Bah, Bah, Bring!!

So I love unusual sculptures.  I am just amazed by what people can create from everyday objects.  I guess it is just wonderful to see what others think of when they look at something, and in this case it is an old rotary phone.

Okay I know, I have to start with explaining what a rotary phone is,  Think back to your childhood, you probably had a little toy phone that had wheels and eyes, a cord, a dial that you had to spin and it made noise when you pulled it.  It was also in Toy Story 3.  Anyways, we actually had those phones when I was a kid.  I know I am old, but keep the thoughts to yourself.

Anyways, artist Jean-Luc Cornec has taken those old rotary phones and turned them and their never ending cords into these adorable sheep.  Unfortunately you will never know what it is like to talk on the phone and be tied to a room and a cord.  I hope you like these sheep sculptures as much as I do.

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So what do you think of these sheep?  Did you happen to notice the legs?  So how do you think he assembled these sheep?  Can you think of another material that would make an amazingly unusual sculpture?

Self Portraits

Self portraits have been done for thousands of years and with the modern selfie they will be continued to be taken for thousands of years to come.  So what is our fascination with pictures of our self?

I love the above self portrait done by Norman Rockwell for a variety of reasons.  First off, if you see his image in the mirror you will notice that it looks different on the canvas.  Even he saw himself differently.  I also love all of the images that are attached to his canvas that are from other famous artists.  This shows that he was studying others.

What else do you see in this image that might give you clues about him or the way he works?  Do you see anything that you find interesting?  Do you have a fascination with taking selfies?  If I looked through your phone would I see a ton of images of you?  If so, why?  I'm not a selfie taker so I am wonder what the obsession is, please tell me?

Finding the soul

It can be hard to blend and fade your art while still keeping it beautiful at the same time.  It is easier to do the fade with watercolor, but Artist Ryan Hewett has created beautiful faded/abstract portraits using oil paint.

I am incredibly impressed by the amount of emotion he brought out in these abstract works.

Can you see the emotion?  What do you think of them?  Is this something that you would like to try?

1st round of photography

My advanced classes started the year with a variety of photography assignments.  These are a few of my favorites from each category.  Check out my website if you want to see more examples.

Paige taken by Mikayla R. - Motion photo

Different perspective taken by Tevin M.

Making something ordinary extraordinary taken by Courtney M.

Backlighting taken by Drea B.

Golden color taken by Sarah C.

Light Painting taken by Brandon G.

More amazing paper cut outs

I know I have done several posts about paper cut outs, but I find it amazing that such an inexpensive item like paper can create such beautiful works of art.  See everybody thinks art needs to be expensive supplies, but it really can be some of the simplest, most overlooked items that can create magic.

The British artis Helen Musselwhite has created that magic with her very simple, yet complex works of paper art.  They are layered pieces of cut up paper that have been strategically placed to create these amazing scenes.

What do you think?  I tried to get them as big as I could so that you could see all of the little details that she has created with paper.  Do you think this is something you could do?  What are some of the details that you see she adds to give the piece depth and interest.  Is there a scene you would like to see if she could recreate?  What scene or story would you try to recreate?

Wow!!

Okay, I usually can come up with a more clever title to my posts, but this one is mind blowing.  At least to me, maybe you will think differently.  I tried to find the artist, but I was blocked from digging any further so we will just have to admire the beauty of these pieces without knowing anything else about them.

I do know that they are cut paper art.  But what I am fascinated by is the amount of details that someone got out of paper.  I am curious about how many sheets of paper are here.  Is it just a couple of large sheets that are all connected or is it separate pieces each cut out and then applied together?

What do you think?  Can you figure out how they were constructed?  Do you have any guesses as to how big the pieces are?  I love a good art mystery, but I am interested in what you think of these pieces and how do you think they were made?

Sharpie and a Car?

Okay guys this is a question for you.  How many of you would let a girl take a sharpie to your brand new car??  Anyone?

Well this guy let his wife doodle with a sharpie all over his Nissan Skyline GTR.

So if she could doodle as well as this woman would you let your girl do this?  I am curious what all of you think?  Is it really cool??  Do you love it or hate it?  What do you love or hate about it?  Is this a project that you would be willing to do to your car?

And then he also carves this...

Okay so after my last post about Dimitri Tsykalov's skull carvings, I was so intrigued by the meat sculpture that I had to check it out.  Now for one, they are kind of gross and I am showing you one of the calmer and more appropriate images from his collection.  But I was intrigued, and that is what my hope is for you with these blogs.  I am hoping that I spark interested in not only art, but other things that are out there and available in the world.

But here are some of his other sculptures that I found he has created.

SO I am dying to hear your thoughts about this artist.  What are your impressions of his work?  Are you impressed by the wide use of mediums?  Can you think of one that he should try?

Life Skulls?

How often have you thought about how life and death are two parts that are separated by very small details.  So maybe that is not your usual train of thought, but the artist Dimitri Tsykalov, a Paris based Russian artist, who has carved many items from wood to meat has focused his art on this thought.  Yes you heard right, meat, but we will come back to that in another post.

For this series he has taken fruits and vegetables and carved detailed skulls into them. I thought this was a great Halloween week post.

So what do you think of his living skulls?  Are you still thinking about the meat sculpture or is that just me?  What would you carve out of an apple?  Did you ever even think of carving a cabbage into an object?  Is there a type of food that you would like to see him carve something into it?

What are they made from?

It is not very often that I know nothing about a work of art, but I found the image of these two little kids on pinterest and I couldn't find anything about them.  At least not in English and what little was there would not translate, so I don't know anything about them.

SO I am asking you....

What do you think they are made from?  What do you think is their story?  Perhaps what country are they from?

Sculptures of Peace

What image do you think of when I say a "Sculpture of Peace"?  Is there an image that comes to mind?  Is it of birds, children, or what other object do you think of?

Well British Artist Philip Jackson had this vision when he thought of peaceful sculptures.

Jackson made these sculptures as part of a world peace contest in the late 80s.  He created several sculptures that were chosen as the most peaceful in the world.

What do you think of these sculptures?  Are they peaceful to you?  Or do you have other impressions of them.  Would you like to see them up close, or do they bother you at all?  What part makes them feel peaceful to you?

Power of the pen

Artist CJ Hendry has taken the art of the pen to a new level.  Or at least I think so, maybe you will disagree.

She has drawn such a lifelike version of a basketball that you think she has taken a photo.

What do you think?  Do you think it is even more impressive if I told you it was done in a technique called stippling also known as dots?

Does it feel more impressive when you see the scale of these boxing gloves?  If you want to see more of her work you should look her up, she has an amazing collection.  What object would you draw if you had her talent?

Heavy Hangers

Have you ever wanted to hang from the ceiling by an umbrella?  What that thought has never crossed your mind?  Okay so it has never crossed mine either, but Czech artist Michal Trpak not only thought about it, he created people out of cement and hung them from the ceiling.

Yep you heard right, cement people.  It is an installation at a building in Prague called slight uncertainity.

Okay I have to ask, now that you know they are made from cement would you be able to walk under them?  Would you be concerned that they would fall and break?  What do you think of them?  Would you think differently if they were made from another material?

IT's so FLUFFY!!

Okay so that is one of my favorite lines from Despicable me.  And at the same it is a perfect way to describe stuffed animals.  Did you have lots of stuffed animals when you were a kid?  I had quite a few, but I think my oldest son had the most.  Do you still have those stuffed toys?  What are you thinking of doing with them if you do?  Have you ever thought of using them to create art?  I'm sure that never crossed your mind, but it did cross the mind of Hirushi Fuji, a Japanese contemporary artist.

Now I am the first to admit I don't always understand contemporary art, but I did think that these images are pretty cool.

What do you think of these toy sculptures?  Would they be something that you would like to see in person?  Do you think they would have a bigger impact if you could see them up close and personal or do they impact you on the computer.  What toys would you use to create a work of art, and what would you create?

Shards of Art

Have you ever looked at your old CD collection and wondered "What could I do with these?"  Okay so most of you probably don't have a CD collection, but your parents might? If you say your grandparents have one, then that will really hurt. OUCH!

Anyways, what if you took those old CD's and broke them?  Well now what could you do with them?  Would you consider making art with them?

What do you think of this CD dragon?  I think the details are amazing (especially the eyes) but maybe you have different ideas.  What would you make if you had to do this project?  Would you make a known animal or a creature?

Natural history art

What if you combined plants and animals and modern techniques to create amazing works of art?  What if you could see the world in a different light?  That is exactly what artis Ellen Jewett is doing with her sculptures.  She is combining the natural world, with our historical world into breath taking sculptures.

So what do you think of Ellen's sculptures?  Can you see what she is making them from?  What animal would you create and what materials would you use to create it?  Is there one that you would love to see if person?  Why do you like that one?

Leaf Art??

Art can be made out of anything even items from nature.  I couldn't find the name of the artist that created these natural works of art, but I still thought that they were clever.

What do you think of these works of art?  Would you pay for any of them, and if so how much do you think they are worth?  Is there one that is your favorite?  Do you think you could create any of them?

Art of Illusion

Optical illusions are the artist playing with your eyes and what you think you know.  While they are often the most intriguing art they are also the most difficult to create.  You need to be able to think of not only positive space, but what the shapes of the negative spaces look like and you need to figure out how to put the two together.

Here are a few examples that have been created by several different artists.

What do you think of these illusions?  Which one is your favorite and why?  Which one is the most intriguing or confusing?  Which one made you do a double take or question how it worked?

Do you have any ideas for a great optical illusion?  What would that look like?

Majestic creatures of paper

Paper is just not a thing you can write on, draw on or use for your homework.  Paper can be turned into majestic works of art.  The artist Robert Sweeney recently showed us that in an art installation that he created for Lincoln Cathedral.

These horses were created with sheets of white paper.  What do you think?  Would you go to see them?  What would you like to see up close about them?  What questions would you like to ask the artist if you could meet him?   Do you think they should have been made out of a different medium?

A penny's worth of art

Painting on copper and miniature works date back several hundred years, but the modern artist Jacqueline Lou Skaggs has found a unique way to combine the two.

So what do you think of her works of art?  If you happen to have a penny in your pocket I dare you to pull it out and look at it.  Can you imagine putting a work of art on a canvas the size of a penny?  Which picture from the ones above do you think would be the hardest to paint?  Which one would be the easiest?  What would you paint if you could do what she does?

Look what paper can do

I was introduced to the artwork by Sher Christopher through an image I saw on pinterest.  You will quickly learn this is where I find lots of my inspiration for not only these blog, but many of your assignments.  What did we ever do before it?

Anyways, I really liked the complex works of art that she creates with different types of paper.

What do you think of her work?  Would you like to see more?  Can you you see all of the little details that she has created in the paper or did you miss it?   Would you like to try to create something like this with paper, or would you use a different medium?

p.s. medium is what you use to create art?

Welcome to Art 1!!

I would like to be the first to welcome you back to a new school year!!  Let's make this the best year that it can be.

The first thing I would like you to write about is... Either what you are looking forward to in art this year, or what is the most creative thing you did this summer?  You're going to find out fast, that this class is not an easy A, and that I require you to step out of the box and push yourself.  So that is why I want to know what you are looking forward to, and/or what is the most creative thing you did this summer.

Solve the cube

I'm not sure how many of you have ever even played with a rubik cube, but would you even think about turning one  into art?  How about turning thousands of them into a single picture?

Well one artist thought that a rubik cube would make a great medium.

So what do you think of this art?  Is it something that you would like to try to do?  What if you picked an easier image than that of a person like Martin Luther King, Jr?  Who or what would you pick?  And how many rubik cubes do you think are actually in one of his works of art?

Can I borrow a paperclip?

So I want you to stop and think of the most insignificant item that is on an office desk right now.  Did you think of something?  Some of you probably said pencils, pens, tape, eraser, stapler, or even the paperweight, but how many of you thought of paperclips.

Well the Italian artist Pietro D'Angelo has thought of new ways to use the paperclip.  He has used them to create amazing sculptures of people doing everyday things.

Do you have a favorite or a favorite detail that he created with paperclips?  What part amazes you, or do you think they are nothing special?  What every day activity would you like to see pictured in paperclips?  Would you have picked another medium or do you think this is original?