With school starting in a couple days, I have been reflecting upon the summer - as always, it went too quickly. Without being enrolled in an art class, I am not nearly as productive especially in regard to large projects. But this summer has had a few low-key projects and sketches. First up, caricatures. Having recently traveled to Belgium and Germany to see family and friends, I thought that caricatures were a unique way to say thank you to all of our different hosts. A quirky caricature of a person is sure to add to a good old fashioned thank you note for all of these wonderful folks' hospitality. Most of these were drawn from a photo reference using a standard pencil. As with any time I make art, I am not one hundred percent happy with every single one. But my favorite caricatures are Nico, Patrick, and Felix. I have found that drawing women is more difficult for me. Next up, photolithography and 3-D printing. I volunteered at NASA Langley for a couple weeks this summer, and one of the projects was to manufacture a photolithographic microwave tag. The sciencey part of this process involves covering a glass wafer in copper, spreading photoresist over it, then curing the photoresist using a laser in a specialized machine. After more chemical processes, the uncured area lifts away, exposing the laser's design. I ended up printing two designs. For the first one, I just went crazy with the circle feature in the software. For the second one, I modeled the design after the side profile of an 80/20 bar. The third photo shows the 3-D printed slide holders a little more clearly. While not glamorous, the slide holders fit the slide and do their job. All in all, this project was very experimental. This was my first experience with the 2-D modeling software used to design the slides (CleWin) or the 3-D modeling software used to design the slide holders (SolidWorks). This was my first time 3-D printing but it is something I hope to investigate further down the road. Finally, camp art. This summer I volunteered for several weeks as a counselor at an art camp for kids, VCU Creative Arts Day Camp. This was quite an experience for me - I had never *really* spent very much time caring for young kids before this. Being responsible for children requires so much mental energy and attention, but this counselor job taught me how to think quickly and decisively. I gave away a lot of my drawings because the campers were always very interested in them but I still have a few.
The first one here is a simple print. I got a styrofoam rectangle, then impressed the surface using found circular objects like bottle caps, markers, and different containers. I actually really like how this print turned out. The second here is a figure drawing with no photo reference using standard Crayola crayons, evidence that artist grade materials are not necessarily needed. The third is a sketchbook drawing of the Howitzers monument in Richmond.
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