SW5

for this project the main artists that greatly had an impact on me was K.Henderson. he is a contemporary artist that studies the native American culture from every aspect in terms of the people - their physical appearance and their stereotypical characteristics. i decided to look at K. Henderson as he appreciates the symbolic meanings of feathers and applies them in his work amongst other symbols that were used by the native americans. i began looking at native americans as a whole as i found that they were the most culture that made use of feathers, so i began looking at the meanings and how they applied it to portray different things.
 * what were the artistic and/or cultural influences for this project? who/what influenced either the composition and/or the style.**

for this studio project i used traditional methods; simply just acrylic paint on a canvis. this painting came from a series of photographs i had taken. i gathered a group of feathers of several different colours and covered a friend of mine in them. i also applied concealer to her face in order to give the pale yet proud look on their faces just like Henderson's paintings. i originally planned to use oil paint, however after experimenting i found that the acrylic gave a better effect when painting the feathers.
 * what materials/ media/ processes did you see and or experiment with, and how?**

for this project, we had more freedom than any other. due to the fact that we were asked to head out in our own directions, it was difficult for others to fully understand where the ideas came from. in the middle of this project we presented our ideas and i took in consideration some of the comments that were being said about my ideas, and my teachers guideline in order to not get off track. for this project i had the idea set in my mind from before we began so it wasnt as difficult to develop it like the previous projects.
 * how do you think you you have responded to advice and criticism during this project (and during the term) both from fellow students and the teacher. did you actively seek advice? if so, was it useful?**

**clearly explain the weaknesses. areas for improvement** the weaknesses in my piece i believe are that i should have put the drawings of the piece nearer towards the centre as in my photograph there is one side with very few feathers however it does not look unproportionate. however, my piece looks quite unproportianate due to the fact that there is a white area that i believe needs to be covered, perhaps i can add more feathers to it, but it would be from imagination rather than the photo.

**clearly explain the strengths of the the piece** the strength of my studio piece is that i believe i was able to develop my ideas and portray the same ideas that K.Henderson has in his work, however using my own ideas. i like the tone and shade of her pale face as it applies to the culture, and i believe i portrayed the eager look in her eyes which represents their pride. i also like the effect of the feathers on the painting, and even though they are not very realistic, the way they intertwine and look a bit abstract portrays the idea that they have a strong symbolic meaning.

for this project i focused mainly on the Native American culture and the way they applied feathers to their everyday lives. i will develop this idea further however i will drift off the culture and research more on a wider scale, perhaps focus on one of the meanings of feathers and develop more ideas from there.
 * what could you take through to the next project and develop further? this could be anything, from a technique to an idea, not necessarily just the theme.**

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