Art, Architecture, and History

I've always been drawn to the concept of creating. The painter builds their world upon a canvas,  letting their imagination run wild. We break the sky as the limit, reaching into the stars. I imagine that creating is something akin to a magic performance, the magician skillfully deceiving the audience into thinking there really are no cards up his sleeve, except there are no rabbits jumping out of top hats, just the visceral humanity tainting the canvas.

And thus, needless to say, I'm in love with the arts.

With my endless passion comes curiosity. This hunger to learn and explore initially found its place in self-reflection and improvement: I will obsess over my own pieces, critiquing them until the pieces have no shred of validity left in my eye. I drove myself to achieve perfection, trying vainly to grasp the ultimate beauty, form, and skill. That, I suppose, is what most artists go through; a period of self-deprecation, times when I reach for the fruit hanging too far.

My curiosity then led me to knowledge. Having reached the dead-ends of my creative pursuit, I turned to the past. And through documentaries, biographies, and countless art collections and anthologies, I realized that art is not just about its surface form. Art is culture, and culture creates art. Behind the pieces aren't just the history of its creation, but also the humanity of the era it witnessed. A piece isn't defined by its artist: the Mona Lisa can brag about Da Vinci, but does that mean the mysterious lady's smile has more to tell than Lily Martin Spencer's We Both Must Fade? Both are equally as rich in the stories they tell.

We often strip pieces away from their birth. Artists inspect the hues, anatomy, brushstrokes, and texture; historians talk about the author, intent, context, and period, yet almost none tell the story of the piece itself. Where have they traveled? What have they witnessed through the millennia? It's now time to narrate through the art forms themselves, not borrowing their history only to let the brightness be buried.

This is the inspiration behind our project. With the help of our mentors, Ms. Nora Hoxha and Mr. James Newman, through immersing in the history and culture of Cleveland, we will focus on three art/architecture sites and discover their never-been-told stories. We have decided on three preliminary locations to start our investigation: the Cleveland Museum of Art, West Side Market, and the Cultural Gardens, with potential options including the Squire's Castle and the Christmas Story House. Using research, field trips, and in-person interviews, our final capstone project will be an interactive puzzle-solving/ immersive adventure game that leads its player to traverse through various time periods in Cleveland history, piecing back clues that reveal the secrets behind each art/architecture piece. The product will be built in Unity with two-dimensional parameters, and the in-game world will be flourished with personalized illustrations and engaging storytelling. The player will control the protagonist to embark on a quest of artistic nature, and this will allow us to narrate different moments in Cleveland’s cultural history that are connected to the art and architecture pieces we study while building a unique storyline within the larger whole.

As an artist, this project will allow me to broaden my horizons on a topic that has always been close to my heart. What is art? Who creates them? How do culture and history shape our perceptions of art as we know it now? How can we retell their tales with a passionate and faithful heart? These are the essential questions I will be asking myself constantly as I take the first step in this adventure.

Let's take a cleansing breath, forget our reality, and embark on this journey with me.