During my work on Project One, Boldt Castle was the main artifact for evaluation. Although it was initiated as a present for a beloved person, this building and other related constructions on the island became the symbol of love and devotion (Boldt did not finish it after his wife’s death). The large human need to express is in sharing emotions and feelings that can be stored forever and inspire other people for great gestures. According to Barnicoat (2015), people may not call themselves artists but create something that turns out to be a beautiful artifact with time. In this course, I learned how people with special needs could not express themselves the way they wanted but relied on their intuition to achieve the desired goals, and Lord Byron can be a good example. Bold was one of such architects who did not want to leave something as magnificent as his castle on Heart Island. He did not try to convince someone or find followers. His need for expression was connected to his family, and the achievement of modern people and their belief in Bold’s passion helped restore the construction.
The creation of an artifact is a complex process that is usually associated with its dependence on culture and its further impact on cultural beliefs. Boldt Castle was built at the beginning of the 1900s when New York needed new houses for immigrants. The progress of international relationships and industrialization determined human needs and their creative expression. Boldt did not define himself as an artist, and he was guided by his interests and resources. Boldt Castle was never meant to be an artifact as per its creator, but it is now a memorable tourist attraction due to the impact of the American culture. People should have something to believe in, and if they find an interesting story with a serious message, they make it an artifact for future generations. In this course, a similar culture-artifact connection is observed in Tan’s The Joy Luck Club when the author raised a burning topic of a generation gap that became a symbol of ethnic inequality. The initial intentions of people depend on many cultural beliefs, but they are not as large as their outcomes, proving how the culture affects creative expression.
Despite the desire of modern communities to recover some humanistic artifacts, it is not always easy to explain their worth and impact. Some people cannot accept and understand the inequality under which society developed for a long period. In some cases, controversies prevent the creation of a solid explanation and definition. While studying Boldt Castle as one of the current New York artifacts, I learned that creative expression promoted at the beginning of the 20th century affects many of today’s issues. Boldt believed in family relationships and found it normal to present an entire building to his wife as a regular present. Even his decision not to continue this construction after his wife’s death is a solid contribution to how creative expression might look. In this course, I read about the contributions of Project Art Works (PAW) representatives who have never considered themselves artists and paid no attention to the outcomes they make (Barnicoat, 2015). However, their impact on today’s issues (special needs and social prejudice) remains great because PAW helps recognize people and their skills under the mask of doubts, concerns, and physical weakness.
Reference
Barnicoat, B. (2015). Extraordinary outsiders: The makers who don’t know they’re artists.The Guardian. Web.