Sustainable Abstract Portraits

What is my project?

Have you ever wondered how to cost-effectively and sustainability create art? Well, for my IP10 project, I created abstract portraits with unconventional recycled materials such as recycled plastics, scrap crafting tiles, and things I have lying around the house, so that I can repurpose things that often go to waste, into art. In doing so, I have learned to always give my creative eye to the things surrounding me, and have learned how to deal with depth, texture, and contrasting colors. I intend to learn about techniques and interpretations of the abstract world and create everything involved from scratch (including the canvases), and I hope to educate others about how they can achieve a more sustainable approach to creating art by allowing my viewers to create their own art at my IP10 presentation. 

How did I get here?

I have always had a love and interest in visual arts, even more specifically, painting and collaging. Anything I could get my hands on, I would use to create elaborate and useless yet enjoyable DIYs, some of which I even recorded the process of. I would tackle anything, besides proper human anatomy, because I was scared of making a mistake and being bad at it. What I didn't know is that to grow you must first be not so great at something, I hadn't experienced the elongated process of an art project. 

My first experience with a long art project was in 6th grade. We were tasked with creating an art piece replicating a famous Renaissance painting, and instead of choosing from the copious options of portrait artists, I chose to paint cherries. In the following years, I continued to use art for making cards, gifts, and sometimes just to create. In 8th grade, I had the opportunity to study portrait painting in a project much like this one, but yet again, I shied away from it, in fear of making something "bad". 

Going into this year, I first wanted to confront my fear of painting portraits head-on, by attacking hyperrealism. However after realizing how my perfectionism and art ego would stump me, I chose to play with the idea of abstraction. Never having done what is qualified as abstraction, I was intrigued to pursue this creative and boundless medium.