important place

Name:_______Jake Rzeppa_____________________ART 335/CHEN

Problem Posing Assignment through (Re)construction of a Place

Chosen place:
The Franklin Cider Mill

Define your chosen place:

My place is a very very old cider mill. It was built in 1837 and it shows.  For at least 40 years or so it’s been a major attraction in the area I lived in. It’s filled with people of all ages from the day it opens on labor day weekend till it closes on thanksgiving. Since I’ve been alive, it’s hardly changed. Everyone goes for the same things:to feed ducks (or watch over excited 3 year olds feed ducks), eat donuts (there's only one kid) and drink cider. The Cider Mill is the same, every year for 4 months. It’s pretty perfect.

Define your problem:


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

“Is my cider mill your cider mill”

As far as I can tell, the mill is the same in 2017 as it was in 1994. It was probably the same way in 1984 too. We are in a world where things are constantly changing and updating and improving and the Mill manages to be a constant. I think this would mean that most people’s memories of the place largely mirror mine. It’s a place whose popularity doesn’t wane. So when people go and they see it, they don’t just see what’s in front of them but they also see all the things they did during previous visits. A sub question might be: how did a mill become a timeless place/ how does any location resist change?

Why this is a genuine question or problem for you.

It’s a question because I place a lot of importance on memory and the way people interpret things as children. I’m interested in how similar memories might be for people. “When I was your age…” isn’t something just old people say anymore. You have 20 year olds condescending to 15 year olds about how “when youtube was ACTUALLY good…” and 15 year olds actually don’t know what the 20 year old is talking about.

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

It is relevant to other because it is a question about others. Do they relate or have similar or even identical interpretations of memory.

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

    The question is a significant issue to our understanding of the mill because to understand the mill is to understand how people remember it and how it remains the same in reality as it does in memory and how few things manage to do that, or are even allowed to do that.

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

    The problem isn’t so much the mill as much as the accelerated pace of aging that seems plague most new things. “programmed obsolescence” is now an expected part of culture. So the question is: how do you design a location to resist that.  

Your artmaking strategies:

    My art making strategies will be to overlap images and colors and shapes that give a photo a sense of time and age and also compliment the autumn vibe of the mill. I think transparency will do a lot for the images.

Your proposed solutions:

    My proposed solution is to not just make things to seem NEW but to make things that are timeless. There is value in creating something in the zeitgeist but there is more value, in my opinion, in building things that can be conserved and that retain a value that could be understood across multiple generations. 

 Link to all pictures taken:

look at pictures!