For some people New York City is a new world, ‘The Big Apple’, that brings with it nothing but promise. In my case NYC shouldn’t bring me such wonder seeing as I live only about a 45 minute train ride away in CT. But just like Tony Hiss talks about trying to look at things with fresh eyes every time you see them, I feel as though this wonder is occurring with me. Despite countless anxiety-filled trips into the city, whether by train or car, I have only seen a fraction of the city, and I am just now blessed with the opportunity to see it in all its entirety. One of the gems of the city that I had not seen before this activity was Washington Square Park where my group went to explore.
The goal of the activity was to get us looking at common things, in this case in the park, and then challenging our first instinct to brush these things off as common and to look deeper and try and see the wonder these things possess. In order to do this, our group of four people was given a list of different things we wanted to find in the park. This list included things like “a bicycle”, “an airplane overhead”, and “a ball”. As you can see, these items that we needed to find were simple, common, and thus overlooked in our everyday lives. For me specifically, I found that while looking for and finding all of these things I not only gained a new perspective on many of the objects, but a newfound respect as well.
With a bicycle, for instance, thinking in terms of “deep traveling” as Tony Hiss put it, I just could not help myself wondering about the tires. Why do the tires stay the way that they do? How does the rubber keep it’s shape for so long? Who thought to make a bicycle with circular tires? Did they first try tires that were other shapes? How did they find out how many spokes the tires need? And I found myself admiring the inventor of the bicycle much more than before I got lost in my reverie. And once I experienced this “deep traveling” that Hiss recommends I was able to look around the entire park and see objects and things not only on the list but just randomly in a much bigger light. Everything opens up to possibility and imagination and wonder. And I believe that was the point of the assignment.
When all five groups finished finding the objects on our lists we regrouped and shared our experiences. This was also very interesting because it essentially created another level of wonder. One group would answer an item on the list and another group would have a completely different view and experience, and with all of the sharing we were able to see all the different perspectives, which also opened up more possibility for us to wonder.
In terms of my studies this activity gave me new insight and ideas into how to approach art at Parsons. I’ve been doing art ever since I was very young, so I knew from a young age that I wanted to go to art school for college. However, I knew that many other students who got into art school would have similar if not the same history, and so I knew that I would no longer be the “really great artist” in my 10th grade art class. This lead me to worry about my individuality. Will I be able to find my voice as an artist?
When I was in 8th grade, I remember asking one of my teachers if it is still possible to create something that is truly new, that no one else has ever done, and she couldn’t answer me. This question has plagued me since then and particularly in these past few months as I would essentially be faced with that question everyday here at Parsons. But this activity taught me something: that you don’t necessarily have to create something completely new and original to you in order to be original, there is also originality in taking something already established and turning it on its head, making the viewer see it in an entirely new way that they had never seen before, make the viewer see the beauty and wonder in what you are showing.
