Tribal Ornamentation

This last assignment was ornamentation.
I was thinking about body ornamentation and found a very interesting book (Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa, by Hans Silvester) that features beautiful portraits of members of the Surma and Mursi tribes in Ethiopia. They are the last two tribes in the world who still paint their bodies as ornamentation. It is a daily ritual that is a community event, small groups paint each other and themselves using natural items that are a part of their environment. It is based on instinct and an awareness of environment.
I found myself really inspired by this form of expression and thought about how it could be applied to myself. I see my life as completely opposite of any member of these tribes and I was very curious to see how I could use my environment as decoration and if these two would relate. I also asked my roommate to join me because this is often a group event.
I am pretty happy with the results, but feel that a larger series... Perhaps a tribe, would be a more effective way to relate to this African tradition.

February 17th, Eau Claire Art Gallery Visit

While visiting the art gallery on Thursday, we took time to observe our favorite piece from each artist. Here's a quick summary of my observations:
Cal Lane
Untitled (Map1)
Outline is a flattened steel drum
Intricate lace designs, map centered, overlapping grid
Old world feel with decorative lace, like doiley,
Possibly an older version map
The Shadows from the lines that distort the physical image

Amanda Hugen
Contusion
Layers of pattern and designs. Simple lines and shapes overlapping. revealing and covering, Various planes with intersecting forms. Three designs are separate but fit into the form. Excellent colors, muted tones with bold red.

Fraser Taylor
(Black Forms)
Circular forms hanging freely, coiled and loose, not contrived. Physical form and shape as well as form created with distance and shadow, relation to other shapes and relation to piece as a whole. Jagged and raw, messy but intentional. Found objects, black common theme. Linear forms and suggested forms.

Edward Mayer
Drawing beyond Edges
Objects painted white, emphasis on line and line relation. Lines intersecting, looping, crossing, patterns and loose form. Layers of line and shape, repetition and length. Empty, void space just as important as the forms. Dynamic lines, Hooks, loops, sticks, squares, extending lines.

Science and Drawing

My final project came about through quite a process. My initial thoughts were color and food. Why foods are the color they are, how they become that way. Despite research, this lead me to no end, and... it was just too separated from the food itself. Nutrition and the form and functions of food became my focus. Juicing nutrient dense foods produced some rich and bold colors. I utilized this natural pigment and made paper bowls using the vegetable fiber and pure vegetable juice to dye both the bowl and the place mat it sits upon. I paired the bowl with a glass of it's own juice and a wooden spoon. The sights as well as the smells of the installation are more than a give away of the piece's origin. Each place setting is layers of the same food in different forms. The authentic color and natural differences in each process create dimension with texture and line.

Functions of Drawing

Class time was spent discussing the functions of drawings: Medical(Educational) Purposes, Story telling, Communication, As a memorial, for personal enjoyment, to represent/symbolize, Maps, Instructions/diagrams/blueprints, Decoration, Protest, to record information, to learn/undertstand. As we discusses we realized there was little difference between past and present functions of drawings... the present has allowed for a wide range of new medium and subjects.

What is drawing??

Drawing…
A visual way of communicating an idea, a way to express, show understanding/attempt to understand, and reflect. The means of drawing are broad, utilizing various mediums and techniques.

Looking though everyone's examples is was easy to see how open drawing can be.... Literally anything, whether or not the composition is successful or aesthetically pleasing could be debated. We thought about excellent drawings and how they should feature design principles such as line, shape, space, and so on... and even more excellent drawings have ideas and concepts behind them.

Found Drawings

Here are a few of my favorite found drawings, I happen to be fortunate enough to live in a shabby apartment with many interesting cracks and crevasses... I was looking for patterns, textures, and overlooked details...