Water Consumption Project

As the years pass on society is realizing the growing issue of water. Global warming is causing our glaciers to melt resulting in a rising sea level. Not only is the change in temperature affecting the environment, but our use of plastic water bottles is as well. Each year, thousands of plastic water bottles are thrown away, ending up in the water, on beaches or in landfills waiting to decompose... which takes about 450 years. This needs to stop.

At the beginning of the 2017 school year, I was watching a Sunday Morning episode about how when natural disasters strike the relief that is sent isn't always useful. One of the examples was sending water bottles. The interviewee explained that it costs more to store and ship the water bottles when they could be using the water from the local town which helps the economy. Of course, this was just one aspect but it really stuck with me.

That is why when I was given the assignment to create works of art that were based on one topic I figured what better way to generate more awareness and attention.

Sources of Inspiration:

Andy Warhol print of Campbell soup

Video of waste in landfills and the overuse of water https://www.facebook.com/greenpeace.international/videos/10154715234876479/

Water bottle video provided by the environmental club https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se12y9hSOM0&feature=youtu.be

The goal of this project is to create digital and analogical pieces that are inspired by a digital source.

Water Bottles

Water Bottles, the first analogical piece I choose to focus on was inspired not only by the videos listed above but also by the artist Andy Warhol and his prints of Campbell Soup. Campbell Soup was a series of images that sought to generate awareness of mass consumption, which is why I translated that to my artwork of water bottles. I wanted to create a series that drew attention to our water consumption and the waste it generates.

Below is a series of photos that demonstrates the printmaking process and how the images were created.

The image located to the right is the first colour print. I completed a series of 12. I choose to have a tradition colour scheme that would relate to my subject, therefore, the first colour is light blue while the second colour is a much darker blue. These colour choices will help add depth as well as solidify the concept that I would like to bring attention to. Unfortunately, I lost 3 prints to poor alignment. Despite the colour image quality, the darker blue adds a lot of depth and gives the water bottle a roundness.

The final step will be to process the prints and turn them into a display.