Month: March 2025

1. Choose, Consider, and Clarify your Topic (200 words)

The phenomenon I want to focus on will either be The Creation of Adam or the human skull with the brain exposed, drawing inspiration from Da Vinci’s drawings of the skeletal system. As a Biomedical Engineering student, I have always been drawn to the human body and why it functions the way that it does. Making a piece focusing on the skull and brain directly ties into that curiosity. I want to use some of Da Vinci’s sketches of human anatomy as a foundation and reference for my work because he too was curious about the human body and how it worked. He is a prime example of the intersection of art and science. He also believed that the skull, specifically the area behind the center of the frontal bone, was where the soul presided. If I go with this idea, I want to work off of the uniqueness of the soul and how it interacts with the mind. My other idea for this project, The Creation of Adam, would be focused around the hands in the painting. I want to play with the idea of community and how relationships, in any respect, between people aren’t guaranteed. Sometimes, you’re just in the right place at the right time to meet someone that will alter your life forever. Sometimes, you’re only friends with someone for a short window of time in your life, and sometimes, you live beside one person for your entire life. Human connection is needed for survival, but there’s no blueprint for how to connect with one another; we just sort of do it continuously throughout our lives. I want to work with the painting, how they are almost touching, but aren’t quiet. I don’t really know who the audience for my piece will be yet, but I’ll figure it out as I start making it.

2. Visual Research

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vQNKMxQjqQqDBpedGTrl6F_-mkeWbA4khWLHwodkxfM/edit?tab=t.0

3. Borrow a Strategy

Wooden Skull Carving by Cody Bader

I think I might use the idea of the holes at the top of the head in my piece to show deterioration or the breaking/tearing of the skull.

4. Create Sketches (5 Sketches)

1. Choose, consider, and clarify your topic

For my project, I’d like to focus my shrine on stability/self-actualized fulfillment. I want to honor an ability that I’ve personally built extensively in myself; the ability to construct the peace that I desire in my own life and therefore true fulfillment. I’d like to highlight my own presence in the piece, perhaps including a body part to personalize the piece or add a personal metaphor. How exactly I depict the actual phenomenon/ability can differ greatly, as I explore in my sketches. For example, stability could be shown through the grounding of objects, sewn down with wire or nailed down to wood, or the use of hands could emphasize my relationship with the concepts of self-actualization. Although the subject matter is very personal to me, I aim to create physical metaphors that any audience could understand related in some way to stability and self-control. The piece will be a clear representation, a shrine to a concept that can easily be extrapolated from simply viewing. It will stand, not necessarily to inspire, but to prove its existence to itself. I’d like to make the sculpture quite large and intricate to emphasize the power that comes from adopting these skills in one’s own life, as I have in mine.

2. visual research

3.  Borrow a strategy

Auguste Rodin, La Cathédrale (The Cathedral)

I intend to use the form of two intertwining hands in my own piece, highlighting the dance the appendages do with each other to create a satisfying composition.

4. Create sketches 

1.

For my shrine project I want to make a shrine about the importance of farmers. My grandfather was a farmer and he had a huge impact on me. I want there to be some aspect of his personal importance to me in the project, but I also want to remind people how important farmers are in general. Some thoughts I had was a tractor as a centerpiece, with crops and/or cattle around it. My original thought is to have the tractor made of metal, with the crops made out of wood. It’s something I need to do more research/brainstorming on, but I do know I want to somehow incorporate honeysuckles into the project as a tie to my grandfather.

2. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1R-djVU9nW_XM7fuMC_S7zPM-u0TPotDCEaOsf7iLD78/edit?usp=sharing

3.

James E. Hazeley, Ruby Throated Hummingbird

One of the most important part of my piece is the honeysuckle. It’s an important symbol that reminds me of my grandfather. I want to do it correctly, specifically its vines and have it wrap around my sculpture.

4.