graphite, micron; 20×16″
“We researched and studied human rights before picking our project. The topic I chose was conservation of forest and wildlife because of the mass deforestation and extinction of many plant and animal species. The creativity that sparked my curiosity for art was my mom she used to draw all the time. She would sell her art and she was completely self-taught, I was inspired by this and picked up art and have been doing it since. In my art class we looked at pieces of art on various social justice topics created by current professional artists. the task now was using symbolism to visually communicate our voice for social justice. I used graphite to start lined with black permanent marker, the techniques where cross hatching and fine line detail. Fine line detail is heavy and thin lines to show value. Cross hatching is X’s that get closer and further apart to show value. The image I’ve created is a heart with a tree growing out of it to represent are planet, Theres a city to the right dumping all kinds of bad stuff in our atmosphere showing what we are doing to are planet. The image on the left is snowy mountains and trees to show what it was industrialized.”
ARTIST BIO: Preston Cox is a grade 11 student at Butler Tech School of Art studying art under art teacher Mary Catherine Ruby.