PanPastels!

Today Molly and I went to Webster University for our art portfolio review that determines whether or not we get into the school of art there. I was a little nervous, but I think I feel confident with how it went. Hopefully, by next week or so Molly and I will know, (fingers crossed)! 

Anyways, that's just some boring information, the real content of my blog comes from a different part of our trip  in St. Louis. We were driving along with our little GPS, when we passed this place:

At this point Molly may have yelled out "Artmart," you know, how when you're driving along and you read the signs you pass out loud? It was sort of that type of situation, but that's besides the point. How could we pass up this magnificent find?? We're always tempted by art supply stores, and often time whenever I go to Hobby Lobby or Michaels for something, I end up spending way more money than I had planned. So, we quickly turned around and, as the Garmin freaked out because we weren't following her directions, we made our way to artmart. And, you know, we both just HAD to stop to take a picture of the wall outside. We went inside,  and I sound like a complete art nerd, but this place was wonderful. 

As were were exploring, I came across something called PanPastels. I've never heard of them before, but they sounded interesting.

 

Aren't they so pretty!!

So this is what this interesting new(for me) medium is:

• PanPastel Colors are genuine artists’ quality pastels, uniquely packed in a pan format, available in a range of 60 colors.  PanPastel Colors were developed so that artists can easily lift, apply and control pastel color, just like true painting! The pan format holds the color like paint for easy application. 

Pretty much, it's pastels that are in a little container similar to a make-up compact, that you use little sponges and spongy brushes to apply to pigments. Of course, I wanted these, so I grab one of the kits to check out the price. It was a kit with colors ideal for portraits, including 20 panpastels and a few brushes. It cost $99. Oh No! Why are art supplies so expensive?? I didn't end up purchasing any, but I plan on ordering some, because I really enjoy pastels, and I think these would be really fun to experiment with. (Molly got some, so I may have to be trying them out, seeing as she never would have discovered them without me! ahahaha) 

The Crime of Plagiarism

 

 This is a beautiful piece of artwork. I love the expression of the woman, and the surrealistic details of the hair add so much interest. The artist is Carine Ma, a multimedia designer who has a background in both traditional art and multimedia design. Her work can be seen at Caramel Ink or here.

I found this piece about a year ago online while looking through Photoshop tutorials. I never attempted the tutorial, but found inspiration in it and copied the image to my flashdrive into a folder where I keep images that inspire me. I never intended to copy this in any way, but I look through that folder whenever I need inspiration. I really liked the idea and concept of it, and I was wanting to create a self portrait with a similar idea, but my own concept and artwork.

I'm bringing this up because yesterday at the Scholastics Regional Art Show in Springfield, I saw this image hanging amongst the other artwork that received awards or honorable mentions. It wasn't just a similar image either - it was the exact same thing, but submitted as student artwork. At first I gave this student the benefit of the doubt - maybe they followed this tutorial and made it with their own image and unique style, but upon further observation, it was definitely the same exact design. I believe it's even the same face. I looks as if this person simply copied the final piece and printed it with their name on it. 

Whatever the case is, I feel as if this work should not have earned the student recognition. If the student did indeed use the tutorial and create her own replica of it, it still is not her concept, idea, or design behind the artwork. It's Carine Ma's. So this student should not be able to take recognition, even if she did follow the steps, she used all the same images - the face, flower, trees, birds, and paint splatters. She copied the work exactly. She plagiarized the idea, concept, and design. 

It makes me so angry that someone would simply copy another artist's work and put their own name on it. Winning recognition for it only worsens the situation. I'm sure the real artist of this piece would feel the same way. It's so unsatisfying to have people copy work that you have done in order for them to receive recognition for it. I've had situations where I've just told someone about an idea I have and they go take credit for it later on, or where someone will copy a similar concept and idea that I used into their next piece,  and even just those situations make me upset, so I cannot even imagine how it would feel if someone made a replica of my art and put their name on it. I cannot even imagine how someone would steal artwork like that and receive recognition - i would feel so guilty. 

All in all, I completely understand why plagiarism is such a problem in the art world. It is such and awful thing, and I cannot comprehend what would make someone do something so pitiful.  

Disclaimer: I do not know the name of the student that submitted the artwork, and it could very well have been Carine Ma, and if that was the case, I am very sincerely sorry. BUT - I do know that this art show was a junior high and high school show, and that Carine Ma has been doing professional multimedia design for 6 years, and works for a design company, Caramel Ink. She also publishes tutorials online. It is very unlikely that she is the high school student who submitted this work.

Art is Subjective.

Art is subjective. I think that's all it comes down to. Not a single person will look at a piece of art and think the same thing of it, it may be similar, but never completely the same. We each have individual thoughts towards what we view in the art world and what we believe to be great art. I could absolutely love a piece, while another truly hates it. It happens for all pieces. So, why have these five become so controversial over the rest of the millions of pieces of art? - because they're widely known and create conflicting ideas and thoughts? I don't think there is one true answer to why these pieces have caused such strong feelings and disputes, other than that the artist was brilliant. I think that any artist that can cause such controversy in a piece is truly talented. Clearly, he or she has managed to evoke an incredible amount of emotion from the viewers. In my opinion, that's the best thing about art - the emotion that it creates within us when we view it. If it causes controversy, even better:)

I Need Some Concept!

As of now my portfolio consists of:

• Four 3d concentration pieces (functional ceramic art with inspired by natural elements)
• Around 6 or so 3d Breadth pieces 

• Eight 2d concentration pieces (self portraits)
• Around twenty breadth pieces...(I can't figure out an exact count)

Time to step it up! :)

My biggest weakness seems to be from a lack of continuous inspiration. I don't just have a bad day, I have bad weeks, where I go through multiple days of hating my work and completely lacking inspiration. This lack of inspiration really makes it hard to focus on concept, which is missing  in some of my pieces.  I'm especially having a hard time keeping up with my three dimensional work - this is probably due to the time it takes to produce a piece and an absence of new ideas for pieces. I find myself more interested in two dimensional work; whereas at the beginning of last semester I just wanted to get my hands dirty with clay. I guess my overall weakness in art classes would have to be my inconsistency. 

Best Memory? Deeeefinately taking many crazy photos on photobooth with molly! . . and also getting a gold key on my self portrait portfolio for scholastics regionals. Oh, it was also fun when I made huge spread...er, a mess...  of cardboard all over the floor and got several people to help me cut out pieces for my chair. Even Wyse-Fisher helped out:)

This probably sounds lame, and a little egotistical, but what I've learned most about myself and my art is that I'm actually quite talented. In many cases, I don't really like my artwork, but I've started to enjoy my pieces more, and I know I have been given a gift with art. I've leaned to better appreciate my art and my God given talents. 

. . . so now I've admitted that I believe myself to be a talented artist AND I have a portfolio of self-portraits - GEEZ, I sound really conceited. I'm not trying to be. 

To improve this semester, I need to be pushed to focus on concept. I think it's the aspect that is missing and would make all my art so much better. Please push me to get a better idea of what I'm going to do before jumping in and getting stuck on a project, and make me turn in projects! :)

and because I like pictures in blogs, here's a piece I found while browsing Google for inspirations. I really enjoy it:)

Stuart McManus self portrait