ArtsXpose 3 – Amanda
ART21
Leonardo Drew:
Leonardo Drew is influenced by the concept of grids and how they are the foundation of many things. He says that they are a form of structure that allows you to expand systematically. He is inspired by Piet Mondrian, an artist who largely focused on grids. I thought it was interesting that Drew was inspired by Mondrian enough to go visit his grave and leave a printed out painting.
Drew also spent some of his life traveling the world. In doing so , he found that he did not miss creating and being in his studio as much as he thought he would because he claims that art was going on within him as he was traveling. I found this to be very interesting and can definitely relate having just traveled abroad last year. He said that traveling allowed various things to influence his whole body and how he created his sculptures from then on.
Maya Lin:
Maya Lin combines art and architecture to create sculptures about the environment. I found it was interesting how she was going to be a field zoologist, but decided to focus on a career more related to her days of activism in the 1960’s. She is interested in form making and wants her audience to know what people are doing to the world around us. She has created pieces in which she cut into stone and made a model of what is left of certain oceans, showing how these vast bodies of waters are being impacted by climate change. I found this to be striking and a powerful way to catch people’s attention about climate change.
ArtsExpose 2
Title of Event: Six Second Delay, Anthony Cervino
Date & Time of Event: Thursday March 9th 11:30am
Location of Event: Holmes Exhibit Space
Type of event: Art Exhibit
ArtsXpose
Title of Event: The Nemesis Machine
Date & Time of Event: Thursday March 9th 12 pm
Location of Event: Samek Art Gallery
Type of event: Art Gallery Exhibit
Amanda Schillinger: Talismans Research
I want to leave a mark on people’s lives around me in a way that there is a powerful feeling left behind my existence. I want to be the person who lights up a room when they walk in. Someone that radiates positivity and liveliness as often as possible.
This is important to me because I find myself coming to the end of a large part of my life and reflecting on the people I surround myself with. I often struggled to find people like this at Bucknell because I have really incredible friends and family at home that act as these people in my life. I have been reflecting on the importance of making people feel loved, impacting others’ days, being someone that reflects positivity rather than someone that is draining and negative, and to be an overall memorable person that gives without expecting the same energy.
I also find myself relating this feeling to the feeling after watching a powerful movie or seeing an amazing concert. That certain emotion that resonates throughout a person’s entire being, not just their mind. This also reminds me of the “5 pm sun hug” where the sun is the perfect warmth on your skin that it wraps around you like a warm hug.
I think I would like to include symbolism about light and or the sun because a person who is warm and radiates energy in a certain way can sometimes feel like a 5pm sun hug. The sun often improves people’s moods, much like a positive person can. I also want to include something about being present in the moment in order feel certain emotions that are almost out of body and feel like the finer things in life. I also would like to touch on the impermanence of life but permanent memory of these types of feelings and emotions elicited by people who radiate this energy or from amazing experiences.
- Radiate
- Resonate
- Remembered
- Give
- Light
- Liveliness
- Influential
- Sun
- Present
- Embrace
Teapot Research – Project 1
The object I chose is a small green teapot. Teapots were originally used to steep tea leaves and boiled water or were later used to boil water and to be poured over tea bags into tea cups. Teapots today can symbolize storytelling and friendship, as tea is often enjoyed in the company of friends or family over chats. Tea also used to be a symbol of wealth, as it was an imported luxury that only the wealthy could afford to drink.
Teapots remind me of the use of china, the translucent glazed pottery made into plates and cups used and invented by the Chinese. It also reminds me of the trade of tea through the East India company, where tea and teapots were traded from China to the UK and British colonies. Lastly it reminds me of the Boston tea party, where colonists dumped tea into the Boston harbor as an act of rebellion against the British.
I want to explore the idea that the first models of teapots used to crack and explode due to the hot water and the thin walls of the pot. I could maybe symbolize this by smashing a teapot mold then putting it back together. I also want to explore the idea that tea and teapots symbolized wealth, as I could maybe paint the teapots gold. Lastly, I want to explore the connotation to the Boston Tea Party by maybe making the molds out of wax, then melt the wax in a way to make it look like the teapots are being dumped or melted into a body of water.
Artist Research
Amanda Schillinger
The Seated I (2019) Wangechi Mutu
Immediate Response
Upon first viewing this bronze sculpture, I noticed the movement of what appears to be some sort of clothing worn by the figure. The bronze wires seem to mold to the figure’s knees to create a dress-like look that hides the legs and feet. My eyes then went up to the neck of the figure, where the wire wraps around the figure’s arms and neck, turning into more of an orangey-red color. The way the figure’s posture is so upright made me slightly uneasy, as it looks almost unnatural. The figure’s stance also reminds me of a chair. The head of the figure appears to have wide, large slits for eyes and some sort of continuation of the nose all the way to the forehead and over the head. This makes the figure seem fictional in almost an alien-like form. Lastly, the large, flat, circular element for the perceived mouth of the figure seems to distrust the rest of the sculpture as it is the only flat element and takes up half the size of the figure’s head. It makes me think of the face of a drum because of its color and flatness, which is an odd element to be a mouth.
Objective Description
The Seated I (2019) is a bronze sculpture of a figure kneeling on the ground, with one knee up and one knee on the ground. Bronze wires wrap the body of the figure to create a short sleeve dress-like garment that transitions from a dark bronze at the base of the figure to an orangey-red at the neck of the figure. The garment of the figure seems to mold into the body to create a chair like shape. The arms of the figure are a more smooth bronze, not nearly as textured as the dress or garment. They are long and lanky, resting on the knees softly. The figure’s posture is in an upright position, staring ahead, yet the actual eyeballs or direction of sight are not shown due to the large, wide slits for eyes with a dark coloration where the whites of the eyes could be. The figure’s head seems to have dent like marks for ears, no hair, a nose that continues onto the forehead and bald head, and a large perfect circle for a mouth that overlaps onto the neck of the figure.
Technical Decisions
I peercived the movement of this piece to be dynamic. My eyes started at the figure’s knees and lower body, as the material used, bronze, is used in a wire-fashion that wraps around the figure’s body as a dress. These coils respond to the figure itself by falling to its shape in a draping way. This is interesting because the actual material of bronze is not at all draping, but rather hard and difficult to mold unlike fabric, which creates an opposing concept for the viewer, as the bronze looks harmonic and soft rather than solid, heavy, and chunky. As the fabric-like garment swirls and wraps around the figure’s body, the viewers eyes are drawn to the disc in the mouth of the figure as well as the eye slits and warped, bald head. This makes an unsettling, abstract image that opposing the calmness of the wrapping garment.
The Work in the World
The first uses of bronze in sculpture making were to create weapons and tools. Wangechi might be symbolizing violence in some way by using bronze as her medium. The coils and mouth disc might symbolize customs practiced by African woman. These practices include wearing and making beaded bodices, circular necklaces, lip plates, hair styles etc. Lip plates are also known as lip plugs or mouth plates. They are a form of body modification in the mouth in which a large disc is placed into the mouth to stretch the lip. It is considered a symbol of great beauty and marks the commitment to a husband. The seated nature of the piece and the formation of the figure almost molding into a chair itself might relate to a caryatid. This a sculpture of a female figure that serves as a column or pillar to support a building. They first signified women of Caryae who were doomed to hard labor when the Persians invaded Greece.
The Story it Tells
Wangechi tends to aim to combine artistic experimentation with exploring ideas about sexuality, feminists, violence, and mainly the hyper-objectification of black woman and their bodies. Based on the connections to history and the common theme in her artwork, I think that this sculpture illustrates an African female as a load bearer. She is always supporting a man, such as a seat in which a man could physically sit on her. It’s showing that in the past women have been expected to assist men and to beauty themselves in order to please men. Especially with the example of the lip plate, which is only used to signify engagement to a male and is also considered a form of great beauty. One can infer that since the two are connected, beauty was thought to be for the purpose of pleasing the man.