Topic Proposal

Topic: A Natural Author

There are many different facets through which creativity is expressed, and the product of this creativity is often in some way influenced by the natural environment. There are products being advertised using bears, puppies, bees, and tigers. There is clothing that possesses the markings of animals such as cheetah, zebra, and leopard. There are home decorations that have nature inspired designs such as floral patterns in bedding, butterfly covered shower curtains, frog shaped dehumidifiers, tomato shaped timers, and turtle shaped iPod speakers. All of these things together have the same influence i.e. nature. However, not every artist's work will represent these inspirations, but each means of expression (writing, photography, miscellaneous artistic ventures) has at least a number of artists who portray natural influences in their work.

Nature is also represented across a spectrum of multimedia writing and art portals, and a single element of nature may also be carried across the spectrum. For example, a willow tree can be described in a writing forum, a photographer can portray the same type of tree suspended in time in a photograph and post it online, and an artist can sketch the flowing leaves in pastels and scan it into a computer. Plus, the artist drawing the flowing leaves may have been influenced by the writer's description of the tree, because this information was readily available to the artist via the web. Therefore, by looking at the influences on artists across a spectrum of forms of expression in multimedia and by looking at the influences carried on from artists by others (all with a focus on the natural environment), a trend should appear showing a great deal of interconnection.

Therefore, this topic has three elements; two have already been brought to light. The first element concerns looking into different forms of creative expression on the web and providing examples of nature's involvement for each creative portal. The second element is seeking out connections amongst these portals, both direct and indirect. The direct connections will be observed as one artist's work being recognized by another and transformed into something anew via that recognized artist's influences. The indirect connections will be observed through common themes seen across the various portals such as the willow tree mentioned in the first paragraph. These two elements thus take on the bulk of the topic and closely pertain to the objectives of the course. The final element is of importance to me alone. I want to ultimately provide an answer (just one, hopefully there will be more answers) to the question of why we need this natural environment. Monetary value for timber and agricultural purposes are a given, but I think there needs to be an inherent value before various habitats that don't provide monetary value will be recognized for what they are worth: inspiration.

These links bring you to just a few of the portals that I want to use. I will undoubtedly need more in order to provide enough insight into certain elements of this topic such as the direct influences amongst artists. This element may prove difficult to research, but I hope to come to a result proving or disproving my hypothesis: There is interconnectedness amongst artist on the web. In any case, all findings provide welcome insight - hypothesis supported or falsified.

Musarium: Media Lab

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