Julia Andersen
Emotional Check-in, 2021
The current state of society has made people more sensitive to each other’s emotional states. Especially in the realm of zoom academia: almost every class has an “emotional check-in” asking students how they feel. My project was meant to start as an altar displaying the skills I have learned throughout college including but not limited to pottery, woodwork, color theory, and psychology. I am double majoring in Psychology and Art. However, I found recreating my old art projects to be displayed on a wooden altar to be a bit arbitrary so I decided to expand my meaning of an altar.
An altar is defined as a table to honor or sacrifice something given great value. My piece honors emotions derived from the “Plutchik Wheel of Emotion” as well as my woodworking and color theory skills. I believe emotional awareness is key to controlling our emotions and understanding the behavior of others. Oftentimes we don’t assess our emotions or where they are coming from which can lead to sweeping problems under the rug rather than addressing them. The transition from a physical altar to a metaphorical one has led me to create a piece I am excited to display.
