Artwork: MIAD Imag(e)ine Community Piece #1
Title: Community's Unity
Size: 91.44cm x 91.44cm
Medium: Silk Screen
Completion: October 2018
Exhibition Text
A community consists of a group of individuals that come together to share relative interests. Though very diverse, Milwaukee's community is very accepting of differences, and I feel that these differences bring us together as a community. Community's Unity is an original work of art that consists of acrylic on cardboard, Adobe Photoshop CS6, and screen printing. My inspiration for this piece consists of works created by Milwaukee's own muralist, Reynaldo Hernandez. His murals Mural of Peace and Celebrate the Arts were of great assistance in forming my pieces.
Inspiration
Throughout my whole life, I have been surrounded by Milwaukee's incredible street art; whether it be graffiti, street posters, or murals they all had their quirks. Aside from visiting Black Cat Alley on occasion, the most memorable mural that I would see was a large mural consisting of an eagle and a dove on the side of a random building off of !-43. I was so curious about the meaning of the piece and why it was on a building. As I grew up, the mural continued to intrigue me, but I didn't take the action to learn about it until last year. Mural of Peace unifies all the nations as one, in a peaceful way as the eagle and the dove share an olive branch. The hues in this piece are extremely vibrant, which is what I wanted to convey through my piece. The dramatic boldness of the rainbow in the background catches my eyes every time. Although small, the intensity of the color makes up for the size.
Reynaldo Hernandez. Mural of Peace, 1994. Mural paint
on vinyl. 611 W. National Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
on vinyl. 611 W. National Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
When this mural came into mind, I knew I wanted to incorporate the rainbow into the piece, but being more of the size of the flags. The people at the bottom of the mural were also incorporated into my piece, as they are like a symbol of living. Living in peace and friendship despite our differences is how I'd choose to view Milwaukee. Through Mural of Peace, I'm able to see people cheering for the unity of different countries, while I converted it to people joining in friendship, as the crossed arrows are a representation of friendship. After comparing, they basically share the same meaning, I just incorporated some other symbols.
Celebrate the Arts is another mural created by Reynaldo Hernandez. This was one of the murals that had the most effect on me when searching for inspiration. It reminded me that Milwaukee consists of many forms of art, which could also be represented by culture. This piece is what inspired me to paint my background, rather than using a digital medium like many people used. Seeing the palette at first glance made me realize that painting is my favorite art form as well. As the mural flowed, my eyes also got caught on the vibrant rainbow, which is an obvious aspect of my piece. I feel that the mural represents the celebration of our differences through the arts, in which this city holds an abundant amount of artwork. However, the meaning that I conveyed through my piece didn't match up with the mural's meaning which is okay, because Mural of Peace helped me to convey what I wanted to share.
Reynaldo Hernandez. Celebrate the Arts, 1984. Mural Paint
on brick.North Avenue and 7th St. Milwaukee. Wisconsin.
on brick.North Avenue and 7th St. Milwaukee. Wisconsin.
Planning |
Once I had my solid ideas down, I started using my acrylic paints; mixing colors to see what would suit my backgrounds the most. I then did small sketches and applied paint to get a better idea of how I wanted my final backgrounds to look. After sketching out the backgrounds, I started brain storming ideas for my stencils, shown below. I ended up using my more simple designs, as they have a deeper meaning and connection to what I wanted to convey. |
To begin brainstorming, I took specific notes about the process and the ideas that were provided to us. Looking over the notes and considering possible ideas led to my small thoughts at the bottom of the page. Although there was not a big explanation for my ideas, I felt that they were self-explanatory at the time. Overtime, my ideas expanded, and I kept them to myself until I put them down on paper, mainly as visuals. Since I wrote the major details down, I was then able to begin research. In my research, I found that rainbows intrigued me, therefore the theme of rainbows were going to be constant in both of my designs. The image below shows my brief experimentation with paints. Stenciling below was not used, but it was a solid idea. |
Process
Once the gesso had completely dried, it was time for me to paint the rainbow for my background. I started off using a medium mop brush to put my base colors down. Using Winsor & Newton Galleria Acrylics, I started off by brushing a streak of cadmium red across the top of the board. Then I put a streak of cadmium orange directly under the red. I applied an extra layer of the paint so that I could blend them with my large filbert brush. If I needed a lighter blend, I would use my medium filbert brush. I continued the same blending processes in between the rest of my colors which consisted of cadmium yellow, sap green, winsor blue, and winsor violet. I found the most difficulty blending red and orange and green and blue, but I tried to make the paint appear as smooth as possible. |
After the painting and blending process was complete, I scanned the image into my computer, and put it into Adobe Photoshop CS6. Within photo shop I decided that I wanted to lower the contrast and make the hues appear more pale, so that I wouldn't drown out my stencils in the printing process. I wanted the colors to appear more natural, rather than dramatic. Overall, I used color correction with adjusting the levels, decreasing hue/saturation, and increasing color balance. |
Before going to MIAD, I created my stencils on a piece of parchment paper by sketching the designs, and then cutting them out with an Xacto knife. At MIAD, I attached the stencil to a silk screen with tape, and then placed it on top of my Tyvek print. After I was ready to print, I applied water-based acrylic screen printing ink onto the screen with a plastic spoon, above the cutouts. |
With a small plastic squeegee, I dragged the ink across the cutouts with hard pressure. I flooded the screen to make sure the ink had completely printed onto my background. Once I was done pulling, I would carefully lift the screen and flood it away from my piece to get the excess paint off. I reused my stencils a few times, so I didn't always throw my stencils away. However, if I was done using my stencils, I would throw them away. |
After doing one stencil I would have to wait about 30 minutes for my piece to dry, therefore, I would set that piece off to the side, and begin working on my other piece. To change my stencils, I would take the cutouts off, and scrub the screen with soapy water. Once the screen was 100% clean, I would dry it off with a towel and a hair dryer. I did this printing process three more times for this piece. |
In the end, I ended up using two stencils for this piece, but I pulled one of the stencils three times. I feel like my experience using screen-printing went very well, as the pigment of my background wasn't drowned out. I was able o apply the right amount of ink to my stencil, therefore, my images were not splotchy. I had a good experience with this, and I would definitely do it again. |
Experimentation
This whole project was kind of an experiment for me, as it was a new experience. But the only noted experiment was when I was playing with the paints. This was the stage in which I was trying to decide what I wanted my backgrounds to look like. As you can see, my final backgrounds look fairly similar to my experimental sketches. There were very few changes that I made, but it was still experimental. Another example of my experimentation would be my stencil designs. I was going to use my MKE stencil, but I felt that it was too simplistic, and didn't have much meaning behind it (aside from it's meaning of Milwaukee). |
Reflecting & Critiquing
Reynaldo Hernandez. Mural of Peace, 1994. Mural paint
on vinyl. 611 W. National Ave. Milwaukee, Wisconsin Reynaldo Hernandez. Celebrate the Arts, 1984. Mural Paint
on brick.North Avenue and 7th St. Milwaukee. Wisconsin.
|
There are many differences and similarities between my piece and the other works that I have chosen as inspiration. It makes a lot of sense for my piece to have it's own differences, because it's an original piece. But like I said, these pieces do hold some similarity. Similarities:
Differences:
|
ACT Connections
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause effect relationship between your inspiration and its effect on your artwork:
My only inspiration consisted of multiple murals by Reynaldo Hernandez, Mural of Peace and Celebrate the Arts. The meanings of the murals are fairly similar, as they both acknowledge the differences in our community, which was my main inspiration in creating my pieces. The use of peace and unity was what pushed me to create my rainbow inspired background, as well as the figures that were printed onto my background. These figures originated from Mural of Peace. Overall, the meanings of the murals were my main inspiration in creating my peace.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author took his chance to express how he felt the diversity in Milwaukee should be handled, in which the mixing of our cultures should be done with peace. This helped me to understand the meaning of the pieces, and also create my own understanding of how our community runs.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Before beginning my research. I already knew about how diverse Milwaukee was, as I've lived there for my whole life. I also knew that many people in the city are very active within the at community. However, during this process I recognized that not every place in the U.S. has a multitude of cultures; not every city is as diverse as Milwaukee is. It's upsetting that people find it unusual how diverse our city is, because I feel like everyone should have the ability to experience different cultures. Some individuals just miss out on good learning opportunities. I love the diversity of Milwaukee, but I wish that everyone was equal, because there are still equality problems.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My theme was the diversity of cultures within Milwaukee.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Reynaldo Hernandez wanted to show the best parts of our community, to show a more positive light on Milwaukee. Looking at other murals also proved that they try to block the negativity out. Muralists just want to represent their communities as fit as possible.
My only inspiration consisted of multiple murals by Reynaldo Hernandez, Mural of Peace and Celebrate the Arts. The meanings of the murals are fairly similar, as they both acknowledge the differences in our community, which was my main inspiration in creating my pieces. The use of peace and unity was what pushed me to create my rainbow inspired background, as well as the figures that were printed onto my background. These figures originated from Mural of Peace. Overall, the meanings of the murals were my main inspiration in creating my peace.
What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author took his chance to express how he felt the diversity in Milwaukee should be handled, in which the mixing of our cultures should be done with peace. This helped me to understand the meaning of the pieces, and also create my own understanding of how our community runs.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, culture, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Before beginning my research. I already knew about how diverse Milwaukee was, as I've lived there for my whole life. I also knew that many people in the city are very active within the at community. However, during this process I recognized that not every place in the U.S. has a multitude of cultures; not every city is as diverse as Milwaukee is. It's upsetting that people find it unusual how diverse our city is, because I feel like everyone should have the ability to experience different cultures. Some individuals just miss out on good learning opportunities. I love the diversity of Milwaukee, but I wish that everyone was equal, because there are still equality problems.
What is the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My theme was the diversity of cultures within Milwaukee.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred that Reynaldo Hernandez wanted to show the best parts of our community, to show a more positive light on Milwaukee. Looking at other murals also proved that they try to block the negativity out. Muralists just want to represent their communities as fit as possible.
Bibliography
Art, Museum of Wisconsin. “Reynaldo Hernandez (1950 - ).” Museum of Wisconsin Art, MOWA, www.wisconsinart.org/archives/artist/reynaldo-hernandez/profile-6701.aspx.
Carr, Adam. “IMPACT STORY >>> INNER CITY ARTS MURAL.” Impact Seven, NNS, 17 Apr. 2018, www.impactseven.org/portfolio-items/impact-story-inner-city-arts-mural/.
Editor. “How the Murals of Reynaldo Hernandez Transcend Generations.” The Milwaukee Independent, Milwaukee Independent, 19 June 2017, www.milwaukeeindependent.com/articles/how-the-murals-of-reynaldo-hernandez-transcend-generations/.
Quigley, Kelly. “Esperanza Unida Hopes to Raise $75,000 to Restore Landmark `Mural of Peace'.” Bizjournals.com, The Business Journals, 28 Nov. 1999, www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/1999/11/29/story5.html.
“Reynaldo Hernandez.” Milwaukee Mural Map, MKE Mural Map, 19 Dec. 2017, mkemuralmap.com/reynaldo-hernandez/.
Carr, Adam. “IMPACT STORY >>> INNER CITY ARTS MURAL.” Impact Seven, NNS, 17 Apr. 2018, www.impactseven.org/portfolio-items/impact-story-inner-city-arts-mural/.
Editor. “How the Murals of Reynaldo Hernandez Transcend Generations.” The Milwaukee Independent, Milwaukee Independent, 19 June 2017, www.milwaukeeindependent.com/articles/how-the-murals-of-reynaldo-hernandez-transcend-generations/.
Quigley, Kelly. “Esperanza Unida Hopes to Raise $75,000 to Restore Landmark `Mural of Peace'.” Bizjournals.com, The Business Journals, 28 Nov. 1999, www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/1999/11/29/story5.html.
“Reynaldo Hernandez.” Milwaukee Mural Map, MKE Mural Map, 19 Dec. 2017, mkemuralmap.com/reynaldo-hernandez/.