Artist Statement

The assignment that was given to us was to pick 3 words describing a place that we remember. I chose to make my middle school, and the words that I chose to describe this place were: open-minded, fun, and educational. I chose these words because I felt that they most accurately described my middle school.

One may come to the realization that these words leave a lot of room for interpretation to an artist. I discovered this, and while working I pondered how I should build this space. Remembering I had to relate this space to my middle school things became easier. The first phrase, open minded, was the easiest one to represent. I got the idea of thinking outside the box, and thus I plopped an open box right in the middle of the pool of water. Second, the word fun. This was a bit harder, but I came to the realization that the fun I had can somewhat be compared to video games, so I made the entire space that of a video game level. Lastly educational, the hardest one.

I googled symbols and came across this symbol: mercury. Mercury, the sign of intellect, would stand for the knowledge I have gained from junior high school to access the Å"final level,Å" which is high school. As you can see the sign is turned into a roadway that leads into a high school building.

There are a few subtle messages within this piece. Something that may have been noticed was that the piece is mostly in black and white, and as the mercury sign comes in, the piece becomes colorful. The reason for this is that I felt that in junior high school my actions and thoughts were very limited. I was in fact an adolescent, after all, and there were things I just could not understand or comprehend. The color at the end of the level is a sign of maturity and the increase of sophisticated thinking. The world does not appear to be so black and white, and I have more choices, more consequences, more everything.

The platforms represent my ascent through junior high school to high school. Basically, the higher the platform and further away it is from the start, the more knowledge I obtain so I can go into high school prepared. The style goes from black, white, and crude to colorful, and well made. This parallels to middle school and high school respectively. The pool of water represents the unpredictability of life, and having an open mind can help one wade through lifeÅ's probability-like nature.