Melissa James

"WE LITTLE BUT WE TALLOWAH"

This artwork was created in a cartoon style in homage to Faith Ringold and Roy Lichtenstein. A man is trying to protect himself from the dangers of Hurricane Melissa who is battling across the seas. His only defence is a rusty piece of zinc which he holds in his hands like a shield against the rising waves.He is battling the Hurricane alone there is no shelter and no support. His only support is his own self belief in overcoming the danger before him.

The Jamaican motto ‘ We little but we tallowah’ in his mind.

In this second homage piece, Hurricane Melissa is seen raging in the sea. Her features are human like suggesting that her existence could be man-made, a human construct. The eye of its storm is clearly visible, and the hurricane’s long arms hang in the air creating gusts of wind.

The strength of the winds have created high waves representing a danger to the two fishermen on the boat who have defied the hurricane warnings and taken to the sea. They believe that they can overcome the threat as they are ‘ little but tallowah’.

Assemblage

I created several portraits using found objects.

Assembled portrait of Dolly Parton created with petals, buttons, crisps packets, bubble wrap, black glove,, cotton buds, and watercolour paint.

I created a digital collage with images found online .I used phtoshop to pull the collage together. l then drew and painted the image.

A DAY AT THE PARK

My 4 sided box, was inspired by the work of John Cornell and Betye Sear.

• The inspiration for this project came from the idea of creating a tree on a box . I drew a scene of a Park and incorporated a tree and some of the different activities you would see at a park on separate panels.

• l used a variety of mixed media materials that worked well with the theme of a Park. These included embroidery thread, recycled straws, string, buttons ,watercolour paints and marker pens.

• I chose to use textiles and threads because these were found objects that l have never used before in my artwork. These threads were a variety of colours. I also had several items of clothing that were no longer being worn.

"What A Life"

The final major project explored the theme of opposites for the brief 'What a life'. Using illustration techniques l created two characters Mai and Jack whose the life experiences are very different and opposite to each other.

•Mai experienced positive life experiences transitioning from being overweight and unemployed to losing weight, winning the lottery and buying a home. On the other hand Jack experienced a series of negative events. His journey began with being underweight, gaining weight, and then getting divorced. In the end Jack lost his job and ultimately his home.

From a challenging start to financial stability, Mai is able to achieve personal happiness whilst Jack’s life took a downward turn, highlighting the opposite outcomes in their lives.

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