Stella's Art Blog

Tove Jansson was a Finnish illustrator who was best known for her comics/children's book series The Moomins . She created the world of Moomintrolls, hippopotamus-like creatures living in the mystical world of Moominvalley. The lovable characters spread and gained a worldwide audience and are now recognizable figures in children's media. The Moomins gained multiple TV series, a movie, and an excess of merchandise. I grew up loving The Moomins and Tove Jansson's art. She still remains a huge inspiration to me today. I love the simplicity of her style and her mark-making abilities, adding a sense of simplicity to her illustrations.

Jim Henson is one of my greatest inspirations in terms of 3D art. While he is best known for his work with The Muppets/Sesame Street, my favorite example of his work is The Dark Crystal. The Dark Crystal is a dark fantasy film set in a world of puppets. Henson spent over five years on the project, collaborating with other creators such as Frank Oz, Gary Kurtz, and Brian Froud to build an epic fantasy world inhabited by creatures of all shapes and sizes. Recently, the Henson company produced a prequel series, combining both the traditional use of puppetry with more modern elements to create a new and exciting story. The puppets are the life of the story, ranging from the cruel, vulture-like Skeksis to the wise and mysterious Mystics and everything else in between. It was very interesting to see the changes in quality from the puppets in the original movie to the prequel series. The range of mystical creates inspires me to want to pursue puppetry on my own.

Recently, I have been studying a lot of Jim Henson's works. He has always been a favorite of mine, as I grew up on shows like "The Muppets". Recently, I watched the Henson company's new Netflix series- "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance". It inspired me to do some puppetry of my own, which I have been working on. My first attempt at a puppet has been a Muppet-style head of Audrey II from the movie Little Shop of Horrors. I wanted to challenge myself by turning a rather grotesque character into something fluffy and goofy. I simplified the design of the head to build the puppet skeleton out of a foam base. From there, I sewed together a pattern for the "skin" of the puppet before attaching it to the foam skull. Adding a mouthplate and extra details completed the head of the puppet. Now that I've finished the head, I can begin to work on the rest of the bod, such as the stem, leaves, and flower pot. Original "Audrey II" puppet d

Nam June Paik was a Korean American artist who is considered to be "the father of video art". He received his BA at the University of Tokyo in 1956 where he was also studying art history and music. In 1964, he moved to the USA, quickly becoming a leading innovator after settling in New York by having his works shown at schools and galleries. From there, his works only expanded as he experimented with the video and film medium, being among the first to use a portable video camcorder for his artwork. Paik's education in music played along with his films as he combined both mediums in his works. Some of his works include both video and sculpture, put together for exhibition. Some even include performance art, which he often collaborated with other artists for. His works usually feature physical TV screens, sometimes placed together to create sculptures, other times interacting with other objects.

Cheyenne Julien is a RISD graduate who specializes in 2D art. Her work usually focuses on concepts such as race and prejudice, specifically the struggles that black and brown people go through. Her figures are very exaggerated and dreamlike, something that immediately caught my eye. Her use of color and expression is astounding, it's one of the reasons I was drawn to her. I also appreciated her almost cartoony approach to creating figures while still maintaining aspects of realism in the shading and color.

This Tuesday, a representative from Lesley University came to our school. He offered me a portfolio review, to which I gladly accepted. He gave me lots of appreciated constructive criticism on my pieces, focusing on what I could do to improve them. He expressed his admiration for a certain piece, but told me that he felt there could be "more" to the scene. I completely agreed, as I had rushed the background for the sake of time. Today in Independent Studio, I took to improving the piece and started on the first step towards creating a more interesting image. This class period, I painted another face behind the original one, in a more painterly style as opposed to the rigid and stylized structure of the first one as well as blending the background. I plan to continue on this piece by adding either more faces or a landscape behind the two faces already there. 

Fernando Botero is a figurative artist and sculpture known for his strange and uncanny way of depicting bodies. Botero's "Cat" (or "Gato") is a well-known bronze sculpture that currently resides in Barcelona. The cat follows the same style of Botero's other works- large, comically chubby, and disproportionate. The statue had been passed around for a while, going from the Barcelona Zoo to an Olympic stadium before being placed in the neighborhood of Raval. While the sculpture doesn't have any significant meaning, it has become a recognizable symbol and is a favorite meeting place for friends. A more recognized figure is Balto, found in Central Park, NYC. The statue is based off one of the lead sled dogs, a husky named Balto, that traveled 674 miles to deliver medicine to a diphtheria-stricken town in Alaska. His heroic deed earned him a bronze statue that has been standing proudly since 1925, now a favorite to kids in the park who climb on him

Gustave Moreau was a painter who specialized in the style of French Symbolism. The main subjects of his work were illustrating biblical and mythological figures. He followed a faith dubbed "Neo-Platonist", known for stressing the imperfection of our world, which heavily seeped into his artworks. I find his work very macabre and intriguing. The drama depicted in his scenes draw in the viewer as well as his masterful painting style that reminds me of the Renaissance style. He includes multiple elements in his work that all tie in together to create a pleasing composition. I particularly enjoyed his works featuring mythological creatures, such as his piece "Sphinx in a Grotto".

I have recently been working on figure drawings to add to my portfolio. I usually go for a site such as Pixelovely or Sketchdaily to look for poses, as I can't exactly have a live model come in during independent studio. From there, I warm myself up with quick gesture sketches, moving into more detailed pieces as I get into the rhythm. I also frequently reference the masters (da Vinci) and other artists (Egon Schiele)  for inspiration and to get a better grasp on my understanding of anatomy. This combination leads to a steady progress of my figures increasing in quality. I have been using either ink or charcoal (usually ink for smaller pieces, charcoal for larger) on my figure drawings so far. References and Inspiration-  (Schiele) (da Vinci) Personal Work-

My latest piece, Love Lines , focuses on a pair of elderly people (gender up to interpretation) separated by two different canvases. I wanted to explore the themes of love coming to people later in life, especially with the stigma around widowed/single elders and the feeling of hopelessness society gives them when it comes to a love life. The separate canvases and individual drawing style each face has represents the feeling of coming from two different worlds, a separation one cannot control. I added a wire on each face to create a contour that connects the two, almost like the fantasy tales of "love lines", or strings/wire that connects two soulmates. I practiced drawing elderly people and studied up on references before diving into the piece. From there I used a black canvas with acrylic paint to make the first figure. I wanted to give them differing styles, so on the second canvas I painted it completely red and used ink to sketch out a second face. Progress shots-

Amy Sherald is a painter best known for her portraits encapsulating the experience of African American people living in the United States. She got her bachelor's degree at Clark-Atlanta University and from there studies at MICA where she earned her MFA. She focuses on themes like identity, social and cultural expectations, and politics. She creates narratives in her works relating to black heritage and and notions of race. I love the contrasting colors in her work and simple compositions that draw in the viewer. Usually behind the figure in focus is a solid color background, a stylistic choice that I think works very well in gaining people's attention. Her realism skills are accurate while still keeping simplicity. I found her works very interesting and inspiring when I think about future portraits.