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Rhonda chose Keith Haring for her art project.
Rhonda was a preschool teacher in Roodhouse, a non-traditional student with kids AND grandkids who was getting her associates degree to move towards a degree in childhood education.

Keith Haring is usually recognized as a Pop Artist along with Andy Warhol. He has a similar background in commercial art like. His father was a cartoonist and it seems you can see that aesthetic. Unlike Warhol, Haring is known for always having a social agenda aspect to his art. He became known to the art world by doing graffiti art in the New York City subways, painting over existing ads, and addressing universal subjects such as love, sex, and war. He is known for using bright colors ( a lot of primes) and thick black outlines around simplified forms that appealed to a wide audience.

Rhonda designed and illustrated a book using the formal simplified style of Haring and the same bright colors. She wrote it like a children's book to appeal to her audience of preschoolers using the universal preschool concept of friendship as her conceptual base. This is only two pages of her book but if you look up the visuals for Keith Haring you can see right away how she connected her art formally.

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Wolfgang Laib is an artist who does most of his work with organic materials such as milk, rice, pollen, marble and beeswax.  These type of mediums are chosen because of their His works are inspired by world religions that include Christianity ad Buddhism, and it also includes aspects of other artistic fields and types of art. Due to his unique influences, Laib has his own style and he really doesn’t fit any previous art movements or artists. Some people can draw parallels between Laib and Andy Goldsworthy’s work. The major difference is that Laib does his work inside and uses more refined materials than Goldsworthy.  He works slowly and collects most of the materials for his large projects himself.  Wolfgang also does all the work for each of his projects by himself. He collects pollen each spring and stores it for his larger works and sands the marble pieces for his milkstones by hand.  Milkstones are the pieces that Laib began his career with over thirty years ago, and he still makes them to this day.  He takes a permanent piece of marble and adds milk, transforming it into a perishable object that we view much differently.  Laib’s pollen works are similar, taking a small object we don’t think much about and takes it to a much larger scale where we appreciate it more. Pollen has become one of his signature mediums because of the care and diligence needed to collect pollen from different species.  In my artwork I decided to use organic and perishable materials that are important to me and the region I live in.  Central Illinois is one of the best places in the world to grow corn, so I decided to combine that with the cracked and whole eggs.  I have raised chickens for close to ten years, so they are important to me as well.  Both items require hard work, care and diligence to raise correctly, so I believe they are fitting mediums to use for an artwork inspired by Wolfgang Laib.

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Andy Goldworthy was born in Cheshire, England during the year of 1956. He worked on a farm for most of his life and loved the repetitive nature of farm work. He went to college at Bradford College and Preston Polytechnic, majoring in fine arts and receiving a Bachelor of Arts Degree. His use of natural materials is always showcased in his art work. His love of nature has led him to create some beautiful art pieces that have clean lines and have a fluid motion. I chose his art for those very reasons. He mainly uses only his bare hands, teeth, and found tools to create his art work. I was inspired by him because of the clean lines and use of nature. My love of the outdoors mimics his and that's what I was immediately  attracted me to his beautiful art work. My art piece is made from all natural items just like Andy Goldworthy would use like rocks, corn, barley and peanuts. Creating art from nature is very fun and I had my daughter Emma help me out with my art project. Emma gave me a lot of ideas and will be a great artist when she grows up.

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I was extremely inspired by the artist Maya Lin. This artist takes a lot of her influences from nature and the natural landscape of different places on our planet. She wants others to see beauty in the world and to encourage people to take better care of our planet, as she is also an activist. For example, one of her pieces shows in stone what the artic shelf used to be, and what it is today due to global warming. Being someone who is very passionate about our role in preserving the Earth, I was most excited about this viewpoint of hers. Just like Maya Lin, I think our planet is one of the most beautiful things and I find so much inspiration in this. I find that so many parts of our Earth are themselves art, such as big billowy clouds reflecting the warm tones of a sunset, or the way that water pounds on rocks below, transforming them from hard abrasive materials to smooth, glittering stones. I am constantly in awe of the beauty that this world provides! Something that I am not as prone to appreciate, that Lin does, is incorporate architecture with natural landscapes and organic forms. I really appreciate that her work pushes me and allows me to appreciate those more architectural aspects that I normally would not. In my piece I created based off of the influences of Maya Lin, I mixed the organic form of a plant with the architectural form of computer drawing. I used the same soft natural color palette that she uses in many of her pieces, and just like does in all of her pieces, I tried to emphasize the beauty of a natural element.

Information found from:

https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s1/maya-lin-in-identity-segment/

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For this project, I chose the artist Elizabeth Murray. I googled her pieces before I chose her so I could see if her art was my type of style. I really enjoyed her art because it is so bright and bold. This artist uses very bright colors and is very free with her art. Elizabeth does a lot of abstract art but there can be backstories behind these pieces. She uses actual objects such as kitchen utensils mixed in with cartoonish figures. Elizabeth was well known for her cartoonish like paintings. Her pieces are done with paint and she does many layers of the paint to make very bold lines and colors. For my project, I chose to draw on a piece of paper. I did some abstract art with markers and colored pencils. There is a meaning behind my abstract drawing. If you look closely, I spelt out the word love. I believe that love is a very abstract thing and everyone loves different and in their own way. There are also many twists and turns in my picture, because love has many twists, turns, ups, and downs. I think that this artists piece’s are really interesting because you can see the art however you want and use your own imagination. Whenever someone looks at what I drew, they may never notice that love is spelt out inside the drawing, and they may interpret the piece their own way.

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I decided to go with the artist Kiki Smith for the You as the Artist Project. Kiki is widely known for her unconventional sculptures. As I was looking through her work I noticed that she uses a lot of neutral/ diluted colors, with usually a pastel blue to outline certain features. Smith is fascinated by the different depictions of the human body. Each sculpture has a whimsical vibe to it, with a touch of classical and/or traditional elements such as the body composition of Aphrodite found in the art work Aphrodite Birth. Kiki Smith is inspired by the controversies surrounding gender and race. For my project, I chose to sculpt out a human bust with butterflies covering the eyes and mouth. Next, I painted the entirety of the head and neck white and focused the actual color on the butterflies to emphasis my metaphor I'm trying to make. I decided to call me piece "Eyes Wide Shut." I based my art work on the idea of privilege. The butterflies represent "rose colored glasses" and signify the effect of privilege. Because the butterflies are covering the eyes and mouth, they are keeping the subject from speaking up about important objects and not opening the eyes to see what is going on in the world around them. This is seen in many instances such as when someone says "I'm not going to vote this year because I don't want to." This is where my inspiration stems from.

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Natalie Kirkbride-- Art inspired by Vik Muniz

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Natalie Kirkbride-- Art inspired by Vik Muniz

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I was first inspired by my artist Vik Muniz with his use of unconventional materials and a phrase he was quoted on during my research on him. In the magazine the 73rd volume of Architectural Digest, Muniz answers the question of how he comes up with his materials to use in an article titled “Ordinary Magic.” His answer was simply stated: “What makes up the pictures inside your head? This is the question I am always asking myself.”  I was really inspired by this viewpoint and allowed me think from this perspective when going to create my own art.

The first piece of art that I saw that Muniz had created was an image of President Barack Obama constructed of images of other people and magazine clippings--known as a collage. I was really moved by the representation of this image and how the artist saw the President. From my perspective, Muniz saw President Obama as one who stands for the people with his face being a contemplation of diverse images of other people’s faces, and his background consisting of symbols of an analogous color scheme that stood for the President’s campaign and career. It was for this reason that when I went to create my image, I used elements that I felt represented my subject.

From my research, I found that Muniz’s subject matter mostly consists of art in a new form that he then takes a picture of to display in a gallery. When I looked at the art I wanted to create for my image, I was inspired to do his thought process backwards and use a photograph I had taken prior to this class and turn that into art.
I chose to create a rendition of my cat Gus who has been in my life for five years and means the world to me. I based this image off of a picture I took of him around Christmas time while he was playing by a cardboard box.

When thinking of the image I have of my cat and what he represents to me, I immediately went to the ideas of comfort, images of home, and the love of food he has. I choose to use the unconventional materials that were inspired his love of food and my emotions of comfort I get from him. I decided to use all materials I had in the house and two foods that were comforting to me—apple pie and pasta. I used the following items from my kitchen on cardboard material to create the image of Gus’ face:  flour for the white spots, pepper for the black, cinnamon for the brown, noodles for whiskers, and apples for his eyes and nose. In a sense, I was deconstructing my comfort foods to be the core of what I was trying to create.  I used a fork and spoon to create textures to go with his hair and create depth. Though I know that my image is not the best or even good, I worked hard and enjoyed the process. I decided to all this "Spice Cat" to make note of the materials I used and to give the picture a warmer tone. I also would like to point out that I am also like Muniz in the fact that I took a picture of work to display in our ‘gallery’ on Padlet.

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Michaela Crowley--- Art Inspired Barry McGee 

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Michaela Crowley--- Art Inspired Barry McGee 

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Transforming myself into an artist was no easy task and I knew going in that I was going to need to choose an artist that I would be able to closely relate too. This led me to Barry McGee, a world-renowned graffiti artist who is also trained in the classical arts. McGee’s has a long list of influencers’ including Mexican muralists, tramp artists of the 70’s and 80’s, lowbrow movement and beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs. McGee has managed to create his own unique language by fusing together all these influences through his use of imagery, tags and found objects. McGee’s work is strongly poetic and evocative, unlike the typical graffiti we might see on the streets of Springfield.  When it comes to his paintings, however, they are recognizable for their iconic central figures which dominate with abstract backgrounds made of drips, patterns, and interesting color fields. McGee uses a variety of materials from walls and canvases to painting portraits of characters on empty liquor bottles and flattened spray cans he has picked up at various junk yards.  McGee creates art with a unique visual language. He offer’s visually stimulating and brightly colored multi-layered compositions in his work.  His drawings, paintings, and sculptures are enhanced by the urban culture and inspired by patterns. Often presenting centered characters that address issues on identity, consumerist culture, and commercialism. As much as I wanted to graffiti a wall downtown for this project, I was informed by numerous people that the police would not take to kindly to my story of “I did for my final in art.” Instead I chose to work with canvas and bright colors. Barry McGee was known for pushing limits and standing up for what he believed was right in the world. I am a big believer of the LBGTQI movement, and my art is reflective of that. As can be seen from my artwork, displayed below, each canvas contains music notes at the top and a rainbow extending out of that. I chose to use the music notes as a way of saying that everyone should live in peace and harmony. The rainbow colors are all in the shape of circles because no matter who or what you are the world never stops revolving, life keeps going. Each color is of a different pattern because we are all different and unique and that’s ok. The four canvas each meet in the middle with the music notes connecting to represent the coming together of everyone and the hopeful peace and harmony that will be created. While I was unable graffiti like Barry McGee, I was still able to take his ideas and incorporate them into a piece of art I am proud to call my own.

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Laylah Ali~

After reading through an interview and reading information on Laylah I was able to put together a lot about her art and why she does what she does, but at the same time there are some loose ends. Laylah likes her pieces of art to put an electrical energy within viewers and a lot of her artwork flashes back on her childhood and personal life. She explained that it is hard for her to say what a specific piece of work means because when she sees her art she sees her entire life leading up to now. Laylah also mentioned that she likes to read and listen to things such as the radio a lot, but often finds herself hearing the same repetitive things on the radio. When you look at the different art Laylah produces you can notice that the individuals do not have a skin tone that we are use to seeing today and Laylah likes referring to this as a skin condition rather than race, something that has caused so many issues today and in the past. Laylah considers her characters to be a colored head placed on a “superhero” body and certain objects like dodge balls or belts represent objects/forms of what in her eyes represent power. Aside from the characters Laylah played with the setting of where her characters were placed perfecting what background colors pulled the pieces of art together best. Laylah also explained that for the most part her pieces of work were driven by current events, but her finished pieces rarely revealed a specific reference.

You as the artist: After reading about Laylah’s work and looking at pieces of art she has created and made I created a similar piece of art but relating more to life today and a common issue faced throughout life. I created characters with the same color head, similarly constructed bodies, but placed different colored outfits on them all except for the pants. I used thought bubbles or what also could be seen as words as the thing that represented power. All with the idea in mind of the common struggle known as bullying that many face at some point in their life time.

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When I first looked at the list of Artists to choose from, I found myself coming back to Swoon's artwork. Her style of painting resonated with me on more than an aesthetic level. Her portrayal of the darker side of life is done in an almost dreamlike way. With pastel colors making her pieces seem like fairy tales with a bittersweet ending. Swoon is influenced by realism, with a feminist approach to even her portraits of men. Drawing from her own background of family that struggled with addiction and substance abuse, has instilled in Swoon both a belief in happy endings as well as a more realistic knowledge of the truth in all things. Furthermore, Swoon uses actual portraits of her friends and family to give each piece a more personal vibe. Friends with culturally conscious people Swoon's work reflect both her friend group and her own efforts to highlight tragedies and bring forth awareness of the things that can be done to help. Swoon runs several non-for-profits in her spare time as well. Using paper and paint to paste on the side of buildings in her early career, Swoon is often credited as being one of the pioneers in female street art. Swoon works mostly alone, due to her more one on one approach to every piece. Swoon is most connected to magical realism in the way she warps worlds around her main subjects. Making complicated designs seem to bend around them, to give them life. Formally, Swoons artwork in the embodiment of painting a realistic view of the modern world but adding elements of magic to each piece. Conceptually, Swoon is basically the same thing, but either way I love her work. My piece based on hers is a recreation of some of her work. With what is supposed to be a woman with magically flowing robes draped down her front. I chose this piece because it gives a timeless beauty to the feeling of waves in the back ground and a strong female in the foreground.

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Cindy Sherman is a talented female artist who is from Glen Ridge, New Jersey. Sherman is known for photographing herself representing or recreating all sorts of different identities. She uses wigs, makeup, and clothing to create her reflecting different freedom of fashion and expression such as Hollywood glam, clowns and so much more. Art21 describes Sherman’s portraits as a “playful mixture of camp and horror, heightened by gritty realism”. The inspiration behind her art is to push societal roles of gender and fashion associated with specific ideologies often aging herself. She captures images of herself using photography as her medium. For my project I chose to dress in clothes I wouldn’t normally wear, similar to hers in her portrait, while wearing makeup I wouldn’t normally wear again to create something I am not, nor something she is. It is out of my comfort zone but when choosing an artist who photographs her as odd versions of herself, I must do the same. This look is inspired by her photograph “The Broad”.

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Gabriel Orozco is my artist of choice. Gabriel Orozco is a Mexican artist that completes works win several different ways. Orozco uses installation, photography, sculpture, and painting skills to create all of his different art pieces. The unique thing I found about Orozco is that depending on the form he used to create the art, you really couldn't tell if they were created by him. Several artists have a known pattern, or type of art work whereas Orozco has so many different types. The artwork that caught my eye from Orozco was his photos with geometric shapes and patterns added to them. These give a modern, contemporary look that I personally am driven towards. Examples of his art that contain the geometric patterns would be Horses Running Endlessly, Oval With Pendulum, and The Atonomists. These are all art pieces that Orozco created that inspired my art. I took a photo at my favorite place spending time how I prefer, at a coffee shop. I was reading a marketing ad in the paper this one time and snapped the photo. I added a geometric shape/pattern in several of my favorite colors to create a look that is similar to Orozco's art, but using my photo and color scheme I chose. Orozco has several show places for his art in places including London, Germany, New York, California, Chicago, and several more. Along with his passion for the geometric patterns and shapes, he also creates art and takes photos of nature scenes and also creates sculptures that are widely known.

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Carrie Mae Weems is a contemporary American artist. She chooses to display the hardships and the upside to relationships,  sexism, class, political systems and sexism. She has chosen to challenge art by displaying the real an true definitions of life. She captured her art in photographs. One of her most famous works known as The Kitchen Table Series displays different people sitting at a kitchen table and arguing or just having an everyday dinner meal. I was inspired by And 22 Million Very Tired And Very Angry People. She took pictures of everyday objects and gave them captions that looked at the object at a different angle. One of the objects was a notebook or journal with the caption "Some theory." She takes these items and puts them in a happy light. This "theory" could be the theory that changes the world but most people just see it as another journal with words. I chose to use this picture of my front door and make my own title, "A New Beginning." To me, this is a normal object that can be seen as such an opportunity. The door leads to a new world and more job opportunities or a better life.

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Susan Rothenberg was born in Buffalo, New York, 1945. She received her BFA from Cornell University. Ms. Rothenberg’s early work was large acrylic, figurative paintings when she was based in the New York area in the 1970s. Her first body of work that became well known was on life-size horse imagery, these were glyph-like and iconic. Her paintings weren’t really abstracted as pared down to their most essential elements, the horses are totemic with primitive symbols serve as formal elements. It is through this that she discovered meaning, mechanics and the essence of painting. In the 1990s she adopted oil painting in her transitional move from New York to New Mexico. She began to use memory and experience for creating her art paintings. They usually referred to excerpts from daily life experience that would come to life through her thickly layered and nervous brushwork. The most distinctive characteristic of her paintings is the tilted perspective, a high vantage point above the ground, that gives and eerily objective psychological edge.

I was inspired by the artist for her figurative paintings and edgy style. I am not an artist, I would call myself a writer, and have little skills in drawing wonderful works of art or staying inside the lines. I think Ms. Rothenberg was a perfect choice of inspiration to create my own artwork. My painting, paint used from my daughter’s oil paint set, is of our family’s two cats. We have been separated from our cats for many weeks, often just peeking in for quick checkups; circumstances have kept us from loving car to our pets. At a point there was talking of having to find new homes for the cats. My painting is a depiction of our cats left alone with the underlying darkness of fear that they will no longer be a part of our family – a feeling I have felt for a couple of weeks.

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Takashi Murakami is a Japanese artist that blends history a modern pop art together. His works are very broad and cross through many different areas including fashion, fil, and other commercial areas. Murakami aims to show both the history of his country and the world, as well as the cultures from around the world. While he expresses himself in many ways, the most common is through his self-made alter ego named Dob. He uses Dob to express himself and his positions in his work. The reason I picked Takashi Murakami for this assignment was because of his uniqueness. He is different than most artists in that his work stretches across many mediums of life. He is not afraid to reach outside of the norm. I especially liked the alter ego he created for himself. He took an idea so simple and has done so much with it, including it in many works. The Dob is a flower-like drawing that Murakami uses endlessly in his works. The drawing will appear hundreds of times on a work and that will be the only drawing on the piece. The idea seems so simple at first but upon learning why he uses it this way, your understanding changes. He uses the drawing multiplied over a work to signify how modern pop art and culture multiply throughout today’s society. The work I created is similar to this piece from Murakami. I am a huge baseball fan and continue to play college baseball today. I created a piece with continuous baseballs with a face similar to Murakami’s work to be my alter ego. My piece does not have as much color as Murakami’s on purpose, as I am not near as outgoing and colorful as him.

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Roger Dondanville

7/23/19

I chose the artist Jeff Koons.  Koons was born in 1955 in York, Pennsylvania and later studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he painted neo-surrealist dreamscapes heavily inspired by his hero Salvador Dali. He also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently, Koons is living in New York City where he still creates art today. Koons takes inspiration from unorthodox things, such as vaccum cleaners, when he creates his art which separates him from all other artists and makes him so unique. He is heavily influenced by the 1980s movement, Neo Pop. Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp are known inspirations for Koons because of their background with pop art. Some media that Jeff Koons works with includes Mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating ( Balloon dog)  , Polyethylene and plastic ( Cat on a Clothesline ), Polychromed aluminum ( Play-Doh ), or live flowers ( Puppy ). After researching some of Koons’ art pieces, I was most inspired by the images of his gigantic floral puppy sculpture, which is at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. I decided to use that piece as my inspiration and I staged my puppy, Riley, and put lilies on my her. I think that Koons’ main reason for making the puppy scultpure was so people would be happy, and my dog Riley makes me happy and she makes people in my family happy, primarily ones that are sick or elderly. Koons’ unorthodox style inspired me to use a living thing in my project because it is out of the normal but the idea of using my dog resonated in my head as soon as I saw the Puppy.

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Koons' original piece

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Jenny Holzer
Jenny Holzer is an American Conceptual Artist. She uses conceptual and Installation Art to deliver words, text, and ideas as an art form in public places. Her Art has traveled all over the world as the scope of her work and influence has grown. Her work has been seen on street posters, the internet, stone benches, in video, projections, photographs, paintings, t-shirts, parking meters, billboards, LED signs and architectural buildings. Later, her work moved into art galleries as installation art. LED Technology was her signature medium.

Jenny Holzer's artwork has inspired me. It is fascinating to see that one can use words and text alone as a form of Art. Traditionally, there are no words in Art. I have seen artwork with some words. I have not considered Art to be words only. I believe I have not considered the possibility that texts and words by themselves without drawings and paintings could be regarded as Art by itself. What inspires me is not the inflammatory content of some of her work. What inspires me is that she uses mere words as an art form and that her artwork has a voice. She is not just an artist but an activist. It does speak to the times and touches something in people. It will invoke something in you and make you think one way or another. She uses one or two -liners to highlight the darkness of the human psyche and social injustice. Sometimes she says a lot more as in her installation pieces. She has spoken out in Art on such topics such as sexism, politics, abuses of power, and homelessness. "Abuse of Power Comes as No Surprise" or "Protect Me from What I Want," she says. Her signs are intended to facilitate critical thinking and ideas and spark debate.

Her work shows me what many of us already know that there is power in words. However, what is more, powerful is how one uses words. Traditional Art, as we know, will always be there, but Art is not limited to the conventional.  She is an example that the beauty of Art is also in creativity. We unlock our creativity and innovation when we connect with the passion that lies in each of us. Even if I do not have the makings of a Picasso or any of the other greats, I can create Art through my words. My words are my artwork, and my artwork form has a voice.

I have been inspired to create short positive phrases to uplift and encourage in my own original installation art piece. The name of this original installation is called My Mantra (2019). Enjoy.

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Cai Guo-Qiang was born in 1957 in China and his best known for his elaborate sculpture installation and gunpowder projects.  He developed a desire to become an artist at an early age.  He was educated in the traditions of Western art, He explored the properties of gunpowder in his drawings, an inquiry that led to experimentation with explosives on a massive scale and the development of explosion events. His approach draws on a wide variety of symbols, narratives, traditions, and materials, such as astrophysics, feng shui, Chinese medicine, dragons, roller coasters, computers, vending machines, and gunpowder.  Cai Guo-Qiang amplifies the cultures by using material and creating art that is related to his traditional/culture.

The artist inspired me to make Rangoli which is one of the most popular traditions in our Hindu culture.  The artist had a huge impact on me when picking the materials. For example, the artist will use many materials that originated from his country, like, the dragon, toyota engine, arrows, tigers, gunpowder, and many more and put together to make an art piece that defines significant culture.  Instead of traditional Rangoli color powder the artist inspired me to use the traditional species that originated from my culture.  The species that i used to create Rangoli are, Turmeric, salt, chili powder, and Coriander and Cumin seed powder (Dhana Jeera).

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Yayoi Kusama is an artist I initially encountered on a facebook post stating “artist continues to create work while in a mental institution”. This of course was click bait and it worked. I immediately saw her dots and was inspired. It wasn’t until this project I had a chance to revisit her work and learn more about her. I have since watched several short documentaries about her starting with her youth, describing her time in New York, and finishing by explaining her time in the Seiwa Hospital for the Mentally Ill which is her permanent residence. One of the saddest things I found in my research about her life was that her mother did not approve of her work and did not want her to spend time on her passion at all. This is what caused Yayoi to move to New York. She had written letter to Georgia O Keefe asking for advice the advice she was given was to come to the United States and work!  It was summed up nicely in one of the documentaries when it was said that Yayoi turned trauma into art. Her style can be summed up in a few different terms: feminism, minimalism, surrealism, pop art, abstract and expressionist. Not only is she a painter, a installation creator but she is also a fashion designer and even though she spends her evenings in a hospital for the mentally ill she maintains a studio just down the street. She has spent most of her life being one of the most prolific Japanese artsits and the fact that she is a female makes her achievements even more noteworthy. Her ability to work through her pain and her meticulous dots are what inspired me to create my rendition of her dots. I noticed that it didn’t really ever seem like she worked with metallics and I love working with them.

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Tim Hawkinson is a contemporary multimedia sculptor. I was really inspired by his pieces where he uses clothes. Mr. Hawkinson has a way of giving old things a second life. Every piece of at that he creates has a meaning but sometimes his art is so abstract to it’s meaning that you’re not always sure what you’re looking at. Looking at my picture you may thing that its just stuffed pants but actually those pants are me. If you really examine my sculpture, Jayme, you may notice that they are purple well purple is may favorite color. You cant see it but, they are barley hanging on with a piece of cloth well that’s my current stressful state with school, my marriage, church responsibilities, being a parent, and trying to keep a happy face and show love hence the hearts at the top. I didn’t show how the pants were connected because I usually hide my stress till I’m to the point of a mental breakdown which is why the pants are stuffed so tight. This sculpture is me, however, if I had not told you all that you would probably think I just threw it together, but a lot of thought went into it. I feel like some of the work that Mr. Hawkinson puts out has this same affect, you probably wouldn’t understand it unless he told you what he was thinking about. His exhibit about girl scout cookies was very creative but if I had not watched the video of him explaining his thoughts I wouldn’t known what I was really looking at through his eyes. As I’ve stated before I love abstract art, it has been my favorite form of art for many years and I’m glad that I got to study about Tim Hawkinson and his abstract sculptures. I hope I get to go to one of his exhibits in my future.

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Andrea Zittel she is a is an American artist based in Joshua tree CA whose practice encompasses spaces, objects and modes of living in an ongoing investigation that explores the questions “How to live?” and “What gives life meaning?”. Where she lived has majorly influenced her when she was a child she grew up in Southern California. She also takes things that have usually one meaning and recreates it to be a whole new and flipping them over. She wanted to also live outside the art world, while she was doing that, she had to order many of her supplies, and she didn’t use any expensive material for her work. Well while she was getting boxes she would just stack them in a pile then soon she caught herself putting objects inside and thought “ how can I make this more concrete and turn it into something” and she did and turned It into beautiful shelves and gave them a modern look. She’s also taken everywhere she have lived and turned it into artwork with the walls and the tables the floors. She also sees deigns to be more of a concrete way, but art is more of a “wiggle”. She lives in a desert and people usually come from different places and it gives her some inspirations talking to people that live in her area. She inspired me a lot because she takes objects that we don’t deem glamorous or make something out of them we can use in an everyday life. She gives old things a new life and meaning again, so for my art project I have taken water bottles and made a recycling bin out of it.

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Roger Dondanville

7/23/19

I chose the artist Jeff Koons.  Koons was born in 1955 in York, Pennsylvania and later studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he painted neo-surrealist dreamscapes heavily inspired by his hero Salvador Dali. He also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently, Koons is living in New York City where he still creates art today. Koons takes inspiration from unorthodox things, such as vaccum cleaners, when he creates his art which separates him from all other artists and makes him so unique. He is heavily influenced by the 1980s movement, Neo Pop. Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp are known inspirations for Koons because of their background with pop art. Some media that Jeff Koons works with includes Mirror-polished stainless steel with transparent color coating ( Balloon dog)  , Polyethylene and plastic ( Cat on a Clothesline ), Polychromed aluminum ( Play-Doh ), or live flowers ( Puppy ). After researching some of Koons’ art pieces, I was most inspired by the images of his gigantic floral puppy sculpture, which is at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. I decided to use that piece as my inspiration and I staged my puppy, Riley, and put lilies on my her. I think that Koons’ main reason for making the puppy scultpure was so people would be happy, and my dog Riley makes me happy and she makes people in my family happy, primarily ones that are sick or elderly. Koons’ unorthodox style inspired me to use a living thing in my project because it is out of the normal but the idea of using my dog resonated in my head as soon as I saw the Puppy.