Proposal for Project #2:
Technoscapes: An Exploration of Images from Hopkins Hall and from my own Art, Sculpture, and Garden

Artists have always had the opportunity to select, transform, and arrange their materials in a way that expresses their particular vision. Granted, some eras of artistic expression have required closer adherence to the observable world than others; nevertheless, artists have still been able to explore a variety of possibilities and arrangements and forms, to expand the vision of their times, to question or challenge that vision and the traditions in which it is expressed, to juxtapose that vision or tradition with alternatives, and so on. Technology has accelerated this process in a variety of ways by presenting us with the advanced imaging capabilities of digital photography and computer applications like Photo Shop plus internet access to vast image resources. Not only can we create and transform and record images faster and in greater quantities, but we can also share and receive them, be affected by them, and, in turn, respond to them with developments in our own work.

The creation of a "technoscape'" or a digitally created environment, a virtual world, is now becoming a creative norm. To participate in this, I plan to explore the juxtaposition and integration of various, even dissimilar, image elements, namely, photographs elements from a walk through and around Hopkins Hall with photographic elements of my own art work (paintings and sculpture). I may also include some images from an earlier photographic exploration of my back yard garden. At this point I'm not sure how these images will be combined or even which ones I will use. I do know that all of these elements, Hopkins Hall and the Art Department, my own art work, and the beauty of flowers in my garden, are parts of the composite of my life, of who I am, especially as an artist. Working on these pieces will, I hope, clarify, develop, and communicate that sense of identity, meaning, and growth.