Fifty Ideas

1. Alienation—portraits of alienated characters (example: J. Alfred Prufrock from T.S. Eliot’s poem) paint

2. Ambiguity—a set of broad terms displayed that can each be defined by multiple causes (example: a bookshelf with book titles such as eager, fearful, relieved) photography or mixed media

3. Authenticity—psychedelic forms visually appealing that cannot be re-created through use of colored pencil, oil paint, marker, or watercolor

4. Awakening—moment that changed or transformed a preconceived view (example: my week spent in Amsterdam where the lifestyle is different than the states) photo collage

5. Beginning—pod or seed (example: creation) different versions of forms of pod or seed through graphite, paint, photography, sculpture
6. Body Image—silhouettes of different body types (example: overweight) silhouette shadows of individuals cast against wall and photographed or gray scale drawings/paintings

7. Bricolage—use of leftover fiber materials to create something visually interesting through process of appliqué and stitching

8. Censorship—re-create famous artwork and censor an important part (example: statue of David) paint

9. Code—create quick response (QR) codes in three dimensional forms

10. Companionship—relationship between dogs a humans (example: children and dog interaction “I won’t promise to be your friend forever ever, because I won’t live that long, but let me be your friend as long as I live.”) take photos of children and dog interaction (example: dog giving child a high five) photos of adult and dog interaction (example: homeless person holding dog) and use photos to draw/paint from
11. Connection—create a puzzle (example: the pieces that make a person such as each piece is labeled by a part of significance is ones’ life) three dimensional mixed media

12. Cyborg—a three dimensional piece that combines elements of organic human form fused with technology and robotic parts

13. Diaspora—a futuristic piece that tells a narrative series of the diaspora of the human race to another galaxy through drawing or mixed media

14. Energy—chakra, openings for life energy to flow in and out, development of our self-consciousness through use of colored pencil or watercolor

15. Environment—global warming (example: rising tides on a city) photography/photoshop

16. Environment—mass extinctions (example: Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction) or future extinction through use of graphite and colored pencil

17. Evolution—life cycles and transformations through use of graphite and colored pencil or paint

18. Feminine—female in environment (example: lioness in savannah, mother as a homemaker) draw or paint
19. Fetish—smoke and seduction through photography

20. Future—cities, landscape, towns after apocalypse (example: discovery of something hidden) most present ideas of apocalypse are the end of the world perhaps focus revelation of a meaningful future through drawing, painting, or mixed media

21. Gender-bending—re-create famous artwork and change the person’s gender (example: Mona Lisa with a mustache) draw or paint

22. Globalization—create an artwork combining two or more styles from different cultures (example: a Mandala with Navajo style imagery) textile processes/mark making: monoprinting, removing color

23. Heroes—draw real life heroes as if they were comic book heroes (example: Abraham Lincoln as a superhero with tights and a cape)

24. Humor—ironic, sometimes controversial scenes (example: Osama Bin Laden eating a Big Mac and drinking a Coke) draw, paint, or photography/photoshop

25. Identity—what inspires oneself (example: female with collage of images that inspire flowing from hair, abstract/surreal) paint

26. Intertextuality—portray characters from various similar texts in the same piece (example: Johnny Depp as Edward Scissorhands cutting up cocaine for Johnny Depp as George Jung while Johnny Depp as Hunter S. Thompson waits impatiently)

27. Irony—ironic images (example: photo of a tattoo on a body reading “nothing is permanent”) photography/photoshop

28. Juxtaposition—unlikely juxtapositions (example: manufactured goods grow on the farm) graphite, paint, or photography/photoshop

29. Kitsch—screen-print of several single use items as a commentary on consumer culture

30. Looking glass self—one imagines how they appear to others (example: kitten looking into a mirror and seeing a lion or person looking into mirror but reflection is not the same version of that person) photography/photoshop

31. Love—forms of relationships (example: two skeletons/past lovers, unearthed and remains holding each other) graphite, printmaking, or sculpture
32. Mass Media—recreation of different mass media figures (example: a realistic looking version of Captain Crunch) draw or paint

33. Memory—based on a decade (example: 1960’s) collage

34. Metaphor—the world is in our hands (example: two hands together and painted on them is a globe) draw, paint, or photography/photoshop

35. Mortality—genocide through documentary art

36. Native Americans—animal spirits/symbolism, dreams (example: use of totem pole design, layering of animals) draw, paint, multi-media, sculpture

37. Parody—Madonna painting, with the pop star Madonna’s face in place of the Virgin Mary’s with mixed media

38. Propaganda—a fake advertisement that reflects the post 9/11 American view towards Arabs with mixed media

39. Recycled materials—books (example: open book with image constructed of other recycled materials above depicting message) create a still life and draw what is seen or make sculpture (by use of miniature scraps of material)
40. Reflection—reflections seen through puddles by process of drawing, painting, or photography

41. Religious icons—study of religious icons/symbols in western region of the world (example: Buddhism)

42. Ritual—creating a spiritual pattern (example: Mandala by sand painting as Tibetan monk would) use of marker or textile processes/mark making: monoprinting, removing color

43. Self Portrait—life sized self portrait through mixed media

44. Shyness—play with shadows (example: human interacting with shadow) photography

45. Sound—what does art sound like, what does music look like (example: using sound to create color palette and mark making) draw or paint

46. Storybook—open book with an excerpt from the story viewed three-dimensionally above through drawing

47. Street art—functional, multiple viewpoints through sculpture

48. Surfaces—land (planets), maps, trails (example: use different surfaces to create abstract art on or create maps/trails of vast areas that are less traveled surface) fibers
49. Transformation—evolution and its journey from water to land through process of drawing or painting

50. Wood—the study of trees (example: use of fallen branches, planks of leftover wood, etc. to create carvings/sculpture or paintings)