NOT SO VIRGIN MARY

Avenues of Communication

Quote: "I FEEL AMERICAN"

This quote was found using the 'We Feel Fine' website by searching for people who were feeling 'American'. I wanted to find people who were feeling things about America because that is where I will be spending three weeks. I thought it would be an interesting opportunity to try and do an original artwork whilst I’m here in the States.

The quote is a nice, short, punchy and positive quote that many people over here can relate to.

As a background I used the meadow and the Sierra Mountain Range. I chose this area because of its relationship to the early settlers. The meadow is used as a grazing land for cows and horses and also includes walking trails. Opposite the meadow is Barlow Street, a sidewalk, a bike lane and family homes.

I made the quote using reeds to spell the letters of the quote by putting it onto a barbed wire fence. The letters are stuck to the fence by using the barbs and other plants. I chose those materials because of its relationship to nature. Perhaps just like the fence, the meadow and the animals the quote will one day disappear but the mountain range will always remain.

The people who will take the time to look across into the meadow and it’s scenery will see the quote ‘I FEEL AMERICAN’ reminding them of the diversity of this country. If the scenery is ignored, then so is the quote.

The town is very conservative with many people have American flags or “Support our Troops” stickers on their cars. Also many house have at least one American flag somewhere in their front yard. I believe that this quote would be memorable as it shows American pride in a different way then just waving the flag or having a bumper sticker. Even towards older citizens of America who perhaps fought in a war or have other strong reasons to be very patriotic might be very moved because someone took the time out their day to create the quote in a public space.

While creating the quote roughly 20 cars and 5 bike riders past and about 6 people entered the meadow. Cars would often slow down and look out their windows to see what I was doing and to read the quote. The bike riders and pedestrians would also watch me making the quote but interestingly they didn’t stop. However I did get several reactions whilst taking photos of the completed work. A car slowed down (presumably to read the quote) then beeped its horn twice, gave me a thumbs up and continued down the road. A female bike rider yelled out “Yeah baby! I feel American!” People would look in the direction of the quote and read the completed sentence as well.

The only feedback that I got was to try and find a different quote from my original (I STILL DON’T FEEL AMERICAN) to one that was more pro-America. I did start my original idea but found that it wasn’t effective and couldn’t decide on an audience where the public would view it effectively. My idea was to create the words out of different materials and take photos, then create the sentence and put it in an area where the public could see it.

Given the circumstances and the lack of contact with my peers and tutors I believe that I did this project to the best of my ability. If given another opportunity whilst I was in Australia to do this project I would have chosen a different quote, thus changing the target audience, the materials and where the message was to be viewed.