Jenny De La Cruz
Statement
I have always been fascinated in bridging pedagogy, environmentalism, and art into a beautiful culmination of culture and science. I want my students to learn from nature and to appreciate its beauty. I think that this lesson is vital, as these students will be the ones to inherit our planet in the future when we are long gone. This is not because I believe adults should shirk their duties of protecting the planet, but because our next generation of problem solvers will emerge from the group of youth we teach today.
What direction will our future, just 100 years from now, take, and how will that change affect the biodiversity of our plants? How will the environment adapt to conditions exacerbated by humanity's existence like drought, rising sea levels, and hybridization? What are actions we can take to stop a grim future for our environment? These are some of the questions I seek to answer through this body of work as I assess humanity's relationship with nature.
Blender is an open-source program for creating 3D models. Its capabilities are so powerful that it allows me to, in a sense, create new life. Blender is not about creating forms from scratch, like analog forms of sculpting, but about modifying planes, shapes, and basic objects to become the things we envision. It’s about working in tandem with a computer about how it should understand the inputs I give it. In a sense, the medium reflects the relationship I am trying to investigate: humanity altering existing life and, consciously or not, modifying it. I think it's important to focus on our future as a society in general, and what we can do through civic action like voting, protesting, and community service. My future students will know this. Ultimately, a hundred years is too long to wait for action. This artwork, too, is advocacy — it is my form of civic engagement, serving as a reminder for us to reexamine our relationship with nature before it is too late.
Teaching (MAT) Students