Conscience

A piece done for a Photography project and recently touched up some for the fun of it. 3 separate photographs, combined into one image. The 'angel' and 'devil' were drawn by hand, scanned, modified, printed and then glued to my shoulders. Just a fun little project. Original is hanging in my parents home, a gift/reimbursement for helping me through school.

Some have requested that I repeat the project with their children. I may if I can find the original cut-outs, which were proto-types for 'The Path' and 'Equilibrium,' I liked those drawings, I still have the originals burried away for their own protection.

Maveen, llc Logo

Finishing up my first official freelance project with Overseas Council International. They are starting a sister company, Maveen llc. Maveen is old Hebrew for one who understands. The company will provide finder services for missions organizations and church departments. So, say that a missions organization needs the services of a Graphic Artist (ahem), a consultant or a HR person, Maveen would have a list of possible people in that area of expertise that they could contact for their assistance. More than this, I can not explain how everything works. They are an excellent group of people: Kathy Hanger and Katie Bausman have been my direct contacts and they are great to work with.

My part in the creation of Maveen, llc was to design a logo for the company and to create the business papers (business cards, letterheads and envelopes). They wanted a limited color pallete of white, black and blue. The only other stipulation was that they wanted the logo to have hidden, religious meaning to the logo.

The final logo:

The logo is three arrows pointing towards each other, creating a negative cross space when combined with the business name. The arrows are to show that everything that Christians do should point back at the cross.

Business Papers:

Equilibrium

This piece that I did for a layout and design project. The figures are pen and pencil, scanned into a computer and then manipulated in Photoshop and given a background. These figures are one of the inspirations for what would become my Senior Show (See below). They are the oldest incarnations of both figures as they appear in The Path.

The Path: 2008 Taylor Senior Show

This is my equivalent of a Senior Thesis. Each art student regardless of specialization was required to complete a gallery-style art show for graduation that would display the skills that they learned throughout their years at Taylor. My show combines digital photography, heavy digital manipulation (mostly through Photoshop, but also with a bit of InDesign thrown in) as well as drawing.

The following is a copy of my artist statement as displayed with my Senior Show, following each work is a basic description of its content (though none of its meaning, art is completed in the mind of the viewer after all).

"I create because I feel that I am driven to do so. I believe that everyone has the capacity to create and should strive to be creative. The race of man is called by God to be his Image Bearers. While this means different things to different people, as an artist, I see it as a mandate to be creative. God himself is the Supreme Creator, creating everything, and by being creative we can gain insight into the ‘personality’ of God.

My style of choice is illustration. My most prominent influences are comics and graphic novels. Those that have captured my imagination run the gamut from cartoonist Bill Waterson’s Calvin and Hobbes; being the first comic that I had ever read (his Tracer Bullet story-arcs at the fore-front), to graphic novelists such as Mike Mignola, the artist of “Hellboy,” David Lloyd of “V for Vendetta” and more recently, Niko Henrichon, the artist for “Pride of Baghdad.” The illustrative styles of graphic novels create vast, dark shadows and grainy feel on paper that captures part of the grime and gritty reality of the world.

An important influence in my work is music. Music gives focus to my mind’s eye and allows it to freely wander. In this work, the layout and form of each piece is partially inspired by a song. The songs inspired the framework of meaning behind each piece and the collection as a whole. While the work itself is a linear narrative, the songs that formed each piece are from a different artist and of a different style.

The path of life is made up of a series of hills and valleys…

Everyone has difficulties in their lifetime, which are as different as the people who have them. Everyone has been down that dark corridor and faced with a choice. We all must make the choice; when hopelessness and despair weigh heavily on our soul do we let it crush us or do we push on in spite of it? The path of life will inevitably lead us into a valley, but the moment of truth, is when atrophy and hope wage war. There are those who wallow and fail in the valley, but there are those who press on and follow the path to the summit and bathe in the sun."

The first 3 pieces in the body of work were displayed on a wall together, to create a connection between the 3 figures in the separate works.

Cornerstone (1st of 3)
An angel, sitting and waiting to come to the defense of his charge, bearing the scars of previous encounters.
You Are Everything (2 of 3)

A man standing at the entrance to a dark alley way, preparing to begin his journey to the light in the distance.

Fury (3 of 3)

A devil, sitting and waiting for the moment to act and prevent his target from reaching his goal, to leave him lost in the shadows.

Losing An Artform

The man finds himself in an unfamiliar place, lost within the valley. Unable to find his way, his goal seams distant and unreachable.

The Last Letter

With the weight of his endeavour and crushing despair start to wear upon him, he contemplates the easy way, to give up and flounder in hopelessness.

Supernatural

The angel and the devil wage war over the man's soul, both fight for the man's surrender.

I'm Diving In

(After the piece, I'm Diving In, the show stopped and moved to a different wall to create dramatic tension). The man stands at the brink, forcing himself to make the decision of whether to jump or not.

On Distant Shores

The man kneels in a church, having chosen hope over despair, he dives into the mercy of God, finding that surrender does not always mean loss.

Recall

The man walks forward, Bible in hand, towards his goal, leaving the broken and defeated demon behind him. His guardian has lead him from the shadows and entering the light.

I Am Free

The man has removed his coat, having left the world of shadow, he has finally reached his goal and takes a moment to rest in the sun.

While there is much more symbolism in the body of work, I have left out the description of most of it so that the viewers can find it for themselves, because if you give out all the answers, people will stop looking for them.

Astronaut

This was a piece that I donated to a charity auction for the Alzheimer's Association. It is done with ink on lined paper. The work was inspired by the song "Daylight" by the band Brave Saint Saturn.

ADARA box

This was part of a product line design assignment, specifically the outer box. The box was created using Photoshop and InDesign then lined with matboard.

Sparks-Character Study

This was a character study done for a sketching class during my time at Purdue. The character was designed for a Robots/Prey cross-over assignment. Part of a larger character study. The work is pen and pencil on graph paper.