The places through which we travel are varied in size and purpose. A journey of one day may include a home, large buildings, open roads, and busy public areas. Artifacts of art and design serve as conceptual links between places. A mural seen in a park may evoke memories of a sculpture in another city. Vast urban street grids contrast with small patterns in rural communities, and when viewed from above, these patterns create lines of abstraction as well as representations of space.
This work is a journey through physical spaces that have served as catalysts for personal creative activity and as sites for viewing public art and visual design. It serves as a reflective preface to my current research on arts engagement in rural places and is a record of my mental and physical journeys through time. These journeys incorporate the visiting and re-visiting of spaces that serve as hubs of creativity and building blocks of identity shared with those who create visual work in spaces of all sizes.
Rachel Melton is a graphic designer and artist. Her current work incorporates abstractions of landscapes, scenes, maps, and journeys, and in her research, she works to understand systems that integrate arts and creativity into rural community life and space.