Midterm - Artist Statement

Overview

This piece is a play on the idea of looking at the world through rose colored lenses. That is to say, that the world is being viewed from a specific point of view. In this piece, however, it is not just a metaphorical idea, nut a physical implementation of this idea. Where "Blue Colored Lenses" is alluding to listening and viewing the world through the sound of water.

Background

'Blue Colored Lenses' was made using water sounds, sounds of people drinking water, whale sounds, literally just a bunch of water sounds. The main mission of the piece is to melt all of these sounds together into one piece.

Description

As you listen to the piece, you might pick out parts of everyday life through the different uses of water. We use water in all sorts of different ways throughout our home and everyday life. We also are constantly interacting with water in very unique ways. Listen intently to spot these interactions.

Statement of Purpose

The purpose of this piece is to illustrate the beauty in the everyday interactions with a simple element. As well, in a time when water is becoming scarce to so many others, to be aware of the privilege we have to so liberally use water in so many parts of our lives. We often forget how fortunate we are to have basic necessities and water is one of the most essential commodity.

Influences

I have a few influences that helped form this project. One of these influences is Water Wars: Privatization, Pollution, and Profit, a novel by Vandana Shiva, and Tapped, a documentary about the privatization of bottled water. These two pieces have influenced my view of water and the privilege I feel that we have in regard to the ease of access to water. Furthermore, I am also influenced by an old Spanish song "Casas de Carton" which is a song about the sound of rain on the roof of a house. These are just some of the things that helped me develop the overall motif for this project.

Fit Within Larger Notion of Aesthetics

My piece is not a copy or derivative of any other piece. It really is its own piece. However, the thing that really sets it apart from other pieces is the sounds of whales that are intermixed with the whale sounds.

Materials & Methodology

I used Garageband to edit the sound files that I found. I wasn't able to make any water sound files that sounded decent enough to use. The page is a template, however, I created the image myself in illustrator (which I am so proud of). The image represents the idea of recording underwater.

Outcomes

I'm not 100% happy with me piece, primarily because I could not distort the sounds in the way I wanted. Next time I will use a different software to edit these pieces. I wasn't able to apply as many effects/distortions as I would have liked. I would also want to add more water sounds to add diversity to the pice.

Self Reflection

For the most part, I am happy with my piece and I feel like it reflects what I wanted. It integrates and mixing all of these sounds that happen in our lives that revolve around water. I also enjoyed the effect that is integrated in the piece, it sounds a little muffled and distorted but not so much that you can't determine what sounds are within the piece.