My work comes from the deepest parts of my mind. I want to dig deep into my soul to capture what I have lost, my grandfather. He was my light and I was his shadow, for he and I had a close bond. My light went away when he died and all that was left was his grieving shadow. For my final project, I want to photograph my grandfather’s house, in hopes of capturing a glimpse of that light. These photographs will help guide me through the shadows and will lead me to the light.

I am fascinated when it comes light and shadow. To me, shadows are remnants of something that was once there or is there, but not in view. We need to capture the shadows or the remnants of what was once there so they don’t slip away into darkness. I want to collect the remnants of what was once there in my grandfather’s home in hopes that I can keep the light in my life. To do this, I will work with objects and areas of my grandfather’s home for this will help memorialize him and the place where I shared so many moments with him. I want to capture what I remember most about my grandfather and his home, his warmth.

I know this project will be difficult for me and the viewer. I will have to come to terms with the present while trying to portray the past to the viewer. These photographs will be an abstraction from what is now my reality. The reality that my grandfather will no longer be the light in my life. I believe art isn’t meant to be understood completely by the viewer. One wants to have the viewer to leave with questions running in their mind. I don’t expect the viewer to completely know who was my grandfather, but what he meant to me.

Rough Draft of Statement

My work comes from the deepest parts of my mind. I never know what I will do and what I want to do, I just do it. I don’t like doing preliminary sketches even though artists in the past have gotten their inspiration from doing this. I like to work from moment to moment. I love the thrill of thinking of new things on the spot without any preliminary thought. I do what I think; if this doesn’t work out I try again. I go through this process until I come to a work that satisfies me. It can take many failed attempts and different views to come to a conclusion that I can be happy with. My mind shifts in and out of different mediums when it comes to my work. I paint, photograph, project, collage, film, and combine to get my point across. It can be quite difficult if you don’t have a set medium you work with. I have worked with many mediums but I am not an expert at any of them. I seem to drift like an elementary student on a Friday afternoon at school. I can’t stay focused long enough to fully grasp on medium. I wouldn’t say I am a bad painter or drawer I just lack the various skills that experts have. This doesn’t always happen for my artwork sometimes has a hard time in finding a voice. I can think of many things in my mind, but all of these points don’t make it to my work. They get lost in translation along the way from my mind to the piece. This is the most difficult problem with my work. I have had successful work especially in my photography. I am fascinated when it comes light and shadow. I love the idea that shadows are remnants of something that was once there or is there, but not in view. I guess my work is the remnants of the idea that was in my mind. They were the idea in my mind and are the only note of what was actually on my mind. I find my work deals with what is on my mind. It maybe something deep in my mind or an idea that just popped out of nowhere. I work with objects or subjects that are not human. My work is often small, but I have ventured into larger work from time to time. I like to work abstractly with various styles and ideas from the norm. I like realistic art that is abstract. That is why I am drawn to the impressionist painters. I love the use of color and brush stroke to paint what was in the painter’s mind. Up close these paintings feel very abstract but far away they come alive with mages of people and their lives. I love creating work that has a whimsical childish style to them. I love taking old children’s books from the past and change them to say my own story. I love making them seem cohesive even though I have cut, pasted and added color. I love having the viewer not realize that what they are looking at is actually not part of the original book. I like to fool the viewer into seeing my work. I don’t want them to say that is that. I want them to make their own interpretation even if it is completely opposite of mine. I am not afraid of people not getting my work. To me, my art is part of me; as long as I am happy with it, it is okay. But that is not what art is for, or at least that is what we are told. Art is our statement to the world. Art is meant to be seen and liked; at least famous art works that way. Art isn’t meant to be understood completely by the viewer. You want to have the viewer leave with questions running in their mind. I like having the viewer have more questions than answers when it comes to my work. I guess because I always have more questions when it comes to art. I have always had a difficult time when it comes to analyzing work. Why can’t I just like art aesthetically, I guess that is like an astronomer saying that why can’t they just look at the stars. We need to know about art so we can learn from it. I don’t necessarily need to have all of the information handed to me on a silver platter, but tid bits that clue me in on how the artist might think

20 Words and Artist

My work is:

Intrinsic
collective
multilayered
social
varying
childish
interactive
vulnerable
crafty
simplistic
antiquated
colorful
joyful
connecting
incomplete
confusing
stowed
compact
textured
quiet

Carlo Zinelli

The artist that I admired the most is Carlo Zinelli. Many people have looked over the art created by "outsiders", but I have found its simplistic beauty to be amazing. I was lucky to have discovered a book in the library during my freshman year. The book highlights work by "outsider" artists that have made a name for themselves. Many of outsider artists are actually prisoners of the mind. They were metal patients at institutions or prisoners at a prison. Outsider Art also includes many other artist considered to be naieve. This category includes children and adults.

I just love th birght vivid colors used by Carlo Zinelli. He used alot of patterns or similar shapes over and over. His work is similar to abstract expressionists, in which he leaves no spcae empty. He used simple supplies that anyone could use. Often paint on paper or cardboard. His style is very interesting for you don't know what he is trying to get at. Many of the Outsider Artists from his time created similar styles in work. The Outsider Artist has slipped away from the scene, for many of the hallucinations used by the artist have disappeared with psychopharmacology.

My older work was very similar to Zinelli's style. The picture above is a piece that he has influenced. My newer work isn't aesthetically similar and doesn't have the same ideas, well maybe a little bit. Can't I just admire this artist for his work? Do I actually have to share his ideas to admire his work? My work is mostly simplistic on the outside but deeper in my mind. To me my work has to affect me not necessarily the viewer. I do love bold color with simple black and white, which is a main part of Zinelli's work.

The end of the semester is coming quickly and our plans for vacation are dancing in our heads. But before we can make our dreams reality, we need to complete one more project. I have jumped from project to project with no correlation between the first two. I went from small as book to a wall hanging and projection. I have thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and I have found my inspiration, my grampa.

It has been in the past few weeks that my grampa took ill and died. He lived to the old age of 79 and lived a fulfilling life. I have been tormented between completing schoolwork and grieving for my grampa. When he was ill, my mind was filled with memories with him and I realized he meant a lot to me. He has always supported my wishes and dreams. He was proud to have me as his granddaughter. All of my memories of my grandfather are precious to me and I keep him close to my heart.


The image that will be in my mind forever is my grandfather napping in his old beaten up armchair. It is this red vinyl chair, that, well lets just say had seen better days. He always took an afternoon nap on the couch. I wanted to do a project that my grampa has inspired me to do. I want to go and take pictures at his home. I can remember all of the quirks of the home and the remnants of the past that linger in all of the corners.

I want to take photographs and either make prints of them or use them to influence another piece. I thought about doing an etching of my grandfather’s chair or home. But I think photos would be the best idea to get my point across. I would like to have three to five prints of images that remind me of memories with my grampa. I have so many memories at that house and now is the time to document all of those memories.


My family doesn’t have the finances to keep the home and they have made a decision to most likely go ahead and sell it. I wish we could keep the property in our family. It is right on the lake, with a large yard that always has shade in the hot summer. I want to remember it the way it was and not the way it is going to be, empty like my heart. So that is why I have made a decision to document my grampa’s home. This is a way I can work on my schoolwork and still grieve for a man that I have loved and lost.

The photos will be taken with a Pentax camera with Ilford HP5 black and white film. I plan to take from a range of 5 to 20 rolls. This all depends on how much time and how I feel in my grampa’s home. I would like to develop all of the rolls, but I might label and choose specific rolls to develop for the class. I will try to print them at school, but I might have to go to an outside source. If I can’t print them at school I might opt for doing an etching of one of the negatives.

Hooray! I feel so energized with my new project. I am planning to portray how I feel about the MBTA and the whole Charlie ticket fiasco. I originally was going to paint a subway scene on the canvas, but I decided a projection would be even better. The canvas I chose is 48 x 48 for it is about the size of a subway map in a station. I am collecting tickets from stations with the Charlie ticket and I am going to paste them onto the canvas in a design to give the background some life. I won't have a specific pattern for I want the design to be confusing to the viewer. I will then paint the actual subway map onto the canvas. I am then planning to project a slide show onto the canvas. I am going to all the major stations and I am going to take pictures whether they are Charlie ticket or cash/token. I plan to make the slide show fast pace so the viewer won't know what station they are at. The MTA song will play in the background. I can't wait for it to be finished. I hope it comes out like what is in my mind!!!

I travelled to the Harvard Fogg Art Museum to glance at the famous artist sketchbooks. They were on display at a small exhibition in the Straus Gallery of the museum. The collection contained skecthbooks from hundreds of years ago to ones from the last century. They varied from type of paper and quality.

Sargent used his skecthbooks for studies. He used these studies to create his final pieces. The two sketches from Henry Moore seemed like complete pictures to me; with full color and line. Some artists did caricatures within their sketchbooks. Thomas Rowlands depicted people's faces as different fish heads. There was a sketchbook from David Smith a sculpture for you could tell by the shapes and movement of his lines.

Many of these artist used their sketchbooks to simply do basic sketches with simple lines and simple mediums such as ink, pencil, and carcoal. The subjects in these skethes included animals, structures, and people. The sketches were of studies, completed works as well as just a startig point for the artist.

This exhibition shows that even though these artists were famous and dead that we still follow the same steps in creating art. We start with sketches that we collect as we carry our sketchbooks through new places and old. Our sketchbooks consist of the same range of artwork as they did hundreds of years ago.

For this project we had to choose a piece of writing to help us start our new project. I finally figured out what I would use for my project. With the changing fares and new way of riding the T in Boston, I thought I would go back to the past when the MBTA was the MTA. I had heard the song many times in my life and I decided with all of the change it would be a great influence for a piece. Heck, the name Charlie is used for the new tickets and cards. so here is my piece of writing:

Let me tell you the story
Of a man named Charlie
On a tragic and fateful day
He put ten cents in his pocket,
Kissed his wife and family
Went to ride on the MTA

Charlie handed in his dime
At the Kendall Square Station
And he changed for Jamaica Plain
When he got there the conductor told him,
"One more nickel."
Charlie could not get off that train.

Chorus:
Did he ever return,
No he never returned
And his fate is still unlearn'd
He may ride forever
'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned.

Now all night long
Charlie rides through the tunnels
Saying, "What will become of me?
Crying
How can I afford to see
My sister in Chelsea
Or my cousin in Roxbury?"

Charlie's wife goes down
To the Scollay Square station
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window
She hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train comes rumblin' through.

As his train rolled on
underneath Greater Boston
Charlie looked around and sighed:
"Well, I'm sore and disgusted
And I'm absolutely busted;
I guess this is my last long ride."
{this entire verse was replaced by a banjo solo}

Now you citizens of Boston,
Don't you think it's a scandal
That the people have to pay and pay
Vote for Walter A. O'Brien
Fight the fare increase!
And fight the fare increase
Vote for George O'Brien!
Get poor Charlie off the MTA.

Chorus:
Or else he'll never return,
No he'll never return
And his fate will be unlearned
He may ride forever
'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man (Who's the man)
He's the man who never returned.
He's the man (Oh, the man)
He's the man who never returned.
He's the man who never returned.

Welcome again to my blog! My second post is about a magnificent exhibition going on at my school. I traveled to the CRAFTY show and was amazed by most of the work shown. The basis of the show was the basis of craft as an art or that is at least what I got out of it. I was drawn right away to the photo montages create by John O'reily. They weren't created by photoshop or some computer program, but by hand. You could see the glue marks and the actual seems of the overlapping paper.


I think with new technology people seem to forget the old way. Craft is been taken over by a machine. You can no longer see the effort of the creator. Art created by computers, to me, seem effortless even though the artist has spent hours infront of a glowing tube that has surely made them go blind. Not all art is being replaced by technology. The hand craft beading of Nick Cave displays this notion. The art of hand beading has been around for thousands of years and is displayed wonderfully in nick Cave's piece. It is bright and vivid with the splashes of silver and gold on the with champagne tone of the fabric. It may seem flashy but I enjoyed this piece a lot.


As I walked around some other pieces caught my eye. I was drawn to Lara Schnitger's work. Her fabric montages of a lower naked half of a male and a female amused my eyes. They were simple but straight forward. I wouldn't consider them pornographic at all. They were just playful with their fabrics cut into the shape of sex organs. I was also drawn to Imi Hwangbo's layered work. The layered work showed a lot of time and effort in cutting out each individual panel that were then layered on top of one another.


The final artist that I enjoyed I almost looked over. I was ready to leave the exhibition when I walked by the work of retired dentist Ruvim Mogendovich. The hundreds of carved animal on the shelves made me squeal with delight. I own a few hand carved animals but none like these. The smiles on the figures of the animals make them come to life in a child like way. They made my day. I could tell that a skilled hand had carved these animals out of scrap wood. It made sense when I read he was a retired dentist for dentists know how to use their hands to carve.




I wasn't disappointed in this show. It made me feel at home for my work isn't always fine art but more on the crafty side. I always liked working with my hands and not so much on the computer. I could see the time and effort in everyone's artwork even if I didn't like what was shown infront of me.

Welcome to my blog! Hello, My name is Leea and this is my blog for my art portfolio class. This blog will help you understand how I process information and how I plan to go along acomplishing my projects. I can be somewhat of a scatterbrain so please bare with me.



Our first project sent us to the magnificent facilities of the Harvard Natural History Museum. Some find it boring, but I find it interesting. I had been there many times so this visit brought back many memories. Of course when you are little the animals seem gigantic but now they seem smaller. Of course they are still big but when you are little, things normal size seem so big.




Anyways this visit brought back memories, especially the ones about the animals. I remember the big stuffed animals that stare right at you. They aren't your cuddlie stuffed animals; that you hold when you are little, but ones that were taxidermied. That means they were killed or found dead and prepared and stuffed into a certain position to give a dramatic effect. It gives you an eerie feeling when you are older. I still feel like they will come alive and come at you.



This is portrayed in some of my photographs. The positions of the animal makes them seem like they are looking at you and at any moment they will move. From these photos I drew 20 drawings. From here I plan to create a manipulated book. i plan to cut, paste, paint and draw in this book with multiple mediums. i want the animals to come to live within the pages of the book. i plan to make a story from the found book. i will manipulate the words so I create a new story from one already created.



So stay tuned for what comes of my ideas...