Lena Kurtz_Assignment #1

Professor Sue O'Donnell's exhibit Memory Maps is a very personal narrative of her memories and experiences throughout her life. Her work is set up around the viewing gallery in various ways including being mounted on matting, framed pieces, cut outs placed in a sealed glass jar, and even printed on wooden blocks. The separate pieces all work very well together because they are all memories that all viewers can see and relate to in their own lives. The deep meanings of her pieces help pull viewers into the pieces rather than just glancing at them. Also, the idea of being able to interact with certain pieces such as the wooden blocks makes the exhibit interesting to anyone who sees it because instead of just looking at the art, you can get involved in it. I would not change anything about the exhibit, but I do think the lighting in the gallery could be changed to help make viewing the pieces easier because there were a lot of glares on the frames of certain pieces caused by the windows in the room.

Run is the title of the work I have chosen to talk about. The image is of a girl in a plain white dress with a red bow running through the grass. This piece was created from a sequence of still frames from a film of O'Donnell running as a child. Altogether there are about 20 separate images in this piece. They begin with just feet entering the picture and progress to include the whole body running through the separate images and ends with the runner's head exiting the last image. The images are arranged in a straight line sequence across three walls.

I think that Run is a very straightforward piece. It portrays the simple but important memory of the joy of running around as a child. I know I can look back and remember having more energy than I can imagine and feeling like I could run and never stop. It's basically a universal memory that everyone can relate to. I think the idea behind this piece is to stir up the memories of it's viewers and help them to remember their past. I think it also shows people that though we may have different pasts, there are many memories that all of us share and can relate to each other through them.