Author's Note
This writing project has been the most difficult for me so far but also the one I consider the most enlightening. It took something I am unfamiliar with, art in the form of sculptures, and something I am uncomfortable with, the art of creating something for a public speaking purpose, and forced me to create something personal, which I was comfortable with.
When I first began observing SANDY, I was really afraid to make any sort of inferences because I did not feel qualified to judge art because of my unfamiliarity. But then I realized that Richard McDermott Miller did not make this sculpture to only be looked at by art experts. This made it easier for me to just take in what I was seeing and to formulate my ideas and opinions. Writing in my journal for each observation helped me to get my thoughts organized and I was in front of my sculpture actively looking at it instead of just thinking about it. I had some difficulty at first deciding what I actually thought about SANDY until I let go of inhibitions regarding not knowing enough and just moved around her, writing about everything that I thought at each point. This led me to the two perspectives that are so opposite to me that are the focus of my letter to her.
Writing the rough draft was also difficult for me because I wasn't quite sure what the assignment was asking for. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be writing more from a rhetorical aspect just directed at my sculpture, or more personal and my own ideas speaking to the sculpture. After looking at examples from previous students, I hoped that I was right in combining the two, although I definitely made it personal because of how I felt about SANDY. In creating my rough draft, I did not really take into account the fact that I would also be performing the piece. When I read it out loud for my partner during peer reviews, I realized I needed to practice how I would be moving around my sculpture according to what part I will be discussing at each moment. I feel that I put each topic in not only the order that I originally thought through when observing SANDY, but also in a logical order for my presentation.
Peer reviewing gave me the opportunity to listen to how my letter would make sense when reading it out loud and I took this into account when I wrote my final draft. I added more details as to how I was thinking and feeling when moving far away and close up to SANDY in terms of how her body language was speaking to me. I also added more about how her material, bronze, was very important as to what an observer was taking from her. I feel that I better explained how the material and how marks and dents caused by her creation and the weather made me feel. I think I was too vague in my rough draft in addressing specific details that were the most important to me.
This writing project was challenging but it was the most interesting to me to overcome, and I am glad I had the opportunity to look at art in this way.
Writing Project 3
Dear SANDY,
I speak to you now as a friend, as the time we have spent together that has now spanned several weeks has brought me closer to you, literally and figuratively. When we first met, I was cautious. I did not open myself up to you as I should have, perhaps because you are set back from our world. I wonder how many people have passed by and simply gave up trying to see the real you because of this box you have been placed in. But I did not give up. At first I stood far away from you, trying to see some big picture of how you fit in this sculpture garden at the Sheldon Art Museum. But that's not what you are meant for. Your creator, Richard McDermott Miller, did not make you so you would fit anywhere because you, my friend, are trapped in defined space. You are not of the natural world that you are placed in, among trees and grass, because you are made of bronze. You are not even from our time; you are from a world of gender wars of the year 1967 that has very obviously trapped you. This I could see, even from far away. But your features are undefined; your body is plain and not unique from this viewpoint. As I moved around you, I began to see different parts of your construction. I saw how your body language seems to change as my perspective changed.
When I saw you from the front of your framing, I thought you were a sad and almost pathetic individual. All I saw from this perspective was that you are conforming to your entrapment; you have given up fighting and your face speaks of defeat. From this distance, the bronze of your construction does not appear affected by anything except the way the light shines on it from the sun. Your body thus appears the same as the frames around you, other than the curved nature of your body in opposition to the straight nature of the boxes.
When I moved closer to you I could see your face and how it works with your body. Your head, to me, seems to be turned down in weakness. I begin to wonder if you have even tried to fight this, because from where I stand you are encapsulated in two boxes; one of your own doing and one that is imposing itself upon you. As I said before, they are so different from the form of your body and they are geometric. But you seem to be resting, defeated, in the first frame that traps you. Your hand is hanging down, which indicates that it is possible to reach out of this space, but that is all you have succeeded to do. Your plight is of your own sadness and wrongdoing, or so it seems from this viewpoint. Seeing you close up from this perspective almost disappoints me and your flaws and scars are disheartening. Some of the marks and dents in your body are simply a part of how your body was formed in its creation, and are what make you human. But there are also flaws that have been created by the weather, as you have spent most of your life outdoor. They stand out to make you appear weaker, especially in comparison to the smooth, polished finish of the frames that have been able to withstand weather damage when you couldn't.
Still remaining cautious of becoming close to you, I stepped behind your construction and was astonished by the change that overtook you and the way I saw you, even from a distance. I could see that you had grown stronger, that you had changed and your body language is communicating something completely differently. Your back is arched in pushing against the frame that is trapping you. Your fluid, strong legs are contorting because of your choice, not defeat, against this stiff, geometric shape that is keeping you in its hold.
I move closer to you, to learn from this strong creature. I see your face even clearer and know that it is set in determination to win, not in defeat as it seemed before. I see your hands and feet that are large in proportion to the rest of your body and are overcompensating of your efforts to show how strong you are. Your legs and arms are obviously muscular by the way they are shaped and are straining against the frame that is touching you. I see how your body twists and fights while accepting the scars and flaws that you must take on. From here, I can see how a lot of the marks that you have taken on from your creation and from the weather does not take away from your strength; it actually adds to it because you are still fighting even with this damage. This vision makes me proud and I want to cry from seeing your efforts so defensively strong. I touch my hand to yours, hoping I can share the strength you are showing. It seems this is the support you need, because you are even stronger when I stand next to you. As a woman, I feel connected by this and the history of strong women in my family, who battled oppression in the form of Nazis, depression, and divorce, speaks to the history of the oppression against women that you have faced in the year of your creation, 1967.
SANDY, I can only hope that you will keep fighting and will not give up. I can only hope that others who see you will recognize the strength and determination I see in you and that they will not pass you by as another woman who will not or cannot fight. I can only hope that you feel the same way as I do and that you will remember me when I visit you for strength and reassurance. Thank you for all that you have taught me and for your perseverance.
Your friend, admirer, and fellow fighter,
Sarah Michelle Gilchrist
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