The best art supply store doesn't sell art supplies

Sometimes the most creative and coolest pieces of art, are made of stuff other then paint and other conventional art materials.  Don't get me wrong I love using paint as much as the next art student, but sometimes it's fun to break out of the normal art supplies and create art with other items that other people haven't experimented with yet.  Yes using unconventional art materials can be risky and could result in disaster, but why be safe with charcoal or paint, when you can have way more fun outside the art supplies box.

For example 2 of my projects in art 2 didn't use art supplies.  The first one was a portrait of Sands made entirely out of red solo cups.  The other one was a zonkey made with concrete, sticks, and cardboard.

 Why have a boring dinosaur when you can make one out of balloons?












Or Mona Lisa out of peanut butter and jelly?








Maybe Ice Cube made out of Ice Cubes?

All in all I think its better to take risks and be creative with unconventional art supplies rather than being a boring art student stuck using paint and other fine art supplies.

Olivia Gude

Olivia Gude's article on post modern principles explains that people in art need to be taught the different elements and principles to be an artist.  In my opinion I don't think art teachers should teach anything really in art except the materials you can use, and how they are used.  I do like the postmodern techniques such as juxtaposition and layering, and I think they should be taught in school, but more shown examples of what they are and how to do them, then forcing the class to make a piece of art incorporating it.  The whole idea of art, is to make something that means something to you and something you enjoy doing to relax or for pure enjoyment.

No ears were cut off in the making of this project

So originally my question was what is plagiarism, and I decided to copy the style of Van Gogh, specifically his style in starry night.  I decided to go further in the idea of plagiarism and trace the outline of downtown Apex, and paint that in the style of starry night.  I did not plan however, that it would take as long as it has been taking.  Painting with small strokes is very time consuming especially with lots of different colors.  I really like the way it looks though and it so happens to be the next project is artist steal so my project conveniently transfers over to the next one, and if I have time I will do another piece for the new project.