Monochromatic Landscape
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota
Elements and Principles
In my monochromatic landscape, that beholds Mount Rushmore in Keystone, South Dakota, I have used the element of art, color. I did this by taking the color blue and using only the tints and shades. I then arranged the colors in a way to create one of the principles of design, unity because the colors act as if the "flow".
Reference Photos
Whatcanilearntoday.files.wordpress.com,. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
Truthuncensored.net,. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
Upload.wikimedia.org,. N.p., 2015. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.
History and Culture
Mount Rushmore is a national memorial statue located in Keystone, South Dakota. This enormous monument was built in 1927 and the construction was completed in 1941. It was built to promote tourism in South Dakota. This landmark reflects American culture for three reasons: the first reason is that the monument was built on land that the government took from the already present Lakota Sioux tribe. The second reason is that the Native Americans in that area thought that the land was sacred. The third reason that this landmark represents American culture is that the monument celebrates the European settlers who killed so many Native Americans and took over their land.
Art and Design
The development of Mount Rushmore was originated by Gutzon and Lincoln Borglum. Gutzon's idea was to "Create a monument so inspiring that people from all over America will be drawn to come and look and go home better citizens". This enormous landmark is made out of granite. The cost of this was approximately one million dollars. Ninety percent of it was created by using dynamite. The picture below is a representation of the blueprint of Mount Rushmore.
Images.fineartamerica.com,. N.p., 2016. Web. 27 Jan. 2016.
Personal Response
I chose this enormous landmark to research and to feature in my painting because I would like to learn more about the US land marks. The only one that I am relatively familiar with is the Statue of Liberty because I am from New York.
For a person who likes to draw, I found this extremely difficult. I can now see why it took over ten years to build. It took a lot of money and people to construct this and, I can see why you have to be patient when it comes to things like art.