EASTERN UNIVERSITY

“Visions of Transformation”: Artist’s Statement
A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the course:
ARTS 252 Foundations for Art and Transformation

By Rebekah Leeper

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
30 June 2009

Meaning and Philosophy

“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others,” stated by Jonathan Swift. Transformation is an extension of vision. In order for intentional transformation to occur, one needs to grasp a vision of the past, present, and future. The future, here, is a plethora of possibility. Transformation is the process by which one thing becomes another. My immediate thought about transformation is the movement from death into life, darkness into lightness. It is a very basic movement, which can be seen all around us, night and day, winter to summer, sickness to wellness, and others.

The eyes in the piece represent the vision needed to see the before and after of change. On one side is the darkness, confusion, and loneliness. The other side represents community, lightness, and life. The eyes are central to the piece because the vision is extremely significant to the transformation. The vision will largely dictate what will be.

“A thought, even a possibility, can transform us.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche.

Art Form

This piece entitled “Visions of Transformation” was composed in Adobe Illustrator. All the images used are my own photography including color adjustments in Adobe Photoshop. The images were then imported into Illustrator and changed into vector images.

As I was designing, I was careful to balance the color. I wanted to keep the “before” dark to convey negativity, hopelessness, and hurt. The center with the eyes needed to be neutral, though I chose to brighten the inside of the eyes to represent the importance of the vision and the process of movement from dark to light. Finally, I chose bright colors to emphasize the life and lightness of new things.