Alisha Lane Public Feed
comparative agriculture and green design
During this project I was able to discover a lot of urban farms in my neighborhood as well as some nearby school. the importance of non-conventional agriculture grows as time progresses, processes like aquaponics and tower gardens makes it so that more confined areas are able to grow food and be sustainable. While researching I realized the importance of creating a sustainable environment, as well as growing my own plants with trial and error. After this I would still like to continue growing my own plants and inspiring others around me to do the same.
Oil Spill PSA
VIDEO
For this PSA my group and I studied oil spills, we chose this topic because years ago there was a large oil spill in the gulf of Mexico, but many people were unaware of the affects. I wanted to go further into the topic mostly because the first thing that came to mind when someone says oil spills to me, I think about the dawn commercials. In our video we highlight the affects of oil spills and investigate what knowledge our school community has. In this project I did some of the research, threw out ideas for the video and acted as the videographer for a majority of the recording , I feel like I cooperated well, but I would've liked to throw more ideas out there, and be more active in the group. A meaningful part of the PSA for me was the interviews I was very shocked to find out that not many people knew what oil spills were, and they didn't remember the dawn campaign. I think bringing awareness to the subject will bring a new light to being environmentally aware.
Why do Leaves Change Color?
https://infogram.com/why-do-leaves-change-color-1hzj4oerl1v72pw?live
Toxic City
PICTOCHART Link
After reading about lead poisoning in Philadelphia, our group researched how this affected Philadelphia schools. We were able to find that many schools in the are also pose a threat to children's health. Studies show that lead poisoning is most common on black children that live in houses built before the 1950's. It seems to that more poverty stricken and poor neighborhoods are the most affected by poisoning. We also looked at a few cities outside of Pennsylvania, and although they have less people affected than Philly, the demographics are the same. We also found out that only about 10-15 states require lead testing. I was most surprised by this because lead poisoning seems to be a real threat to the youth. It should become a national law for testing in order to prevent so many children from being harmed. If lead paint was banned over 25 years ago, why are we still seeing it in homes? People are being careless and inconsiderate, leading to deficiency a stunt in brain development.
Sustainable Business- Cafe
Cafe ASAM
In an attempt to create a sustainable business our group created a cafe that was influenced by Starbucks. We researched sustainable business models to build the basis of our cafe around for a more environmentally friendly experience. To decrease our carbon footprint we would have to get nearly all of our ingredients locally, and recycle our water use with sustainable practices like tank treatments and etc. At our cafe we wanted to create something that was enjoyable yet efficient for the environment and those that live in it. If other companies followed our business model, and even built upon it I think it would lead to a far more sustainable future. The biggest cause of pollution and carbon emission in the food industry is the transportation of goods, food/ water waste, and using materials that aren't compostable or organic. With more influences of sustainable businesses the future of the food industry could potentially become more efficient energy wise and less harmful to the environment. After researching how to create a sustainable business i think it could be useful to me in a future to help create a legitimate company that focuses on sustainability.
Comparative Ethnobotany
For our project we studied four different native tribes from around the world, including the Lenape from Philadelphia, Sioux from North Dakota, San from Southern Africa, and the Angami from Nagaland India. We studied their culture and learned about how they used agriculture in their society. With what we learned we can conserve their culture and wisdom by using some of their planting techniques, and trying to use plants as much as they did. These tribes incorporated agriculture into their daily lives and made sure to get the most out of everything. Plants in new climates can either become invasive or just not do well in a new environment. If we keep them in their natural climate and respect land as much as the indigenous people did/ do then we will have a more positive affect instead of negative. From this project I realized how native tribes helped shape agriculture and their use of plants and materials was rather conserved and not wasteful. I think this is something we can still use today in order to get the most out of all that we use.
Tornadoes in the Hydrosphere
The hydrosphere is the flow of water, and all the water on the earth’s surface. The hydrosphere covers about 70% of the earth. After researching tornadoes and it's different affects in earth's systems, i found out that tornadoes in the hydrosphere were waterspouts. waterspouts are referred as tornadoes of the sea, because that is essentially what they are. While they hardly have affect on America, I was able to find that they affect Italy, where there are around 71 waterspouts per year. They aren't as serious as a tornado on the geosphere, but they do start chain reactions for whirlwinds, heavy rain, flooding, and hail.
I found waterspouts interesting because they have never directly done a lot of damage, since they take place in the ocean, but there is a beauty to it. Waterspouts can hit peninsulas (like italy), but it is a rare occasion that they do tremendous damage.
there isn't much we can really do to stop a waterspout, as much as we can stop a tornado, it's best to just not be by the shore. They're like a hurricane- tornado hybrid.
For this my group decided to create a tornado with cotton balls, tin foil, and a few miscellaneous objects. After a few glue burns to the fingers, we created a tornado on the geosphere with safety tips, as well as slides with each of our parts describing how tornadoes affect all of earth.
Tornadoes in the hydrosphere
The hydrosphere is the flow of water, and all the water on the earth’s surface. The hydrosphere covers about 70% of the earth. After researching tornadoes and it's different affects in earth's systems, i found out that tornadoes in the hydrosphere were waterspouts. waterspouts are referred as tornadoes of the sea, because that is essentially what they are. While they hardly have affect on America, I was able to find that they affect Italy, where there are around 71 waterspouts per year. They aren't as serious as a tornado on the geosphere, but they do start chain reactions for whirlwinds, heavy rain, flooding, and hail.
I found waterspouts interesting because they have never directly done a lot of damage, since they take place in the ocean, but there is a beauty to it. Waterspouts can hit peninsulas (like italy), but it is a rare occasion that they do tremendous damage.
there isn't much we can really do to stop a waterspout, as much as we can stop a tornado, it's best to just not be by the shore. They're like a hurricane- tornado hybrid.
Sunrise- Roy Lichtenstein Recreation
For this piece, I decided to recreate/ make my own version of Roy Lichtenstein’s “Sunrise”. I chose this painting after studying his work and life over the 3rd quarter, at first I wanted to recreate a more iconic piece like “Drowning Girl” but I wanted to try something that I could make a little more my own. When looking at the painting compared to the original you will see that the colors are not the same, and I used two different sunrise paintings by Lichtenstein to create mine. At the bottom, there is something that resembles mountains or hills painted pink, and the clouds are right above it in white. The focal point of the painting, the sunrise, rests above the clouds making it look like a sunrise. The center of the sun is a light purple while its rays are a bright yellow against a blue background/ sky. Finally, at the top there is a white line as well as a pink like, I’m not sure what they act as, that was just apart of the original. With this painting I wasn’t really trying to convey much, more of show my knowledge of Lichtenstein’s work and try to create work like his. Before this, I had seen his work and admired it but I enjoyed creating something that was purely based off of his work.
https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/roy-lichtenstein-1923-1997-sunrise-5846083-details.aspx
To create this piece, I first sketched out the original painting with a few changes, then planned out my colors. Next, I began to paint, starting with the pink, then onto the blue, after those two I painted the yellow rays and the center of the circle purple. Next, I used white paint for the clouds. To figure out where to put my lines in the hills I ended up painting dark blue lines, but it was not as clean as I had wanted it to be so I covered it with more pink paint. After all of that, the basics of the painting was done and it was time for the line art. To do this I used a fine point pen and simply just lined the outsides of every part including the sun rays, the clouds, and the hills. Afterward, I drew the lines that were in the hills. To finish and make it more like Lichtenstein’s signature style I was going to put dots in all of the blue portions but I felt as though I would mess up what I had done if I did, so I only put the small fine dots all around the clouds in sections that were similar to the work I was recreating. There wasn’t much to this painting, the most struggle I had was not sectioning off while I was painting to have clean lines, I ended up free handing the entire thing, and although it doesn’t look bad, I feel like it could look better.
There wasn’t much technique that I used while creating this, mostly just painting straight lines, or curving them to create more texture in places it felt needed. The staple of Lichtenstein’s work was his dots, now I didn’t really do as many as I had planned but I still feel like I had enough to make it resemble his work to anyone who may recognize it. I tried to create the dots as best as I can but I wasn’t fully satisfied with them. I’m really proud of this work altogether I really like it. I really enjoyed my color scheme and the flow of the painting. If I could change anything I would use painters tape to have more clean lines.
In conclusion, I would love to make my own rendition of other artists work that I admire. I would do something like this again, it’s really fun and a way to learn new techniques and styles.
Charcoal Drawing
Artist Statement: Charcoal Drawing
In the project I used charcoal to create an image of mountains while using different techniques to create various patterns and textures to my work. While looking at this you will see 3 mountains overlapping one another and a single pine tree in the very front, with a shaded sky. There isn’t really a story or anything that I wanted to convey, I just really wanted to draw some mountains. Originally for this project I wanted to draw a tree, or flowers, mostly a tree so that I could play with techniques and create different textures for each part, but in the end I decided to keep it simple and went with mountains.
In order to create this project I first started of with a smooth piece of paper after creating my sketch. I used a pencil to create a simple outline for my drawing, then I took a conte crayon and used it to create a bold outline for my mountains, Mistakenly adding very harsh lines that acted as snowtops. Then I began to fill in the very back mountain, i began by using a charcoal stick. I rubbed it along the paper and then would use my finger to spread out and shade the mountain, on the left hand side I wanted to be a little adventurous so I took a watercolor brush and some water painted part of the mountain. In the middle of the back mountain I made my attempt at a crosshatch texture. It created a look that made the back mountain darker towards the bottom and somewhat of a gradient to the top (but it was completely colored in). I then shaded in the rest of the mountain and used my finger rather than a smudge stick. For the mountain on the right I tried to do a wider crosshatch look but it didn’t really work out so I used a charcoal pencil and shaded it in with my finger while going in circular motions so it didn't look so boring. This ended up being the darkest of the 3, I used a kneaded eraser to try to get rid of any excess but it still appeared very dark. Next I drew my Pine tree using a charcoal pencil and a charcoal stick, this also came out too dark, but I used a white charcoal pencil to help lighten it up. In hindsight I should’ve made my tree bigger, it is rather small and useless and wasn’t very thought through at the time. For my last mountain I used the stippling technique mostly for fun and testing a new idea. I then shaded it in to add more color, because this would be the lightest of the 3. I personally liked this effect, even though it is more of a technique for pens or pencils, it worked with charcoal also. After I finished everything I decided to Make a slight gradient in the sky, using a charcoal stick because I found it to be the easiest to shade and work with. After that I finished off my piece by spraying it with a setting spray so it wouldn’t smudge.
This is the first time I’ve done something like this, it doesn’t really relate to any of my past work/ doodles. I could somewhat relate to pencil drawings that I’ve done and shaded in instead of colored, I never used charcoal or smudge sticks, just a pencil and my finger. I feel like I could’ve taken more time to learn and test new techniques to try, and come up with a better way to use and show them, but I'm not upset with what I did. New techniques are important because they can add more depth and tone to your work, for me personally I really liked the stippling technique and will probably use it more. It is a lot of tedious work but I enjoy the overall look of it and it can add more pizazz to a drawing. Using this technique and crosshatching are probably what i’m the most proud of because I feel like i can incorporate this new ideas into future work and use them to add more texture instead of everything being so flat.
I wouldn’t mind doing this project over again, I can always try again but with my original tree idea and learn even more techniques. I feel like my final project came out alright, it's not my best work but i like the somewhat simplistic tone of it. I can learn more as a person who has an interest in art and only get better through experience and learning more and more.
keystone kramming
Final Portrait Project Submission
Artist Statement
While looking at this illustration you will see a few things that I feel represent me at this time. First, I drew a silhouette of a person that symbolizes me and the flower coming out of her hand symbolizes my love of plants and nature. I painted the representation of myself a mixture of purple and mostly blue, because they are 2 of my favorite colors and they also represent my quiet and somewhat reserved personality. In the top left corner I drew space, mostly because I really like galaxy designs and my mind wonders about the empty void out there. The old looking tv represents my childhood, I watched a lot of tv and cartoons and it would be one of my favorite pastimes. Watching a lot of cartoons made me interested in animation and art styles, and made me want to try to draw. The PlayStation logo on the tv is there because throughout my entire life I play a lot of video games on PlayStation and nintendo but within the last two years it has primarily been the PS4. Playing video games has been a good escape for me, I’ve made some really good friends through the internet and had a lot of fun sitting around listening to their stories. My portrait highlights a few of the many things that make me happy.
In my artwork, I used water colors, colored pencils, a micron pen, and a gelly roll (white) pen, to create a portrait that I felt expressed myself. I primarily used watercolors, because I wanted to try something new, but before I began to paint I used a pencil and micron pen to sketch and add line art to my portrait. After I finished with the line art I picked out the colors I wanted to paint with and mixed a few new shades of blue and purple together and used those colors to paint my silhouette. For the TV I used brown water colors but then I colored over it with a brown colored pencil because I wasn’t happy with how it turned out. Next, I painted the PlayStation logo, I started with a bright red watercolor and filled in the “P”. I decided to let that dry and started to paint my background, I wanted to create an atmosphere and feeling of space so I mixed together darker shades of blue and purple and blotted the two near each other. Then I some black water color to make it feel more like space but it didn’t look too good so before it dried I used a white watercolor to lighten it. Once all that finished drying I painted my planets various colors, finished my PlayStation logo, and flowers. Afterwards, I took a white gelly roll pen and added a few lines to my galaxy, filled in some stars, and added dots as small stars. Once I had done all that, the only thing left to do was go over my lineart with a micron pen again. This piece doesn’t really relate to any previous work besides old doodles. I don’t have a consistent art style, but for this project I wanted to keep it simple, while still having decent details.
A new technique I learned was dividing my colors. Before I blended and changes the overall look of my portrait, the silhouette was blue changing to purple. Being able to keep those colors noticeably divided can be a challenge. I experimented more with blending and I feel like that came out alright. Im most proud of how my entire piece came out, it could’ve been better, but I’m really happy with the outcome since I pretty much never paint. If I could change anything or redo this project I’d probably do a similar design but changed a few things like details and maybe the layout. In conclusion, I can always get better and improve my skills in art, but for the first project that i’ve done in a while, I don’t think I did half bad.
