BLOG ENTRY NUMBER THREE:
Do we define a place or does a place define us?
Places do not define who we are, although we can become inspired by where those places are and can take pieces of the place to create our artwork.
How is each of the featured artists influenced by particular places? How is this influence reflected in the artist’s work?
Richard is influenced by shipwork and other forms of transportation.
Sally is influenced by her parents and her children.
McGee and Killgallen are influenced by things that people have handpainted and are influenced by things that are found around on the streets.
Osirio is influenced by his family history and background and his first haircut.
Cara Walker is influenced by slavery and the deep south.
Kiki Smith is influenced by the trials and burnings of witches.
Which artist do you feel most connected to and why?
The artists that i felt most connected to would have to be McGee and Killgallen. I love seeing signs that people have painted themselves and enjoy the different ways that things can be written and styled. I also love to be able to read someone from their artwork it does help you “learn about someone without even knowing them.”
When you were young, was there a place that interested you? A place that scared you? List five places from your childhood. Use one word to describe each of them.
When I was younger, I used to live in town and there were very few places in my house where I could hide and leave to do whatever I wish to do. But while living in the town house I was able to find a few places.
1. A place that scared me would have to have been our basement and the door leading down to it. The basement had bricks missing from its walls and was covered in spider webs, basically it was the last place any little kid would ever want to be. {UNTOUCHED}
2. I used to hide under things a lot, and was often foudn hiding underneath our large dining room table doodling in a sketchbook with crayons or just reading a book to pass the time. Under the table i felt as if i were in a forrest and could imagine different stories in my head. {ADVENTURE}
3. While in the townhouse my closet was about half the size of the closet I have now at my parents home but about the same size as the closet in my dorm room. While in there, I used to take flashlights and pillows and blankets and create a home away from home where no one else could go. In there I could dream and imagine all that i wish without having to worry if my little brother would be coming in to break it down. {SAFETY}
4. Grandma’s house was a house where my cousins and I were able to run from room to room doing whatever we wish to do. I grew up with three older boy cousins and was the only girl for about eight years of my life. There we could be as stupid as we wanted without having to worry about getting yelled at for doing something wrong. {FREEDOM}
5. My swingset at my townhouse. A good blanket, some headphones… and a book… [i was a multitasker] and i was set for life. {RELAXATION}
Pick one of those places. Try and remember it as well as you can. Answer these questions about it… What objects occupy that place? What are the textures and sizes of those objects? What was the lighting like? Was it a dark dreary place? Or a bright happy one?
My swing was made of wood with a rusty old chain on either side of the seat to hold it up on the wooden stand. Around me a lot of the time were branches that my dad had wanted me to pick up or leaves that had fallen because of the change in the seasons. Despite the swing being made of wood i always found it just as comfortable and it helped that i had always broughten blankets out to make myself warmer and comfier. On the swing i was usually always happy, or was able to make myself happy.