Alyssa Sinnen artist's statement

Alyssa Sinnen

Watertown-Mayer High School

Water is life- there’s no doubt about that.  Water supports not only humans, but everything around us.  It’s not just the glass of water you’re drinking.  It’s helping the beautiful plans and flowers grown after a long, Minnesota winter.  It provides energy to all the animals that drink it and even homes to a few critters.  Water is everywhere.  Maybe that’s why we seldom think about how much we use it.  We use hundreds of gallons to take a quick shower, run the dishwater, the washing machine, the toilet, the sink, etc.  The list is far bigger than this.

Because we rely on it so heavily, water conservation is a huge issue.  I wanted to incorporate tow themes in my artwork:  the use and conservation of water.  Towards the top, I drew a pair of hands squeezing the Earth and water trickling from it.  This signifies how we as people are a little more than selfish when it comes to using this precious resource.  Soon enough, we’ll drain the Earth of what little freshwater we have left.  The goldfish represent the life that we are endangering by not using water responsibly.  They spill from the Earth like the water.

The bottom pair of hands symbolizes conservation.  The hands are cupped and holding a goldfish, as if they’re trying to save what water is left, as well as some life.  Water slides off the hands to represent that we cannot save every single droplet, but we can make an effort to preserve and protect it.

Posted in