Final Artist Statement - Blog 10



I was originally inspired by the Starshade project because I was fascinated in its function and in the idea of furthering discovery. The gold foil aluminum used on the Starshade definitely influence some of my material choices for the final including the silver mylar and orange vinyl. Even the idea of the Starshade as a two sided shape that acts as a barrier between the telescope and the star correlated to my decision to make the paintings two sided. The paintings are done with acrylic on wood panels shaped like ovals. The oval references space and time as well as voids and cosmic shapes. Solar systems operate in circular formations and I felt an oval would best reference solar landscape and imagery as well as telescopic perspective.

The three paintings differ from each other and were inspired by research on exoplanets and looking at artist visualizations of what these planets may look like. One of my favorite things that the art department did at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were the space posters of different missions and exoplanets such as Trappist-1. The posters were imaginary and creative, depicting what could exist outside of our solar system. These visuals inspired my paintings as well as researching planets like Proxima Centauri B and the Kepler 11 Solar System.  I wanted to include elements of water, atmosphere and landscape into the solar paintings to reference the possibility of life or habitable environments on other planets.

The gestural space paintings occupy one side of the panel while the other side is mixed media collage. There is a base layer of mylar with organic swirling patterns created by collage. I used cut outs of my left over photograms from project one of plants and flowers to form the collages and then embellished the harsh angular shapes using a marker with curved, swirling lines. The use of flowers and leaves in the photograms and collage are again a symbol of life forms and placing them into a solar context while also considering exoplanets is an imaginative and hopeful thought that life probably does exists beyond our solar system. Together the shapes they create reference swirling nebula, cosmos and galaxies. The final layer to the collage was the orange vinyl stencil. I decided to make cut outs in the vinyl instead of covering the entire collage to add more intricate moments of discovery. The cut outs accentuate the forms of the collage and allow the viewer to see some of the details of the collage. I was thinking about how the Starshade will allow scientists to discover more details about exoplanets and wanted to use this idea visually. As sculptures, the viewer also only sees one side at a time and so by placing them in a position where the viewer can interact and walk around them, the viewer is actually able to discover something new physically and visually.

I chose to display the panels as sculptures and not mount them to a wall because I wanted more engagement from the viewer and I wanted both sides to be visible. The triangular stands were recycled pieces from the panel after cutting out the oval. I liked that the stands had a relationship with the paintings in that they came from the same piece of wood and shared the same curvatures. They also seemed futuristic in their aesthetic and added dynamism to the oval shapes.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JPL Visit #1

Image
Undoubtedly my favorite part of touring NASA’s Jet Propulsion Labs was the exploratory star-shield that we were able to observe in the making. When we first entered the room, I was immediately entranced with just the pure size and reflective material that was suspended from the ceiling. The technology behind what they were creating, a shield to block out suns in other solar systems, was far beyond my grasp but somehow the project seemed tangible as they were approaching it from a design perspective. The man (whose name I wrote down completely illegibly) who was teaching us about this technology spoke first about the phenomenally vast amount of solar systems there are beyond ours and how difficult they are to observe. Small planets are actually the most common and there are plenty of them within the habitable zones in relationship to their respective suns. The problem in observation is that there are always stars that are brighter than these smaller planets that over shine them and mak...
Read more

blog 10

Image
The medium I am most comfortable in, is photography. For my final project I decided to photograph optic illusions using mirrors. The majority of my work is usually colorful tending to focus more on portraiture or the human form. There is always some form of balance in my images, whether it is the picture itself or in post production. I enjoy a sort of rhythm within my images. I did a project similar to this a couple weeks before but, focused on using one mirror, by trying to confuse the audience as to where and what they were looking at. For this project I decided to work with multiple mirrors and use a different perspective while shooting these images. The idea behind my final project was to create photographs that formed a natural optical illusion by using mirrors. I added color by use of location and clothing that my model wore. The process behind the work varied throughout my time photographing this project. In one image you may notice that the model herself was holding the mirr...
Read more

Blog #2

From our tour at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena there was a lot to take in from exciting missions in the works or ones that are just finishing. For the beginning of the tour they took us to the museum to give us a history lesson on NASA. From the museum we learned about the first mission into space to many more after that one. In one of the rooms they took us to where there was exact replicas of some of the space crafts that were launched. One that really got my attention was Cassini-Huygens also known as just Cassini. The creation process of Cassini first started in the 80s and was finally launched in October 15, 1997. When our tour guide was explaining this mission he had his own personal connection with Cassini and it made the spacecraft seem even more significant. To me I think it’s fascinating that Cassini was launched in 1997 and has been in space now for over 20 years all the while finding new observations along the way.   The Cassini reached Saturn’s orbit on July...
Read more