civic engagement

For the civic engagement prompt I created a protest scene with an american flag in the background. This piece was a linoleum carving that was then printed on paper. I used color in the flag’s stripes and star block. I Used shape in the stars and the outlines of the people. I also used movement in the downward stripes which help to draw attention to the people.

There is a little bit of a soft focus in the artwork in the fact that none of the borders are sharp and well defined. Other than soft focus there weren’t many compositional rules used. This project almost devolved. I was planning on working to create a very clean, defined print but instead I preferred it in the blended and less defined version. I decided to go this route after my first print which only had the people and was not well saturated, but it looked really good in relation to the print so I created a complete print using the same idea.

The civic engagement prompt relates to citizens being aware of their rights and one of these rights is the right to petition or protest. This is guaranteed under the first amendment. Also when I thought of being an active citizen I immediately thought of protest so I created a protest scene. This relates to my life in that it is a right that all residents of the U.S.A. have. To improve this artwork I might try to create a series and maybe do another print that was more saturated and clean or try to fully cover the red I began painting over, but I overall I am happy with my project.