Life in Darkness

Life in Darkness is my favorite piece up until now.  I like it because it really shows what you can do with digital media.  Digital media turns out better then real media for me because there is an undo button ;).  This piece really inspired me to continue my investigation using digital media.  My investigation is the juxtaposition of life and death, or destruction.  I am not sure which one I will continue to focus on later but more work will help me decide this.  My next piece should be a dead flower.  This will definitely show the juxtaposition between life and death. 
Unfortunately, this picture also inspired me to buy a new camera.  It will help me take better pictures but I still need to learn how to use it better.  We will see where all this leads me, but I think it will really nice.
~Christopher

Wind - Austin

This piece shows a slight change in my investigation, shifting from a natural theme coupled with creative fantasy to a nature with Japanese calligraphy theme. The choice to add symbols was one made in order to incorporate a jagged, stand-out, linear shape with the natural free flow of nature.
In this piece, I captured the gentle and soft form of wind, showing it twist and curl, the metal wire helping to emphasize such. The Japanese symbol for wind was a center point of this piece, and looked as if it was emanating the wind. This piece truly changed my investigation to its new direction.

Investigation Piece from Khera

This piece is the first produced for the investigation of Latin and American Cultures. The investigation focuses on the combination of the two cultures, searching for a way to show that the two cultures have blended and combined aspects into one unique culture that is neither specifically Latin or American. Rather than show a broad dipiction of the two cultural aspects, the investigation will take an aspect of culture, such as food, marriage, family, etc. and design an idea for one piece. The piece shown above took the aspect 'public display of culture', taking a Latin aspect and meshing it with an American aspect. Here a Mariachi Group, a Latin aspect, is shown in an American style setting, a shopping mall. Shopping malls are an important part of American culture, as the American people frequent them for every day needs, social meetings, etc. The message portrayed is that shopping malls have evolved past being specifcally American and show that culture can be all incorporating. A shopping mall can combine the American ideas of social setting, meeting, and needs, with Latin culture into a universal location that can be enjoyed by all cultures, even beyond just Latin and American. This piece focuses on details that emphasize and juxtapose the Latin aspect with the American, in an effort to distinguish between the two cultures, but simultaneously show the combination.

RIOT - Angie

I chose riots for the topic of my piece because of its significance to my investigation; chaos and control. Riots are sometimes a paradox, like when people are trying to overthrow the government because there is chaos to gain control. This is the first piece I used watercolor in and I am very happy with the results, becasue of the blending of the color, but at the same time the colors contrast eachother in shade.

Tourist vs. Terror - Stephanie

     

      The main idea I hoped to represent in my piece was how Mexico is more than the beautiful architecture tourists come to see. There are many streets and areas which are extremely dangerous and poverty stricken. I utilized the colors of the Mexican flag: red, green, and white, to create a unity across my piece. Also, I wished to use a more interesting composition than a simple rectangular canvas, so I glued multiple panes together. I utilized the bright happy yellow ink to represent the tourist sites, and dark melancholy blue ink to create an image of despair and violence. Together there is a stark contrast between the two, yet the similar color scheme unifies the piece.

Trip-Drill - Eddie

This piece is named after Nelly's song, "Trip-Drill". The reason I decided to call this piece that is due to the fact that I displayed the true nature of the lyrics graphically. For this peice I used a combination of ink and marker. I chose the color red to symbolize the feeling of anger and frustration, which is contrasted by the anguish of the woman. I had the womans arms removed to exagerate the idea that woman can do nothing about this, seeing that this degradation is coming from men, and somewhat supported by men. I used the hands as societies growing norm for this degredation, and the reason that they get more geometric at the bottom is due to the growing norm of this in society. It also shows a more mechanical feeling, I believe, which can translate to the lack of sympathy for the women in society.

The Modern Narcissus

My investigation deals with the timelessness of the human flaws portrayed in ancient mythology. This particular piece draws from the myth of Narcissus, who was in love with his own reflection. It is a commentary on obsession with beauty and the fear of aging.  A wizened hand on the shoulder of the main figure shows her growing paranoia, as well as the wrinkles and dark circles around her own eyes. This artwork also drew influence from recent studies that were done in our English class; in particular, it relates to the poem Mirror by Sylvia Plath.
I found some success in this piece through the use of watercolor, which I have found to be one of my stronger mediums that I employ in my work. The figure reflected in this mirror show greater depth than I have been able to achieve in my work previously and this use of media draws attention to it as the focal point. It shows a progression in the ideas used for my investigation and my precision with media, which is important to me as an artist. These two reasons make this piece an important one in terms of the development of my work.

The Fading Pharaoh

This piece, which represents a change from my original idea, demonstrates my new goal to show Egypt's shift from an ancient land of pyramids and mummies to a modern nation strving toward democracy. In this piece, the image of the pharaoh is in black and white to achieve more value, provide contrast with the bold marker, and to portray how the old ideas of religion are fading away and giving rise to Christianity and Islam. The figures incorporate contour lines with many gestures poses to portray the "confusion" mentioned on the cartouche and ankh symbols. Instead of portraying an outright belligerent scene between the two relgious groups, I chose the random motion of the figures to give a sense of the tension between the two groups.

Investigation Imagination by April

This piece was significant in my investigation because it changed my topic specifically to the continuation of life through death rather than an nontraditional view of objects and cultures.  It is also significant because it is very symbolic rather than a realistic representation of my theme.  In this piece the 7 blue paths represent the different paths people take in their life and how they always lead to death (the ending point of all  the paths), but when they get there the path can turn in any direction.  This is symbolic of my belief that life does not end with death.  This is also shown literally in words "I do not believe in death."

Illuminate

The reasaon why I chose this particular piece was because this is the start of my new investigation topic, illumination. I like this piece the best because of the media I used. Scatch board is the media I feel most comfortable using because of the ability to get the fine detail that I need. New medias I have begun to incorperate are ink and marbling. This is the first time I'm using marbling and it worked very well for this piece. It took me a while to get the correct placement of it without it taking away from the word and not flowing with the over all look. I think the more I experiment with new medias like this I will find the one I want to use for the rest of my investegation.

Lung for Protection by Molly

             Originally, this piece was designed for my previous investigation on Illness and Disease as anorexia. While working on this piece, I coimpared it to my other pieces and realized that it was much stronger, which caused me to change my investigation to anatomy. I feel more confident in this investigation, especially becuase I'm intrigued by the human body and wish to major in the medical field. I enjoy working in paint and watercolor, and I feel that those will be strong medias in this investigation. This piece is significant because it sparked a new invetigation topic in my Junior and Senior year in IB. I titled this piece "Lung for Protection" because the ribs, as painted in this piece, protect the lungs in the human body. In a way, the title is a play on words. This piece has sparked my imagination and expanded many of my artistic ideas for future investigation pieces.

Global Warming

This was my third investigation and also my favorite. I tried a new type of media experiment with acyrillic paint. I created a type of vortex around the earth with red, orange, and a golden yellow. This was supposed to represent heat overwhelming the earth, showing global warming. I also used the tubed acyrillic for the first time on this piece. I think it turned out pretty nice.

Cameras

This was the piece I created for the "Multiple Views" assignment. I chose this piece because it sparked my idea and chosen style for my investigation. I realized that drawing contour lines and outlines of subjects are what I'm best at, and, because of my advocacy for good workmanship, the pieces look very clean and have crisp lines. The overlapping of subjects makes for a very strong composition. After completing this piece, I concluded that I would continue modeling my upcoming investigation pieces after this piece.

-Kendal 

Hurricane: Maggie's Artwork

As for my investigation, I believe this is my best artwork. With this particular investigation piece, I discovered the direction I want to take. Because of the piece, I now know I want to focus on texture and how it incorporates with movement throughout my piece as a whole. Because of the texture on this specific piece, the focus is on the cyclical movement rather that color, therefore, accomplishing the goal of my independent investigation.