Carving "This Is The Year"

For Unit 3 of P’Art of History, we covered many parts of history where people revolted for a cause, such as the 8 hour work day, Segregation, and The Vietnam War. For our 3rd Action Project, we made a carving out of soft cut linoleum.Then used it to make a plaster mold of a propaganda poster, explaining what we would revolt for. We also wrote a poem about it that was inspired by Martin Espada’s “Imagine the Angels of Bread”. Below is my amazing poem and my inspiring poster!

NVA, "Stop Testing" 7-24-14, Chicago:GCE

NVA

Carving “This Is The Year”

Soft cut Linoleum, Carving tools, plaster, clay, box knife

6” by 6”

7- 24-14

What Would You Revolt For?

I would strongly revolt for Animal Testing, because….

This is the year;

Apes put Humans in cages

To teach them love and care

Observe as they change heart

As everyone slowly evolves into Greaters

This is the year;

That rabbits concocted from leaves and berries,

both rabbit and human faces are

colorful

without the pains of chemicals

This is the year;

That mice test cures on humans to

treat sickness

instead of stabbing each other with injections

mice cure humans by showing them life’s

truest meaning

If the Haymarket Riots began with the vision

of equality…..

then this is the year;

If the Chicago 8 revolted in court to

fight for what they think is right

then this the year;

If the courts that tried the Chicago 8,

could eventually drop the charges that

violated their freedom of speech.

then this is the year.

So may every rabbit, mouse, and ape

that are trapped in cages

have the right to live and lead us into the new Revolution.

A propaganda poster is a special poster that consists of a power symbol, is bold and has a very strong message. They are usually created to protest a cause or to influence people into taking action. In my art piece the bunny is the power symbol, because many people like bunnies and think they are cute, this helps to create more emotion. The words “Stop Testing” is to tell people what the poster is trying to get at, this is usually done in most propaganda to make the message clear and to the point.

I created my art piece by drawing my protest poster and then coloring in the parts that I wanted to carve with my pencil. Next I would “stamp” my drawing on the soft cut linoleum, then I would softly outline the drawing. Next I would carve my drawing into the linoleum until I thought it was deep enough. Then I would get clay and build 4” tall walls that would border the linoleum. Next I had to spray it with oil so that the walls and the plaster wouldn’t stick to the linoleum and ruin it. Next I poured the plaster into the box. Lastly I cut the walls off and pull off my linoleum and I have my art piece.

NVA, "POH Art" 2014, Chicago:GCE

Carving Chicago's Power

In unit 2 of P’Art of History, my class learned about all the major events that happened throughout the 1800s, such as The Great Chicago Fire and The World Fair of 1893. Both of these show how Chicago has demonstrated resilience. We also studied Art Deco by investing different buildings and sculptures in the city that show elements of Art Deco.We had to think of a time where Chicago has shown resilience in our lifetime. I chose the 2011 snowstorm in Chicago that caused many people to get stuck in their car. As with the previous Action Project. I created an image and a linoleum carving which we would use to create a cement tile

NVA, "Carving Chicago's Power" 7/14-15/14, Chicago: GCE

Carving Chicago’s Power

NVA

6” by 6”

7/14/14

Soft cut linoleum, carving tools, clay, cement, water, and box knife.

In what way has Chicago shown resilience in your life time?

For me it was in 2011, Chicago had one of its worst snowstorms, the snow got up to cars windshields. The cause of this was that warnings that were made weren’t strong enough that people didn't prepare. Also since global warming has become a huge thing now a days, a storm like that is going to be worse. Since the snow was so high many people could not go anywhere. Some people were on Lake Shore Drive, and they were stuck and had to stay days in there cars waiting for people to get them out and to safety. Also many people could not get their cars out of their driveways to go to work, so the city as basically shut down. Chicago showed resilience was by they got snowmobiles and firemen to help get people out of their cars, then they set new protocols so that this kind of thing would not happen again.

Another time Chicago has shown resilience was on Oct 8-9 in 1871, during the Great Chicago Fire. This fire destroyed all of the downtown area and basically everything around it. The story behind the fire was that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow knocked down a lantern and that started the fire, but there were other factors. First of all, many people were stocking up winter and people had a lot of flammable things in there homes. Second, a man who called the firefighters, called all of them except the ones closest to the house.Third, The Chicago River which people hoped would top the fire actually helped fuel the fire because there was so much oil on the river from the trash in it. The fire was so bad that it ruined the whole city turning most of it into ash. But, Chicago demonstrated resilience by rebuilding the city in only two years, the fire didn't burn the lumber yards.Also other states helped give money to Chicago and that helped them fix the financial part they needed. One of the biggest effects was once the city was rebuilt segregation was made in Chicago. After the fire they made a law that said they couldn’t build a house with a wooden frame, it had to be metal.

I used different Kente symbols to represent my example of Chicago showing resilience. My symbols show, hope, learning from the past, courage, patience and tolerance, and humility and strength, Learning from the past is how they made a new system to prevent that from happening again. The courage and patience/tolerance was shown by the people that had to stay in their cars over night in that cold weather. Humility/strength was shown by the whole city and how other states saw them from not helping those people faster. Art deco was a special art during 1800s that was used to show industrialism, it consists of geometric shapes and symmetry.My art piece shows Art Deco, because it is simple, is symmetrical, and has geometrical shapes. I created my piece the same way I did my last, I took a piece of paper and drew a box the was 6” by 6”, then I drew my design. Then I shaded in everything I wanted to carve out. Then I took the paper and put it up against the linoleum and rubbed the pencil drawing onto it. Next I outlined what I was carving, then carved. I used a special carving utensil that cuts precisely. After that,I made a clay border that was 4 inches tall and 1 inch thick, I made this mainly because when I pour the cement on the mold it will hold in place. Next, I actually make the cement, which was done by testing different amounts of water and cement, I took the rocks out of my mix to get a smoother surface, then pour. Lastly, I waited for the cement to dry and then cut the walls off and pull my art piece off which is a cement mold

NVA, "Carving Chicago's Power" 2014, GCE

Carving Neighborhoods

For my new P’Art of History class, we studied the historical events of Chicago during the 1600 - 1800s. We also took an artist view for history and looked at statues of different historical figures. Then we learned about neoclassical art and how the statues are examples of neoclassical art. For our action project we took soft cut linoleum and made molds of what we thought would lay to our Chicago experience. The challenge was trying to get the lines to come out straight. The fun thing about this was trying out a new style of art that uses a different perspective.

NVA, "Protection of the Neighborhoods" 2014, Chciago: GCE

Protection of the Neighborhoods

NVA

6" by 6"

7/1/14

Soft cut linoleum, carving tools

Who lays claim to your Chicago Experience? Well maybe I will help you decide that: 

A neighborhood is what defines how we will grow and the person you are going to be. Now some neighborhoods are nice and peaceful, where others can be life or death walking outside. Everyone’s neighborhood controls them more than people think. It controls the schools effecting your education, the police and how they watch over certain places more than others, and the people you will grow around and their influence on you. Everyone is under the control of their neighborhood. Especially in Chicago because we are so segregated making our neighborhoods more of influence on us.

I live in a middle class neighborhood called Sauganash, where it is very peaceful and rarely has any harm or disturbance. Everyone there is very nice and welcoming, if any new moved in they would always get a warm welcome. Going to school I would always walk confidently knowing I was safe and have little to worry about. I would go to school meet with friends and have class. I always thought that the school was very bad, because of other schools seeming to get high educations. Then a new teacher came up and she used to be a teacher at the south side of Chicago. She said that we are lucky because in her old school everyone would get in fights and she would have to break them up form fights. Many kids from her neighborhood wouldn't get good educations because of where they lived and everyone around them.

After that I would always look at neighborhood and think I was very lucky to actually live in a good place where I wasn’t influenced by gangs ruining my chances of my education today. Today many people are shaped from their neighborhoods and how they think of Chicago today. When someone is born in a neighborhood they are patented to that area and everything they become is determined right there.

This would relate to historical events from the 1800s when people were just starting to lay claim to the new land around them. Between the period of 1783-1812, the British stayed in the Old Northwest and manipulated Native American tribes to fight for them against the Anglo Americans. The British did this by giving them weapons, money, and alcohol and in turn, certain Native American tribes harassed Anglo-American on their newly acquired frontier. The tribe that helped them was the Winnebago but the Pottawatomie and the Miami didn't like the British.

Chief Black Hawk believed that property couldn’t be owned, and that when you won something it has to be something that you can bring with you. This relates to what I’m saying, because I believe that land has claim over land and not that you have claim over the land. Also we are that something that land can bring, make, and shape.

My piece is 6” by 6” and shows the different neighborhoods, upper, middle, and lower and how they all are different in the way of the people act. The shields are the protection of that neighborhood and how well protected by the police it is. The border frames are what that neighborhood is about and what they are known for, from luxury to death. The money shows how the upper class has lots of money, the trees for the middle class show how a middle class neighborhood is peaceful, and last the fences on the lower class show how in lower class neighborhoods it can be very dangerous. The two lines are to show how Chicago is very segregated, and the reason ones are bigger than others is because the classes of neighborhoods can determine how much land they have and how well known they are. Also the lines that separate the neighborhoods are bigger close to the rich side because they are so isolated from the middle and lower classes, and the other one is smaller because middle and lower classes are closing together.

Neoclassical art - Is old art style that contains mainly, simplicity, symmetrical, clean lines, unemotional, and a heroic figure. My piece could be an example of this type of art because it is simple, there are clean lines, and is a little symmetrical.

I have created my art piece using soft cut linoleum, which is like a denser clay and is very good for carving. Instead of redrawing my piece or doing it from sight. What I did was I made what I was going to carve dark with pencil on the original paper. Then, I stamped it on to the linoleum and I was able to what I had to carve, I outlined it aswell so I could see better. Last the carving, I used a special tool that somewhat worked like a shovel and very precisely started to slowly move it and it would carve. Once I carved it, I took a bigger piece and tried to make it cleaner

What I plan to do next with it, is take cement and pour it on it then once the cement dries I will have a tile that will make everything that is carved in pop out.

NVA, "Carving Neighborhoods" 7/14/14, Chicago: GCE

NVA, "Carving Nieghborhoods" 2014, Chicago:GCE