Jennifer Wesolowsky

Hello! My name is Jennifer, and I\'m a color theory specialist. My only medium is crayons -- but not in the traditional sense. For the past five years, I\'ve explored and stretched this concept of using various melting techniques. When extreme heat is applied to the crayons they are denatured, this to correlates to how our formative years create our adult selves in often grotesque but yet beautiful ways. It almost mimics the innocence of childhood, including all those developmental nuances. In many ways, crayons are symbolic of childhood; they\'re tools for exploration, curiosity, and free thought. In the right light, there\'s few things that really capture the idea of optimism like a child coloring without a care in the world. The crayon is that symbol. It\'s nostalgia, optimism, free thought, creativity, a bright future...all rolled into one. The symbolism of that icon being melted runs parallel to how that future becomes much darker as stressors set themselves upon our children: child abuse, bad environments, apathetic parents and teachers...even the entropy of traditional society mindlessly creating children to fall in line, think inside the box, follow directions. With the symmetrical pieces, they show the moments of constant reflection in our lives as we remember our formal selves and all that unrealized potential and optimism, beaten out of us as the world turned.