Hometest: Prompt #1
-Aida Watson
-Aida Watson
Size: 11"x3"x21.5" & 5”x5”
Medium: Steel, Chain, Glass, Charcoal
Description: My composition is made of metal, chains, and green glass. I consider it to be a chandelier-mobile. Both are considered to be beautiful decorative objects on their own. One illuminates with a statement while the other suspends so as to turn freely or dance in the air. Together, they embody the place where I experienced feeling closest in the larger world and most at home. For me, it was my residential high school experience as a contemporary dancer at The University of North Carolina School of Arts (UNCSA). This was a pivotal time in my development physically, mentally, and artistically. I grew greatly in those short two years.
I selected green glass to conceptually signify the school and its mascot, a green pickle adorned in a tutu, a Tudor Renaissance hat, carrying a paintbrush, and a Hollywood clapboard. I scored and broke the green glass into rings. The rings represent my eternal bond to UNCSA as well as the strong sway it had in my growth and development. I formed four metal bars to represent the 4 semesters of learning and social experiences that molded me. Their various lengths and curvature symbolize my flexibility and expansion as an artist.
Entering into UNCSA, I was singularly focused on dance represented by the bottleneck. The culmination of all that I had previously accomplished as a dancer had brought me to this place. In my early days at UNCSA, I looked at myself as being raw when comparing myself to other dancers and students, and at times felt fractured living away from home and its familiarity, especially during Covid which is shown by the rougher, edgier rings of glass that I used. During those 4 semesters, I opened myself to not only dance but experiences with other types of performing and visual arts, and made lifelong friends which I consider as family. The chains represent for some that which binds or ties us to the past. For me, the chains represent strength and support. They fastened me to my former self as a dancer but also allowed me to turn freely into the artist that UNCSA illuminated me to become.
Anchored at its very bottom is a charcoal drawing I made from a photo that was taken of my best friend and me. I riveted it and attached it as the final link to my piece to convey that the places we feel closest are the places of those we love. In my printed digital representation sent, I did not initially include the drawing. Our attendance and experiences at UNCSA as residential high school contemporary dancers forged our rare bond. This intimate moment shared is one of my very favorites, because it perfectly captures the love and closeness we hold as best friends. She is like home to me. We even share a tattoo that when we place our wrists together it is completed.
I like to think that my chandelier-mobile shows how education, experience, training, and friendship all refine a person. It is through our relations with these that we are continually polished and shaped. To this day, I travel back to UNCSA and the Winston-Salem area a few times a year to visit teachers, friends and support fellow artists’ performances and exhibitions. It will be a home for which I will always be grateful.