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01. STUDYING THE MASTERS
The drawing portion of Accademia Riaci's Drawing and Painting course challenged my artistic eye through still life and portraiture. Studying the techniques of the masters augmented my speed and capacity to make larger-than-life drawings. The final portraits are characterized by color outside their bounds: bridging tradition and expression.
02. INK TO OILS
A thematical change in my work is noted in the Fall of 2021 upon revisiting the 7 elements of art: line, shape, form, color, space, texture and value, in the studio at Virginia Commonwealth University. The abstract self portrait is a staple in VCU's Art Foundations course which challenges the intersectionality of 2D, 3D and digital surfaces on the basis of these 7 elements.
Dissecting artistic expression to its bare bones has matured my practice and ability to effectively critique.
![IMG_0660[495].jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d86ca7_ba2d7f827c244c48bb6046a3068e7b36~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_2270,h_3009,q_90/d86ca7_ba2d7f827c244c48bb6046a3068e7b36~mv2.webp)
“Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.”
-Leonardo da Vinci
03. EN PLEIN AIR
The painting portion of Accademia Riaci's certification program exercised the use of color in dynamic environments across Tuscany. This collection of work is defined by an introduction to atmospherical painting using the sfumato technique made popular by painters of the Italian Renaissance.
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way—things I had no words for.”
-Georgia O'Keeffe
05. RALLYING BEHIND AFGHAN WOMEN
This 2-minute, hand-drawn animation made its debut in VCUarts The Anderson's Y2K Video Exhibition in October 2021. The story later inspired collaboration with VCU's Afghan Student Organization to raise funds for Save The Children Afghanistan in a joint effort designing, marketing and selling calendars for the new year. We raised $165 for the Afghan generation left behind.
06. INTERACTION / INFLUENCE
"BE MY EYES. BE MY HANDS." is a performance piece about influence, trust and interaction. With eyes bound, and paintbrush and marker in hand, my body served as an unbiased vessel for creation. The concept of judgment, between artist and participant, is sterilized through the compromise of control, yet each person is powerless to make a mark without the other.
The physical painting, characterized by hasty marks and scribbles, came to be only through the courageous decision to be publicly observed in the balancing act.
STATS:
total time spent: 1 hour, 54 minutes
total time spent before 1st participant*: 23 minutes, 54 seconds
total participants: 9
% of overall time spent interacting: 9.4%
average amount of time spent interacting: 1 minute, 9 seconds
% of participants who asked permission before interacting: 5/9
% of participants who spoke to me before interacting: 8/9
tips received: €2.40 and a piece of cake
*participant = passerby that touches the rods for any amount of time
07. WHO ARE YOU ... IN A PHOTO?
5 characteristics that make up who I am:
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I am a young woman.
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I am adventurous.
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I am sensitive, i.e. my environment molds me.
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I am expressive / emotional.
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I am figuring myself out.
Prompts of self-reflection were supplied in VCU's Space Research class to conceptualize self-expression through prop design, fashion, pose, and composition.