“Put a bird on it”. That was our prompt. Portlandia produced a video about putting birds on every object they could find and that automatically makes the “it” beautiful, and automatically makes the person who put the bird on it an amazing being and a genius for doing it. I think it makes it completely the opposite. I think instead the object becoming more beautiful it becomes a product of corporate America. Instead of making the person who did it a genius, it makes them a culprit in the corruption of innocent things. Birds, turtles, pigs, giraffes, ect. are all victims of this corruption. We change them, warp them, and abuse the natural beauty of the innocent creatures of this world. I’m not saying that producing art with any of these animals in it is bad. I’m saying that we as Americans, as people, become numb to who or what these animals actually are. Take Mickey Mouse for example. Little children grow up loving this iconic image, but they also grow up fearing mice. It doesn’t make sense we love the representation but hate the real thing. This piece is called the corruption of innocent things. The black bird represents the innocent things that the “it” meaning America or we as people abuses and corrupts. The bird is black because that color is associated with sorrow and morning, if these innocent beings could think and feel I believe that they would be sad about the way that they are represented in this world. The bird sits on its offender, us as people are represented in the word “it”. Starting now, lets start noticing things. Lets start teaching our children to love the object instead of the idea of one. Lets not be offenders. Stop the corruption of innocent things. Classmate Interview
I had the pleasure of interviewing my classmate Rachel Olson. Rachel is a fellow art student of mine here at NIU, her hometown is Rockford and she loves it her at NIU. Below are some of the questions that I asked Rachel, and her responses to them. Enjoy! 1. What were your thoughts on the “Put a Bird on It” video made by Portlandia? “My initial reaction was: this is weird. As I thought about the video more in depth I started to realize an underlying theme of corniness, kind of an oddball video. But I did realize that the concept behind the piece was the overuse of a well known object just to make things ‘pretty’. As a Knitter I quite enjoy embellishing my creations with little additives like birds or snowflakes.” 2. What was your approach for this project? “I decided to go with a literal approach, I honestly am just going to put a bird on something. Because making scarves is such a joy to be and because sometimes I make them plain, with no embroideries, I decided to put a bird on one of my scarves.” 3. Do you think your scarf is an art form or more of a craft? “My scarfs are really more craft than an art, because they are much more functional and an ornament for the body. However, the ornament of the bird is not functional and the trendiness of things like birds will never go away because we as people buy into the trend.” 4. Where is that line separating craft and art? “I believe that craft is an art. I also believe that art is a personal opinion. Some people prefer fine arts and some people like making the everyday craft like decorative mason jars, or scarves and mittens.” 5. Why did you decide to become and artist? “Well art for me started as a hobby. Then I began taking lessons from one of my neighbors, because I was homeschooled. And I really looked forward to those lessons everyday. I started with drawing portraits and I fell in love with doing those, that’s when I knew that art could be an option for me.” 6. Did you ever have any other interests other than the arts? “Yes, up until about a year ago I was a physical therapy major. I didn’t think that the arts could actually be a major for me so I tried to pick something else. But I knew physical therapy wasn’t the right are for me so I came over to the arts.” 7. Where do you picture yourself in the future? “ My dream job would probably have to be as an illustrator. That is if I pass my portfolio review, if I can not pass that my backup plan is to become a drawing major.” 8. What is Art to you? “Art is happiness to me, It started off as something I just loved to do, and now I get to make it into my career. Art is emotions, happy or sad, that is emitted into a piece of art work.”
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As some of you may know, this is my first time working with almost all 3D materials. This wood project was definitely a test of my patient and willingness to try new things. I was very hesitant to start this project because the woodshop was somewhere I had never been, nor was it a place I would ever picture myself in. This project prompt was to think of some kind of life tool and make a home for it. As an artist I immediately thought of my paintbrushes and pencils. So I was determined to make a nice cozy little brief case for my art tools. Just as business people bring their files and paperwork home, I bring my sketchbooks and paints to and from the work place. One of the main reasons I designed the art box to look like a briefcase with all the different little compartments is that I have wanted this exact thing for a long time. I visited Paris with my best friend last year around this time and fell in love with a box like this in a small art shop on the Seine. Of course it was too expensive and I couldn’t afford it. So when this project was presented I figured that if I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for at an affordable price, why not make my own exactly the way I want it.
So the end product is something that is near and dear to my heart, because of how long I have wanted it. The plain wood seems so innocent to me and I cannot wait to start making it my own, and giving it its own personality. Stickers, paintings, dings, and dents you name it, by the end of next year I want this box to look like my art life. I want it to look like, if it could talk, it would tell many great stories of its life as one of my most prized possessions. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. CategoriesArchives |