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Title	"Garden Party"
Artist	Coffer, Melissa N.
Subject - LCSH	Art, Modern Ball State University--Students
Exhibition Date	2011
Artist Statement	Perhaps it is the primal nature of humanity that attracts me, as I see people in the same manner that I see animals. With just a basic understanding of the vastness of the universe, the trivialities we use to separate ourselves from our primal cousins become embarrassingly moot. The simple fact is we are animals, biologically and behaviorally. This body of work explores multiple aspects of that fact. From the social swarm of female objectification to the internal struggle of predator or prey, and the intimate connection between humans and our environment, my intention is to crack a tiny peek at the distorted relationships we create in our minds. Much of my source material comes from advertising and fashion photography. I find these sources compelling because of their confrontational nature and display of the feminine as a position of power. The models often face their viewer with confidence, displaying themselves like proud peacocks with a full spread of feathers. For me, this train of thought continues further to relate the confident female figure with a primal sense of dominance and place in the less-metaphorical-than-you-would-think 'human pack'. This proud display of feminine prowess contradicts a long history of damsels in distress, abashedly nude muses, and a largely absent presence of women in religious art. Even Mary is nearly always confined to swaths of drapery and a demure expression. In "The Four Evangelists", I comment on this by placing these confident feminine images in a strictly masculine (and animalistic) role in Christian mythology. My process is designed to remove these women from the objectified context in which I find them, without compromising their beauty or their power. To do this, I strip down their figures to the barest lines, leaving them their confident postures while removing their polished complexions and perfect lighting. In its place, I put primal characteristics like fur and feathers, paws and eyes. This reinforces the primal aspects of humanity I mentioned before, without dehumanizing them completely. The comparable animals chosen, however, add a twist of bitter irony, as they are all considered pests. This helps to avoid the cliches of juxtaposing humans with tigers, wolves, and other similarly glorified animals. Women may be more attuned to nature, but are they not also commonly portrayed as the nagging wife or the selfish girl? I attempted to show the beauty of these women despite the stereotypes of their animal traits. I believe that according to each viewer's life experiences and personal opinions, these pieces can be read in a wide variety of ways, and in that way I feel I have succeeded. While it is arguable whether my source materials glorify or demoralize women, I have endeavored to create work that champions them as primal beings, unashamed of their fur and feathers. Special thanks to my mentor Heidi Jensen, for trying to understand the black sheep's point of view. Additional thanks to Scott Anderson, Hannah Barnes, and Sarojini Johnson for their steadfast support of the artistic license.
Subject - TGM	Art Drawings Watercolors
Time Period	2010s (2010-2019) Twenty-first century, C. E.
Medium	Watercolor and ink pen
Exhibition	2011 Spring Thesis Exhibition
Physical Dimensions	175 x 122 cm.
Media Type	Still image
Original Format	Art Color images
File Format	image/jpeg
Pixel Width	4903
Pixel Height	3393
Digitization Equipment	Canon EOS Rebel T2i EOS 550D Digital Camera
Digital Identifier	BSU-SAC-4058.jpg
Collection	Ball State University Student Art Collection
Collection URL	http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/collection.php?CISOROOT=/BSUArtists
Copyright	Copyright 2011, Ball State University and the original artist. All rights reserved.

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