Viekoda Bay Painting

Rachelle Fields ©

This is another digital painting, done of the ship the Viekoda Bay, which docks in Kodiak, Alaska. I painted this as part of my series for Computer Graphics 2.

Float Plane Painting

Rachelle Fields ©

This is a digital painting I did a year ago in my Computer Graphics 2 class as part of a series. The painting is based of a picture of a plane taking off in Uyak Bay, Kodiak Island.

Logo

Rachelle Fields ©

My initials into a logo based of the fireweed plant, common to Kodiak Island. This logo was created in Illustrator.

Found Object Font

Rachelle Fields ©

Another Publication Design assignment was to create a font made of found objects. I scanned in various shells and pieces of beach glass into Photoshop in order to create this font.

UGA Cortona Ad

Rachelle Fields ©

Last semester, I study abroad on University of Georgia's Cortona Program, set in Tuscany, Italy. The ad was created by scanning in a sketch I drew while in Arezzo, Italy, a town nearby to Cortona, as well as scanning in some watercolor on paper.

Mumford and Sons

Rachelle Fields ©

For my publication design class, one of our assignments was to design a poster for a band. I chose to design a poster for my most recent favorite band, Mumford and Sons. The idea for the poster is due to the Steinbeck references included in several of their songs. They played at the Santa Barbara Bowl recently and were fantastic.

Jason Munn

A graphic designer I find particularly inspiring is Jason Munn. His album and poster art for bands is always composed of clean and bold graphic designs. Also, I happen to like a lot of the bands he designs art for. I do not own the images below.

Andy Goldsworthy

One of my favorite contemporary artists is Andy Goldsworthy. My high school art teacher introduced me to his work though his video "Rivers and Tides." The way he works with nature and organic forms has always intrigued me, as well as the temporary nature of his works. The images below are not mine.

Senior Art Show at Westmont College

     The Senior Show is something I had been looking forward to all semester, as it wast the very first student show in the wonderful new gallery space. I was very impressed by the entire show. I think all the seniors did an excellent job of stepping up to the challenge of being in the new gallery, and all worked very hard on their pieces. I particularly enjoyed Joel Phillip's series of drawings with their incredible realism. I was amazed at how he used charcoal so immaculately without smudging the rest of his paper. His self portrait was extremely accurate to his likeness. Also, I enjoyed Math Shelton's sculpture project. I loved the gentle curve of his sculptures and that he was able to tie in his passion of fishing. He did a wonderful job with the welding and marble carving. Another work I enjoyed was the hanging light bulbs by  Kristin Weaver. The shape and translucence of the bulbs was beautiful. Overall, I thought the show was the best senior show I have seen since being a student here.

First Thursdays (written in February)

     I went to first Thursdays this past week, stopping first at The Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The entire museum was set up as a retrospective on Charles Garabedian. After spending a semester abroad in Italy, I had been looking forward to standing in front of the Caravaggio that the museum owns, and was therefore disappointed with the entire museum being dedicated to this singular Modernist artist. On the wall was a description, listing one of the themes in his work as "dismemberment" (which I would like to point out is a motif and not a theme). Stylistically, his work seemed to be trying to relive modern movements of art form the past century, but did not execute his works as successfully as his predecessors.
     I also went into a few galleries on State Street. I enjoyed one artist's work which used watercolor on clayboard, giving it the feeling of an encaustic. She painted abstract landscapes, which I appreciated aesthetically. Also, her work stood out as original amidst the plethora of California Impressionist landscapes to be found in Santa Barbara.

Response Thoughts on Banksy's Film

     I appreciated hearing from my peers, especially those who had a different reaction than I did. I found the idea of Mr. Brainwash brainwashing the art world interesting, if that was indeed his intention. I am skeptical that he was aware of his manipulation of the art world however, for he believed art in and of itself was brainwashing, and did not seem to be trying to think of ways to critique the current institution of the art world. I was never under the impression that he was very aware of himself as an artist or what the purpose of his art was.
     Banksy's quote about Terry breaking all the rules in art when there aren't supposed to be any rules in art also made me pause. Should there really be no rules? It does seem unfair that he could gain such rapid success, but just because its not fair doesn't necessarily make it illegitimate. On the other hand, can this really be called art? Whose to say? I certainly still dislike Terry's art, along with a great deal of contemporary art in general, but I also doesn't want to be too narrow minded in my thinking about what makes art. I think if Terry had been more aware of what he was trying to say, I would have respected his art more.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

     I definitely enjoyed watching this documentary and seeing the world of street artists. I am not the hugest fan of pop art, contemporary art or street art, but seeing the artists and hearing from them and their philosophy behind their art gives me greater appreciation of their work. I enjoy the way the images are usually powerful graphics and grab one's attention; the art tend to say a lot within a simple design. However, sometimes it is hard to know what is being communicated. What does Elvis holding a toy gun instead of a guitar actually say about anything? Such art seems to be trying to grab our attention without any further statement or opportunity for reflection.
     Out of all the street artists shown in the documentary, I liked Banksy's work the best. He actually designed new, original images that had political or social messages. I was intrigued at the way he makes statements with his art. Also, I like how he said making art was never about the money. (Whether or not this is actually true is hard to say). Conversely, it was interesting to see how Terry, a less talented artist, did seem to be primarily interested in monetary gain through his art. I thought the way his show was recognized was mostly due to promotion by Fairey and Banksy, which shows how self-defining the high art world is these days. Fairey and Bansky are highly recognized, therefore the press recognized who these artists promote instead of taking the time to evaluate Mr. Brainwash's works on their own and aside from the hype.
     I was troubled by the way Mr. Brainwash creates art, as he hires others to create it, and all his work is a spoof of other art instead of having any original ideas. For instance, his Mona Lisa with an eye patch is more than a little reminiscent of Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. He mostly rips off Andy Warhol and sticks contemporary objects, such as guns, into photoshopped iconic images. Fairey and Bansky recognize Mr. Brainwash as bad art, but the art market at the time was fooled, which of corse causes me to wonder how they judge art and why certain art is legitimized.