Thesis
Introduction
For my IP project I am illustrating my own original story explaining the reason why mortals can see color to give a view different from the scientific version. The story is meant to be a timeless message about the consequences of over indulgence and greed when a privilege is taken for granted. My project focuses on the narrative and the audience’s experience and interaction with the project. I plan to have the finished product displayed as a book on a pedestal for spectators to handle it, view the images up close, experiencing the story with their eyes and their hands. I have chosen to the illustrations using fiber materials as the medium because it adds a tactile element to the viewers’ experience. I have also decided to illustrate the story in a graphic novel format, with panels to pace the story visually. The graphic novel format is associated with dynamic angles, bold style and vivid color, all of which I want to incorporate into my book because it is appropriate to my story conceptually and aesthetically. I have used many fibers techniques to achieve the overall book I am want and to create a new perspective on the way stories are told.
The story begins with an introduction describing how in ancient Greece, the gods on Mt. Olympus all live in color while the humans in the mortal realm, below live a dull existence. They cannot create beautiful colors and have no access to them, so their world feels like they can only see in black and white. They are only exposed to colors when the goddess Athena shares her personal paintings with the townspeople. A small girl who dreams to create paintings as beautiful as those of Athena’s, stumbles upon Athena in a clearing. She sees Athena painting and sees the goddess use a magical scepter to create vibrant hues of colors on her canvas. Athena is called away to Mt. Olympus but drops the scepter in her haste. The girl hesitantly picks it up from the ground and decides to use it on her own painting. Suddenly her monotonous painting becomes a dazzling work of art filled with bright, bold colors. The girl runs to the town square to tell everyone of her accomplishment. She demonstrates to the townspeople how the wand works but is quickly overexcited by all the fuss. She trips and mistakenly turns three townsmen different colors.
After they get over the shock, the men take the wand from the girl and proclaim they are no different from the gods now. From there the town goes into complete hysteria. Randomly changing things to bright colors, disrespecting the gods, destroying the statues they once worshipped and burning all of Athena’s paintings and art. The gods see the behavior of the townsfolk and became furious. Zeus decides to let them drive themselves into the ground by destroying their town with their destructive antics. Athena watches in sadness. Back in town, the little girl cries and begs for the adults to stop but to no avail. Suddenly someone breaks the scepter against a nearby column. The townspeople watch as darkness begins to seep out of the scepter, beginning to consume everything it touches. Eventually the darkness consumes the entire town, turning everything black.
The people cannot see anything and think they will never see again. They begin to panic and have no one to turn to. The little girl finally speaks up and suggests they pray for forgiveness from the gods. As the town starts to pray, Athena appears. Athena explains that the gods took the color because they thought the mortals could not handle it. But after they saw the little girl’s painting, the gods decided that mortals could be taught to use color properly. The epilogue explains how Athena taught the townspeople how to use color and how to make their own without the scepter. To thank Athena the townspeople named their city after her, Athens. After seeing the errors of their ways, they are forgiven by the gods and are taught how to properly control color and the world is brought to the condition that we live in today.
With my story, I want to confront the questions of how we deal with morality. I want the readers to question behavior they’ve enacted or witnessed. I want to propose a new standard of self-control and show what over indulgence looks like and how detrimental it can be, even when it is something as harmless as color being over used.
I also want to invite the reader to use their imagination more. I want the reader to be comfortable and inspired to think about things he/she already knows in new ways. I want them to see that new ideas can be just as important as facts that have plausible evidence that support the
Creative Work
The usual way to accomplish this project would be to illustrate a graphic novel, or a children’s book, bind it and distribute it. However I want a far richer way to view the storybook. I am illustrating my story using unconventional materials. The materials I decided to use are those of various fiber related techniques and processes. I will combine silkscreen printing, fabric dyeing, embroidery, fabric appliqué, as well as possibly felting, quilting and weaving in this project. I use white cotton fabric as a background for every page of my project and adhere other fabrics to make forms, creating visual textures to develop the images on each page. The use of fiber materials will make the viewer want to touch and feel the pages, adding a three-dimensional element to the book. I want the reader to feel free to interact with the book, similar to the way readers interact with pop-up books. I like the idea of having textural surprises for the reader to discover that both aid the progression of the story and captivate the reader. This book will be one of a kind.
Contextual Discussion
The inspiration for this project came from a few experiences in my life that stand out in my mind. I grew up with my mother reading bedtime stories to my sister and me every night. I can still remember the morals of these stories. I also remember pivotal images from some of these stories, so I am able to piece the stories together without needing the words. I can remember the different lessons from the children’s series, “The Berenstain Bears”. Why telling lies is bad and you will eventually get caught in your lies, the importance of being and staying healthy, why you should not fight with your sibling. Children’s books are very powerful works of art because they have strong morals that adults try to live their lives by, but they are simplified for a child’s level of understanding so that the children can strive to meet those expectations as well. In grade school, we read stories from Grimm’s fairytales and Aesop’s Fables. Aesop’s fables greatly affected my conscious behavior and how I interacted with others. The tales of the grasshopper and the ant and the Dog and his bone, talked about the harm in procrastination and in being greedy and show the consequences of those actions. Even today, when I make decisions I think of Aesop fables that might be relevant to the situation. This helped me determine whether or not I am making the best decision. In my opinion, memorable children’s stories can have a lifelong impact on a child, if the message is strong enough. They can help mold that child as he/she grows up. I want to convey a message of morality and suggest control over humans’ need to overindulge and to this tendency to revert to barbaric, animal like behavior when they have disagreements and conflicting ideas. I suppose the history of wars and the causes of wars have a slight influence on my story. I have found that whenever human have found something they consider a sign of power they begin to fight. Once they take things too far someone or something intervenes and a struggle ensues. Afterward there’s resolution even if only momentarily until the next problem arises.
Conclusion
I want my project to give a new perspective on the way humans see color but I also want to address the path we are heading towards on over consumption. When are we satisfied? Is it when there is nothing left and we destroy ourselves, or is a finding a middle ground truly possible and not a foolish dream? I want people reading my story to consider; “maybe there is a reason we could not see color…” based on the hedonistic way the people act at one point over the use of color. In the story I do not want to portray the people as horrible villains but would have the reader reflect that the ugly side of humankind does exist. I want the readers to ask, “Am I this way too?’ I feel that self-reflection is a positive part of life and I hope that I can give that to my readers.
I want to present the reader an entire experience when they view my work. I want to place my book on a pedestal near a corner in the gallery space and have a huge comfy chair beside it. I will direct the readers to sit in the chair and take their time reading my story. I hope that they will feel like children, sitting in an enormous chair reading quietly in a corner by themselves. I enjoy the thought of reverting back to childhood, a time in my life when I was open to anything, willing to accept new ideas and knowledge, unafraid of critiquing my own behavior. I feel that as we age, we lose that ability to accept new, unfamiliar thoughts and we learn that it is weak to admit personal faults. Perhaps people will learn to self-reflect and correct their actions after reading my story.
Bibliography
1.Aesop’s Fables, Illustrated by Jacob Lawrence
2. "Human body." New World Encyclopedia. 10 Jul 2009, 16:28 UTC. 7 Jan 2010, 11:25 <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Human_body?oldid=943326>
3. http://www.greekmythology.com/
-A site dedicated to Greek Mythology
-Gave traditional and new stories about the Greek Gods and their creation
4.http://www.fiberscene.com/artists.html
-A Directory of fiber artists and examples of their work, artist statements, and biographies
-Sheila O’Hara
-D.R. Wagner
For my IP project I am illustrating my own original story explaining the reason why mortals can see color to give a view different from the scientific version. The story is meant to be a timeless message about the consequences of over indulgence and greed when a privilege is taken for granted. My project focuses on the narrative and the audience’s experience and interaction with the project. I plan to have the finished product displayed as a book on a pedestal for spectators to handle it, view the images up close, experiencing the story with their eyes and their hands. I have chosen to the illustrations using fiber materials as the medium because it adds a tactile element to the viewers’ experience. I have also decided to illustrate the story in a graphic novel format, with panels to pace the story visually. The graphic novel format is associated with dynamic angles, bold style and vivid color, all of which I want to incorporate into my book because it is appropriate to my story conceptually and aesthetically. I have used many fibers techniques to achieve the overall book I am want and to create a new perspective on the way stories are told.
The story begins with an introduction describing how in ancient Greece, the gods on Mt. Olympus all live in color while the humans in the mortal realm, below live a dull existence. They cannot create beautiful colors and have no access to them, so their world feels like they can only see in black and white. They are only exposed to colors when the goddess Athena shares her personal paintings with the townspeople. A small girl who dreams to create paintings as beautiful as those of Athena’s, stumbles upon Athena in a clearing. She sees Athena painting and sees the goddess use a magical scepter to create vibrant hues of colors on her canvas. Athena is called away to Mt. Olympus but drops the scepter in her haste. The girl hesitantly picks it up from the ground and decides to use it on her own painting. Suddenly her monotonous painting becomes a dazzling work of art filled with bright, bold colors. The girl runs to the town square to tell everyone of her accomplishment. She demonstrates to the townspeople how the wand works but is quickly overexcited by all the fuss. She trips and mistakenly turns three townsmen different colors.
After they get over the shock, the men take the wand from the girl and proclaim they are no different from the gods now. From there the town goes into complete hysteria. Randomly changing things to bright colors, disrespecting the gods, destroying the statues they once worshipped and burning all of Athena’s paintings and art. The gods see the behavior of the townsfolk and became furious. Zeus decides to let them drive themselves into the ground by destroying their town with their destructive antics. Athena watches in sadness. Back in town, the little girl cries and begs for the adults to stop but to no avail. Suddenly someone breaks the scepter against a nearby column. The townspeople watch as darkness begins to seep out of the scepter, beginning to consume everything it touches. Eventually the darkness consumes the entire town, turning everything black.
The people cannot see anything and think they will never see again. They begin to panic and have no one to turn to. The little girl finally speaks up and suggests they pray for forgiveness from the gods. As the town starts to pray, Athena appears. Athena explains that the gods took the color because they thought the mortals could not handle it. But after they saw the little girl’s painting, the gods decided that mortals could be taught to use color properly. The epilogue explains how Athena taught the townspeople how to use color and how to make their own without the scepter. To thank Athena the townspeople named their city after her, Athens. After seeing the errors of their ways, they are forgiven by the gods and are taught how to properly control color and the world is brought to the condition that we live in today.
With my story, I want to confront the questions of how we deal with morality. I want the readers to question behavior they’ve enacted or witnessed. I want to propose a new standard of self-control and show what over indulgence looks like and how detrimental it can be, even when it is something as harmless as color being over used.
I also want to invite the reader to use their imagination more. I want the reader to be comfortable and inspired to think about things he/she already knows in new ways. I want them to see that new ideas can be just as important as facts that have plausible evidence that support the
Creative Work
The usual way to accomplish this project would be to illustrate a graphic novel, or a children’s book, bind it and distribute it. However I want a far richer way to view the storybook. I am illustrating my story using unconventional materials. The materials I decided to use are those of various fiber related techniques and processes. I will combine silkscreen printing, fabric dyeing, embroidery, fabric appliqué, as well as possibly felting, quilting and weaving in this project. I use white cotton fabric as a background for every page of my project and adhere other fabrics to make forms, creating visual textures to develop the images on each page. The use of fiber materials will make the viewer want to touch and feel the pages, adding a three-dimensional element to the book. I want the reader to feel free to interact with the book, similar to the way readers interact with pop-up books. I like the idea of having textural surprises for the reader to discover that both aid the progression of the story and captivate the reader. This book will be one of a kind.
Contextual Discussion
The inspiration for this project came from a few experiences in my life that stand out in my mind. I grew up with my mother reading bedtime stories to my sister and me every night. I can still remember the morals of these stories. I also remember pivotal images from some of these stories, so I am able to piece the stories together without needing the words. I can remember the different lessons from the children’s series, “The Berenstain Bears”. Why telling lies is bad and you will eventually get caught in your lies, the importance of being and staying healthy, why you should not fight with your sibling. Children’s books are very powerful works of art because they have strong morals that adults try to live their lives by, but they are simplified for a child’s level of understanding so that the children can strive to meet those expectations as well. In grade school, we read stories from Grimm’s fairytales and Aesop’s Fables. Aesop’s fables greatly affected my conscious behavior and how I interacted with others. The tales of the grasshopper and the ant and the Dog and his bone, talked about the harm in procrastination and in being greedy and show the consequences of those actions. Even today, when I make decisions I think of Aesop fables that might be relevant to the situation. This helped me determine whether or not I am making the best decision. In my opinion, memorable children’s stories can have a lifelong impact on a child, if the message is strong enough. They can help mold that child as he/she grows up. I want to convey a message of morality and suggest control over humans’ need to overindulge and to this tendency to revert to barbaric, animal like behavior when they have disagreements and conflicting ideas. I suppose the history of wars and the causes of wars have a slight influence on my story. I have found that whenever human have found something they consider a sign of power they begin to fight. Once they take things too far someone or something intervenes and a struggle ensues. Afterward there’s resolution even if only momentarily until the next problem arises.
Conclusion
I want my project to give a new perspective on the way humans see color but I also want to address the path we are heading towards on over consumption. When are we satisfied? Is it when there is nothing left and we destroy ourselves, or is a finding a middle ground truly possible and not a foolish dream? I want people reading my story to consider; “maybe there is a reason we could not see color…” based on the hedonistic way the people act at one point over the use of color. In the story I do not want to portray the people as horrible villains but would have the reader reflect that the ugly side of humankind does exist. I want the readers to ask, “Am I this way too?’ I feel that self-reflection is a positive part of life and I hope that I can give that to my readers.
I want to present the reader an entire experience when they view my work. I want to place my book on a pedestal near a corner in the gallery space and have a huge comfy chair beside it. I will direct the readers to sit in the chair and take their time reading my story. I hope that they will feel like children, sitting in an enormous chair reading quietly in a corner by themselves. I enjoy the thought of reverting back to childhood, a time in my life when I was open to anything, willing to accept new ideas and knowledge, unafraid of critiquing my own behavior. I feel that as we age, we lose that ability to accept new, unfamiliar thoughts and we learn that it is weak to admit personal faults. Perhaps people will learn to self-reflect and correct their actions after reading my story.
Bibliography
1.Aesop’s Fables, Illustrated by Jacob Lawrence
2. "Human body." New World Encyclopedia. 10 Jul 2009, 16:28 UTC. 7 Jan 2010, 11:25 <http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Human_body?oldid=943326>
3. http://www.greekmythology.com/
-A site dedicated to Greek Mythology
-Gave traditional and new stories about the Greek Gods and their creation
4.http://www.fiberscene.com/artists.html
-A Directory of fiber artists and examples of their work, artist statements, and biographies
-Sheila O’Hara
-D.R. Wagner
