Curatorial Rationale

By presenting this body of work, I hope to achieve a sense of unity. Although my

pieces all look very different from each other, I hope that the viewer will be able to
see the subtle connections between them all. Initially, I intended to convey a
summary of certain prominent world cultures. My overarching theme for this class is
“Power of Voice.”

I thought that using world culture as a theme could be a great opportunity to learn
about places and people that I am not surrounded by as compared to the small town
that I live in. My first project is entitled, “La M​ú​sica del Flamenco.” It portrays
flamenco music in abstract terms. I think it turned out better than I expected because
it was my first time working with paint. My second project, entitled, “Cherry
Blossoms,” allowed me to work on my skills with watercolor. I later added a paper cut
out addition to better tie Japanese culture into the project. Samurai warriors are seen
as very strong and powerful soldiers in ancient Japan. I like to drink Pom and their
commercials with the samurai warriors inspired me to create this artwork. Out of the
first three projects, my third project, entitled, “A New Perspective,” was the one that
took me the least amount of time. I am most comfortable working with ink while
drawing. This work was the ink drawing of architecture. It was meant to show the
power of man-made buildings in contrast with the small size of a human being. These
three projects are ones that I made during the 2016-2017 school year. My next
artworks were made in 2017 and 2018 after I altered my theme to “Power of Voice.” I
became interested in how power could be translated into different types of art and
subject matter. My first project working under this theme was the painting of my dog
entitled, “All Bark and No Bite.” The connection to my theme comes in with the
historical background of greyhounds. My second project working under the theme of
power of voice is by sculpture entitled, “Though She Be But Little…” This project was
very time-consuming and I originally did not like how it turned out. After altering the
style of the piece, I am satisfied with the final product. My next project focused on the
power of protest and democracy. Entitled, “Quiet as Thunder,” I based this on the
Women’s March that I attended in January 2017. I explored the art style of
expressionism and stepped out of my comfort zone by making this one of my larger
pieces. The next artwork was called, “Urban Blooming.” It revolved around the theme
of recycling in urban communities. The clay form shows the journey from the bottom
 of a trash can into a recycling bin where flowers are sprouting. My last project is
entitled, “Curtain Call.” I made this artwork to showcase my love for theatre. This
connects to my theme because theatre plays a large role in my life and I enjoy the
power that I have on stage as well as the confidence it gives me offstage. All of these
projects allowed me to explore new mediums and to see what kinds of things I may
have an aptitude for. A common theme throughout my work is a connection to the
power of voice in each of the corresponding topics. While doing these projects, I was
able to learn more about each community that I did research on. In the future, as I
make more artwork, I would like to work more with color and different art styles in
my pieces.

The way that I have exhibited my artwork had to do with the balance of the display. I
tried to place my pieces in a way that drew the viewer’s eyes around the display case.
My goal was to create a satisfying mix of movement and balance so that the viewer
would look at each piece individually. I also did my best to place my pieces in a way
that didn’t overwhelm just one area of the display. This may also help to create more
of a sense of unity throughout the display.