The Yellow Parrot-Like Bird

For today, I figured I'd share what I've been doing in class since I am very close to completing it. We were given the assignment to papier-mache anything with the fallback being a bird, good thing I was planning on doing a bird anyway. I decided to depict a bird someone very close and important to me often dreamed about. He dreamed of a yellow parrot-like bird who would come and save him from torment, swooping down and lifting him to a paradise, soaring high above everyone and everything else. I used a paper towel roll for the body and some cardboard for the wings. I bunched up newspaper for the head. I then used newspaper to papier-mache most of the body. Because the yellow paint was too light and didn't cover the newspaper I added a white coat first and next I plan to paint it yellow. Sadly I don't have a picture so I chose a phoenix to represent the bird. My teacher made a comment yesterday asking if my bird was like a phoenix and in a way it is. The phoenix represents rising from the ashes as I believe the person I made this for has done. I can't wait to finish it, I hope if he were here he would love it.    
I could not find who made this but the credit goes to them.

Joseph Cornell

Five pieces I like and why.
1.  The bird is pretty cute and it looks like he's in a little kitchen!

2. Though it's untitled it's often referred to as 'Pink Palace' which appeals to me immediately. I feel like if you step back you can see people moving.

3. This reminds me of a silent film background like in 'A Trip to the Moon'.

4. I like how dreamy this is. It's like this girl is flying away, playing with her ball, not worried about anything.

5. Swans are pretty cool. They look sweet but don't make them mad!

Kathe Kollwitz

I came across Kathe Kollwitz a week or two ago while watching a documentary about World War I, I felt her art was incredibly moving and powerful, so when looking for people to do this entry on, I was pleased to see her again. Kollwitz's work was very much based on her grief and the grief of others after the war, her son Peter died during the war and her sadness is reflected in her art. Kathe Kollwitz is someone I would love to learn more about for her art and politics-which were socialism, pacifism, and she displayed interest in communism but I'll let that slide. Her art has such emotion to it you can see it clearly and feel the pain, she is truly one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.


'The Grieving Parents'-a monument to her son, Peter
Inside Neue Wache in Berlin where her sculpture 'Mother with her Dead Son' is the centrepiece. The memorial is for 'Victims of war and dictatorship'
 

She also did etchings this one is called 'Woman with Dead Child'.

'The Survivors'

Mobiles!

For some reason when I woke up this morning I thought 'I should post about mobiles'. So here we are:

Paper Mache Birds

 

Crowns as art part 2

Thought I'd take another look at some of the more art inspired crowns of the world.

 The Imperial Crown of  Russia survived the Russian Revolution, this however, is a replica.

   Imperial Crown of Brazil

 The Pahlavi Crown from Persia/Iran

 Another Imperial Crown this one belonged to the Japanese Emperor Komei

 The detail on this crown is amazing, this is the crown of King Christian IV of Denmark

 Our final entry is the Crown of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III of France

Crowns as Art

Gonna be doing something a bit different today, rather than sculptures I'm going to be focusing on 3D design as it pertains to royal crowns.
 Perhaps the most famous, the 'Imperial State Crown' of The United Kingdom

Crowns as art, best example?  The 'Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire'

 Holy Crown of Hungary

 The Kiani Crown of Iran/Persia

 One of several Gold Crowns from the Korean Kingdom of Silla

 Iron Crown of Lombardy

Crowns take many shapes and span the continents, there is a certain artistry needed in the designs of these historical pieces and they tell us a lot about the Kingdoms they hail from, from just from a glance.