is also incorporating her 3-d sewing skills.  I love when these young ones apply their previous learning to new works.  Shows they are using their critical thinking skills.  And that's always a good thing.  :)

Artist Jim Thompson at Drawing Board Gallery

Recently I saw the work of Mixed Media Artist Jim Thompson at the Drawing Board Gallery in Yorba Linda that I thought would be of some interest. He calls his work Reclaimed/Redeemed which is very interesting to me because I really enjoy when artists used recycled found objects in their work.

But I have to be honest, what really drew me to his pieces where the clotheslines.  I grew up in the late 50's and 60's when my mother used to hang our clothes out to dry.  It's such a wonderful, vivid memory, one of my first actually, so when I see it in an art work it really tugs on my heart stings. 

 I don't usually like religious artwork, but his references to religion are so subtle to be almost unnoticeable.

I don't usually like religious artwork, but his references to religion are so subtle to be almost unnoticeable.

All the pieces above have been assemblages but this last work seems to be part self-portrait, part collage, and part painting, with another wonderful clothesline.

One More Collage - Student Work

Somehow this one escaped but I was able to locate it in cyberspace and bring it to you.  It should have been in the self-portrait collage post yesterday.  It was done by senior art student Emily He, and was one of my favorites.  She calls it "Caged Behind Broken Glass", and I feel it is such a lovely, sensitive and well thought piece.  And I love that she thought to incorporate the bamboo skewers in such a clever way.  Great work Emily.  

2-D Collage Self-Portraits

If you've been following along for the past 2 years you will know that I get amazing work out of my Beginning 2-d kids.  And this year is no different.  Their self-portrait collages were exquisite, so deeply thought out and so beautifully executed.  Of course they had to jump thru a ton of hoops for me with the requirements I laid on them; a few examples are a bas-relief focal point, textural elements, a color scheme, text, and the list goes on and on.  This top one was done by senior Michelle Chang, and she titled it "The Weight of Age".   It's just so sensitive and lovely.

Above we have sophomore Megan Yeu with "Taken Back to Reality".  Aren't these just gorgeous and so well done?  Below is senior Carolina Navor with "The Ability to Let Go".  I have the kids start their base with a collaged backdrop in which we recycle a lot of various papers I collect.  Then the kids have access to all kinds of embellishments such as beads, buttons and hardware that have been donated.  But the best part of these pieces are the critical thinking skills used to put the major portion together with like the girl on the swing Carolina has built.  

Next we have senior William Luo with his extremely well thought out piece that he calls "Lost in Thought".  Totally cool piece!!!  And below is senior Victoria Wang with "We Fall Like Leaves".  Just look at the attention to detail these kids put into these works!

Above senior Joseph Chon sat for days thinking how he wanted to portray himself.  He racked is brain, getting so upset because he just had one of those brain freezes.  Almost on the last day this is what he came up with, simple but so effective.  He titled it "Waiting".  And lastly we have senior Tiffany Yeh with her piece titled "Stripped".  Again, check out the attention to detail and the involved collaged backdrop.  

For EXTRA CREDIT on any colored piece of paper, cut out the profile of your face as best you can, decorate it and put your name and period on the front, and the name of the person from above who did your favorite collaged self-portrait.  The more you do with it the more points you will earn.