Royal River Watershed Species Tile

Striped Skunk, ceramic, 6x8

Project Goals:

• To use art in raising awareness of the flora & fauna located in the Royal River watershed

• To learn about artists who work with animals as their subjects, (specifically, working Maine ceramic artist, Tim Christensen, and wildlife artist and Maine Master Naturalist Michael Boardman);

• To become acquainted with basic ceramic vocabulary;

• To learn about and find inspiration in the highly patterned art (alebrijes) from Oaxaca, Mexico;

• To form and paint a low-relief ceramic tile that contains both imagery of a species of your choice and an indication of the systems around it which promote that species’ survival.

Artists and Art Culture Studied

• Ami Vitale, Tim Christensen, Joel Sartore, Anne London, Louie Psihoyos, Travis Threlkel, and Oaxacan alebrijes from Mexico

Reflection

I believe that if a piece is executed in the right way artist's voices are heard much clearer than words would. Many people nowadays are drawn more towards visuals rather than long lengthy text so with this artists can use the advantage of bright and beautiful pieces to spread awareness or even just inform people of a topic, and many people take this and want to learn more about it. In my piece, while I'm not so much bringing awareness I do think it's cool for people to learn more about an animal that is so commonly found in our area, this animal being the skunk. I used the systems of leaves and critters to represent an average skunk's diet, trees/ forest and flowers to represent their habitat, and stars to show that this animal for the most part is nocturnal. On top of the systems, I chose the curled position for my skunk to represent that the species is a burrowing animal. I believe all these systems have important meaning but I really do think that the nocturnal star print is an important piece for people to know, many are scared of skunks because of their stinky reputation but if you're exploring at the right time of day you’re more likely to avoid any harm.

I chose a secondary color scheme for the wide variety of mixing opportunities it has. This consists of purples, greens, and oranges. I believe I was able to execute many more colors off of hues and tints by maintaining the color I had available. I really did like the outcome of my colors, but if I were to do this again I would choose a different color scheme for more of a challenge there was sooo much opportunity for this color scheme and I think if I chose something more challenging it may make for a more interesting unique color ranges.

Skunks have a unique defense system that drives many away. Skunks themselves however prefer what humans created and like living underneath things such as porches and raised buildings. I like this animal because while everyone wants to drive it away they only pull themselves closer to us. I believe to help out the species by creating more places for them to live safely out of the way of humans to prevent pest extermination.

Planning