Give Me a Sign

The next unit in the curriculum, which was to be the meat of the project as it concerned the Public Art Lab, was the Street Sign unit, officially "Symolic and Pictographic Languages" on my syllabus.

We began by looking at languages that use pictures or symbols for entire words (more accurately described as ideogrammic) such as Chinese and Egyptian. We also briefly looked at some American Sign Language.

The Chinese language was originally a series of pictograms, with origins tracing back before Chinese Bronze Age around 1700 BC (side note - I studied the Chinese Bronze Age back in my first semester at SMFA with Dr. Diane O'Donoghue). The language began as simple illustrations, before the concept of language existed in the ancient Chinese, painted or inscribed onto simple earthenware items such as bowls and jugs. By the time the Bronze Age rolled around these illustrations had become a language of themselves - drawings of ideas. The earliest known examples of these writings as a language was found on "oracle bones" which date to the Shāng dynasty - the Bronze Age. Oracle bones were typically turtle undershells or ox shoulders (although other types of bone had been in use for a while) heated over a fire until cracks appeared; they were then inscribed. Based on knowledge of the language aquired by reading the same inscriptions on bronze pieces from the era, it has been determined that many of these oracle bones were more or less stenographic notes following the activities of the Shāng rulers. What is known today as "traditional" Chinese is a natural evolution of these inscriptions - look anywhere on the internet and you'll see how various characters went from literal drawings to the relative abstractions they are today. "Simplified" Chinese was introduced in the 1950s and consciously simplifies a number of characters. Traditional Chinese is still in use, typically in Cantonese-speaking states, while Simplified Chinese is used in the mainland as well as in any Mandarin-speaking institution. Modern Chinese is no longer pictographic, although the concepts are still there.

On a side note, I studied in Beijing about four years ago. When I introduced myself to the family I was staying with I wrote my Chinese name out in traditional characters - the family recognized it as such and was even able to read it, and taught me the simplified version.

We looked at the connections between English and Egyptian hieroglyphs with the Rosetta Stone, which is written in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyph, Egyptian Demotic, and Greek. The Rosetta Stone itself is, anticlimactically, a proclamation of tax exemption to temple priests. It was found that, in the context of the Rosetta Stone, hieroglphs are phonetic characters, although further research shows that each "letter" has its own inherent meaning (not unlike in flag Semaphore).

Following that, we turned to road signs. We looked at real road signs in the US, as well as some wackier versions from overseas. We made observations about the various qualities of the sign - i.e., simplified language (if any at all), graphic depictions, etc. Then we set to work designing signs of our own.

After two days of sketches, I brought out some Universal Man templates (convertible to the Universal Woman) that I made in Illustrator and showed my students how to cut him out and repose him (when applicable - surprisingly, about a quarter of the students didn't use any representation of a person in their designs). "Finals" were created on white or yellow squares, with designs rendered entirely in black, whether through the templates, cut black construction paper, or Sharpie.

Probably one of the most valuable lessons an art teacher can learn is when to tell a bunch of middle schoolers to make "anything." By the end of the day I got some, ah, interesting designs, especially out of a group that was comprised entirely of boys - a lot of video game-inspired violence came out of them (although I have to say they really put their hearts into the project). There were some talkings-to, but I didn't ask anyone to remake their sign. The finals were mounted on my wall space at the Public Art Lab for display alongside a big steel sign, custom cut by yours truly to the dimensions of a real square road sign, that had magnetic pieces for the public to put together and make their own.

This was my major dilemma of the project - as a community artist, it is not in my interest to censor what my community generates - whatever the content, it is a reflection of an issue or idea within a community that may otherwise not have an outlet. On the other hand, I am a middle school teacher and there are certain expectations of the work produced in class, namely that nothing happens that will reflect negatively upon the school. The display at the Public Art Lab came with a disclaimer, and one will exist with the next installation of the works.

I spent a week scanning each sign into a computer and cleaning them up in Photoshop and Illustrator. I am currently in the process of finding a printer and locating a distributor for sign blanks. The signs will be finished sometime this summer, at which point I will consult with the Cambridge Arts Council to see when and where I can install them.

The sign project will remain a highlight of Project Ellipsis, as it was the project that received the most attention from probable venues. I recently had the opportunity to apply for a First Night Boston 2010 performance/installation space, and if I get it (which I will find out at the end of July), I will be installing all of the street signs on Boston Common on New Year's Eve. If that doesn't happen, I'd still like to have a big exhibition at some point, maybe as part of my Senior Project. We'll see.