Caitlyn Clements' Blog

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322: Final Artwork

I took inspiration from the Light homework and the Nature homework this semester. My light homework consisted of fairy lights that I turned into fireflies, which can be seen by the firefly that I painted on the canvas. My nature homework featured the shape "The Golden Ratio" which is what the black line and the blue swirls follow the pattern of.

To create the swirl pattern, I dumped 4 different shades of blue paint and blended them together in the swirl pattern. I then painted the firefly and the black line to make the background pattern more noticable. After all of that dried, I added tiny yellow and gold lights to look like either stars or other fireflies (up to the viewers interpretation).

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322: NY 1980s Assignment

For my chalk art, I took inspiration from the Haring piece of two characters holding up a heart. My art work this semester has revolved around environmental themes, so I wanted to incorporate my own spin on the art work. I liked how two people were holding something, so instead of the heart, I changed it to the Earth. I thought this was fitting as Earth Day was just last week. A lot of his street art also incorporates big block letters, so I added "Love Our" planet at the top of the chalk art.

Attendance: The song I chose was "I'll Be Your Mirror" by The Velvet Underground. The Velvet Underground is a proto punk/alt rock band from the 1980s and I'll Be Your Mirror is one of my favorite songs because it has more of a soft pop/ relaxed vibe.

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322: Earth Art

For my earth art project, I decided to depict the golden ratio. The golden ratio is a mathematical formula that when graphed out has a half spiral shape. It reminds me most of shells that I would find on a beach. Ancient Greek and Egyptian architecture both depict this shape in their buildings. It is also found in nature, on shells and the formation of leaves and seeds on plants.

I used sticks and helicopter seeds from a nearby tree while on a walk with my dog, Baxter. I laid the sticks in the shape of the spiral, and filled in the inside of the spiral with the helicopter seeds. It was very windy when I was trying to lay on the helicopter seeds, so I only got one good picture before they all blew away. Attached is the photo of the artwork, a picture of what the golden ratio looks like, and a bonus picture of Baxter (who really liked to steal the sticks I would lay down on the ground😆😅)

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322: Feminism Homework

The aspect of the beauty industry that I find frustrating is the amount of over the top options that seem to have different effects for beauty. I think that fancy soaps are an example of this, meanwhile a small bar of soap will do the same thing and is more environmentally sustainable. One of them is meant to make wrinkles go away and one is meant to make your skin glow more, which makes a profit as people will buy all that they can get. My background is based on the colors of the fancier soaps, because the bright colors are more likely to attract people to look at the bottles in the store. Another way that they are marketed is through celebrity appearances. The fancy soaps are also filled with chemicals, which is why the phrase I chose was "Chemical Free?"

Attendance: A song that I have learned about in History of Rock and Roll is "Go Where You Wanna Go" by The Mamas and the Papas. It is a song written in the 1960s that is about independence and sense of self with the first lyrics being "Go where you wanna go / Do what you wanna do". I think that it is significant that it was written over 60 years ago and still the theme holds for the feminist movement.

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322: Minimalism Light Piece

For my piece this week, I was inspired by a photo that my mom sent me this past weekend. In Cincinnati, the first group of fireflies were out on a warm night this past week. I loved catching fireflies as a kid so this prompted me to create "fireflies" out of the fairy lights in my living room.

Attendance: I originally wanted to use the fairy lights, but was unsure of what route I would take to capture their light in a unique way. The fireflies are made out of my sketchbook paper cut out and colored with a black market. To maintain the minimalism theme, I kept the shapes simple and monochrome. It is held to the wall up by black tape as well. I took 3 different photos with different lighting so that I could showcase the contrast between the lights.

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322: Arte Povera:

Attendance: For my arte povera prompt, I found a box of old lightbulbs that no longer worked. The lightbulbs could no longer provide light for my roommates and I in our house, so repurposing it and keeping it out of a landfill fits with the themes in arte povera. There were many lightbulbs in the box that no longer worked, so in the future I am going to paint more of them.

Much of my art work this semester has had environmental themes associated with it, so I decided to continue this theme with the light bulb. I used paints on the bulb to create a scene with flowers growing from the light of the sun, similar to the last light that the bulb was used to create.

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322 Pop Art

When I think of pop art I think of comic book bagrounds, which is what I tried to recreate and ended up looking like clouds. My pop art collage pieces came from a home decor magazine. There was a really large section for beds with type that reminded me of pop art with its bold font and purple color. I wanted to make the beds look like they are floating on the clouds in the background with the words floating above them.

Attendance: I think that the beds on the magazine were marketed well to a wide range of people. However, I think that as a college student, I am less likely to buy from a magazine/catalogue vs buying from an online source.

[caitlynclements30]

Art 322 Midterm Pieces

Above are my two pieces for my midterm. I decided to do these pieces when I was home for spring break for a change of scenery while making my artworks. Both of these pieces were created while I was outside. For the digital work, I used snapchat and for the hands on piece, I used a pieces of canvas I had at home with acryllic paint.

I started off my digital piece by coloring different green circles, which ended up looking like the leaves on the trees. In my hands on piece, I tried to imitate this, using abstract shapes in different shades of green, red, and blue. I preferred the hands on approach to art because I felt more in control of the shapes and detail of the art. It was much more time consuming but I enjoyed the process of painting. The only aspect of the digital art that I preferred was the ease of creating different colors on snapchat rather than mixing paint.

[caitlynclements30]

Assignment 3: Curator

For this week's assignment, I drew inspiration from Ellie and Athena, specifically noting their use of floral and fruit headdresses. Given my focus on nature and the environment in previous works, this was my initial connection between the two artists.

Further observation revealed a shared oceanic theme, with Athena's piece featuring the sea and Ellie's incorporating wavy lines. I integrated Ellie’s blue and orange color theme and showed the ocean through the absence of sharp lines.

[ellkr]

ARTH102 Assignment 1- Viewing Art

For this assignment, I chose to rework Taylor Swift’s ‘Lover’ album cover. I got to see her perform The Eras Tour in Pittsburgh, where she opened with songs from this album. The concert was electric, and those songs were the best way to start it. My favorite song on the album is Cornelia Street.

As I created my piece, I tried to incorporate parts of the album cover as well as my own touches. When I think of lover, I think of hearts, flowers, and butterflies—somewhat of a Valentine’s Day theme. I began by using oil pastels to make a background similar to the real one, then added the album title. Then, I cut out a bunch of little paper hearts, added butterflies, and put a bouquet of pink flowers in the center. Outside of the actual album cover, this is a pretty good depiction of what the album looks like in my head.

[caitlynclements30]

I really like how you incorporated the font from the original album and related it to a Valentine's Day theme!

[athenaparisi]

For this week's assignment I decided to draw inspiration for my artwork from the album "The Lumineers", by The Lumineers. For my artwork I decided to go for a vintage aesthetic because the album cover includes an old polaroid that I feel gives a nostalgic feel. I was inspired by this and decided to use the polaroid in my artwork by blending different collage pieces that reminded me of the songs on the album but that also drew from the nostalgic and vintage feeling of the original picture on the album cover. My favorite songs from this album are "Dead Sea" and "Flowers in Your Hair". For the song "Dead Sea", I decided to include elements that reminded me of the song like the ocean and seashells. I also included my favorite quote from the song that I burned the end of to tie into the vintage vibe I was going for. I then included a cool photograph I found of a woman with flowers in her hair that I felt represented the song "Flowers in Your Hair" and also blended well with the other collage pieces. Other songs that inspired collage pieces I chose include "Flapper Girl" and "Stubborn Love". Overall I genuinely enjoyed making this and it made me feel even more connected with the album!

[caitlynclements30]

I really like all of the collage elements and the colors all look so cool together!

[caitlynclements30]

Here is my final piece for Assignment 2. The complementary color combination I chose was blue-orange. The background is definitely more on the orderly side vs chaos.

My fashion design outfit was taken from a National geographic magazine. There was an article on butterflies that inspired a lot of the outfit. All of the orange on the outfit came from cutouts of flowers in the magazine. The magazine also had an article titled "by nature's design" which seemed fitting for the assignment.

[caitlynclements30]

One of my favorite albums is "Strange Trails" by Lord Huron. I like how it incorporates nature and how it feels like the person in the hat is the viewer looking out at his surroundings. It seems like they’re in awe, which mirrors the folk and whimsical sound found throughout the album.

I took my inspiration mainly from the feeling of perspective I get from the album cover. I wanted my artwork to make the viewers feel the same way as the person in the cover, as if they are the ones looking at the beauty of nature. I used the newspaper clips to make it feel like you are seeing glimpses of different nature scenes like the person on the album. I added my drawing of the person on the cover at the bottom looking at the nature images. I used my sketchbook paper, newspaper clips, colored pencils, and glue.

[caitlynclements30]

Hi everyone! My name is Caitlyn Clements, a lot of people call me CC for short, and I am a senior environmental studies major with spanish, economics, and music minors. I am also on the swim team here at SBU.

I love hiking & kayaking (the photo above was taken on Lake Huron on the upper penninsula of Michigan this past summer). I also enjoy trying new types of coffee & different small coffee shops around SBU. My favorite band is the Lumineers and they are my biggest bucket list concert to see.