During our class trip on Tuesday, we visited three different sculptures/monuments in Columbus Park. These included the infamous Henry Ward Beecher sculpture, the Mind Forged Manacles/Manacle Forged Minds, and the Unity. After our trip, I realized how individual perspectives on art influence the way we actually understand the sculpture/monument and it's purpose. The creator had an intention for making his art, which they wanted to share with us, the community. But what does their art mean to us? How does it make us feel? What can we take away from it and help us understand its importance to society? Well, all these questions were also what the creator intended to make us ponder. For example, you know how controversial the Henry Ward Beecher sculpture is? Yeah, this goes to show how art can be misinterpreted for what it truly is and gather so much hate/controversy, just because we perceived it wrong. Also, I loved all of these sculptures and think that the artists representation was beautiful! The meaning behind them, the details, everything... it is truly fascinating. I hope that our community can visit these amazing sculptures and try to learn more about them. Understand their purpose and meaning to our history. Even the fact that these sculptures/monuments are in our very own city, is just- wow. To know that our school is right next to a famous area where history was made is so cool. I really enjoyed and learned a lot from our class trip and hope that we can go on more in the future!
This is very well said: "The creator had an intention for making his art, which they wanted to share with us, the community. But what does their art mean to us? How does it make us feel?" Public art is never just what the artist intended. Once it's dedicated, it takes on additional meanings that members of the public and audience bring to it.