Visual Arts
Digital Art
By: Breann Sanford
Digital art is a practice or artistic work that uses digital technology as part of the presentation or creative process. Various names have been used to describe the process since the 1970s including multimedia art and computer art. There are over 15 types of digital art and digital art falls into three basic categories which are fractals, digital painting, and digital photography & darkroom.
Digital art is just like any other art form. It’s just created with different materials than traditional types of art. It’s about the emotions, visions, and messages that the piece conveys. An artist can express their visions of composition, form, color, rhythm, and line. It’s an “individual expression of their vision”. Digital art is just as important as the others. The advancements in technology can allow the artist to create a piece that can be seen and appreciated all over the world. Digital art has increased the accessibility of art to the world as well as expanding the definition of art.
Digital art has revolutionized traditional art forms like sculpture, painting, and cinema. Artists have always been encountering barriers with technology when creating their pieces. Digital art is the newest medium that artists have discovered in their quest to tell stories constrained only by their imagination. Digital art is a way of expressing yourself and a way to tell stories without using words. There are many types, therefore many ways to express your identity to others. Your identity defines who you are and how others see you.
By: Breann Sanford
Digital art is a practice or artistic work that uses digital technology as part of the presentation or creative process. Various names have been used to describe the process since the 1970s including multimedia art and computer art. There are over 15 types of digital art and digital art falls into three basic categories which are fractals, digital painting, and digital photography & darkroom.
Digital art is just like any other art form. It’s just created with different materials than traditional types of art. It’s about the emotions, visions, and messages that the piece conveys. An artist can express their visions of composition, form, color, rhythm, and line. It’s an “individual expression of their vision”. Digital art is just as important as the others. The advancements in technology can allow the artist to create a piece that can be seen and appreciated all over the world. Digital art has increased the accessibility of art to the world as well as expanding the definition of art.
Digital art has revolutionized traditional art forms like sculpture, painting, and cinema. Artists have always been encountering barriers with technology when creating their pieces. Digital art is the newest medium that artists have discovered in their quest to tell stories constrained only by their imagination. Digital art is a way of expressing yourself and a way to tell stories without using words. There are many types, therefore many ways to express your identity to others. Your identity defines who you are and how others see you.
Art or Vandalism: What Graffiti Truly Is
By: Bella Gainey
You see it when you’re on the highway when you're downtown, or even when you’re walking around in your neighborhood. Not many know who the true identity of the artist behind it, for this art form is anonymous, mysterious, cool, and intriguing. It comes in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and fonts. What could it be? Its graffiti, a new and modern form of street art that has embedded itself into our city and pop culture. Graffiti is defined as markings, initials, slogans, and drawings, that are written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, a wall of a building, or a public restroom. Even though it’s illegal, we still see it every day. Why is that?
Graffiti is believed to have been invented in 1965 by a twelve-year-old Philadelphian student who went by the name Darryl “Cornbread” McCray. Cornbread started spray painting his name in places around his hometown to catch the attention of other boys his age and later the attention of a girl that he liked. The new trend then found its way to New York City and began to pop up first in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and had also spread like wildfire to the rest of the country. At this time, it was popular for graffiti artists to tag buildings with their names combined with different numbers, such as the graffiti legend Taki 183. A later generation, inspired by Taki 183 and Cornbread, evolved graffiti into a true art form and started painting pictures solely with spray paint.
In 2009, a Is Graffiti Art? interview, of Hugh O’Donnell, a College of Fine Arts professor of painting, shared his thinking on this topic. “Graffiti is literally the writing on the wall - the voice of those who cannot find any other way to publish their thoughts anonymously”, he states. “Graffiti can be art. Art is what we call something when it carries significant human symbolic expression. It's all a question of degree, and there is good art, great art, and bad art.” I agree with O’Donnell’s statement; graffiti is an art form that allows everyday people to express themselves to absolute strangers without having to interact or talk to others at all. This an extremely important way for people who are afraid of talking openly about their feelings.
By: Bella Gainey
You see it when you’re on the highway when you're downtown, or even when you’re walking around in your neighborhood. Not many know who the true identity of the artist behind it, for this art form is anonymous, mysterious, cool, and intriguing. It comes in all different shapes, sizes, colors, and fonts. What could it be? Its graffiti, a new and modern form of street art that has embedded itself into our city and pop culture. Graffiti is defined as markings, initials, slogans, and drawings, that are written, spray-painted, or sketched on a sidewalk, a wall of a building, or a public restroom. Even though it’s illegal, we still see it every day. Why is that?
Graffiti is believed to have been invented in 1965 by a twelve-year-old Philadelphian student who went by the name Darryl “Cornbread” McCray. Cornbread started spray painting his name in places around his hometown to catch the attention of other boys his age and later the attention of a girl that he liked. The new trend then found its way to New York City and began to pop up first in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, and had also spread like wildfire to the rest of the country. At this time, it was popular for graffiti artists to tag buildings with their names combined with different numbers, such as the graffiti legend Taki 183. A later generation, inspired by Taki 183 and Cornbread, evolved graffiti into a true art form and started painting pictures solely with spray paint.
In 2009, a Is Graffiti Art? interview, of Hugh O’Donnell, a College of Fine Arts professor of painting, shared his thinking on this topic. “Graffiti is literally the writing on the wall - the voice of those who cannot find any other way to publish their thoughts anonymously”, he states. “Graffiti can be art. Art is what we call something when it carries significant human symbolic expression. It's all a question of degree, and there is good art, great art, and bad art.” I agree with O’Donnell’s statement; graffiti is an art form that allows everyday people to express themselves to absolute strangers without having to interact or talk to others at all. This an extremely important way for people who are afraid of talking openly about their feelings.
Consent plays a big role in our everyday life, and asking first is important when it comes to things like asking your boss for a day off or asking if you could borrow a friend’s pencil. Even if you think it’s okay, try asking instead of mindlessly assuming. It is for this reason that consent is also important for street art. If a graffiti artist asks the permission of the owner of the building and gets the okay to spray paint on their building, then the graffiti is legal and not punishable by law. But if the artist doesn’t ask for permission or doesn’t receive consent from the said building owner, then the art becomes vandalism and can result in a fine and jail time. This recently happened to seventeen-year-old Pierre-Raphael Benjamin Porzio who was arrested in Peachtree City, Georgia. The teen was charged for tagging private and public property in 15 different locations throughout the city. Pete is also responsible for a sum of $5,000 of repair money used to paint over his graffiti. This is just one out of the many examples where non-consensual graffiti has been a double-edged sword and hear both people and their city.
In conclusion, graffiti is an art form that has helped people express themselves for nearly 50 years. It can be either illegal or legal, depending mainly on if a person asks for permission or not. While graffiti may only appeal to some people, it impacts everyone in a way that we may or may not realize. Graffiti reminds me of how, no matter how different we are or where we come from, the people in our city of Chicago can be connected by even the simplest or unnoticed things.
Sources:
https://www.sprayplanet.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-graffiti-the-60s-and-70s
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2009/is-graffiti-art/
https://www.brooklynunpluggedtours.com/is-graffiti-illegal-crime
In conclusion, graffiti is an art form that has helped people express themselves for nearly 50 years. It can be either illegal or legal, depending mainly on if a person asks for permission or not. While graffiti may only appeal to some people, it impacts everyone in a way that we may or may not realize. Graffiti reminds me of how, no matter how different we are or where we come from, the people in our city of Chicago can be connected by even the simplest or unnoticed things.
Sources:
https://www.sprayplanet.com/blogs/news/a-history-of-graffiti-the-60s-and-70s
https://www.bu.edu/articles/2009/is-graffiti-art/
https://www.brooklynunpluggedtours.com/is-graffiti-illegal-crime
The Different Types of Markers
By: Julia Managuelod
Markers! One of the many different coloring mediums. Remember using Crayola markers in elementary school? Sometimes you would reach for a marker, open the cap, and start to color, but the ink was dried out because the last person who used them didn’t put the cap back on correctly. Well, there are so many other different types of markers. Markers have various bases and tips, there are endless possibilities!
There are two main bases used for markers: alcohol and water. They both have their benefits. Alcohol markers dry quicker than water-based markers because alcohol evaporates quickly and the dye is suspended in the alcohol. It is also easier to create an even layer of pigment with alcohol-based markers by layering the color over itself. On the other hand, if you layer water-based markers over themselves too much, the paper might start to pill. On the other hand, you can achieve different tones with a single water-based marker. You can pick up the pigment of a water-based marker swatch on paper with a wet paintbrush, and the water will dilute the pigment, resulting in a lighter tone. This can help with blending colors and creating gradients. You can also blend with alcohol markers, but it is more difficult to create multiple tones with one alcohol marker. Alcohol markers are more commonly used by professional artists because they are usually on the more expensive side.
Along with the base of the marker, the tip of the marker is also important. A marker's tip determines the line width, or the thickness of the line, that the marker’s pigment will appear on the paper. Chisel tips create broad, wide lines. Fine tips, as suggested in the name give a more fine, thin line. There are also markers with brush tips, also called brush pens. Brush tips allow for varying line width, depending on how much pressure you exert. The more pressure you push down on the brush marker, the thicker the line will be, and vice versa. Brush markers aren't only used for coloring but are also commonly used for calligraphy. All the different types of markers have pros and cons and have a big impact on your art, for the line width or pigment can be changed.
By: Julia Managuelod
Markers! One of the many different coloring mediums. Remember using Crayola markers in elementary school? Sometimes you would reach for a marker, open the cap, and start to color, but the ink was dried out because the last person who used them didn’t put the cap back on correctly. Well, there are so many other different types of markers. Markers have various bases and tips, there are endless possibilities!
There are two main bases used for markers: alcohol and water. They both have their benefits. Alcohol markers dry quicker than water-based markers because alcohol evaporates quickly and the dye is suspended in the alcohol. It is also easier to create an even layer of pigment with alcohol-based markers by layering the color over itself. On the other hand, if you layer water-based markers over themselves too much, the paper might start to pill. On the other hand, you can achieve different tones with a single water-based marker. You can pick up the pigment of a water-based marker swatch on paper with a wet paintbrush, and the water will dilute the pigment, resulting in a lighter tone. This can help with blending colors and creating gradients. You can also blend with alcohol markers, but it is more difficult to create multiple tones with one alcohol marker. Alcohol markers are more commonly used by professional artists because they are usually on the more expensive side.
Along with the base of the marker, the tip of the marker is also important. A marker's tip determines the line width, or the thickness of the line, that the marker’s pigment will appear on the paper. Chisel tips create broad, wide lines. Fine tips, as suggested in the name give a more fine, thin line. There are also markers with brush tips, also called brush pens. Brush tips allow for varying line width, depending on how much pressure you exert. The more pressure you push down on the brush marker, the thicker the line will be, and vice versa. Brush markers aren't only used for coloring but are also commonly used for calligraphy. All the different types of markers have pros and cons and have a big impact on your art, for the line width or pigment can be changed.