Working with Symbols
Value and Color
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| Renditions of the evil eye. |
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| Renditions of the evil eye. |
The images above were done by students in LCS 220 in Fall 2013. Both students were working with the cultural symbol of the evil eye. And yet you can see how different their approaches are.
In this challenge, we are going to start a practice of observation and recreation that will give us a chance to work with a symbol several times, in several ways. This challenge will hopefully help us to think about the ways in which our identifies are simplified to an operating symbol that, ironically, carries with it so much meaning, history, culture.
One thing we do know about symbols is that they can be great to build community (think about the presence of the U.S. flag after 9/11), but these same symbols can be (and often are) terribly dangerous because they solidify tribalisms, pit one group against another, and are used in ways that are counter to the initial meaning of the symbol. One only needs to think about how the Christian cross has been used in all sorts of ways to justify all sorts of behaviors that are certainly not what many would accept as truly "Christian" behavior.
Indeed, Robert Fritz, who I have mentioned a few times in this blog, is currently working on a book on the dangers of "identity" to creativity: that identity can often be an obstacle to creating when creating is in the service of some identity, rather than the creation itself. On the other hand, identity has been the birthplace of numerous creative ventures--moments like the emergence of a powerful feminist art movement in the 1960s and 1970s. I hope we can keep these complexities juggling in the air as we take apart and work with one symbol.
You will be choosing a symbol that you want to work with to think about your identity, to reflect upon an understanding of self in relation to community through a symbolic construction.
As you do this, think about all these complexities that emerge in relation to the symbols we identify with.
Here we go:
In this challenge, we are going to start a practice of observation and recreation that will give us a chance to work with a symbol several times, in several ways. This challenge will hopefully help us to think about the ways in which our identifies are simplified to an operating symbol that, ironically, carries with it so much meaning, history, culture.
One thing we do know about symbols is that they can be great to build community (think about the presence of the U.S. flag after 9/11), but these same symbols can be (and often are) terribly dangerous because they solidify tribalisms, pit one group against another, and are used in ways that are counter to the initial meaning of the symbol. One only needs to think about how the Christian cross has been used in all sorts of ways to justify all sorts of behaviors that are certainly not what many would accept as truly "Christian" behavior.
Indeed, Robert Fritz, who I have mentioned a few times in this blog, is currently working on a book on the dangers of "identity" to creativity: that identity can often be an obstacle to creating when creating is in the service of some identity, rather than the creation itself. On the other hand, identity has been the birthplace of numerous creative ventures--moments like the emergence of a powerful feminist art movement in the 1960s and 1970s. I hope we can keep these complexities juggling in the air as we take apart and work with one symbol.
You will be choosing a symbol that you want to work with to think about your identity, to reflect upon an understanding of self in relation to community through a symbolic construction.
As you do this, think about all these complexities that emerge in relation to the symbols we identify with.
Here we go:
- You choose the medium--pencil, watercolor.
- Choose a symbol that has meaning for you--it can be religious or political. It can be associated with a sports team or some other team-related activity. It can be a mathematical symbol, a Chinese character, a brand for a product. But choose an actual symbol that exists in the world.
- Create a rendition of the symbol in just Black, White and Gray. (You can create the values of gray by mixing your white and black). If using watercolor, you may want to lay a layer of wash in a color to make the values of light/dark, black/white pop off the page. [So you might lay a layer of purple, let it dry, then paint your B&W symbol over it.]
- That's it! You're done.
- The big part of this challenge is to think about choosing something that will give you a chance to reflect on symbols we identify with.
- Keep this symbol floating in your head for the next few days.
Make sure to send your images to me! thassele@bryant.edu.
I thought that by choosing a symbol such as the ying yang, that i would connect better especially because it is something I believe in and see value in.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this challenge, however I had a hard time thinking of what symbol represents and has meaning to me because there are so many
ReplyDeleteI chose the recycling symbol. I like this symbol because it is relevant to out everyday lives and it is also usually made in color.
ReplyDeleteI almost chose that, too.
DeleteI chose the Rainbow flag, also called the Human Race flag. Rainbows have wonderful connections for most of us, of course. As a gay woman, I have plenty of feelings about this image. I remember when the image was first used and the pushback from some writers about the appropriation of a symbol of innocence for gay rights. As I drew this symbol and colored in, I was thinking about the use of imagery for easy symbolic reference and all the ways, we are connected, engaged and manipulated. I was thinking about who and how it is that colors carry meaning for us. I was thinking about my immigrant parents and the colors of their national flags of origin. I know that the original designers had explicit meanings for each of their eight colors, which got replaced and recolored. I was thinking about the multiple uses of images in the gay and civil rights movements and how these echo so effectively in our psyche.
ReplyDeleteI loved this challenge because I got to drawn something I like and inspires me.
ReplyDeleteI liked using the watercolors in this challenge. It was fun to draw something that relates to my life and something that I enjoy.
ReplyDeleteI liked how I could chose something that mattered to me and do a sketch of it. I didnt like that it had to be done on a sunday.
ReplyDeleteI think it was interesting to take a symbol that was previously in color and make it black and white and grey. It really helped me to identify with the symbol more and really make it my own. I enjoyed being able to think about what it meant to me.
ReplyDeleteI used gouache for this challenge and I really enjoyed choosing a symbol that represents who I am and what I relate to.
ReplyDeleteChoosing a symbol was pretty hard for me. In fact, it was absolutely the hardest part of this challenge. Once I chose the Celtic Knot, with no beginning and no end, the actual sketch took about 2 1/2 minutes. However, the entire process of picking the symbol probably took an hour....
ReplyDeleteI was happy to see that we were able to use watercolors again. Using them repeatedly for the last few challenges has allowed room for improvement. I liked that this challenge compelled me to reflect on something that means a lot to me.
ReplyDeleteI struggled at first to pick a symbol, but after I decided on my symbol I got to enjoy drawing it and adding my own sort of twist to it. I also enjoy using the water colors and getting a sense of how to mix the colors and playing with them.
ReplyDeleteI knew which symbol I wanted to use as soon as this challenge was assigned. I used colored the gouache paint to create my symbol. I like how i mixed the black and white to create the light and dark scales of color.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to decide on a symbol to use. But once i made a decision I was happy with my finished product. I really liked this activity and the freedom we had to choose what we wanted to do.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was pretty easy. Immediately I read the challenge I thought about using the Holy Cross or a traditional Ghanaian symbol, "Gye Nyame". Mixing water colors to produce all sorts of colors has been fun also.
ReplyDeleteI liked this assignments freedom of choice. I was able to work with a logo that I liked and modified it to look even better in my own opinion. The layering of water color and gouache paint created a nice look and texture to the drawing.
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I read this assignment I thought about using a Chinese symbol. I did my last name in Chinese because that represents who I am. Mixing black and white with gouache was fun as well.
ReplyDeleteFor this challenge, I read the prompt and tried to think of a symbol that had associated me to a community I find important, which was quite difficult. In choosing a symbol, I chose an infinity sign. Upon drawing the sign, I used black for the left side and saw that what came out was a Christian symbol, which was quite appropriate in terms of a "community". I left it as is and then focused on creating the rest of the infinity sign with grey and white. In the end, I came out with two symbols, which was unexpected. I felt as though it wasn't my best work since when I tried to create a grey background with the white portion of the symbol, it came out differently than what I envisioned. However, I liked using the watercolors again!
ReplyDeleteI dedicated a lot of time to find the "right" symbol. After finally deciding on my symbol, I really enjoyed using the watercolors to make the symbol my own. This was a fun and creative challenge.
ReplyDeleteFinally an assignment that I was able to complete in just 15 minutes! I enjoyed the fact that we can choose our own symbol; almost claiming ownership to it. I almost got the feeling that this was my personal logo and therefore tried to make it as appealing as possible.
ReplyDeleteI chose the Chinese symbol of strength. I tried using watercolor, but I think I could have done better if I went with colored pencil.
ReplyDeleteI chose the Boston Bruins logo and also used watercolor. The challenge was a lot of fun. I agree with the previous post that it was nice to have a lot of freedom to choose which symbol to pick.
ReplyDeleteThis sketch was very difficult for me as it took over an hour to research symbols and I ended up settling with one I thought i could work with.
ReplyDeleteI knew immediately which symbol to remodel, and I enjoyed putting my own twist on it. I have very strong beliefs, and the symbol I chose has a frequent presence in my life. This challenge will build into something great for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt was really hard for me to find and choose a symbol, but once I was able to do so, I really had fun playing with the different combinations of black and white.
ReplyDeleteThis was my favorite challenge yet! I loved how we could be really creative with this challenge and do anything that we wanted to. I think the gray made the symbol look really cool too!
ReplyDeleteI love working with black and white! It makes symbol look 10X cooler! This challenge was my favorite so far
ReplyDeleteI chose the justice symbol. I enjoyed the level of balance it betrays.
ReplyDeleteI feel like being limited to only using black and white really helped me focus on my symbol and how i wanted to portray it.
ReplyDeleteIt was hard to decide on one symbol. I looked up a few and went back and forth on choosing one. I like working in a gray scale. The contrast between black and white is so definite.
ReplyDeleteI knew what symbol I was going to use the second this assignment was assigned. Even though my symbol doesn't have color incorporated into it already, I loved working with the black and white gouache paints.
ReplyDeleteI chose the Triforce from the legend of Zelda. This contributed a big part in the development of creativity in my childhood. Playing this game for hours forced me to open up my mind's creative side in order to complete the main character's complex adventures.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was great and I really enjoyed spending my night doing it. I chose the Chinese symbol for family and used my black and white watercolors to make the symbol come to life.
ReplyDeleteI loved this challenge especially because choosing a symbol is hard but interesting. There are so many symbols in the world that we can describe ourselves with that choosing one is way harder!!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this challenge. It was hard to think of a symbol at first because there are so many different ones to pick from.
ReplyDeleteI had a lot of trouble trying to think of a symbol because I wanted it to have a meaning and there are just so many symbols to choose from. I did like working with black and white, doing value is very fun for me.
ReplyDeleteThe par I liked most about this challenge was that it forced me to look at an ordinary symbol in a completely new light. Instead of using typical coloring, I had to see it in a new way and put my own spin on the design.
ReplyDeleteI liked this challenge because I got to choose the medium and symbol, for which I used the symbol of my favorite sports team, the New York Knicks. I was skeptical about not using color but after a while I found I liked the absence of it in this particular challenge.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this challenge because I knew exactly what symbol I wanted to do because it reminded me of my childhood.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was hard because I took a long time to decide on a symbol I wanted to work with. I am happy with my choice and after that the rest of the challenge was not difficult
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was pretty easy. I used black and some gray and left some white space. I chose the Bruins symbol, I couldn't really think of anything else.
ReplyDeleteIt was really easy for me to choose a symbol. I used something that means a lot to me and drew a simple version of it.
ReplyDeleteMy symbol was the "3rd eye chakra." This was difficult to make symmetrical, even witht the simplicity of the design. Overall, a fun project that didn't take so long.
ReplyDeleteChoosing a symbol was really easy for me. I chose to use the gouache to paint my symbol. I thought it was really fun to play with the values of gray and I think my symbol came out pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteIt took a while for me to choose my symbol, but in the end I ended up choosing the cross. It was fun to draw because I haven't sketched one in a while. I thought it turned out very good.
ReplyDeleteI liked this challenge. I really like how my symbol turned out with the different shadings of black and white.
ReplyDeleteToke me sometime to come up with a symbol but eventually I thought of an ancient Indian symbol and put some color into it!
ReplyDeleteI chose a soccer ball for my symbol which I was able to choose very quickly. The medium I used was colored pencils, but I liked being able to choose our medium.
ReplyDeleteYing-yangs are my favorite symbol and I really enjoyed coming up with my own version of one.
ReplyDeleteFor this challenge I used that Om symbol. I used water colors and the gauche to do it. I really liked how it turned out.
ReplyDeletevery simple challenge . i liked it ! my symbol means alot to me
ReplyDeleteIt took a lot of thinking, nevertheless, I finally decided to draw a girl with thick, long, prominent hair. Many people always notice and compliment my hair. And they always find me playing with it. I feel like my hair is a pretty strong symbol that surely exemplifies me.
ReplyDeleteI had a lot of trouble with the water colors. I always get them too wet.
ReplyDeleteI immediately had a symbol come to my mind, then I thought that was too predictable. So I went with a symbol that I thought of beyond my first instinct. I think it worked out beautifully!
ReplyDelete~Desire' Marshall
It was difficult to decide on what symbol to use. I liked experimenting with different types of grey. This challenge has been one of my favorites.
ReplyDeletelooking for a symbol that really meant something for me was really challenging. However it was fun when i already found the symbol!
ReplyDeleteIn this challenge the hardest part was to pick a symbol, once I had my symbol the activity was enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThe longest part of this challenge was choosing a symbol. Eventually I chose the warrior symbol. But I really enjoyed the process of searching through symbols and choosing the one I thought best fit.
ReplyDeleteI did not like this challenge because it was truly challenging. I am terrible at mixing water colors to make a black, white, and grey look.
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to decide on a symbol, but I ended up going with a simple tree. I chose this because I have always enjoyed climbing, carving, and looking at trees. I chose to draw a tree which had no leaves because of the black and white theme. I think if the challenge mandated color I would have added colors ranging from green to brown, to show the changes of the seasons.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was pretty cool because we got to use a symbol that meant something to us, and i think thats how I achieve my best art, when theres strong feelings behind it !
ReplyDeleteI used the gauche for this challenge, because it was easier to mix and make white, black and grey. I did try with the water colors at first but I felt that it was harder to mix and I was not getting the color that I wanted out of it.
ReplyDeleteI picked a money sign for my symbol. I picked this because I love money. I found that once you add black to white, the balck is very overwhelming .
ReplyDeleteI used guache for this challenge- my symbol was the om. It had different meanings based on the religion (Buddhism or Hinduism) but I like the Hinduism definition being it represents pulling everything together (the earth, water, and heaven)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting use of black white and grey, I picked the holy cross because of the meaning it conveys, peace and purity.
ReplyDeleteThis challenge was quite straight forward to do because of the previous assignment and I liked using the water colors for this challenge and being able to paint the back ground that made my symbol (the Cross of Jesus Christ) stand out more.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part of this challenge was just coming up with a symbol. But once I was able to do that I really enjoyed paint it
ReplyDeleteFor my symbol I chose the smiley face. I did this because no matter what you are going through this symbol reminds you its okay sit back and smile. Besides selecting the symbol this assignment was fairly easy.
ReplyDelete