Visual Rhetoric

Randee Lee

March 21^st, 2014

English 1A

 

The Art of Piano

 

            3D objects are always up for interpretation even if the artists are trying to convey something specific. The true meaning of an art piece is really only known by the artist themselves. With a 3D object, it can stimulate an emotional connotation that the viewer can or cannot relate to because they’re able to touch is and see it in different perspectives. 3D art can convey many different emotions and logic depending on the viewer. Not every art piece is liked by one person because it depends on their personal preference or the intended audience of the piece. I may be the only one who knows the true meaning of my 3D object, but that doesn’t mean that others may not get the general idea and see it as a true piece of art.

            With my 3D object, I created a piano keyboard, propped up by wooden sticks and two inverted silhouettes of people playing the piano in the background. The materials I used were Styrofoam, foam sheets, wooden sticks, paper, and Marvey colored pens. I chose Styrofoam for the keyboard because the keys of a piano are white and lightweight. The keyboard is carved in whimsical way to be unorthodox from the traditional look at a piano keyboard. The black and white foam sheets that cover the keys resemble the actual colors of the piano keys. Some of the keys are colored with the Marvey colored pens because certain colors are associated with different emotions. The wooden sticks propping up the keyboard attaching it to the base are uncovered because in a real piano, the hammer mechanism that allows the piano to make sounds is made out of wood. The silhouettes are cut out of paper glued onto a black foam sheet as the background of the piece. Also notice how the silhouettes are inverted, instead of black silhouettes, they’re white on a black background. I chose to do it this way because it goes well with the keyboard and also white is considered pure. The keyboard is not to scale on purpose because I wanted it to be more abstract and look abstract. Also the keys are not the same size to add to the whimsical-abstract feel to the piece. I wanted to create my 3D object big enough to be able to see from the back of our classroom and that people can tell what it is. I wanted to show the smoothness of the keys by having the foam sheets be cut out and placed to outline the keys. I believe that this object could be displayed in a music classroom because of its openness to interpretation and people who are in music would be able to interpret it better than those who don’t play an instrument or the piano. Having the background of playing the piano has certainly helped me create my object.

            With the true black and white colors of a piano it simplifies the pureness of the instrument. The colors on the keyboard is supposed to evoke emotion when someone looks at it. On the keyboard I have the colors red which is associated with passion, orange which stands for determination, dark purple for sadness, and blue is for hope. With the colors they are actually playing a D chord. D in the left hand and in the right hand, B, D, and F#. My is on the emotional appeal because when playing the piano people feel many different emotions and can convey their emotions as they’re playing. With the silhouettes, the women playing is sitting straight up with her head held high, indicating power, prestige, and confidence, while the man is so into playing he loses his posture and could be conveying love, seriousness, or sadness. When someone looks at my object, the first thing they’ll say is that it’s about the piano because of the keyboard. But then to look closer at why there’s colors on certain keys and why use the wooden sticks and what’s with the background being of two people playing the piano. My main message is that when people play piano, they feel and can convey many emotions, not everyone will get it at first but still someone can feel something when they’re playing and listening to the piano. I want people to understand that playing the piano or any other instrument is good for a person as an outlet and that it’s a great way to express how they feel.

            My 3D object relates to my three text from my genre analysis because it exemplifies the idea that playing the piano can be different for everyone. In the academic journal from Beverly Lapp “The Art of Reflection in Music Learning”, different students wrote about their different experiences and how they felt when they play. The different colors on the keyboard are how I wanted people to interpret their own meaning to how they read what the objects meaning is as someone plays the piano. Maybe someone could look at the color red on the piano and interpret as anger instead of passion, or blue means calmness not hope.  Also in my genre analysis paper I argued that people are starting to lose the true meaning of playing the piano because of the music industry, and with my 3D object, I put the power back into the hands of the audience to interpret the piece and not tell them what to feel. Being able to hold an object is different than reading a text to figure out its meaning of why someone wrote it. With art, a person can interpret it however they like and could incorporate their own personal experiences with the piece. Same as I said in my genre analysis paper, that playing the piano can help people convey their emotions not only for themselves but for others as well.

            I came across the challenge of not being able to fully use my right hand due to an accident but overcame the pain and asked a friend to help me work on the object. Not being able to work on the project by myself allowed me to ask others for assistance as to how I should go about making the keyboard, the silhouettes or the placement of everything. As I was buying the materials, I had to imagine what it was going to look like. I went to Michaels craft store with a general idea what I wanted to do and if I changed any ideas in my concept, I wanted to make sure to still have the need to use the materials I bought. I found this project frustrating yet fun because I love having art projects but with the inconvenience of my wrist being hurt it made it harder to do everything I wanted to do. I believe I deserve an A because I worked hard in creating this object. I asked many different people what they thought of my concept, changed things up based on their feedback, and I’m ultimately impressed with myself in what I had done with the complications and time constraint that I had. Also I spent about four hours carving and starting to cut out the keys for the keyboard one day, and on the other day I did everything else in another four to five hours. I enjoyed myself seeing how a block of Styrofoam came to be a piano keyboard and finally seeing the completed art piece.