Reading Response There was a man who sat in a wheelchair in the corner of a mental home staring out a window. He didn't have a name, or if he did, he never knew it. Despite his functioning muscles, he had great difficulty walking, and was usually confined to his wheelchair where he was much more comfortable. He could not speak, and, although he could hear, he could not understand language. He was not a stupid man, nor an incompetent one. The man experienced the world close to one-fiftieth the speed of a normal person, making typical everyday function impossible. He could not interact with anyone, because everything happened so slowly in his world. So he would sit in his chair, and stare out his window, and watch the hummingbirds come to a small red feeder that hanged from a wrought iron post nearby. He loved to watch the hummingbirds, because they moved faster than anything he had ever seen. If he knew how to count, he could have counted each individual...
Process This actually took a lot longer to make than I originally anticipated. I wanted to make a sort of fake rock, so I sanded down a piece of scrap foam until it was an egg-like shape. Then, in order to get the hard and glossy outside, I used beeswax. However, beeswax is very pliable when held for a while and heated up by the hand. Unlike a rock, it has a warm feeling, and gets sticky after a little while. So I was forced to scrap the beeswax idea, even after spending several class periods trying to make it work. Instead, I coated the piece of foam in plaster and let it dry. Then I coated it in plaster once more to be safe. Afterward, I sanded it gently to make any new rough edges smooth. This not only created the smooth, rock-like texture I was looking for, but also make it slightly heavier (although not nearly as heavy as a rock would be), and it was it cold to touch, which it exactly what I was looking for....
1. The work that seems the most mine is the work I create without trying to fit it to anyone else's desires. For example, everything I have created in this class this semester has been work I have been interested in and wanted to make. In other classes, I don't always feel like the work is wholly mine because I'm not making it to please myself, but to please a professor. Work that comes from my own head for my own enjoyment is the work I believe is the most mine. It isn't always my best work, but it feels the most like me. 2. I admire and am inspired by the work of Kehinde Wiley. He is inspired by historic portrait painting. He takes the medium of 19th century portrait painting and merges it with his contemporary ideas. I have also been inspired by portrait painting, and am relieved that there is still an audience willing to view portraiture today. 3. Art is a broad term, so it could be argued that what we deem as art now is not the same across time and culture...
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