Silhouette Project

This silhouette project helped me take a deeper look into who I am, and how I have changed within the past couple years of my life. I’ve always known that I am an “older soul,” I’ve never truly believed that I was born in the proper time period. Even when I talk to others about my personality and my “inner spirit” everyone comes to the agreement that the personality traits that I possess are not characteristic within modern-day social mores. Alas that is why I chose to do the foreground of my silhouette project in a classic black and white style. Aside for this style being a classic, tradition style it also reminding me of one my favorite past-times, photography. My love of photography, particularly my love of black and white photography is the reason why I chose to construct the foreground out of circles. To me this overlapping of black and white circles reminds me a lot of a camera flash, that bright light that has the ability to cut through the darkness and produce something that can last a person a life time. And that is what I have learned about myself through this assignment, that I have the ability to be that ‘light’ on someone’s life (as clichéd as that may sound). Alas, I have yet to talk about the background of my silhouette. It as well plays off my old soul, the lines of color are not random, they are in a pattern similar to that of television that has lost its signal. Not only does this show my affinity for the modern technological era, but it is also symbolic of me being out of touch with the modern era. I will be the first to admit that there is a disconnect between myself and the modern world, much like the signal of a television being lost. More importantly I chose to do the background in a decorum of rigid geometric triangular shapes, this signifies the rigidity of the world out outside of the bubble that I like to call my life. Overall I can say that I have learned a lot about myself through this assignment, more importantly I’ve learned that although there may be a disconnect between me and the technological world, I can still be a presence in it and should not be afraid to be myself.

Silhouette Project

This silhouette was a very difficult project, but a good way to express who I am as a person. I used 3 different colors, or atleast attempted to. The white kind of say that inside I am a calm person, I don't like to show when I get frustrated or upset, I just stay calm at all times. The blue and gold (kind of) back round shows my high school colors, which is where I had some of the best days of my life. Also, another main reason was the combination of blue and white, which is the colors of Greece, where I lived for a few years and holds a special place in my heart because of my friends and family and the memories I have from living there.

Silhouette Collage

My silhouette collage was created using nearly all geometric shapes except where creating my silhouette require the use of half amorphous shapes. Using mainly geometric shapes was a way for me to illustrate my need for control and order in my life. I like things to be a certain way which is why my silhouette is well ordered mosaic tiles. The different colors of the tiles represent different aspects of my personality. Cool, pale blues are a calming color to me, they represent my efforts to keep my life well ordered and laid back when possible. The darker blues are more mysterious and indicate a more brooding aspect to my personality. The shades of silver are bright, they show that when I am good at something I can really shine. The pops of grapefruit color are to show that I am not always serious and do have a fun and spontaneous side. In the ground around my silhouette I used dark colors, a lot of contrasting colors, and some brighter colors to represent different elements of the world as I see it. Its a lot to look at, sort of chaotic and a little distracting, which is how the world often seems to me. I also used some of the same mosaic tiles from my silhouette in the background to show how I try to influence and control some of the world around me. I noticed when I finished my collage that my silhouette almost seems to be lost among the many elements I included. It surprised me, but seemed fitting to my personality. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the world, I don’t like being the center of attention and prefer to find a way to blend in to the background. Although if people care to look, I am easy enough to find.

Silhouette Project- Kazmyn Perry

       Doing this collage allowed me to reflect on my own characteristics. It showed me that I'm even more complicated than I already feel. When I began to explain the meaning of the colors and shapes of the collage to my friends, they seemed to completely understand my thought process and was amazed at how I portrayed it. The self-portrait tells a lot about my personality and goals and feelings. The actual silhouette is so dynamic and full of color that is shows how many different ideas, feelings, and thoughts I possess. It tells the story of how I became the person who has many different talents and desires. 

        My collages colors are all pretty bright and evoke some type of emotion already. For the background, I used blue and cut those pieces into rectangles. This area represents the world. To me the world is full of people who stay inside their own respective boxes of rigidity and simplicity and never dare to venture out. The color blue is a tranquil color but also a color that fails to represent a spontaneous aspect. The pieces in the background dont completely cover the board and that represents the small spaces where those with individualistic mindsets and personalities must dwell. For my silhouette, I used a multitude of colors. In the shoulders, I used mostly gold with little pieces of red. The gold represents the phrase "heart of gold". It shows that I often have good intentions and would characterize myself as being innately caring, generous, and service oriented. The little pieces of red represent greed, vanity, selfishness, and a stubborn nature. These are characteristics that I hold, but ones that stand to undermine or destroy all good intentions.  

          My head has mostly pink and a little bit of orange and red. My thought process for using the pink is to describe the vibrant nature of my ideas, actions, and beliefs. It shows my passion and how dominant it is in my thoughts. I believe that everything I do has passion behind it. The pieces of red are on my lips because it shows how the passion that I have for my beliefs often leaves my mouth in an aggressive manner. To me red is the most aggressive color. The orange that is in my mind represents the idea of uncertainty. Although I can be very aggressive and at the same time very confident, there are times when doubt can set in. Those are the times when I wonder if my thoughts are too radical for the world. Doubt is my least favorite emotion. I used geometric shapes in the shoulders area to show the traditional nature of my heart and the traditional nature of the things that threaten anyone's good nature. I felt that those things could translate to anyone and would therefore need to be structured. My heart itself is the most structured thing about me. I tend to feel only what I feel is appropriate, and if I don't, I work to. The pieces in my head are amorphous to represent the sheer complexity of my mind. I don't think like everyone else, but I believe that also makes me very dynamic. 

Silhouette Project- Kathryn Graham

The silhouette project allowed me to learn many things about myself. Not only was I able to realize new aspects and facets about myself but also I was able to learn about my personal take on color and how that is reflected through my emotions.

When beginning this project I thought it would be easy to create a work of art that reflected my emotions through the use of color. That thought turned out to be completely wrong as I started and then continued to work on my piece. I began to critically think about the placement of colors, the shapes I would use, and the placement of the specific colors I choose. This obsession over such things began to reflect how much of a perfectionist I am along with having to be organized at all times. To reflect this feeling but at the same time trying to steer away from this I used geometric shapes for the ground of my piece and organic shapes for the figure of the piece. I choose to use geometric shapes for the ground to represent the organized perfectionist side of me that people can view from my outer being. My figure has organic shapes to portray all the thoughts and ideas jumbled inside my head and how internally I am not organized or perfect at all which my outward actions seem to portray.

As for the color in my piece, my figure consists of shades of blue, green, and pink. Each color was picked for a specific reason that I did not fully know the reason behind until my piece was completed. After researching each color I used I found out that blue represents the meanings of chastity, loyalty, fidelity, faith, modesty, and eternity. I can see myself in this color and shades thereof because I have always been loyal and modest and have faith in what I do and accomplish in life. I also used blue to signify calmness within all the craziness that goes on internally for me. Green has the meanings of love, joy, abundance, hope, gladness, and spring. All of these descriptors match me again as ideas or things that I enjoy, strive to obtain or be to others and myself. Pink stands for love, purity, kindness, energy, passion, power, and courage. My reasoning behind using pink did not match the definition I found for pink. I used to pink to symbolize the erratic thoughts, stress, and all the pent up craziness that I have inside me that people often do not see. As for using black and white for my ground it was based on the outer characteristics people possibly can see in me. Black has the meaning of independence, death, strength, protection, and mystery. I choose it based on how independent I am in my life, the strength to get me through the hardest of times I have, and the wall I put up to protect myself from getting hurt.

As for white it means light, goodness, innocence, and perfection. I used white to signify the perfection I seek in many aspects of my life along with the light I have about life. When looking at the use of all my colors together for the piece I chose them to signify that I am a colorful person in a black and white world while my inner identity is not always conveyed on the outside. No matter what my colors, though, I have to remember there is only one me!

Silhouette Project- Sarah Leib

The main colors that I used to represent myself for the silhouette project were blue and purple. In the interior of my silhouette, I used these two colors to represent many characteristics. The reason the interior of my silhouette is composed of many little pieces is because it represents the many pieces that create who I am today and who I strive to become. My life is like a puzzle, yet to be complete, but each day it gets a little bit closer to being a whole. The interior is mostly covered in blue which represents my creativity and intelligence. Blue to me also represents my strength, the wisdom I’ve obtained, and the trust I hold between my friends and family. There are spurts of purple throughout the interior because it represents the mystery and nobility of my life.

The background of my silhouette represents the world around me. The background is composed of mostly black with random spurts of red. I used black to represent the evil and the dangers of the world around me. I placed little spurts of red in the background, red is mainly associated with caution, blood and war. It's me against the world.

Silhouette Project - Cam Thompson

I began my silhouette project by keeping a consumption journal for two weeks (September 28^th-October 9^th); and over this time, it became quite clear that I was a creature of habit. I tend to buy the same brands and I am very loyal to certain product lines, Tazo tea, Numi tea and Kin’s Kitchen for Chinese takeout. Surprisingly, I discovered that I was fairly predictable in shopping, even for new items I tried this year, like Ile De France, Yoplait, Quaker oatmeal, Jif peanut butter, Inter-American select nuts and Mike’s hard lemonade. Because of my consistency, I decided to create my silhouette using the most frequent items I have consumed over my life span (depicted as the background) and my latest obsessions (as my silhouette). Apparently, I have consumed more Chinese takeout and green tea than anything else in my 21 years. I also noticed that the majority of the products I have and continue purchasing come in green packages, which happens to be my favorite color. Is it shallow that I try new items partly due to color? I don’t think so in the least, since the color is what attracted me to them in the first place!

I feel that my consumption pattern reflects my personality and how I approach most aspects of my life. I enjoy a busy and fairly predictable schedule, and I am conscientious of what I consume in a health sense.