Dry Point
The Beauty of Dance
7 x 6 1/2 inches
Dry point
11/03/16
7 x 6 1/2 inches
Dry point
11/03/16
Exhibition Text:
My piece was changed many different times, but they all related to the beauty and purity of dance. I experimented with many different drawings with many different dance styles. I went through hip hop, tap, and salsa. I finally settled on ballet because I always thought ballet was beautiful. I drew just a plain ballerina but I personally thought it could be stepped up. I decided to incorporate flowers into my piece because flowers have long been considered beautiful. People compare others to flowers. I thought it would be wise to transform her tutu into a giant daisy. One of the problems I had was drawing the daisy. I couldn't get the petals to fit appropriately on to her dress. I also struggled with the vines I drew on her legs. They were too small or to big. I thought that my drawing would appropriately capture the fact that dance is beauty and pure because I incorporated many things considered "beautiful" and "pure". .
Meaning:
The meaning of my piece is to essentially portray that dance is a pure, beautiful art form. I chose a ballerina because, not only am I most familiar with that style of dance, but because Ballet is regarded as beautiful and graceful. I wanted to demonstrate that dance is full of grace and passion. Ballet is also big on dedication and determination and I liked that message as well. I chose to incorporate a flower because flower has long been associated with beauty. I also chose the Daisy specifically as the tutu. I chose this because daisies symbolize purity, innocence and true love. In the 1980's, the daisy became a slang term to mean "of excellent quality". I wanted to show that dance is a pure, beautiful art form and the meaning behind the daisy helped me better demonstrate it.
Artist Inspiration:
"White Flower on Red Earth, No. 1, C. 1946." AllPosters.com, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2016."Edgar Degas Ballet Rehearsal." Musee D'Orsay, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2016. |
The artist I chose to emulate is Edgar Degas. The painting that really inspired me was Ballet Rehearsals. Edgar Degas was a french artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, printmaking and drawings. He is known as one of the founding fathers of Impressionism. He was known for his popular use of dance in his pieces. His portraits are known as the one of the finest in art history. I chose Edgar Degas because I was using the theme of dance in my piece. I knew from previous experiences that he used dance quite often and thought he would be a wise choice to emulate. I chose Ballet Rehearsal because it used my style of dance, Ballet. The second artist I chose to emulate was Georgia O'Keeffe. The specific painting was White Flower On the Red Earth 1. Georgia O'Keeffe was a 20th century American artist. She is regarded as a "pioneer of American modernism". O'Keeffe was known for her paintings of flowers and nature, the majority being close-ups. I chose O'Keeffe because I liked her use of up-close flowers and the real look of them. I also quite enjoyed the texture they conveyed.
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Journaling, Planning and process:
Planning:
I first started off with planning. I knew that I wanted to do a theme of dance but I didn't know what kind of style. I also didn't know how I was going to draw it as well. What art movement would I use? What culture?
I first started off with planning. I knew that I wanted to do a theme of dance but I didn't know what kind of style. I also didn't know how I was going to draw it as well. What art movement would I use? What culture?
My planning sketches were not drawn to full effort. I wanted to get my ideas down quickly before I forgot them. I knew, overall, I wanted a theme of dance and nature. I originally wanted salsa or break dance, but decided against it and drew ballet. I chose ballet because I was more familiar with this style of dance and it interested me the most. I wanted to incorporate some type of nature. I thought about drawing the ballerina as a tree, stemming from the ground. I chose not to do this since dance is movement. I finally decided on flowers since they were beautiful and encompassed what I wanted.
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Planning sketches:
This drawing was one of my first ideas. It is a poorly drawn salsa dancer. I was going to make a salsa dancer my main focus because salsa dance is considered beautiful. I decided against it since I obviously lack the skill to draw it and It may have been to difficult.
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This is what my original drawing of my ballerina was going to look like. I was going to have a music box and music notes were going to be crawling up her legs. I decided against this because I wanted to incorporate nature.
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Experimentation:
This one was the first one I completed. It was not my final because it did not have enough ink on some parts and the cross-hatching on some places was not deep enough to get a good print. I had to go back and scratch deeper at the areas under her flower skirt.
Actual Process/ Tools:Step #1: First, you pick your design and transfer it onto the plate.
Step #2: Then, you carve the piece out using the carving tool, which looks like a short knife except triangular-shaped. Step #3: Once it is all carved out, you place a piece of paper in water and let it soak for 5-8 minutes. After the paper soaks, place it on a towel and dry it. Step #4: Spread a thin layer of ink onto the plate Step #5: Force ink into the scratches you made onto the plate Step #6: You wipe the ink off of the plate gently with newsprint. You want to place ink into the crevices but not take any out. Step #7: After that is completed, place the plate on the press in newsprint folder. Step #8: Place the moist paper that was soaked in water on top of the plate. Place the E-Z cut on top. Step #9: Roll in the press once. Step #10: Place the now finished print in a drying rack. Pictures of Process:Comparison: |
This one was the second print I completed. I decided that this one was obviously not the final draft because it was missing ink everywhere. I also didn't wipe the areas around the ballerina well enough and some ink showed up.
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This one was the one I did right before my final draft. Its almost as if my pieces became worse as I progressed. I decided that this was not my final because it had too much ink everywhere.
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On the right is Edgar Degas' painting, Ballet Rehearsal. This is the main influence on my piece, which encompassed ballet. The painting on the bottom is Georgia O'Keeffe's White Flower on Red Earth 1. My piece compares to Degas because they both have to do with dance, more specific, Ballet. The position of my ballerina is not shown in Degas' piece because I wanted it to be somewhat different from Degas. The bottom picture is similar to mine because I attempted to recreate that type of flower. My flower ended up being somewhat similar. I liked how O'Keeffe made her flower realistic, but still had a mystical, painting feel. That's how I wanted mine to be.
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"Edgar Degas Ballet Rehearsal." Musee D'Orsay, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2016. |
"White Flower on Red Earth, No. 1, C. 1946." AllPosters.com, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2016.
Reflection:
Overall, I believe that my piece is great. I think I drew it appropriately and I believe it is a pretty piece. One struggle I endured was actually drawing the ballerina. I drew many positions of the dancer, but settled on that one because almost everyone is familiar with that pose. Another struggle I had was actually printing the picture. Printing was difficult because either you had too much ink or not enough. I made many copies, as shown above in experimentation/process and it took me several times to get the right one. One thing that wasn't much of a struggle was cutting out the piece into the plastic. I found this part easy and was simple enough to comprehend. Another part that was easy was drawing the flower on the ballerina. I redrew it multiple times, but that was purely out of my own desire. I think that I showed what I wanted with the piece. I wanted to demonstrate my love for dance as well as the universal knowledge and acceptance of dance, specifically ballet, as being graceful and pure. I wanted everything on this piece to be perfect, or as close to perfect as I can get. I am immensely proud of my piece and I am happy with the outcome.
ACT Questions:
1) Due to Degas choosing dancers, specifically ballerinas, I decided to chose ballerinas. Due to Georgia O'Keeffe choosing flowers, I chose a flower. O'Keeffe chose flowers because she was especially connected with nature.
2) The author is a big fan of dance, specifically ballet. He portrayed ballet quite frequently in his work. Degas chose ballet because he loved the grace and color he could portray with the ballet movements and "pretty clothes".
3) Ballet is widely regarded as a beautiful art form. Flowers also have meanings and the names have been adopted for many different things, such as children's names, names of historical places and used to convey a message, such as I did with the daisies.
4) My central theme was the beauty and purity of dance.
5) I came to the conclusion that ballet is thought of highly and is known to be pure, beautiful and graceful.
2) The author is a big fan of dance, specifically ballet. He portrayed ballet quite frequently in his work. Degas chose ballet because he loved the grace and color he could portray with the ballet movements and "pretty clothes".
3) Ballet is widely regarded as a beautiful art form. Flowers also have meanings and the names have been adopted for many different things, such as children's names, names of historical places and used to convey a message, such as I did with the daisies.
4) My central theme was the beauty and purity of dance.
5) I came to the conclusion that ballet is thought of highly and is known to be pure, beautiful and graceful.