White Mouse
This piece is about Nancy Wake, a British Special Operations Executive agent and maquis leader of the French Resistance in World War II. Being one of the most specialized operatives in the field, she went under four different aliases (Heléne, Andrée, White Mouse, and Witch). As White Mouse, Wake managed to inflitrate, gain information, and then provoke the Gestapo so much that she became the Gestapo's Most Wanted person with a price of five million francs on her head. Under Wake's leadership, until the liberation of France, her 7,000+ strong maquis group fought 22,000 Germans troops and killed 1,400 of them while only losing a 100 men themselves. After the war, she continued to be a badass for the rest of her 50 years of life, gaining the title of one of the most decorated servicewomen of Europe.
Deviating from my usual work, I've made this piece for a fixed assignment for art class. I based the design elements off of Milton Glaser's iconic poster of Bob Dylan to more smoothly translate the secretive spy theme of the piece's historical subject. First, I created a thick, step layered surface in which the thickness increased in increments to the right using old junk mail. Then, I primed and painted with acrylic to create a piece that changes from sculptural and painting with its angle.
From this project, I learned about design elements that would most effectively represent my ideas onto my work. Previously, all my pieces were centered and flat. I've learned about how to position my work so that a more eye-catching, dynamic visual is created. I understand now the importance of learning design basics, because of how it helped in making my own work, but I still don't full get the hype about it. I don't think I'd ever have a passion for just designs, because they don't have contextual bases and I need context to fully appreciate art. If a similar project were assigned in the future, it should assign students to thoroughly study all the works of one designer, and then produce a piece based on the design elements they studied instead of emulating just one piece. This way, students would be able to gaine a wider, more in-depth picture about design, garnering a knowledge about structuring rather than just copying. For my own piece, if I could ever re-do it, I'd create a blacker matte consistency and sharper, smoother lines on the silhouette first. It bothers me how uneven the black is. I'd also create thicker strands of white in the hair, because the hair has more colors in it than the original design's did. However, in the end, I think that my piece is a pretty successful translation of the original design and I think it has served its purpose as an educational tool.
