Sustained Investigation #3

Artist Statement

For my third sustained investigation, I decided to focus on displacement to demonstrate the harmful human impact on the environment. The focal point of my exploration was a depiction of life on Mars, posited as a potential refuge in the face of irreparable climate change. In this visual narrative, I portrayed a polar bear, a species profoundly affected by climate change in the Arctic, serving as a symbol of displacement, to emphasize that we only have one planet, and one chance to address this issue before it is too late. 

For materials, I used pencil to sketch out my design, and then began coloring with red, orange, yellow, green, blues, and black pencils. To add stars in the sky, I used white gel pen, and for the words, I used black sharpie. 

Colored pencil is a material I am not familiar with using in my artwork, so I had to experiment with building my layers by pressing hard to create vibrant, saturated colors and fill the white space as much as possible. Learning how to blend and transition between the colors in the sky to create an ombre/sunset effect also proved to be a challenge, and I had to go over the colors many times until I was happy with the results. I incorporated the use of cut-out bubble letters painted with a black sharpie to introduce text elements. Placing them strategically so they would break the borders. also played around with the illustrator tool on my computer so I could familiarize myself with it for future projects.