Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Artist of the Week: Faces


Elizabethian Jake
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar
This week's artist is Master Jake, our Renaissance man.

A few weeks ago his class put on a Shakespearean festival. They had been studying the Taming of the Shrew for the past few months and at the end of the unit the students preformed a sort of ad hock version of the play. The students were divided into small groups and had one scene to memorize and interpret. There was a fair amount of overlap and the cast was continually changing.

Parents were invited to attend the performance and I was able to snag this picture of Jake on stage.


faces
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar
As to his art, well this is yet another sample of last semesters work.

It is a series of faces that are in reality self portraits. A picture was taken of his face and his assignment was to create multiple image portraits. The teacher was looking for quality finished portraits, unique ideas of alterations, the basic features must still be visible, a neat application of pastel, and a precise presentation.

She pretty much got all of that in spades. Her only quible (and I tend to agree) was that the pictures should be closer together on the black paper.

I think Jake did an outstanding job. Pastels can devolve into a big smeary mess, but he was able to maintain control over the medium. He has a very confident hand and was not afraid to really lay the color down. As for the portraits themselves, they are indeed unique. The top has a very bold use of color with clean lines. The middle one is somewhat menacing, but has an amazing amount of dimensionality. However, I think the robot on the bottom is my favorite.

Well done Jake.

No comments: