Touch Assignment

 

Melting touch 2022

14in Drawing with colored pencils and felt-tipped pen

“Our skin is a kind of space in which we maneuver through an atmosphere of horse gases, cosmic rays, radiation from the sun, and obstacles of all sorts.” (Page 54) A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman 

For "Melting Touch" I put a bit more of my personality into it. I related to what Ackerman wrote about in her "Natural History of the Sense."  I wear my skin, my clothes, as a shield against the world and it protects me. I chose to use different colors to symbolize different touches, like green being the softness of grass or blue being the coolness of the water. The hand symbol I choose to do is one that I have found myself doing more often as a way to say hello and project strength.   

Grasp 2022

11 x 14 in 

India ink on mixed media paper 

“ it in prisons us, but it also gives us individual sheep, protects us from invaders, cools us down or heats us up as need be, produces vitamin D, holds in our body fluids.” (Page 54) A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman 

This was more of a free-form piece as I used India ink to make broad brush strokes in order to create a more abstract hand. I choose to make a hand since that is what I associate with touch the most. I choose to make the hand in the shape of a gun to show that we can choose to be gritty and tough with our skin. Our skin can "imprison" as Diane Ackerman previously stated, but it also is such an important part of us as people, and as artists.