UWM- Mixed Media
Inspiration
Andy Goldsworthy is a British artist that works primarily with nature to create art. He worked in farms since he was 13 which may be how he developed his love towards nature. He uses everything he can find from sticks and pebbles to snow and feathers. He's gained a reputation for his works that so beautifully balances common natural elements and important art aspects such as movement, lines, and balance in the piece. He even uses color to make the piece either blend in beautifully with the negative space or clearly distinguish from it making pop out the viewer. He learned how to be able to do this while attending Preston Polytechnic during a presentation on Long Art by professor Richard Long. He is also a photographer since not only does he produce the pieces but he also photographs them finding an angle that makes the piece have more impact on the person looking at the art piece.
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I plan to use the elements he does in my piece by also having a gradient in my piece the way he does in his works with leaves and pebbles making sure there is a smooth transition from one color to another. I also want to be able to develop the same ability to manipulate the shape of things to the degree he is able to do so making circles with leaves and arches with ice. I also want to be able to use the size of the piece to my benefit since the size of the piece also helps strengthen the impact a piece has on the people viewing it. I will probably have to glue my piece to something if I want to bring a physical sculpture however i could also do what Andy does which is take a picture of the piece and angle to camera to the perfect angle of the piece.
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Planning
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I liked the idea of having shapes as the thing that divides one thing from another like the various circles he made using color to show the sharp contrast between one edge to another. However, instead of using a circle like the majority of Andy's work I will use squares since a square is a strong geometric shape that is easily recognized. I will make the square be outlined on the inside to by having it be separated by both color (cool tone rocks vs warm tone rocks) and by the lines the rocks make.
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I was inspired by his piece where he made a line across the beach using rocks so I thought of the possibility of making a line as well. Using rocks found in the beach I would be able to make a line on snow. Snow would be a good place to make the line since the rocks would be clearly seen in the white snow. This would compare to the original piece since it would be across a surface with a single color however his piece can be seen with a transition from the rocks to the sand and then to the ocean. I could get this effect by making the transition from rocks to snow and then to grass, cement, or sand.
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I liked the piece he did where he had a smooth transition from dark gray rocks to white rocks. I could do this as well using the type of rock they are to make the transition. I could start with metamorphic rock and then go down to sedimentary rock. I could use color to separate it and give the layers depth. I could start with light brown and then go down to blue or gray rocks. I also want to keep the circle in the middle of the piece since it gives the piece more depth and definition.
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Process
The first thing I did was collect the rocks. The rocks I got were obtained from Bradford beach during the winter season. This meant a lot of the rocks still had frost on them and some were even trapped under ice so my selection of rocks was very minuscule. Even so, I tried to get rocks that were all types of sizes from very big rocks to very small pebbles. This would help me when trying to create the piece by allowing me to play with the size of the rocks therefore having more variety in the piece.
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The second thing I did was collect all my materials in a room which were the sand, rocks, a mirror, and newspaper. I decided to make the piece in a room since I thought I would be able to get better lighting since it is winter. In winter the sun usually sets by five so the time where lighting is good outside is very small. Nonetheless, I made sure to have available light sources from lots of angled from the light in the room to flashlights and lamps to be sure that there was enough light to have the piece turn out nice but not too much light from angles that might cause me to cast a shadow over the work when taking the picture. I made sure to smooth out the sand on the newspaper very well so that it didn't look messy and so the newspaper wouldn't show under the sand. I made sure to have a larger area of newspaper than the area of sand to prevent from making a mess in the room as well.
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The first thing I did the the sand was smooth was put the mirror on top of it. I tried to center the mirror in the middle of the sand so that I would be able to put the rocks around it with ease. I put some sand around the mirror since it was a little thick and I didn't want the sides to show up in the piece when I took the picture. After the mirror was all set up I began to put rocks around the mirror. I decided to start with the smallest rocks from the bunch I'd picked out. I placed the all around the mirror giving them space so I would be able to place the bigger rocks in between them. I gradually began adding more rocks going from using the smallest to the biggest rocks and increasing the thickness of the circle around the mirror. Then, I made the triangles on four sides of the mirror and I tried to curve them a little and the tip. I also made sure to use a triangle or oval shaped rock for the tip to give it a better effect.
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After the piece was complete I began to take practice shots with it since I hadn't had practice with using that camera in a long time. At first the issue was lighting since it was already dark outside when I took the pictures however I made sure to have a light source from the left, right, and top of the room relative to the piece. I wanted to take a picture from the top to be able to capture the intensity the mirror gave the piece however I didn't want anything unnecessary to show up in the mirror either so I had to be careful when taking the picture. Once I had a picture I liked I made sure the image was a JPG and I got it printed to my desired size.
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Meaning
Since a found object piece deals with both natural and man made products I wanted to be able to merge them together to give more depth into the way that we treat nature which is also inspired by mt inspiration of Andy Goldsworthy. In his documentary Rivers and Tides he often talked about how nature was trying to tell him something and that he was trying to get to know the element he was working with better. To him these elements were not just something to use for art but something to get to know to understand it better. I wanted to give my piece a similar meaning steering a bit from that by adding a mirror to the piece. I wanted the mirror to represent how close nature is to us and how often we see it and even so we often take the things nature does for us for granted like raining to help crops grow and trees giving off oxygen which helps us breathe. These elements are so close to us yet so taken for granted at certain times.
Reflection
My piece is similar to the inspiration in the fact that they both use natural elements to bring different elements into the piece such as shape, form, and movement. My piece is different from the inspiration in the way that it uses man made objects where Andy Goldsworthy only uses natural objects in his pieces. However, I added this because I wanted to explore found object pieces in their nature b trying to include both elements that can be used in this art to give it more depth. When it comes to the elements of design shape is something i brought into account throughout the whole piece was well as form since my original intentions were to make it a circle, however, I was inspired by some of Andy's other works with rocks to give this shape to the pieces Andy made gave the triangles a more feathered effect opposed to the effect I gave it where I kept all the rocks together. I did this with the purpose of giving the movement in the piece more force as where the movement in Andy's piece is softer. Some things I could have improved upon where getting better lighting since I do think natural light would have given it a better effect. I would also go to the beach instead of setting up a room just to be able to give myself more working space for my piece. Another thing I would do just for the sake of detail is that I would get more sand to clean the edges of the mirror a bit more so that the mirror could look integrated in the sand instead of on top of the sand.
Connection to ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork.
I am able to identify the cause effect relationship between my inspiration and its effect on my artwork in the way that the way I played with certain elements of design is similar to that to some of Andy's pieces.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach is of discovery since I've never worked on a piece like this before and learning the technique and style to this type of work was a great learning experience.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I've discovered that natural elements although already beautiful in themselves can be played with to create art pieces everyhwere around us.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme is nature and the way it can be manipulate to make art.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The kind of inferences I made where that Andy did everything he did not specifically because he planned it carefully but rather because that's what he though would make the piece more beautiful and memorable.
I am able to identify the cause effect relationship between my inspiration and its effect on my artwork in the way that the way I played with certain elements of design is similar to that to some of Andy's pieces.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The overall approach is of discovery since I've never worked on a piece like this before and learning the technique and style to this type of work was a great learning experience.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I've discovered that natural elements although already beautiful in themselves can be played with to create art pieces everyhwere around us.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme is nature and the way it can be manipulate to make art.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
The kind of inferences I made where that Andy did everything he did not specifically because he planned it carefully but rather because that's what he though would make the piece more beautiful and memorable.
Bibliography
Melt. “Andy Goldsworthy.” Andy Goldsworthy - Melt, Melt, visualmelt.com/Andy-Goldsworthy.
“Andy Goldsworthy, Bibliography.” Edited by TheFamousPeople.com, TheFamousPeople.com, TheFamousPeople.com, 23 Oct. 2017, www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/andy-goldsworthy-708.php.
“Andy Goldsworthy, Bibliography.” Edited by TheFamousPeople.com, TheFamousPeople.com, TheFamousPeople.com, 23 Oct. 2017, www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/andy-goldsworthy-708.php.