I entered this piece in a competition for the Aurora Public Library in Aurora, IL. The theme was the Art of Technology.
As a nature lover, I like to think that I don’t need much technology in my life (though I do love the internet). I had no idea what I was going to do for this contest in so little time. It was announced a few days before Thanksgiving and due not even two weeks after the New Year. The technology theme did not appeal to me and I couldn’t think of any way of making a pretty art piece with such a cold starting point. I tried to think of some part of technology that I love, when I thought of my Kindle – a perfect idea for an art contest for the library! My bookshelves have become much lighter ever since I received the Kindle. It is something I truly love about technology.
I got to work drawing sketches, and drawing out many ideas before I settled on the one above. Then I collected and picked out the papers I would use. I wanted peaceful and quiet colors, yet bright and fun at the same time, so I chose blues and greens with pops of yellows for contrast. Part of the challenge of working with paper is finding the perfect balance of textures, colors, patterns and tones. After picking out the colors, I gathered my reference material and started cutting out the shapes. Sometimes I draw on the paper before cutting, other times I free hand; sometimes I use a scissors and sometimes an X-Acto knife. I arrange everything, rearrange and take pictures along the way to make sure when the time comes to glue it is placed right. Multiple composition changes or color adjustments are made during this time after consistently analyzing my work. Finally, when I start the hours long gluing process, I frequently reference the final photograph to make sure the pieces are placed correctly. The total process, from conception to finish, took roughly 40 hours for this large of a piece.
Unfortunately my piece was not chosen, which was extremely disappointing as I would have loved to have seen it in the children’s section of the new library. It was clear that the twenty-four community member judges had different parameters in mind than I had when creating the piece. This art must be meant for a different, but equally lovely, home.
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