Monday, December 10, 2012

Evolution - Gin Merritt

       
       Like many students at San Diego Mesa Community College, I am a “non-traditional” student. I am returning to school after obtaining my Master’s several years ago and working towards bettering my skills in graphic design. I am “non-traditional” because I have “been” where many of my peers "are". In this economy, as prices of classes increase while pay for degree needing jobs decreases, we need a light to help us refocus. There are many things in my life I earned, but the achievement of my degrees is different. As a friend said, it is “something no one can take from you” because of the work you put towards and into it. Keeping this idea of achievement and progress in mind, I reviewed several public art artists and murals throughout the world and also picked out a location for this mural.

Before on SD Mesa's Campus
Before
Proposed Location of Mural
       After a careful review of public art works, I found myself drawn more and more to Barbara Kruger, Barry McGee, and Shepard Fairey’s work. I loved the use of a monochromatic large image in Another by Kruger and enjoyed the inclusion of the red, green, and blue into the piece as I felt it brought life and attention to those areas. I found the same in Shepard Fairey’s Mayday; the use of reds, whites, and blacks with interwoven patterns and words. I loved Barry McGee’s method of spray paint and his belief that graffiti is a vital vehicle of communication.From these works, I developed and created my own idea to beautify San Diego Mesa Community College's campus.
Evolution: Proposed Mural for SDMESACC gin merritt
After
Evolution - gin merritt
       To beautify and add a little push towards greatness in each student, I propose the installation of Evolution, a graffiti inspired art mural that utilizes simple graphics and forms to communicate the development of the human being in both physical and mental capabilities. From infant to student to graduate, this mural helps to remind students that their hard work is towards a life changing goal and they can achieve it, just as they have every other thing in their lives. As much as this mural focuses on the future, it also helps students to reflect on how far they have come as individuals and to be proud of each achievement.

-Virginia Merritt



15 comments:

  1. Evolution has been, and will continue to be, a good topic for discussion. The image selected visually explains the development of human beings. The transition of the images on the walls works well.

    Violet Gutierrez

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  2. This looks very realistic! I like that it is simple and easy to interpret. -Abigail Argonza

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  3. I found your proposal to be interesting and thought provoking, particularly the parallels between the "evolution" of a person to the evolution of mankind. -- John Zeller

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  4. This is really neat. It's a different sort of "evolution" than what most people think of, because this is about the evolution of growing and learning. It looks really nice and I like it!

    -Chelsea Cameron

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  5. This is really cool with the whole evolution of human life. Definitely shows the stages we go through as human beings on trying to maintain our education starting out in our earlier years to graduating. Good job.

    -Shawnice Rozier

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  6. Awesome idea, the age of the building is perfect for hieroglyphs.

    -Nathan Travis

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  7. The cycle of life, we should all take a moment,here and there, to reflect. The old saying that simple is hard comes to mind. You did a good job on this mural. It gives us a reminder of where we came from and what we are hoping to become.-Tim Pipes

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  9. I really like the concept. It's fun and entertaining. I think a mural of that length requires some sort of framing, color, or shading. Otherwise it looks too empty.

    - Bill Pacheco

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  10. I like that this mural talks about the years that pass by when people grow up. It shows how much people learn over the years, including school and Mesa College. Great job with your mural.

    -Anthony Sefcik

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  11. Wonderfully simple layout that is interesting to the eyes, and a great use of red. Very nice.
    -Chris Boyer

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  12. This was an interesting take on the development of humans.

    Claudia Munoz

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  13. Very interesting, it makes you study it. Using the evolution theme was a smart idea. Maybe just make the one red question mark a little smaller? I do like the idea of a bright, contrasting color and the soccer ball addition works for me.
    -Russ Martin

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  14. This is really cool artwork on the development of humans. This shows how the baby forms to adult.-Aaron Haley

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  15. This is creative like the humans..

    Andrea Herman

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