Art & Design
A FORAY INTO TRINITY’S (DORMANT) CREATIVE COMMUNITY We decided to conduct a survey in order to acquire a better understanding of the individuals that make up
Trinity’s creative community, as well as their artistic tastes. Below is a compilation of the responses we received. We have condensed them for clarity. Do you consider yourself an artistic person? How so? It may not come as a surprise that every respondent to this survey on artistic taste noted that they were, in fact, artistically inclined. Many seemed to indicate that creativity was an intrinsic part of who they are, with one person remarking that they “view everything with a creative disposition”. Another person explained that they “believe in the old idea that practicing life is a kind of art requiring attention to style and attitude”. A majority of respondents stated that they enjoy visiting galleries and creating art through various media, including drawing, scrapbooking, knitting, photography, and making music. Some of the respondents clarified that they study the arts in college. How would you describe your artistic taste? If describing your artistic taste seems too difficult, what might your favorite works of art have in common? The descriptions of artistic taste noted in the survey were generally quite specific, and ranged from aesthetics (“Soft, feminine, and pastels”) to art movements (“Futurism and Absurdism”) to quite abstract (“Raw, clearcut emotion”). One respondent referenced the way that their favorite works “engage the mind and make you think”. Similarly, another respondent enjoyed the way that art “challenges you to create your own meaning”. Three respondents wrote about not having a specific artistic taste, one of whom specified that their taste is very eclectic, comes mostly from Instagram and Twitter and has much to do with “composition and the use of color”. One stated that they gravitate towards “art which is aware of itself and the community it belongs to, whether that means it expresses an identity, explores history, or tries to make some sort of political effect on the world”. Do you have any particular inspirations, or favourite artists/architects/designers? Feel free to name a few. Various creators of fine art, including Carrivagio, Botticelli, Picasso, Lee Krasner, and Gerard Byrne, were mentioned. One respondent remarked upon their affinity for the “multimedia post-punk generation: Kathy Acker, Derek Jarman, Mapplethorpe, or performance artists like Genesis and Lady Jaye of the Pandrogeny project”. Other art movements that people felt inspired by were Bauhaus, Symbolism, and Pop Art, in addition to the Italian Renaissance, Abstraction and Expressionism. The influence of social media upon artistic taste and its capacity to acquaint us with lesser known artists was noted by one person, who spoke of their favourite creators being “small digital illustrators on Insta[gram]”. Some cited creators of media other than traditional art as their inspirations, such as “Seamus Heaney, Richard Siken, and Alice Phoebe Lou”, “Philip Treacy”, and “Brandon Woelfel, Wes Anderson, and Teuta Matoshi”. Two respondents found their inspiration in those they know well, citing their friends.
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