Someone requested an example of an artist's statement. So, here are two. The first is a student's statement for their Music Mosaic, before I required students to include a reference to the homework and to media from outside the class. (So, please don't forget to include those two things in your own).
I started playing the cello in high school, after years of begging my mom to let me change instruments. Violin had its moments, but I always envied the kids in my orchestra who got to play cello. When I got my own cello, the first thing I did was play the deepest note. I got chills. The heavier, richer instrument appealed to me in ways that violin never did.
This arrangement of Cello Suite No. 1 has a constant, underlying rhythm. Fast-paced and unbroken, it is always there, even if in the background. I represented that with black lines and lettering in the images. The thin black lines are always present and continuous. They bend freely though, not restricted. The lettering also shows the main theme's uniformity, but it is paired with the flowing countermelody.
I used warm colors to show the warmth and richness of the cello. The reds, oranges, yellows, and browns are all earthy wood tones, which is what the instrument is almost entirely made from. The cello is made of warm materials and thus produces a warm sound. It is also a curved instrument, with no harsh lines. While listening, it is never cold, nor does it have straight edges.
When listening to the light, legato melodies and harmonies in this arrangement, I pictured adding a drop of paint to water. The paint is diffused, lighter in color as it spreads. It swirls out into billowing clouds, and fills its container. It extends out in a unique pattern every time, never to be replicated. The sound of the cello does the same thing. It's deep and rich, but is light and warming at the same time. The sound swells inside me and fills me with warmth.
Mimicking a watercolor technique represents how the melody grows in each phrase of the piece. Though the orderly pace of the piece is present in the sixteenth notes, the longer, bulding notes in the countermelodies aren't contained by the rigidity. I feel that these images represent both the constant pulse of the piece and the flourishing melodies and harmonies.
These artworks represent my feelings toward the instrument and the beautiful piece: warm, inviting, free. It has patterns and evenness, yet allows for growth. The images warm me, and the sound expands to fill my being.
The second is a statement for the Textual Poaching assignment which you'll do later in the semester. Notice how the student makes an effort to thoughtfully incorporate discussions of the reading and media from of the class.
My initial idea for this assignment was to comment on my identity as an American, and I immediately thought of the World War II poster of Rosie the Riveter. My idea for this poster quickly morphed from being about my identity as an American to a statement on my identity as a woman. This poster has come to be a symbol of feminine strength, power, and independence.“Rosie” flexes her arm muscles in preparation for work. She is also the very ideal of feminine beauty: her hair is neatly tied back, her skin is clear, and her features are well balanced and beautiful. When looking at this picture, you get the sense that this woman has her life in order and knows what needs to happen. She is society’s—specifically feminism’s—image of the perfect woman. However, as a woman, I hardly ever feel like this. I never feel like I fit the ideal image of beauty: my skin is blemished, my hair is hardly ever orderly, and I don’t always like my features. I may be fairly independent, but that doesn’t mean that I ever feel strong or powerful. Life is pretty chaotic and I never know where it will take me. Feminist society’s standards are very high for women.I wanted to find a way to visually show how it sometimes feels to be a woman. There are all these expectations that we are supposed to live up to, but I don’t always—usually—feel capable of living up to those standards. To show this, I added dark circles under her eyes, blemishes on her skin, and tears running down her face. I changed the words at the top from “We Can Do This!” to “Can We Do This?” In this week’s reading, we learned that as we place more value on something, the more real that thing becomes. Jenkins uses the example of The Velveteen Rabbit. A stuffed rabbit is so loved by a boy that, despite being old and ragged, he literally becomes a real rabbit. However, in the case of this poster, I believe the opposite is true. The riveters were real people. This poster may not have been a true depiction of a real person, but it represented real people. As time has gone on, though, the symbolism and story of the piece have reached mythic proportions. It has become an iconic image, but the actual story behind the image has been diminished and forgotten.
As an example in life, Disney characters have been widely “textually poached.” One particular artist on the site Deviant Art has reimagined Disney characters as college students. He envisions them with majors and in modern clothes. This new take on these classic characters makes them more widely relatable to the people who grew up with them. They become people that you want to meet at your school. However, as Disney characters usually are, these are idealized forms of human beings. This assignment allowed me to reevaluate my identity as a woman. If I feel like I don’t measure up, maybe it’s time to tell myself that I don’t need to measure up to someone else’s standards; I only need to measure up to my own.
Hopefully these help! And remember for the group assignments you'll do throughout the semester, group members should collaborate on writing a single artists' statement (and then include a list of their group members' names in the post).
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