Project 1
Denial
Size: 13x18cm Medium: Dry Point Date: September, 2018 "Denial" is a piece inspired by Kathe Kollowitz and Sarah Gillespie, it represents the first stage of the grieving process. The moths symbolize death, specifically a death I recently experienced. Due to my facial expression and posture, I am clearly ignoring the moths. This symbolizes my denial in the death of a loved one, and how I want to ignore it but can't. |
Critical Investigation
For my senior art, I wanted to focus on the stages of grief because I recently experienced the loss of a loved one. I thought this would help me express myself during the process. The story of this particular piece is sort of unique. Before my relative had passes, I was researching symbols of life and death for this project because I wanted to symbolize the two roads our environment could take depending on our human behaviors. I found that crows, moths, and owls symbolized death. Minutes after finding this, I get news that my relative is in the ICU. I try to not freak out and go about my day since I couldn't do anything about it that moment. I walk into a different room of my house to try to get some work done, and I look up and see a huge moth on the ceiling. There was no apparent way that moth could have gotten into the house since that room had all the windows and the door closed. This is when something immediately told me what that meant, that my relative didn’t make it. But being the naive person I am, I refused to believe such a sign and gave myself hope every time I visited them in the ICU. A few days later, I find out the moth was truly trying to tell me something. Or maybe it was my relative… This story is what inspired the use of moths and me denying their meaning. I began by researching moths, so I could observe their shape to successfully draw one. I found Early Grey by Sarah Gillespie, which inspired the shape in which I drew the moths. The next artist that came to mind was Kathe Kollowitz, as she was a renowned expressionist artist who often depicted pain and grief in her subjects. This is due to the loss of her son during WWI, which is what inspired the recurring subject of mourning. To depict such a somber subject, she used dense lines and dark contrasts. These aspects are what I made sure to use within my piece. Her piece Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead, inspired me to depict the similar pose and facial expression to communicate the pain I felt. In addition, I knew I needed a way to communicate the denial I was feeling and I thought the pose Kathe Kollowitz used in this piece was perfect as it looks like the subject was ignoring their surroundings. I decided from this that I would use a similar pose with a background of swarming moths to symbolize how I ignored the message of the moths, but also how I am still in a state of denying death due to its oddity and suddenness.
Process
1. Brainstorming/Planning
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I settled on the idea that I would depict me in distress, making sure to draw my hands in face in order to depict the similar pose from Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead to communicate the pain I felt. This would also help communicate the denial I was feeling because it looks like I'm ignoring my surroundings. I knew I wanted to have a swarm of moths behind me along with them crawling on me. However, I had to experiment with different backgrounds because I wanted there to be a reason for a swarm of moths. An obvious reason would be a light source, as this attracts moths. I tried using a desk lamp, but decided against this. I decided the light bulb in the back gave a more somber and mysterious mood.
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2. Etching
After I created my finalized sketch, I began to etch in my design into a plastic etching plate using a triangular scraper. To do this, I simply took my plate and placed it over my sketch and essentially traced my drawing. However, there were times where I would take the plate off the sketch and put it onto a dark surface so I could see my etching marks. This is when I would fix areas as I could see them better, but this is also when I sort of went free hand with the triangular scraper. This is seen within the background, where it doesn't completely match my drawing.
3. Printing
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To begin printing, I soaked a couple pieced of paper in water for a few minutes. I set this aside while I worked putting the ink into my plate. I did this by spreading a small amount of oil-based ink onto by plate with a spatula. Then, I took pieces of paper to wipe off the excess ink and while working the ink into the grooves I etched. Once this was done, I took out a piece of paper and dried it off with a towel and wiped off excess lint. Then, I took a piece of normal drawing paper and set my plate onto that. I set this on the printing press and carefully placed my damp piece of paper on the plate. Then I fed this through the press. I repeated this step two more times until I was satisfied with a print.
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Experimentation
My first print did not turn out well because the ink came out very light. I realized this was because the printing device wasn't tight enough and because I wiped too much ink off. With the next print, I used more ink and tightened the printing device. However, I must have used too much ink as it came out smudged. To obtain the right print, it was just a matter of adjusting the amount of ink and making sure everything was clean throughout the process.
Reflection
Overall, I'm satisfied with my final piece. I think it not only turned out well but successfully communicates what I wanted it to. I think the title helps provide context, showing how this piece depicts the first stage of the grieving process. This shows how the moths symbolize death. Due to my facial expression and posture, I am clearly ignoring the moths which shows my denial in the death of a loved one, and how I want to ignore it but can't.
Early Grey by Sarah Gillespie, inspired the shape in which I drew the moths. Gillespie, however, uses color and form differently to depict the moth. I use value and shape to depict the moths. Despite these differences, the depiction of the moths create a somber mood as moths often represent fear and death. Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead, inspired me to depict a similar pose and facial expression to communicate the pain I felt. In addition, my piece and Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead both use dense lines and dark contrasts by the use of value to communicate the subject's pain.
Early Grey by Sarah Gillespie, inspired the shape in which I drew the moths. Gillespie, however, uses color and form differently to depict the moth. I use value and shape to depict the moths. Despite these differences, the depiction of the moths create a somber mood as moths often represent fear and death. Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead, inspired me to depict a similar pose and facial expression to communicate the pain I felt. In addition, my piece and Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead both use dense lines and dark contrasts by the use of value to communicate the subject's pain.
Connecting to the ACT
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Early Grey by Sarah Gillespie, inspired the shape in which I drew the moths as the shapes are similar. Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead, inspired me to depict a similar pose and facial expression to communicate the pain I felt along with the use of use dense lines and dark contrasts by the use of value to communicate that pain.
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Kathe Kollowitz created Self Portrait with Hand on Forehead to depict the pain and grief she felt. This is due to the loss of her son during WWI, which is what inspired the recurring subject of mourning.
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I can generalize and conclude that people use art as a type of coping mechanism due to experiencing tragic events. For Kollowitz, she used expressionism to help her cope with the death of her son and the catastrophic years of WWII.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
Denial represents the first stage of the grieving process - denial. The moths symbolize death, and due to my facial expression and posture, I am clearly ignoring the moths. This symbolizes my denial in the death of a loved one, and how I want to ignore it but can't.
5. What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
I concluded that tragic events, such as WWII, inspire artists to create art to help cope with the events. Furthermore, Kath Kollowitz allowed the tragic events of WWII to not only inspire her subject of mourning, but also her technique. This is potentially what inspired the somber subjects and techniques of expressionism.
Bibliography
Gillespie, Sarah. “Moths and Bees Archives.” Sarah Gillespie, www.sarahgillespie.co.uk/artwork-category/moths-and-bees/.
“Käthe Kollwitz.” MoMA, www.moma.org/artists/3201.
“Käthe Kollwitz.” MoMA, www.moma.org/artists/3201.