The Issue: Every day while I was sitting at the front desk welcoming visitors, I began to notice a trend. Many people stayed in the gallery for an incredibly short amount of time, such as 10 minutes. This did not make sense to me, because there were four gallery spaces and around that many large artistic installations. When I talked to the leadership of the Atlanta Contemporary about this, they verified that people not spending very much time in the gallery is a problem. When I began to watch tours and listen to people respond to the artwork, I overwhelmingly began to understand that many people, especially adults, think that they “just don’t get” contemporary artwork. They don’t understand that personal interpretation is an essential part of enjoying modern art. People don’t know how to have a positive experience with this type of art, and do not understand how a negative experience with art is just as valuable as a positive one. These thoughts came to a boiling point when I saw a tour given to children from a summer camp. The 6-year-olds had absolutely no issue talking about the art and exploring it. I feel that part of the reason people don’t like contemporary art is that we have been taught it is not for everyone, instead of being learning that there are certain ways everyone can appreciate it.

The Idea: To remedy the fact that adults feel uncomfortable and unable to have interactions with contemporary art, I decided to invent some kind of guide that used questions in an interactive and fun way to help people think more deeply about the art at the Atlanta Contemporary. I wanted to create a box that people could draw random questions out of and settled on the matchbox as both a size and conceptually appropriate format. I wanted this box to be able to be used by a pair, a group, or just an individual. They should stand in front of the work of art, draw out a question, and use it to guide their thoughts to a deeper level about the art.

The Process and Product: Using the Atlanta Contemporary font, colors, and logo, I designed the exterior and the interior of a matchbox in photoshop, then made several prototypes out of different materials. I usually make 2D art, so 3D things are always a challenge, but luckily I had some practice boxmaking during my time in Mexico taking a typography course.

The final prototype here includes the matches and is basically usable! Some difficulty using the material impeded the product from being as clean as I wanted, but I think that this idea could be a huge asset to the experience of those visiting the Atlanta Contemporary. This box helps the viewer understand that what they bring to the table in terms of their identity and prior thought is essential to be a viewer of contemporary art.

Designing this piece independently reminded me that I have a sustained interest in design as well as Art Education, as well as a curiosity about how those things intersect.

With “Faucet” I played with some new tools, including liquify. After much play I was able to use liquify to lengthen and curve the stream of water. I also drew on this piece to shade the water and create the droplets. This was the first work that combined drawing with the tablet and photography, which was super exciting for me. I also used the layer blending option which created a ghostly effect I really enjoy. I allowed this piece to become more conceptual with placing the faucet directly on top without interacting with my body.

“Tangle” is definitely the cumulation of all of the processes and gathering thoughts I had during the creation of this series. “Tangle” is about how my identity is in constant battle with itself, the inner arguments I have about gender and identity are constant and ongoing. The confusion that is created by the overlapping arms for the viewer is the confusion I feel if I think about myself too hard. I purposefully left only one face with open eyes that meet the gaze of the viewer. This clear gaze represents my hope that I can find my way through the mess of thoughts to just exist and find peace. The downturned faces contrast this eyes open face, with their unopened eyes that create a sense of self doubt. I create my identity visually and the color blue has become very important to me, so I had to have a huge plane of blue in the piece since my hair isn’t seen.

To summarize my prior works in this series, the images depict my searching to find something within myself and battling negative emotions and self doubt.

When I went back home for Thanksgiving break, I was able to have my mom (a professional photographer) take pictures for me. This was, I realize now, essential to my project. These pictures are beautiful by themselves because of the quality, which makes my current play works much more attractive. My mom also gave me a few photoshop tips which I am extremely grateful for, including but not limited to- spot healer, curves, and blending layers. I am glad i got to see her process and how different it is from mine. It reminded me that there are infinite possibilities with Photoshop, and I need to continue expanding my repertoire of tools. I have been playing with the curves and changing colors, as well as learning more about masks (how to flatten mask layers!!). 

My process is a lot faster now that I have developed a method.

I haven’t been thinking too deeply about concept or defining my motives because I can feel that the concepts are there lurking under the surface, waiting for whenever I want to discover them. I enjoy simply losing myself in the process. A few things I have considered conceptually involve emotional states, and how I can represent the feelings of isolation/inner emptiness I can feel at times. Because my last works deal with gender, I also feel like these pieces illustrate that unlike other people I have nothing/ no gender inside me where it is expected. I am also thinking about, in my works like Twins and Forest, what it means for me to support myself. I am glad Prof. Ruby told me to just keep making as many collages as I could, without worrying too much about the meaning. She also told me to continue to complicate the images and consider the “rules” of the worlds I am creating within my art. I think I took that advice to heart pretty well.

These are relatively in the order I made them. They definitely became more playful.

I have to mention Bunny Michael, a queer artist who I follow on instagram. Their inspirational works deal with them and their “higher self” and after making my images I saw that there was a visual (maybe conceptual) connection between our art. Check them out here. http://bunnymichael.com/