Final Project Artist Statement

   Six Project Sketches

   Photo of artwork from your culture that inspired your final project 

   By David Ndambuki, "The Maasai"

   Half-way photo

    Finished project photo

Artist Statement 

My background consists of Irish, Native American, and African American. I made this project by using acrylic paint to create the Irish flag. I simply took a pencil and sketched out a human figure that was in an African piece of art. I also decided to incorporate the four symbols from the Irish culture and draw them on the clothing of the African figure. The significance of the shamrock is linked to St. Patrick, Ireland’s patron saint; the claddagh symbolizes friendship, love, and loyalty; the Criple (or Triple) Knot represents the Trinity; the Celtic spiral stands for continuous growth and unity and oneness of spirit.  The space between the spirals stand for the space between life, death and rebirth.  When he arrived in Ireland in 431, Patrick used the shamrock to teach Pagans about the Holy Trinity. I used color pencils to color the sun, person, and Irish symbols. I drew a sun symbol from the Native American culture. Lastly, for texture I used tissue paper, rolled and twisted it, and then glued it down onto the scarf of the person. This process was really simple. 

I made this artwork because it shows where and who I came from. This symbolizes the people who fought for equal rights and what each of my ancestors believed. Actual texture was used in this artwork through the tissue paper, and tint was used to make each side of the flag lighter so that it resembled the real colors of the Irish flag. The secondary color palette was used to create the colors, green and orange, of the flag as well. I think the element form was used by harmony through pattern in the Irish symbols, especially in the second symbol from the top. It also has a more radial symmetrical balance. The element shape was used to create a two dimensional piece of art. The perspective of space was not really used in this, but if anything it would be the sun because it is smaller and higher up, even though we know that the sun is very large. The element line was used to create dashes in the sun above the person. 

My overall thoughts on this artwork is that it came out how I expected it to. At first I had some trial and error with how I was going to do the background, but it turned out pretty good. I feel that this piece was successful, although it could've been better because of minor mistakes. Other than that, I created what I was planning to and it gets the point across.