Mixed Media Project

I took inspiration from artist Ellen Gallagher for my mixed media assignment, specifically the collage portion of the assignment. I thought it was interesting how Gallagher removed the eyes from the images in her collage, and focused on the other features of the face instead of including an entire human figure in many of her works.

I also took inspiration from artist Victoria Villasana. This artist incorporates colorful embroidery into black and white photos of icons in pop culture.

For my project, I wanted to capture consumerism, and how it especially targets women through sexist ads. I began my project by looking for vintage Vogue magazine covers (since it is the most popular fashion magazine), to see if there were any that depicted sexist or misogynistic slogans or photos. I then printed these photos, and began cutting out the images of the women, as well as the slogans or various sentences on the magazine covers that captured my attention. I originally was going to paste the images with the slogans onto monoprinting pages, but wanted to capture the idea of how women’s identities have been erased, or altered through media trends. I think that eyes are a unique feature to each person, and that they can be symbols identity. I also wanted to symbolize how some women may have become blind to the false messages and impossible body ideals that the media has projected. These two reasons are why I decided to take inspiration from artist Ellen Gallagher, and remove the eyes from the images in the collage; while replacing them with a materialistic-looking glitter paper. Next, I began making my prints to collage the images on top of. I utilized monoprint techniques with the special monoprint ink on top of stationary paper that complimented the various colors of the magazine models and their clothes. I carved out designs with a q-tip, as well as the edge of the ink roller. I also dipped my hands in ink to add finger and hand prints to the monoprints, to symbolize identity.

Next, I began embellishing the collage images with pearls and embroidery thread around the eyes and various parts of their face. Once the prints had dried, I pasted these images onto the monoprints along with the various slogans that were on the magazine covers. After this, I began making more monoprints (for the border) using acrylic paint and embroidery thread. I placed the embroidery thread in various patterns on the plastic rolling board, then rolled the paint over it. Next, I pulled the embroidery string off of the board before imprinting the paper onto the designs. This created various patterns pictured below.

Lastly, I pasted the colored monoprint images with the collage images on top of the black and white monoprint images.

Overall, I’m happy with the outcome of my final piece. Some challenges I faced when completing the project was pasting the embroidery floss around some of the models’ eyes, as well as getting the images to lay flat against the textured monoprint. If I were to do anything differently in this assignment, I think it would have been interesting to cut around the vogue text instead of having it be against the original magazine background.