Choice Piece
Tittle: Just Number two
Size:
Medium: Latex gloves, soil and acrylic
April 2017
Exhibition Text
"Just Number two" is a sculpture made to exhibit the discrimination against women, not only at work but also at life. Inspired by Lois Ehlert, "Just Number two" has many similarities to her work, including the vibrant hues and the elements on the sculpture. This sculpture was created to bring awareness to individuals who are willing to see the truth and admire women because of how hard they work to become just the number two.
The Meaning
From the day we are born we are told that we are going to make the world a better place but we are yet force to take the second place and keep quiet because of the men who lead our world are more "knowledgeable" than we as women are. This piece is about how hard a woman has to work to get a decent job, just as to be a secretary for a man who did not have to work as hard as her, but he still gets to be number one. I used the soil because soil is the foundation of everything and a mother is the foundation that builds the cornerstones of people around her, a woman is able to built and give life to all, but sadly she is trapped on an area where she can not scape and no one will help because she is strong and does not show her suffering. This woman does the impossible to keep on going and still give life to all, perhaps she does not want men to notice, but every other woman does.
Experimentation
In the making of my sculpture I came across many obstacles which made the process harder, but with some experimentation done I was able to create the best results that I was able to do.
The first element that I experimented with was the type of glove used to develop the sculpture. I first experimented with winter loves, I tried putting soil on then but I realized that the soil was not going to be visible nor useful for anything; then I experimented with white fabric gloves, they did not work either due to the same reasons as the winter gloves. Finally I decided to use latex gloves, I tried using some blue latex gloves, but this did not work for the same reasons as the previews gloves and I finally found a solution with the help of experimenting with gloves, I found transparent latex gloves. These gloves were the prefect size and shade for my sculpture due to their qualities and looks.
Another element on which I experimented on was with the photographic part of this piece. I have little to no experience with photograph, thus it is always a challenge for the to photograph anything. I had to do a lot of experimenting with camera angles and the way I place my sculpture so that the picture could portray the piece as good as if one would view it in person. I had to experiment with the background, I decided to go outside since I have experimented with light before and I found that natural light works best. Outside I decided to place my sculpture on the ground, from the beginning this did not work, due to the lack of experience and position, the hands did not look neat and the background did not emphasize the sculpture. I took a pic white piece of paper and placed it outside as my background, this was a total change from the beginning, the only challenge left was the placing of the hands.
The placement of the hand was the most time consuming part of my photographic experimentation. I first tried to place some rocks under the hands, but this did not work because some rocks were visible in the picture and the angles on which the fingers were lifted were not all identical, it made a distortion on the sculpture and I did not want that to happen. Then I decided to place the hand laying on the vertical side of the background and letting the bottom of the hand rest on the horizontal side of the background, this did not work either, the lighting was not as good as before and it just made the hands look sad and not properly done. Finally I placed the hands parallel to the ground and took a picture from the top, this worked the best because the light was complementing the piece and the overall appearance of the sculpture was better than before.
The first element that I experimented with was the type of glove used to develop the sculpture. I first experimented with winter loves, I tried putting soil on then but I realized that the soil was not going to be visible nor useful for anything; then I experimented with white fabric gloves, they did not work either due to the same reasons as the winter gloves. Finally I decided to use latex gloves, I tried using some blue latex gloves, but this did not work for the same reasons as the previews gloves and I finally found a solution with the help of experimenting with gloves, I found transparent latex gloves. These gloves were the prefect size and shade for my sculpture due to their qualities and looks.
Another element on which I experimented on was with the photographic part of this piece. I have little to no experience with photograph, thus it is always a challenge for the to photograph anything. I had to do a lot of experimenting with camera angles and the way I place my sculpture so that the picture could portray the piece as good as if one would view it in person. I had to experiment with the background, I decided to go outside since I have experimented with light before and I found that natural light works best. Outside I decided to place my sculpture on the ground, from the beginning this did not work, due to the lack of experience and position, the hands did not look neat and the background did not emphasize the sculpture. I took a pic white piece of paper and placed it outside as my background, this was a total change from the beginning, the only challenge left was the placing of the hands.
The placement of the hand was the most time consuming part of my photographic experimentation. I first tried to place some rocks under the hands, but this did not work because some rocks were visible in the picture and the angles on which the fingers were lifted were not all identical, it made a distortion on the sculpture and I did not want that to happen. Then I decided to place the hand laying on the vertical side of the background and letting the bottom of the hand rest on the horizontal side of the background, this did not work either, the lighting was not as good as before and it just made the hands look sad and not properly done. Finally I placed the hands parallel to the ground and took a picture from the top, this worked the best because the light was complementing the piece and the overall appearance of the sculpture was better than before.
Process
1. Gathering ideas and finding inspiration
From the beginning I realized that I wanted to create a sculpture. I started my research on simple sculptures which was my are of interest, I found that there were not many sculptures from which I could gather ideas from, therefore I started to research more intricate sculptures and again I was not able to find one that I could choose as inspiration. I decided to go to a gallery, I found myself wondering on a poster exhibition, here was were I found my inspiration. A poster made by Lois Ehlert, this poster got my attention due to all of the vibrant hues and the way that the hands were positioned, I though it was a clever way to represent some hands; as I got closer to the poster I noticed the details and elements, that is when I realized that this poster was going to be my inspiration for this sculpture.
From the beginning I realized that I wanted to create a sculpture. I started my research on simple sculptures which was my are of interest, I found that there were not many sculptures from which I could gather ideas from, therefore I started to research more intricate sculptures and again I was not able to find one that I could choose as inspiration. I decided to go to a gallery, I found myself wondering on a poster exhibition, here was were I found my inspiration. A poster made by Lois Ehlert, this poster got my attention due to all of the vibrant hues and the way that the hands were positioned, I though it was a clever way to represent some hands; as I got closer to the poster I noticed the details and elements, that is when I realized that this poster was going to be my inspiration for this sculpture.
2. Sketches
From the beginning I decided that I was going to have two hands, the only thing that I was unsure about was the way I would position the hands and how I was going to incorporate the colors into the hands, finally I was also wondering how I would create the hands.
From the beginning I decided that I was going to have two hands, the only thing that I was unsure about was the way I would position the hands and how I was going to incorporate the colors into the hands, finally I was also wondering how I would create the hands.
3. Creating the final piece
I gathered all of the following materials; latex gloves, brushes, garden soil, a sharpie and acrylic paint. Then I began to work, I carefully placed the soil into the gloves, being careful not to overflow the glove and not to leave any air pockets. Once both of my gloves were even on soil I closed them with a small rubber band, I decided to do this because if I were to seal the gloves with a not, the gloves would stretch and it would make it difficult to be mobile. I let the soil take the shape of the gloves and began to paint. I used paint to have vibrant colors on the fingers, as my inspiration did and I tried to mix the paint as best of my ability to create hues that would closely imitate the hues on Ehlert's work. I painted all of the fingers and let the pain dry. Once the paint was dry I decided to take a sharpie and write the letters on the finger as Ehlert had them on her work, I did this very carefully trying to do an arial font because almost everyone is most familiar with that type of font. Now that I had everything done I went back and added some final touches to the sculpture. |
|
Artist Inspiration
Lois Ehlert is an American author and illustrator of children's books, this gives her an immense amount of imagination with which she created amazing posters, just as the one that I used as my inspiration. Ehlert often uses vibrant hues
Reflection
Overall this sculpture was a success. I was able to overcome many challenges and still created a piece that clearly portrays the meaning. This piece carries a extremely heavy concept, I took Ehlert as an inspiration because she is an adult, but she still has an open mind to explore different ways to introduce some of these heavy concept to extremely young children, this is exactly what I was looking forward to create and I believe that I was able to meet that goal. Some thing on which this sculpture was not a success were that I did not have a complete set of arms attached to the a pair of arms and my inspiration did, this was not a success because I was not able to represent a woman typing on a computer, and based on the meaning this is not portrayed that way. Finally I think that the pictures I took could have been a lot better, but due to my lack of experience better pictures were not available.
ACT Questions
1. Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork.
Inversed Humanity was inspired by
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of my research talks about
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Throughout my research I found that many people until this day do not get bothered by the amount of discrimination that there is in our environment, this is extremely unfortunate because discrimination happens to these people and they are not able to understand the truth.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme that I focused on was feminism, I researched about feminism because my piece is about discrimination against women, this is what lead me to research what a true feminist really means.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
The inferences that I made while doing my research were that there are many people in the world that want to make a difference and they do this by bringing awareness to a certain issue and that is what I was inspired by when I was researching.
Inversed Humanity was inspired by
2. What is the overall approach (point of view) the author (from your research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of my research talks about
3. What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Throughout my research I found that many people until this day do not get bothered by the amount of discrimination that there is in our environment, this is extremely unfortunate because discrimination happens to these people and they are not able to understand the truth.
4. What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The theme that I focused on was feminism, I researched about feminism because my piece is about discrimination against women, this is what lead me to research what a true feminist really means.
5) What kind of inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning) did you make while reading your research?
The inferences that I made while doing my research were that there are many people in the world that want to make a difference and they do this by bringing awareness to a certain issue and that is what I was inspired by when I was researching.