Final Project Proposal: Abortion Propaganda

I know that I work the best when the projects I do are inspired or based off of subjects I am already passionate about. For the trimester long project I will be working on I decided I wanted to make art about abortions. It is a subject that I love to learn about and one that I don't think is discussed enough. I believe there is a strong inequity in the access to information about abortions. They don't tend to be covered in health classes and there is an intense amount of anti-abortion propaganda littering the United States.

This is why I have chosen to make a few different forms of pro-abortion propaganda. I will digitally design pro-choice billboards, create portraits that negatively highlight Planned Parenthood protesters, and create a short informational video that outlines some basic facts about abortions.

Visual ppt
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/11FxcpIvnKqbh4fCv13HFJNzWtWrUfMZUwJDOoz8fDiM/edit?usp=sharing

Artist Talk: Mary Griep

My friend Genevieve in front of "Ulu Camii, Divirgi, Turkey"

   On March 29th I attended an artist talk at the Wriston Art Center. The artist that was showcasing their work was Mary Griep, a professor of art and Dean of Fine Arts at St. Olaf in Minnesota. The project she spoke about that is also displayed in the gallery is her Anastylosis Project that she has been working on for over a decade. This project is comprised of many drawings of different architectural monuments in fine detail. One thing I didn't realize during her speech and actualized while looking at her work in person was that not only was her work drawings, but it was multimedia. In the case of Griep, multimedia means that she collages many tiny different pieces of paper onto her drawings, creating intricate mosaic details within her work.
   Something I really appreciated about her talk was that she gave a brief outline of her starting process for her project. She mentioned that all good projects must start with a question or problem to explore. She also noted that a good question will not be fully formed at the beginning of the process, rather it will be expanded upon along the way.
   When she spoke about the subjects she chose she said she drew things that "captured [her] imagination." I liked this phrasing because it implies more than catching someone's attention. It means the subject is rich enough that the mind can form other concepts that enrich their understanding of its subject.
   Griep stated that she created her work with the intention of making the viewer come up close and then step back to see the whole thing. While looking at the work in the gallery, I did just that. She includes such an intense amount of detail in each piece she makes, and then on top of that works on a large scale that can only be fully appreciated by looking up close and also from afar.