Artist Statement

“Alby Mangle”

 an Artist statement by samone anderson

The creation of Alby Mangle is the story of the Royal albatross expressed through my art. It is my way of saying that as a society we need to be more thoughtful of how we dispose and create waste.  As I formed Alby Mangle I felt connected to the albatross and the need for plastics to be recycled in better ways.  I looked at hundreds of photos of live albatross to develop a visual knowledge of their specific features.  I looked at video and film clips created by Chris Jordan of dead marine birds with bellies absolutely choked up with plastic.  This is where the idea for his plastic jewelled belly came from.

The plastic within his belly are items that I collected within under 5 minutes from bottle tops, toothpaste, glue, pen lids, key tags, rubbers, razors, jewellery, pegs and other household items.  When beginning this creation, I pencilled the albatross form.  I sketched from real life photographs to understand elements of his features and how to best portray them. I did this because I am not a natural painter but I had a vision to use canvas and create a piece using a mixture of mediums. It was important for me to show the royal albatross in a simple yet graceful form. His length is about the span of one of the wings of an adult Royal albatross.  Transportation of this piece is another important feature to its design.  Originally the vision was to create him life-like but at 3 1/2 metres I would not have been able to transport Alby Mangle to the exhibition.

The elements used in the design of this piece are canvas, plastics, beads, white modelling clay, acrylic and oil based paints. Alby Mangle is a combination of textures, brush strokes, with thick uneven lines and shading.  To create contrast I used heavy and thick strokes of black paint around the outline of the albatross.  These thick strokes then curve softly around the shape of the birds body and the negative space, giving an illusion of movement. Using only black and canvas on his wings I worked with shading to produce likeness in the feathers and the tips.  For his body and head, I had envisioned using real feathers but then through the process realised that I could create a likeness of feathers by using modelling clay and small curved brush strokes. The focal point of this piece is to highlight the plastics that these massive birds ingest.  The colours of the materials are so vibrant; it is easy to see how plastics are considered to be delicious morsels of food by the Albatross.  My idea was that I wanted to create a discussion involving Chris Jordan and his work on our environmental impact.  Yet at the same time I wanted to create a piece of beauty.  This was in juxtaposition to Chris Jordan’s photographic work of the albatross.  In Midway the photographs of hundreds of dead albatross are confronting and ugly in their reality. The rotting carcass and the masses of plastic leave a bleak feeling in your heart.  For my art piece I wanted to display the essence of how attractive plastics can appear to animals.  I was looking to highlight the colours and the intensity of plastic that these gracious birds mistake for fish, octopus and other marine life.  Imagine just how happy the royal albatross are, as they look at what they believe to be a mass of available food.  This was the feeling I was looking to express.

INFLUENCES:  At the beginning, I was influenced by the concept of using trash and recycled materials to create art.  Then whilst researching I came across environmental artist John Dahlsen who recycles materials that he found littered on beaches to create art pieces.  Finally when I found Chris Jordan’s work and the environmental message he shared through his art, I wanted to join his discussion.  His work inspired me to discuss the issue of the way rubbish is affecting the oceans and all of the animals that live within it.  

Art is never done until its done

As I stared at what I thought was a finalised artwork.  I picked up the black paint and began to outline his wings and body.  I felt as though he did not stand out before and now I was looking to use dark shading and brush strokes to ensure that he stood out.  That he really made a connection.  He really is done now.  When I look at him, I don't see any areas to perfect and it makes me smile every time I show someone his picture and they say, "Oh wow cool. What is that in his belly?" My perfect opening for environmental discussion.  It feels good to know that people will ask question why and what and then they will search for the answer.  So my art has 2 purposes.  It looks good and it has an environmental purpose.

Ably Mangle is taking form

a zoom out of the plastics I have stuck in Alby Mangle

So close to being done, it has been a long journey of days and hours

Plastics from around the house

So close to be doing, this piece has taken hours and days to complete.  I have finally glued the household plastic over gold metallic paint to create the bejewelled belly.

Alby is done.

Art can be trial and error 2

Attempt 1 - acrylic 

Attempt 2 - modelling clay

After completing Alby Mangle's beak (this is the name that my university friends have given my albatross). I started to paint his head, neck and back of his body with white acrylic.  Using a brush of medium thickness I applied the paint on quite thickly and practised small curved strokes that would appear textured and hopefully feathery.  I was delighted with the outcome.  Imagine my surprise when I left Alby to dry and returned to discover that the acrylic has dried flat and was completely glossy and without texture. It was that exact moment that I remembered discussions in class about creating texture using gesso.  So another trip to the paint shop, but instead of gesso I found white modelling paste that I would use instead as it was the less expensive option. Price becomes a design element when you are at university.

Art is sometimes accidental

Today I stumbled upon a new techniques.  The first was that I did not have colour in acrylic paints, so I decided to mix my oil colours up to produce the skin colour look of the bottom layer of his beak.  After painting, I realised I had used all of the white oil paints and I needed to tint the top beak with more white so that it was lighter and a little softer.  As I looked around my room which is beginning to resemble a garbage dump of its own accord I spotted a large bottle of white acryclic paint and decided to use that to tint my oil colour for the beak.  The effect was very interesting. The oil and acrylic did not mix at all, but the thickness of the oil paint became textured spots of colours through the white acrylic.  As I used this on the canvas I noticed that it created a perfect amount of uneven tint through the top beak which was very much the effect I was looking for.  Trial and error or a complete fluke, it is definitely true that art is a singular creation sometimes well planned and sometimes accidental.

Brush stroke is nothing like pencil work

Several you tube tutorials later, about painting on canvas and after speaking with friends who are good at painting, I began working on smooth flowing brush strokes.  Holding the paint brush in the way that 

we had been shown in class was difficult for the first wing.  I was using the brush as though it was a pencil but this time I worked out how to make the soft flowing effect of wings that I was looking for.  It was all about long soft rhythmic brush strokes.

Art takes time

There is such a talent to being able to create what you envision in your mind onto a piece of canvas.  The creation of my albatross full of plastic began today.   It has taken me 2 hours to complete.  Where I had hoped the lines of my albatross feathers would be clean and detailed they are more furry, soft and rounded.  Clearly I missed the lesson that demonstrated which way to hold a paintbrush to create effect.  I have developed a new found respect for painting in general.  It seems that pencils are my favoured medium....but today I am creating a statement with my art.  Even if the piece only turns out semi-reasonable, the Statement will still be made. We are causing havoc on our environment and need to consider the way we eliminate and create waste.  In less than 3 minutes I have collected 40 pieces of plastic to be put together in the belly of my bird.  What strikes me is how varied the colours are in each of these pieces and how easily in water these items can be mistaken for a food source.

Today is the creation of one albatross wing. I had planned to complete the other but at this rate I think I may just run out of time.

Art reaches INside YOU

In less than a millisecond Chris Jordan's environmental art makes a massive impact and a confronting statement about the way we are polluting the earth and the animals that live on it.  To write a book that impacted in this magnitude would no doubt take hours to read.  It would be filled with endless heartache, romance, drama and all that goes along with the ebb and flow of life. Chris Jordan's environmental art gives gives rise to an emotional response immediately.  At first I was quite disgusted by the images of dead birds with their bellies full of plastic.  I had thought to myself, "Why would someone put all those plastics inside a dead bird and call it art?". Only after reading did I realise that the someone was "me" and every person who forgets to ensure that they are responsible with the plastics that they purchase and dispose of in our every single day lives.
Midway: Message from the Gyre holds a powerful message.  It speaks volumes as to the affect of our waste and pollution on all life on this planet.  We  must plan better on how to reduce, recycle, rectify and re-use plastics.  Plastic never becomes anything other than plastic.  Even in its smallest molecular structure it is still molecules of plastic.  Unlike canvas, wood, paper, leaves and so many other consumables plastic never decomposes back into the earth.  It leaves its plastic mark on everything and within everything.

 The sketch on the left is my first plan of how I will set about using animals and plastics to mimic the work that Chris Jordan has published. The concept is to use the outer elements of the animal in sketch black and white.  It is an attempt to give a stark contrast between the natural beauty of the animal and the man made plastics that become their demise.  The plastics in their array of colours and shapes will be glued to the piece where the body of the animal would normally be. This is my first sense of excitement about projecting and idea into an art form.

Art is not just PRETTY

Inspiration arrived today.  As if out of nowhere.  Okay it did come directly from somewhere.  I am sure Sue designed her final art class with this it mind.  Today was the culmination of many weeks of rumination.  The use of word association, brought a day of discussion and fresh ideas.  With listening arrived new understanding and I was able to feel free for the first time to search and see. I have finally found some inspiration as to my final piece.  Today's lecture really helped bring out some artistic ideas.  It showed the importance of allowing individuals to gather ideas with freedom and with a sense of openness. No censorship was allowed.  Until now I was toying with Green art and recycled materials, however today after stumbling on a video called "Midway" that showcased the plastics found in  thousands of dead marine birds. A little spark of creation began. The you tube clip below talks about how much waste is thrown into the ocean each hour and in particular plastics.  If our marine birds are dying from plastic then certainly too must other marine creatures.  Chris Jordan has taken thousands of photographs of dead albatross whose stomachs are full of plastics.  Bottle tops, pen lids, soy sauce bottles, pendants,  lighters and so much more that is not food.  It all  makes its way into the stomachs and feeding patterns of these unsuspecting birds; it was sad to realise that they feed the plastic to their young not realising that it is not a food source. The plastics then cause the perishing of these birds as they are unable to digested or passed through their bodies. If it could we would be hit often by small fast flying plastic missiles, which would be a quick way to put a stop to the needless littler creation and pollution of plastics.

Rubbish as ART

Today while researching environmental artists, I stumbled across the work of Tom Deinenger.  He creates massive installations from rubbish and then creates a digital image of a picture.  This concept of taking things that we lay to waste and creating images that highlight just how wasteful we are resonates with me. Environmental art that uses rubbish and waste to create pictures that are skilled and beautiful. Watching this video clip I think it is amazing that he has the artisitc talent to be able to create pictures from junk

Environment & art

The style of art I want to work with is definitely environmental.  John Dahlsen has created some amazing pieces using washed up ocean garbage that he has collected from beaches across Australia.  In his artist statement he discusses the dumping of thousands of tonnes of plastics and how important it is for our society to develop and care more deeply about the way in which waste is created and then "dumped".  He is an inspirational artist in terms of his development across several mediums.  He began as an abstract painter and then one day as he was collecting driftwood to create and installation piece from recycling ocean debris he came across masses of washed up plastics and rubbish.  Suddenly he was drawn and inspired to use these things in his art and to make a statement about the environmental impact and our lack of appropriate waste disposal.

The Greenie is in me

Reading today about Green Art inspired me to work on a final piece to discuss the environment.  In my mind  the world we live on is a living organism that needs to be considered and kept as a feasible and desirable place for all things to live.  At this stage I am considering picking up all of the cigarette butts off the beach or ground (this is a pet hate of mine) and creating an art piece that has the form of a cork board but is actually made of cigarette butts.To that  I will pin a note saying that humans are not the only things that every cigarette does damage to.
Recycling, picking up after yourself and minimizing waste by saying no to extra plastics and packaging are become more and more prominent issues in our throw away and fast food drive by world.

Artistic talent is in the eye of the beholder

Looking around the lecture today, I get a real sense that most of my comrades have a love, a desire and a flair for art.  I like it.....but I have just lived out the larger portion of my life without taking it into consideration.  However now I find myself willing to spend an afternoon painting, drawing and trying to learn how to create shades and textures in things, so that I can produce artwork that I am proud of.  Today we looked at Max Ernst and created collages using a resource that has all the pieces available, from the background and the cut-outs of items that become glued where they need not normally be.  The essence of surrealism....things appear where you would not expect to find them.  Originally I was disappointed with my final piece, because it was my intention for the lines of colour within the tower and the moth to be more vibrant.  As with a lot of art, changing the medium can make a difference to its quality.  I find this picture creates a lasting impression a photograph.

Its all too surreal

Surrealism seems to be that place between fantasy and reality and its a place that adopts the unexpected.  Salvador Dali was the artist I picked to look at and then I found Vladimir Kush.  Inspired by Salvador Dali his paintings are often more romantic than intense.  They often portray a sense of hope with his use of nature to inspire the natural.  Boats with butterflies with Sails usually are, owls that make up the underground cobblestones of an ancient English city.  Vladmir Kush creates an emotional response within me, and it is a nice one geared towards the wonder and intrinsic nature of all things.  Today I set about bringing surrealism into the forefront of any artistic talent I could find.  The following website were my inspiration to get started.  I was hoping more for a join the dots version of how to make a surrealistic art piece, but apparently it is not that easy.

http://www.ehow.com/how_2120801_paint-surrealistic-art.html

http://arts-fine-gallery.co.uk/index.php/artistblogs/art-history/11-how-to-paint-a-surreal-painting

blitzing to Blitz the ARt Blitz

Day Three and now I realise that I need to purchase some other art equipment in order to continue my Art blitzing! Crayons will not cut it.  Day three is about creating something from within my bag. I found a business card for KAjo and it is my friends business, she creates jewellery.  I make a whole hearted attempt at drawing different jewellery pieces that I own.  However my lack of technique begins to distract me and I find myself getting frustrated that I cannot understand how to create what I see.

10 Day art blitz

Text art is an interesting style.  No doubt inspired by Dada or something similar.  I love English, so I like the concept of utilising text as art.   This is Day 2 or the 10 day art blitz.

The Gallery Visit

David Poulson is showing his artwork at the Noosa Regional Gallery and we had the opportunity to visit the gallery in a private tour. What struck me the most was the inner journey that happens where you are taken into an artists world, feelings and thoughts. Through their eyes and in their mind they choose colour depths, line style, stoke length, shade, tint, shape and so many more artistic terms to create their vision. What came to me from David's art was a rather intense journey of growth and change throughout his life. His earlier works while at art and design school were structured with the perfection of human and design form. His sketches were able to portray the small rolls of fat on a woman's belly to the soft form or her breasts with the true nature of those lines,they rarely feel sensual in any way. Then comes the black kangaroo prints which hold and intensity and left me asking a great deal of questions. Why does the kangaroo have a giant penis with a house burning on it? They are dark in colour and the kangaroo has a man's body, but also carries a rifle. Why? His work in this phase uses negative and positive light with shades of black and tints of white to produce intensity. Moving through the pieces there are works that feel "disturbed". You know that this was the intention because of the level of skills you have witnessed in his earlier works. Then I began to think that perhaps it was related to how David was feeling at the time.

Re-igniting Arts in my mind's eye

This week marks the beginning of my teaching electives, with the first one being Visual learning and Innovation. It has been quite a few years since I have taken a pen of any kind to a piece of paper in order to bring about some sense of artistic movement. The beginning of this course has been rather exciting for me. Looking over work from Salvador Dali and Pablo picasso reminded me of the power that art has to express emotion, and tell a story. So today begins my journey. Today is Day one of the ten day art blitz that I have decided to undertake. The first task is to draw an eye with pencil. I decide to make attempts at learning to draw a realistic eye. Using the techniques that were shown in class on Monday. I began my journey by directly copying another's artist technique and the eye that they have drawn. This began on you-tube and ended with 4 exceptionally different and not so real looking eyes. But the thing I notice about art, today is that each time I have drawn and eye my ability has improved. After the first eye, I did more research about drawing realistic eyes. The second eye used a lot more shading, but by each you tube clip discussed the importance of using "real life" models or images to draw from. For my third attempt I followed this instruction and ended up with a much closer example of an eye.