Culminating Part 3: Analysis

My analysis will based on a Canadian contemporary artist that I believe best represents current issues facing Canadian society.
The artist I chose was introduced to me by my teacher Mrs.Rose because she follows him on twitter. His name is Bruce MacKinnon a cartoonist for the Halifax-Chronicle Herald, and like many Canadian cartoonist his comics are sometimes based on controversial topics. A recent topic he drew was based on the shootings in Paris also known as "Je Suis Charlie". In the aftermath of the terrorist attack cartoonist world-wide created controversial pieces with the bases of "Je Suis Charlie", MacKinnon did as well:

MacKinnon not only draws about international controversies, but Canadian based ones as well. The first one I found was based on the issues going on with the Dalhousie Universities dentistry student body. 

However, I believe MacKinnon's work that best displays issues in Canadian society is his war memorial tribute to Cpl. Nathan Cirillo. The soldier was killed in late October 2014 while standing guard at Ottawa's National War Memorial. His death was seen as an act of terrorism and had an immense impact on Canadian politics and society. With this in mind MacKinnon drew this cartoon:

Analysis & Interpretation: Through an analysis of this piece I found that MacKinnon used a plain background so the complete focus of the piece was on the soldiers. The background is shaded from dark to light blue bringing the viewers' attention into the center where Cpl. Nathan Cirillo lays. The soldiers are dark green almost the same colour as the actual War Memorial making it realistic and seem as though they have come to life. Only Cirillo's feet stick out with white and red socks making them stand out compared to the dark and neutralized colours that are used in the rest of the piece. You can really see that the cartoonist main focus was Cirillo.

My interpretation of this piece, would be that the soldiers of the statue have come to life to welcome Cpl. Nathan Cirillo as another Canadian how has sacrificed his life for the protection of his country. One soldiers kneels by his side almost as if he was seeing if he was alright and another offers a hand up to the memorial. I think this means they were inviting him to memorialize with the rest of Canada's fallen soldiers. 

Consideration of Cultural Context: The cultural context in this piece is clear. It also plays a very prominent role behind how and why the drawing was created. It was clearly made because of what issues were currently present in Canadian society or our culture. Also in Canadian culture, everyone has a right to voice their opinions or stance on a controversial subject. In some countries, voicing your opinion is frowned upon, and drawing about such a subject would not be possible for cartoonist such as MacKinnon.

Expression of Aesthetic Judgement: Aesthetically I think MacKinnon achieved the message he was trying to portray. The piece says a huge message about the death of Cirillo. He used the characters of the National War Memorial very well in having them helping one of their fellow fallen soldiers. I thought he had appropriate use of colour, which made Cirillo stand out. I think this drawing was very successful in reminding Canadians about the prominence of this awful event which had a huge impact on our government and society in itself.

Rick Mercer recently did a "Rick Rant" on his show about MacKinnon link here:http://www.cbc.ca/mercerreport/videos/clips/ricks-rant-paris-shootings

Part 2 Culminating: Creation of Painting

In the painting process, everyone who wanted to paint to mural volunteered which part they would enjoy doing the most. I chose the mountains. This task interested me the most because they were to be painted in Group of Seven style. When I was in an art course in previous years I had done a project on one of the member Lawren Harris who paints beautiful mountain scenes. I enjoy painting in his style because I think our techniques are similar, so this job interested me.

 I went off a series of paintings of his, and used the colour’s white, black and blue. The paint consistency was hard to get used to at first, and I had trouble blending but then after the first session I got used to it. I found the consistency to be more watery then regular acrylic, and even after washing my brushes I would have to dry them thoroughly in order not to affect the paint. I painted the sides of the mountains that were facing away from the sun with dark greys, and one of my peers did the side facing the sun with blues also mimicking Harris’ style.

A challenge I faced in the painting process was the lack of shades and mixing of the paint. Originally, I had planned to use navy however, when mixing it would always come out a dark grey/green shade. We also could not afford to waste paint so mixing was hard because you were always trying to conserve portions. Unfortunately, because of family matters I wasn't at school to completely finish the mountains so one of my fellow classmates helped me out and completed the task.

Overall, I always enjoy painting in Harris’ style and the painting process was very enjoyable.

Culminating Part 1: Japan Mural

During this past semester our class has been collaborating with another art class in Japan using "Art Miles". Both classes will be painting a mural with the shared theme legacy and sharing things about one another's culture. Japan painted their portion of the mural first. They interpreted the word "legacy" as what their countries legacies are. Most components of their painting were based on traditional figures, or culture in Japan. With this in mind I thought our half should reflect the same; traditional Canadian culture/figures.
In the preliminary stages of my brain storming I began thinking of things which come to mind when any Canadian, or person in general, might think of when they hear the word Canada. My first thoughts were stereotypes such as: cold winters, hockey, maple syrup, etc. Then I thought of the cultural stand point of a Canadian, such as: first nations, Canadian Mounties, parliament, and beautiful nature. I really wanted to include things that were mostly relative to Canadians and easily recognizable. This ruled out a series of ideas for me such as including figure which have been prominent in Canadian history for example: Sir Wilfred Laurier, John A. McDonald, Dr. Fredrick Banting, etc.
I then decided I wanted the design to be almost a reflection of the other side except Canadian. I thought each component should be related on each side. For example, instead of two women in kimonas have two significant Canadians such as first nations, Canadian Mounties, Wayne Gretzky, or any influential Canadian. Instead on the cherry blossom trees have a maple tree, instead of the mountain they included the rocky mountains, or because they had an ocean a lake. The possibilities were endless.
Next, I brainstormed with fellow classmates. More good ideas were shared such as: a totem pole, tee-pee, sleep giant mountains, ice-fishing, and a hockey game. The more I brainstormed with my peers the more questions would arise, for example: what season should it be? Fall or Winter? Should it be based on one Canadian culture? Who should the two people be? What style and colours should be used?
Our class struggled with these main ideas. The largest was season; most of the class agreed that it should be winter or fall. If it were winter we could include: ice hockey, snow-machining, and ice-fishing. However, with fall there came more vibrant colours in the leafs, water, and overall nature. In the end there was a class vote and Fall was decided upon.
The other two questions were come to a decision by the class each four possible designs we would like the mural to have. In one, a fellow student had two hikers. Everyone seemed to enjoy this idea. The class also decided to have some features that would reflect first nations culture such as a bird in the style of Norval Morrisseau, instead of the entire mural being based on First Nations culture. I agree with this decision because Canada is known as a multi-cultural country, but we should still include traditional features.
The final decision was style and colour. I thought we should do the mountains in the style of the Group of Seven member Lawren Harris, whom is known for his smooth lines, long brush strokes, and beautiful blue-gray mountain pieces. The class also agreed that the mountains should be blue and gray so they was be a subdued background piece, which would accent the bright greens, reds, and oranges that would be used in the sunrise.
I quite enjoyed how the preliminary process took place, and I believe all members of our class were satisfied with the final design.

Picture of my four possible designs

One of my favourite Lawren Harris paintings.

Introduction To Culminating

Earlier this week, we received a package containing many awesome goods. The first is Japanese snacks. I noticed many of them contained green tea which is obviously quite popular in Japan. I enjoyed some of the snacks however, because of the language barrier I'm not sure what the snacks are called.  One of the snacks which I knew of was a KitKat except instead of regular milk chocolate it was green tea. This was one of my favourite snacks. They also sent small origami cranes, which I have seen made by a fellow classmate, but on a much larger size. This gave me a chance to see how much Japanese and Canadian culture cross one another.

Hopefully, now we can send them a package as well containing some items of Canadian culture. Some ideas I had were recipes on how to make poutine and other Canadian classics such as elephants ears. We could also send Kraft dinner, smarties, mini hockey sticks, and pictures of Canada.

In the package we also received our mural which we are both doing. On their side they have stuck to traditional elements of the Japanese culture. This includes cherry blossom trees and kimonas. I have a few ideas for what we should include on our side. The first is that we should counteract their painting with traditional Canadian elements. My favourite idea would be to have a frozen lake which includes people playing ice hockey, ice fishing , and snow machining in the background. We could also include teepee's and totem poles.

Can't wait to see how everything turns out!

Giving Back Project

For my giving back project I have decided to collaborate with a fellow class mate. To stay in the Christmas theme we have decided to decorate gingerbread men. I first got the idea from Hanna's blog, I just wanted to bake and decorate gingerbread to share in the main office. I thought it would be an easy was to make students happy and spread Christmas cheer.

At first, we did not realize how many ingredients were needed or how many days the task required. The first thing we had to do was find a good recipe. Luckily, our teacher already had one. We had two recipes; one for plain gingerbread mix, and one for gingerbread men. We then found all the ingredients which were already available to us thanks to the foods room. The following day we took a trip to the local grocery store to find the remaining items.

After the initial process was complete we then began mixing. However, we had to store the mix over the weekend because we did not have enough time to cook them. When we arrived on the Monday the mix had hardened so we added a couple eggs to moisten it once again. Next we rolled out the mix and cut out gingerbread men and Christmas trees. I believe this part took the longest as we were rushing to fit them all in the oven before the period finished. The next day the cookies were decorated, and they were handed out on the last day of school. From what I have heard all the cookies were eaten by kids in the school. I really hope I brightened someones day with Christmas cheer.