SELF PORTRAIT

By
Kortell

I started my piece by having a picture of me in front of a broken      glass window.  I then had a grid laid on top of the the photo.  I drew it on paper and I'm probably going to end up doing the whole piece in pencil.

TORN

By
Casey

The idea for my piece came from the passing of my Papa.  Right now I have pine coiled around the book and started to try to make it look aged.

Becca

By
Rebecca

This is a piece I worked on last year, and I have yet to finish it. But I have started pine coiling it to make it more colorful and more attractive. I have been working on it for awhile now, but I am almost done with the top piece then I will have to do the bottom piece.

COLORS OF LOVE

By
Shronda

My second project is incomplete.  I am guessing it will take me at least one more week.  One of the main elements of art I've used is color.  I have a lot of mixed colors so far and by the time my project is complete I'm hoping to use over ten to fifteen different shades of color.  My art means a lot to me because it's a lot of hard work and mess.  But hopefully it will be a beautiful completed piece that everyone enjoy.

ME AND MY MOTHER

By
Shronda

My first project I have completed is a pencil drawing of me and my mother.  That's why I titled it that.  The project has taken me almost two weeks and was a very complicated and messy project but I managed to complete the whole thing within a small amount of time.  In addition one of the elements of art I used is texture because even the record album is shaded completely you can still feel and see the texture of the rough background of the record.  Another element I used is value because I have some dark, some light areas and some medium areas to make my artwork more 3-D.  This fascinates me because it's the first piece I've done of me and my mother and I hope you all enjoy as much as I do.

Stuart

By
Stuart

The title of my piece has not come to my mind quite yet being that it is not yet finished.  My name is Stuart and this is my piece.  The main medium that this piece is created out of is clay but it is an assemblage so it will consist of many different things.  These things include paint, glaze, pine straw and glass that has been  embordered with copper foil.  I think the quality of my work is OK so far, being that I have spent so long trying to shape it into an image that I           I believe that the craftsmanship is OK too because it is constructed out of clay and that can be difficult to manipulate at times.  There are also many of the seven elements of art that play a large role in my piece.  For instance color, texture, space, shape and obviously form because it is 3D.  I believe that many techniques were used in the construction of this piece.  In the beginning I used a technique called coiling which saves clay and enables the creator to form an upright figure that looks somewhat humaniod. as well as this technique i added lines to the exterior to better create the illusion of a body, as well as glazing certain areas. i also plan to paint the piece in the very nearby future. then i plan to pine coil the head to make a crown shape, then to top it off i plan to out line the body with broken shards of stained glass. for this piece there were two main inspirations. one is a contemporary artist and the other was a great a and powerful hero king that lived close to 332 B.C.E. these two people are Molly Potter and Alexander III of Macedonia (most people know him as Alexander the Great). Molly Potter inspires me because she creates wonderful assemblages mostly comprised of clay. she also includes inspirational writings in her works which i find facinating. Alexander because he was one of the greatest figures in history. also he was a king king hence the crown that i told you about earlier. he liberated many countries including persia bringing wealth, education, and prosperity to all of the people in his vast empire. i will soon start the finishing touches on my work, and hopefully it will become suitable for at least one art show. this is my piece and i hope some will like it following its completion.

THE RUST OF TIME

By Devin

My name is Devin and the title of my piece is The Rust of Time.  My medium is mainly pencil.  So far the quality of work is good.  The main art elements used so far are line and texture.  The inspiration for this piece was clearly my grandmother.  The technique I used for this piece was to first grid the picture.  This way it would be easier to draw my grandmother accurately.  After I finished gridding I  planned to make a mat for my picture.  I had to decide whether I wanted to tear off or cut the inside edge of the mat.  I got a cup of water and a brush so that I could apply it to the mat.  I wet the mat so that it would be easier to tear.  Today I am going to transfer my picture onto a clean piece of paper then I plan to shade.  After I complete this step I will apply the chemical rust to the mat.  This should bring everything in the picture together because this would be the final step for this art piece.

UNTITLED

By AntN

The title of my piece is undetermined as of now.  But I'm working on that.  My name is Anthony and the medium that I'm using right now is pencil.  But as of right now I don't really know how I'm going to render   it.  The craftsmanship of my piece is already top notch and I haven't even rendered it yet.  Since it's just drawing I used like lines and stuff and like shape because everything got shape.  Know what I mean?  I used my technique because that's the best technique that I can use.

PINE HOSE

By Austin

I'm doing a pinecoiling piece that is very unique.  It is a block of wood with a clothes hanger stuck in it with a pair of pantyhose stretched over it.  I painted it blue and red.  I then decided to pinecoil it because I thought it would be a very creative piece.  Judy Marrow inspires me to do my pinecoiling pieces because she is very creative and I really like her work.  I decided to name my piece Pine Hose.

TRANSPARENT PRISON

By AntW

My name is Anthony.  The name of my piece is "Transparent Prison".  The medium of it is black Prismacolor pencil and another white medium but I don't know what yet.  My technique I will be using is crosshatcing.  I have always liked challenging myself so
drawing something transparent does that for me.  I think I have all high quality work.  You should never doubt yourself.  I try to all-ways take my art work to heart.  You get more out of it that way.

COLORS OF WALTER

By Jessie

Okay sot his is my Andy Warhol piece. As you can tell it's not quite finished. All that's left is to paint the top of the hats and the blue spot at the bottom! Where did Walter come from? I found his little face in some other piece in an art book. Even though his was one in many, Walters face captured my attention because I just couldn't tell what he was looking at. For that reason Walter has a sense of curiosity I feel. The first block I wanted only cool colors. The second, only warm colors. The last two I just sort of went with what ever contrasted. It turned out pretty good I think. My favorite part about this style painting is its simplicity. There are no complex shapes, no intended values, and plenty of space. The hardest part of it all is definitely finding just the right color of tempera paint to use!

THE COLORFUL MERMAID

By Brittany

Hey y'all, my name is Brittany and the piece of art that you're looking at us called "The Colorful Mermaid".  I got my inspiration for this piece out of an art book that our teacher told us to browse through.  Her eyes are what really caught my attention.  They were looking to the side as if they were pondering about something.  The color scheme that I am using came from a pop artist sensation who is named Andy Warhol.  He did many pieces by doing multiples and by using different colors.  When I started off, I used a pencil to draw the image on a small square.  Then I put it on a transfer sheet so I could transfer it to a piece of poster board.  I darkened it up once I got it there, then started painting.  It was really complicated!  What I feel when I look at this piece is longing.  It is a kind of depressing look on her face and it looks to me like she is longing for something to come back to her.  What I plan on doing in the next blocks is to mix up the blocks with warm and cool colors to give it a vibrant color scheme.  I plan to use tan, yellow, violent, brown and orange and other unique colors.

COLOR WOMAN

By Shandi

Hello, my name is Shandi and my painting is called Color Woman. This piece is like the ones created by Andy Warhol.  I faced some challenges in completing the piece. For example, the paint didn't want to mix the exact color so I had some light streaks in my painting and  I had to repaint it.  I'm not so sure where it's going but the last rectangle is probably going to be yellow and pink with a  little of green and red all mixed with white to make it lighter. The steps were first, I sketched a face from the text book. Second I traced the face on transparent paper and transferred the drawing on the big paper.    Then I started painting.  The elements I used were color, shape, and line.  There really wasn't a color scheme in this painting.  I just chose the ones I wanted.

MAN OF MANY COLORS

By Carla

My name is Carla and the title of this piece is Man of Many Colors.  The elements used are line, shape, color and value.  Value was used in every block basically in the same areas.  My inspiration for doing this piece would have to be Andy Warhol.  He created multiples of everything he drew in lots of his pieces.  I used a number of techniques from using a lighter tints around the main focal point which was his face, to using darker shades around the eyes, nose, lips and ears in every block.  I used balance in colors, trying to compliment the background with the face.

OLD WOMAN

By Stone

The title of my piece is called Old Woman.  I am the artist of this piece and my name is Stone.  I first used a pencil and drew my picture.  Then I drew it on a  piece of tracing paper.  After that I transferred it four more times onto my poster.  I painted my first picture orange, blue and pink with a baby blue background.  My second picture is green, yellow and red with a gray background.  I plan on using black, purple, white, tan, brown and dark blue for my next two pictures.  I used as elements line, shape, color, and space.  This painting was done in tempera.  In this painting I have discovered  it to be easier than I had expected.  This is one of my first paintings.

THE LONELY PEASANT

By Victoria

The title of my piece is called the Lonely Peasant.  I drew the girl one time on a piece of paper then traced it four times on poster board.  I then painted everyone of them different colors of tempra.  I did this because we have been learning about Andy Warhol.  In this piece I have line, color and shape.  I used tints and shades as well. I don't like my painting because I thought it looked better before I painted it.

WELCOME TO WEST COLUMBUS ADVANCED ART CLASS

Hello, my name is Larry Hewett and I am the visual arts teacher at West Columbus High School in Cerro Gordo, North Carolina.  The reason that I am starting this blog is to give my advanced art students a place to not only show their artwork to their families and friends but also to the world.  They will exhibit their work and will write statements about each piece.  In return, my students will be critiquing each others' work online as well.  What more could an art teacher want than to exhibit his students' work on the internet, have them write personal statements about the artwork giving us insight into their meanings and techniques, but also integrate writing and technology into the arts?  I feel sure that this blog is going to be a huge success.  Please keep dropping in and give my art students some feedback about their art also.  I know that they will enjoy hearing from not only family members and peers, but also will be so excited hearing from total strangers from other parts of our country and the world.

Larry Hewett
Arts Instructor
Milken Educator
West Columbus High School
Cerro Gordo, N.C.