Zoë Rose V.

Los Dias de los Muertos

            My assignment for this project was to create “conflict”. My process before the project was to brainstorm some ideas to create the images I wanted to incorporate. After I found my idea, Day of the Dead I drew up a sketch. I came up with “Day of the Dead” because my family and I have always had an interest in it. The steps into creating my conflict piece was first I drew out my theme, got tissue paper and copied my drawing onto the tissue paper. After that we received a original flat surface linoleum block, from there we placed the tissue paper on the block and traced out drawing with a fine point permanent sharpie, so it bled through on to the linoleum block, and then we start carving. For me the most difficult was the planning and figuring out what my conflict was. The easiest of the process was carving out the block.

            My piece represents Day of the Dead, and the Mayans, back then the Mayans would have rituals honoring deceased ancestors. In my relief print there is a girl with a skeleton-like face, and she’s looking up to the Mayan calendar. The main theme for my relief print is about not the sadness of losing someone you love, it’s about remembering and rejoicing. I used positive and negative space to separate the girl and the calendar, this added emphasis to the important things of my piece. Also the skeleton-like girl and the Mayan calendar are the main idea because they grab your attention and it moves you throughout my print.

            When I was doing my project I made sure that it was something different, and more unique. Adding the roses was a decision that I thought was perfect because it emphasized spanish women who wore them. By adding the roses it gave the print a better vibe, because you would have to get more in depth with Day of the Dead and The Mayans to actually catch that conflict.

            I really enjoyed this project because I got to incorporate something that was in my interest, and I stepped outside my creativity box and got pushed into doing something that was beneficial. I would more defiantly improve my print better and make the lines more this thick to create more form, but other than that, the best part about my piece is the skeleton-like girl because she is the main attraction. 

              

Carlie G.

Carlie Garcia

The Consequences of Greed

Artist Statement

The assignment for this project was to make 10 relief prints on a conflict that I felt passionate about. An instant theme for the conflict was greed, as well as the things that come with it; for example, the destroying of forests and land for productivity. Before I even thought of putting the art on linoleum, I had to come up with 10 different thumbnail sketches, make a separate drawing of the thumbnail sketch, as well as make a “map” of thoughts and conflicts for me to choose from. I came up with greed by through the idea of the “man vs.” conflict; it involves man vs. self, society, and nature, which show definite conflict. The most important parts for me in this project were the map and the thumbnail sketches; they helped me figure out how to decide my conflict, as well as what it would look like on the printing paper. One of the parts of this project that I struggled with was deciding the conflict. This was a problem because I had many ideas, but not all of them were conflicts; and then some of them could be registered as a conflict, but couldn’t be shown on paper as easily. I overcame this problem by speaking with my classmates and finding out which conflict worked the best.

My conflict represents greed and some of the disasters that come with it. The smoke in the sky is from the factories that were created by the need of products, which shows greed from both the buyers and the businessman. Also, if you notice, there isn’t any vegetation within the print, but instead cash and coins. This shows that the businessman put money before life. The man is standing with his arms outstretched and is grinning, showing his pride at having so much “accomplished.” The man is also the focus of my drawing because he is the cause of the damage behind him, having become overrun by greed. The topic of greed is significant to me because of the damage done to the earth. Pollutions are evident to me everytime it rains because I can see the smoke and gasses on the horizon, caused by both the cars and the factories around me. All of these were caused by successful, yet greedy businessmen who still make harmful products for money.

When I was working on my print, I decided to give his hair and the background more detail; for example, before, both his hair and the background were supposed to be pure white. I then changed it to show that his hair wasn’t pure white, but black with highlights and the background went from undetailed to striped. When I made the ground I had to make sure that it looked like it was made of coins, so adding extra detail like points where light bounced off the coins and including a few outlines were necessary.

I really enjoyed working on this project. Some of the things that made this enjoyable for me were the idea of conflict and that I was able to try out print-making for the second time. I loved the idea of conflict, so when I was allowed to do that in a project, I already had a few conflict ideas in mind. This made the project much more fun to work on. I also like print-making, so this project was fun because I was able to try it again and learn more than I had the first time. I believe the part that came out the best on my print were the fields of coins behind the businessman because they were able to come out the clearest as well as exactly how I wanted them to appear on the printing paper.

Nalye L.

Y O U R _E V E R Y _M O V E

______[©nalyelor]There's problems everywhere- whether it be in a kindergarten classroom to the meeting room of some big company, to conflict between two nations. This project is all about these problems. We were to choose a conflict and express it on the carving board. I had many initial ideas as to what issues I should address creatively. First, I started with some man vs. self concepts, then I moved onto man vs. nature. However, I just wasn't satisfied with the sketches for them. I don't know why but they weren't enough. So I brainstormed more problems. I came up with gender vs. gender. I did some sketches for that too but they weren't very original. Then, on a whim, I drew a thumbnail similar to an image I had seen before: a woman sitting on a chair that was held up by multiple men stacked on top of each other. That image led me to power and persuasion, and eventually manipulation.
______[©nalyelor The ideas that drive my pieces are most important to me. It is also the part that I struggle most with, probably because of its importance. "Your Every Move" can be interpreted in many ways. I must admit that I enjoy having it that way. Besides, it's not like they're incorrect exactly (since I'll most likely agree with their meaning)- they just did not see it the way that I did while making it. Individuals are always being taken advantage of, whether it be by society, the people around them, or even themselves. It's kind of like Cooley's social psychological concept of "the looking-glass self".

______[©nalyelor]I tried my best to portray some sort of stage (there's an audience, the spotlight glass under the puppet, and the curtains). I also tried using texture and contrast. These helped separate the positive and negative spaces, giving emphasis to the light parts. The textures help emphasize that both figures are puppets: the puppet is being controlled by yet another mere puppet. In fact, it could even represent that they are being controlled by none other than their very own self.

______[©nalyelor]This conflict relief printing assignment was very enjoyable. Printing is always so exhilarating. When you carve, you can easily make a mistake, but sometimes those mistakes make it even better or you're forced to turn the mistake into something great. Even worse is trying to duplicate perfect prints. It's tough but very much worth it. Just like that, conflict always surrounds us. I don't necessarily think that my piece has a 'best part', but the puppets sure can stand on their own without the background. Personally, I believe that every aspect brings it together as one wonderful, best part.

Emily A.

Candyman Vs Veggieman

Artist Statement

                I created a printing block to make a portfolio. The theme was conflict and I chose to do obesity and the internal struggle between making the right choices. I started by making a mind map to decide which conflict I wanted to draw out. I drew out some thumbnails of the ideas I had for each conflict I came up with and I liked the obesity ideas best. This part was important because I could figure out which design I could add a lot of texture and make it interesting. It’s hard to get the correct thickness when I started carving. I just had to have patience so I didn’t mess up.

                My conflict is obesity because to choose the right choices is hard sometimes but it’s important to keep a healthy body and a lot of people underestimate the importance of having a healthy body. It’s important to me because my family and I have always had trouble with weight so eating right is a big part of my life to make sure my family’s health problems don’t get passed down to me. Veggie man and Candy man really emphasize this idea. I made this the focus because in my mind that’s how the struggle is when I make food choices.

                To create variety, I tried to use a lot of different thicknesses to my lines. This brings life to my piece and if all the lines were the same then the piece would be boring and kind of one dimensional. To create the illusion of shadow, I added little lines that brought a little form to the objects. These also served as separating objects from one another. These really brought the characters out because the contrast of them to the rest of the piece with their difference in lines made them have emphasis.

                I thought this project was kind of fun but frustrating at the same time. I enjoyed planning and carving. However doing the actual prints was tough. I’m a perfectionist so when a print wasn’t perfect it would make me angry. Next time, I don’t think I’ll use as many small lines because the ink covers it too easily. I like the citrus clouds the best because it really stands out from the sky and I spent a lot of time on it so I’m glad they turned out as well as they did.



Adryen R.

            

Good Vibes for Endangered Animals

The assignment for this project was to create a print that addresses a conflict in the world. My conflict was how majestic endangered animals are and how by showing them in art could possibly allow people to start to appreciate them a little more and make a bigger effort to help them continue to survive. Before I started this project I had a hard time coming up with different things to incorporate together. The steps that I took to accomplish this were to find a cool animal that would go with the tree I created. I didn’t really struggle any aspect of the print because of my ability to alter things for better unity. This conflict represents the overlooking of thing that matter in the world because they are forgotten about. The main theme was “Good vibes for endangered animals”. The tree was partially based on a cover art for a reggae band named Rebelution who promote good vibes and good times. Unfortunately the awesome owl represents the forgotten species who are about to be extinct even though they are some of the most incredible to walk or fly through though this world of ours. I used a technique I came up with showing details as best as possible but leaving the background out so that someone could add to it or incorporate it into another piece. When I was creating my masterpiece I made sure that detail would be a constant theme throughout the owl. I also used different line thickness to show the difference between the animal and the tree. The use of these element s and the principles helped me create visual emphasis by showing how important nature and its citizens are to the planet. I really enjoyed this project because this was my first time doing printmaking, bettering my artistic abilities. 

Alexis O.



                                                                    Artist Statement

The assignment this project was to choose a conflict in today’s world that meant something to us as an artist. With that conflict we were supposed to create a drawing to carve that represented our conflict best. I first had to have my subject placed correctly to create the element space for the rule of thirds. I then put my conflict in the background which was the oil rig. I had a difficult time placing my objects to fit my vision, but what I created I think turned out great.

My conflict was global warming, or the effect us humans have on our environment. I used a baby polar bear surrounded by a huge oil spill. This is important to me because I think wild life is very beautiful and important to our world and we, as humans, are supposed to protect the animals. Instead we are hurting them. Our oil spills in the ocean are dangerous. While these oil spills are damaging, they are also beautiful. The chemical sits on top of the water and the way that it swirls is beautiful. Its contradicting how something so pretty can be so dangerous.

When I was creating my art I made sure to put as many textures as I could in it. I cut out the bear’s fur and the swirls in the oil. Along with the clouds in the sky to the waves in the water. I made sure you could see the difference in my texture so you could see my subjects clearly.

I enjoyed doing this project because it was really challenging carving out what I imagined on my paper. I think the best part about my piece is my oil rig and the way I set it up in the back on my horizon line. The oil coming from it is also great, when it swarms around my polar bear.

Hsin Ying Lin

Artist Statement

The assignment for this project was to experience different type of art style. We usually use simple thing to do an art work, this time, we used carving and printing to achieve our assignment. Before I started on this art project I had to be sure what I want imagine I want to present. All I think about is jungle. I thought it will look nice with all then the texture on the plants. The steps in making this work of art that were most important to me are carving. You have to be really confident on where you are going to carve, because once you mess up, you can’t get back any more.  One part of the process that was a little difficult for me was also carving. It is really hard to carve when the block is hard. You have to carve really hard, and once you are careless for a bit, you will hurt yourself.

  My print represents people who are eager for ‘’freedom’’. The main theme is in the jungle. When talking about freedom, all I think about is the animals and giant plants in the jungle. That’s where my idea came from. I used a lot of different texture on my print. The part I carved out emphasis my main idea. The peeking eyes show how people are eager about the freedom. They are thirst for it, but afraid.  Also the hand which is trying to hold the flower significance how they want to reach and get their liberty.

  When I was doing my printing, I made sure that I feel confident of every step I made. I also think carefully which part I want to carve and emphasize. I make sure that I used all different size of tool, which I can make my print look more attractive and interesting.

  I really enjoyed doing this project. It is really different from the old work we did. The most interesting part is that every print you print it out is different. You will also feel exciting about what is coming out. It is really hard to make a prefect print, almost impossible. But every print is unique. You can never print the exactly same thing. I think the best part about my piece is I actually carved out what I want tell. I enjoyed it! 

Dakota S

"Shovel Dog"

            The assignment for this project was to create an imagine representing a world conflict. Before I started on this project I had to brainstorm a conflict that interests me or that I have a strong feeling about. I came up with this idea from an internet based video called "Shovel Dog" that showed a brutal scene of a dog being abused. The steps in making this work of art that were most important to me were putting my true sense of feeling into a conflict I wanted to specifically respresent. One part of the process that was little difficult for me was putting my idea into am image I was comfortable with carving.

           The conflict of animal abuse represents in this image the animal is burying humanity with the shovel he has taken away from his owner. This concept is important to me because animals don't have a voice like humans do, and in my image the dog is taking action. I used techniques such as specified content in my image to emphasize the concept. The shovel has an important and specific part to emphasize the fact that the animal has stopped the abuse against himself.

           When I was doing my image I made sure that it was filled with lots of harsh texture to separate sections and shapes from eachother. I also gave the clouds and ground unrealistic textures to add a cartoon like effect. The use of these elements helped me create visual emphasis by making my cartoon drawing stand out.

          I really enjoyed drawing and coming up with an idea for this project. I did not like printing because it took too long and it got boring for me. I was ready to move on. The best part about my piece is that it's my own idea and creation. I will do better next time at improving my skills in all parts.





Brian N.

The assignment for this project was to reflect display conflict within the print. Before I started on this art project, I had to carefully think of what I was passionate about; my decision had to also include something that had conflict but it had to be something that I wanted to carve as well. I came up with my idea by looking through my old sketches and watching TV. I was watching a documentary about ocean pollution while turning through the pages of my sketchbook. Then i saw my old koi fish that i had drawn. I looked at the sketch for a while and i noticed that it had good texture and it could perfectly fit the assignment. The steps in making this work of that was the most important thing to me was expressing my conflict through a slab of linoleum and a carving tool. One part of the process that was a little difficult for me was actually deciding what I wanted to carve. I had many ideas but I just wanted to do something simple and stick with what i’m passionate about.

My conflict is the destruction of marine life. Many marine creatures are being killed by the toxic things humans dump into the river and ocean. This important to me because many living things are being killed because people are too ignorant. I used texture, contrast, balance, line thickness, and shape to emphasize koi. I focused on the koi because it was obviously symbolizing marine life. The significance for the meaning of my work is that beautiful creatures need to be preserved and respected. I really just wanted to show the beauty of a marine creature.

When i was doing my carving, I made sure that my line thickness and space was correct; as well as including texture and balancing the black and white. I also wanted to give the piece a direction or a rhythm by making the lines close together and directional. The use of these element and principles helped me create visual emphasis by showing value and the main focuses in my piece.

I both did and did not enjoy this project. This medium was absolutely painful. I had to carve hundreds of little lines close together which made my arm cry out. I also got a sore neck and back from it too. But i loved how the product turned out and believe it or not a little bit of fun came out of all that pain. I want to improve my carving technique and enhance my line quality. The best part of my piece is definitely the directional rhythm of my piece from all the lines.

Kaitlyn T.

              For this assignment, we were asked to think about a conflict and to illustrate our conflict by creating a relief print.  This project made me think about worldwide conflict.  Therefore the conflict I chose was the effects of pollution on the environment.  Before I started this project, I had to brainstorm ways to represent my conflict.  Brainstorming is the most important part of this project because this is the foundation of the entire project.  Being able to plan out every detail is crucial.  The most difficult part of this project was creating consistent prints.  It takes a lot of practice in order to get an even print.

                My conflict represents the effects of pollution on the environment.  In my print, I have a weeping willow, a smoky factory, and a girl sitting in the field.  I have the willow growing through the road to show how strong the environment is, and I used a weeping willow to represent a depression.  I think this conflict is important because people need to become aware of the choices that they make.  I used pattern and unity to emphasize the tree.  As a whole, the texture throughout the print stays pretty consistent causing a pattern.  Because the tree and field have similar texture, they create unity.  I also used the rule of thirds to create and emphasis on the tree.  I made the tree the focus because the environment is the focus of pollution.  The environment is the reason why we should want to change.

                When I was planning out my print, I made sure that it looked balanced by using the rule of thirds.  I also wanted to make sure the print didn’t have any empty spaces.  Another technique I used was texture.  I wanted my print to look somewhat realistic.  By using these techniques, I was able to create a visual emphasis in making the tree the focal point.  I want the audience to notice the tree the most.

                I really enjoyed doing this project, because it allowed me to be more creative.  The opportunities were endless.  I also enjoyed the print making process.  I want to improve on creating even prints consistently.  I believe the best part about my piece is the theme and how I illustrated my conflict.  Overall, I am happy with how my print turned out.



Dakota M.

This assignment for this project was to use the subject of conflict to create a relief print. It was kind of hard to think of a conflict at first. Before I started this project I made a word map of ideas. I came up with my idea because I thought it would be cool to see a print of Bob. Some important steps of this process were to lay out the pictures so they looked good and fit on the block. A difficult step was to cut out the smaller parts of the print itself without cutting to much off or messing up the design. I overcame these difficulties by cutting slow and carefully.

            My conflict represents all the conflicts that Bob Marley sang and talked about if his music and his everyday life. The main conflict is equality between all humans. The lion and the “Jah Live” represents how you should be able to be different if you want or choose. These themes are important to me because I feel everyone should be treated equal and right. Also, people should be able to choose how they live their life without any say from anyone else.

In my project I used a lot of contrast and nonlinear patterns to really show the outline of Bob and the lion. I used patterns on the side to create a different vibe. Using these elements helped me show the black and white contrast of the image.

 I enjoyed doing this project because I did images that I liked and thought were cool. I didn’t like how hard the board got after a while and how hard it was to carve when it got hard. I want to improve on putting the ink on equally. The best part of my piece is Bob and the lion of Judha.

Suzette Z

Spoiled Children

          The assignment for this project was to make a print showing conflict. This made me think of all the different things in this world that shows conflict. It also made me think of kids. There are a lot of conflicts with children. Before I started on this project I had to look up some images of conflict. I have seen many different ones but nothing seemed to get my attention until my teacher told me to think about a problem. That’s when I thought of making my print on spoiled kids. The steps in making this work of art that were to make it look real and to have people be able to relate to my print.one part of the process that was a little difficult for me was trying to figure out how I was going to get my point across to the audience. I finally asked the teacher and she helped me overcome the difficulties.

          My print represents spoiled children. This image is important to me because I always see so many little kids that their parents spoil them at such a young age. To me this is not a good thing it makes me angry. I used pattern to emphasize the girl in my drawing shows how instead of being outside she is just laying down with electronics all around her.

          When I was doing my print I made sure that it was going to look the little girl. The child was supposed to show how the girl has so many electronics around her. I also wanted to be able to look at my print and see what I was trying to get across to the people looking at the picture. The use of these element and principles helped me create visual emphasis by using all the techniques. I made it look how I wanted it to look.

          I really enjoyed this project at some points of it. I also didn’t enjoy this project because of the drawing part of it. The best part about my piece is that

I think it shows what I’m trying to get across to the audience. 

Victoria V.

Xavier H.

Artists Statement               

            The assignment for this project was to create a relief print that represents a conflict in your life or in the real world.  Before I started this project, I had to find a conflict in my life that was important to me.   I decided on the conflict of how people invent crazy stories of sea monsters and giant fire breathing dragons.  This is a conflict that has occurred to me several times in my life.  The steps that went into creating this work of art that were most important to me was making the (design) and carving it into the material.  The hardest part in this project for me was taking risks in the carving portion of the work.

            My conflict was that of how humans came up with the idea of dragons and sea monsters.  Did they actually exist of were they created in the imagination of humans.  In the print, I used a technique that made the dragon head look like it was carved into the bark of a tree or a flat piece of wood this helped to prove that these myths are thousands of years old.  When all they could do to record stories was to write it on a cave wall or scratch it into a piece of wood.

            A conscious decision I made in the process of making the print was giving the dragon dimension in the design.   When I was working on my print I used simple shapes and textures to make the (design) easy to recognize when I started printing.  I also took some of the background texture completely out of the (design) to make the image look like it was pulling itself out of the paper instead of being flat and without depth.

            In conclusion, I really enjoyed doing this project because it taught me how to create texture and emphasis in carving and in the prints of the (design).  If I ever get to chance to do another print (design), I will try to create more texture in the main (design) of the print.  In my opinion the best part of my (design) is the Dragon Head, which was the main point.  That is why I chose and enjoyed the creating of my conflict print (design).

Dustin R.

Artist Statement

            The assignment in my drawing and painting class was to carve a conflict into a print. The more I thought about a conflict, the more I thought of myself and what a conflict meant to me. There are plenty of problems that each person has individually and can express differently. Before I started on this art project I had to figure what I knew was a conflict with this whole world. Not just me but what everyone else would see as well. So the whole world was on my mind and I felt like that would be a good idea to carve first. Technology I feel like is taking this worlds nature so then I had to involve it in my print. The different patterns were difficult and hard to carve. I just added a little in at the end to seem like universes.

            My tech over world print represents the world and how it evolves. Shows how because we rely on technology it becomes more common and could be taking nature over. The theme can be described as the world being peeling a layer of earth with a solid metal core. I feel that this can relate to everyone in the world and it is important for everyone to understand because it seems true. I used the world to create unity within the middle of the piece. The shape of the planet helped create the visual. The space between the metal core and the earth layer being peeled helped become more realistic.

            When I was doing my print for this art class, I made sure it wasn’t sloppy. I wanted for people to realize what was happening and why it’s important to all of us to make sure that the earth stays nature and not technology. I hope that the visual in peoples mind are clear and that we rely on technology way too much. I also feel that the purpose of this print can be resembled to everyone in ever day life. The visual emphasis was created by the thought of what this world can come to and it’s just the thought that scares me because I wouldn’t want my children to live in a world of just technology.

            This project was very creative and I enjoyed making it about a conflict which brought out all the ideas in my head. Of course the carving of the piece isn’t always perfect but, even when you make a mistake; it can be changed and made to great creativity. There’s an infinite amount of ideas that work with this project and what nice is that there’s never a wrong answer I feel. The best part about my piece is that everyone can relate to technology use and how it’s abused every day and that’s what I wanted to prove and for everyone to understand.

Jordan U

Echo P

Artist statement

This assignment was to see how well you could carve a block and to see how well your ideas came through. We were meant to pick a topic that we felt strongly about and create a picture for it. At the beginning the teacher had us do mind mapping which I rejected. I was going to have a man dying in the back ground while Uncle Sam acted oblivious and helped a young girl who was from another country(how I was going to make that girl look like she was from another country I had not figured out and still haven't). What was most important to me was that it shouldn't look like someone else’s. The difficult part of this project was to make it my own and trying to figure out what parts should be white and what parts should be black. I overcame this by just going with it and trying something new, and doing what looked right and making a print then changing what needed to be changed.

The conflict I choose was how American try's to help and fix other countries before they help their own country. This is important to me because I live in this country and this country needs so much help. I used a variety of short and long lines, along with thick and thin lines. I used the lines to outline the bodies and show the effect of clothing, as well as the blackness in the skin.
When I was making my piece I made sure that Uncle Sam was noticeable and that the Americans In the back looked to be hurt and needing his help and he seemed to be oblivious. His back was turned as to say he turned his back on the people.

I didn't enjoy the print making process as much as I did the drawing portion. Making the print was long, tiring, painful, and sometimes confusing. It was hard to tell what lines should be cut and what lines I shouldn't cut. It was painful when I nicked myself

Jonathan B.

Artist Statement

            The print that I have made, is called, “The power of the Flag.” The print is based upon conflict, but there is more than one conflict shown in the block. The conflicts I put into the print are mostly based around problems between the United States and Iraq, Afghanistan, Etc. Iraq is constantly under the threat of execution and the fear of the nuclear bomb, in which they have no defense against.

          The main emphasis of the print is the person on his, or her, knees with a corn sack covering their entire head. I tried to indicate that this person is being executed. The conflicts represented by this person are the recent executions in Iraq. These executions are mostly based upon equality of rights and/or freedom of speech. This person is intentionally being executed in front of the American Flag, which is a way to say that the flag has no power to stop this person from being executed no matter how powerful the American Flag is believed to be, hence, “The Power of the Flag.”

          On the right side of the print (left side of the block) is the explosion and smoke of a nuclear explosion, which is clearly representing the threat of the nuclear bomb. I made the explosion intentionally larger than the American Flag, to the left of the print. The explosion is larger than the American Flag to argue, “The American flag has no power to stop a nuclear explosion.” If there is a nuclear explosion, what power does the American flag have against it? The print is based on these conflicts because they are conflicts that I hope come to an end as soon as possible. I hope that there will be a time when people in the regions of Iraq and Afghanistan will no longer have to live in fear of being executed and the fear of the nuclear bomb.

Dominic S

Artist Statement

            The assignment for this project was to make a relief print about a type of conflict. It made me think about my family history and the good and bad in the world. Before I started on this art project I had to make a mind map of ideas I had for conflict. I constructed the overall layout of my print in my head. The steps in making this work of art that were most important to me were finding out exactly what the conflict was that I was making the art about. This was also the most difficult part of this process.

            My yin yang approach represents the balance between good and bad. The main theme is the Asian style white dragon that is in the middle of the print. This theme is important to me because dragons are a fairly large part of my Japanese heritage. I used the rule of 3rds to bring most attention to the dragon. The dragon is the light part of the yin yang and I put a dark hacky sack on the other side. The meaning of this is to show the balance between good and evil. I incorporated personal stuff from my life to give this artwork more meaning.

            When I was doing my artwork I made sure that I used juxtaposition. I also used the rule of thirds to create emphasis on the dragon. The use of these elements and principle helped me create visual emphasis by attracting the eye to the dragon and emphasizing the yin yang.

            I really enjoyed doing this project. It was fun and helped me think deeper into my heritage. I want to improve on making smoother cuts in the linoleum and giving things a more lifelike appearance. The best part about my piece is how everything just sort of comes together.

Shayd K.

Taylor K.

Keenan C.

Keenan Clarke Artist Statement

Before I started on this project I had to sketch out thumbnail designs to get a better idea on how I wanted my print to look and still be based off of the conflict that I chose for it. Once I had a good idea on what I wanted to make I had to sketch what I thought was my best thumbnail sketch onto a large piece of tissue paper The steps that were most important to me were when I finally got to sketch out my final design because it was going to be my final result on how my prints would come out. The only thing that I really found difficult to do was carving out the print on my block because it was really hard to cut into the wood. I overcame it by learning better carving techniques and how to hold the tool better.

My conflict represents Money, it shows the Pyramid and giant eye that you see on the back of a dollar bill with building that are on fire in the back round. The bricks that make the Pyramid are dollar bills and the Sun has the money symbol inside of it. This theme is important to me because I believe that money if one of the biggest reasons for almost all of the in our world such as war, deforestation, assassinations, pollution etc. Art techniques that I used were Emphasis and Value. The Pyramid and eye show the main idea of my drawing, I wanted to make it part of the focus since it’s a very familiar to most people because of where it is seen. So I thought it would give people a better understanding or idea of what my print is about.

When I was doing my lines, I made sure that I was careful on the the sizes of them so one piece of the drawing wouldn’t have more emphasis than the other and wouldn’t change or effect what I wanted to have the most emphasis. I also worked on my positive and negative space to make the flames and spacing of the buildings seem more realistic. The use of these elements and principles helped me create visual emphasis by their spacing and value since that’s where your eye will lead to.

I really enjoyed doing this project because it was a step by step project slowly rising to the biggest part of it. I also liked that we had to do over 3-4 different procedures in the project such as carving, what I want to improve the most is my print making since I have a really hard time making them perfect. Next time will try to learn how to better balance out the ink when I make my prints. The best part about my piece I would have to say is my Pyramid and eye because it’s the biggest part of the drawing, most well done and most detailed.   

Jadayja G.

Artist Statement

Before I started on this art project I had to come up with a conflict that I wanted to make the main point of my design. I have a huge love for tigers and I wanted to base my conflict on animal poaching because I believe it’s wrong. In the last 50 years the population of tigers has gone down by 90 percent and I find that completely heart breaking and that’s why I choose this to be my conflict. The steps in making this art project that were most important to me were making sure that the audience could see the conflict. The way I tried showing the conflict was by having tears falling from down the tigers face, representing hurt and pain. One part of the process that was a little difficult for me was being able to get more than one texture throughout the piece. I overcame that difficulty by adding in other types of texture in tigers face, eyes, and the sunset.

           The conflict and theme are both animal poaching, this is such an important topic to me because I’m an animal lover and the fact that the animals in danger are still being killed for reasons such as, being made into clothing, or being used as a fancy rug is wrong. It is illegal to kill a tiger but a tigers coat sells for 20,000$ on the black market. Tigers are such a beautiful animal it would be horrible for them to become extinct. The part of my drawing that I wanted to show my main theme would be the tiger’s eyes with the tears coming from one of them. I made this part the main focus because I felt that it showed the tigers pain the most. There is a lot of meaning behind this art work because I really want others to get involved with saving tigers and not only tigers but other animals around the world that need help.

            When I was doing my art project I made sure that the tiger didn’t look like a cartoon. I wanted him to look as real as possible. An element I used throughout the whole piece was texture, because when you’re making prints, texture is one of the main elements that allow you to really see the image. I also used line because I needed straight lines to be pointing towards the tigers face as if it were the sunset. These elements helped emphasize my prints because they make you notice what is going on in the print.

           I really enjoyed doing this art project because it allowed me to express my feelings towards a topic that I feel strongly about; however, I didn’t like that fact that the martials we used to crave out the prints was extremely hard to carve into. Although I didn’t like the carving out the prints the end product was amazing, I want to improve on my carvings skills, this was only my second time ever doing something like this. I think my prints would have come out if had more time and more experience on carving out things.The best part about my piece is the way the tiger looks because he looks like really hurting.

Brittany W.

This assignment made me think what conflicts in the world really matters to me, I think global warming is important. Before I started this project I studied to way dead tress look like and the ocean at a certain view. After seeing the way the details looked I started to draw. The most important things in this artwork was making the tree look realistic to show what global warming did to the earth. I struggled with thin and thick lines throughout the project.

                My conflict shows how pollution and litter destroyed earth. It’s important to me because in order for humans and animals to live daily life we need clean water and breathable air. I tried to used rhythm in the ocean to emphasis the water coming towards you. I left most of the artwork dark to show how dirty the sky was.

                When I was doing my artwork I made sure to use line and shape while creating the image.  The lines make the tree have texture appearing more realistic. I made sure to use space in order to  make the city to look close to the factories and smoke.

                I really enjoyed certain aspects of this project. I liked expressing my opinions on global warming but I did not enjoy redrawing the original picture onto the gouge. Next time I’ll do better on creating thicker lines.

Herberto S.

 

Artist Statement

 

  With my monolium block I carved a conflict of branding, but to ponder that conflict I had to mind map certain conflicts that interested me which lead from the casual infinite war to causes of war which ranged from territory and resource conflicts to religion. Thinking harder I found that when a certain group separates from one another it is mainly caused by how they label themselves or brand themselves with certain subjects like religion and territory they own which sometimes intertwine like that of Mecca or holy land. Religion itself being a powerful brand, I started researching world religions and their symbols so I can include them in my carving. How do I include religious symbols to reflect branding? With this question in my mind I had to show what conflict religion can cause so I referred back to the casual war subject. To my benefit I could include which regions contained nuclear weapons that are branded by flags. To symbolize war and branding and fill my print I thought to have each region with nukes and the one’s local to it to be spread on three nukes varying in direction along with its related religion to explode from the nuke. Besides representing a conflict, I mainly wanted to show a solution to the conflict and in order to do both I decided to put the branded nukes with religion exploding from it out into space as the only time those regions would do such a thing is when they united as one group without religion or certain rule. The difficulty I had with this carving was being able to fit symbolism of all the religions and the regions with harmful or nuclear weapons on one print and being able to carve small enough to show all of them with detail.

 The conflict I am trying to express in my print is how the difference of one’s branding such as being Christian or Jewish and under what region of land like being American or Mexican, mainly caused by invasion or entry of one or the other, causes conflict. I also was able to represent a solution to my conflict with the background showing space and the origin of the nukes coming from earth and exploding in space along with all the flags and religious symbols that one brands another. With the symbols gone there is nothing left to brand one another or assume a religion or right of land, leaving us to unit as one against the basic conflicts of life and death. Belief is not a life or death conflict.  I tried to emphasize branding and war together by the repetition or abundance of religious and regional symbols and so much so it seems to explode or be of less quality or unique individuality. To present the explosion I used thick double curved lines in several directions that are pushing some religious symbols away from each other and melting or thinning the religious and regional symbols with the explosion of the nuke. This is mainly represented by the disoriented Buddha, Jewish star, and flags. I used wavy lines on the Buddha to represent melting.

  Due to the size of my print and abundance of symbols for branding including all the religions and flags along with the symbolism of war, being the nukes, three nuclear silos all together in opposite directions, I had to carve really small lines to show detail and thick lines to represent an outline of the objects. Moreover the symbols, I had to carve out a circle for the moon for my space background, but to make it look more realistic I had to leave a couple disorientated circles to represent a view craters on the moon. Because the moon looks like its smiling from far away I made the craters, disorientated circles, in the shape of a smile. To my benefit, it also emphasizes the solution behalf of my conflict as the moon in personification is happy to see all the conflict of branding eradicated.  

 By mind mapping simple conflicts of war, it seemed to me that I found a major conflicting cause of war in a generalized subject of branding. Being able to draw this lead war causing subject, it was relieving in a self-expressing way to carve the conflict itself, more so to draw its solution. Even though my idea of a solution is extract and far off from reality, it was exhilarating to carve my surrealistic print as a dream to are worldly conflicts. With this being my first carving and print, I find that I could have kept my symmetry as well as shapes in form with a little more shading and textures while carving on a bigger print to pay a little more attention to detail.



Rebecca H.

Artist Statement

The assignment for this project was to draw a conflict. After we drew the conflict we had to carve it. After we carved it we had to make prints. What I think about this project is that it was sort of difficult to show a conflict. Before I started on this art project I had to come up with a conflict. I came up with the idea by listening to music. The steps in making this work of art that were most important to me were carving. One part of the process that was a little difficult for me was coming up with a conflict and displaying it.

            My conflict represents how music has become vulgar. That music used to be really good and meant something and how it has fallen and people just make random music with no meaning. I used different techniques. Such as, patterns, sizes, and textures. My main focus on the piece of art is that the music is falling down and breaking apart.

            When I was doing my art work I made sure that I showed different textures. I also made sure I used different sizes to emphasis the textures. The use of these element and principles helped me create visual emphasis by using different numbers with the carving tool.

            To conclude, I did not enjoy doing this project. I did not enjoy it because I couldn’t come up with anything good. My art work didn’t come out that good. We didn’t have enough time to work on it. I want to improve on my ideas and carving next time. The best part about my piece is the music stance.

Mike M.

Artist Statement

            This assignment for this project was to pick a conflict that is currently happening throughout the world. Global warming was the conflict I had picked because it is a conflict that affects the whole world. Before I started on this art project I had to look up current conflicts that are throughout the world. The steps in making this work of art that were most important to me were the creation of the drawing and bringing my own ideas in my art. One part of the process that was a little difficult for me was finding a conflict to choose. And I overcame this by looking up different conflicts and comparing them.

            My global warming conflict represents the world melting by the sun. The main theme is to show that the whole world is affected by this conflict. This theme is interesting to me because it’s a conflict that people don’t realize that can be a major problem in the future. I used different textures to emphasize the world and the world melting from the sun. I made this part the focus because it’s not just one part of the world that this conflict takes place, it’s the entire world.

            When I was doing my global warming conflict I made sure that I added textures to emphasize the world melting. I also used different patterns to separate the land from the water on the world. The use of these elements and principles helped me create visual emphasis by creating the shape of the world and creating the shape of it melting.

            I really did not enjoy this project because I had trouble transferring the ink from the block to the paper. The ink did not really transfer that well to the paper, it was always too faded or too much ink. Also the amount of prints we had to do was hard to do in the short amount time we had. The best part about my piece is that it’s original and it easily shows the conflict that I’m trying to make a statement about.

Brooklynn P.

  

Artist Statement

This assignment for the "conflict" is about wolves and how it's effecting the farmers crops and

stock. Wolves are beautiful creatures and don't deserve the punishment. The wolves are

trying to survive in the wild and are doing what they need to do.. There are a ton of cattle and not

enough wolves.. they will go extinct if the farmers keep killing the wolves. I'm trying to send a message to people that killing wolves is wrong no matter the reason.

My "Fragile Angels" conflict represents protecting wolves from extinction from farmers killing wolves. The theme is wolves and cattle conflict. I used imagination and researching body language of wolves in order to make this art piece a success.

When I was doing my artwork, I used Pattern, Rhythm  and movement. I enjoyed creating the fighting wolves, it was a ton of fun to create.

I enjoyed the whole drawing wolves and creating a ton of texture, I put a ton of detail into my art piece. I'm really disapointed in how most of the detail didn't show but it was still a blast to draw.