Many artists draw their inspiration from their teachers. I am one of those artists. I took ceramics in high school simply to try an new media. I ended up falling in love the clay, and I believe that my teachers had much to do with that. I owe my love of ceramics to these teachers: Robert Lawarre and Stephen Heywood. I would like to honor them by display some of my favorite works of theirs. 
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Robert Lawarre was my High School ceramics teacher. He provided me with an introduction on techniques in hand building. We didn't have wheels so it was all done by hand building.  He truly inspired me and I found his works very interesting. Without him I don't think I would love ceramics so much. Thank you for that. I have attached some of my favorite works of his below. 

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Professor Stephen Heywood was my college teacher for Beginning and Intermediate Ceramics. He taught me the basics of wheel throwing and helped me refine those skill and pushed me to make things taller or wider. He taught me how to make lids and pull handles and showed me some tricks of the trade. I loved his laid back style and amazing teaching styles. His classes inspired me to want to teach ceramics to others like he taught me. Thank you for that. I have also attached some of his works below. 

 
It may not be considered art to some but I think that sometimes art is done in order to relax. Buying pre-cut wooden shapes or words and adding color to them is just pure fun. I can sometimes even buy shapes or thing that I feel represent me. I even use some of the wood pieces to decorate my house. I believe that this would qualify as art in the interior design sector. Although wall decorations are a small part of interior design, for those of us with a small budget, these wooden wall hangings can brighten up a space a lot. 
These are just some picture of things I chose to do. I chose the dinosaur because I work at Jurassic Park, The FSU letters were from when I got my acceptance letter, and the Halloween ones are for seasonal decoration purposes. The fish is because I am a pieces.  I also have a Jacksonville Jaguar star that I painted.
 
I collect movie posters. I am in love with movies and these allow me to capture an artistic glimpse of these movies I might not have seen before. I like that when you look at them, you can immediately begin to replay scenes in you head if you have seen these movies. These posters all show an artistic rendering of the movie itself and aims to make the viewer want to see or feel something for the movie. Yes, most of these are all real movie posters that would be in the display cases outside the theaters. Gone with the Wind, Jurassic Park, and Starship Troopers are reprints. Interesting fact for someone who has never seen or held an original poster, they are all double side printed and come in a size of 40 x 37 inches. Framing is difficult. Some of these are mini posters used to promote these films in areas without the cases in front of theaters. For example, Avengers, MIB3, and How to Train Your Dragon. The rest are original prints in the 40"x37" format. Enjoy!
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Gone With the Wind. A Classic! This movie poster uses a portraiture approach in that it was created in the style of pre-technological advancements. There is careful consideration in what makes the cut to be on the poster in order to spark thoughts about the movie and to make you want to see it. These posters are a visual scene from the movie that should be representational of the movie itself. 

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Bourne Legacy. This poster in particular is very much art. The slats that overlay the scene distort the image but still create a thought provoking image. Rather than provide a clear image, this one is cleverly laid out in pieces that activates the mind.

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Starship Troopers. If anyone has seen this movie then you understand that this is an artistic version of sci-fi. Some of the scenes in this movie and the special effects are slightly lacking and make the movie seem like it was made on a very low budget. Again, this picture is supposed to make you want to see it and represents the story in a single image. If you haven't seen this movie you should watch it. The first one is good the other two, not so much.

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The Grinch! Based on an illustrated children's story. This is simply a new rendition of those drawings. Its a mixing of present media with past subject matter. That makes this a multi-media poster.

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The Proposal. Great Movie. Simplistic poster. Simply conveys that this may not be a proposal that he is thrilled with.

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This one is similar to the Bourne Legacy in that it uses the slat structure. However, this one provides several different scenes and multiple characters. This image is art because of the use of dynamic color and story telling. 

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The Iron Fist is made by cult legend Tarantino! I didn't actually see this one but the art work in the fan to represent the characters and the story really remind me of collage work!!!

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The Avengers. It's art. It's based on a comic.

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Jurassic Park. Another Classic! Also my current employer. Simple use of contrasting colors and logo recognition.

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MIB3. This is amazing. It is designed to play with the eye like magic eye. That's kinda like what some art is meant to do.

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The Hunger Games. Clever use of logo and fire. Also contrasting colors.

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How to Train Your Dragon. An animated film.

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Music and Lyrics. Uses posters within posters. A meta advertisement.

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Finding Nemo. Also Animated. 

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The Queen With Helen Mirren. Kinda looks like a portrait.

 
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America is setting unreasonable goals for young women. All the magazines and trends that we are supposed to read and follow use models that are way too skinny. I have my own issues with weight and sometimes when I read Cosmo, I get to the point where I want to cry. I have always felt like I was overweight and I have struggled with it for a long time. I am trying to change that by eating better and working out, but the process takes some time and I still get upset sometimes. This image is a personal reflection of my thoughts on society and self image. I used the body parts of the stomach and heart to represent what actually matters. It is only important that these organs are healthy even though they don't necessarily look beautiful. Also the heart has been broken in order to reflect the negative and hurtful feelings that result from being told you aren't skinny enough. 

 
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Everyone gets the artists writer's block. Everyone has their own way of dealing with it. Mine was to go into my ceramics studio at UNF. Here I could throw clay, sketch ideas in a creative environment, or talk to other advanced students. Just being in a creative environment provides me with inspiration. Like the Pizza kiln!!! This was the best idea ever. We reheated pizza while unloading a cooling kiln. It was 600 degrees and it did its job. 

Now I don't have a ceramics class and I doodle instead. These are some of the doodles that I have come up with in the past week. I still doodle for ceramics so that I have several ideas to try when I get the chance. I like to doodle animals and sometimes images that I might use as a character for something later on. I came up with these for a possible comic about a dragon I was thinking of starting this week. Doing this seems to let out all my unconscious thoughts and releases any blockage in my brain. 
 
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For this assignment, we are supposed to find pictures of art created with fibrous materials. Lucky for me I have this image of a patchwork quilt I made for college. I love this blanket. It has so many different textures and colors that it is like a fiber collage. The images below are other works from etsy that are able to be found by searching for fiber. I love the image of the bird as it is so detailed and it is made from fibers, not pen and pencil or paint. I like the moose pillow because my mother is from Canada. The alpaca and turtle are just so cute!!! I wish that I could make things like this. I can knit but crochet is way over my head. As for the last image, I have no idea but I think it was kind of weird. I chose that one because it is an image I wouldn't usually pick. I don't think I would buy this one either, but I do think that I would buy the others. Fiber arts, who knew right?

 
The notion of home has always been hard for me. I have felt at home in Jacksonville (thus the Jags and UNF pictures). I have felt at home in Orlando (that's the Universal pictures). Overall though, I feel at home around family. I did this entry because I really liked the example posted for the class. I noticed that all the images I thought represented home, involved family, or times around family and friends, like Christmas and Volleyball games. Home is up to each person, and can have different meanings for everyone. 
 
    This particular assignment had no requirements except that the images must be made in the three inch by three inch squares. I have done collages before, and I even did one in the first entry to this blog, but for these collages I wanted to place my own limitations on this project. I had to do these three collages without running to Michael's to buy supplies for them. 
    I am a very organized person and I like to plan out my projects. Not being able to plan for these was a challenge. I had to find household objects and this is what I came up with. 
     For image number 1(below right), I used my study tabs from post it notes and some crayon wrappers. When that didn't look like enough of a collage for me, and it was too organized, I decided that splattering nail polish over top of it would be fun and messy. So that's what I did. 
   Image two is similar in that I splashed nail polish on it, three colors, except I did this over pre-wrap used in medical taping  This actually absorbed it rather differently. However this wasn't enough. I then melted some of my crayons, purple and green, on top of it. I like the texture difference, but it doesn't photograph well. 
   Image three was harder. I liked the post it notes and I even liked the casing so I used that too. I liked the pre-wrap too so that made it as well. I wanted to incorporate that it is breast cancer awareness month thus the ribbon, which actually led to the use of the other ribbon. The gem was in the ribbon bag and came from my boyfriends cousins wedding. I like that as a sentimental touch. 
    Overall I thought these came out interesting and I had a lot of fun doing them. 
 
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Graffiti is often seen in many cities and is often seen as controversial or as vandalism. One of our assignments asked us to find a local example of Graffiti and explain what we thought they were trying to say. This was located in a parking garage at FSU. Interestingly, this was the garage by the fine arts building. When the context is added I believe that this is making a statement that the artist is in fact a creative monster. I think that since it represents Frankenstein it is showing that the artist is misunderstood, and instead of being scary and mean, he is rather just a gentle creative kid. I personally don;t think that this is bad or vandalism. I think that it is a creative change to an otherwise boring parking garage. 
     This piece caught my attention because it is something I walk by almost everyday. I love how it took a boring wall and made it something interesting. I noticed that some people just walked by and didn't take any notice. I feel like those people are too absorbed and need to take some time to look around them and see the beauty that is the world.  This image has since been erased and a boring black spot is in its place. 
     Below is a youtube video of people who got permission to undertake a graffiti project. It is time-lapsed but I really enjoyed it. 

 
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     I don't exactly know what a blog is supposed to be. I always picture some version of a diary. When asked to do one for my Studio Art Practices class I was fearful;lost. Following the prompts I was able to at least think about what to do. I chose to start the blog in such a way that the reader can learn about me and I can knock out an assignment at the same time. This is the Body and Soul entry. I am not one for drawing or creating a self portrait as that is not who I am. I decided to do this in a way many of my teachers have asked me to do this before. I have provided a few images of me (at the braves game, playing volleyball, and with my best friend and boyfriend), a few pieces of my art work showing the media I like and what I like to do, and finally my inspiration and support network. Without my family and friends, and yes my dog, I would never have decided I love art as much as I do. 
    I love to cook, paint, play volleyball, and create digital works. I work at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, which has provided me with much inspiration as the whole place is like a creative playground. Just putting together a collage of things that represent me didn't seem entirely right. I decided to edit the combination by using my graphics tablet to write and draw on the image. Once I did that, I felt like the image was more personal and felt that I could leave this entry as is. 

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    I am an Art student who is looking to get into art education. I love ceramics and several other media. This is the first blog I have ever done. Feedback is appreciated.

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