Metamorph osis of Me Julia S. Fann ey University o f Florida
My childhood was idyllic in that it was spent exploring the =ields around my house, the woods that meandered with a stream to the Mississippi river, playing with friends, and popping into neighbor’s kitchens for cookies. My mother being the creative person that she was, set up a corner of the basement with a dress up trunk, play kitchen, and a cupboard with games. This was my area to entertain my friends when they came over to visit. It was also my area to color or paint without worry of a mess. Formally, with kindergarten, my art explorations began. Sent off with an artist smock I was regularly set up at the easel with the primary colors to create a painting most often of home, playing outside, or my pets. According to Ivashkevich (2006), Brent and Marjorie Wilson’s Teaching Children to Draw (1982) says that the child will depict “ideas about himself and about his world” (p. 48) these depictions are further broken into “four major realities: common, archeological, normative, and prophetic” (p. 48). The common derives expression from the known and everyday experiences and these artistic endeavors create greater understandings for the child of their world. Archeological draws upon the child’s self-‐expression of their essential emotional being, that which makes up whom they are. Normative explores the concept of right and wrong in relation to what this means to the child. The last, prophetic reality is about what is to come futuristically and what this means in terms of the child’s own world and place in it. In essence, my own artistic development exempli=ied what Ivashkevich and the Wilson’s advocated, my own developing sense of self and how I =it into this world.
Modern Indian Made in 1976 in High School art class, Spring=ield, MO. The size is 3 ft. X 19 inches. Weaving was made on a picture frame using rug yarn.
Formally, my art introduction was in my high school art class with Jayne Meadows who is now retired and taught at my high school for 29 years. It was an explorative art class in a variety of mediums from clay, painting, jewelry making, and =iber arts. While this class was highly explorative it also was social in its format. As long as our work was on task, socialization was allowed; rarely did we need to be reminded to get back to work. It is the theorist Hamblen (1984) who says “artistic perception” is a learned behavior in the artist and those that view the artwork. The artistic aesthetics are learned behaviors through “formal and informal socialization processes” (p. 21).
According to Dewey (1958) and Rosen (1968) how artists decimate these past experiences is based on how we interpret these experiences, artist’s previous training, and the intention of the artist. Hamblen conclusively says that artistic creation is a social activity that incorporates learning as an outcome. My artistic artwork grew in this class as evidenced by the product Modern Indian weaving that I produced in this class. This weaving was included in my portfolio submission to college and quali=ied me to test out of the beginning course in weaving.
Postcard Flower Market Painted in College Art class in 1977 at Drury College in Spring=ield, MO. The size is 34 inches by 37 inches. The medium is acrylic.
Initially, my major was art therapy. However, in the midst of choosing a career my parents separated and I returned home. I went to school at a local college and took a painting class with a teacher by the name of Edyth West. It was in this class that I learned to think outside of the box and innovative in my painting techniques. Postcard Flower Market painting was to show in an intercollegiate art show of six colleges with myself showing as the only freshman. My English teacher
made an offer to buy my painting, but since it was my =irst painting, I declined. It was at this point that I took off a year from college while personal issues with my family settled. We moved and I began again at another college majoring in Fashion Illustration. Loved drawing the human body, as that was the emphasis for the =irst year students. Unfortunately, the teacher was to take a job in London leaving the other teacher to =inish up the last year for the senior students.
A visiting artist Catherine Clayton Parnell who was with the magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, reviewed my portfolio. It was at her suggestion that I go into Graphic Design, as it was a more versatile career. This I did, but the teacher was not easy to get along with. I graduated and went to work at the University of Missouri-‐ Columbia as a graphic layout specialist before the advent of technology. I was highly aware that technology was going to change the =ield of Graphic Design and the printing industry.
year I graduated from college my school was to get computers for the Graphic Design program and got rid the teacher that had been a thorn in my side. Meanwhile, as part of my bene=it at the University I took classes in Graphic Design and classes at night in 4-‐harness weaving and sumie painting. I remained at the University of Missouri-‐Columbia for =ive years, always wanting more professionally, until I was to marry. Immediately, as soon as I left the printing services (3rd largest in the United States) they were to upgrade to computers for graphic layout.
Art Styles Metamorphosis Created in Graphic Design class in 1986 at the University of Missouri. Size is 9 inches by 9 inches. Inked drawing using a rapdiograph.
Amethyst Weaving Created in 1987 in Columbia, Missouri. Made on a one-‐harness loom. The size is 10 inches by 56 inches. Made with two types of handmade yarn with one type incorporating ribbon into the yarn.
In the midst of my =ive years with the University I was struck with stage IV endometriosis. I moved back home for my mother to take care of me while I received treatment and continued to work and take classes, until even the classes became too much. After a couple of surgeries, one lasting four hours, and drugs, I was to marry, given a =ifty percent chance of having children. After one year of marriage our family was to expand ultimately adding three children into our familial group. A blessing that was not supposed to occur it was not without price, three miscarriages, and additional surgeries.
My own personal artistic practices were put away except for activities with the children and with school. Teachers loved my artistic background and often placed me in activities where it would be advantageous. I designed pins for the Greek games, designed the invitations for the sixth grade dance, and was in charge of decorating the cafeteria for the sixth grade dance. Professionally though, I was in hiatus.
It was with my divorce that I decided to be trained on the computer so I went back to school at the Art Institute of Jacksonville. After having missed so many opportunities to further myself with technology it was now my turn. It was here in the educational format that my creativity was to grow by leaps and bounds. Though I struggled, I was to be eventually rewarded with the coveted semester award, Best of Spring 2008 for my project Eco Poster. Craft (2003) says that ‘creative thinking skills…enable pupils to generate and extend ideas, to suggest hypotheses, to apply imagination, and to look for alternative innovative outcomes’ (National Curriculum Handbook for Primary and Secondary Teachers, 1999) (p. 116). So I grew, actually metamorphosed in my artistic development, and graduated in 2009.
Mythopoly Game Board Created in 2007 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size is 20 inches by 20 inches. Created in the Creative Adobe Suite Illustrator Program and printed out on cardstock and applied to foam board.
Marbles Created in 2007 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size can be variable depending on preference. Taken with a Pentax Optio E10.
Possibilities Created in 2007 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size is variable depending on preference. Merged photography -‐ four photographs that have been enhanced in Photoshop and then merged into one image.
BNK Magazine Cover Created in 2007 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size is 54 picas by 70 picas. Created in the Creative Adobe Suite InDesign Program and printed out on cardstock and applied to foam board.
Twilight Spread Created in 2008 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size is 16 inches by 10 ½ inches for each spread. Created in the Creative Adobe Suite InDesign Program and printed out on cardstock and applied to foam board.
X-‐Ray Cube Created in 2008 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size is a 7-‐inch cube. Created in the Creative Adobe Suite InDesign Program and printed out on cardstock and applied to foam board. Hole on side allows for =inger to trigger book light to view interior picture.
Eco Poster Blackburn & Beresford Graphic Standards Manuel Cover Created in 2008 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size is 20 inches by 20 inches. Created Created in 2008 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida. The size is 16 inches by 10 inches, for the in the Creative Adobe Suite Illustrator Program and front & back cover. Created in the Creative Adobe printed out on cardstock and applied to foam board. Suite Illustrator Program and printed out on paper applied using double sided sticky sheets to illustrator board to create the Graphic Standards Manuel.
Readybrek Campaign Manuel Created in 2009 at the Art Institute of Jacksonville. The size is 5 inches by 7 inches. Created in the Adobe Creative Suite in Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign.
It was during this time that the recession hit and my only employment as a creative assistant at Vanguard Realty was part-‐time, I then took a job teaching at a private school. I was to remain there for 2 ½ years commuting an hour one-‐ way until it became too much. During this time I =inished my EPI classes (December 2013) and acquired my certi=ications. I found teaching to expand my own creativity and opened creative doors for others. I joined a mixed media art group, SoMMA (Society of Mixed Media Artists) that broadened my horizons on teaching and the making of art.
It Is Written Created in 2010 for the Society of Mixed Media Artist’s challenge in Jacksonville, Florida. The size is 8 inches by 10 inches. Supplies including matte board given to you in a bag and the prompt “it is written”. Juried by the artist Daniel Wynn, won honorable mention.
Since, I had set myself on the trajectory of educating myself in how to teach, I enrolled in the Master of Arts in Art Education at the University of Florida to expand my knowledge on the subject. Again, I have metamorphosed myself in a different direction, expanding my knowledge, and my artistic directions. Training on the computer led me to take pieces of imagery and construct a whole; mixed media to me is essentially the same thing. My new artistic direction has been to take things that give meaning and assemble them in such a way as to give meaning to others. I no longer feel that I have to play catch up with the rest of the world. I am comfortable with what I don’t know because I know that I am capable of learning. I am comfortable in my own artistic capabilities. This is my story, my metamorphosis of me.
The Great Grandmas Created in 2014 at a workshop with the artist Barbara Cornett in Green Cove Springs, Florida. Size is 8 inches by 20 inches. Made with bulb from street lights, vase, old piece of crochet, hat that I used for dress up as a child, springs for cushions found in garage, buttons and buckle from the button box passed down through the women on my mother’s side.
References Craft, A. (2003). The limits to creativity in education: Dilemmas for the educator. British Journal of Educational Studies, 51(2), 113-‐127. Hamblen, K. A. (1984). Artistic perception as a function of learned expectations. Art Education, 37(3), 20-‐25. Ivashkevich, O. (2006). Drawing in children’s lives. In J. Fineberg (Ed.), When we were young: Perspectives on the art of the child (pp. 45-‐59). Los Angeles: University of California Press.