Teacher Name: Mrs.Castellucci-Cabral
Grade: 12

Materials: Acrylic Paint
Dimensions: 8” × 10”

Artist Statement: The artworks that I submitted to this portfolio are my class projects. My pieces are all supposed to relate to my theme of imagination and how imagination challenges the way you think. My first piece is a record where I’ve painted the Titan god Atlas holding the globe of the world. This piece was a combination of my favorite album, Atlas by The Score, and an artist I researched in class, Francoise Neilly. Atlas is my favorite album because it sends a message of strength and motivation. The story of Atlas is that he was cursed to carry the sky for eternity, and carrying the weight of the world requires a lot of physical muscle and mental resolve. My second piece is an installation where I hung various colorful crane and butterfly origami around a hula-hoop. This was to showcase that the imagination, like a piece of paper, which is what the origami are made of, can be anything you think of. You can turn a simple piece of paper into something more. A simple idea can be transformed into something more if you just use your imagination and take action. My third piece is a painting of a hippo that is wrapped around in vines. Through my research, I found out that hippos symbolize imagination and creativity. This painting shows that the imagination can be restricted, trapped. There are those who will seek to snuff out creative thinking because it’s thinking that doesn’t align with what everyone else thinks. But what’s so wrong with looking at the world differently than others? I used to want to fit in and belong with everyone else, until I learned that I was better off fitting in to what I wanted to be. I find it intriguing and intuitive when I learn of other people’s lines of thinking because it shows that they aren’t concerned about what others will think of their opinions and thoughts. My final piece is an artwork that I did on my own. It’s an acrylic painting of an ice-breathing dragon that always baffles me that I painted such a thing with my own two hands. I had no reason to paint a dragon except that I felt like painting something magical.

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