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Title	Sing a Song of Sixpence
Artist	Engel, Shannon
Subject - LCSH	Art, Modern Ball State University--Students
Exhibition Date	2009
Artist Statement	In creating this body of work I searched for a subject matter that not only fit my aesthetic and but also my humor. Nursery Rhymes provided me with the perfect opportunity to combine my love of construction with my dark sense of humor. I completed six pieces using both metalsmithing techniques and resin casting. My works comment on the common theme of demise that occurs in all these tales; an ironic issue considering that children were the intended audience for the stories that I use. The techniques involved in making these pieces included fabrication, mold making, casting (both low and high temperature metals along with resin), electroforming and woodworking. Each piece was created with one or more hidden pieces of wearable jewelry. The artworks, like the rhymes they symbolize, represent the disguised meaning locked within the words told. The body of work examines six different Nursery Rhymes; "Hush a Bye Baby", "Humpty Dumpty", "Sing a Song of Sixpence", "There was an Old Woman", "Three Blind Mice", and "Ring a Ring O' Roses". Each of these rhymes touch upon a gloomier side of humanity that should be identified. These "kiddie stories" originate from more sinister places than the words would suggest. "Ring a Ring O' Roses", for example, is probably the most well known example of these gruesome rhymes, as it is commonly thought to reference the Great Plague of London in 1665. It is thought that the "ring around the rosie" was the dark mark under the skin from pus; "pocket full of posies" was used to mask the stench of death, and "we all fall down" was death itself. Hush-A-Bye-Baby is thought to reference pilgrims' witnessing Native American women hanging their babies' cradles in trees to rock them to sleep. But the ending, "down will come baby cradle and all", suggests a baby falling to its death. In the tale of "Humpty Dumpty", Humpty meets his demise from a great fall, but it is believed that the tale might reference another historical event. It is thought that Humpty Dumpty refers to King Richard Ill of England, the "Wall" being the name of his horse. During the battle of Bosworth Field, Richard fell off his horse resulting in his being hacked to pieces. "Three Blind Mice" is another rhyme that ends in death. The mice are thought to actually represent three Protestant bishops, and that Queen Mary I of England is represented as the farmer's wife who first blinded then executed them. "There was an Old Woman" fails to reference a particular event in history, but expresses the depressing undertones connected to these rhymes as it explores the reality of poverty. The poem say "She gave them some broth without any bread, then strapped them all soundly and put them to bed". "Sing a Song of Sixpence" is another, example of this literature having extremely violent under tones as it is commonly thought that the original versus said, "Sing a song of sixpence, a bag full of rye, four and twenty naughty boys, baked in a pye." The later version, describing a pie of live birds and a woman's nose being snapped off by those birds is pale in comparison but still has dark connotations. I would like to thank Pat Nelson and Kenton Hall for their guidance in compiling these works.
Subject - TGM	Art Sculpture Mixed media
Time Period	2000s (2000-2009) Twenty-first century, C. E.
Medium	Copper, Brass, Sterling Silver, Gemstones, Plastic, Resin, and Wood
Series	Rhyme in Demise
Exhibition	Fall 2009 Thesis Exhibitions
Media Type	Still image
Original Format	Art Color images
Digital Date	2009-12-29 (Loaded)
File Format	image/jpeg
Pixel Width	2696
Pixel Height	1681
Digitization Equipment	Nikon Coolpix 8700 Digital Camera
Digital Identifier	BSU-SAC-9235.jpg
Collection	Ball State University Student Art Collection
Collection URL	http://libx.bsu.edu/collection.php?CISOROOT=/BSUArtists
Copyright	Copyright 2009, Ball State University and the original artist. All rights reserved.

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