Wow, it’s been awhile. Trying to get back on my horse and make some art.
Here’s the result of my love of quotes + family get togethers + finally going through a couple of shoe boxes of old pictures. (Hopefully there will be more to come).
Wisdom (and sass) of the ages
My great uncle before he left for Vietnam
Breast Cancer is something that has hit very close to home for me. My mom was diagnosed when I was sixteen and it was one of the scariest moments of my life. Thankfully she is fine and the cancer has been in remission for a few years now, but the cause is still one I adamantly support.
This campaign is promoting the Susan G. Komen 3 day walk. Where participants raise money and then walk 60 miles in three days. The walk takes place in 14 cities across the country and is one of the most electrically and emotionally charged atmospheres I’ve experienced.
Three years after being diagnosed with cancer, my mom and aunt finished the Michigan 3 day walk. These ads are dedicated to them.
Inspire Magazine Ad
Inspire Poster
Emulate Magazine Ad
Emulate poster
Empower Magazine Ad
Empower Poster
These were the first woodcuts I ever made, and it became my favorite style of printmaking. I’ve always been interested in tarot cards, not for future telling purposes but the art and stories behind them. I’ve also studied color symbolism, which is why the cards are specific colors.
Purple represents royalty, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance and mourning. In most stories you hear about ‘the fool’, they are a very happy-go-lucky individual, not the brightest but generally a good person. So I went for irony, that the fool would be in a color that represents intelligence and one of higher social standing.
Yellow represents happiness, idealism, hope, sunshine, summer, philosophy, friendship. The traditional picture of strength is a female with a lion, so I chose yellow based on companionship and happiness.
White represents birth, simplicity, precision, innocence, youth, winter, snow, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold and clinical. It would be too easy to make death in black and red to symbolize doom and fear, and quite frankly it’s expected. I chose black and white because that is the fact of life (and death). It’s going to happen to everyone, so it’s nothing to be afraid of (unless death comes up in full armor on a pale horse to take you away like on the card).
The Fool tarot card
Strength tarot card
Death tarot card
The Chronicles (back cover)
The future of print and the book, It’s a debate that was brought up (it seemed) every two weeks while I was in school. Is print dying due to the digital age?
I come from the opinion that people will always come back to print. There’s something about actually owning and holding a physical object, and you can’t get that online. Then again, I’ve always loved reading and hanging out in bookstores was a favorite pastime of my friends, so admittedly I am biased.
This project was to explore the future of the book. So, instead of a digital adaptation, I looked to the past. My strongest influences being the Victorian Era (for formatting and binding) and the Medieval Age (when books were an art form).
The end result was a mixture of printmaking, photography, writing, laser etching and some help assembling it all from my dad.
The Chronicles (title page)
Kozmic Blues / 10 things
Freedom is not free (picture)
Watch for Zombies (picture)
The Chronicles Cover
Acrylic paint, fairy tales and typography? It’s a good day when these three collide.
Here’s the second part of a series a fairytale cards, using a collection of characters from different stories as modern-day people. Some of these characters are a little more obscure than others.
In order:
Little Red Riding Hood, Godfather Death, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, the Fox, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Headless Horseman and the Fairy Godmother
Fairy tale cards (Little Red Riding Hood)
Fairy tale cards (Godfather Death)
Fairy tale cards (La Belle Dame Sans Merci)
Fairy tale cards (The Fox)
Fairy tale cards (Jekyll and Hyde)
Fairy tale cards (Headless Horseman)
Fairy tale cards (Fairy Godmother)
These were based on some sketches I made on a plane ride from Grand Rapids to Washington D.C. Hopefully I will make actual 3D dolls of these someday.
These were copper plate etchings, in black and white, color and using the aqua-tint process for printmaking 1.
Wonderland Dolls (etching, color)
Mad Hatter (etching)
Mad Hatter (aquatint)
March Hare (etching)
March Hare (aquatint)
Cheshire Cat (etching)
Cheshire Cat (aquatint)
Cover #4
Hansel and Gretel (front)
I feel as though this project was best summed up in a phone conversation to my mom.
Mom – “What did you do today Kate?”
Me – ”Oh, I spent three hours photographing candy and trying to get gum balls to stay still, to spell out ‘Hansel and Gretel’ for a book cover.”
Mom – ”Glad to see that tuition money is being put to good use. Have fun with that.”
Again, it’s a beautiful thing when you can play with (and later eat) candy and call it homework. This was the last of my series of book covers for portfolio class.
Hansel and Gretel (back)
