Studio/ Research: BVA 316 - 27/03/2019 (One-On-One)

Week Five One-On-One with Kathryn

Agenda from the last meeting:

1. Findings on Artists that produce work related to Cinderella (As a reference of how they define their work)

2. Elaborate meaning of material/ method used. Example: Stippling, Ink Pen, Paper. *questioning, Why Pointillism? Why Ink?

3. Research on more theoretical materials on a cultural identity or fairy tales within the animation or diversity context. *Share animation context.

There are two artists that shares similar topic towards my thrid year project, Cultural Identity. Timothy Horn (Viladas, 2008) and Cathy Lu  (Asia Society). 

• Timothy Horn, Bitter Suite 

His creation of the child-size Cinderella carriage is encrusted in crystallized rock sugar is inspired by the life story of Alma le Normand de Bretteville Spreckels. (Carone, 2010) Alma was born from a poor family but later in life married to San Francisco’s sugar baron, Adolph Spreckels. However, find it hard to socialize herself with the high society of San Francisco. His work does not just awe his audience, also shows respect for both of the women who rose from their difficulties in their contemporary times. (Carone, 2010)

In developing my final work, The Cinderellas,the idea of portraying my work plays an important aspect. It is used to attract the audience’s attention.Timothy enjoys experimenting with different material in his work. He worked with different materials before, like glass, metal, and rubber. In Mother-load, Timothy uses sugar to bring a significant meaning into his work, which is crystallized sugar on the Cinderella Carriage. (Lewis, 2019)

• Cathy Lu, Cultural Identity in the art 

Cathy Lu, born in Miami, FL in 1984 (Root division), is uncovering her own cultural identity through learning Chinese imagery. This helps her to gain an understanding of her cultural history and contemporary identity. 

Growing up from a Chinese family in Miami FL and surrounded by Cuban immigrants makes her uncomfortable while trying to understand American culture, there’s too much of diversity going on. Although Cathy has been in the United States of America since young, an invisible barrier still felt by her in society. The term Asian American when implied on her creates an awkward space contemporary time, she feels not yet accepted in society. Therefore, she chooses to create prices that explore Asian American identity, culture, and gender. (Root division)

Cultural elements that are shown in Cathy’s work proves her exploration of her Chinese Identity without highlighting the use of materials. Her watercolor painting is based on a genre in traditional Chinese painting, “100 Boys Playing”. The painting depicts boys are playing with objects to foreshadow their future successes as adults. For example, a boy playing with a quill might grow up to be a scholar. (Asia Society) Cathy’s reinvention of “100 Boys playing” highlighted only the female role-playing. The action of “Playing” became a topic that portrays the differences between the male and female role. (Asia Society)

Using material to support their topic. 

Timothy and Cathy shares a similarity while creating their astonishing work, that is the material being use. Timothy chose crystalized sugar embodied on the carriage to represent his inspiration towards Alma Spreckels, the wife of San Francisco's sugar baron, Adolph Spreckels. Timothy wanted to convey the difficulty of Alma marrying the aristrocacy while she, herself was born in a very poor family. 

Cathy too, her approach using watercolour is to reflect on this amzing watercolour painting in ancient china, 100 boys playing. Using this topic to understand more about her chinese cultural. 

Each of them uses specific material to represent the context behind each work that has being produced. 

More Studies

A study shows that social acceptance and recognition of cultural identities will increase self-esteem within a multicultural society in the Netherlands. (Verkuyten, 2009)

Seconda Nimenya, a speaker in TedXTalk: We are not that different: Race and Cultural Identity, experience cultural differences in society too. She talks about her experience migrating from South Africa to Canada then to The United States of America to seek refuge. However, she felt an invisible void in the foreign community, the feeling of not being fully accepted in society. Coming from a third world country, she felt ashamed of her origin. After having an intervention with her two daughters, Seconda realized the power of self-acceptance in a community rather than implying negative thoughts in her mind. She stated: “Human being at their very core is yearning for the same thing. It is to be accepted for who we are……Deep in my heart, I know we are more alike than different to use our differences to uplift one another.” (Talks, 2016)

Another person that feels the lack of acceptance in society is the author of, The invisible wall: a love story that broke barriers, Harry Bernstein. He wrote a statement that I would like to share. “We're not very different from one another, not different at all in fact. We're all just people with the same needs, the same desires, the same feelings. It's a lie about us being different.” (Bernstein, 2007) He published his first book at the age of 96, about his childhood living with his family living as a Jewish in England during the tees and twenties of the last century. (Grimes, 2007) 

In my own work, The Cinderellas.

The style of pointilism/stippling will be my main appraoch towards this project. However, in the upcoming exhibition, I will use mark-making to create my work, in ink form. 

What's the relationship between the ink, paper and style that will reflect on my project? This is the question for this semester. 

This week I will focus more on my illustration, going to brain storm ideas that came across my mind. 

Agenda for Week Six One-On-One with Kathryn

1. Rough sketch on illustration, one specific scene on each version of Cinderella, creating a comparison. 

2. The sizing for exhibition and the style incorporated. 

Reference:

Asia Society. (n.d.). cultural identity in art: interview with artist cathy lu. Retrieved from asia society: https://asiasociety.org/northern-california/cultural-identity-art-interview-artist-cathy-lu

Bernstein, H. (2007). The Invisible Wall : A love story that broke barriers . London:   Hutchinson

Carone, A. (2010, September 15). Timothy Horn's ornate and sweet sculpture . Retrieved from KPBS: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/sep/15/sugar/

Grimes, W. (2007, April 4). Recalling a time when a street divided two worlds. Retrieved from The New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/books/04grim.html

Lewis, J. J. (2019, March 10). Biography of catherine the great of russia . Retrieved from Thoughtco. : https://www.thoughtco.com/catherine-the-great-p2-3528624

Root division. (n.d.). Cathry Lu. Retrieved from Root Division: https://rootdivision.org/artist-page/cathy-lu

Talks, TEDx. “We Are Not All That Different: Race and Culture Identity | Seconde Nimenya | TEDxSnoIsleLibraries.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Dec. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QuAok_Xiyg.

Verkuyten, M. (2009, January 2009). Self-esteem and multiculturalism: An examination among ethnic minority and majority groups in the Netherlands. Retrieved from Elsevier: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1020.9595&rep=rep1&type=pdf