Paper art

Have you ever looked at a stack of construction paper and wondered what you could do with it?  Well artist Jen Stark sure did.  She is using ordinary colored paper, like construction paper to make beautiful sculptures.

What do you think of her paper sculptures?  Is this a project that you would like to try or what would be the thing that would stop you from attempting a project like this?  Please think deeper than it would just be too hard.

Poppies aplenty

This next week will mark the 100 year anniversary of the start of WWI. That was supposed to be the war to end all other wars, which unfortunately it wasn't.  To help honor this anniversary artist Paul Cummins created an installation art piece, sea of poppies around the Tower of London.

  Each poppy represents one British or Colonial soldier that died during the WWI battles.  This project was started in July and the last poppies will be placed on November 11.  When the last one is placed there will be 888,246 ceramic poppies surrounding the tower, creating a sea of red which is being described as a Sea of Blood.

Each poppy was handmade

The Queen walking through the poppies

This is a group starting the process.

They have been lighting it at night so that more people can see the display.

The Tower of London

Installation art is meant to be impactful, does this send a strong message to you?  How does it make you feel?  Are you moved to see it, or to buy one of the flowers?  As an artist could you take it all down once it is done?

Electric Art

What would you do if you could use electricity to create art?  Well American artist Phil Hansen has done just that.  Watch as he uses sparks to create a picture of Nickola Tesla, one of the founding fathers of electricity.

Who would you draw if you could use this technique?  Do you have any other ideas that would be creative?

What is it? #3

Alright this is my last one for the day, but I found one more and I wanted to share it with you.  I think this one is my favorite of the bunch.  Because not only is he using the medium in the raw, but he also changes it and uses the changed ones as well.  Can you guess the medium that is used in these works of art?

You got to "Love" this work of art.  But be careful it is dangerous.

So this angle probably will give it away, but I still think it is a hot work of art.

I love the change that this medium can have.  I wonder how he got the two different colors out of it.

If you still haven't figured out this medium then check out Pei-San Ng and see what he has done.  Did you figure it out?  What would you create if you could work with this medium?  Would you leave them in the original form or do you like them when they are changed?

What is it? #2

Okay I have another guessing game.  What common household item is being used to create these stunning works of art.  Please try to guess before you Google the answer, or read what others before you find out.

It's hard to look close but try to see how he created this beautiful elephant.  Again it is a low relief sculpture that sticks off of the background slightly.

I know it is hard to believe but this portrait is created with the same medium.

Does this angle help you figure out what the medium is?

If you still haven't figured out what this medium is then look up artist David Foster to learn more about his work.  I am curious what you think he is using and when you find out what it is what you think of it?  Would you be willing to do a work of art with the same medium that he is using?

What is it? #1

Okay, we are going to see if you can guess the medium that is used in this artwork.  I want you to look at the pictures and see if you can guess what the artist is using.

Give me your first impression and remember that it is a low relief sculpture.  That means it comes off of the background slightly.

In this picture you can see that his medium is sticking up from those cube shaped boxes.  Do you have any ideas yet what he uses?

Does this picture help you zero in on what he is using for his medium?

If you still haven't figured it out or are not sure you can now Google his name, Christian Faur and figure out what he uses, Otherwise, I am curious what your first thoughts were?  What did you think he used and did you find out what it really is?

Real or Paint?

Have you ever wanted to create a painting that is so realistic that people have to do a double take at the picture?  Well a Swedish artist by the name of Yrjo Edlemann is a hyper-realistic artist that paints wrapping paper in such a realistic manner that you would think they are photographs.

I know it is hard to believe but these are actually paintings.  If you could paint anything like a hyper-realistic artist what would you paint?  Is wrapping paper and tape and interesting subject or would you pick something else?  Can you think of something that would be harder to paint that shiny paper?

Paper, not plastic

I have recently stumbled onto mixed media artist Emma Hardy.  She studied sculpture in London at the Wimbledon School of Art.  She uses two mediums that I think are would be very difficult to work with, but she makes incredible art with them.

In case you are wondering what her medium is, it is brown paper and packaging tape.  Can you believe that those are the only mediums that she uses?  What do you think about them?  Do you think this is something you could do?  She mostly does people, what would be your subject of choice?

A moment on this earth

A former student found the Cuban Artist Jorge Rodriguez Gerada and thought I should check him out.  I personally love his work which is created in dirt and charcoal.  His pieces are also done in really large scale on the sides of buildings or in empty fields.

Since his work is done with natural materials, it is only there for a short time and then mother nature takes it away.  He says that it is the same as how our moments on both earth and in the spotlight is just as short.

Do you agree with his statement?  How does that make you feel?   Would you be able to create work like his and be okay with it going away after a big rain storm?  Tell me your thoughts.

What did you do with your summer?

I know you are not really ready to be back, but I would like to know what you did this summer.  What did you see?  Where did you go?  What did you do? It might not sound fun or exciting to you, but I am really interested.

I will share my favorite thing this summer.  It was my Europe trip to London, Paris and Barcelona.  I took 24 people on an adventure, and yes, it was an adventure.  Things did not go according to plan all of the time, but I had a great group and they made the best of every situation.

one third wasted

Take a look at these three pictures before you read about them.  Form an opinion before you do anything else.

Strawberries

Pineapple

Lemons

It has been said that a third of all of the food in the world goes to waste.  Usually that means it has just spoiled before it has even been prepared to be eaten.  An Austrian photographer recently took some photos of spoiled food.  I have a few of them pictured here.  Now if I hadn't told you it was spoiled and rotting food would you have guessed that that is what it was?  How do these pictures make you feel?  Do you feel differently now that you know what it is?

Guess the medium

Okay so here is a challenge question that will be worth two blog points to anyone that can answer my questions.  You must answer all questions.

First question, I need you to tell me what medium these "coins" are made from?

Second question, who is the artist that created these "coins"?

Only the first correct answer will get the double points.  What do you think of this type of art?

Looking beyond normal

I  haven't talked a lot about the use of colors and abstraction to create art.  I wanted to point out that you don't always have to make your world look like it does.  For instance look at this picture below.

This picture by Robert Doesburg is of a certain animal.  I am guessing that you can tell what type of animal it is even though the colors are not normal.  So I am wondering what it would take for you to not know what type of animal a work of art is trying to describe.  Can you guess this animal?

Again this work of art is not completely filled in and the colors are not normal, but you can probably still guess what this animal is.  But can you guess these next three?

What makes some of these pictures easy to identify?  What makes them harder to figure out, is it their colors or lines or shapes?  What animal would you create adn how would you hide it?

Reading a map

Have you ever read a map?  Now I don't mean mapquest or some other GPS locator, but a good old fashioned paper map?  The kind that you have to figure out how to fold up after you unfold them.  I am guessing that most of you have never really looked at one before.

Do you know what the different lines and colors meant?  Do you know why the page looks like it is yellow?  Well each color told different things, from roads vs interstates, rivers, parks and sometimes elevations.
Well I found one artist named Colby who is taking a map of London and changing it into a scary image.

So what do you think of this?  Do you think he did it more for artistic purposes or political purposes?  What message do you think he is trying to say?

Scream art teacher

So I figured I would ask all of you what you would think of me if I wore this necklace to school one day?

What would you think of me?  What would you think if you saw it on someone else?  Are your thoughts the same or would you be different because you know me?  And if so, why?

Playing with keys

Now I know that all of you have had a key fall off of your computer keyboard at one time or another.  And while I am sure it was an "accident," you are aware of how easily they come off and can go back on.  But have you ever stopped to think about those keys and what you could create with them?

I am sure none of you really have stopped to think about that or what you can do with computer parts, but stop for a moment and think about all of the discarded computers out there.  We have been using computers for almost 30+ years, and you and I both know that they don't last that long.

So what could you do with those parts?  Well one artist from Melbourne, Australia named WBK (works by knight) has started creating portraits out of recycled keyboard keys.

So what do you think of these?  Can you think of any other computer parts that could be recycled into some really cool art?  Or whose portrait would you like to create if you had all of these keys?

Negative art

Now negative art doesn't mean that it is mean art or has a bad attitude.  Negative art deals with the space in which something is used.  In the case of this work of art, usually the tree is filled in and the area around it is in negative space, but this time the object was flipped.  The tree is in negative space, or empty space, and the area around it is filled in with string and nails.

So what do you think of this piece?  Is it art or is it more crafty?  Sometime there is a difference and sometimes there isn't.