Author: Jaycee Birkemeier

For my interstellar message project I would like to lean into the idea of human connection. I think this idea can be paradoxical because although human nature is to join together and build relationships, it also tends to be “human nature” to fight with and disclude others. I also believe that when it comes to this topic, it is something that everyone has personally experienced. Whether that be making friends and having a close family, or the other side of the spectrum: being left out and feeling lonely. This topic is both a strong element of human existence and also a topic that can connect well with any audience. 

I have selected Liberty by Constantino Brumidi. This painting was done in 1869, and was commissioned for the White House by President Ulysses S. Grant. The painting is an allegorical representation of “Liberty” and was commissioned alongside another painting, Union. These pieces represent the post-Civil War resurgence and indivisibility of the Union.

Brumidi’s painting depicts one woman, who is meant to be Liberty, wearing a white dress and draped red fabric. She holds a sword in her right hand, and a staff and a laurel wreath in her raised left hand. There is a red ribbon tied around the top of the staff, and there is an american flag that appears to be either also grasped in her left hand or attached to the staff, and it is flowing behind her. Lastly, a gold star shaped crown adorns her head. 

This painting personifies the American idea of liberty, and the feelings and symbols that are associated with it.

The painting is tinted gold with the woman representing liberty structured in power with her chin tilted upwards towards the light source. The whole piece is generally bright, and the woman’s stance and weapons showcase strength, pushing a positive and patriotic connotation into the work.

I think that in my remake I can take the objects and lessen their impact in the piece. I would like to keep the feeling of empowerment brought on by the main subject, but I would like to take away some elements/ somehow alter them to fit into the background pattern, to make the meaning of the piece more abstract and able to pull different meanings from the piece.

I would like to take the American flag, the laurel wreath, and the ribbon elements from the original painting and combine them into a pattern. I think if I alter them into a floral like pattern that could fit in with the soft lighting and overall image. I would like to use these elements to create my own pattern because I think it will be a cool way to reimagine the original work of art.

I have chosen women’s rights as my topic because it is an issue that is personal to me. I want to incorporate different women and/or different ages of women into this piece, as well as possibly using my own pictures from protests and marches that I have been to myself. I think this would add a cool perspective to the piece by drawing on my own experiences, as well as make it more different with the use of my own reference photos. I will be representing this piece in a rhetorical manner due to the fact that with this topic I already have implicit bias and strong beliefs in relation to it. I think my stance will be drawn out clearly due to the lens of protesting I am planning on projecting through. I think my topic has a lot of underlying emotions, and that mix of feelings propels the idea of fight and hope, and I think this idea can be shown within my characters faces as well as through the writing on posters and/or banners.

Before watching this film I didn’t even know what radiolarians were. It is really cool to see how complex, diverse, and abundant single celled organisms can be. I was also really intrigued by the way Haeckel would draw all of them, and in a short amount of time when they were only able to stay alive outside of their natural habitat for so long. These organisms were used as sort of a pillar within this film, around them being the history of scientific discovery around life, Haeckel and his life’s work, and the competing notions of art versus nature. I found it interesting that a main issue that was arising from new discoveries was the beliefs of religion versus science. It was engaging to see how Haeckel was grappling with these opposing views within himself, and how his ideas changed as time and science progressed. Personally, it was really compelling to see how Haeckel managed to balance his naturalist perspective, scientific knowledge, and drive for exploration with his artistic side and need for romanticism throughout his life. As a biology major, it was cool to see him incorporate creation of art within his studies in the scientific community. Lastly, one part of the film that stood out to me was the idea of “embracing the opposites”. How can one embrace both religious and scientific views, man versus nature, art versus science, and so on. 

I decided to choose Rapunzel as my story because growing up I have always loved the Disney movie inspired by it; Tangled. Although Tangled is not the exact same storyline as the original Rapunzel fairytale, it is the one I know better so I will be basing this project off of it.

One major turning point for the main character, Rapunzel, is when she decides to leave the tower. All her life her “mother” has kept her trapped in the tower and told her how scary and dangerous the outside world is, and Rapunzel has believed her and never strayed from the tower. Her escaping the tower is an important moment for her, as she chooses to be brave and lets her curiosity take over and make her own choices.

In Tangled, Rapunzel’s “mother” is depicted as an evil witch, who has kidnapped her at birth and kept her hidden in a tower to use Rapunzel’s special powers all for herself. In my depiction I will make it so the witches’ decision to keep Rapunzel locked in the tower is not out of greed but instead out of love and fear for Rapunzel. A main theme from the story is that the witch tells Rapunzel that the outside world is scary and dangerous, and I think it would be cool to feed into that, and twist the witch to be caring and trying to look out for Rapunzel in fear that others will try to use her powers for themselves.