Artist Statement
I had a great experience doing the Fireside Chat. I was
worried at first because I am not normally the kind of person who puts himself
out there by doing performances and such, but the way that I chose to do my
presentation allowed me to be very conversational about it. I decided to do my
chat about the importance and usefulness of ice cubes. I covered the history of
ice cubes, including going over the inventor of the modern ice-maker, John
Gorrie. I also talked about the benefits that ice cubes have around the home,
including for clearing up the carpet dents while rearranging living room
furniture. Ice also has construction applications, by using an ice cube to
smooth out a line of caulk, thus preventing the caulk from sticking to your
fingers and making a mess. During the presentation, I accidentally skipped over
one of the slides, the one that talked about the health benefits of drinking
ice water. If you drink an 8 oz. cup of ice water, it takes your body about 20
calories of energy to warm that water up while it’s in your digestive tract.
Thus, if you drink your eight cups of water each day, you are burning
approximately 160 calories, simply by warming it up. I also included a personal
story about why ice is so important to my family, and talked about when our
ice-maker broke, and how it miraculously fixed itself after my wife refilled
the ice bucket with ice she had procured from my brother’s house. It is truly a
miracle, and I don’t know how that trick worked, but all I know is that we have
ice now.
I chose to do my presentation in the style of a TED talk. It
might not have come across that way, because I certainly didn’t practice this
presentation as much as the TED presenters present their talks, but I wanted it
to be informative, while at the same time presenting the audience with some
useful data about ice and its many applications. For my visual media, I filled
glasses with ice and water, and took pictures around the house, trying my best
to make the images pleasing to look at.
I had a very good time on the night of the Fireside Chat
presentation. I found it very interesting to hear about some of my peers’
beliefs, ranging from the overuse of makeup to procrastination. Susan Sontag,
in her book, Regarding the Pain of
Others, talks about how all memory (or ideology) is individual. Our own
experiences and beliefs influence our art and our presentations. Many of the
presentations were artfully done, and communicated their beliefs well. Some
were very on-the-nose about their beliefs, as was my presentation. I feel like
I didn’t leave any room for error about how I believe that ice cubes are
extremely useful. I feel that I took a subject that, in and of itself, could be
very humorous and light, and turned it into an informative presentation.
