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.