The Final Blog Post

Dear Future AP Art Student -

Now that you have made it to AP you have so much freedom to create (almost) whatever you want! When you're thinking about your concentration, think outside of the box, think about what inspires you... because you will have to make 12 cohesive pieces and you don't want to get sick of an idea.

Once your settled into class take advantage of all your resources. Not only the abundance of materials, but all the people in your class with great ideas and advice.

Most importantly, have fun and enjoy the process, because it's unlike anything else!

PORTFOLIO QUESTIONS

What is the central idea of your concentration?
The central idea of my concentration is to show a visual representation of my trip in Nicaragua through abstract and (somewhat) realistic images using encaustic.  

How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples. When referencing specific images, please indicate the image numbers.
The work in my concentration demonstrates my central idea because I show concrete representations of my trip through images like the window on the orange wall with the leaf, or the power lines.  My concentration also shows my concept through abstract work, like the pieces of horizontal lines in different color schemes (greens/yellow: vegetation in Nicaragua, orange/yellow/red/blue/white: villas in Nicaragua, blue/green: Lake Nicaragua).

Update on Concentration

My concentration is a representation of my trip in Nicaragua.

Originally my concentration was more literal and I was doing pieces off of photographs that I took on my trip.  However, now my pieces are more abstract and I am focusing on the colors of the country -- EX: the one with reds and oranges is a depiction of the villas I stayed in, and the tall, narrow piece that is all different shades of blues and greens is a representation of Lake Nicaragua.  For the last critique I tried to use shapes for something different (the one with the blue triangle and the white triangle that was on the clear over the wood...did you think that was successful?

Right now I am kind of struggling with coming up with more ideas for different color palettes.  I think I want to continue with the more abstract route, but I am definitely open to ideas.  What do you guys think?  I am definitely open to input and advice so let me know! 

CRITIQUE

My concentration is a representation of my trip to Nicaragua. The first image is more literal, and the second is more abstract. On the second one I need to work more on the perspective.

AP ART POSTER

Thanks to my mom for supporting LHS art!

Concentration

I have though about my concentration being the movement of line - Karl kaiser was a big inspiration for me, below is a piece of his work. But now I'm contemplating changing my concentration to my journey in Nicaragua...

What is a Concentration?

BRAD KAYAL - http://www.bradkayal.com/

Brad Kayal focuses on printmaking and designs different logos, posters, computer ads., etc. for various companies including Volkswagen.

I think the underlying idea of Kayal's work is clean, simple, straight forward imagery to get across a point, advertisement, etc.

Brad's work has great visual coherence... the majority of his work is full of soft colors, and lines and is very clean!  Since a lot of his work is for different advertisements (posters, propaganda, etc.) I think it's cool that all of his work really flows together still.

Since his work is so clean I'd say the element and principle of art he uses best is line! For advertisements it is so necessary to be precise, and I think it is really impressive how he does so much of this with printmaking.