Exhibition PortfolioJanelle Etherly

Curatorial RationaleThe theme that I want to express through my art is the relations humans have with nature. In the beginning of the year my theme was going to be the effect humans have on nature, but I changed it because I found it difficult to come up with ideas that did not have a similar features or meaning to the piece. By having my theme become the relation humans have with nature, it allowed me to show different ideas such as the beauty humans can do with nature, but also the destruction and ugliness humanity did to this planet.My artworks did not have a similar art style to them because I wanted to try different ones. The focus was not on the methods used for the pieces, but the messages that they have.

Curatorial RationaleThe interest that I have for humans and nature came from my traveling. I have lived in the urban side of earth during the time that I have lived in New York City. I have also seen the places where human touch is limited because of the environment during the times that I visit Puerto Rico. By seeing the differences that are on the same earth it made me realize that there needs to be a boundary for how much humans change this planet. My reason for creating these artworks is to send a message about this boundary.

Exhibition Photograph 1

Exhibition Photograph 2

Artwork 1

Friendly Tools

Acrylic paint on cardboard

36 x 28 cm

Created from the Surrealist theme, this piece symbolizes the willingness humans have to destroy trees in order to turn it into something that is “tangible” for humans. The piece that inspired me was the Two Children are Threatened by a Nightingale by Max Ernst.

Artwork 2

Two sides of beauty #1

Colored pastel

14.5 x 42.5 cm

This is a diptych that shows the beauty in both nature and what humans create. I made them connected as a necklace to show that one side effects the other..

Two sides of beauty #2

Colored pastel

14.5 x 42.5 cm

The second part of the diptych is the one in which we create beautiful things. I decided on pearls because they are the embodiment of classic jewels.

Artwork 3

Everyday leaves

Photograph with Mod Podge on cardboard

35 x 27.5 cm

I took this photo while walking around school because I wanted to express that even the things that we see everyday can be deemed as art.

Artwork 4

Smoky Air

Acrylic paint

33 x 22.5 cm

I came up with this piece from the documentaries and pictures that I see about the amount of gas and contaminated smoke we create. The blue spots that can be seenshows what could be seen instead of the greys, if we change our ways.

Artwork 5

Potential Growth

Watercolor with ink

22 x 43 cm

This piece I made symbolizes that even the trees that are cut down may still have the opportunity to grow back to what it was once before.

Artwork 6

Humans overcoming Nature

Watercolor

17.5 x 25.5 cm

The Stil life that I created has different objects that represent the ways in which humans have been able to overcome some of Nature’s obstacles. I capitalized nature because I wanted to show that she is being personified into a godlike figure.

Artowork 7

Stump

Photograph

35 x 27.5 cm

I wanted to express this picture to show that even though the tree has been cut, it still can be used.

Artwork 8

The things we never notice

Watercolor

32.5 x 23 cm

This silhouette I created based off one of the pictures that I took while walking around the school looking for things that I have not noticed.