Medium Specificity

 Artist's Statement 

                I have always been intrigued by drawing's capacity to portray minimalist, yet vibrant, pictures in ways film, or almost any other medium, would have great difficulty acomplishing.  Drawing is exciting in that it is limitless.  There is not end to the ways you can look at something.  When filming, you are bound to a certain level of realism, in that while images can be digitally altered, you still have to shoot something in the real world.  You can't make an actor look like a few lines and a burst of color in a film (excluding animated films).

                The Kalman photographs utilized photography's ability to digitally alter the color of the subjects.  I chose to utilize drawings ability to abandon realism entirely and use colors that are "unnatural."  I wanted to communicate an image through indicative images rather than realistic representations.  That is a strength of illustration.  It is almost instinctive.

                Most people begin drawing indicatively.  Stick figures do not actually look like people. Each line represents an arm, a leg, a torso, or a circle for the head, but legs are not perfectly straight lines, and heads are not spherical.  All you have to do is clue the viewer in on what the image represents.  You have to give just enough for a person to be able to tell what it is you are representing, but you do not have try to make it look like a photograph, and we accept that.

                Like the painting "1225" by the artist who goes by the internet name of grey90, my intention was to use simple lines and splashes of color to create a feeling and an idea.  In both my drawing and "1225" the color is not contained by the lines, but they are still working together.  That is a style I think is fairy unique to illustration. 

                People feared that photography would be the end of drawing and painting, but that has not been the case at all.  It is true that the average modern family is more likely to get a family photo taken than to commission a family portrait, but as an art form, illustration has simply explored deeper into its potential to express things in a surreal way.  Saying that photography is better than illustration because it is more realistic is about as annoying as people saying that books are always better than movies.  They are too different to compare that directly.

Historical Story

Historical Story Text

Artist's Statement

                This project reminded me a bit of the popular BBC TV series Doctor Who, which features many fictional episodes that take place amidst significant historical events.  It is my opinion that when you are writing historical fiction, you need to ensure that it is as historically accurate as possible, including the details.  If you ignore the actual history in the name of taking "artistic liberties" with everything, then the reality is lost and it just feels fake.  For example, in our script, the actors receive papers with only their lines, not the whole script, and there is a lead actor, rather than a director.  Be creative, but within the rules of the world of your story.

                We consulted two texts from my bookshelf.  We checked Living Theatre by Edwin Wilson and Alvin Goldfarb to make sure that we understood the laws and customs of the time period correctly, particularly regarding the current culture of theatre.   We checked the dates and made sure that they really would have been using Shakespeare's work.  After making sure of that and deciding to reference Hamlet, we consulted The Riverside Shakespeare which contains and contextualizes all of Shakespeare's work to select the section we wanted to quote.

                One thing that stands out to me is the universality of themes.  In our script taking place in the 1600s, theatre is illegal and considered highly immoral.  Our main character thinks of it as lying.  Even now, when theatre is definitely legal, I have encountered antagonism from others who say that certain acting jobs I are "lying" or dishonorable for other reasons.  A relatively harmless example is that one of my current jobs is playing a princess at parties and events.  I was told by a friend that it was wrong to do that because it was dishonest and I was using my talents for "purely commercial purposes."  I really thought about what they said.  At the next large event, I realized that that was not the case.  I legitimately felt the Spirit as I watched these little children light up.  I remember one little girl in particular.  I asked her if she was a princess too.  She looked down and I could legitimately see the lack of self-worth in her eyes.  She couldn't have been more than 5 and she already disliked herself.  She said, "No."  I made a confused face and said, "Really?  Because you're beautiful like a princess."  She looked up at me, stunned.  I continued, "Yes, you definitely seem like a princess to me.  Are you a princess?" I asked again.  She paused, considering what I had said, then she stood up straighter and her face lit up in a wide grin as she said, "Yes," nodding.  I meant it.  She was beautiful, and she was the daughter of a King.  That experience reinforced the same lesson for me that the main character in our script learns.  There is great truth within fiction.

Process Piece

Cryogenic Freezing