16 Courtney Mummert – Discussion on Elizabeth Catlett and Dorothea Lange
Courtney Mummert (she/her) is a Senior from Cambridge City and she is a graphic design major. Courtney is planning to get her Master’s at Ball State starting in the fall of 2025. Courtney loves spending time outdoors and she walks her dogs at least a mile every day because she enjoys being outside so much. Courtney’s favorite season is summer. She loves all things art, crafting, and design! This work was prepared for Sam Kelly’s Women and Art Course. Professor Kelly states, Courtney’s work is “thorough and interesting.”
Discussion on Elizabeth Catlett and Dorothea Lange
The artist that I responded to from Chapter 6 is Elizabeth Catlett. Elizabeth Catlett was a sculptor and graphic artist. She created her pieces based on her own experiences. She depicted the experiences Black Americans had to face during the 20th century. Her pieces also heavily focus on the female experiences. I personally relate to her work because I feel like in some way all of our art is a reflection of ourselves and what we are feeling. We reflect on our experiences and showcase them in the mediums of our choice. I always feel like my designs are a reflection of me and my personality in some way. Another part of pieces of hers that I enjoyed was her use of line in her lithographs. In the piece Sharecropper, found in the book, the line work to create the women is phenomenal. It inspires me to try to design like that sometime. I am sure it took hours.
The artist that I responded to in Chapter 7 is Dorothea Lange. She was a photographer and photojournalist who captured striking images of the Depression era in the United States. She did not make an effort to have her photographs classified as art. She just wanted to use them to help make a change. I chose her as my favorite artist from Chapter 7 because of how she truly captures the emotion of her subjects. Capturing this emotion makes you feel what they were feeling. Being able to do this is inspiring. I enjoy taking photos in my spare time and photography is actually one of the reasons I chose to major in Graphic Design, so I also chose her because of the photography aspect. Having such a talented photographer is so important in many aspects. The way she captures emotion is something I can learn from to use in my own photos and designs.