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Title: Two Different Worlds
Size: 50.6 x 38.1 Medium: Graphite on Illustration Completion: September 20, 2023 EXHIBITION TEXT
The title “Two Different Worlds” represents the two different homes the girl grew up in. Both sides represent the different cultures she has experienced. The home on the left side represents the place she was born in and where her parents grew up in and where all her other relatives live. The home on the right side represents the place she grew up in and where she spent the rest of her life. Her standing in the middle represents her admiring the two different cultures and exploring the different cultures she grew up in. The flag stands for her love of her culture and the promise that no matter where she comes from, where she goes, or where she moves to, she will always be true to her ethnic identity.
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INSPIRATION
ARTIST NAME's: Lori Leeg & Christi Bunn
I wanted to create something that relates to me and my culture. I enjoy doing art with a cultural theme, after all. I wanted to produce something that was also the result of my own experience. Looking at my source of inspiration, I got the idea to design and sketch two different houses, one to depict an old house that still stands today and the other to symbolize a modern house, like those in America. I chose to depict these two distinct residences so that I could on one side reflect my culture and on the other, where I spent the majority of my childhood. It was initially challenging to find an inspiration that matches what I had planned for mine, but after some searching, I came across the work of one particular artist, "Christi Bunn," and I decided to use her as a model since many of her pieces mirrored the style in which I intended to build my piece. I admired how her artwork was carefully incorporated into the background and how the piece's surface appeared to be smooth. Her graphite drawings greatly influenced me. Her artwork is comparable to the piece I wanted to produce, so after looking at it, I chose to use her as my inspiration. "Commissioned Work Series of Six - The Preserve, Hoover AL" is one of her pieces that I truly appreciate. It was quite wonderful, and it provided me inspiration for how I wanted to design and depict my modern home for my piece. I got ideas from this art about how to design the house I want in my piece. I was inspired to produce something similar to hers when I first saw her artwork because of how precisely and fluidly she mixed the pencils she used to create her graphite art. I was also influenced by the work of the artist "Lori Leeg" because when I first saw her artwork, it gave me ideas for how I wanted to make my own, particularly for the traditional home where my parents and I both grew up. When I first saw her "African Village" artwork, I was really taken by how precisely the houses are depicted, how well they blend in, and how many subtle details she included. I was immediately taken back to the village where I was raised as a baby and where my parents had grown up when I first saw this piece of art. I was reminded of how I was going to design the house to symbolize my culture as I looked at the artwork. My plan to make my artwork and the topic I planned to use for this project have both benefited greatly from the inspiration.
PLANNING
For the first part of planning I drew a house that is mostly built back in Thailand in between the border of Thailand and Myanmar since that's where most of the ethnic groups live. My ethnicity is Karen (Kuh-ren) and it is one of the ethnic groups. I drew this house as it represents a part of my culture and where my family and ancestors grew up in. I wanted to create a part of me that would represent my culture pretty well. I chose to draw a house that looks like this since my parents house back where there from used to look like it, but now we have a different house built back there, that looks more modern compared to the house I drew.
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For the second part of planning I decided to draw a modern house from the US since it goes along with what I want to create for my art piece. I decided to have this drawn on the right side of the illustration board to represent the two different places of where the girl was born and grew up in. I also want it to represents the two different cultures the girl grew up on. I decided to draw this house as it is similar to the one I mostly grew up in.
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The last part of planning I drew different angle of the girl I wanted to draw in the middle. I also drew different girls to see which one would fit best in the final product. The process of planning didn't take long and I ended up wanting to choose to draw the first girl I drew. I thought the first girl that I had drawn would look best for the final art work and I also thought by drawing the girl it could represent my culture and me pretty well.
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PROCESS & EXPERIMENTATION
EXPERIMENTATION:
I bought a lot of materials to create this piece and I haven’t tested out each of them yet. In the photo below I was testing out the different products I got for my graphite art. The first thing I tested out was the charcoal I wanted to see how well it can be used to draw, but also how well it would blend with the other charcoal and graphite pencils since I might use it for my piece.
I bought a lot of materials to create this piece and I haven’t tested out each of them yet. In the photo below I was testing out the different products I got for my graphite art. The first thing I tested out was the charcoal I wanted to see how well it can be used to draw, but also how well it would blend with the other charcoal and graphite pencils since I might use it for my piece.
The first process of working on this process didn't take long, as I was just drawing the outline of the first house I drew on the board. The house I decided to draw on first was the traditional house that looked similar to the one my parents grew up in and where I was taken care of as a baby.
Once I was done drawing the outline of the house I then decided to draw in the details of the traditional house. Drawing the different details on the house was a long process. It took long as I was deciding on how I want each part of the house to look like, but after some thinking I was able to complete the drawing of the house. After I had drawn the house I also decided to draw different things on the background. I add a tree in the background.
Once I drew every component on the left side of the board I then blended in everything to make the art piece look smooth. When I was blending in using a material called "blending sticks & tortillons" I thought the blending didn't look very nice and the color faded. I didn't like the way the the color was fading when I was blending in the drawings. The drawings I drew didn't stand out to me and since it looked this way I decided to outline and color in using a darker shade of the pencils I was using for this project. When I did this method I thought the drawing looked a lot better and the traditional house I drew also stood out more. After doing that method I decided to add more detail to the tree since at first it didn't look good.
The first picture above was the first time I blended the drawing and the other two are the after drawings of when I fixed it.
Once I was done with the first house, I then decided to draw the modern house on the right of the board. The process of this drawing took long since I had to draw in the small details. After I was done drawing the details on the house I also drew a tree for the background a flag that represents my culture. Once I was done drawing in the different components of the drawing I then used my pencils to shade and color in the house and the background. After I was done with that process I then decided to blend in everything and with the colors fading I used my pencils to outline and dark in the details of the piece.
After I was done drawing each of the house and part of the background, I then moved on to draw the girl in the middle. The process of the drawing the girl didn't take me long as I knew how exactly what I want the girl to look like. I drew a traditional dress to represent my culture. Once I was done drawing the girl I then color in the rest of the background and blended/outline everything to make the art piece look smooth.
Above is the picture of the girl I drew in different lightings
Below is how my final artwork turned out and I decide to name it "Two Different Worlds"
Above is the final product in different lightings.
REFLECTION
I thought the finished result looked good and was happy with it. It was enjoyable to create this painting because I don't typically use graphite in my artwork. When working on this project, it was challenging because each component can grow chaotic and is challenging to integrate nicely. Though I wish I could have drawn it better and had everything more structured, I did my best to create this project. The houses would have been created taller than they are now, and I would want to draw the trees and shrubs much more skillfully if I were to produce this style of artwork again. Overall creating this project was a fun process and I like this idea as I get to present my culture in it and I thought the final product looked decent overall.
CRITIQUE
DIFFERENCES:
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SIMILARITIES:
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CONNECTION TO ACT QUESTION
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
The cause of my inspiration was the way the house was drawn and how it could represent my culture. The effect it had on mine was taking the inspiration from the two different houses and incorporating it into my piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach regarding the topic of my inspiration was to create something that represents my culture and where I grew up.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration I saw that many artists come from different cultures comes from all different objects and places.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspiration research is culture. I wanted to create something that represents my culture and where I grew up in and with as they both represents different things since the both cultures are different.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The inferences I made while reading and looking at my research is culture and what would represent my culture and life best.
The cause of my inspiration was the way the house was drawn and how it could represent my culture. The effect it had on mine was taking the inspiration from the two different houses and incorporating it into my piece.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach regarding the topic of my inspiration was to create something that represents my culture and where I grew up.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
While researching my inspiration I saw that many artists come from different cultures comes from all different objects and places.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspiration research is culture. I wanted to create something that represents my culture and where I grew up in and with as they both represents different things since the both cultures are different.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The inferences I made while reading and looking at my research is culture and what would represent my culture and life best.
CITATION
MLA CITATION
- “Sanankoro - Huts and Mosque in African Village Drawing.” Saatchi Art, www.saatchiart.com/art/Drawing-Sanankoro-Huts-and-Mosque-in-African-Village/727005/3947418/view. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.
- Admin. “Commissioned Work Series of Six – the Preserve, Hoover AL.” Christi Bunn Artwork, www.christibunn.com/2019/06/11/commissioned-work-series-of-six-8-x-10-graphite-home-drawings/. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.