Mary Altamuro - Marking Period One

I am inspired by details.  Once I have arrived at a concept of what I will create, I am from the outset of the creation of a piece, highly intuned to the precise placement of each element in that piece. Deciding how each color relates to the other, complements the other and bounces off one another is taken into consideration along with the strategic placement of the items. One of my favorite things to do is take an object, pull it out of its element, and give it a new perspective. Then, the purpose of the object is completely different. It may or may not be useful, but it will always evoke some type of emotion.

I like to use natural elements, and shape and twist them into something that they were not intended for. I feel that the piece will emit a more honest vibe, if it was created from something that people may see everyday, but never truly appreciate. With this approach, it is sometimes hard to envision how the final product will turn out, but I don't really mind. I feel that the piece will always turn out to be how it was meant to. I'm just helping it complete its aesthetic purpose. I see myself as an aide in helping people recognize the true potential and beauty in commonplace objects.

The process of creating a piece, rather than the actual final product is what is most important to me. For instance, if painting, I am more likely to slowly and carefully paint each color that butts up against another than paint one color over top of the other. I would much rather go through the process of creating a close detail-oriented piece of work, than just have the overall piece be quick, easy and generally aesthetically pleasing. And although not intended, the result of such close detail work is that when someone looks at a piece, it may seem basic at first, but on closer inspection the details begin to show themselves. Someone would have to really be paying attention, in order to truly appreciate my work.

Bottle Cap Poster

An artist named Aurora Robson has been creating pieces from plastic bottle caps for some time now. We learned about her in class and about why and how she creates these pieces. Most of them are reflective of images from nightmares that she used to have. Not coincidentally, since they are made from plastic bottle caps, (which can not be recycled) they share a common element with her audience, as we all share in the nightmare of how we are destroying the Earth with our nonchalant overuse of plastic. Our class was planning to visit Aurora and her new exhibit, and we wanted to be helpful to her cause. So, for our first project we were to create a poster informing people that the art room would be collecting bottle caps.