Student 9

12-14-00

The Real Me

Throughout the entire semester I have found out many new and interesting ways to look at life through all kinds of art. When I began the semester I had no idea that different colors and shapes had anything to do with my personality or character. It's amazing that art can express so many different parts of my life.

I began my self-portrait by analyzing my life and the way I am perceived to others as well as to myself. According to the "Jungian Self", the self is one's goal in life. I have found as the years pass on I continue to learn more about character and personality. One of my ultimate goals in life is to find out what I am all about. It is also very important that other people see the real me as well.

I started my self-portrait by finding a simple round Rubbermaid container. The circular shape represents unity and wholeness in my life. At this point in my life I feel complete and whole. I am filled with so much happiness, joy, and peace in my life. The circle also represents spirituality and centered-ness. I have a very deep and real relationship with God. I am growing daily with him and he continues to bless my life in so many awesome ways. My portrait is also three-dimensional which expresses my complex personality.

On the top of my self-portrait, I have made a spiral with beads. The spiral represents growth and change in my life. I feel like I am constantly growing as a student and as a women. College has change my life in so many ways and I feel that I still have so much more to learn and gain as a person and as a student. The beads in the spiral represent the Yoruba color scheme that we learned about at the beginning of the semester. My spiral contains all three of the color schemes, pupa, dudu, and fun-fun. I placed all of the colors randomly in my spiral because I feel that I possess qualities in each of these color schemes. As I grow I hope I will continue to develop even more of the Yoruba qualities.

On the outside of my self-portrait I simply wrote my full name. To me this represents what people know about me initially. When you first meet a person usually the only thing you know about a person is their name. I chose the particular Rubbermaid container because it is somewhat transparent, this represents that if you look hard enough you will see the real me. I usually reveal most of my emotions to those people whom I feel comfortable sharing my feelings with. I then decided on the outside of my portrait I should use straight and even lines. I used sequins to create the lines around my portrait because they represent that I am a fairly stable person.

After finishing the outside of my portrait I decided it was time to analyze the way I handle my inner-self. I first placed synthetic fur on the bottom of my portrait. This particular texture expresses my "warm and fuzzy side". I feel like I am a very approachable person and I'm always interested in meeting new people. The inside of my portrait is very personal. There are many things inside that I hope more people will learn about me.

The inside of my portrait also represents my soul. I randomly placed many items inside of my portrait, which represent things that I love. There is a cross to represent my personal relationship with Christ. I have also placed many different pictures in my portrait that show how important special memories are to me. These pictures contain family and friends that I cherish in my life. There are cards in my self-portrait that remind me of special times in my life, such as birthdays and holidays. I have also placed a picture of Georgia College and State University in my portrait. College is very important to me and I want to always be successful in all I do. I take pride in my school always. I have also place my Greek letters in my portrait. I am a member of Alpha Delta Pi. This sorority is very special to me and I hold it close to my heart as well. In my portrait I placed a paper heart in the center. In my heart I have written out words that express my heart and also words I hope will be apart of my heart one day. The words written in the heart are love, hope, joy, patience, happiness, faith, perseverance, and gentleness.

The second part of my inner-portrait is two small Rubbermaid containers. One container is labeled "the past" and one is labeled "the future". The past container contains trials that I have had in my life. These trials are mistakes I've made in the past. It is important for me to keep these trails in my heart so I can learn from them. I keep these aspects of my life contained in a small area of my soul because while it is important for me to remember these past trials I also must not let them rule my life. I keep my future hopes contained as well. These are aspects I hope to have in my life one day such as marriage and children. It is very important for me to be excited about the future but also remain grounded in my present tasks.

The last part of my portrait contains every part of my project. On the outside of the bowl I have placed Velcro squares. I have placed Velcro on every item in my inner self portrait as well. As you get to know me better I slowly let you in. My inner self slowly becomes apparent on the outside so I can "Velcro" so that everyone can see the real Natalie Paige Segars.

I truly enjoyed this project. It's so amazing how simple objects can say so much about an individual. I hope through this project I have given everyone a little glimpse into which I really am. This self-portrait has given me an outlet to express my feelings in a very abstract way. It's definitely a project where I have learned about myself and many elements of art.

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