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A Personal Medal
SeaStar: The Design for My Medal
I will create a medal inspired by a
Primitivist sculptor, Paul Gauguin. My medal will feature stars, my personal
symbol. In my home I have a vast collection of five-pointed stars including
seastars on display. “Seastar” is an alias used in my Web designs.
For me this name represents a way of seeing – as in see-star.
Primitivist Style
I looked closely at Gauguin’s Oceania
series of sculptures and at the shells of seastar creatures as I developed
my metal design. There were images from nature represented in his art.
Researching one of nature’s living star shapes, I found a variety of images
of starfish. I studied “primitive” artwork from Africa and Oceania
to find ways to express the star in metal.
Follow the Path
On the obverse side of the medal, the
star incorporates the ridges of a common starfish. In the centre
is an eye that sees the light by which to follow my path. The word Sea
uses the ancient “ae” symbol to reflect two meanings – both “sea” and “see”
to accompany the word star. On the reverse side, the star has a cluster
of shells in the centre pointed to by simple arrow shapes.
To Be An Artist
A motto I’ve adopted is: “To be a star,
you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about
the darkness, for that is when stars shine brightest!” The star symbol
reminds me to shine my own light and follow my own path. That concept
is particularly important to me as an artist.
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