Integrative Studio: Shift- Final Project Reflection Post

NATURE PRESENTATION

“The field is at once his floor, his work-yard, his play-ground, his garden, and his bed”- Ralph Waldo Emerson

During my presentation, I discussed my shift throughout the year. Following the exact version of my artist’s statement I wrote in the beginning of the semester, I wrote in my reflection, “To understand the value of different perspectives, I can access this understanding through research. In the past I may have recognized alternate perspectives, but now I have the realization and desire to learn about the different perspectives of a creation and how they compare from one another.” In my artist’s statement I wrote about how I am a curious person and question the meaning of Life as well as the identities of the people around me. I think I would still describe myself as a curious person who wonders about difficult topics to discuss, or topics that make me “run against the walls of my perceptual cage” but in a different way. I discussed that through the literature we studied, especially “how to give and receive good criticism” by Scott Berkun, I learned about how to improve my work and how to criticize my own work and others more effectively. In the past I was always very harsh on my final pieces and thought it was good criticism because it would only make me better. But in the end, it was more of a degradation of what I have created. I also learned through seminar and studio that creating is not always about the final piece and that you always learn something in the process of creating, whether it comes out successful or not.

In my final presentation I compared my first assignment in studio to my final pieces; the catalog, the 3D model, and the prototype. I described the process I went through and how much research was involved rather than it being based off experience, like the first piece I did and how I used symbols of nature and the universe to express myself. After I wrote my WHP/word research paper, which discussed how humans second nature actions effect Nature itself, I incorporated the concept into my final project for studio. Creating the garden was closely related to my thesis to support what I was trying to say. Garden Design is a way we can give back to the environment and create benefits for it in many ways. Through my research of Garden Design, my garden is not only botanically correct but incorporates plants that pollinate well and collect carbon dioxide from the air. Also, during my presentation, I discussed how most of the art I chose in my gallery were created by either environmental artists or about cultures that had nature linked to their belief system.

Overall, I think my project was successful. Although I do not have a lot of experience with Garden Design, it was aesthetically pleasing and served its purpose for supporting the environment and showing my viewer’s that there are many actions we can take to shift the way we live. Something I struggled with while making the 3D model was the scale. Because my models of the tree represented 10 feet, which means that .25 inches is 1 foot, my replicas of the art had to be very small. In the future, I want to be more mindful of my conversions in 3D models and how I can make it work so everything can be more visually pleasing. When I researched what Garden Design looked like, many of the 2D models looked very cartoon-like, which was what I was going for in my prototype. I think the sketch was successful in terms of style, but when it came to making the 3D model, I ended up making alterations because the original idea didn’t look as good as I had thought. Although I think the simplicity of my catalog worked well with the organic pieces I chose to display, I would’ve liked to finalize my booklet with a better cover. I think it would’ve been a nice touch to the booklet. Also, although including pieces from The Met was required, I felt some of the pieces didn’t need to be included as I wanted the gallery to display only environmental art, which went nicely with my research paper.

I feel as though my research paper is not as successful as I would’ve liked it to be. I found it hard to develop a stance about nature; a very broad and large word to talk about within 6 pages. When I finally decided to make a thesis about how we effect the environment, I was excited to learn more about it; I have always been passionate about being eco-friendly. But as I continued to write my paper, it was hard to find sources about second nature affecting Nature specifically, which made it difficult to tie my essay all together. I think if I had more time to research or conceptualize my ideas more, it would have been a more successful piece. I think I captured reaching out to my audience well and how important it is to become self-aware of our actions and how we can shift them to create a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. In my essay I wrote, “If we tie our shoes so absent mindedly and breathe air without any awareness of it, why can’t we take care of our Earth in the same way? We are aware of the risks of neglecting to tie our shoes or holding our breath for too long, but the consequences of mindlessly destroying Nature itself is much more fatal to our lives and our existence. We rely on Nature, yet we take it for granted.” Although there are many pessimistic views of how humans are destroying the earth, I found it refreshing to know that there are people out there trying to make a change.