The Calligram Project

 Calligram Project

Dear Josie (20 years from now),

Wow, so you’re 42. That’s pretty old honestly. Anyways, I hope that you’re finally satisfied and have embraced all sides that make you, you. I know it’s been a real struggle trying to find out what makes the fire light up in your eyes, but finally doing what makes you happy is a dream come true and I know you know that. As a libra, I know you want to create balance in your life and I hope you found a way to do that. Remember to learn to love yourself and to cherish moments that seem irreplaceable. I wish I would’ve told my younger self that, but I think I’m starting to catch on. 

I think the biggest struggle I still have now, is learning that it’s okay, and also needed, to say “no” to things that no longer serve you or even at least tire you. As a people pleaser, it’s so easy to get caught up in doing what everyone else wants you to do, but learning to say no, I’m learning, is more freeing than saying yes sometimes. I hope you’ve learned to let go of this need, and have learned to also let go of the past, and to do what you truly want. To embrace everything that makes you Josie, fully, and to say “yes” to the things that have scared you, because they have helped you grow. 

I hope you also continued to create. Whatever that means to you. As busy as you may be now, remember to create new things, and branch out to new people. I hope I also won’t need to remind you to do all of these things, and that they will just be natural for you. But for now, I guess I need to remind myself as well. 

My original drawing from last semester

The Calligram Project 

 Artist Statement

For the project, I used the pen tool and the type tool to create the shapes that I wanted. I distorted the shapes to create organic shapes within the already expressive artwork. The artwork itself I created, and it was for screen printing last semester. The idea behind the original piece was this broad idea of letting go of control. The ribbon around the wrists represented the “ties” that restricted me, and restricted my freedom on a mental level. This was a more physical representation of this abstract idea of letting go and letting whatever happens to naturally happen. 

I decided to only do one arm however, to mix up the composition and to create more of a spin off of the original work I did. Since this project is more abstracted, I wanted to make it more simplified so it’s easier to read for the eye.