Journal # 4

Its amazing to see how many arrows are around us every second of everyday. Since I work forty hours a week at a swimming pool, I had a lot of time to find arrows there. On my walk to work, I passed by a bike path sign with an arrow directing the path. Entering the pool, I saw boxes of equipment that the facility had just received. On the boxes were ‘Caution: This Side Up’ arrows. These two signs direct attention and help to place guidelines. Next a co-worker walked onto deck eating a bag of popcorn and I saw the arrow on the side of the bag. It to was giving guidance much like that on the boxes. Anther guideline that involves arrows is that of time. The hands on the clock are arrows that everybody follows and can relate to around the entire world.

While walking around the pool I noticed the first starting block that had a one on it. I found the one to be quite arbitrary, because it looked like more of an arrow to me. Upon glancing away I spotted an arrow on the floor, however, it had no shaft. These simple triangular arrows are common among new smaller pieces of technology. As described in the article, people have associated just the triangle of the arrow to have meaning. In this case, there is no meaning to the triangle. Next, I noticed a lifeguard pole and no running sign lying on the ground, which gave me the idea to re-position them to create an arrow. Another arrow I saw was on a chalkboard, which was actually a triangle with three shafts projecting from the flat sides. So, no matter which side you looked at it, there was always an arrow. Once again, these arrows had no relevance, except for art.

Some arrows have words written in them to also help clarify there meaning. I found a fire extinguisher arrow, an attention arrow, and a directional rotation arrow. Without the words to help differentiate the arrows, they would just be common arrows that no one knows what they mean.

In the basement of the pool I found arrows that did not direct any outside influence, but rather showed the observer what was happening in a system. I found two different colored arrows that show the direction of water flow (treated and untreated) in the basement of the swimming pool. Also, I found a high voltage arrow that reminded me of the article we read before this project. Instead of being a straight normal arrow, or a wavy arrow, this arrow was sharp and resembled a lighting bolt. It was created this way in order to inflict a sense of danger.

When returning to my house, I saw my neighbor’s tree which resembled an arrow. This got me thinking, what other arrows are found in nature, and I realized that an arrowhead was one of the first arrows every used. I remembered I had an arrowhead that I found. This arrowhead could be as old as the first arrows created. Actually, according to the article, it could be 25,000 to 50,000 years old.

Journal # 3

As I was working at the Lander Swimming Pool, I noticed that there were countless symbols or icons which many people understand the meaning of. First I spotted a ‘no diving’ symbol in the shallow end of the pool. Next, I found the Red Cross symbol in many places, such as one on my lifeguard shirt, tube, and more on swimming instructions hanging all around the premise. After I noticed the first aid box I realized that it had a cross symbol much like that of the Red Cross, however, it was white on a green background.

When I was leaving the pool deck, I noticed the EXIT sign above the door and realized that it too was a symbol. After life guarding, we are required to clean the showers and locker rooms so my next stop was the custodians closest where I instantly saw a skull and crossbones located on a bottle of muriatic acid. Then I thought to myself, wow, it would really hurt to get muriatic acid in your eyes, but as I turned around, I saw an eye wash cleaner with a icon of its own (although this icon might be very helpful at the time of an accident…). After the thought, I got back to work and began to mop. On the mop bucket I noticed a ‘caution wet floor’ icon and on a piece of garbage I picked up I noticed a please recycle symbol.

As I was carrying the garbage outside, I spotted two more symbols—a warning: high voltage icon and a handicap-parking icon. Upon leaving work and walking home, I saw a wood carving of the town’s school mascot and realized that it too was a symbol. I then crossed the road at a crosswalk sign and almost got hit by a Toyota icon. Angry at the driver’s carelessness, I decided to go on a bike ride and let off some steam. While biking, I passed by countless political signs, which did not help the cause. This was just another day in my life of symbols.

Journal # 2

"Little Miss Muffet"

Journal #1

I am me, however, I was given the name Garret Hamilton. I chose this image to show who I am, because I created it myself. The roots of the tree are my name, which grew from a seed since birth. The tree is a symbol of my life. As my roots grow deeper and begin to impact the roots of others, my tree will grow stronger, and give back to the world even after I die.

It is impossible to know how people view you if they are a complete stranger. Often, I look angry, when actually I am content. Therefor, I chose to use a picture of myself in an outfit I created (and yes, this happens to be my Facebook profile picture). If people are able to create a second life on computer processors, why shouldn't I create an unrealistic, star-like image of myself. ;)