Phoenix: Fear Burning, Hope Rising
Location
CSU Ballroom
Start Date
16-4-2013 2:00 PM
End Date
16-4-2013 4:00 PM
Student's Major
Art
Student's College
Arts and Humanities
Mentor's Name
Elizabeth Miller
Mentor's Department
Art
Mentor's College
Arts and Humanities
Second Mentor's Name
Alisa Eimen
Second Mentor's Department
Art
Second Mentor's College
Arts and Humanities
Description
My project is a sort of ceremony about letting go of fear. To do this I have created two acrylic paintings depicting a phoenix at different points of its life: death and rebirth. The intent is for the audience to interact with the pieces: I encourage them to participate by adding “parts of themselves”(their fears) to the canvas of the dying phoenix. This can be done using “leaves” I have prepared with canvas scrap, upon which an audience member may write a fear, worry, or phobia so that it can be attached to the canvas. This allows the participant to add what troubles them discreetly. Once the process of “adding oneself” to the canvas is complete, this older phoenix will be taken to an outdoor location. The leaves added to the canvas by audience members will be turned and read one by one, until all fears, phobias, and worries have been exposed. When this is completed the canvas, leaves and all, will be lit on fire and destroyed, leaving the livelier phoenix (and ashes of the elder) as all that remains of the set. In conducting this ceremony, my wish is for the audience to find relief in that fear is but a temporary burden that need not weigh them down, and that they, like the phoenix, can continue on. We are not our fears. Though these things are a part of us, they need not stop us from living our lives. Sometimes, It’s okay to let go.
Phoenix: Fear Burning, Hope Rising
CSU Ballroom
My project is a sort of ceremony about letting go of fear. To do this I have created two acrylic paintings depicting a phoenix at different points of its life: death and rebirth. The intent is for the audience to interact with the pieces: I encourage them to participate by adding “parts of themselves”(their fears) to the canvas of the dying phoenix. This can be done using “leaves” I have prepared with canvas scrap, upon which an audience member may write a fear, worry, or phobia so that it can be attached to the canvas. This allows the participant to add what troubles them discreetly. Once the process of “adding oneself” to the canvas is complete, this older phoenix will be taken to an outdoor location. The leaves added to the canvas by audience members will be turned and read one by one, until all fears, phobias, and worries have been exposed. When this is completed the canvas, leaves and all, will be lit on fire and destroyed, leaving the livelier phoenix (and ashes of the elder) as all that remains of the set. In conducting this ceremony, my wish is for the audience to find relief in that fear is but a temporary burden that need not weigh them down, and that they, like the phoenix, can continue on. We are not our fears. Though these things are a part of us, they need not stop us from living our lives. Sometimes, It’s okay to let go.
Recommended Citation
Dick, Katelyn. "Phoenix: Fear Burning, Hope Rising." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 16, 2013.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2013/poster-session-B/26
