The fetus, while in the womb, is considered to be one of the most vulnerable and feeble organisms. At the time, it has no control over its destiny, it cannot make choices for itself; it cannot talk, cry, or even move. It is completely dependant on the mother to nourish and protect it.
So what happens if the mother is involved in a car collison, and the baby dies? Is it the mother's fault? Most certainly not. It was not intentional. But neither is sipping a glass of wine during the first few weeks of pregnancy, before the mother even knows she is pregnant. Even worse, some mothers choose to neglect their maternal duties alltogether and consume alcohol on a regular basis during their pregnancy. While one act is intentional and the other is not, they are both damaging to the long-term well-being of the fetus.
In our society, the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy is considered an act of horror. Yet, every year in the United States, over 40,000 babies are born with fetal alcohol effects.
My adopted sister, Cheyenne, was one of those unlucky 40,000 babies whose lives have been changed forever due to the effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. That's why I chose to have Fetal Alcohol Syndrome be the theme of my "shocking art" piece. This one really hits home for me....
What I did for the project was I sculpted a fetus out of clay, trying to keep it looking as life-like as possible. There are some "deformities" but I think these add to the overall effect and message that this sculpture has. I made the "belly button" larger than normal so I could fit a tube in it and attatch the other end of the tube to a wine bottle. This portrays the umbilical cord literally connecting the baby to the alcohol (which is basically what is happening when the mother consumes alcohol).
Fetal alcohol syndrome is something I feel SO strongly about. It makes me so angry because that one stupid decision made by the mother will effect the child for its whole life. My sister Cheyenne will never be able to have a family of her own. She will never be able to even live by herself. She will always have to have someone to look after her. She will never be able to drive. She will never have as many friends as she would like. She will never make it past fifth grade math (even though she is currently in 7th grade). It killed her when she realized that even her younger sister is able to pick up on things better than she can. She will NEVER be able to lead a normal life. At first glance, people might mistake her for just being plain stupid. BUT SHE REALLY ISNT. She has the same emotional maturity of any girl her age. She just doesn't have any cognitive abilities. She can't make connections between different concepts. She has a very hard time remembering sequences. She's very forgetful.
And yet, she is one of the sweetest, most loving girls you will ever meet. She LOVES kids and is great with them. There is not a mean bone in her body. I could go on and on about the tragedy of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. But I won't. Words honestly can't describe the feelings I have towards it and the sympathy I have for my sister. There is no cure to this disease. It can only be prevented.
here is a link about fetal alcohol syndrome if you want to learn more:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/medical/brain/fas.html
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
A Little Blurb
OHHHEMGEE CHECK OUT THIS ARTIST!! His name is Ron Mueck... he's from Australia but he now works in the UK. He is described as a "Hyperrealist Sculptor"
Most of his pieces are larger-than-life, although he has sculpted some to-scale and smaller figures. His method consists of sculpting figues out of fiberglass resin and adding details such as hair.
I find his work soooo incredibly intriguing but also pretty disturbing at the same time. He pays close attention to the minor details of the human body, which is what contributes to his sculptures looking to realistic.
*Sneak Peak* This picture inspired me somewhat when working on my "shocking" piece of art... i'll talk about that later in another post (hopefully tomorrow or thursday night):
Most of his pieces are larger-than-life, although he has sculpted some to-scale and smaller figures. His method consists of sculpting figues out of fiberglass resin and adding details such as hair.
I find his work soooo incredibly intriguing but also pretty disturbing at the same time. He pays close attention to the minor details of the human body, which is what contributes to his sculptures looking to realistic.
*Sneak Peak* This picture inspired me somewhat when working on my "shocking" piece of art... i'll talk about that later in another post (hopefully tomorrow or thursday night):
He has tons of other works, google him to see more! They're AMAZING!!
Confession...
Last Friday, we critiqued one another's summer art projects in class. I was very content with all of my projects... except for one. To me, it seemed to be the ugly blemish in a collection of otherwise beautiful art. The piece I made over the summer which I hated was this collection of four "free-form" wax sculptures I had mounted on a piece of white laminate shelving. Essentialy, what I did was melt different colors of crayon and dump the hot, melted wax into a large bowl of cold water. Immediately, the wax would harden and create these really organic shapes. At first, I really liked the idea and I liked how they turned out. But, when I thought about it more and more, I started to criticize it. It just seemed too... easy. It seemed too abstract. I was ahamed of it. I dreaded showing it to my classmates and teacher.
So finally it was my turn to present my projects. I presented the wax sculptures first, hoping that my classmates would forget about it by the time I was done presenting my other pieces. To my utter disbelief, my wax sculptures were the single piece that my classmates were most intrugued by.
The moral of the story: NEVER doubt yourself as an artist. Don't let people's feelings and opinions influence your creative intuition. Everyone has their own, unique, ideas of what art is. When you start trying to closely scrutinize your works of art through other people's eyes, you will end up unsatisfied and dissapointed.
So finally it was my turn to present my projects. I presented the wax sculptures first, hoping that my classmates would forget about it by the time I was done presenting my other pieces. To my utter disbelief, my wax sculptures were the single piece that my classmates were most intrugued by.
The moral of the story: NEVER doubt yourself as an artist. Don't let people's feelings and opinions influence your creative intuition. Everyone has their own, unique, ideas of what art is. When you start trying to closely scrutinize your works of art through other people's eyes, you will end up unsatisfied and dissapointed.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
One Big, Happy Family....
HELLO fellow bloggers..... THIS IS MY FIRST POST IN THE WORLD OF BLOGGERDOM!! weeeeee. wow. I already sound like a nerd.....
So last weeked I went on an art retreat to Menucha with my AP-3D class. Menucha is this retreat center in the Gorge. It was soooo beautiful there!! The weather was perfect, besides it being a little cold early the first day. Sarah, our guest artist was really talented and really inspired me to venture out of my comfort zone and create pieces made out of clay cylinders we had extruded in class. I feel like in order to improve as an artist, you can't be afraid to try new things and experiment. Will you fail sometimes? Yeah, probably. But you will also gain knowledge and experience that you didn't have before.
The next day we went out and created pieces of art made out of materials found in nature. They were inspired by artist Andy Goldsworthy. The piece I made, pictured here, is made out of this dry, long grass that I wove around a frame made of sticks. For pops of color, I used berries and flowers I found nearby. It took me a good three hours to make this... but I think it was worth it. I think the close-up pictures turned out better so I posted one of those in addition to a zoomed-out picture.
In general, the retreat was wayyy more fun than I expected. I think we really "bonded" as a class. (Yeah, I know, its terribly cliche.) Everyone was really nice and I also think that it was good we had something in common to connect us all... our love of art. We had SOOOO much food. And my favorite part had to be watching "The Last Unicorn". Quality film.
I'm pretty sure this post is getting ridiculously long so I should stop typing now. Seeya next week!.... or maybe sooner.....
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