ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Central Message

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What is life like for current students during these stressful times and how does it compare to their normal mental state? This is the question that is under inspection with this capstone project. During quarantine and this past year of living in the pandemic, many students found themselves looking down on themselves because of grades and their states of living. They would say that “this is normal everyone is going through a hard time” and invalidate their own hardships. Everyone needs to learn that just because everyone struggles with something, it should never invalidate an individual's struggles.

Students experience immense amounts of pressure from family, colleagues, society, and themselves. Because of these standards, students are in a constant state of stress/struggle and they think of this as normal. This project aims to show students the vast difference between where their mental space should be normally vs. where it actually is. Students need to learn that a life lived in a state of constant stress isn’t living at all. 

Literature

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Matthew Pelowski’s article “Visualizing the Impact of Art: An Update and Comparison of Current Psychological Models of Art Experience” provided valuable information on the idea of precepting art in different ways(Frontiers). His article speaks about all of the possibilities of the way one piece is seen and how the message that is received is different for each viewer. This is significant because there are so many ways to perceive art, when creating this project there has to be a lot of thought put into it. This is because if not carefully thought out, the viewer may get the wrong idea from just one canvas and it can warp the entire project so it has to be done right. 

Frank Stella’s painting, Cricche, Crocche e Manico d'Uncino, inspired this work because of its use of geometric designs as well as its fluid design(Stella, Frank). The main note taken from his piece was that in order to have a solid abstract piece, the viewer’s eye needs to be guided. A canvas cannot be flat and each aspect of the painting has to have a purpose in the guidance of the eye. Every placement of the painting needs to be thought out and some may even be put in place to stop motion, but the key is where the eye is put by the painting. 

Methods

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A survey was created for the research aspect of this project that would assess a selected group of students’ mental state in certain situations. It was broken down into sections about how they feel when they are relaxed/have no responsibilities vs how they felt during school and the pandemic. A survey was a better option than interviews because it could reach a wider range and variety of students. A survey would also keep the responses anonymous so that way students felt more comfortable telling the truth which would give more accurate results. The  goal was to get enough information to create paintings based on this research; so The questions had to be specific and guided. Scaling questions were a good style of questions to ask in order to get the most accurate responses. Questions that involved imagery were also included so I could gather data to use for my canvases. 

Audience & Impact

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The audience is directed at college to high school age students because they are the biggest victims of normalized toxic lifestyles. The audience should see that just because other students are stressed and they might not have the hardest major in the world, they are still entitled to their feelings. However, even though their feelings are validated, they should also realize that it is not healthy living in an environment that encourages them to work until they drop. Students should realize that the only thing standing between them and a healthier lifestyle is realizing they are in control of their own path. 

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References

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Pelowski, Matthew, et al. “Visualizing the Impact of Art: An Update and Comparison of Current Psychological Models of Art Experience.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 1 Apr. 2016, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00160/full.

Stella, Frank. Cricche, Crocche e Manico d'Uncino. 1986, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. 

Stella, Frank. The Protractor Paintings. 1968, Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, St Étienne, France. 

Johns, Jasper. Numbers in Color. 1959, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York.

Acknowledgements

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I would like to thank Harold Burgess and Heather-Erin Bremenstuhl for excessive guidance during this very tedious research project. I would also like to thank my fellow Art Scholars and peers for helping provide me with the research for my project. I believe I received a diverse group for my reponses and I am grateful for that because without you, there would be no project.