Notes
My main inspiration was to visually interpret the inner world of a person I don't know, based on a brief description of their personality and interests. The artwork, which I've titled "The Mind of a Stranger," is a symbolic representation of their life, reflecting their friendly nature, their love for DIY and family, and their internal struggles with relationships and potential.
Media, Techniques, and Work Processes: The artwork is a mixed-media collage created by cutting and stacking several segments of paper. I used pencils and colored pencils for all the drawings. I chose this process because it allowed me to treat each element, the brain, the goddess, the scissors, the landscape, as a separate idea before combining them. This layered approach mirrors how a person's identity is built from different experiences and emotions. By cutting and gluing each piece, I was able to create a unique sense of depth and dimension that wouldn't have been possible on a single sheet of paper.
Intent for the Audience: I want viewers to see the piece as a psychological portrait. I hope they experience a sense of emotional depth and understand the complex layers of the subject's personality. My intent is for them to think about how our inner worlds are shaped by our relationships, fears, and passions. By using a narrative approach with distinct symbols, I aimed to create a work that invites close examination and personal interpretation.
Creative Decisions and Difficulties: One of the biggest decisions was how to visually represent abstract concepts like "wasting potential" and "cutting off relationships." I decided to use the blocked beach for the former and the Edward Scissorhands-inspired paper cuts for the latter. The main difficulty was creating a cohesive image from so many separate pieces while ensuring the symbolism remained clear. I worked through this by carefully planning the composition, ensuring that each element had a logical place within the larger narrative.
What I'd Do Differently: If I could do it again, I might have explored a different way to render the water. While the current representation serves its purpose, a more dynamic or textured water element could have enhanced the feeling of the "wasted potential" and made it a more visually engaging aspect of the piece.
Research and Discovery: The creation of this piece was an exercise in interpretive research. The primary investigation involved analyzing the provided information about the person's interests and emotional state. The main discovery was how to translate these abstract details into a coherent visual language. For instance, I researched Greek goddesses to find a figure that would symbolize a love for family, leading me to Hestia. Similarly, I drew on my knowledge of Tim Burton's movies to find a fitting visual metaphor for the scissors.
Most Successful Aspects: The most successful aspects of the work are the symbolism and the mixed-media technique. The use of layers creates a compelling visual texture and reinforces the theme of a multi-faceted personality. The symbols, the scissors, the goddess, and the brain are instantly recognizable and tell a clear story, making the artwork both aesthetically interesting and conceptually rich.
My main inspiration was to create a psychological and symbolic portrait of my grandmother, specifically focusing on the initiation and long-term consequences of her addiction. The artwork, which I've titled "The Burden of an Early Habit," is a narrative piece that captures the moment she started smoking as a minor, intertwining her personal life with the universal principles of addiction. This piece is a key component of my portfolio dedicated to her life, connecting a single habit to her eventual passing.
Media, Techniques, and Work Processes
The artwork is a detailed drawing created entirely with graphite pencils and black colored pencils. I chose a restricted black-and-white palette to give the piece a sense of gravity and antiquity, immediately evoking the aesthetic of an old photograph from the 1950s. The entire composition is rendered on paper, with the margins intentionally styled to mimic the border of an aged photo. This process allowed me to focus purely on value, contrast, and subtle texture, ensuring that the emotional and symbolic weight of the piece was conveyed through chiaroscuro rather than color.
Intent for the Audience
I want viewers to experience the tension and hidden guilt of that defining moment. I hope they see the piece not just as a portrait, but as a commentary on the societal and family pressures that can initiate addiction. My intent is for the audience to think about the principles of addiction, its deceptive beginnings and devastating long-term consequences, and to understand my grandmother’s story as a poignant example. By using precise, layered symbolism, I aimed to create a work that demands a closer look to decode the full narrative.
Creative Decisions and Difficulties
One of the biggest creative decisions was how to incorporate the principles of addiction without being overly didactic. I decided to use the cigarette fumes to spell out a subtle message, a Bible verse (Job 8:7), as a conceptual anchor explaining the small, deceptive beginning of a habit. The most powerful choice was using the shadow pattern on the door as Morse code for 'death' (dash/long lines, dot/short lines), foreshadowing the eventual outcome. The main difficulty was rendering her face to capture both her likeness and the lost look of a child making a destructive choice. While an initial sketch didn't work, I chose to prioritize the emotional and symbolic integrity of the portrait over an exact physical replica.
What I'd Do Differently
If I could do it again, I might have explored a more expressive way to handle the silhouette of her father in the doorway. While his presence adds a powerful layer of surveillance and guilt, a slightly more defined, yet still shadowy, rendering could have increased the feeling of imminent judgment and familial pressure, making his role in the narrative more immediate and impactful.
Research and Discovery
The creation of this piece was a deep dive into personal and conceptual research. The investigation involved analyzing the photograph to capture her posture and the time period, and researching the stages of addiction to inform the symbolic details. The main discovery was the effectiveness of using hidden, coded language (Morse code, the Bible verse) to embed a deeper, more academic layer of meaning within the personal narrative. For instance, the placement of the Venezuelan perinola on the table provided the perfect, contrasting symbol of the childhood innocence she was relinquishing for the adult habit.
Most Successful Aspects
The most successful aspects of the work are the palpable tension and the layered symbolism. The combination of the father's spying silhouette and her lost, distant gaze creates an immediate emotional unease. Furthermore, the symbolic details, the Morse code, the 12 o'clock clock (end/start), and the perinola work together to tell a cohesive story that operates on several levels: personal memory, social commentary, and a study of addiction's core mechanics.
Technical Development and Embroidery Practice: A significant portion of this project involved practicing embroidery techniques to ensure the butterfly accurately captured the duality of my grandmother’s emotions. I spent time experimenting with different thread weights and stitch densities to create the contrast between the "blue fear" and "yellow love." I practiced the satin stitch to achieve a smooth, filled-in look for the wings, specifically focusing on how to integrate the letters F and L into the texture without making them look out of place. This repetitive practice was essential to ensure the butterfly felt like a delicate, living part of the fabric rather than an afterthought.
Material Choices and Symbolism: The decision to use a handkerchief as the primary substrate was a deliberate choice to ground the artwork in the physical history of the story. I worked on manipulating the fabric to look "lost" and weathered, which involved intentional wrinkling and staining. The inclusion of real wood for the hearts required careful adhesive testing to ensure the heavy material would bond permanently with the light textile.
Decoding and Communication: The process included a precise layout of the T9 predictive text code. I mapped out the +58 66 33 33 3 sequence to ensure it was legible but subtle, mimicking the way secret messages are hidden in plain sight. This required researching the specific layout of vintage number pads to maintain historical accuracy for the "NEED" translation.
Watercolor Experimentation: For the left side of this piece, I focused on practicing watercolor techniques to create an ethereal, sky-like background. I experimented with wet-on-wet techniques to achieve soft, blending gradients of blue and white. This was a departure from the stark graphite work on the same side, requiring me to learn how to control the water flow so it wouldn't bleed into the crisp lines of the ear drawing. The goal was to make the "heaven" side feel light and infinite compared to the heavy, dark side.
Documentary Evidence and Accusations: To represent the false accusations against my grandfather, I incorporated magazine evidence and visual cues related to the political climate of the time. This involved researching how "suspicious" activities were reported and using the black, burned paper to frame the hand in a way that suggests a newspaper clipping or a police record. The charred edges symbolize the "burning" of his reputation due to the neighborhood's unfounded communist suspicions.
Mixed Media Construction: The physical construction of this piece involved: Graphite Rendering: Focusing on the high-contrast shading of the chained hand to emphasize the "hell" of his imprisonment.
Cable Integration: Using actual electrical wires required a process of stripping the ends to expose the copper, creating a literal connection to the sound system that caused the accident.
Patterning: Creating the "marked" striped pattern on the grandmother's silhouette was done to ensure she stood out as the focal point of responsibility between the two tragedies.
MIDTERM
Completed Work Titles:
Piece 1: The Burden of an Early Habit
Piece 2: Need
Piece 3: Limbo
SI Statement: My Sustained Investigation centers on the life of my grandmother in 20th-century Venezuela, exploring her personal transformation through periods of intense family crisis and social repression. I am investigating how she navigated the transition from a sheltered and restrictive upbringing to a position of forced responsibility and emotional rebirth. Through mixed media, I translate her specific memories — such as the secrecy of her first love and the trauma of losing her brother while her father was unjustly imprisoned — into visual narratives. My work examines her resilience as she managed the weight of her family’s survival while navigating a world of coded communication and political suspicion.
Investigation Questions: How can tactile materials like wood, textiles, and electrical components serve as physical stand-ins for my grandmother's specific sensory memories? In what ways can hidden communication systems, such as T9 phone codes or symbolic color palettes, convey the secrecy she maintained during times of political or social repression?
Evidence of Practice, Revision, and Experimentation: My work shows evidence of technical practice and experimentation through:
Embroidery Practice: For Piece 1, I practiced satin stitching and thread weight variation to embed the letters F for Fear and L for Love into the butterfly wings. This ensured the duality of my grandmother's internal conflict was physically woven into the piece.
Watercolor Refinement: For Piece 2, I experimented with wet-on-wet watercolor techniques to create an ethereal heaven background representing her brother. I practiced controlling water flow to avoid bleeding into the precise graphite renderings of the ear.
Material Testing: I experimented with controlled destruction by burning the edges of paper and handkerchiefs to represent both the smoking habits of her household and the scarring effect of the false accusations against her father.
Unique Experiences and Ideas: My SI captures the specific cultural and historical nuances of my grandmother's Venezuelan roots. It expresses unique ideas by transforming simple objects like a handkerchief or a sound system cable into narrative devices. These objects explain her complex personal history, including the transition from having a heart of wood to experiencing a rebirth. It also highlights the moment she took her first taxi alone to handle a family emergency while the adults around her were paralyzed by grief.
Synthesis of Materials, Processes, and Ideas: Yes, my work demonstrates synthesis by inextricably linking materials to my grandmother's narrative:
Material: Real electrical cables.
Process: Stripping wires and integrating them into a drawing.
Idea: Connecting the physical cause of her brother’s death to the spiritual connection she continues to feel. By using a wrinkled handkerchief as the canvas for a story about an excuse used to meet her, the material and the history of her first love become one.
Developing New Guiding Questions: I am continuously developing questions. From here, I want to investigate how the physical manipulation of a surface through tearing, burning, or stitching reflects the psychological manipulation my grandmother felt under state surveillance and family pressure. This will lead my research into more political magazine evidence and legal documents from the 1940s.
Challenges and Future Plan: The biggest challenge has been balancing the great detail of graphite drawing with the unpredictability of mixed media elements, such as burned paper and wood. My plan for next semester is to create mock-up boards for each piece. I will use these to test the chemistry of adhesives and the spread of burns before applying them to the final work, ensuring I protect the detailed portraits of my grandmother’s story.
Time Management Plan: My time management is affected by the intensive nature of embroidery and fine graphite work. To improve progress next semester, I will implement a staged production schedule. I will dedicate the first week of each project to material experimentation and research, such as T9 codes and historical documents. I will spend the second week strictly on the time-consuming physical labor of stitching and drawing to stay ahead of deadlines.
Next Works:
1. Representing her wedding
2. Representing the loss of her children
3. Representing the dynamics of her family
Media, Techniques, and Work ProcessesI utilized a complex mixed media approach to construct this narrative, starting with a foundation of graphite rendering for the base structures and moving into a vibrant Prismacolor layering process. The shift from graphite to Prismacolor was intentional, as the wax-based pigments allowed me to achieve a saturated, "loud" color profile that matches my grandmother's personality. By blending multiple layers of green and red on the FJ40, I was able to simulate the weathered yet resilient texture of a vehicle that served as a family lifeline.The most significant technical decision was the use of mixed-media layering and physical collage. Rather than drawing the entire scene on a single plane, I rendered the Toyota FJ40 on a separate sheet of paper, carefully cut it out with a precision knife, and glued it onto the background of the house. I applied this same spatial manipulation to the door, physically moving its position to better guide the viewer's eye through the composition. This "cut and paste" construction serves as a metaphor for the way memories are often fragmented and reassembled over time, especially when influenced by shifting political climates.To further ground the piece in its historical context, I experimented with textural contrasts between the smooth, manufactured surface of the truck and the gritty, cracked appearance of the house walls. The use of mixed media allowed me to create a 3D effect, making the "liberty" of the moving truck feel as though it is literally popping out from the static, impoverished background of the town. This process of physical assembly reflects the labor and effort my family invested in maintaining a sense of joy and generosity during a time of national scarcity.