Aesopica: Art of the Allegory
In my senior year of high school, I worked on an investigation focusing on illustrating fairy tales from my childhood through mixed media. Reflecting back on this body of work inspired me to create a new project, Aesopica: Art of an Allegory. These pieces further explore fairy tales that I read as a kid, and how they helped shape my artwork, interests, and personal morals and beliefs today. They were featured in a solo gallery in the Arts and Research Complex at Jacksonville University.
The Aesopica: Art of an Allegory consisted of fifteen 9x12 wood burns and digital sketches that each illustrated an Aesop's fable from my childhood books, resulting in 34 pieces in total created over half a year. A majority of pieces highlighted a specific scene from its respective story, while others focused on conveying ideas through the use of flower symbolism. I used wood stain to create a sense of mood, as well as add a darker value into the piece to create balance. I focused primarily on texture, line, and composition in this body of work while emulating a similar style to etching in printmaking.