Description:
My self-portrait is an imaginative depiction of the Lucky Strike Tower on the American Tobacco Campus (ATC) in Durham, NC. Among my favorite locations in my hometown, the ATC illustrates how beauty can be created from brokenness. What was once a factory complex that capitalized off of people’s addictions has become a center of community and culture. Thus, the ATC represents the ways my own life has and hopefully will continue to mirror this transformation.
For this piece I chose to combine the industrial feel of the ATC with patterns I’ve encountered in nature. This conflict between the natural and the industrial reflects my interest in sustainability as well as the contrast between some of my favorite hobbies: parkour (which relies on urban architecture) and hiking (which takes me far from city landscapes).
Creative Process:
This is one of my early thumbnails. I liked this one but decided to try working from a lower viewpoint of the tower in order to accentuate the exaggerated length of the tower’s supports.
All of the patterns in this piece were inspired by photographs of plants and fungi I have taken over the past 5 years. These include images of species found in Duke Forest in Durham, NC, the Copenhagen botanical gardens.
The tower itself is modeled after the Lucky Strike Tower from the American Tobacco Campus (ATC) in Durham, NC. The above images were used as references when designing the tower and its background.
Artist Inspiration:
Edith Meusnier is a French textile artist who creates woven installations outdoors. The geometric patterns in her work, reminded me of several plant microscopy images I’ve taken which I wanted to incorporate into my piece.
Marie Vorobieff was a Russian artist. This cubism styled piece, titled Port of Stockholm, inspired the way I chose to depict the Lucky Strike water tower in my own work.
https://www.wikiart.org/en/marevna-marie-vorobieff/port-of-stockholm-1962
Annotated Bibliography
American Tobacco Campus, Duke Arts, https://arts.duke.edu/places/american-tobacco-campus/.
- Image of the ATC that inspired me to include the string lights in my composition.
Gilbert Water Tower Holiday Lighting, 2020, video, https://www.facebook.com/DiscoverGilbertAZ/videos/gilbert-water-tower-holiday-lighting/175081051010009/.
- This is a water tower with a similar structure to the Lucky Strike Tower. I liked the camera angle in this video.
Meusnier, Edith, Untitled, sculpture, https://www.edithmeusnier.fr.
- Edith Meusnier’s artwork inspired me to incorporate plant patterns into my work.
Sagdejev, Ildar, Lucky Strike chimney and water tower of the American Tobacco Historic District, 2008, photograph, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Tobacco_Company.
- I used this as a reference image when designing the brick wall in the background of my composition.
Vorobieff, Marie, Port of Stockholm, 1962, painting, https://www.wikiart.org/en/marevna-marie-vorobieff/port-of-stockholm-1962.
- I like the diagonal lines dividing this piece by Marie Vorobieff, and it inspired the way I chose to stylize the water tower.
