Drive Through Art Show Virtual Tour
"Untitled" by Ella Anderson
Wire And Beads
Artist Statement
Hello, I am Ella Anderson. I am 15 and I go to Apollo High School. My mentors for this session are Shane and Kumiko. My piece is a crown made out of beads and wire. I made it by trial and error of wire and bead sizes. I made about 2-3 crowns before settling one the one that you see before you. The clear beads are from my Grandma while the cool purple ones and the wire are from Michael’s.
I chose these media because it's what worked well and I have never used them before so it was fun to challenge myself. I chose the purple beads because in the Bible purple means righteousness or royalty. I see purple around my church at Easter time and on other occasions as well. I think we all know that crowns are for queens and kings or other people of high importance. I have two older sisters and one of them is really good at everything she does. That includes sports, math, her AP classes, theater, any type of puzzle or strategy games, fixing things, or even Just Dance which she doesn't try at but she still can beat me at it. Growing up it's hard to live up to that. Of course I am not her, we are very different in those aspects, but it's still hard. Everyone sees her as very accomplished (which she is), especially since she just finished her first year in college at Concordia in Moorhead, but it makes me ask the question, what have I got? A B+ in math at best and a bit of art ability? At the beginning of quarantine (or as i call it, house arrest) I joined a YFC Core group with some leaders of mine and some friends. Not too long ago I shared my life story and I ended up crying about how I don't think I am good at things and how I don't have motivation to do the things I don’t think I can be good at. When my 5 minutes of sharing were up, everyone started to affirm me and tell me what they like in me. Two of my friends in the group said that I gave them motivation and I was what kept them coming back to a different YFC group called Braid that we all attend on Monday nights. That really cheered me up and now that I think of it we are all good at something, noticeable or not. I realized now that I am good at helping others, whether that be with motivation, hope, or even just with a smile. I am very funny at times and I think that helps my welcoming nature. We all deserve a crown in different ways. We just have to find (in my case, make) the crown we should get and what for.
From this session I gained self realization and a lot of poorly made past crowns. To expand on the self realization part, I realized that even if no one is watching me or cheering me on or even in the same room as me as I create doesn't mean they aren't cheering me on to finish the project. Just because I'm physically alone doesn't mean I’m mentally alone. Also I realized things take work. Lots and lots of work. For me it's lots of work to have a relationship with God even though I have been going to church my whole life. I would like to thank my mentors and those who I became close to through the sculpture studio. I would also like to thank my older sister for modeling my crown when I needed even though she hates crowns or anything remotely girly.
Oral Statement
