Ian Prediger assignment #1

Professor Sue O'Donnells exhibition was about memory maps, specifically her own memories about her family and growing up. There was a variety of different mediums used to express her artwork and the layout of the exhibition was done in a very appealing way. Each piece itself told its own story in a unique way that kept you walking around the room wanting to see what the next piece was about. The one thing I really enjoyed about the setup was the difference in the displays of her artwork. Photography, prints, 3d works, and use of transparency and clear frames was a cool way to deliver her message. Some of the specific pieces that I enjoyed were the time lapse photographs. The reason I think the variety of displays this works well for the exhibition was how it was broken up by these simple images and then moved onto something alot more deep like her displays telling parts of a story broken up into little squares or the frames full of sentences and shapes in a clear frame. From a distance the pieces seem like simple images and shapes but when you come close you can see that they are comprised of many words and you can stand there reading each piece for awhile, taking in her experiece as your own.

The photography pieces I found to be the most interesting, they broke up the complexity of the rest of her works. You have these deep stories broken up in various mannors and you can stand reading her story for hours but the simplicity of the photos tells a story without having to read. The way the images are time lapsed, blurry and out of frame make these memory montages seem like you are looking directly back into her past. The out of focus composure also gives the images a very real quality like the memory is just hoovering just out of reach in the back of your mind. The almost washed out highlights in the photographs also help to give the images a kind of dream like feel. The use of point of view is as if your seeing it through someones eyes who was actually standing there in the moment. Overall the composure of the photos is very effective in conveying the message that the images are sending.

The photographs show a small girl running towards her father and then him playfully throwing her in the air and catching her again. I think the meaning behind this is just to bring you back and make you reflect on the past, like watching an old home video. This image is every effective because i can remeber when i was very little my parents doing the same type of thing with me. This allows the viewer to really connect with some of their first memories and really understand and connect with where the artist is coming from. The use of the out of focus photos makes it seem as if you are trying to recall these memories from a distant past. The image leaves you with snapshots of what it was like being little again. You almost sit there in a reflecting daze thinking about when you were 5 years old. Overall i enjoyed the exhibit and deffinatly took away a new perspective on creating art using a variety of different mediums and using words to convey a message.