Life again is beginning a new year and 2013 is going to be full of new experiences. To begin with, every day our world is filled with “images.” Yes, images are everywhere. In one city block, in any city the shapes, forms and colors of what we see in that one block are huge. What is an image? Images are shapes of anything we see. It can be a building, street, trees, people, stores, cars, animals, signs, houses, boats, churches, birds, statues, lakes and any object we see in the modern world.
Where ever we go or turn, in a big city, highway, woods, shopping malls, we are always seeing ‘images’ that communicate moods and messages. So, what images will we see now in 2013? We can start with decorations and designs that will be seen for celebrating Valentine’s Day in February. The stores and malls will be filled with large shapes of hearts and the color red will be dominant. The image of hearts will make us think of many things such as feelings of love and how we feel about special people. The shape of a heart has been used to signify love and we learn this when we are very young and draw the shape of a heart to express our feelings of love. We need to express love for things we see.
In Santa Clarita the place for images could be seen in an art center with many different kinds of art images. Yes, this is what the City Council should be planning and beginning to bring into the lives of the community – the opportunity to see how creative images can be enjoyed.
Jaylene Armstrong is a retired Art Teacher from Madison, Wisconsin, a former National Art Education Association Western Region Vice President and President of Wisconsin Art Education Association. For more information, contact Jaylene at 661-255-3050.