Art Portfolio Maria Eduarda - Whitman College by Duda Lima

Art Portfolio By Maria Eduarda

Acrylic painting

Painting/Illustration

Watercolor

Painting/Illustration

App Design

Digital Art

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About me Hi there! My name is Maria Eduarda. My major arts are paintings but I like to Illustrate and design Apps. I live in São Paulo, Brasil. My bigger passions are arts and teaching. In Brazil, I have already developed an App for lowincome students to explore academic opportunities for free. Also, I am a co-founder of an Educational NGO and I've been working with Design counseling for small projects. In my free time, I like to study Physocology to improve my skills in active listening and empathy in order to offer the best of me in my initiatives. I make it possible through summer programs and a partnership with a physiology clinic in my country.

Constructions Size: 90x60cm Date: December, 2021. Medium: Acrylic ink, Chinese Ink, and Collage.

Today, we can no longer negotiate and express our ideas in relationships. Although we fell in love with someone, that isn't enough to keep a long-lasting relationship. Reflecting upon de durability, the piece shows what I believe about it. Both birds' paintings aren’t equal because our partners would never be, and we shouldn’t try to make them be. The butterflies are in the same number because evolution must be equivalent. Castles aren’t the same because each one has its own story and that’s must be respected and appreciated. The clock is only one because the time is unique and the important is how it’s divided - In the center. Finally, the couple’s collages reflect the honest look at our partners as a beautiful universe to have healthy dialogues and union. That is my ideal relationship, and that’s shaped me to look for appreciation and respect. Then, a construction.

When at 4:25 PM

Size: 100x120cm | Date: June, 2021. Medium: Acrylic paint & Pen and Ink. This piece tells a story about love, art, and rebirth. It was made to eternalize a moment and a feeling of passion for long years. A girl paints her own story, but new levels come out of the frame through the paintbrush: one house, a bird, the eyes, the lovers, the love, the connection, and the time as a villain. I made this piece as my self-portrait; the idea that I should paint myself as a static portrait never attracted me too much. If an artwork could represent me, I would choose something with movement and colors. Almost musical and always something I can interact with my public through a storytelling. Some parts of each bubble show my connections with people and art, and others a little about my upbringing.

Breathing for Size: 29,7x21 cm Date: March, 2021. Medium: Gouache, Colored Pencils, Chinese Ink. Discussions about how President Bolsonaro would run my country - Brazil - caused fear throughout the QUEER community. Being part of the community, I was scared. Breathing for” is an illustration dedicated to all those who need a hand to continue living their lives with no barriers. The dark clouds represent our actions and fight beyond our fears to conquer more places. Although necessary, the process to conquer spaces is painful at the same time that is pleasant. That's why her body is under this position. The dress is inspired in Van Gogh’s paintings represents how beautiful and unique the process “breathing for” is. At least, the background with butterflies is the freedom I feel every day when I am accepting myself. With this piece, I let my total for anyone who is scared of feeling in love nowadays. Everybody should be happy with their bodies and hearts.

Education Size: 29,7x21cm Date: September, 2021. Medium: Gouache, Colored Pencils, Chinese Ink & Pencil Beyond art, the second most important thing to me is education. When I was a kid, my favorite book showed me that I could be my own favorite person in the world, and one day my story could be published in a book. References like that show me how people have the power to support the new generation. Each child should have the opportunity to learn everything in this world and be their own hero. My role as a young leader is to inspire them; while I created Wanderlust Initiative to support low-income students learn a second language, I introduced literature to the kids. They inspired me to make this illustration. The waves that came out of the book represent power. And the black structure on the top of the girl represents knowledge and strong roots developed with reading. Also, the color compositions were made to be sophisticated and warm.

Sea Size: 42x29,7cm Date: December, 2020. Medium: Gouache, Watercolor & Chinese Ink During a trip around my estate, I spent some time at the Guaruja beach in São Paulo, Brazil. For two weeks, I joined a group of environmentalists to help clean up the coast. We collected a lot of waste on several beaches. However, many of them still ended up in the oceans. The ribbons are the impacts of the trash on the seas, particularly affecting animals. During this experience, we analyzed the causes affecting ocean life: one technological industry that disposes of toxic materials in the water. I made this illustration to celebrate my group's actions; we decided to start a protest against the company with the help of the Guaruja Beach government. Taking this initiative and involving community members and lawyers, our group gained a legal process to impose the company stop the trash discard. The company stopped dumping materials into the ocean, and many animals were saved.

Unification and Diversity Size: 29,7x21cm Date: November, 2021. Medium: Gouache, Watercolor, Chinese Ink & Colored pencils. During a summer program, I met a girl from Korea. After many talks about our different cultures and communication, we could find similarities. I was in love with getting to know her traditions. Inspired by her country’s history, I applied our conversations in my artwork. She always mentioned her traditional dress - hanbok - and told me the history of the Korean war and her desire to meet her grandmother in North Korea, which makes the meeting impossible. In this piece, I brought the Korean war on top of three separated women: a mother, a daughter, and a grandmother. She inspired me to investigate and get to know more about Asian countries. I could win an art contest about the dream of Korean unification by the Brazilian Embassy with this piece.

Stolen or delivered? Size: 42x29,7cm Date: April, 2021. Medium: Gouache, Chinese Ink & Pencil My English teacher asked us to make a piece about a secret kept in our hearts. The students could reject the work or make the piece. It was totally up to motivation.

I made the piece after reading the book “The natural way to Draw” By Nicolaides. Having his thoughts in my mind, I started to draw with more flow and with an abstract form. The hands represent the naturality and singularity of three people. I selected the heart with more approach to human nature because I needed to create an intensity and mystery in my public. Finally, the broken parts represent the delivery; the deepest pain happens not when our hearts are broken because we were "robbed" but when we delivered them. I intended to reflect on the essence of love and relationships. What brokes our hearts? Is it the desire or the loved one? May we have the option to give someone a piece of our hearts? I am curious to find the answers!

Hello Ego App Solution

Size: 1.080 px X 1.080 px | Date: August, 2021 Medium: Digital Art - Adobe XD. This work is from a summer program portfolio. The School of Humanity summer program aims to create a prototype that solves a problem and helps humanity with significant challenges. The work developed by the student is totally up to what problem the student is interested in. “Hello Ego” is an app for high school students to tackle mental health issues during their stressful periods at School. The App combines an intuitive system to develop self-knowledge through academic experiences and a connection with Artificial Intelligence, allowing them to talk with someone and discover a therapy or a group in the region to talk with. This App was created with Adobe xd to prototype the user interface and Kotlin language to develop the code. My future plans after the peer reviews are to expand the App for a paid version and convert part of the profit offering this tool for free to lowincome students.

Arts for a better world - Podcast

Size: 1.080 px X 1.080 px | Date: August, 2020. Medium: Digital Art - Photoshop. During my classes to develop projects, I wanted to explore arts and their relation to the pandemic. I directed podcast episodes with 10 tracks talking about several axes, including science, sports, family, politics, and love. They all discuss how arts can be related to challenges with the pandemic. The pilot episode (first) introduces the new scene about the covid-19 pandemic, mentioning the importance of science and universities worldwide to tackle this problem. Discussing the latest pandemics and how artists represented the world. The Politics episode (second) explains political facts about neoliberalism and liberalism in Brazil. Analyzing how art can be an enemy in society. The couple podcast (last one) has the ideas from the philosopher Slavoj Žižek about relationships during the pandemic in virtual platforms and apps. Additionally, Jacques Lacan's view about a desire for love during the pandemic.

Arts for a better world - Podcast

Size: 1.080 px X 1.080 px | Date: August, 2020. Medium: Digital Art - Photoshop This collection was made with some people who inspired me and influenced who I am today. I am exploring collages from real people with elements narrating their life stories, such as flowers and pencils. I used elements from my culture in Brazil and key phrases; Kata csuba (first) encouraged me to see the challenges as an opportunity for adventure but to always take care of my mental health; as she said, "Life is a journey, but you are the main character. You need to enjoy it." Marcio (second) My philosophy teacher supported me to go further, beyond the boundaries of techniques. He mentioned: Art is about the power of being political and speaking up for a cause. As he once said, "Purpose is what will make your art meaningful." Cristina (third) showed me that I can understand everything if I have my mind open to it. Understanding the people and not judging them is a challenging mission, but empathy saves us from big fights.

Thank you!