Cedar Shoals High School

Michael Castile Niedzwiecki

11th Grade - Cedar Shoals - Laura Lee Johnson - Art Teacher

Icarus

Pen and Ink

Death from hubris and the inevitability of said hubris/death. Flying too close to the sun is the thing which killed Icarus, it shows a control of our fate.

Jessica Galvan

12th Grade - Cedar Shoals - Laura Lee Johnson - Art Teacher

The Rose of Hope

Pen and Ink

I know in many cultures the rose is such a symbolic flower and has a special meaning. I wanted to make the rose to really stand out in my piece. I wanted the rose to symbolize hope and inspiration. I wanted to communicate hope in my drawing by placing the rose in the middle of a diamond shape that appears to be 3D. I wanted the rose to appear like it is in a display to show how hope is stored in someone. I want the 3D form of a diamond to represent people and the rose to represent hope. Around the 3D form I drew three circles on both sides in different sizes to communicate how sometimes hope is greater in some situations and in others not as big.

In my drawing I have used the repetition of dots to create value in my rose. I used line, space and form to create emphasis and a focal point in my art. With lines and space I composed an illusion of a 3D form in my work which I put around the rose to create emphasis on my rose. I used different mark making techniques which create variety in my work. I think using stippling and having some parts of the rose darker and other parts lighter help create a variety of value. The placement of the circles on both sides helps create balance in my work and fill up some empty space. Inside all the circles I added dotted lines and a dot. Adding the dot helped balance out the line weight. I also made the tips of the diamond darker to add depth to the form. The first thing I did was sketch my rose and made sure my proportions were accurate. After getting my sketch correct I went over it in ink and began adding value to it. To create value in my rose I used stippling as my mark making technique. I made some areas in my rose darker than others to create variety in my value. To create darker areas in my rose I layered my stippling and to create lighter areas I did not add as much stippling. After creating value in my rose I used a different mark making technique to create value in the leaves. I layered vertical lines to create value in the leaves of my rose. After creating value in my rose I used google drawing to brainstorm how to add shapes that I thought would complement my rose. I created the illusion of a 3D form which I placed around my rose. Then I added some circles around my shape to help balance my piece. I also added some dotted lines inside my circles to help fill in that space. I also added some lines around the top and bottom of the rose to help balance the weight vertically.

In conclusion I am very pleased with my rose drawing, I think all the elements and principles I used in this piece did a great job at creating unity in my piece. I am very proud of my craftsmanship. I think leaving my work in just black and white helps create a statement. I am pleased with my rose because I think the value and smooth value gradation helped make it appear realistic and I think the placement of the shapes and space helped create an emphasis and complement the rose. I hope when people view my work they can see the 3D form and realize the rose was placed inside it to represent how hope is stored inside of everyone. I hope the viewer realizes everything that is done in the world is done with hope and that once you choose hope anything is possible.