Art 165 - Virtual Open Studios Spring 2021 | art.ucsc.edu

ART 165 Print Media in Visual Communication Virtual Open Studios Spring 2021

Instructor - Jimin Lee

Abby McPhillips

Abby McPhillips

“Contemplation”

Water Color and Water based Woodcut Print

Abby McPhillips

“Visions”

Multi-Media Cyanotype Print

Chloe Calhoun

"Where I end"

Mokulito on mitsumata

This work is part of a series exploring the self existing as larger than the individual. My works grapple with a sense of paralysis and helplessness, feeling a loss of control over my life but still having to face the consequences. I visualize this in images of bodily transformation, physical alteration of human figures from within and without.

"Bark beetles 2"

Cyanotype on kozo

This cyanotype is printed on kozo, a paper made from mulberry tree bark, and the photograph is of a decaying tree on campus that is in the process of being eaten by beetles. In this series, the beetles are my collaborators and the theme of my work is to elevate small works of beauty by preserving them in my prints.

"No Borders"

Cyanotype on paper

Christine Pinetta

Snakes and Pain

The purpose of my topic is to show the true story of the Greek Gorgon Medusa. As most people know, Medusa is generally described as a monstrous human female with venomous snakes in place of her hair. She is notoriously known from her defeat with the Greek hero Perseus, however that is about as far as stories will tell you about her. What many are unaware about is how she came to be. Medusa was never born with snake hair to begin with, on the contrary she was actually a beautiful maiden with long and fair hair. Medusa was actually a victim of Posideon’s sexual assault who ultimately had to suffer from Athena’s tranformation. As a result she was transformed into the monstrous being we all know of.

While Medusa’s story is tragic I also want her story to parallel the stories of victims from sexual assault in modern times. Oftentimes the victim is the one to be blamed and just like Medusa, gets punished insteads. This is why in my pieces I want to use Medusa as a symbolism in my artwork. The pieces go in chronological order, from her original beauty until her tragic ending. The second scene is heavily based on symbolism as it represents Medusa drowning in Poseidon’s heinous acts towards her. The third piece is the most important scene as what people don’t know is when Athena transformed Medusa it was actually a blessing for her as a way to protect herself from men.

In total the materials used will be a mixture of both shina wood and plexiglass. There will be three 9x 12 (Shina woodblock), a one 8x 10 (Plexi glass). With these pieces I want to show a different perspective of the so-called heinous monster of Medusa that most people are aware of.

Christine Pinetta

“My story”

Sumi Ink and watercolor on Kozo

This artwork depicts Medusa before her monstrous transformation. It further emphasizes her hair as it was actually told that before Medusa’s snake hair she once had long beautiful and fair hair.

Christine Pinetta

“Drowning in your mistakes”

Reduction Process,Woodblock

THIs artwork symbolized how Medusa was sexually assaulted by Poseidon. As a result her for is drowning in water as Poseidon is the Greek God of water.

Christine Pinetta

“Protection or Punishment?”

Reduction Process,Woodblock

Art3_Christine_Pinetta_jpg

This artwork shows the tragic but peaceful transformation Athena gives to Medusa. Rather than her hair of snakes being used as a punishment Athena granted this on Medusa so she could protect herself against any man who tried to come near her.

Christine Pinetta

“The Final Outcome”

Reduction Process,Woodblock

Art4_Christine_Pinetta_jpg

Ultimately the last piece shows the aftermath of Medusa stuck in pain and as she ultimately has to suffer this transformation.

Clarissa De Jesus

Clarissa De Jesus

“Trauma Metamorphosis” Part of a 3 part Series

Photoshop, Monotype and Takbon printmaking.

This project is meant to evoke the physical and mental transformation victims of abuse and human trafficking go through after escaping their captivity.

Clarissa De Jesus

“Trauma Metamorphosis Stage 2”

Photoshop, Monotype and Takbon printmaking

As part of the full series, this stage of the Metamorphosis symbolizes the beauty in escaping the chains of trauma yet not fully being healed. This image is meant to glorify the middle aspects of transformation, encouraging others to continue the journey and not give up.

Clarissa De Jesus

“The Battle of Surviving”

Photoshop and Monotype printmaking.

As a representation of the internal dialog of human trafficking survivors, this work addresses the social battles faced by those who have lost their identity and legal status.

Clarissa De Jesus

“Earth Fights Back”

Monotype printmaking and photoshop.

This piece imagines a world where Earth could grow and surpass the restrictions of global warming, overthrowing the institutions that cause it.

Connor Alexander

Masculinity and femininity are arranged in our culture as a binary; you are designated as either one or the other. Presenting outside of what society perceives you to be garners ostracization, violence, and oppression. Especially in the most recent century, periodic fluxes in conservative values and enforcement of gender roles have built up a visual culture geared towards illustrating and reinforcing this binary. At the center of femininity is the emblem of the innocent, delicate flower. From the perspective of a transmasculine individual, the idea of the flower frustrated me to no end before I came out. Using an inherently ungendered fragment of plant matter to assign the idea of fragility and sexualization to all women everywhere is ridiculous and helps to erase the full scope of how people experience gender outside of the binary. With this body of work, I seek to use the emblem of the flower to question a large part of the visual gender binary, presenting them as natural patterns rather than a representation of gender. The prints in this project rely on woodblock relief prints, eco prints, and collage to reduce floral and figurative impressions down to abstract shapes to emphasize nonconformity in the context of gender and presentation. The prints share the same color scheme of yellow, white, purple, and black (the colors of the non binary pride flag). These colors again emphasize nonconformity in gender and indicate a spectrum of how gender is experienced — yellow symbolizes complete removal from binary gender; white symbolizes many or all genders; purple symbolizes a place between the binary; black symbolizes complete lack of gender.

“Gender Forms 1”

Eco print, woodcut print, watercolor, and marker

“Gender Forms 2”

Eco print, woodcut print, watercolor, and marker

“Gender Forms 3”

Eco print, woodcut print, watercolor, and marker

“Gender Forms 6”

Eco print, woodcut print, watercolor, and marker

Hannah Bourke

Hannah Bourke

“Hieros Gamos”

Woodblock Print

Hieros Gamos represents the inner unification of polarities and sacred marriage of god the divine within every aspect of our being.

Hannah Bourke

“Godspe”

Woodblock Print, Watercolor

Pronounced “godspuh”, this is a word I came up with to acknowledge synchronicity, magick, miracles, and living in alignment with a higher will. One woman whispers this to another woman to acknowledge the suppression of the divine feminine principle for millenia, and that the return of this principle is once again revealing itself on Earth after being forcibly hidden away for so long.

Jasmine Djavahery

An Ode to Golden Gate Park

Gouache, paper, carved woodblock

Mehmooni Stamps

Laser cut Linoleum, wood

Mehmooni tapestry(detail), child asleep on pile of coats

Muslin, fabric ink, embroidery thread, gold frame, paper, ink

Mehmooni Tapestry

Muslin, fabric ink, embroidery thread, beads

Kaylin Boyle

Project: After Us

After Us is about the end of the world and what comes next for humans and the world we destroyed and left behind. A lot of people have anxiety and dread surrounding human impacts on the world. Eco-anxiety is a term coined by psychologists to describe the feelings of anxiety, loss and mourning for the environment. I feel that I, like many others in this time of uncertainty about climate change and how it will affect the planet, sometimes experience eco-anxiety. When I think of the fate of the world I tend to create outlandish scenarios in my head in order to prepare myself for the worst. The images in After Us are satirical and not meant to be realistic or frightening; the theme of the end of the world is unnerving but the colors and style of woodblock printing gives a cartoonish look that isn’t meant to bring the viewer to face too many harsh realities. After Us explores these ideas of the end of the world and helps me to visualize these outlandish ideas about the end and see them for what they are; sort of goofy when you really think about it and not all that realistic. There is no way to prepare for the worst, and sometimes you have to visualize it to realize that that is true.

Kaylin Boyle

“The End”

Kaylin Boyle

“Planet B and its Artificial Moons in Orbit”

Kaylin Boyle

“The Oxygen Plant”

Kaylin Boyle

“New Life”

Michaela Martinez

Since the pandemic I have been living in my childhood home with my parents. It sits in the middle of the Sierra Nevadas in a coniferous forest surrounded by nature. My final portfolio represents my mental and physical state as I finish my senior year in school online. The vines of the humongous Wisteria plant envelope my back porch and have started to cover me as well. They remind me of my childhood, they must be older than I am, and they represent my yearning for simpler times and the feeling of being trapped in my time capsule of a house. In my drypoint intaglio pieces, they gently tangle around my legs and twist to grab my arms. Bugs and plants are littered through my hair and on my skin, birds have started a nest in my hair, my skin is turning to wood. I do not want to stand still, but it is so welcoming to do so and let the world happen around me. It will hurt to leave my home, my dog who is my greatest companion, and my parents. But I need to, it has to be.

It is with reverence that I created this triptych of plexi drypoint pieces.

Michaela Martinez

“Nest”

Drypoint Intaglio, speedball ink

Meant to represent myself sinking into nature as I stay home during the pandemic.

Michaela Martinez

“Molly”

Drypoint Intaglio, speedball ink

Me and my dog, surrounded by insects and dandelion fluff. We have gotten more used to each other during my stay

Michaela Martinez

“Squirrel”

Drypoint Intaglio

I was working outside one day and saw a baby squirrel fall out of a tree. Two more followed. It was a deeply saddening experience that I felt I should memorialize in my work. The Dupixent syringe is immunotherapy I take twice a month and has been my hint of normalcy and structure in a time that is so confusing.

Michaela Martinez

“Print Through Nature”

Monoprint with leaves and flowers

I used plants from my backyard and bright colors to represent spring and the blooming of life.

Natalia Ramirez

Awaiting Justice

This past year has been a year where we have seen unjust acts towards people of color. Whether it is these children still in cages to this day or unjust killings of people of color caused by the police, these issues have gotten worse due to the fact that the worst possible person was in charge of this country for 4 years. There are multiple people of power that have a platform to reach others, and let these issues be known, but these issues still do not get the attention they deserve. Through these pieces in my final portfolio I hope to shed light on the issues that are still going on to this day. Through art I chope to communicate the unjust acts, and hope for change.

“Cage”

Relief on Kozo paper

The relief print is to showcase the unjust act of kids in cages. I hope to show how children are separated from their families just to be locked in cages, and sometimes never reunited with their parents. Through this image I hope to show the pain of the separation and wanting to be together again.

“Fieldworkers”

Mokuhanga on Kozo Paper

The Mokuhanga print showcases the unjust treatment towards fieldworkers. They are expected to work in the most unlivable conditions. I wanted to specifically highlight the time they worked during the wildfires and the air quality was unbreathable. While some were forced to stay home these people were still expected to work.

“Protest”

Etching on BFK paper

The etching is an image of Black Lives Matter protest. I hope to show the hardships these people faced fighting for a movement they believe in and show that the fight is not over.

Nature in Print: Exploring nature through printmaking

Artists:

Connor Alexander

Hannah Bourke

Kaylin Boyle

Chloe Calhoun

Abigail(Abby) Mcphillips

Christine Pinetta

Natalia Ramirez

Connor Alexander: