Grade 12 - 2011 Hannah

My two years of IB Visual Arts have taught me that ideas and images grow out of research and enquiry. I had the intention in the beginning of working on relationships between people but it really did not go anywhere. After experimenting with mixed-media collage and printmaking, I began to incorporate music and sound into my theme, with a focus on the relationship between people, music, and sound.  I began by using sculpture to give sound a concrete form, using metal as a media and had trouble manipulating it. Also sound is fluid and transient. After researching depictions of sound in art history, such as comic bubbles and Mayan speech glyphs, I chose to employ the medieval banderole, for its’ linear qualities and fluidity.    

Portraits are important to me, as I love people. Focusing on the relationship between a person and music, I married the banderole and portraiture. I have been influenced by the portraits of Gustav Klimt and Frida Kahlo, both of whom paint people, although very differently and for different reasons. Their work inspires me, and although I do not paint in their style, it is their courage for painting what they felt to be important to them that has interested me. As I grew more comfortable technically with oils and acrylic paints, I made the transition to more detailed and varied works, bringing in sky scapes and different subject matter dealing with sounds travelling.

The technique and process of using hidden color as a compositional balance has been very helpful in brightening portraits that would otherwise be quite bland. I have reworked my paintings a few times as I became more practiced. I love working with oils and have been inspired by the fact that if you have the courage to experiment and attempt a painting that you can find solutions and achieve a good result using the basic elements of art.