Writing

Name: Megan Wernimont_________________ART 335/CHEN

Problem Posing Assignment through (Re)construction of a Place

Chosen place:

Fredrick Meijer Gardens

Define your chosen place:

Different biomes/botanical gardens

Define your problem:  Why do we need this area? Why do we need to go somewhere like this to see nature?

What it is: explaining a question you have about the place.

Why do we need to pay for this space? What determines the type of plants inside the gardens? What connects these different areas to each other?

Why this is a genuine question or problem for you.

It’s apparent where you are – in regards to the different biomes – but can be a bit problematic. They have several different looking trash receptacles and recycling bins and their architecture is all over the place. What makes this space different from a park? What makes it different from a garden you can grow at home?

Why the question or problem is likely to be relevant to others.

They are actively paying for this - there is obviously something about this space that welcomes people in.

Why the question or problem matters to some significant issues related to our understanding of the chosen place.

Meijer Gardens is a place that aims to showcase other cultures and biomes – I think that there is a difference between natural nature and man-sculpted, maintained institution, but not everyone who goes to these spaces thinks about this differentiation.

Why the question or problem is important, why should this problem be solved and how could this problem be solved.

To optimize how people walk through the gardens and know where they are and how to get back. Have a unifying design for walk-ways and structures throughout. Update the areas that are older with some of the new designs recently put in. Don’t use five separate brick patterns and designs.

Your artmaking strategies:

Highlight these differences through snapping pictures of the architecture, layouts, and pathways.

Your proposed solutions:

Unify the areas through a main pathway and a main style of architecture throughout. Show case the built sstructures that nature exists in within this institution.




Animation as a whole interests me. Creating motion is amazing and I really enjoy plot-driven, world building, and films that focus on the characters in them. Studios like Disney, Ghibli, Pixar, Dreamworks - they all do this very well.

Fan pieces are super cool to me - taking an already existing and established brand or story and applying it in different ways.