Statement Of Purpose

The statue assigned to me is called “Serenity,” sculpted by Saul Baizerman, has many possible contexts, possible interpretations, and possible purposes. To produce and effective analysis of the sculpture, there are many elements including purpose, audience, and context that must be taken into consideration.

This assignment is different than previous in this class because I did not choose the art object or image that I will be analyzing; it was assigned to me. Therefore my purpose for writing about this piece changed significantly from previous assignments. In our previous projects I focused on picking images that I felt I could not only sufficiently analyze and find an argument for, but ones that I could also connect with, use to convey a message, and find meaning in. With this assignment however, my process was completely different. The time that we spent with our sculptures provided some of the necessary, shall we call it “bonding,” that needed to occur for me to be able to analyze it. And after spending time learning about “Serenity,” and gaining a sort of trust with the sculpture, I feel that I now have a greater purpose in writing about the sculpture than simply “because I had to.” Now, by analyzing “Serenity,” I hope to get across how the seemingly paradoxical elements that exist within the sculpture work together to create interest and convey a deeper meaning.

An essential element to consider when writing about “Serenity,” is the audience that will be viewing my analysis. My primary audience consists of my teacher and my classmates. They are the people who will be reading, reviewing, and helping me revise my analysis. Aside from the fact that they are going to be required to read my writing, I hope to provide them with insights and information about the sculpture, the context in which it was created, as well as a piece of writing that they can learn from, and help me learn from as well. But along with my classmates, I have a very prominent secondary audience as well. Since this analysis will be posted on the Internet, my secondary audience could potentially be quite large and quite diverse, with different backgrounds, experiences, and opinions. I recognize that this secondary audience will probably not be seeking out my blog, so when they find it, I hope to be able to interest them with the information found in my analysis.

Another very important element to bear in mind while composing my analysis is the context from which my audiences will be viewing my writing. While it is virtually impossible for me to determine or consider all of the possible perspectives that my audience will have, I can certainly imagine a few and cater to those particular demographics. Obviously, my teacher and classmates will be of primary concern, and will most likely be my focus as they will be the ones guaranteed to read my analysis. They will be reading from an academic standpoint so I will need to write with a certain amount of sophistication. They will also most likely be forced to read my work, so I will need to add a certain sense of urgency and importance in order to keep their attention and help them understand my writing. This point is also true for my secondary audience as well. Most of the random blog seekers will probably stumble upon my post by accident, and I will need to capture their interest so they want to read what I write, and write with enough gusto that they want to finish reading my analysis. I am not particularly interested in whether or not either of these audiences agrees with what I have to say, I just need to understand the contexts in which my audiences will be reading what I write, so that I can effectively cater to my demographic and accomplish my purpose in writing about “Serenity.”