Recent Lino Cuts For My Project Re-connection. Looking At Folk Stories In Modern Day Contexts. The Top

Lino cut which I am currently working on. Inspired by folk patterns around the world to make one design

My animation called, ‘My New Home’ inspired by Lauren Child’s book illustrations and animated stories about ‘Charlie and Lola’. The theme throughout is about our ever changing environment and the environmental issue of sea pollution. I loved making this animation and I especially enjoyed taking all of the photos, Sooooo many photos :). I used a light box to create a slightly translucent effect. The piano music was composed specifically for this animation and played by my sister Zuzy.

My own drawing of a traditional Slovakian woman for my project ‘Then and Now’

A marionette of the Moon which I've recently finished. I made her with salt dough and sewed her dress. I have never made a puppet before, so this project was very interesting and enjoyable :)

I started off with planning her out. She is inspired by The Spanish play ‘Bodas de Sangre’ by Federico Garcia Lorca’. In this play, the moon is a character inspired by Spanish magical realism and represents wisdom and fate.

I made the body out of wire and salt dough To link all of the separate joints together I put wire hooks into the pieces, hooked them all together and then out them in the oven to cook. The dough cooked for a few hours. However, some parts were still uncooked when I took it out of the oven so some hooks slipped out. I put these back in with a glue gun and left the whole body on a radiator for about a week to allow everything to dry through. After it was all dry, I painted the face and hands and created the dress which I painted with water colours. The colour surprisingly came out quite well on the fabric. Some came off onto my hands when handling the puppet but apart from that, the paint overall stayed on well. I also embroidered stars onto the dress with white thread and added dots of silver paint, to represent the night sky.

To attach the strings to my marionette puppet I glued hooks onto her hands and head and attached the strings onto two sticks. This worked fine and you can move her head up and down and her arms and hands. I planned to put strings onto her feet too however it was difficult to string the marionette up under her dress and it was also unnecessary as the feet aren’t really visible. 

I loved this project a lot, I’m happy with the final outcome. :)

Kathe Kollwitz and her presentation of conflict.

Kathe Kollwitz, ‘Das Volk’ (The People) Woodcut on paper - 1921-22

Kathe Kollwitz is renowned for her dark and expressive woodcuts influenced by the Second and First World War. The figures in her woodcuts have intense emotional expressions which show the pain and suffering of the German people during the times of conflict. 

Kollwitz’s woodcut ‘Das Volk’ (The people) is part of her ‘Krieg’ series, (War). This series of seven woodcuts present the sorrows of those left behind - mothers, widows, and children in a vivid and powerful way. It was likely that Kollwitz was influenced by her own experience of loss during the war. She lost her son Peter in World War 1 which deeply affected her. Kollwitz’s childhood also influenced her dramatic work. She was the 5th of seven children and prior to her birth, three of her siblings had already died which exposed her to the grief of her parents while growing up. Kollwitz was particularly awed by the emotional strength in her mother's face which influenced the distressing expressions in her woodcuts. 

In Kollwitz’s woodcut ‘The People’, crying figures can be seen in the foreground as well as a mother in the centre hiding a scared child in her cloak. There is an overwhelming darkness which envelops the figures. The lines in the woodcuts are sharp and angular, these angles make the faces look expressive and as if there was a harsh light shining down upon them. All of the figures seem to be in very close proximity with each other which gives a sense of community. Although all of the faces are visibly distressed, they are all leaning on each other. The mother figure in the centre of the woodcut, seems solemn and mournful. Her eyes are closed and she is clad in black, her hand comes down to shield and hide a child enveloped in her cloak. The child’s eyes look wide open and full of fear. It is interesting that many faces surround the mother however due to the child’s small size it is surrounded by the darkness only protected by a single hand of its mother. This could reveal the vulnerability of children during the war and Kollwitz may have intended to highlight the importance of the role of mothers as protectors.

Kollwitz’s work was not only influenced by her tragic past but also by the working class people of Germany during the war. Their starvation, suffering and loss gave her a hunger for change, many German expressionist woodcuts were all about highlighting problems in society and aiming to bring about change. Kathe created many posters, one of which was ‘Brot!’ demanding change and creating awareness of the poverty of working class Berlin. This activism was spotted by the Nazis who threatened to take her to a concentration camp. Luckily her fame saved her and stopped this from happening.

Woodcuts highlight the stark contrast between light and dark. Kollwitz effectively uses woodcuts in her work to reflect the dramatic nature of war which lacks colour, it feels dark and cold and never ending. The black ink and white reserved areas of her woodcuts mirror Kollwitz’s feelings toward these hard times where she experienced loss like many other people. Not only was there physical conflict during the first and second world war, but also emotional conflict inside of people. German expressionist woodcuts sought to convey messages through raw and simplified designs. An example of this stark simplicity can be seen in Kollwitz’s woodcut ‘The widow’ which is also part of her ‘war series’. This print presents a simple femenine figure with her arms on her chest on a plain background. This emptiness gives a sense of loneliness and allows the viewer to connect with the figure in a raw and personal way. Instead of complicating the surroundings and settings in her prints, Kollwitz focused on creating distinct emotions in the figures.

Kollwitz presents war as a dark place full of grief and mourning. She shows the effect of war and loss on people through her use of expressions which are exaggerated and full of emotion. These expressions show the emotional pain and inner conflict of the people of Germany and the whole of Europe during world war one and two, a time of suffering and desperation.

References:

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/kollwitz-the-people-p82465

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/69688

https://www.moma.org/s/ge/collection_ge/artist/artist_id-3201_role-1_sov_page-22.html

https://www.moma.org/s/ge/curated_ge/techniques/woodcut.html

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kollwitz-kathe/life-and-legacy/

https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=326833&p=2194181

How have contemporary values and media impacted upon the 16th century genre of Still Life?

Still life has changed dramatically throughout the ages but it is still popular today even if we might not realise it. Ranking the lowest in importance in the hierarchy of genres, established by the French Royal Academy, the still life was seen to require less skill than portrait paintings and historical paintings. However despite the perception that still life paintings were easier to paint, they explored dark and morbid themes usually to convey the message ‘memento mori’, ‘remember you will die’ and ‘vanitas’ ,originating from the word ‘vanity’, which would remind the viewer of their mortality and of the worthlessness of worldly pleasures . This was done by using skulls in compositions and candles that had just been blown out with the last wisp of smoke visible, symbolising death blatantly. On the other hand, some messages were more hidden in the paintings. Many pieces reflected death and  human nature in a very subtle way. This can be seen in Jan Davidsz. de Heem: Still-Life with Lobster and Nautilus Cup. The tipping cup could show the fragility and instability of humanity. The lobster is seen at the bottom of the composition and was regarded as something exquisite and expensive, only intended as banquet food. The lobster is inedible and ugly when alive and in the ocean but when dead, it possesses its delicious and beautiful qualities and is seen as something expensive and intended for the upper-classes. Maybe Jan Davidsz intended this to also reflect humanity and death.

The golden age of still life painting took place in the 17th century but throughout the 18th century and 19th century it became slightly less popular. In the Victorian era, still life compositions included every-day house-hold objects. However flower paintings gained a lot of popularity in the 1800’s, painters like Manet, in his painting ‘Bouquet of flowers’ (1882) and Van Gough in his ‘Still Life with Irises’ (1890) made their canvases bloom with their lively and vibrant colours with the intentions to make the paintings aesthetic and pleasant to the eye with harmonious colours. In the 19th century, the still life was adopted by Pablo Picasso and painted in his cubist style which was full of colour in contrast with the very first still life paintings which were full of shadows and chiaroscuro.

Nowadays, still lifes are created in a much different way influenced by new media. Instead of using the traditional oil paint and canvas, photography is used to capture aesthetic and ornamental scenes. These photographs are usually shared on social media instead of being sold or exhibited in a gallery. The purpose is solely to look pleasing to the eye or are created to show the life of the photographer of the arrangement. They often exhibit lavish food and drink that looks impressive or books and items related to the photographer. The still lifes are carefully arranged to look as perfect and possible. Although these photos with a pleasant colour palette do not have hidden messages of death and mortality, they reflect society and its quest for perfection in the modern age where you are what you post.

References :

https://www.britannica.com/art/still-life-painting#:~:text=The%20painting%20generally%20considered%20to,Lowlands%20during%20the%2017th%20century.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/b/british-watercolours-still-life-flower-painting/

https://www.romepix.com/blog/the-dutch-golden-age-in-art-pieter-claesz

https://fashionhedge.com/2017/06/19/net-bag-trend/

https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/v/vanitas

Some sketchbook pages for my pathway project, ‘A distance forms around our bodies’

Printmaking workshop,

We printed with oil based inks after sticking the design onto some board, by using the printing press. I photocopied my favourite coloured print and reversed its colours on the photocopier, I love the colours that came out, pinks, purples and yellows. I also really enjoyed creating the black print and printing it out onto coloured paper which I think looks really effective. Overall, it was interesting to try out these new processes.

The process of making my book. After illustrating all of my pictures and typewriting the story, I stitched all the components onto card with some colourful thread and I then stuck these into a book which I bound. The book is called ‘Reconnection’. A short illustrated story I wrote, about a city where the sun has stopped shining, a girl goes on an adventure into the forest to bring the sun back. It is about reconnecting to cultural heritage in the modern world :)

Embroidery for my ‘Then and Now project’ which is my own design inspired by Slovak folk patterns. It is embroidered onto a blouse which will go with a skirt (that I am currently working on) :)