VISual arts Juniors Group A

Schmelty

Acrylic on canvas

The goal with this assignment was to show how people or yourself see you on the outside. My piece shows how new people see me vs. How people who are close to me see me.

Me

Ink and graphite on paper

I created this piece with the intention of showing to others how I see myself in a surreal but physically accurate way on the outside. I chose to make a more simplistic way of seeing myself and to detail particular parts because many people tend to focus on one particular aspect of themselves, in this case my face and hair for me. The process started with a pencil outline of just me alone with no shading, and evolved from there, starting with my eyes and moving to each feature that was prominent to me. The use of ink for me both showed my favorite medium, while also creating a stark contrast from the light graphite outlines to the darker facial features.

2007

Acrylic on canvas

I created an inner self portrait using acrylic paint. My intention of this piece was to represent how I felt at the time I painted this. The image recreated in the painting is of me in a pumpkin patch at the age of 3. I chose this for my work because I was struggling with the concept of my “inner self”. I feel that the full-coverage windbreaker suit I was wearing in the picture represents my sense of being very guarded about my emotions, and the age I was represents my naive sense of self and hesitation to look deeper within.

The Good, the Bad, and the Passionate

Acrylic on canvas board

I made this piece in three different parts because there are three parts of myself that I think are most important: my joyful and fun-loving self, my activist self, and my dark and unhappy self. I wanted to include all three parts of myself in my self portrait because I would not be who I am without my mental illnesses or my bad days, my passion for fighting for the rights of others, or my days spent smiling into sunshine. The three canvas boards are separate but they each contain a painting and collage that follow a lifeline that goes through each board. This line represents the connection between each part of me. I printed out album covers from my favorite artists, headlines from various news sources, and pictures from said news sources and glued them onto the canvas to create the collage.

Physically, I am here

Acrylic on canvas

I decided to go with a simple style to represent my physical being. Appearance is very surface level, so I wanted to make the piece look more flat as it only represents my appearance and says very little about me as a person.

Outer self-portrait

Acrylic on Canvas

This acrylic self-portrait reflects how I believe others around me see me as well as how I want to be perceived. The mood of the painting is calm and simple, with the gold and silver jewelry that stands out. The subject is sitting calmly with her eyes close to exhibiting the feeling of peacefulness to represent how I want to be perceived as someone calm and content. The jewelry which is painted in metallic acrylic paint is meant to stand out to draw viewers’ attention and represent the attention-seeking and the longing to stand out that I possess. I chose to create that aspect of the piece through jewelry because, at my previous school where everyone wore the same uniform and individualism was limited in terms of physical appearance, I would wear lots of necklaces and big earrings to stand out from the rest. I chose to paint the background pink because I feel as if I've incorporated that color into my identity through owning things and wearing clothes that are mainly pink. The overall piece is simple with there only being the figure and the background to show that I believe that some people perceive me as plain but the jewelry is used to counter it by being an element that stands out.

Ocean Cloud

Acrylic Paint on Paper

This assignment was a piece of art that represents our mental selves. My original plan was to do something with a tree, but I couldn't think of a good idea for that. So my second idea was "Whale". Then I was like, clouds are pretty, so I put 2 and 2 together and this is what came to be.

Internal Self Portrait

Digital

I wanted to use my art to express the things that pique my interest. A lot of what I spend my time talking about is my favorite shows and music, so that’s what my piece is about. The two characters shown are interchangeable as they’re both characters I draw to represent myself; the devil one is my standard one, and the little cherub is the way I represent myself when I’m especially happy. The piece shows the devil asking the cherub about what they love, and the cherub responds with tons of little speech bubbles, each one representing a different interest or fixation of mine.

Strawberry Milkshake (Minnesota)

Crayon, markers, graphite, watercolor

Our assignment was to create a piece that shows how we view the inside of our minds. With my piece, I focused a lot on conflict, and points of interest. A glitched crayola figure is tied to a clashing earthy landscape, only binded by a salmon pink strawberry milkshake. Two color palettes fight for attention, as do the vertical lines in the figure and the horizontal plains of Earth.

The Boy

Digital

I was told to create what I thought represented myself and I took that as how I see myself. I used my Ipad and an art program called Procreate, and I thought of how I see myself and tried my best to put that down on paper.

Outer Appearance

Acrylic on canvas

The assignment we were given was to create a representation of our outer selves. I thought of this as displaying what others see me as while what I see myself as. I see myself as uncertain so I decided to go for something that harnessed that feeling. My process for making this piece was from freehanding a photo of myself and tracing my freehand onto my canvas. I then began with my background, not really knowing exactly what I was going to decide on for my color. I decided I was roughly going to mix blue and red to give my painting a cloudy look to inspire a thought of confusion. I then depicted my face with one of my least favorite color choices to represent a concept that we don’t truly know ourselves until death. My intention was to make others reflect on themselves and try to interpret themselves fully.

Outer Self Portrait

Acrylic and Colored Pencil on Canvas

I created a painting based on the assignment our create a piece about how you are outwardly perceived. I used acrylic paint and a canvas to draw myself and then went in after that with colored pencils to add more detail. I found this challenging because I have body dysmorphia and I don't really know what I look like but I did my best and I am satisfied with the results.

To Live To Die

Gouache watercolor/ white gel pen on watercolor paper

I created my piece To Live To Die because I was given a summer assignment to create a portrait of my inner self. When given this prompt, I was unsure as to how I wanted to approach it because I’d never really thought of my inner self as a tangible/ visible object. So I decided to take things a bit literal and actually paint my “inner self” or skeleton. Along with the image of myself as a skeleton, I decided to add the heart in the center because it is believed to be where the soul is stored and has great meaning to me since I draw that organ in a lot of my other works. For the third eye in the center of my skull, on a whim I decided to draw in a little ghostly self portrait to again represent my spirit and consciousness in a way that was disconnected from my physical form. The idea of the third eye is also important to me because it represents connection to the spiritual self and enlightenment. The background of space and aura is also connected to the previous idea as well. Overall this piece encompasses my inner self as a spirit living out of a vessel and moving/ growing through space and time.