Linoleum Cut

Cyrus Foster

Artist Statement Art 2

For my project I chose to do the Linoleum Cut. I chose to create this to help me out with my personal art. I was interested in printing stickers and thought this would be a good way to start. I remember learning a little about this in 9th grade but I never got a chance to make something of my choice. I wanted to basically create a stencil of the half faced character I use for street art which is shown below. The artist that i’m inspired by is myself because I am an artist. My work isn’t meant to communicate with viewers but the product of it does. It creates cartoon like characters that any people enjoy finding and seeing outside. Through the creation of this work I was able to complete my goal of creating the stencil. I will now be able to create more artwork at a faster rate. This adds on to all of my previous artwork and builds on to many different methods of  artwork. Street art in general is contemporary art and I am one of the many artists who contribute to it. Creating the stencil on the linoleum block isn’t hard at all. There’s only a few steps to follow. First, I drew my design on paper with a pencil. Next, I used transfer paper to transfer the design onto the linoleum block by placing the transfer paper on the block and tracing my drawing. This will place the material from the transfer paper onto the block in the places that were traced. Then, I traced my design on the block with a marker so my drawing doesn’t disappear while i’m working. Finally, I used the cutting tools to cut out my design. The tools have different blades and I had to carve away the linoleum in all of the negative parts so my drawing can be the only part sticking up. I made a few prints to test my cut and make sure everything is fine.I learned that it’s very important to cut deep and have sharp solid lines. I am planning to have a future in art and this project is helping me improve my craft. I learned that I do can create the same piece of art using many different techniques.