LiveLaughLove: April 2012

Anne Grace Couvillian:
Anne is a previous classmate of mine and through her artist talk, I have seen she has gained a lot of confidence when talking about her work. I really like where she has taken her photography. She does beautiful shots of the nature. Her work in the museum was of tree portraits and they were technically, compositionally and visually beautiful. Her work has come so far. She was very interested in the form of leafless trees. She captured the line, form and shape of these trees through her images. She showed her exploration of nature through her photographs. You can see her love for the outdoors through her images. One of her main inspirations for her work is Ansel Adams. She uses both a digital and medium format camera(4x5). She also used a painting like quality with her willow trees and the medium format camera. Her images are peaceful and calming. Her future plan is to continue to work with nature photography.

Monica:
Her final work was drawings of herself. The self portraits were pretty amazing. She talked about when she first got into the B.F.A program she didn't know what she was getting herself into. When she was trying to make art, she was getting stuck on paintings and worried about making sure she was making "beautiful paintings" for the museum. But then someone told her "it is okay to just draw". This was the turning point for her. This is exactly what she wanted to do. She didn't want to paint. She explained how her personality conflicted with her art. She is not demanding so it was hard for her to get her models to do exactly what she wanted. This is where she got the idea to do self portraits. She wanted to have full control. This was an amazing self-reflection for her. But she began to feel dis-comfort when drawing herself. But the support she had from friends and family kept her going. She began seeing beyond herself as the model. she focused on the flesh, lines, and brush stokes. Through her work you can see her constant brush strokes and time she put into her work. She is hoping to bring her drawing work to paintings so she can see some color. But she is planning to stick with drawing as her focus.

Katie Blankchet:
Katie is a print maker. She explained that print making is like a "science project". Before this lecture, I did not know what print making was and the process of it. She explained there was a lot of mixing in the process and through her grant she discovered so many different processes. She said her biggest struggle was the "artist theme" She was focusing too much on trying to impress people instead of making art for herself. This was something I could relate to in photography. It was nice to hear someone else talk about the struggle that is always in my head. I feel I am always making work for other people rather than making the work I love. As artists, we should be making work that is most important to us. And when Katie began to do this, was when she experienced her turning point. Everything started to come together. She began to focus on observational dry point. She was trying to capture small moments in time. She wanted to capture moments that everyone takes for granted. Moments she saw everyday but never really payed attention too. Through her work, she showed her appreciation of these small moments. She had a very good eye for light, and it showed she was aware of every bit of light. I really liked her talk, she had so many good points and advice!

Margo Belisle:

Margo is a sculptor. Her work is very playful and simple, but quite beautiful. I would never be able to have the patience for what she does, so I appreciate it very much! Her work is friendly, enjoyable, and memorable to her and her audience. Her work in the show was based on dancers she saw in Italy and the photographs she took of them. She was interested in the costumes and poses they were making. She was interested in the texture of the costume. Her work showed how the muscle and body can stretch and bend. When doing her work she uses physical contact, she likes to be involved in her work, so she uses her hands rather than tools. I really liked when she said, "the figure is the costume". This was shown in her work. I was focusing more on the texture and look of the costume rather than the figure. The fabric of the costume reflected movement, form, shapes and angles.

Kathryn:
Kathryn is a painter. She really enjoys making connections with her work. She loves vibrancy and bright colors and this was really shown throughout her work. She photographed plants. She liked when the colors interacted. Her biggest inspiration is Owen Newgal but didn't really know but everyone kept telling her that her work reminded them of him. She used oil on canvas and watercolor. Both sets of work connected to each other. She really liked to focus on line work with the watercolor and it was quite beautiful. She liked that she could integrate her family life when doing her paintings. Family is very important to her and she liked getting inspiration from them. In her work she likes to create a family, vibrancy, and an overall good feeling. Her work has a very positive and happy feeling to it. I really enjoyed her paintings!

okay soooo I'm lost. I don't know what I want to do for the final project. I really enjoyed photographing the figure in an abstract way and using the soft box. But i feel kind of stuck now. I would like to continue photographing the figure but I want to do something different. I was thinking about doing landscapes and approaching them in an abstract way and similar to how I photograph figures. But I was also thinking about continuing to experiment with different lighting sources, because I enjoyed using the soft box so much. If I did this, I would probably do the figure again but use a male. I would focus more on light and detail of the skin.

Since I am so lost and I am having a hard time deciding on a subject or idea, I am going to just go outside and shoot and see what I come up with. I want to focus on lighting, maybe some reflections, landscapes in an abstract way, lines and textures. And then If I don't get any inspiration from this, I will shoot the male figure with different lighting sources. and then go from there....wish me luck......