ALEXANDRA DELORME

Conceptual Goals:

For my personal keepsake, I expressed my personality and mind all in one. I would consider myself a minimalist person, so I kept the design simple. However, the color contrast exemplifies my boldness. I am not afraid to take risks and I can trust myself to follow through with my own promises and meet my goals.

Aesthetic Goals:

I used tape to create the clean lines. Then, I dipped a plastic straw in white paint and rolled it across the canvas. I flicked white paint off of a paintbrush for the little splatter. I love the idea of small imperfections among largescale perfection. Finally, I placed my thumb in white paint and smudged it on the left, encrusting a piece of myself onto the canvas.

Course Inspiration:

I drew inspiration from the obsidian text in The Secret Lives of Color. Its glassiness gives it a unique type of beauty, making it mirror-like. Because this piece is just for me, the "mirror" aspect of obsidian -- and of wet blank paint -- is a perfect fit.

Part 2: Spreading Love

Conceptual Goals:

This piece is meant to go on the wall at my SBU house, Attic. I looked around and took elements from the house -- old wood, deer antlers, photographs of famous individuals -- as well as those from my roommates -- femininity, mysticness, and intensity. I captured all of these 6 aspects into my final painting.

Aesthetic Goals:

I found an artist on Pinterest who took woodland animals and morphed them into feminine figures or consumerist life. I began my own piece by drawing the fawn, then the girl's face (nonspecific, a mix of all of my roommates and I), then gave a similar glowing aura to each of the characters. This shows their interconnectedness.

Course Inspiration:

LOVE

"Hard times are inevitable, so you might as well get stronger". I like this quote because it reminds us that we must choose resilience over withdrawal, value our determination, and acknowledge our capabilities. Indeed, this time of year--with final exams and important projects--overwhelm us and might make us question our strength. I would like everyone to pass on this message; let us create a ripple of encouragement as we finish out strong.

My table depicts all sort of greed and luxury. Each item is colored green to exaggerate this theme. 1. I went to my Pinterest to find collage images that represented things I love and desire. Next, I colored them green and paired them alongside money and jewelry. This intends to express possession and luxury. 2. The absurdly large size of my objects also express consumerism, because people love to "live large" and they do so by consuming, consuming, consuming.... Additionally, my objects show the oddness of a consumer lifestyle. Why is a large shrimp drinking a huge cup of coffee? Why does the strawberry have a smolder-like face? We can ask these same questions when it comes to luxury items; for instance, why do people purchase a $400 t-shirt from Dior? 3. My morph is a receipt from Dunkin' represented as the exhaust smoke from my Skyline. The luxurious, large strawberry is animated with a cartoony face.

Attendance prompt:

For this assignment, I drew a portrait of my friend Sanika. The friendly critique last week was to enhance the zoomed-in perspective, which I captured in this portrait. In terms of the Renaissance twist, I really enjoyed repetition, which I included in this piece. I made it very apparent that I wanted to display the heart symbol. Clearly, I made her lips, nose, cheeks, hair -- and especially her eyes -- incorporate hearts. Sanika is a loving person, so the hearts convey her character very well.

Attendance Prompt:

"It was not an immediate success...Thankfully for Perkin and for us...the spoiled, extravagant wife of Napoleon III, Empress Eugenie, decided that the color mauve precisely matched her eyes." (p 170).

I drew a portrait of my friend Sanika. I admire her unconditional kindness, her drive, and brightness. I met her here at Bonas when we became roommates sophomore year. Our bond has been strong ever since! She has taught me many things and opened my eyes and mind to new ideas. I gave her cat ears because, like a cat, Sanika is cute, curious, yet very calm and mature. I appreciate her letting me draw her portrait for this project!

Community Activity 2

My trail-side art work at Bob's Woods combines pebbles, leaves, and the unexpected star of the show, Bob the caterpillar. In the heart of nature, this circular masterpiece pays homage to Stonehenge's post and lintel construction style. While creating, I experienced a chance encounter with a passerby and her four hyper pups. Although the hounds stampeded over the art piece, this encounter led to Bob's unexpected adoption, adding a delightful twist to the story. This passerby was actually a caterpillar breeder! How cool. Please, do go out and discover my outdoor artwork on the Bob's Woods trail!

Community Activity 3

Snow monkeys, also called Japanese macaques, are a terrestrial Old World monkey species native to Japan (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Macaca_fuscata.html.)

They communicate by vocalization. There are six types of vocalizations, including peaceful, defensive, aggressive, and warning vocalizations, which signal their mood (http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Macaca_fuscata.html.)

Snow monkeys often take baths in natural hot springs to keep warm during the winter (https://www.japan.travel/en/itineraries/snow-monkeys-and-hot-springs-in-nagano/.)

They live in social groups and are known for their complex social hierarchies (https://wpsu.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/nat14.sci.lifsci.hierarchy/the-social-hierarchy-of-snow-monkeys/.)

Snow monkeys are omnivores and have a varied diet that includes fruits, leaves, insects, and small vertebrates (https://www.snowmonkeyresorts.com/smr/snowmonkeypark/snow-monkeys-food/.)

Now, let us talk about the technological and consumerist elements to this piece.

The Toshiba laptop. Founded in 1965 in Japan, Toshiba has grown its company worldwide yet employs just 6,600 people today (https://www.toshiba.com/tai/about_us.jsp.)

Electrical outlet and wires. Harvery Hubbell invented the first electrical plug, but it seems unclear as to when our modern-day outlets were normalized in households (https://illumin.usc.edu/a-powerful-history-the-modern-electrical-outlet/.)

Mercedes-Benz. This is the 2002 SL, paired with the slogan "Style. Unlike any other." A fun fact about MB is that the Weeknd paired up with the company to promote their first electric car, the EQC (https://www.carscoops.com/2019/12/mercedes-and-the-weeknd-team-up-for-what-may-be-the-no-1-car-ad-of-the-year/).

The computer. As of today, Lenovo is the largest computer manufacturing company, with ~24% market share of PC vendors (https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-01-11-gartner-says-worldwide-pc-shipments-declined-28-percent-in-fourth-quarter-of-2022-and-16-percent-for-the-year.)

Domo. He became an icon in American media around 2002. The writer in this TIME article likened him to Harrison Ford, "if Harrison Ford were a small, feral Teletubby" (https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1002529,00.html.)

Attendance Prompt:

The Secret Lives of Color - Rosso Corsa

“In honor of their victory their car's original hue became Italy's national racing color and later the one adopted by Enzo Ferrari for his cars: rosso corsa, racing red" (p. 149).

I was born April 1st, 2002, and I am an Aries. Aries is associated with the color red and epitomizes the ram. The Aries symbol resembles a ram's long, curly horns. Both the sign and the animal symbolize determination, leadership, and a headstrong nature. My painting draws inspiration from one of my favorite pieces, Aquelarre, by Francisco de Goya. More character traits of the Ram/Aries include energy, passion, and assertiveness. Mars is the planet associated with Aries. Not only is Mars a red planet, but it links with Aries due to its corresponding qualities: action, courage, and again, assertiveness. I included Mars in the upper right of my painting; my characters also appear to be hanging out on Mars's surface. Visuals of Aries that appear in my painting include hearts--for passion--and the Aries symbol, which are the black curly markings behind my characters. Fire (for fiery passion) appears in my image as well.

I love listening to chill music (NAV, Don Toliver, The Weeknd) in fall. I picture fall as a time where I can play "vibey" songs as I drive with the windows down, cozied up in my hoodie, all alongside to my favorite person. My favorite Halloween movie is Coraline, because my partner showed it to me for the first time last fall. I relate to her curious character!

I was born in 2002, the year that "American Idol" premiered. This TV show has made a tremendous cultural impact on the U.S., and I remember watching every season with my family on cable TV. My aunts, uncles, parents and cousins would discuss their favorite contestants during family gatherings. On a deeper level, the show provided people with the hope that they could make their passion (for singing) into a successful career.

"That that don't kill me, can only make me stronger." This lyric is the chorus to Kanye West's "Stronger". To me, it means that we face struggles and make it out the other side, thus making us more resilient individuals. We can withstand obstacles and take closer steps to our goals. I have gone through battles in my childhood and adulthood, and those experiences make me the strong person I am today.

Ageratina altissima is also known as white snakeroot. It is a poisonous herb that grows perennially (for a relatively long time).

The common privet has little green berries. It is the caterpillar foodplant of the privet hawk-moth Sphinx ligustri.

Selfheal is edible and is a weed. It has been used as medicine by 17th century Europeans.

For the background, I used graphite and smudged it. Then I went in with black and grey pens to make the plant life stand out. Grouping of my plants created a dynamic spatial relationship between the larger plants and the small weeds. It gives more weight to the top left of my artpiece.

"Artists were so generous with their use of lead white that, today, when paintings are X-rayed, its dense outline can form a kind of skeleton within a painting, allowing technicians to see alterations and later additions." (p. 44)

Step 1: watercolor paint

Step 2: pen & marker

Steps 3 & 4: magazine cutouts, grass

"Many classical writers were dismissive. Color was a distraction from the true glories of art: line and form. It was seen as self- indulgent and, later, sinful: a sign of dissimulation and dishonesty" (In "Politics of Color"). This passage highlights the historical perspective on color and its association with negativity in art and culture. Many classical writers viewed color as a distraction or a deceit, rather than an inherent quality of substances. This viewpoint, known as chromophobia, considered color as self-indulgent, sinful, or even deceptive. I was surprised to discover that color had such a negative connotation. I learned that it was often associated with savagery, lack of intelligence, sin, and more. Although I've studied classical writers, the Protestants, and the Renaissance in history and in Italian courses during high school, they never taught us about their chromophobia. I would have never made that association on my own.

Hey, my name is Alexandra and I am a senior biology major from Rochester, NY. My nickname is Lexi. I am glad I am taking an art course because it gives me opportunities to paint, which is something that can help me destress during school. Here is a photo of me from the summer. I went to Florida and the owner of this shop wanted to take a photo of me and his dog. She was a sweetheart. My sketchbook is gothic-inspired, because I really love anything alternative/punk/gothic/grunge.