Julie Ann Schafer

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

New Work

"Shadow of a Silhouette"

5 x 7 inches

May, 2012

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Images that appear in my artwork are images happened upon in the darkness. My work often is about dusk or nighttime, and even more importantly the dramatic interaction between light and dark. I am overcome by the beauty of how an object can be illuminated or silhouetted by a subtle light.

I begin the chiaroscuro drawings by smothering all of the light from a white sheet of paper. It is in this blackness that I find the image by reducing with erasers and adding with charcoal. The objects shift and change and move first quickly and then slower and finally come to a place to rest. After the locations are solidified, and only when it is absolutely necessary, do I use white charcoal, and even then it is to add only the brightest of highlights.

The way in which I feel and touch my drawings helps the narratives elicit a mixture of emotions. Certain drawings, such as the ones of animals, bring about protective and warm feelings. This can be seen in Niblet 2006, in which the animal’s figure covers nearly the entire surface of the intimate pocket-sized paper. This scale reveals the vulnerability of the creature. Works that question the existence of things have a far more unsettling effect. The relationship between the sharply and softly defined figures of two little girls in Victorian Ghost Story 2008 has just such a disquieting and tense atmosphere.

Metaphor is an important aspect in Untitled 2009, where Celtic knots are laid over an image of a pumpkin. The pumpkin is a symbol of the human soul in my art, which is inspired by Ray Bradbury’s The Halloween Tree. The addition of the Celtic knots brings up a theme that is present in much of my work, which is the idea of beginnings and endings.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Honors Project: In Need of Good Home

Callie

Miu Miu

Elvis and Priscilla

Wegman

For my Honors Show, I drew portraits of animals who were available for adoption at the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. Like the real animals, the drawings were available for adoption. Also like the real animals, there was an "adoption fee" that went to the center to help support its animals and programs. Their adoptions helped raise three hundred dollars for the shelter.