Gewel Kafka

2012-02-23T02:01:00.002-08:00

Things are well in my artistic world. I feel that school has been a very nurturing place and I have grown as an artist since last September. These last two semesters, I have learned so much about form and the human figure. I am finally starting to bridge the giant gap that exists between my 2 and 3 dimensional world.

My sculpture/pottery teacher is a freaking genius. He had the class start with three, 7 inch torsos, moving on to a seated 1/7th posed figure, then to a 17 inch, half-size torso. Looking at these torsos, I see how useful doing the smaller sculptures first was. I especially see the progress I have made in rendering the shoulder area. In the first photo, the smaller one, her shoulders are too broad. They look as if they belong on an entirely different figure, some kind of body builder chick.

By the time I got to sculpting the bigger one, I was able to realize and learn from my mistakes to not repeat them again.

So I rented an awesome camera for a couple days to photograph art. I have to give it back today, but I made sure to take a ton of pictures before I do. Here are some of my classmates who are awesome.

And here is a panel from the comic Geoff and I are working on.

2012-01-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

This semester I am using my classes to really dig into my artistic process. I have all sorts of things lined up to help me become a better artist. I am in sculpture, ceramics, and drawing. I hope that the drawing and sculpture will further define my style when drawing people.

Here is me paraphrasing a poem from 1912. I like my version better. I might make it into a kids book.

She turned 180 degrees and described her surroundings, which were “three islands in a bay” and “three long mountains and a wood”.

She couldn’t see over her surroundings; they confined her because she felt that she could touch them; they were too close. She lost her breath.

She realized she couldn’t touch the sky like everything else around her and so she challenged the sky by looking at it for a long time until she was able to see the top and that it was not, in fact, infinite. She screamed.

The sky seemed to respond to her call. She was enveloped in feelings of eternity and vastness.

She saw the past and future and the earth open up to show her things she couldn't effect; she was punished for this.

She experienced all the sin, regret, wrong, and greed in the world as her own.

She experienced all the suffering in the world. She died with people as if she were them. She experienced the mourners’ sadness.

She felt people dying and had great compassion. She felt pity to them equal to the pity a god might have.

The weight this empathy brought anguished her spirit.

Freed from the weight of the world by death, but not a physical one because the Earth devoured her into a six foot grave. Her soul escaped.

She was buried and coddled in the Earth until she heard the sound of 'the pitying rain' and she liked it.

She enjoyed the sound of the rain and appreciated its presence. If she were alive she would enjoy it more. She longed to see the end of the storm when the sun comes out to shine.

She begged god to re-incarnate her. She begged god to send the rain harder to wash the dirt from her grave.
It is not long before her prayer was answered and the rain washed her grave away.

A sweet smell came over her and she was reborn. She was able to feel her soul again. How did she not have a soul, she wondered.

She rose out of the grave and hugged a tree.

She hugged the ground, looked to the sky, and laughed until she began to cry. She told her new god that she would never again be unaware of its ‘radiant identity.’
Because the 'radiant identity' permeates everything on earth, she knew she could touch gods heartbeat by simply putting her finger to the earth.

Her heart and soul are vast, her inner world is massive

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T15:46:00.000-08:00

I finished my semester with awesome grades, went to Florida with Geoff to see my brother and mother, and now I'm back in Texas. I didn't take any pictures of our Christmas in Florida because I am on the hunt for a camera.

Here is some of the pottery (what hasn't been given away yet) I made under the guidance of Stan Irving from the Fall semester. I wish I had produced more, but I made enough for Christmas presents at least. I am getting better, but I still feel I have a long way to go. I can't decide if I like pottery or painting more, so I have decided to pursue both with equal vigor.

Here are two paintings I've been working on. I am kind of exhausted after the semester and the trip, but have managed to jump right back into the swing of things. I am coming to a finish with The Matriarch, which I started in April. I am not sure when a real feeling of done-ness will come with this piece. I have had such a love hate relationship with this one. At one point her face had lioness features; she has endured much transformation. I need to plan more efficiently, because I feel like I waste a lot of time.

The Matriarch

This one has been in the works for a couple months. I am in the 'hate stage' with her right now. She is just not done enough to be beautiful yet. I am hoping that in the next couple weeks we can make amends with each other. Her shoulder and neck are still warped somehow. I have been noticing lately how much I skew reality. My perception is what needs to be overcome, or is what I battle to overcome, when I draw.

Angel of revenge