During my brief presentation of my first creative display, I learned a lot about my project: the way my ideas are interpreted by others, the components that stand out the most, and the aspects that need development, refinement, and/or improvement. Based on the written peer feedback I received, fellow classmates understood the major ideas that I want to incorporate into my final project: identifying the recurring patterns in nature (such as fractals and the Fibonacci sequence), visualizing these patterns/relationships, and emphasizing the connection of these patterns to many aspects the world, the universe, and the human experience. The strengths of my project thus far include incorporating the recurring theme of “visualizing the invisible”, the goal of showing how the world is so interconnected, and highlighting the relationship between art and science.

At this point, my project is very much a work in progress. I have so many distinct ideas that I hope to incorporate into my display, but I am struggling to connect them all into a single design with a unifying theme. Part of this problem is rooted in the fact that my ideas have evolved and branched out from my original ideas at the beginning of this course. As a result of the various research, readings, and guest speakers, I have gradually accumulated several ideas/concepts of interest, many of which deviate from the core themes explored by Ned Kahn (my artist of focus). This array of concepts brings to light some of the weaknesses of my project: the sheer volume of varying concepts is overwhelming. As a result, it is difficult to think of a clear way to represent them all in a single unified display. I am also struggling with the specific medium/media to use, connecting my ideas back to Ned Kahn’s artwork, and a way to make my project more interactive.

While this does highlight my project’s weaknesses, it also provides me with some important opportunities: at this point, I need to either decide on a few ideas to focus on visualizing, or try to connect all of my ideas with a single, more all-encompassing theme. The need for this decision is evident in the peer feedback I received on Thursday – many of my peers found my ideas interesting, but were confused about how I plan to materialize them, and which medium I would use. A point of suggestion that was mentioned several times was the need to choose a specific route/concept, so as not to overwhelm the audience. This feedback was very useful, and will undoubtedly direct my project focus over the next few days. Within these next several days, I will work to refine and unify my ideas, plan a way to incorporate them into a visual display with specific media, gather resources, and develop a plan to make my project maximally interesting and engaging.