Illuminated Manuscripts

The name illuminated manuscript comes from latin terms. Manuscript derives from the latin term for handwritten, and illuminated comes from the latin term for “lit up”, or “enlightened”. Before the invention of printing, all books had to be written by hand. They were usually written on Parchment which is a writing surface that is made out of the stretched skins of cows, or sheep. The widespread use of paper did not occur until the late middle ages. One manuscript depending on the length could use the skin of just one animal, or even an entire herd of cows. The time and effort necessary to create of these manuscripts, and the cost of materials made these very expensive. Illuminated manuscripts were even more expensive, special, and precious because they were decorated with gold, silver, bright colors, and illustrations. What makes these works distinct is that the illustrations, and the text are one in the same.

The Earliest surviving illuminated manuscripts date back to around 400-600 AD and were made in Italy, and the the Eastern Roman Empire. Most manuscripts that have survived are known to be from the 5^th-15^th century, also known as the middle ages. There are also many of these precious texts from the Renaissance period. 

This is an Illuminated Manuscript I designed and created in Photoshop CC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminated_manuscript

http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/TourIntroGen.asp

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/283009/illuminated-manuscript

Screen Printing

Wake Up and Rage!

This piece is a screen print titled “Wake up and Rage!”.  This was my very experience with screen printing. Before starting the sketches for my screen print I looked at a lot of screen prints by Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol was an american artist who lived from 1928-1987, he is well known as an influential artist in the pop art movement. Pop art is a movement that challenged the rules of the fine art world by including images from pop culture, such as celebrities, advertisements, news media, etc. Warhol began his career as an artist doing commercial illustrations. It was after his career as an illustrator that Warhol began creating the iconic art that he is known for today. I was inspired by his photo silkscreens depicting celebrities with bold, gaudy colors. 

For example the image to the right is a screen print of the rock star Mick Jagger from the band The Rolling Stones and was produced in 1975. The print has photo elements, as well as hand drawn marks, and rectilinear planes of color. The print evokes the sensual bad boy persona of Mick Jagger.  The photo on the left shows four different screen prints of the Marilyn Monroe.

 I was attracted to the hideous combinations of colors he put over the faces of beautiful celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, and Mick Jagger. The colors seem to be a metaphor for their ridiculous, over the top personas and behavior. I wanted the colors and the, pose in my piece to evoke an exaggerated version of myself. I see this as a metaphor for people born in my generation, which has been given the nickname the millennials. We are often stereotyped as lazy, narcissistic, and entitled by older generations of Americans. These stereotypes are generalized, overstated, and untrue. Just like the persona in this portrait is an exaggerated, cartoon version of myself.

In my sunglasses the world Rage is written across the lenses. I was drawn to this word because in my vocabulary, and the vocabulary of my peers the word rage generally has two distinct definitions. The more traditional definition of this term came from the english dictionary: anger, fury, violent anger, a fit of violent anger. The second definition which is more commonly used among my friends and peers, comes from urbandictionary.com: “to party extremely hard”. I like the idea that depending on who is viewing this piece they will can interpret the word in a different way. 

Typography

Examples of Typography that I enjoy.

Portrait of My Sister

Relief Printing

This relief print is a portrait of my little sister, and it is about her recent travels to California. I wanted to express her creative, and courageous spirit. In this piece I am exploring the themes of family, home, and travel. This being only my second relief print I was also investigating the basic tools, techniques, and processes of printmaking.

In this piece texture was a key element in the design. The seashell textures in the background represent the ocean because she travelled from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast. The Horseshoe crabs represent the East coast specifically because that is where my sister and I are from, and horseshoe crabs are native to the New England coastline. I recently learned that Horseshoe crabs will always return to where they were born, to breed and lay their eggs. This is a symbol to represent that even though my sister has travelled far away, New England will always be her home where she can return. I was inspired by images of horseshoe crabs who are known for coming onto the sandy shorelines and creating spiral designs as the scuttle along the sand, this is known as dancing.

15 Textures

1)My Hat
2)Test Print
3)My Pink Scarf
4)Fruit Basket
5)Dried Flowers
6)Snack Mix
7)My Lunchbox
8)Aluminum Foil
9)Crumbled Paper
10)My Sketchbook
11)My Mitten
12)Clementine
13)Fake Flower
14)Dried Leaf
15)My Hat Again