Jeffrey Dale: capstone
Date
2014
Authors
Dale, Jeffrey, artist
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Abstract
The artist's statement: My work stems from an international life. I am fascinated by the nature in which we identify ourselves and those around us. I began this work examining the nature in which US Army units identify one another for organizational purposes. I realized that tucked inside the system was a whole language that once spoken could allow you to understand the important details about a group. I began to study heraldry as well, the military system was derived from it but it was an even larger version of the same language. With this new language I began to make work about the people around me. I abstracted friends and family into flags and embroidered patches. Everything from the colors to the icons had meaning and I desired to communicate further through materials and process. What could you read about a person through the process? What different qualities does something hand made and delicate have over a screen-printed image that could survive battle. What could you read about a person from an object abstracted from them? My work however had to pull apart a person's heritage. I returned to the origins of my work: where are we from, what culture is our own? Flags for people represented them as a nation and a culture, but what cultures and nations made them. That question was uniquely American but "American" was something today so rejected. I realized that no matter the culture, we are what everyone else see's in us against our own knowledge of our past. Our past might dictate how we see things, but our singular identity is what everyone else reads in us. Special thanks to Tom Lundberg for al your help, guidance and advice; Jaime Pritchard for your support and love; Hayley Davis for countless nights of no sleep and a living room full of floss clippings.
Description
Colorado State University Art Department capstone project.
Capstone contains the artist's statement, a list of works, and images of works.
Capstone contains the artist's statement, a list of works, and images of works.