Symbolic Self Project

Symbolic Self Project

For my symbolic self project, I took inspiration from my childhood. I did ballet starting when I was 4, and up until 10th grade, and it formed a major part of my self-identity throughout growing up. Ballet classes required a lot of concentration and discipline, and helped me gain confidence and a sense of accomplishment in my talents. It also allowed me a creative outlet to express my emotions through movement, and make friendships outside of school. Because of this, I decided to draw ballet slippers as my symbol of self. After watching the How to Draw a Bunny documentary, I was inspired by Ray Johnson's collages, and how he repeated certain images throughout an entire collage. I re-created this through mono-print techniques, stamping with textured objects, collage, and glitter.

The Process

The background:

First, I took an 18 x 24 piece of drawing paper, and began drawing squiggly lines with a black drawing pen, to form various squares and rectangles on the paper. Next, I took black India ink, and mixed it with water to form a washed gray background in some of the sections of the piece. I directly poured this mixture onto the paper, and moved the paper around to cause the ink to drip off the paper in certain directions. After that, I dripped more pigmented black ink to the damp paper, to add more value to the grey washed background. After this, I repeated the same process with magenta, purple, red, green, and yellow India ink. I mixed various colors together to add more texture and pattern to the paper. After this, I blotted the pools of ink with a paper towel, and stamped this pattern onto the two colored rectangles to add more texture. I then went back with my black ink and painted over the squiggly lines in the paper, as well as splattered it onto certain parts of the piece. 

The ballet slippers:

First, I began creating the mono print images of the ballet papers by rolling printmaking paint onto a plastic slab and then drawing various positions of ballet slippers with a q-tip. Then, I transferred these images onto different colored construction paper, and added glitter to the wet paint. 

Next, I cut out these images with an X-acto knife to exaggerate the shape of the slippers, and pasted them onto the piece with a glue stick.

My final piece looked like this:

Inspiration:

I took inspiration from Ray Johnson and his collages, as well as Ellen Gallagher. I liked how Ray Johnson repeated certain images or objects throughout his collages, and how Ellen Gallagher utilized mono-print techniques in many of her pieces, as well as added many different textures as an element of her art. The two images below are specific works from these artists that especially inspired my piece. 

Ellen Gallagher. Hare. 2013.

Ray Johnson. Wake Up. 1973