I would like for everybody to take a
moment and reflect think about your life
in the past year and the major events
that impacted you both personally and
globally think about politics weather
technology the social climate your
family and the experiences that have
shaped you now think about whether or
not you would be able to express all of
those ideas in a single page how would
you be able to convey the emotions they
create I hope that tonight I will be
able to provide you all was a way to
express these ideas and to recognize the
ideas of the past and it might not be in
the way you think interestingly the
answer can be found in art through
visuals artists speak in unspoken yet
universally understood language
throughout history artists have kept a
record of the personal and emotional
aspects of a time period in a way that
simply cannot be conveyed in any other
meeting from the defiance of the
American Revolution to the ever so
complex now artists have been present
providing an insight like no other for
the past few months I’ve been
researching how a time period can
influence art in November I had the
opportunity to visit the National
Gallery in Washington DC
going there really gave me insights
about how time interacts what’s a time
period take the Revolutionary War
paintings at this time depicted
idealized people perfect skin hair and
body everybody painted was influential
wealthy people needed faces to look up
to and portraits provided that the
founding fathers were often subjects of
these paintings Americans wanted to be
able to see the people who are changing
their government if paintings were
portraits and they were scenes of
significant events battles the first
congressional meeting and conferences
with important dignitaries were all
shown paintings helped spread the news
about major events of the time period
and created visuals that otherwise would
have been impossible to report
without art many people would have been
left in the dark it truly did serve as a
means of communication the most famous
example of art beeves in this way is
Paul Revere’s print the bloody massacre
this was used as propaganda it
influenced it got people and raised with
Britain and let people know about the
state of affairs in Boston without
pieces like this many people would have
been left in the dark about the world
around them
fast forward 200 years to the 1960s the
60s sometimes referred to as the
turbulent are swinging in 60s was a
decade of change consumerism the selling
of goods marketed towards customers
skyrocketed in this decade in many
households brands we know today socially
people were enraged with the government
the war in Vietnam and the decisions of
their predecessors they took to the
streets in March the injustice they
believed was happening this aura of
nonconformity definitely made its way
into the art world was the opening of
galleries many new art forms Monroe’s
most notably of which was pop art
compared to the art that came before it
pop art broke all the rules it was fun
exciting depicted real brands and the
everyday life is consumer America Andy
Warhol’s paintings Campbell’s soup cans
is a perfect example the painting is
really just a bunch of cake soup there’s
nothing till about it but it resonated
in the hearts of Americans at the time
brands in this age of consumerism were
used to show the every person art let
people way gave people a way to manifest
their desires for change in a way that
did not require words Rutgers curator of
American art Don Augusto friend said
this about our in the 1960s many artists
were politically active and there aren’t
reflected that many others were not so
political but their art reflected their
ideas about freedom of expression
through our a generation was able to
define themselves in a way that was
understand
by people from all walks of life these
two time periods show how art can do
something that words fail to do they can
show the emotional and personal aspects
of a time period when students learn
about history in school they rarely
utilize art people don’t immediately
think of visuals when talking about the
American Revolution and that’s a game
art can remove the language barrier
synonymous with texts in order to truly
understand the time period visuals must
be used now let’s look at today
regardless of differing political and
social views there is no denying that we
are currently at a pivotal point of
American history social progression
advancements in technology and our
current president are all factors that
define this age so I began wondering how
could I as a teenager
represent today through art I started by
focusing on technology and what point is
at now and how how does it made its way
into our everyday lives the first thing
that came to my mind with social media
so I do an Instagram like platform
wanting to also depict the positive
social media can have along with the
unfortunate natural disasters as of late
I have our woman scrolling and pausing
on a post promoting hurricane release
social media has been a gateway for many
young people to learn about the news
connect with each other and create a
positive impact in the world social
media has easily become one of the
largest factors of the past decades and
are very much one of the things that
define this age in my next drawing I
wanted to tackle politics so I decided
to draw an older man reading his
newspaper an effort to include diversity
in the hands that I do the woman in the
previous drawing was young and of a
minority race while this one shows an
older Caucasian man the headlines of
this paper are events that we are all
very familiar with today Robert
Mueller’s investigation on Donald Trump
and sexual allegations are highlight
everybody in this audience has seen a
newspaper that looks something like the
one this man is reading now this last
drawing gave me a lot of problems I just
couldn’t come up with an idea I had so
many different concepts for it when
planning I thought about it should be
how we interact with nature or how the
United States deals with foreign affairs
but none of them were strong enough
there was something I was missing then
something happened in March of this past
year teenagers began speaking up about
current gun laws marches were being held
people were speaking out in the entire
nation was listening I had the honor to
attend the March for our lives in New
York at the March I realized something I
had forgotten
every artist throughout history put
themselves or their story into their
work I remembered that I wanted to show
how life was through my eyes not an
objective point of view that personal
aspect to art is what truly makes it
unique when I got back from the March I
knew what my final drawing had to be
this drawing shows a teenage girl
holding up a sign what she’s written on
the sign remains a mystery but given the
context of these past few months you
don’t have to wonder too hard I wanted
to show that a defining characteristic
of time are the young people the people
who are speaking out and making their
voices heard there were truly show the
emotion and spirit of the time I knew
that in order to accurately show how
life was now I needed to add a personal
element to my art the March was that
element so I’ll leave you with this art
should be a more utilized tool when
trying to understand the time period
unlike all other forms of information
art shows the emotional and personal
aspects of a time and maybe instead of
just looking at cold hard facts and data
an emotional perspective is more
valuable I would like for everybody to
remember the event that I asked you
about at the beginning of the speech the
events that define you are far too
complex to be conveyed in only words now
I would like for everybody to please
take out your phones open the Notes app
and press the pencil icon on the top
right corner now I want you to doodle
that event that I thought of earlier
regardless history bility straw and then
and please remember that a picture often speaks volumes more than words thank you
moment and reflect think about your life
in the past year and the major events
that impacted you both personally and
globally think about politics weather
technology the social climate your
family and the experiences that have
shaped you now think about whether or
not you would be able to express all of
those ideas in a single page how would
you be able to convey the emotions they
create I hope that tonight I will be
able to provide you all was a way to
express these ideas and to recognize the
ideas of the past and it might not be in
the way you think interestingly the
answer can be found in art through
visuals artists speak in unspoken yet
universally understood language
throughout history artists have kept a
record of the personal and emotional
aspects of a time period in a way that
simply cannot be conveyed in any other
meeting from the defiance of the
American Revolution to the ever so
complex now artists have been present
providing an insight like no other for
the past few months I’ve been
researching how a time period can
influence art in November I had the
opportunity to visit the National
Gallery in Washington DC
going there really gave me insights
about how time interacts what’s a time
period take the Revolutionary War
paintings at this time depicted
idealized people perfect skin hair and
body everybody painted was influential
wealthy people needed faces to look up
to and portraits provided that the
founding fathers were often subjects of
these paintings Americans wanted to be
able to see the people who are changing
their government if paintings were
portraits and they were scenes of
significant events battles the first
congressional meeting and conferences
with important dignitaries were all
shown paintings helped spread the news
about major events of the time period
and created visuals that otherwise would
have been impossible to report
without art many people would have been
left in the dark it truly did serve as a
means of communication the most famous
example of art beeves in this way is
Paul Revere’s print the bloody massacre
this was used as propaganda it
influenced it got people and raised with
Britain and let people know about the
state of affairs in Boston without
pieces like this many people would have
been left in the dark about the world
around them
fast forward 200 years to the 1960s the
60s sometimes referred to as the
turbulent are swinging in 60s was a
decade of change consumerism the selling
of goods marketed towards customers
skyrocketed in this decade in many
households brands we know today socially
people were enraged with the government
the war in Vietnam and the decisions of
their predecessors they took to the
streets in March the injustice they
believed was happening this aura of
nonconformity definitely made its way
into the art world was the opening of
galleries many new art forms Monroe’s
most notably of which was pop art
compared to the art that came before it
pop art broke all the rules it was fun
exciting depicted real brands and the
everyday life is consumer America Andy
Warhol’s paintings Campbell’s soup cans
is a perfect example the painting is
really just a bunch of cake soup there’s
nothing till about it but it resonated
in the hearts of Americans at the time
brands in this age of consumerism were
used to show the every person art let
people way gave people a way to manifest
their desires for change in a way that
did not require words Rutgers curator of
American art Don Augusto friend said
this about our in the 1960s many artists
were politically active and there aren’t
reflected that many others were not so
political but their art reflected their
ideas about freedom of expression
through our a generation was able to
define themselves in a way that was
understand
by people from all walks of life these
two time periods show how art can do
something that words fail to do they can
show the emotional and personal aspects
of a time period when students learn
about history in school they rarely
utilize art people don’t immediately
think of visuals when talking about the
American Revolution and that’s a game
art can remove the language barrier
synonymous with texts in order to truly
understand the time period visuals must
be used now let’s look at today
regardless of differing political and
social views there is no denying that we
are currently at a pivotal point of
American history social progression
advancements in technology and our
current president are all factors that
define this age so I began wondering how
could I as a teenager
represent today through art I started by
focusing on technology and what point is
at now and how how does it made its way
into our everyday lives the first thing
that came to my mind with social media
so I do an Instagram like platform
wanting to also depict the positive
social media can have along with the
unfortunate natural disasters as of late
I have our woman scrolling and pausing
on a post promoting hurricane release
social media has been a gateway for many
young people to learn about the news
connect with each other and create a
positive impact in the world social
media has easily become one of the
largest factors of the past decades and
are very much one of the things that
define this age in my next drawing I
wanted to tackle politics so I decided
to draw an older man reading his
newspaper an effort to include diversity
in the hands that I do the woman in the
previous drawing was young and of a
minority race while this one shows an
older Caucasian man the headlines of
this paper are events that we are all
very familiar with today Robert
Mueller’s investigation on Donald Trump
and sexual allegations are highlight
everybody in this audience has seen a
newspaper that looks something like the
one this man is reading now this last
drawing gave me a lot of problems I just
couldn’t come up with an idea I had so
many different concepts for it when
planning I thought about it should be
how we interact with nature or how the
United States deals with foreign affairs
but none of them were strong enough
there was something I was missing then
something happened in March of this past
year teenagers began speaking up about
current gun laws marches were being held
people were speaking out in the entire
nation was listening I had the honor to
attend the March for our lives in New
York at the March I realized something I
had forgotten
every artist throughout history put
themselves or their story into their
work I remembered that I wanted to show
how life was through my eyes not an
objective point of view that personal
aspect to art is what truly makes it
unique when I got back from the March I
knew what my final drawing had to be
this drawing shows a teenage girl
holding up a sign what she’s written on
the sign remains a mystery but given the
context of these past few months you
don’t have to wonder too hard I wanted
to show that a defining characteristic
of time are the young people the people
who are speaking out and making their
voices heard there were truly show the
emotion and spirit of the time I knew
that in order to accurately show how
life was now I needed to add a personal
element to my art the March was that
element so I’ll leave you with this art
should be a more utilized tool when
trying to understand the time period
unlike all other forms of information
art shows the emotional and personal
aspects of a time and maybe instead of
just looking at cold hard facts and data
an emotional perspective is more
valuable I would like for everybody to
remember the event that I asked you
about at the beginning of the speech the
events that define you are far too
complex to be conveyed in only words now
I would like for everybody to please
take out your phones open the Notes app
and press the pencil icon on the top
right corner now I want you to doodle
that event that I thought of earlier
regardless history bility straw and then
and please remember that a picture often speaks volumes more than words thank you
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