Block Print
Exhibition Text
Mysterious Nubian was inspired by Frida Kahlo, and the way she incorporates herself into her work. I created this piece because I find black history beautiful and mysterious. Being a black female I want to be able to learn and dive deeper into my heritage and where I come from. I want to be able to highlight not only the strengths but the weakness of African Americans in this day and age.
Planning
Inspiration
Inspiration
The first thing I did when planning was choose a theme. Since I've recently been struggling with identity, I chose African American beauty, more specifically in females. I've always taken an interest in my heritage and female power, especially in black females. My inspiration came from Frida Kahlo and the way her work revolves around her. Kahlo was a Mexican painter known for her portraits, more specifically her self portraits. Her work was inspired by nature Mexico itself, and it's artifacts. She dealt with themes such as identity, post-colonialism, gender, class, and race in Mexican society.
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Planning Sketches
In my first planning sketch I started a brief outline of what I thought I wanted the final piece to turn out to be. In the beginning I knew I wanted to keep her face all black to really show the theme of "Black is Beautiful". I originally wanted to make her eyes closed with a gradient effect, but then remembered I couldn't do that with a block print. I knew I wanted the crown to be gold to stand out against the black and white background of the piece. For this piece I immediately thought Frida Kahlo would be the perfect artist to base this print around, since she was known for incorporating herself into her artwork. My next idea was to take away the eyes completely and leave a blank white area to signify how people are a blank slate to begin with and we create our own destinies.
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In my second planning sketch I played around with the facial features, mostly the eyes. I had started off thinking I wanted to do all black eyes with white edging just around the eyes and still keep the whole face black. I experimented with different background choices, before deciding on a design that looked like a spotlight in the top left corner. In the bottom sketch I again changed how the eyes would look. I decided on all black eyes with a rectangular border.
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In my final planning sketch I decided on how everything would look for printing. For the background I chose a spotlight effect with blackout areas. For the hair I decided on small and large raindrop shapes in an unorganized pattern. I kept the gold crown throughout the whole piece, and eventually made the eyes all black with white eyelashes, a black border and a rectangular white border around both eyes.
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Carving Process & Experimentation
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Carving Process
When I was ready to carve, instead of transferring a copy onto the linoleum, I drew in pencil directly on the linoleum. I started off drawing on the outline of the face, then adding on the hair and crown outline. Next I divided the background into the blackout areas and penciled in the spotlight. Next I began to carve out the areas around the eyes and in between the crown with the linoleum cutting tools. Once I finished that I moved into the hair and began carving out the different sized raindrops. Finally, I carved out the white background and finished outlining the face. |
Inking Process
- After I finished carving, I gathered all the necessary materials for printing. (Ink tray, brayer, barren, water based ink in black and gold, a spoon, two different sized paintbrushes and paper)
- To make the print I used the spoon to scoop out some black water based in and put it on the ink tray.
- Next I rolled the ink out on the tray with the brayer.
- Then I used the smaller of the two paintbrushes to paint the gold ink onto the crown, and the larger of the two to paint on the black ink around the crown to prevent the colors from mixing.
- After the small areas were inked I used the brayer to roll black water based ink onto the larger areas, then touched up any missed spaces with a paintbrush.
- Once the plate was inked I tried to center a piece of paper over the top, then use the barren to apply pressure across the entire piece as best as possible.
- I repeated this process until I had a piece I was satisfied with.
Experimentation
Most of the experimentation during my project was trying to use both colors and use enough ink of each so that they would both show up and still stay separate.
~In my first trial, I didn't use enough ink on the crown or around the edges. I also learned that I needed to carve more out of the white background and around the eyes.
~In my second trial, I still didn't use enough ink throughout the entire piece, and the colors ended up mixing. I also still needed to carve more out of the background to prevent unwanted black lines.
~In my third trial, I used too much ink in the face and around the edges,but I didn't use enough ink on the crown and hair.
~In my fourth trial, I wanted to see how it would look if I did an all black piece, and even though I didn't use enough ink around the edges, I still decided I wanted to keep the crown being gold.
~In my fifth trial, I used too much ink on the crown, hair and eyes, but not enough around the edges.
After my fifth trial I made 2 more block prints and decided on the seventh one as my final piece.
Most of the experimentation during my project was trying to use both colors and use enough ink of each so that they would both show up and still stay separate.
~In my first trial, I didn't use enough ink on the crown or around the edges. I also learned that I needed to carve more out of the white background and around the eyes.
~In my second trial, I still didn't use enough ink throughout the entire piece, and the colors ended up mixing. I also still needed to carve more out of the background to prevent unwanted black lines.
~In my third trial, I used too much ink in the face and around the edges,but I didn't use enough ink on the crown and hair.
~In my fourth trial, I wanted to see how it would look if I did an all black piece, and even though I didn't use enough ink around the edges, I still decided I wanted to keep the crown being gold.
~In my fifth trial, I used too much ink on the crown, hair and eyes, but not enough around the edges.
After my fifth trial I made 2 more block prints and decided on the seventh one as my final piece.
Reflection
Act Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?