1. Portfolios
I have created a number of portfolios in my career. I was first introduced to the
idea in 1991 under the direction of Ilene Lund in the Advanced Placement Art
class at Ithaca Senior High School. The advanced placement class was a
capstone to a series of artistic exploration. While creation of new work was
encouraged, the focus of the class was to collect and analyze my body of
artistic works and prepare a selection for photographing and submitting with
college applications.
Inside
I studied art throughout High
school and carried a sketch-pad
constantly. In the spring of 1988 I began supplementing the art
classes available with independent figure drawing sessions at
the Community School of Music and Art (CSMA.) These were not
instructed lessons, just a nude model available or the group to
sketch. The only structure was a increasing duration of the
poses.
Through the exploration of the nude figure, I developed intuitive
knowledge of the proportions of the human structure. Following
examples demonstrate an in-depth exploration of body
proportions combined with the underlying bone structure and
use of color and body language to convey a mood.
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2. (Continued from cover)
Most of my art classes focused on drawing. I explored through the medium of
pastel the proportions of the human face and the theories of warm and cool
color placement to convey a feeling of three dimensions on a flat plane. A
skeleton was available for study in the art room and I was drawn to the
underlying structures of the face. I frequently brought in-class projects home to
work on adding fixatives and layering the pastel. This depth of detail in my
personal style is seen in the images below which show the drawing in an
unfinished stage for comparison with the final
piece:
3. These examples show the detail worked in
medium to long poses. Though half-hour
poses are grueling for a model to
maintain, I did not feel that any of the
shorter pose pieces were worth
photographing for this collection. The
personal style shown as a consistent
attribute of my work is most evident in
these pieces.
5. Various themes became apparent in the unassisted choices
people made. As shown to the left there were several
butterflies and floral explorations requested.
An unexpected result of offering historical examples to
facilitate an informed decision was to inspire a unique new
theme. These examples are the exterior of participants
eyelids painted to look like open eyes.
6. I documented the
presentation of the AAFF space at
the various festival locations where we
offered the unique fusion of visual and healing arts. The initial intent
was for my own personal history, these images were not used in the body art
examples portfolio.
Later in submitting applications to festivals to show and sell my jewelry art, I used
this portfolio to demonstrate the image I would present as a vendor.
7. The culmination of my experience
documenting my artwork is evident on my
web-store, Sun Goddess Ally’s Designs, http://
store.sungoddessallydesigns.com/. I explored the art of
jewelry design through personal experience as a teenager, I
coveted the finer beads available at Rio, a store which offered
beads and findings a-la-carte. As an adult I was able to revisit my
flare for design and also created a fusion with astrology with the
guidance of the Crystal Zodiac1 written by Judy Hall.
Items in my Crystal Zodiac line are constructed of gemstones which are listed as
beneficial to each specific sign of the zodiac in Judy Hall’s book. I have also used
Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic2 and various web
resources as a guide to composing descriptions of my designs.
Precious and semi-precious as well as polished, natural, and rough-cut varieties of
stone are used in my designs. Materials are purchased on-line and at festivals and
gem shows in upstate New York. I differentiate the various stones as well as their
quality rating through personal observation. For most of my designs I prefer the B
or C grade stones both for lower cost, and for unique shape and color variations.
I photograph each piece under natural light and flash conditions, then I use photo
editing to adjust brightness contrast and gamma attributes and crop the image to
a pleasing composition. These examples are of my latest
line of wire wrapped pendants where I have combined
two polished cabochons of
different sizes with precious metal
in designs which express
recognizable
themes.
