This document summarizes Kayla Schonvisky's Art 21 project where she responded to and was inspired by the works of several artists, including Katharina Grosse, Vija Celmins, and Kara Walker. For Grosse, Kayla created a painted rose sculpture in response to Grosse's painted pine tree. For Celmins, she drew fallen leaves in graphite to emulate Celmins' realistic style. In response to Walker's cut paper silhouettes, Kayla created a mixed media work about lost identity using newspaper and a dog tag.

1. Art 21 Project
Kayla Schonvisky

2. Inspired by: Katharina Grosse
This artist is interested in acrylic painting.
She sprays bright, vibrant colors on large
sculptural objects. She chooses her colors
depending on the light in the space and how
it interacts with the objects. She explores
size relationships between people and their
surroundings with her large scale
sculptures. She is not limited to just the
object, but also changes the objects
surroundings. She also makes people
question everyday objects by altering their
appearance.
I Think This Is a Pine Tree, Katharina Grosse, 2013, Acrylic on Wall, Floor, Tree
Trunks and Roots, 19 ¼ x 42 ½ x 29 ½ ft

3. Response to Katharina Grosse
I wanted to respond by creating a similar
composition, instead of a tree, I chose a rose for a
smaller scale. I think this artist has an interesting
way of defining object through acrylic paint. You
question what the object is because it does not look
like the original object we are used to seeing in
everyday life. When creating my response to the I
Think This Is a Pine Tree piece by Katharina Grosse,
I wanted to have a similar concept to the artist. The
artist says that when you look at her painted tree,
you think it’s not a tree, but at the same time it’s a
tree. With my response to this, you can clearly see
the object is a flower, but is not a flower because it is
something different compared to what we see
normally. When choosing the colors for a sculpture,
the artist chooses colors based on the space, and
something that reflects the space. I chose my colors
in a similar way, but I based it on shadows and
highlights. Where there was a shadow, I used a
darker color, and for a highlight I used a lighter
I Think This Is a Rose, Kayla Schonvisky, 2014, Acrylic on Rose color.
and Paper, 37 x 46 x 23cm

4. Artwork from the textbook
relating Katharina Grosse
Untitled, Lee Krasner, 1940, Oil on Canvas, 30 x 25
in.
I think that Katharina Grosse and Lee Krasner
have similar style. Both use bright and vibrant
colors and create abstract, different looking
works of art. Although Katharina Grosse uses
more sculpture than painting, she still is able to
express herself in such an abstract way. Lee
Krasner also has a similar style, with the
abstract geometrical forms and bright vibrant
colors. Both artists do a good job of integrating
abstract objects and shapes with aesthetically
pleasing colors and designs. Both artists also
don’t use distracting backgrounds in their
works, but rather something that enhances the
beauty of the composition.

5. Inspired by: Vija Celmins
Vija Celmins makes her own
renditions of photographs of natural
objects. She uses paint, graphite,
charcoal, print-making and many
more for a picture-like effect. She
tends to choose photographs that
lack a point of reference, horizon, or
depth. She paints or draws these
pictures with immense accuracy, and
usually takes months to years to
complete a piece. She seems to be a
perfectionist when it comes to her
work. For one of her works, she said
that she has redone it several times.
Her work looks like it could be a
photograph because it is so realistic.
Pencil, Vija Celmins, 1967, Wood and Painted Canvas, 7 x 7 x
38 inches
Untitled (Web 1), Vija Celmins, 2001, Mezzotint on Hahnemühle
Copperplate paper, 23 x 18 3/4 inches

6. Response to Vija Celmins
Fallen Leaves, Kayla Schonvisky, 2014, Graphite on
Paper, 21 x 23 cm
I wanted to respond to Vija Celmins
style by attempting to accurately draw
some fallen leaves I found in my yard.
I chose the leaves because Vija
Celmins is very talented at accurately
portraying natural objects, so I wanted
to try my best with a simple natural
object. Like Vija Celmin’s subject
matter, my subject matter did not
have any point of reference,
horizontal, or depth. I think this artist
is very talented in accurately depicting
objects in their natural state, and has a
lot of patience to get her work to the
picturesque quality. I chose to try
graphite as my medium because I feel
that paint is very hard to control when
you want to have a lot of detail.

7. Artwork from the textbook
relating Vija Celmins
Still Life with Cherries and Peaches, Paul Cezanne, 1882-85, Oil on
Canvas, 19 ¾ x 24 in
Paul Cezanne and Vija Celmins have a
similar style. They both seem to be
able to accurately depict natural object
of the world through painting.
Although Vija Celmins usually uses
only black and white colors, she is still
able to create a very accurate piece.
When she does use colors, she can
make accurate colors that perfectly
match what she is trying to recreate.
Paul Cezanne also uses realistic
looking colors giving almost a
picturesque look to his work.

8. Inspired by Kara Walker
Mistress Demanded a Swift and Dramatic Empathetic
Reaction Which We Obliged Her,Kara Walker, 2000,
Projection, cut paper and adhesive on wall, 12 x 17 feet
Darkytown Rebellion, Kara Walker, 2001, Projection, cut
paper and adhesive on wall, 14 x 37 1/2 feet
Kara Walker uses black paper to cut
out silhouettes of people in order to
tell a story. She is best known for
exploring the intersection between
race, gender, and sexuality through
her silhouettes. She cuts large figures
out of the paper and places them on a
wall in a room. Sometimes a light is
projected onto the wall, so the viewer’s
shadows are cast onto the wall. This
effect almost makes the viewers feel
like they are part of the scene in order
to relate to the work.

9. Response to Kara Walker
Lost Identity, Kayla Schonvisky, 2014, Mixed Media, acrylic paint, paper, aluminum
foil, 30 x 22.5 cm
When I look at Kara Walker’s work, the
silhouettes remind me of someone
without an identity. When I thought of
people with missing identities, I
thought of soldiers. They have dog tags
that are like their identity. If they die,
people can identify them by their dog
tag. I tried to make silhouettes with
newspaper instead of black paper
because we hear all the coverage of
wars from the media, the dog tag I
tried to really emphasize with shiny foil
and having it be right in the middle of
the page because this is what I thought
of when I thought of identity. I thought
of this concept because veteran’s day
was not too long ago and my
grandfather was in the Vietnam War, it
is actually his dog tag I incorporated
into the work.

10. Artwork from the textbook
relating Kara Walker
The Raft of Medusa, Theodore Gericault, 1819, Oil on Canvas,
16ft. 1 ¼ in. x 23ft. 6 in.
I think Kara Walker and Theodore
Gericault have similar stories. Both artists
tell a story through their art that is
somewhat violent in a way. Both artists
have made larger scale works. They also
both have their own artistic way of
recognizing something that happened
during history. Theodore Gericault is
showing a scene where there was a
shipwreck off of the coast of Africa, and
people were left behind by the captains to
fend for themselves. Kara Walker shows
slavery in the United States, as well as
exploring gender, race, and sexuality.

11. Works Cited
• PBS. "Katharina Grosse." PBS. PBS, 2014. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/katharina-grosse>.
• PBS. "I Think This Is a Pine Tree (2013) | ART21." I Think This Is a Pine Tree (2013) | ART21.
N.p., 2013. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.art21.org/images/katharina-grosse/i-think-this-
is-a-pine-tree-2013?slideshow=1>.
• PBS. "Kara Walker." PBS. PBS, 2003. Web. 25 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/kara-walker>. PBS. ""Mistress Demanded a Swift and
Dramatic Empathetic Reaction Which We Obliged Her" (2000) | ART21." "Mistress
Demanded a Swift and Dramatic Empathetic Reaction Which We Obliged Her" (2000) |
ART21. N.p., 2003. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.art21.org/images/kara-walker/
mistress-demanded-a-swift-and-dramatic-empathetic-reaction-which-we-obliged-her-
2?slideshow=1>.
• PBS. ""Darkytown Rebellion" (2001) | ART21." "Darkytown Rebellion" (2001) | ART21. N.p.,
2003. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.art21.org/images/kara-walker/darkytown-rebellion-
2001?slideshow=1>.
• PBS. "Vija Celmins." PBS. PBS, 2003. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/vija-celmins>.
• PBS. ""Pencil" (1967) | ART21." "Pencil" (1967) | ART21. N.p., 2003. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.art21.org/images/vija-celmins/pencil-1967?slideshow=1>.
• PBS. ""Untitled (Web 1)" (2001) | ART21." "Untitled (Web 1)" (2001) | ART21. N.p., 2003.
Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.art21.org/images/vija-celmins/untitled-web-1-
2001?slideshow=1>.
• Sayre, Henry M. A World of Art. 7th ed. N.p.: Pearson Education, 2013. Print.