Digital Collage - Cycle of Resilience
Size: 60cm by 90cm
Medium: Digital Collage Completion: April 2018 |
Cycle of Resilience is a digital collage comprised of a background of the Milwaukee skyline (inspired by Starry Night over the Rhone by Van Gogh), a ferris wheel from state fair, palmettos from North Carolina, and several pictures of different events in my life both and back in NC. This digital collage's intention is to show how humans are resilient and I'm using myself as an example because i've moved a couple times, and even though its uncomfortable at first, gradually we grow to like it and adapt to it.
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Inspiration
https://www.vincentvangogh.org/starry-night-over-the-rhone.jsp
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Inspired by the scenery of Van Gogh's artworks, I was inspired by his 'Starry Night over the Rhone' and I knew I could capture a similar image in the city of Milwaukee since its on a lakefront as well. Therefore, I took a picture of Milwaukee at night and it clearly has a lot of similarities to Van Gogh's piece
I plan to include a picture of myself in the center of a ferris wheel, with my important life events around me, on the ferris wheel seats. I want the background to be vivid but not to the point where it takes the spotlight from the main components of the collage. This artwork was inspired by Starry Night over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh. |
'Starry Night over the Rhone' is a painting by Vincent van Gogh that was made in 1888 and is the predecessor of the very famous 'Starry Night'. This artwork precisely captures the light from a city onto a canvas. Van Gogh also stood true to nature and included an accurate representation of a constellation in the starry night above. When making this artwork Van Gogh wrote out letters to old friends with a very cheerful mood because of his new home which is close to where he painted 'Starry Night over the Rhone'. We can infer that this piece was the product of happiness and appreciation for his new home. Both my inspiration from Van Gogh and my digital collage have many aspects of Impressionism. Impressionism is an art movement that originated in France in the late 19th century, and is wrapped around the depiction of visual impression of the moment, more so in terms of the shifting effect of light and color.In my digital collage, I chose to capture a feeling and experience of my life rather than to have very accurate depiction of art principles.
Meaning & Analysis: Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://legomenon.com/meaning-analysis-starry-night-over-the-rhone-van-gogh.html
Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm
Planning
My theme in this artwork is Resilience, the capacity to recover from difficulties, and I plan to incorporate it into my collage by using several images that depict the difficulties in my life, like moving to a whole other region in the US, and how I recovered from that hard time in my life and now accept where I reside.
Resilience. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resilience
Resilience. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resilience
This is how I'm going to make this Digital Collage :
This connects to my inspiration from Impressionism in a way that accurately depicts light and nature's changing qualities from the Palmettos and the light from the city. The background, from the skyline in the night with the lights reflecting off the water is very similar to Van Gogh's 'Starry Night over the Rhone'. Almost identical forms.
Using nature and its various qualities for the digital collage, in order to capture the feeling and experience that my past days in NC gave me.
The pictures that go over those descriptions won't be cropped into the same shape for each one, to include that impreciseness that is very abundant in Impressionism, because light and movement is the focus.
Process/Techniques
At this point, I've already put the Ferris wheel, me in the center, and a picture of me back in NC with my dog as one of the happiest times of my life. The images would go in a timeline fashion counter clockwise starting from the bottom right. I cropped images by choosing the eraser and then selecting an area I didn't want with a loop and then pressing delete.
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Once again , adding another layer image to go over the ferris wheel. This image is from when I first moved to North Carolina from Mexico in 2003. This picture is the first one on the ferris wheel cycle because its the farthest I could go back. If you think about it, this is another cycle I was also happy in Mexico as a baby, and then I moved.
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Experimentation
This was an experimentation that failed to be Digital Collage worthy for me. Even though it has nice light and color, i wanted something with more meaning behind it. That could also capture a feeling from the light and colors. This served more as a rough draft, a first-time working with Photoshop experience.
Reflection
Cycle of Resilience has components from both Impressionism and Van Gogh's "Starry Night on the Rhone". My Digital Collage has more focus on light and color than on accuracy in lines and art principles. On the other hand, my artwork doesn't have light brushstrokes or brushstrokes at all like an Impressionistic artwork. The scenery in Van Gogh's piece is very similar to mine in a way that they have the same balance and shape of skyline. During the process of making this some challenges were figuring out how to use Photoshop at first. It was very frustrating to the point where I didn't want to do it anymore because I didn't know the controls of this application. Almost everything was a challenge, whether it be cropping, placing images and layers, resizing, everything. However, there are some successes, after i got a hang of it, I knew how to layer and place whatever i wanted, wherever I wanted. Placing the images around the ferris wheel was a success. Lastly, in the making of this artwork, I learned alot of things like how to work Adobe Photoshop and that art isn't always a painting.
Connection to the ACT
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork?
Im able to identify the cause and effect because I went out at night to get a picture of Milwaukee at night to get a very similar image as the painting ' Starry night over the Rhone' by van Gogh. This had an effect on my artwork because I used that as a background. Basically like using 'Starry Night over the Rhone' as the background. Also favoring light, color, and movement over precise lines is an effect from Impressionism.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Informative, unbiased and also gave sources incase something wasn't theirs. Always using primary source information and displaying it in a more readable fashion for visitors and viewers on that website.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I came to a conclusion that art can be a form of communication whether it be distress like Kathe Kollwitz's art, or happiness like some of Van Gogh's art.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Resilience, the ability to recover from difficulties, and my difficulty was moving 1050 miles away from my hometown.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to an inference while reading, that Van Gogh communicated through art.
Im able to identify the cause and effect because I went out at night to get a picture of Milwaukee at night to get a very similar image as the painting ' Starry night over the Rhone' by van Gogh. This had an effect on my artwork because I used that as a background. Basically like using 'Starry Night over the Rhone' as the background. Also favoring light, color, and movement over precise lines is an effect from Impressionism.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
Informative, unbiased and also gave sources incase something wasn't theirs. Always using primary source information and displaying it in a more readable fashion for visitors and viewers on that website.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I came to a conclusion that art can be a form of communication whether it be distress like Kathe Kollwitz's art, or happiness like some of Van Gogh's art.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?.
Resilience, the ability to recover from difficulties, and my difficulty was moving 1050 miles away from my hometown.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I came to an inference while reading, that Van Gogh communicated through art.
Bibliography
https://www.vincentvangogh.org/starry-night-over-the-rhone.jsp
Meaning & Analysis: Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://legomenon.com/meaning-analysis-starry-night-over-the-rhone-van-gogh.html
Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm
Resilience. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resilience
Meaning & Analysis: Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://legomenon.com/meaning-analysis-starry-night-over-the-rhone-van-gogh.html
Impressionism Movement, Artists and Major Works. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.theartstory.org/movement-impressionism.htm
Resilience. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resilience