Artist Statement
For my visual piece that represented Energy and Place essay I created a flower. This simplistic piece of art does not seem to connect with my 'place' at first glance, the colours that decorate the petals are the same hues that decorate a late simmer Florida sunset. The more you move to one side of the flower the colours begin to dull and eventually fade into a faint version of the original colours, eventually a dull black and extremely light gray decorate the flower. The colours of this drawing are meant to symbolize a timeline if continue in our energy crisis. The exotic flowers that dot the beach are part of my place and through the fading colours of the petals of this flower symbolize the colour that will be pulled from our Earth. One of the biggest concerns on a beach with oil rigs is the fear of an oil spill, the ocean would change from its blue-green colour to a murky blackish tinted blue-green, it would wash onto the beaches as well, staining vegetation as well as the white sand that decorates the coast.
Energy and Place Essay
My perspective on the environment and my ethics are hard to follow, they clash, never
blending. I am a strong believer that sustainability is the thing that will save us from this abuse to
our planet, the crisis that we have cloaked and suffocated ourselves with, a pit. That pit’s name
is an energy crisis. I have a rooted and spiritual connection to ‘my place’, you might be
wondering where my special place is. My safe haven, my Place is on the beach, in Florida, at
sunset.
The golden sunset fading from the sky. The burning golden globe slipping and
submerging itself into the salty blue water. Above, in the clouds, like soft cotton, are the soft
flame-like hues burning and blending, painting a soft pink and purple portrait. The soft colors lull
the earth to sleep. The sand in between my toes is soft and tepid. As I lift myself from the white
sand I walk to the warm water, barely letting the water nip at my toes. I push my feet to move
further into the water until I am waist deep in the salty bath water. I turn my face to the orange
orb, finally submerging itself into the blue-green ocean. This is my special place, the place where
I feel an ease in my soul, the place that I love and the place I never want to be tainted by mining
of any kind. The strong connection to this place is a spiritual one, I feel as if this is the place I
was meant to find happiness and peace. I discovered this magical place when I was at the
tender age of six years old, I found peace and I have developed a rooted connection to it. Why,
you may wonder? Why is this my place? I may not have a spiritual outlook on life, but I feel that in
that moment when the sun is just a flaming orb sinking into the ocean, my soul is at peace. I am
not entirely sure when this epiphany took place, maybe it happened slowly, over a course of
years. I have known this view for ten years, it is not that I particularly love Florida or enjoy being in
the city, I have a special place in my heart for that setting sun on the coast.
I think that this is rather cliché to be honest, loving the sunsets on a coast, and deep
down I hate it. I hate the “perfect” view, the thought of loving something that half of the world's
population also loves. I want it to just be mine, my place, my place to go when I need a sense of
calm. I can't let it go, I can't forget about it, and I know that I want to protect this place from oil
rigs, oil spills, any type of ugly thing to taint this view.
How are we to treat the earth? This seems to be a simple question, yet no one can ever
agree on the treatment it deserves. Some believe that the earth was put here only for mans use
that we are to put ourselves, mere mortals, first. But what about the birds, the colorful oceans,
rocky mountains, fish, the desert? We have to take care of them too, after all the circle of life
would not be complete and after nature and all of its glory is destroyed, tarnished by man and his
inventions, humans will begin to die and thin out as well. I don't envision future generations being
particularly excited about a self induced genocide, one started by our generation, selfish, energy
consuming monsters. What will my great-great-great grandchildren think of me, will they think
that I failed them? My generation is in an energy crisis; always charging iPhone's, iPod's, Kindles,
computers, Androids, leaving lights on, so on and so forth. I am repulsed at the thought of being
partially responsible for this crisis. I charge my phone, kindle, iPod and computer on a regular
basis, and truth be told, I really don't need any of these things. Society tells us we need to have
them, we need all of these things. We don't need them, we need clean water, fresh air to breath,
and a place to escape. Edward Abbey once said, “Everyone needs man needs a place where he
can go to go crazy.” These words have a deep truth, everyone needs and deserves a place to
feel an ease in their spirit, a temporary calm, a safe place. Although not everyone has a place
they love pertaining to nature, for some it is a gritty river in a foreign country or the top floor of a
building in a where you can see the city scape. Even those who don't have a strong connection
to nature, and all of its glory, still want a clean environment, they still want a clear view of that
monstrous city scape, the gritty river or the skyscrapers lined up in an extravagant city. The earth
has so much value, a fragile orb that must be handled with care, as breakable as a newborn
child. Every generation has a responsibility to maintain, these responsibilities are not something
that will diminish, if ignored because our planet requires work and dedication. This brings in the
idea of Sustainability, the plan that looks out for, ideally, the next seven generations. As
inhabitants of this planet, which is the only planet capable of supporting life in our galaxy, we
have two choices. The first choice is to remain as we are, in an energy crises, producing excess
energy or the second choice, taking charge and looking out for the future inhabitants of our
universe. It is not expected that we remove ourselves from the energy crisis, it will take years of
persistence and dedication to reach our goal of a restored and healthy environment. I don’t want
my great great grandchildren to only live in that beautiful photo that I took of the beach I want
them to also experience the sticky and humid air, the salty ocean, watching the flaming orb of
light set and bathe in the water. I don’t want them to go to the beach and encounter ash colored
water, a gray sky, and dirty sand, I want them to have that breathtaking, extremely cliche view. I
want my great great grandchildren to think that they are as lame and as crazy as me to love this.
I finally turn my back to this place that is so perfect. I know in my soul, in the back of my
mind this place will one day be hideous, if we continue down Alice’s Rabbit hole. The ocean will
be a murky, black pool, toxic and people will be told that it is unsafe, the human soul will yearn to
be part of something so beautiful, they want to be in the blue-green water that their great great
grandparent had a breathtaking photo of. That beautiful place won't exist anymore, it is in the
past and it will never come back…..
For my visual piece that represented Energy and Place essay I created a flower. This simplistic piece of art does not seem to connect with my 'place' at first glance, the colours that decorate the petals are the same hues that decorate a late simmer Florida sunset. The more you move to one side of the flower the colours begin to dull and eventually fade into a faint version of the original colours, eventually a dull black and extremely light gray decorate the flower. The colours of this drawing are meant to symbolize a timeline if continue in our energy crisis. The exotic flowers that dot the beach are part of my place and through the fading colours of the petals of this flower symbolize the colour that will be pulled from our Earth. One of the biggest concerns on a beach with oil rigs is the fear of an oil spill, the ocean would change from its blue-green colour to a murky blackish tinted blue-green, it would wash onto the beaches as well, staining vegetation as well as the white sand that decorates the coast.
Energy and Place Essay
My perspective on the environment and my ethics are hard to follow, they clash, never
blending. I am a strong believer that sustainability is the thing that will save us from this abuse to
our planet, the crisis that we have cloaked and suffocated ourselves with, a pit. That pit’s name
is an energy crisis. I have a rooted and spiritual connection to ‘my place’, you might be
wondering where my special place is. My safe haven, my Place is on the beach, in Florida, at
sunset.
The golden sunset fading from the sky. The burning golden globe slipping and
submerging itself into the salty blue water. Above, in the clouds, like soft cotton, are the soft
flame-like hues burning and blending, painting a soft pink and purple portrait. The soft colors lull
the earth to sleep. The sand in between my toes is soft and tepid. As I lift myself from the white
sand I walk to the warm water, barely letting the water nip at my toes. I push my feet to move
further into the water until I am waist deep in the salty bath water. I turn my face to the orange
orb, finally submerging itself into the blue-green ocean. This is my special place, the place where
I feel an ease in my soul, the place that I love and the place I never want to be tainted by mining
of any kind. The strong connection to this place is a spiritual one, I feel as if this is the place I
was meant to find happiness and peace. I discovered this magical place when I was at the
tender age of six years old, I found peace and I have developed a rooted connection to it. Why,
you may wonder? Why is this my place? I may not have a spiritual outlook on life, but I feel that in
that moment when the sun is just a flaming orb sinking into the ocean, my soul is at peace. I am
not entirely sure when this epiphany took place, maybe it happened slowly, over a course of
years. I have known this view for ten years, it is not that I particularly love Florida or enjoy being in
the city, I have a special place in my heart for that setting sun on the coast.
I think that this is rather cliché to be honest, loving the sunsets on a coast, and deep
down I hate it. I hate the “perfect” view, the thought of loving something that half of the world's
population also loves. I want it to just be mine, my place, my place to go when I need a sense of
calm. I can't let it go, I can't forget about it, and I know that I want to protect this place from oil
rigs, oil spills, any type of ugly thing to taint this view.
How are we to treat the earth? This seems to be a simple question, yet no one can ever
agree on the treatment it deserves. Some believe that the earth was put here only for mans use
that we are to put ourselves, mere mortals, first. But what about the birds, the colorful oceans,
rocky mountains, fish, the desert? We have to take care of them too, after all the circle of life
would not be complete and after nature and all of its glory is destroyed, tarnished by man and his
inventions, humans will begin to die and thin out as well. I don't envision future generations being
particularly excited about a self induced genocide, one started by our generation, selfish, energy
consuming monsters. What will my great-great-great grandchildren think of me, will they think
that I failed them? My generation is in an energy crisis; always charging iPhone's, iPod's, Kindles,
computers, Androids, leaving lights on, so on and so forth. I am repulsed at the thought of being
partially responsible for this crisis. I charge my phone, kindle, iPod and computer on a regular
basis, and truth be told, I really don't need any of these things. Society tells us we need to have
them, we need all of these things. We don't need them, we need clean water, fresh air to breath,
and a place to escape. Edward Abbey once said, “Everyone needs man needs a place where he
can go to go crazy.” These words have a deep truth, everyone needs and deserves a place to
feel an ease in their spirit, a temporary calm, a safe place. Although not everyone has a place
they love pertaining to nature, for some it is a gritty river in a foreign country or the top floor of a
building in a where you can see the city scape. Even those who don't have a strong connection
to nature, and all of its glory, still want a clean environment, they still want a clear view of that
monstrous city scape, the gritty river or the skyscrapers lined up in an extravagant city. The earth
has so much value, a fragile orb that must be handled with care, as breakable as a newborn
child. Every generation has a responsibility to maintain, these responsibilities are not something
that will diminish, if ignored because our planet requires work and dedication. This brings in the
idea of Sustainability, the plan that looks out for, ideally, the next seven generations. As
inhabitants of this planet, which is the only planet capable of supporting life in our galaxy, we
have two choices. The first choice is to remain as we are, in an energy crises, producing excess
energy or the second choice, taking charge and looking out for the future inhabitants of our
universe. It is not expected that we remove ourselves from the energy crisis, it will take years of
persistence and dedication to reach our goal of a restored and healthy environment. I don’t want
my great great grandchildren to only live in that beautiful photo that I took of the beach I want
them to also experience the sticky and humid air, the salty ocean, watching the flaming orb of
light set and bathe in the water. I don’t want them to go to the beach and encounter ash colored
water, a gray sky, and dirty sand, I want them to have that breathtaking, extremely cliche view. I
want my great great grandchildren to think that they are as lame and as crazy as me to love this.
I finally turn my back to this place that is so perfect. I know in my soul, in the back of my
mind this place will one day be hideous, if we continue down Alice’s Rabbit hole. The ocean will
be a murky, black pool, toxic and people will be told that it is unsafe, the human soul will yearn to
be part of something so beautiful, they want to be in the blue-green water that their great great
grandparent had a breathtaking photo of. That beautiful place won't exist anymore, it is in the
past and it will never come back…..