Sustained Investigation #5

What are ways in which different organisms anthropomorphize human behaviors and traits?

• IDEAS: Elephants mourn their dead family members.

• MATERIALS: Relief ink on paper

• PROCESSES: Sketch, Carve linoleum block, print, carve, print for all layers. 

• SIZE: X"xX"

Reflection on Work

I synthesized materials, processes, and ideas in multiple ways in my piece. I chose the materials that I did because a lot of my sustained investigation has been focused on exploration. For example, using watercolor pencils for the first time in my bee piece, collaging and making stencils for my whale piece, and trying to make my chimpanzees as realistic as possible. I chose to try printing because I wanted a challenge and I had a vision of my piece that I wanted to make a reality. For processes, I chose to do a reduction print with a few different aspects because I wanted to be able to achieve a level of detail without recarving a block for every print. I also chose to do multiple different test prints and color combinations to be able to practice and visualize the different possibilities. The piece fits in with my idea because I hope that it portrays the emotions of elephants and the depth in which they feel them. The elephant is a huge, strong, and wise animal, and I wish to portray that in the larger elephant. The smaller one, lying on its side, is meant to display loss, in which the older elephant is mourning. It could also be interpreted as a baby elephant that has fallen asleep and the big elephant covering her with a blanket. Both interpretations show the deep emotions that elephants feel, similar to humans. 

My piece shows evidence of practice, experimentation, and revision guided by my question. For example, I have four prints that I worked on the entire process, and made countless practice prints of each layer, constantly working on my placement, technique, and consistency. I experimented with different color combinations, different amounts of ink on the block, different amounts carved out, etc. I revised by correcting any mistakes I made on a print and really focused on not repeating it. I changed the baby elephant's body from bright blue to a more gray blue and changed the details on many prints. 

This piece is very informative moving forward. I have never done a printing piece like this, and I took a chance by trying it for a piece. I think that it was successful, especially the large elephant. The smaller elephant is a bit of an issue because people don’t see it as an elephant (as I have realized from lots of feedback)... I will probably go back in and change it a little before I submit it. In my head, it looks like an elephant, and while the technique was sub-par for the project, I think I utilized the skills that I had and came out with a very unique piece that I had a lot of fun with. Moving forward, this piece was probably too ambitious, and I don’t think I would have the time for something like this again before the year ends. I probably should have completed it at the beginning of the year, but thank you so much Ms. Houston for being patient and so helpful! My next piece involves crows, specifically New Caledonian crows, and their impressive ability to use homemade tools in the wild, for example creating hooked sticks to reach food in hard-to-get places. It is an acrylic piece because I think I want to go back to something a little more comfortable after such an exploratory SI#5. I intend to show the process of creating the stick tool with multiple birds and show the physical traits (such as a straighter beak than the common crow) that make the NC crow such a well-prepared bird for using the hook.