Grade 9 Artwork


Posted by Admin on April 08, 2016 at 2:44 PM

Isobel_G9_Take_a_Stand_Collage.jpg

Artist Statement: Take a Stand Collage

By: Isobel Bain

My collage is about the misrepresentation of women in the media. This is a problem because magazines, fashion shows, and forms of advertising uses unrealistic women to try and sell things. This causes all forms of body shame and hatred among women as young girls and women are constantly told that their bodies aren’t good enough. One of the problems is PhotoShop.

PhotoShop is a problem because it creates an illusion about women should look like when that really isn’t the reality. The media should be using women and girls who look like someone you could see on the street. If there was a broader representation of women and girls in the media, I believe that there would be a decline in the amount of women and girls who have eating disorders or any form of body hate.

I used articles that talked about the misrepresentation of women in media. They discussed real bodies versus the bodies that are portrayed. They discussed the bodies used in advertising in advertising and fashion shows. They talked about how the bodies were unrealistic and that you should love your own body no matter what the media says.

I transferred images of my mom because it would be really hard to find a picture of a woman who wasn’t biased in some way so, I used a picture of my mum as a personal element so that it wasn’t biased.

I found getting all the text to stay on the board was really hard. I would say that 60% fell off. I would take more time and use more gel medium if I had to do it again.

I thought the picture of my mom was really well taken and transferred well. I would try improving my text so that it transferred better next time.

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Artist Statement

By: Sophia Eberschlag 

I chose this landscape photograph because I enjoy the feeling that being in pine forests brings me, and when I saw this photo I associated this image with that feeling. I personalized the compositional layout by changing the colours of the sky by taking out the blues and purples, and adding pinks and oranges. I also changed the placement of the snowy/shrubby areas. I changed the colours because orange and pink represent a sunset, which is one of my favourite times of the day. I changed the placement of the snowy/shrubby areas so that my image would not look too much like the original.

I chose my city because the colours used make this scene feel familiar as if I've seen this picture in real life. I personalized the compositional layout by taking away that familiar feeling. I did this by changing the colours of some of the buildings to colours that you do not usually see on buildings in real life. For example, usually, buildings are different shades of blacks, greys, and browns. I included vibrant pinks, yellows, purples, greens, and blues. I also took away the lampposts and cars so that the image would be less busy.  

The areas I'm happiest with are the sky in my landscape piece and how I managed to grasp the “one point perspective” in my cityscape. I am happy with the sky in my landscape because the sky takes up over half the image, so I knew it had to be done well. I think it is a fairly smooth gradation, and I am happy with the way the colours look together. I am happy with the perspective in my cityscape because before I completed it, I was worried I would not be able to learn how to create a “one point perspective”. I am happy that I ended up getting the hang of it.I think I could have improved on figuring out ways to create more crisp lines, as the ones displayed on this piece are quite uneven. I also think I could have improved on some of the background buildings by adding more details to them (i.e. windows, highlights, etc.)

Some differences I noticed when using watercolour and acrylic paint was that it is much easier to create crisp, neat lines with acrylic paint. I also noticed that with watercolour you can use different techniques to manipulate where the paint is going to go like wet washes, painting over pastel, or stripping the colours from areas using a paper towel. When using acrylic paint, the paint will only go where you apply it with your brush.